Chapter 23: Chapter 23: There is much work to do, but we’ll manage because there is an owl on our shoulder. Hoot

Steel has interesting properties. It isn’t really a magical metal, in any sense of the word. It’s not like something such as orichalcum or cobalt-chromium, both of which could have enchanted properties. It isn’t a ‘base’ metal like iron or copper either. Steel is a metal made mostly out of iron and some carbon. In the case of this specific grade of steel, nickel is the core secondary ingredient. What this results in is that steel is highly useful for tools and weapons with a nature of physical-applications, since it’s bad at holding magical energies inside of itself.

 

Pure iron, as a base metal, is sort of okay at everything, but not really great. But it’s cheap and easy to work with. Steel however, is in a sense, an ‘advanced class’ of iron as a metal. If iron is the level-one adventurer of metals, then steel is the level-five adventurer, who specialized as a fighter.

 

“What about copper?” asks Rhine, as Hineni finishes his explanation.

 

The man blinks, looking at the ever-inquisitive boy. “It’s like the level five wizard of metals.”

 

Rhine rubs his lip with the back of his thumb. “I don’t know if this metaphor works.”

 

Hineni lifts the hammer in his hand, pointing it towards the side of the room. “Boy. Bring me more wood,” he says, feeling a little annoyed, honestly. He feels like it was a strong metaphor.

 

Rhine, dripping with sweat, moves over and does as he’s told. It’s just about the last of the wood. The forge burns fast and hot and it eats more wood than Obscura does frogs. After this axe is finished, they’re going to need to go to the forest. He’s glad that it hasn’t started snowing yet, but it will soon. The chill in the air is starting to set in, the traces of his breath are becoming ever more and more visible in the early morning hours and even worse so, inside of the house.

 

Rhine throws in the next heap of wood and watches as Hineni hammers away at the steel.

 

“How come you don’t just use your crafting abilities to make the blade?” asks Rhine, wiping his wet forehead on his soaked through sleeve.

 

“Blades, I make by hand,” explains Hineni, turning the half-formed chunk of steel sideways with his tongs as he continues to strike against it with his hammer. “I only use my abilities for finicky stuff.”

 

“Why? Wouldn’t you be a lot faster then?” asks Rhine, lifting up his hands. Hineni eyes him warily. But the boy just seems to be wiggling his fingers to demonstrate. “Poof, done. Just like that!”

 

The hammer strikes against the metal, resting there for a moment. Of course, Rhine is technically correct. Hineni could use his crafting abilities to make a blade for an axe or a sword in a jiffy. Sure, it would cost him some of his energy to use. But he has enough energy to use a spell like that a few times. Plus, it’s probably not more or less energy than making these things by hand. It does cost more materials though. The ingredient needed for an iron blade is one full iron ingot. An ingot with a standard weight of five kilograms. The resulting blade would only be significantly less than that. It's an extremely materially inefficient process. But…

 

He stares down at the head of the axe, narrowing his eyes as he sees something… obscure. A little bump, tiny, not really noticeable. But he notices it nonetheless. It doesn’t belong and with a precise strike of his hammer, he flattens it back out. In truth, he loves this work. This is his greatest joy in life, this act of creation.

 

But it comes with a price attached to it that most artists likely need not pay for theirs.“People are going to die, Rhine,” says Hineni.

 

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The boy stares at him for a moment, obviously perplexed by his seemingly random statement. “…What?”

 

“We make weapons,” says Hineni, lifting the hammer again. Tufts of ash float lazily through the air, past his illuminated silhouette as the forge spits them out his way. The particulate flies around him as if drawn by the tiny, minuscule breeze caused by the rising of his fist, of the hammer. The ash sticks to his gloves. “For adventurers, but for anyone really,” says the man. “It’s only a matter of time until someone uses it against someone who isn’t a goblin or a slime.”

 

He turns his head, looking at his hand. Lowering his leather shawl a bit, he blows the ash off of himself and returns to his work.

 

“What does that have to do with your spells?”

 

“I’m taking responsibility,” explains the man. “I’m not hiding from it anymore. When that day comes, if it hasn’t already, I’m taking responsibility,” states Hineni. “I will have made that weapon with intent. I won’t be able to hide from it by saying that I was just using an ability on the fly,” he says. “That it was just a spell. That I didn't mean to,” he explains. Old ash swirls around him, carried by the warm draft rising from the burning forge. It won't be like back then. This time, in the future to come, he’s going to hold himself accountable for what will happen. ”It will be me. It will be my hands, my time that made that weapon.”

 

Rhine stares at him for a moment. “I don’t get it,” says the boy. “If someone uses a weapon that you made to do something bad, that’s not your fault?”

 

The hammer strikes against the metal again, flattening the steel into a broader shape. “Taking on responsibility, Rhine,” says Hineni. “Full responsibility for the effect that your actions have on the world. That’s what being a man is.”

 

Now, in truth, he knows that half of this is bullshit that he made up on the spot. But… it felt right to say and he feels like it is actually what he truly feels, even if he hadn’t known it before. And as for what being a ‘man’ really is, he is unsure if he is qualified to judge or speak on such matters in all honesty, given his newness to the domain. Will someone use his weapons to kill another person? Yes. It’s inevitable.

 

Is he going to lose sleep over it? Far less now, than if he had simply tried to ignore this topic forever. He’s a weaponsmith. It’s part of the territory.

 

He turns his gaze, looking back down at Rhine, expecting to see a confused expression. But he sees something else instead, that he can’t quite place. He isn’t sure what to do with it, really.

 

Rhine stands up straighter, pulling his shoulders back. Hineni nods and returns to his work.

 

The hammer strikes again.

 

---

 

Three hours later, the blade of the axe is done and affixed to a pre-made handle that he had laying in his collection. The grip is fitted with a padded, black leather wrap, like all of his creations.

 

 

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