Chp 3

There was a distinct hierarchy in the smithy. The blacksmiths of highest rank are the ones who make armors and weapons, the ones in the middle rank make the cauldrons, pots, doorknobs, and candlesticks; the rest had to hammer horseshoes all day long.

He was very aware that his best chance is only up to becoming a middle-ranked blacksmith. Despite being skillful with handling tools, he could never even have the chance to hammer a metal of high-quality.

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The tension and competition between the apprentices are very fierce and the senior blacksmiths have already handpicked their successors, and so far, he has failed. Perhaps, he will be working errands in the smithy for the rest of his life.

“Still, it’s better than being a peasant farmer…”

Riftan washed his face with cold water to reinvigorate his mind, rocking his head back and forth, thinking of ways to escape his damned poverty-stricken life. However, there simply is no good future that can be drawn for him.

To add to his list of misfortunes, he’s an illegitimate mixed-race child, born out of the blood of strangers. Even if his family were able to gather capital and start a business, it would easily be eradicated, having a Catholic-dominant manor that controls the trade. Besides, who would want to buy from him.

He rubbed his neck, which had become sticky from sweat, and went into the smithy. The blacksmiths were already gathered, ready to start the day and setting fire to the furnaces. One of them looked at him with billowing eyes.

“What in the world are you standing around for?!”

The man pointed to the huge bellows made of dragon’s wings and ordered him to operate it. Riftan sighed and began to pull the thing up and push it down repeatedly. Soon, the spacious, cluttered smithy was steaming with muggy heat.

Riftan thought that it was a wonder how his lungs didn’t give up yet. The reverberating sound of the hammers hitting iron here and there could make him deaf. He smiled bitterly.

What do you need to worry for?

It would have been better if that happened, then he wouldn’t have to hear his neighbors gossiping about his illegitimacy and race when he passes by.

Riftan’s jaw was rigid, and his teeth were tightly clenched as he moved his arms up and down with all his strength. After fanning the furnace for a long period of time, a glowing red-hot stream of iron flowed out, it was then placed in a mold to harden and then on top of an anvil, to be pounded with a hammer to flatten its shape.

When the wrought iron has been made, the blacksmith takes it to be polished further and made into things such as horseshoes, spurs, and axes. This process was repeated throughout the day.

“Hey! We’re out of lime! Didn’t I tell you to get enough?!”

Riftan was in the middle of working on the bellows when someone pulled his ear from behind. Riftan lifted his head, swallowing back a groan. The bearded man squeezed his face hard with one hand and turned his head to one side of the forge.

“We only have half a bag left! Bring more, and hurry!”

Riftan shook off the man’s hand and looked at him fiercely. The blacksmith’s face immediately turned red from anger.

“What’s with those eyes? Are you trying to rebel now?”

As if the man was showing off his solid biceps, the product of hammering all day, he shook his clunky fist and flapped his arm. Riftan had been hit the other day, beaten to the temple which caused him to vomit all day long. He took a step back.

“Are you not going to bring it?”

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Riftan strode outside before the man could hit him on the back of his head. However, while dragging the barrow to the warehouse, Riftan’s boiling anger didn’t subside. There are twenty-four apprentices, why is it that when something runs out, he’s always the one at fault?

“Fuck*ng jerks…”

He groaned and spat on the ground, then dragged the rattling barrow to a shorter path. Walking through the thick forest, he heard a dog barking from somewhere. He paused on his tracks and looked around but could not see a dog in sight. He frowned, left the barrow, and headed to the direction of the sound.

As he jumped over the lush bushes and passed three or four beautiful trees, he saw a black hound barking aggressively at something, its posture in full guard.

If his eyes weren’t fooling him, that hound is the loyal watchdog of the Duke’s eldest daughter.

What the hell are you doing in this place? Where’s your master?

Riftan’s eyebrows were creased, then suddenly his eyes widened at what he saw.

The dog was barking at a massive lizard-like creature that was about 1 kvet long, its tongue was slithering.

Riftan instinctively lowered his body against the ground and observed the creature’s appearance. It was the first time that he saw such a thing in his life. Its whole body was wrapped in thorny scales and its large, menacing mouth had two long, needle-like protruding fangs.

Are there other monsters hiding?

As Riftan’s thoughts were running, the dog ran towards the lizard. Then, the lizard struck the hound with its long tail and bit the hound’s neck.

As he was staring stiff and blankly at the scene, something popped out of the bushes. Riftan’s breath hitched. The young girl of the Croiso family grabbed a long branch and began to smash the lizard’s body.

Riftan, who has never seen such a baffling scene, swears to the heavens that it didn’t sink in him. He was so perplexed that his body didn’t move and stiffened further.

The lizard swung its head, threw the hound, and ran straight to the girl. Upon seeing what’s about to come, Riftan picked up a stone under him and ran like lightning to her side.

As he struck the pointed stone to the neck of the monster, its body, thicker than Riftan’s forearm, convulsed violently. It spewed out an ear-splitting scream, threating with its venom.

He escaped behind the creature and threw stones as hard as he could. A big stone then struck the creatures’s throat, making the monster struggle and wriggle vigorously with its long tail.

Riftan hurriedly picked up fallen branches and stabbed them into the creature’s stomach. After a while, the monster’s body turned limp. He kicked it and took a ragged breath.

His heart drummed loudly against his chest, like a horseshoe being hammered, and cold sweat ran down his back like a waterfall. If he could, he wanted to lay the girl face down against his lap and hit her buttocks as punishment.

Riftan glared at the girl ferociously. But, as she saw her sitting down weakly on the ground, all his anger washed away and was replaced by fear.

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He hurriedly sat down in front of her, inspecting her whole body. Blood was oozing out of her forearm. She was bitten by that godless creature. Without sparing a thought, Riftan loosened his belt and tied it tightly around the upper part of the wound.

Then, the little girl leaned her head back as if to sleep and burst into tears. He squeezed her arm from top to bottom, her arm was less than a handful against his palms. The girl cried and pounded on his limbs.

“A…ow!”

“I have to get the venom out. Stay still!”

After all this is done, his throat might be cut for contempt, but for now, there’s no one to witness. He screamed at her to be quiet, placed his mouth on the wound, sucked out the venom-infected blood and spat it on the ground.

After doing the process several times, he embraced her little doll-like body and carried her eagerly towards the castle. She burst into tears as her eyes drooped.

“My…Puppy…”

He looked over his shoulder, freaking out. The dog was lifeless and wasn’t moving. Riftan bit his lips and moved again, but the stubborn girl pulled on his hair.

“My…Puppy too…You have t-to take my puppy too.”

“I’ll bring him to you later.”

He urged hi

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