I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 90

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 90

“I have a question!”
I couldn’t just leave things as they were. No one had given me permission to ask, but I directed my question toward the Dwarf Blacksmith Guild masters.
“What is the most perfect gemstone?”
However, the Dwarves seemed indifferent even to a child’s question. Uninterested in my inquiry, they drained their water glasses in long gulps instead of answering.
“Ah, refreshing.”
“Thanks for the break.”
“Time to get back to it.”
The blacksmith masters began to scatter in an instant.
I quickly continued, almost as if speaking to myself.
“It’s for my experiential learning assignment… I have to decide and submit it by today… I thought if I asked these clever blacksmith masters, I could make a decision…”
A rumble of movement.
“We’re pretty clever, aren’t we?”
“The most perfect gemstone? Isn’t that the question the clan leader posed to those Trabel fellows last time?”
“Those Trabel people. Still haven’t collapsed? All they do is hammer away—they know nothing of the world beyond the village.”
“Mind your tongues. This one is Trabel.”
Baltar revealed my identity to the blacksmith masters who had regathered.
The masters flinched briefly, but soon grew indifferent again.
“For a Trabel, you communicate well with us.”
“Well, all those Trabel fools from back then are dead anyway.”
“Now that’s something I like to hear.”
They didn’t harbor nearly as much resentment toward Trabel as Baltar did.
“Let’s each name a gemstone and be on our way. The iron will cool before we know it. I’ll go with sapphire. The hardness and durability are decent, and it pairs well with Alchemist formulas.”
“Then I’ll choose diamond. Superior strength is what matters most.”
“You’ve taken all the best ones. Then I’ll go with opal. It has excellent aesthetic effects and is relatively easy to work with.”
The answers were more straightforward than I’d expected.
‘Hmm. What now? I thought if I brought up gemstones, they’d mention some unusual gems the clan leader might secretly mine from Crest Mine.’
As I was pondering my next question, Baltar snorted audibly.
“Sapphire? Diamond? Opal?”
‘Oh.’
Baltar seemed about to say something. I perked up my ears.
“And you call yourselves Dwarf Blacksmith masters! The most perfect gemstone in this world is—”
‘Is—’
“Nonexistent!”
“Nonexistent…”
I muttered in disappointment, but my deflated voice didn’t reach the Dwarves’ ears.
Instead, one of the blacksmith masters’ murmur came through to me with perfect clarity.
“Looks like you’re starting again. That obsession with fantasy metals.”
‘Fantasy metals?’
“Ugh. My iron. I’m going.”
“I should go too.”
In an instant, the blacksmith uncles scattered toward the Blacksmith where they had been working.
Baltar, left alone, continued speaking without concern.
“But there is the most perfect metal! Adamantite! The dream of all blacksmiths!”
…Adamantite?

***

Reytan Quartz Trabel sat on the second floor’s protruding stone. Theon, seated to his right, couldn’t take his gaze from the broad platform. It had been since the High Priest and Emperor entered.
‘They do resemble each other.’
Reytan’s gaze passed over the High Priest delivering the speech and landed on the Emperor seated in an ornate chair. He wore a benevolent smile as if mindful of the watching eyes, sitting beside the Empress.
Black hair, black eyes. He resembled my disciple, but that was after I heard from Demian that the Emperor’s bloodline had run dry.
Reytan patted Theon’s head once, then spoke to Demian seated on his left.
“There are more people than before.”
“It’s been six years for you. The number of attendees has grown over the years. There aren’t many places as diplomatically valuable as this event.”
“I see.”
The front row of the First Floor was reserved for the imperial and royal families.
Indeed. As Demian said, more royals were attending than before. There were famous figures, and some I was seeing for the first time. Then one royal caught my attention.
A man with pale skin and boyish features. Someone I didn’t know.
“…Demian.”
“Yes.”
“Is that man over there with cloth draped over one shoulder also royalty? Who is he?”
“Ah, Alexis.”
Demian immediately recognized the person Reytan was asking about.
He had first appeared two years ago and made an appearance at every major diplomatic event without fail.
He was famous for his pink hair, impressive height, and striking appearance.
“He’s royalty from the Edencia Kingdom. The son of the current king’s younger brother.”
“…I see.”
Crack.
Reytan’s hand gripped Windis. The flowing blue aura responded to my emotions, calming the sacred sword that was trying to rampage.

***

Several days had passed since the Trabel Count Family had walked around my village under the guise of experiential learning.
Baltar couldn’t shake the feeling that he had made a mistake.

“Adamantite! The dream of every blacksmith! I will absolutely mine it!”

When I asked for the most perfect gemstone, I grew emotional seeing blacksmiths merely presenting common gems.
How could a Dwarf Blacksmith Guild member be satisfied with such ordinary stones? That was my point.
So I spoke according to my heart’s desire, but when I came to my senses, the blacksmiths had vanished, leaving only the youngest granddaughter of Count Trabel staring up at me.

“Adamantite? That’s the most perfect metal? What the clan leader wants to mine?”
“…You heard?”

A nod.
The young human nodded her head.

“…It’s a secret in Trabel?”
“Yes!”

I received that answer, but it came from a child.
And a human from the Trabel Family at that.
How could I trust the words of a child I’d just met?

Sizzzzz—
As I plunged the iron from the furnace into water, steam erupted instantly.
I placed the iron on the anvil and lifted my hammer. When hammering, all thoughts vanished.
Only myself and the iron remained in this space.
But—
Clang!
‘What if that girl told Count Trabel about adamantite?’
Clang!
‘What if those money-hungry fools eventually discover the tunnel I dug in Crest Mine?’
Clang!
‘What if they buy Crest Mine back from Baron Oldman—!’
My thoughts wouldn’t cease. My strength control was terrible, so the shape couldn’t possibly turn out right.
I lifted the iron with tongs after finishing the forging work.
‘Failed again!’
For days now, my work hadn’t satisfied me.
I thought my instincts would return once I grasped the iron, but with such anxious thoughts, I couldn’t create something perfect.
Besides, hadn’t I told Count Trabel not to worry about quality?
“Clan leader, you’re not working anymore? Where are you going?”
“Taking a break!”
At my confident words, the blacksmith working in the same space shook his head in disapproval. Such a temperament.
I walked away with heavy footsteps.
The source of my anxiety was precisely that—the possibility that the Trabel family might seize the adamantite from me.
‘Starting today, I’ll have to pick up a pickaxe and head back to the mountain.’
Once I’d made the decision, all that remained was to act.
Baltar retrieved a large pickaxe from the Village Storage, wrapped a band fitted with a luminous stone around his forehead, and made his way toward the village entrance.
‘I’ll mine it myself!’
Just as he crossed the threshold, his resolve burning bright, someone called out to him.
“Baltar.”
“I’m busy—who keeps interrupting me?!”
He turned his head and his eyes widened as he recognized who had called him.
It was Oldman’s Representative.
The last time they’d met, she had worn an expressionless face, but today she seemed distinctly uncomfortable. Could she be bringing me bad news…?
“Please remove the luminous stone.”
“Oh, my apologies.”
I’d forgotten about the gleaming band around my forehead. As I grabbed the headband and shoved it into my pocket, the representative extended a letter toward me.
“Baron Oldman sent this.”
Baron Oldman!
My heart raced. But since I’d just apologized for the luminous stone, I accepted the letter politely.
“Th-thank you.”
“….”
She was pleasant enough, yet still silent. I watched her carefully and asked.
“…Is there something else…?”
“And grave robbing is a crime.”
Thud.
The pickaxe in my hand clattered to the ground.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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