The Reincarnated Master Craftsman Just Wants To Live A Peaceful Life.

Azrie

3800+ words! (3977 words) Longest chapter yet. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Spot absolutely anything?! Let me know because this was actually way too long.

Let the madness begin!

We exited the office upstairs, the receptionist stood in front of us and bowed then began speaking.

"Congratulations, you are now adventurers, you can pick up requests at the board. Once you chose one, take it to a receptionist."

Even though she was supposed to say it full of energy she said it without any care. After that, the receptionist bowed again and went downstairs to resume her work.

I guess we are [Copper] ranked adventurers now? Huh, wait. Didn't the guard say I could register at any of the guilds? Does this mean there are different guilds? Ari had a distant expression, but I did not mind it. I had to ask.

"Ari, what are the other guilds?"

She stopped and looked at me with eyes wide open, after seeing my troubled face, she began speaking.

"Fufufu, could it be… you d-don't know?"

"Nn." I just nodded, is this revenge for not telling her I was also a summoner? She also seemed to struggle speaking like that seeing that she stuttered. Ari just went stiff after finishing her sentence, to my surprise she was fidgeting and looking at the ground, it went on for a few seconds then she paused.

"Yami."

"Yes?" All of the sudden she spoke, Ari was restlessly fidgeting now and looking at the ground around me as if she didn't want to look at me, after a few seconds she said my name again with a weak tone.

"Y-Yami…"

She took a brief pause.

"P-please forgive me for forcing you to do it through appraisal stone…" She said with a stuttering voice while she was trembling.

'Ah, so that's how it was. I mean, I am pretty mysterious if I think about it. Why wouldn't she want to know? I think wanting to know who I am is understandable. I cannot really hide it forever… Unfortunately.' As I finished thinking. She was shaking while muttering things I could not quite hear.

"Ari, it's fine." I started petting her head trying to comfort her. But it would be troublesome for this to happen again.

"A-" Just about when I was about to speak Ari started apologizing again with ragged breath.

"I-I am sorry even though you saved me, I-I d-" I interrupted her with a hug and whispered into her ear.

"Just don't do it again." She slowly nodded when she heard my words. I hugged her tighter. Even though she can be problematic she is a nice girl. Aizen had been stiff from the sudden weird interaction. Ari slowly separated herself from me. Her cheeks were flushed, she had somewhat teary eyes. My clothing was somewhat humid from it. Ari after a brief moment happily answered the question from before.

"Yami, there's two other guilds, merchant and craftsmen guilds." Wait… Did she just say craftsmen guild?! I know I am supposed to not have anything to do with crafting b-but I want to go, I want to see...

"Y-...I?!"

'Huh, what?' Ari was shaking me with a worried face, looks like I spaced out... I looked at her and tried to stay composed.

"Ari, let's go to the craftsmen guild!" I said hurriedly not being able to wait any longer, well I guess that did not come out composed at all...  Ari had a distorted face from my excited voice but nodded. Aizen gave me a reproachful look but she smiled shortly after. However, it was a smile of happiness not her usual smirk. I did not quite understand it. I decided to look at the reception from the balcony.

The man was still frozen in place and some people were doing some sort of artistic play with the statue… Huh, well that's weird. We went downstairs, no one really noticed. We just kept walking towards the exit. Fenri got up from sleeping and followed us. The moment we exited, we heard a dull sound hit the ground. Aizen sighed, she was sweating. I looked at the source of the sound, the man was on the ground shaking uncontrollably. The adventurers were flabbergasted, some had their eyes wide open from realizing that it wasn’t a hyper-realistic statue, others seemed happy that the man was no longer frozen. I whispered to Aizen’s ear.

“Did you run out of mana?”

She was silent for a second and slowly nodded as if embarrassed about it, well I guess it does make sense, how long did she freeze the man? Also didn’t she freeze the guildmaster for a second too? I mean it’s not like her mana pool is infinite. Oh well she will eventually recover, Ari was looking at Aizen with a puzzled look because she looked extremely tired, at least that’s why it looked like to me, also we were supposed to go to the other guild. So I decided to say.

“Well let's go to the other guild.”  Ari and Aizen nodded, I started walking towards the other side of the plaza in which another imposing town hall stood this time with a different emblem, it had a hammer, it was a smithing hammer emblem. I am happy, I want to see inside, what will I see, what will I find?!

Ari was looking at me with a weird expression, am I really that excited? I was drooling… Aizen was smiling with warm eyes when she looked at me, what could she be happy about? I did not change at all since she last saw me, yet she changed a lot, wait… Is she happy that I did not change at all?! I don’t know if I should be happy about it or not… ‘Well whatever works I guess.’ I muttered, Ari kept looking at me with a worried expression, do I really get that much lost in thought?! I just kept walking in the plaza, people gave me warm looks. Ari and Aizen were following kind of awkwardly after me. People looked at us with interest, others looked at Fenri and smiled because he was pretty cute.

We arrived in front of the insurmountable building, this one looked more recent compared to the adventurer’s guild, it had a lot of people coming in and out, I was quite excited, what is the crafting in this world like?! Ari told me about items but what about those things that looked like items but they weren’t items?! If I could make those since they are worse than items I could probably save a lot in materials. Wait… people are looking at me?! I was drooling again… Ari looked relieved after I noticed…

I could see into the guild, it looked pretty much the same as the adventurer’s guild except the desk was bigger and it had four receptionists instead of three, two receptionists had blue uniforms and the other two were green. Looks like it was split into two lines, one for customers and one for craftsmen. The place also had request boards but a lot of them were untouched. ‘Huh, that’s weird.’ I muttered. People were coming in and out of the building, again just like the adventurers they gave us varied looks. ‘I guess there’s no helping it.’ I shrugged.

We started walking into the guild, the merchants and customers gave us warm smiles and the craftsmen just looked down on us, giving us an aggressive look, people started looking away when they saw Fenri follow after me. Ari looked nervous, Aizen was quietly looking at what I was going to do. I approached the free blue uniform receptionist.

“Hello, welcome to the Craftsmen Guild, customers are with the other line.” She said with an unchanging expression, I felt her words were slightly hostile for whatever reason, I just did not move, the receptionist’s smile distorted slightly. She repeated herself again... Well, this is awkward.

“Umm, I want to register.” Everyone froze except for Aizen. Everyone was looking at me with wide-open eyes including Ari, Aizen just had a faint smile on her face. The receptionist was frozen, she did not say anything, after some brief moments she spoke.

“Girly, we can only register people that know how to craft.” She said with a somewhat fractured smile and an annoyed tone, I guess that much is expected. I just continued.

“I can make weapons, if you have a forge I can borrow, I can show you.” Ari looked at me with wide-open eyes, the entire guild grew noisy. ‘Ahhh, what am I doing?!’ I don’t want trouble, especially with the church. Aizen was slightly chuckling from the show I just started. ‘I guess I have done it now…’ I muttered in defeat.

“Hey, girly I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Some merchant said other merchants stared at him with hate, others agreeing with him, another one spoke.

“If you work for me I can help you.”

“Hey?! Who do you think you are?!” Another merchant exclaimed while looking at him with bloodshot eyes, they started having a heated argument, at this point it seemed like people weren’t even arguing anymore, they just talked for the sake of talking. My ears started to hurt, this had to stop.

“St-”

“STOP!”

As I was about to yell I heard an incredibly loud yet raspy voice. When I looked for the source of the voice I could not see anyone, I could hear a periodic clack, coming from the stairs but I could not see anyone behind the railings. I heard it again.

“Just what is going on here?!”

This time I could see the source of the voice, it was a small man, a dwarf. Chiseled muscles, sharp wise eyes, and a long beard that reached his waist. ‘Waa, it looks like a default dwarf’ I muttered in amazement, game habits die hard… The man was busy hearing everyone’s explanations and then he looked at me with a sharp gaze. He kept looking at me, I was growing uneasy, he started to walk slowly towards me, then he stopped right in front of me and spoke.

“So you want to be a craftsman?!”

“Nn.”

I nodded frantically, the man looked rather unhappy, but when he saw me nod frantically, he changed to a somewhat gentle expression, all of the unfriendliness I felt from him was gone. However he did not speak he just held his fist close to his mouth as if thinking of something, everyone was silent, after a few seconds the man looked at me.

“Girly, you have a crafting class?”

“Nn.”

I slowly nodded, the moment I nodded only Ari looked at me with wide-open eyes, is it that rare? The man continued speaking.

“What’s your crafting class?”

I froze when I heard that, I looked at Aizen hoping for salvation, she nodded and crossed her arms just like I did with her when Ari asked her. ‘Don’t say anything troublesome…’ I decided, I answered the man with a serene expression.

“Smith.” The man nodded with a faint smile after hearing this, looks like I made the right decision, the entire guild looked at me with wide-open eyes including the receptionists, Fenri was happily wagging his tail. The man after a second of silence looked at me.

“Come with me I will take you to do your Qualification.”

“Qualification?” I questioned him almost instantly since I have never heard of it, some people looked at me with pitiful eyes as if taking pity of my ignorance. The man flinched for a second but answered.

“I will make you forge a weapon. If you are capable enough you will receive a certified  registration card or get it printed on an already existing guild card from any of the other guilds.”

I nodded after hearing this, it sounds reasonable. After seeing my nod the man gestured to follow him, we followed him outside the guild. Fenri was following after us, the man noticed this and paused for a second.

“Who is the owner of this tamed wolf?”

“Me.” I answered as if it was obvious, hearing this the man froze. Ari facepalmed. Aizen did not quite get it either. The man slightly restless said with his eyes wide open.

“You are a level 40 tamer?!” I went stiff after hearing this.

“Wait how did you?!” I decided to question the man, the man looked at me with the same eyes again, after a few seconds of silence the man spoke in a tone with that had a slight hint of regret.

“To get a second class you need to max your first class, meaning you could not be smith unless you are a level 40 tamer.” Was it always like that?! Oh no... I looked at Ari with my mouth wide open wanting to confirm something, she was sweating but frantically nodded when she noticed my gaze. ‘Looks like I made yet another mistake.’ I muttered in regret.

We kept following the man, however, the man walked with stiff steps and paused for a few seconds, people glanced at the man curiously and then they fixed their gaze on us and unconsciously smiled. ‘This is getting annoying.’ I muttered, Aizen hearing my mutter slightly nodded. Ari just looked at the man with a worried face, then we arrived. It was an insurmountable stone house with a door and some big unglazed windows.

The man opened the creaking door with rusting hinges and entered inside, we followed after him. It was indeed a forge, A breeze of warm air hit me, I could see a rusted anvil and some ingots next to the candescent furnace as well as a recipient full of oil. The house was wide, seeing it had multiple furnaces and anvils. The man stood just behind the rusted anvil that was not too far away from the door. He looked quite restless moving every few seconds. Fenri decided to stay outside. Once we entered the man fixed his gaze on me. It was a sharp one, the man just kept staring at me until he decided to talk, however his raspy voice came with an aggressive tone.

“Why?”

“What?” What do you mean by 'why?' What did I even do?! The man kept looking at me while grinding his teeth.

“Why did you choose to be a smith seeing you are already a level 40 tamer?!” He spoke in rage, I don’t get it what’s wrong with that?

“Because I like smithing?” I just answered honestly, I absolutely love anything that has to do with crafting, yet the man hearing this had his eyes wide open, I could see a hint of happiness and a hint of disappointment, I do not quite get it. He spoke in a weak voice while grinding his teeth struggling to talk.

"W-why?"

"Because I absolutely love smithing, rather... crafting in general." After basically the same answer the man froze, he was shaking.

"Why would someone as talented as you chose such a useless class?!" I flinched and started shaking… Useless?! I will show you, damned old man… I will make you go back on your words.

"Aizen."

"?" Aizen tilted her head from my mention.

"Help me, just like the old times." She nodded and her eyes sparkled; she had a warm smile and a somewhat distant look, I will show you, damned old man. You can insult me all you want even mock me, but do not insult crafting classes!

The man did not even flinch from my evident rage, Ari just stared at me quietly. I pulled out my smithing hammer the jet-black hammer that shone like obsidian, the man froze when he saw it, he spoke in a trembling voice.

"W-what material is that made out of?" I just expressionlessly looked at him and replied.

"It's just a normal hammer." Ari gave it a questioning glance, the man had his eyes wide open from seeing it, I paid it no mind. I looked at Aizen, she nodded.

I grabbed one of the god-awful quality iron ingots that were next to the furnace, I handed Aizen the ingot and a pair of smithing tongs. She turned away from everyone, and at that moment we saw an incredibly bright light in front of her, she stood still for a second and moved sluggishly while looking at me with a troubled expression. There was a pool of smoldering liquid Iron on the floor, we just looked at each other and we nodded. It was a bad idea to do it the usual way. Ari and the man were frozen like statues with their eyes wide open looking at the candescent bright yellow pool of liquid.

I just shrugged and grabbed another ingot and tossed it into the furnace instead seeing Aizen would just turn it into liquid instead of heating it, I took the smoldering iron ingot that was bright orange with the tongs and placed it onto the anvil. I struggled a bit because it felt somewhat different compared to the game, the man mockingly smiled when he saw me struggle.

‘I guess I will just make a dagger…’ I muttered, I started hammering the scorching steel, slowly giving it a flat thin rectangular shape. I kept hammering it delicately because of the brittle metal I was working with, the man was frozen, and Ari looked closely with sparkling eyes.

I could hear the satisfying rhythmic clanking of the metal, I kept hammering at a constant pace, shaping it into the blade and then hammering the blade edges delicately. At some point, the man started looking at my craftsmanship in the same way as Ari. After a lot of hammering, I decided it was ‘Good enough’ and quenched the blade in the oil. I took my file and started giving it sharpness. The metal started shining in a pretty silver, I took out a chisel and gave it my signature half-moon symbol. ‘Ahh, that felt good.’ I muttered in relief. Ari and the man were frozen from seeing the beautiful silver-colored dagger that sparkled under the light, I did not make a handle to attach it to. The man was completely frozen and Ari just looked at me with sparkling eyes. I looked at the man, he wasn’t moving. Did I show you?! Is it truly useless?! Go back on your words!

“Is it useless?” Hearing this the man started shaking and frantically shook his head side to side, he was looking lifelessly at the ground as if everything he knew was a lie. He started talking in a weak voice.

“J-just h-how.” He was looking at me with wide-open eyes. Ari was fidgeting wanting to say something but ultimately deciding not to. The man just kept switching glances between the dagger and me. It is just a trash item… Is it really so impressive?! As I was thinking the man spoke.

“That, talent of yours… Is better than any smith I have ever met…” ‘Ehhh, that has to be impossible right? I mean it is a new world, there’s absolutely no way this man hasn’t seen better… Right?’ As I was reassuring myself the man said.

“While I would love to make you a [Mithril] rank smith I am not allowed to do so… So please accept this rank, [Cobalt] It’s the highest rank I can offer you!” He desperately finished his sentence and bowed afterwards, however his bow was awful because he kept shaking the entire time.

I looked at Aizen to see if it was a good idea, she shrugged. I looked at Ari; she shrugged… ‘Well, I guess I should take my own decision…’ Being better than anyone?! That sounds…

“I refuse.” I said in an emotionless voice.

“Eh.” The man hearing this let out a confused sound and froze, he stood there for a few seconds processing the information that I just fed to him. Slowly but surely his eyes grew wide looking at me, he was uncontrollably shaking now despite being old, his voice sounded childish.

“W-Why…”

“I do not want to be a craftsman, sounds troublesome.” After giving my half-honest answer Ari’s eyes widened and Aizen started chuckling. The man froze, his legs gave up and fell on his knees. He was looking at the ground with an empty gaze. ‘Did it really affect him this much?’ I muttered in concern, the unmoving kneeling man, looking at the ground. I was concerned however I did not want to be in the same room.

“We are leaving.” I told to Aizen and Ari, they both nodded, the man did not even react to what I said. It was basically like if he was dead. We left the room with the man inside.

* * *

The forge lost its fuel, and sunlight stopped entering the inside of the rock house, a trembling man that was just sluggishly getting up glanced outside the window to see the time, he could only see a faint silver light enter the windows, he was restlessly looking around the room having lost his sense of time. He saw it, it shined just like the moon… Its reflective surface was perfect, the man curiously approached the object.

“Huh?” It's the dagger that girl made, but… Just what is this quality? This is the highest quality blade I have ever seen in my entire life, yet the iron she used was… Bad… She does not want to become a craftsman? Isn’t she just as good other smithing masters? Such a talented girl at first I thought it was such a waste that a level 40 tamer decided to pursue smithing, but looking at the results… I paused as I was inspecting the dagger, it was so perfect that it would make you think it was made with the best quality of iron one could possibly obtain. You could probably sell it to a high-ranking noble without a single problem…

Now that I think about it, when I called it ‘useless’ she started shaking and giving me bloodshot eyes and then proceeded to ask that silver-haired girl to heat the metal. Yet she melted it… She was a mage... I never heard of a mage that could do that, but I do not know about magic. Wouldn't she be a famous graduate from the magical academy?

That smithing hammer that the girl used… What material was that? I have never seen such a fragile-looking material. Yet it was so strong… The girl… those skills, it looks like she has been doing the same thing for her entire life, she made it look so natural. Her eyes sparkled every time she hit the candescent iron.

When she finished the dagger she looked unsatisfied? Is it even possible to make one of higher quality than this?! I looked with wide-open eyes at the dagger blade carefully inspecting it and I noticed it, a half-moon symbol engraved on it, it looked exactly the same as that man's symbol… Could it be?! There’s only one person with such a skill, but he… No there’s no way, otherwise, his disciple would have mentioned it… I must report this to the capital, an incredibly talented individual has appeared, such a skilled girl yet she wastes it trying to replicate that man’s work… Pitiful. Some people would kill her for that... Girly, I hope you are fine.