Genius Blacksmith's Game Chapter 308: The Last Craft (3)

Takashi was a blacksmith from Japan’s Sakai City region.

And in Sakai City, the Sakai sashimi knife had gained worldwide fa.

One of chefs’ dreams around the world is owning a Sakai sashimi knife. It’s absolutely one of the blades that represents modern Japan.

But Hyunsoo’s face darkened.

There’s no way I can make a Sakai sashimi knife... let alone at a level that would satisfy Takashi.

Just then, Takashi spoke.

“I’ll teach you the thod.”

Hyunsoo’s heart pounded.

Receiving new instruction.

Takashi was a Master Blacksmith who surpassed both and my father.

He was soone who had inherited a craft thod passed down for fifty years—over twenty-six generations.

Hyunsoo slowly nodded.

Now was the ti to say the most important thing.

In that mont, Takashi felt the greatest misery of his life.

He had already donated all of his remaining assets to society.

And due to Ares’s influence, Master Blacksmith Hyunsoo’s price tag was now higher than Takashi’s had been at his peak.

So I’ve lived to seventy, only to end up in a position where I have to beg this young man...

Right then, as Takashi’s lips twitched, Hyunsoo said to him:

“The commission fee is 100 yen.”

“...?”

Hyunsoo rose from his seat.

“I want to start crafting today.”

In truth, Takashi had been looking at things through tinted glasses.

He thought blacksmiths in today’s world shouldn’t even exist.

After what happened back then, he’d developed a negative view.

And he believed Hyunsoo was soone who exploited that reality perfectly, as a business.

But Hyunsoo stood up and bared white teeth.

Takashi knew that smile was ant to hide his misery.

And—

“It’s an honor to take part in Master Blacksmith Hyunsoo’s last craft.”

—he realized those words were also sincere.

The two of them stepped into the forge together.

Takashi also knew that Hyunsoo was currently crafting with his left hand, not his right.

“I’ll fill in your lacking left hand with my left hand. Ha... doesn’t that sound ridiculous?”

Yeah. It was ridiculous.

Two Master Blacksmiths, and both of them had one hand that didn’t work right.

But as he said it, he felt it.

Whatever would be made when two incomplete hands t—would never be ordinary.

RRRRRUMBLE—!

Fire flared in the furnace, and the crafting continued for a long ti.

Takashi built him up from the fundantals.

“You idiot. Do you not know that if it’s only hard, it breaks?”

“Japanese swords don’t break because they mix soft iron into the core.”

“For this mont, accept this—not the sword-making thod you thought you knew.”

As the crafting stretched on, Hyunsoo was stunned.

The joy of learning sothing new, of taking it in and making it mine...

It was a new emotion he hadn’t felt in a long ti.

And there was so much he was gaining from Takashi’s instruction.

“In the ga Ares, you churned out those fakes... and this is all the skill you’ve got?”

“...”

Hyunsoo also felt it—Takashi was the only blacksmith who could scold him like this.

“What exactly is fake?”

The reason Hyunsoo had set the price at 100 yen.

It was for the sake of Takashi’s noble intent, yes—but there was another reason, too.

If he learned under Takashi like this, maybe he could find the truth behind what he’d been feeling lately:

Sothing is wrong.

Being taught by Takashi was worth tens of billions of won to Hyunsoo.

“Heh. You want to know? Then make a sashimi knife that satisfies .”

“Ghk...!”

“Hey—can’t focus? If your mind wavers, you can’t strike dead center!”

“I’ll satisfy you, no matter what!”

“Again.”

“Again.”

“Again!”

“Agaiiin!”

At last, part of the instruction ended.

In truth, Takashi was surprised.

...So it wasn’t just flashy. He’s a pretty excellent blacksmith.

As Takashi looked at Hyunsoo, his eyes suddenly turned sad.

Co to think of it... if Aoi hadn’t died, he’d be about this age.

After swallowing his grief, Takashi and Hyunsoo moved into the real work.

Takashi watched the molten tal flowing down.

And during the forging work, he took the assisting role with the tongs.

CLANG—!

CLANG—!

CLAAANG—!

The forging and quenching neared completion.

Yet the closer it ca to being finished, the more uncomfortable Takashi’s heart beca.

And at the sa ti, he was excited in a different way.

It was the feeling he used to have when he forged.

But he shoved it down and finished the quench.

SSSSSS—!

Then, after polishing, they engraved a pattern.

Before they knew it, a blade so beautiful it was intoxicating had taken shape, and Hyunsoo used wood to make the handle.

Looking at what was nearly complete, Takashi said:

“I want to engrave my na on the blade.”

“...”

From long ago, famous Japanese blacksmiths often engraved their nas on a part that would be hidden once it was joined with the handle.

And even now, centuries later, a sword’s value changed depending on how famous the blacksmith had been.

But Takashi was known precisely because he had never engraved his na even once.

“Who knew I’d end up doing sothing so embarrassing.”

“...”

Hyunsoo saw sorrow reflected there.

It was like watching an old man visiting a photo studio to take a portrait for his morial photo.

And with every character he engraved, one by one, the old man’s breathing grew rougher.

Because of ...

Even now, whenever Takashi tried to fall asleep, it felt like he could still hear the screams of the dead from the Japanese sword he had made.

A weapon I made killed people.

He engraved the final character of his na.

And then, the last step.

At the mont they had to join the handle and blade, Takashi gripped it and couldn’t move for a long ti.

Of course, this wasn’t sothing he had made.

But it remained like trauma, tornting him.

“Ghk....”

No matter how he tried to put strength into it, he couldn’t—and trembling spread through his whole body.

Then two large hands covered both of Takashi’s hands, slowly applying force and joining it together.

GRIP—!

“Are you going to say that line too, like everyone else?”

Takashi smiled sadly.

It’s not your fault.

If it was sothing like that, he’d heard it a hundred tis, a thousand tis, and more.

CLANK—!

When at last his final work—his masterpiece—his grandson’s dream—his gift in reply for the Seven-Branched Sword was completed...

“You were my dream.”

He looked into Hyunsoo’s eyes.

And he understood why he’d felt like he’d t Hyunsoo before.

About eleven years ago.

Back when Aoi was still alive.

He rembered a Korean boy who had co holding hands with a blacksmith in his mid-forties.

Staring at the Japanese sword on display, the boy asked a question.

“Grandpa! Can I make a great sword like this soday too!?”

And Takashi had patted the kid’s head and laughed heartily.

“Of course. Ha, ha.”

Tears began to flow from the old man’s eyes.

“Heh... ha, ha... HAHAHAHAHA!”

That’s right.

I was soone’s dream—and together with him, I gave birth to my final work.

*****

The finished Sakai sashimi knife was beautiful.

Starting from the tip and running down in a slow descent, it glead—though it was only reflecting sunlight.

CLICK—!

After placing it in a box embroidered with a dragon and locking it, Hyunsoo handed it to Takashi.

“This is sothing you have to do, sir.”

“...”

Takashi told Hyunsoo he should deliver it to the National Museum, and Hyunsoo refused.

“Putting sothing on display at the National Museum isn’t sothing we can do just because we want to. But if you—soone who used to be Japan’s greatest Master Blacksmith—deliver it with the sentint that it’s a gift in reply for the Seven-Branched Sword, the press will move.”

“...”

Takashi looked filled with fearful eyes.

Hyunsoo knew ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) what it was.

He’s afraid he’ll be condemned because of the incident ten years ago.

But Hyunsoo could almost see what would unfold.

“...I’ll do it.”

Takashi nodded.

He looked... rather relieved.

“What will you do now?”

Takashi gave a small smile.

“...I found sothing I want to do.”

“Sothing you want to do?”

It was a happy thing.

That an old man who had been losing the will to live had found sothing he wanted to do.

Hyunsoo didn’t pry.

“Ergency Crafting.”

“...Pardon?”

At the words that followed, Hyunsoo wore a puzzled expression.

Why was a skill na suddenly coming up?

“The reason I said it was fake is exactly that. You forged Korea’s greatest famous swords with sothing called Ergency Crafting. And there were other things too, I’m sure.”

In that mont, Hyunsoo began engraving a massive realization into himself.

“Do you truly believe that was real crafting?”

Like an easy problem to others becoming hard when you’re the one thinking about it—

Takashi was pinpointing it precisely.

“What is your strength?”

That was right.

Hyunsoo’s strength was that he was a blacksmith who could craft from start to finish without relying on skills.

Yet at so point, he’d thrown that away and started relying on the power called Ergency Crafting.

He’d slapped together Tyrfing out of what was in his head.

He’d slapped together the Sain Sword that was supposed to be made on a twelve-year cycle.

And the Twin Dragon Sword—sothing he should have crafted with deeper imrsion than anything else—he had forged with Ergency Crafting.

Regression...

Sowhere along the way, he’d been relying on “skills.”

It was a trendous awakening.

“Don’t forget how you forged in reality.”

Hyunsoo had sothing he wanted to say.

But he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

The old man turned, and his figure grew distant.

A few days later, Hyunsoo saw his movents through the news and articles.

-Japan’s Master Blacksmith Takashi, who vanished without a trace. States his intent to donate a Sakai sashimi knife to our National Museum...

-The National Museum responds that it’s an unprecedented case, and they’re at a loss...

-Netizens are ecstatic at the claim that it’s a repaynt for Baekje’s Seven-Branched Sword.

-Who is Takashi? A Japanese Living National Treasure who received the title of Master Blacksmith from Japan’s forr pri minister...

-The Osaka Japanese sword rampage incident from ten years ago is brought back into focus...

Seeing the last line, Hyunsoo frowned.

But the response he’d expected erupted.

-Korean and Japanese netizens are leaving ssages to Master Blacksmith Takashi saying, “You worked hard, Takashi”...

-It’s been revealed that a significant portion of Japanese people are supporting the Master Blacksmith’s final wish...

-The voices of a tiny minority of anti-Korean Japanese have been completely buried...

-Netizens gather signatures, saying you can’t even donate freely?

-It’s reported that over one million people have signed...

-The National Museum announces, in an unusual move, that they will accept and house Master Blacksmith Takashi’s Sakai sashimi knife...

-After the donation, Takashi’s whereabouts are once again unknown...

In truth, Hyunsoo wanted to say this to Takashi.

Please beco my teacher.

But he couldn’t say it.

No—more than anyone, he knew it was sothing he must not say.

Because it would have been purely his own greed.

But it really felt like there was so much to learn from Takashi.

Maybe it would have beco the foothold for Hyunsoo to grow dramatically.

And also—

Takashi is soone who was involved with Ares’s blacksmith advisory work.

Maybe Ares’s side could have received major help as well.

And he might have known about other advisors whose whereabouts were still unknown.

Still, Hyunsoo decided to be satisfied with just discovering that his problem was Ergency Crafting.

No matter what you do... I hope you live happily.

Hyunsoo truly cheered Takashi on as he walked forward.

anwhile.

Takashi, who had found a new dream he wanted to pursue—

was quite happy.

In a way, isn’t this also a kind of crafting? Ha, ha!

Takashi recalled that old feeling.

Back when he first beca a blacksmith—people who had been genuinely delighted and happy with what he made for them!

Wasn’t this work not all that different from that?

And so he was doing his best at the task now given to him.

The work he was doing now.

[28th-Generation Premium Soup Rice.]

He was learning the trade at the soup rice shop that had delighted his palate more than anything across his entire life.

Just as a blacksmith makes people happy through what he crafts—

Takashi realized cooking could be the sa.

Taking the secret thod he learned here, Takashi dread of opening a second location in Japan.

Then—

DING—!

The door opened, and soone walked in.

It was Hyunsoo.

Hyunsoo, who had co to eat at the 28th-generation soup rice shop, froze in shock.

Because Takashi was wearing an apron, mixing cubed radish kimchi.

“Sir, why are you here...?”

Takashi shouted proudly.

“Welco!”