A slender woman with black hair tied up in a
ponytail is smiling. Her hands and feet are small and her breasts are not so
big, but her face is not bad. Her amber eyes are round and slightly slanted
like a cat's, giving her a cute impression.
She wears leather gloves on both hands, short
gusseted boots, a mini-skirt and a camisole other than a tool pouch hanging
from her waist belt.
「......」
Alexis gives her a quick stare, then turns his
gaze to the paper in his hand.
It is a piece of letterhead containing a
response to a letter Alexis had written to the Krangal kingdom before going to
Avalon.
The handwriting is definitely that of the
father king, and the girl in front of him is probably the "answer" to
Alexis' request...
**a
「Uh...well, it says here that you are one of the
best masters sent by the Blacksmith's Guild... Is that correct?」
「Is there any mistake? Are you saying that I'm
unreliable?」
She gives a miffed look.
「There are people like that, aren't there? The
kind of person who thinks I'm just a little kid just because of my image!」
Alexis felt that this person was a gibberish
person who talked too much.
However, indeed, the image of a skilled
blacksmith on his mind is usually that of a stern old man with a beard or
skinhead. Like Lorenzo, for example.
（But, come to think of it, even Lorenzo is a
complete mismatch for that position）
Thinking about it, Alexis was convinced.
「Well, if my father sent you, it must be true.
Then, shall I take you to the workshop in the basement of the fortress?」
「Yes, that would be great!」
Dorothea said so, and Alexis said nothing to
Fransisca, who was standing beside him, and decided to take her to the
workshop.
「Ah, can I join you?」
Fransisca asked when she heard that they were
going to the workshop.
「Eh? Yes, sure... but is there anything in
particular you want to do?」
「Eh, it's nothing. I'm just wondering how to
process it... let's go」
Fransisca said and Alexis nodded.
* * *
The workshop at Fort Rohka is rarely used. Only
occasionally is it used by soldiers to sharpen their weapons individually, so
the furnace is covered with dust.
「Ah, it's a nice workshop. But I have to clean
it first. And why haven't people been using it?」
Fransisca answered Dorothea's question with a
torch in the darkened workshop.
「...There used to be blacksmiths here too. The
Sagrado people... but Avalon enveloped everything, and this is the only
facility in the country that has survived. For a while the soldiers here were
the core of the group that went to the dungeons. But as the days went by, the
Sagrado people decreased in numbers...」
Alexis fell silent as Fransisca began to speak.
Dorothea was also silent, so only Fransisca's
voice reverberated through the workshop.
**b
「...I may be responsible for my being so angry
that I couldn't leave it to the Krangal soldiers and the like. But...there was
no way I would feel good about hearing their voices saying, "You're a
refugee!". However, when we finally began to run out of manpower, he too
came forward to go to the dungeon. He said he could be a guardian」 (*Note: the former guardian
before Alexis is the Blacksmith)
「...――」
Alexis gulped.
Alexis nodded, knowing what Fransisca meant
when he saw her look at him.
「...yes. He passed away. Since then, the furnace
in this workshop is no longer lit」
「...I see. I didn't realize that had happened」
It was Dorothea who murmured deeply.
Fransisca nodded.
「I now wish I had been more flexible... Even
though I'm a princess, I couldn't protect them. But nowadays I think about it.
I wish Alexis-sama had come here a little earlier...」
Fransisca was embarrassed to reveal this and
her cheeks flushed slightly.
「...even if we had ended up like this...I still
think it would have been better, you know...」
Fransisca fidgeted and let out a sigh.
Then, for some reason, she dropped her
shoulders and looked down, saying "...no... it's nothing..."
「...?」
Alexis was puzzled, thinking she had something
to say to him.
「Okay, I understand!」
Dorothea suddenly nodded her head and tapped
the furnace.
「I will take good care of this place!」
「Yes. I'm looking forward to working with you」
Fransisca says, smiling at her.
Alexis thinks that Dorothea has softened a lot,
being a Krangal and all.
「So, I hear it's a special material, which one
do you want me to work on?」
Dorothea asked, and Alexis said, "Oh, this
way," and opened a large warehouse facing the workshop.
Inside the warehouse, crystals from the dungeon
were still glowing blue-white, so there was no need to use torches in the
warehouse.
Thanks for reading...
