NOVEL NEXT Chapter 555
Chapter 555: The True Master and the Price
Clang! Clang! The hard sounds echoed through the forge.
Several hours after Adamas awakened, the forge was engulfed in an intense surge of fire magic, like an eruption.
The source was Ainz, riding high on the excitement.
“Alright… something amazing is going to come out of this…!”
Sweating like a waterfall, Ainz swung the hammer with a fervor that made him look almost delirious.
Where the hell had all this power been hidden? — Surprising amounts of magic flowed into the red-hot Adamas with every strike of the hammer.
Wow, this is incredible…!
I was overwhelmed by the Dwarven ‘presence.’ At this rate, Ainz could probably go toe to toe with a marquis-level demon.
‘You might be perceiving Ainz as larger than life because you’ve weakened from losing a horn of your own.’
Antendeixis, back within me, chimed in. True enough, that could have something to do with it.
“Water! I need water!”
“Here you go!”
With all that sweat pouring out, of course, he’d be thirsty. I handed Ainz a goblet with a straw, filled not just with water, but also with citrus juice and a pinch of salt.
“—Ah! That’s refreshing!”
Ainz gulped it down with satisfaction.
I couldn’t resist taking a few sips myself. Ahh, delicious. The heat from the blazing furnace and Ainz’s fire magic made me feel uncomfortably warm as well.
By the way, the spiritual beings were all taking cover in their vessels to avoid being roasted by this magic onslaught. Bishop Lexar had been throwing a fit about ‘how can the vampires run wild while I’m just sleeping?’ but even he had succumbed to the fire attribute and entered a peaceful slumber.
As night deepened, Helena and Leila were taking a break in another room. Leila had thought about taking a nap in the forge, but she seemed to have given up because Ainz’s hammering was far too loud.
As for me, I had just been infusing dark magic combined with the Holy Silver Curse into Adamas. High-ranking demon magic, a demon’s horn, Leila’s fangs and Liliana’s claws — a taboo, greedy set of materials were being poured into the reforging of Adamas, entering the climax of the process.
My beloved sword, now red-hot — it was… well, it wasn’t holding any of its original form. Naturally, since it was being reforged, that was to be expected, but it had transformed so much that I wondered, “Is it really okay to change it that much?”
It was almost a different object altogether… It felt like it was getting beaten so badly that you couldn’t even recognize its face shape. I had no clue how the reforging sword felt, but I started to feel a bit sorry for it.
“Hey, Alex.”
“What?”
“You’re using this sword as the tip of a spear too, right?”
Ainz, still fixated on Adamas, asked.
“Yeah. I just call it a sword-spear, no twists there.”
“You’re using extendable human bones for the handle, right? I’d like to see how that works.”
With a glance upward, Ainz pointed with his chin to the sword propped in the corner of the room.
“There’s a sword similar to Adamas, so show me how it works. If you’re using it in its sword form, there must be some issues that need to be addressed for it to function well as a spear. Let’s figure it out and improve it.”
True, I was using the sword entirely differently than when I was a hero. Ainz would likely design this with the consideration of its spear usage as well.
How thoughtful…!
I quickly borrowed the sword, attached the bone handle, and demonstrated the spear techniques. I included thrusts, strikes, as well as slicing movements from swordsmanship, upward slicing from thrusts, defensive moves to deflect demon spears, and counterattacks with the tip of the spear—
“…I’m a total rookie with spears, but aside from thrusts and strikes, it looks like slashing is a big difference between a sword-spear and a spear?”
“That’s right. Thanks to the handle being extremely long, it’s more accurate to think of it as a sword that can easily deliver strikes and thrusts.”
“It looks like a pretty refined technique. If you came up with it all on your own, that’s impressive.”
“……No, I didn’t come up with it alone.”
As Ainz nodded, seemingly impressed, I instinctively halted my performance and reached toward my chest. Under my clothes, my pendant swayed. The Night Elf Sword Saint—
“…Actually, I have a subordinate who’s a master of the sword, a Night Elf. We practiced in a combat format, going back and forth, and refined it together.”
“I see… with that in mind… slashing… no, if we consider centrifugal force… the extendable handle is… on the contrary… with the assumption of flexible use…”
Ainz had already entered his own world, muttering to himself while continuing to hammer Adamas.
I shrugged alone.
“Hah… There’s no trace of sentimentality here.”
It wasn’t that I was feeling sentimental, alright? Sure, I had my emotional considerations, but I had known from the start…
As a Demon Lord’s Prince, he was a good subordinate. A valuable loyalist.
But as a Hero—he was an enemy, pure and simple.
That never changed from start to finish…
“…Hey, Alex, show me that thrusting to slashing motion again.”
“Sure.”
I responded eagerly to Ainz’s request. For a while, I kept demonstrating the sword-spear techniques as he directed. I had loved moving my body since the time in the Demon Lord Castle. Swinging the sword mindlessly allowed me to think about nothing else.
—Still, I found no particular discontent in using Adamas as the spear tip, but I wondered how Ainz intended to improve it.
If I had to say, it might be just a bit heavy for spear use? But it’s not like a lightweight is the end-all-be-all. Having become a demon, I could utilize body enhancements far more powerful than in my previous life, so swinging it around wouldn’t be an issue.
I was curious and anxious about what Ainz would discover from the sword-spear as a blacksmith and how he would rebirth Adamas into a new form.
However, one thing was for sure: he would craft the ideal weapon for me. I had complete trust in blacksmith Ainz.
I was sure he’d do a great job, just like when he forged Adamas—
“……”
Speaking of which, I suddenly realized something.
After reuniting with Ainz, I had been swept along until now and completely forgotten an important detail…
“What’s wrong? You look a bit pale.”
…When I requested Adamas, I handed over all my money to Ainz.
Literally, my entire fortune. I dumped all the gold coins I had saved, with no other use, into Ainz’s forge.
Thanks to that, Adamas had become a holy sword, extremely close to a true masterpiece—
This time, I was getting it reforged into an undeniable “true masterpiece.”
Just how much will the price be this time?
Could I pay for it with what I have…? I felt a bead of unpleasant sweat trickle down.
“Hey… Ainz.”
“What?”
“I apologize for bringing this up so late…”
“Get to the point.”
Ainz frowned, clearly annoyed by the awkward tension.
“…What do I owe for the new Adamas?”
“Nothing.”
Huh?
Ainz’s immediate response left me wide-eyed.
“Nothing.”
To emphasize that I hadn’t misheard, Ainz repeated it again.
“But… Dwarven forging magic…”
Forging magic doesn’t work unless the customer pays a proper price. If the contract is not fulfilled, the magic infused by the Dwarf fades and is lost forever.
And that was supposed to be a steadfast rule binding the Dwarf race as well—
“Only the true masterpiece is an exception.”
With a somewhat amused grin, Ainz said.
“Because a true masterpiece is created for none other than oneself. It’s an entire life devoted to pride, the art of blacksmithing, and creating things—”
Swinging the hammer down, Ainz infused magic into the red-hot Adamas.
“—It’s the ultimate creation born from pouring everything into it. Since it’s something I forge for my own pride, I won’t take any price from you. You need only take this crystallization of my soul, forged with every fiber of my being.”
“Aha,” he said, smirking a little bit, and teasingly looked at me.
“Well, this is all assuming the reborn Adamas recognizes you first.”
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