Black Ore Town, a border settlement beside the Ashen Forest, saw many adventurers pass through on their way to explore. Its remote location hadn’t kept its population small, but the dry climate made it hard for nobles to settle here, and the town had never managed to grow into a city.

The only thing the town could really take pride in was its local weaponsmithing. The area was rich in several kinds of high-quality ore, a common material for weapon-making, and every so often the smiths produced an outstanding weapon of Fine quality.

But today, Black Ore Town was clearly about to make a fool of itself.

A large crowd had gathered in Gospel Square. The mood was somewhat tense. At the very center stood a group of about ten Templars: four male squire knights, with the rest being full-fledged female knights. This sort of difference in status was perfectly normal.

The goddess of this world favored women, after all. Those four male knights held little status within the group and were treated like errand boys. Even so, the fact that they’d managed to join the ranks of the knights was enough to make many men jealous.

“You lied about the monsters, and now you can’t even find a blacksmith who can repair a greatsword?!” the female knight Eva Daler snapped.

Her scolding left everyone around her hanging their heads. Most of them were blacksmiths, including some who’d come from nearby towns. The rest were just onlookers, there to watch the drama unfold. Quite a few wore gleeful expressions. They’d long resented the smiths’ repair fees, and maybe this would give them a chance to push the prices down.

The female mayor, Campbell, couldn’t save face, but she still stepped forward and said:

“Please calm down, Lady Eva. We can tell that the greatsword you’ve asked us to repair is a Relic-tier weapon passed down by some prestigious family. It has runes engraved on it, too. If we tried to repair it carelessly, we’d only ruin it... The art of runecraft is controlled by Knowledge City and the Church. We’re just craftsmen scraping by out here on the frontier. We can’t repair it.”

A greatsword nearly two meters long lay in the middle of the crowd. (Of course, the hilt accounted for a considerable part of its length.) It gave off an ancient, distant air, and no one knew which era it had come from. Tiny, fingernail-sized arcane runes were engraved on the blade. It would fetch a fortune at auction, but a “scar” covered the first character in the runic inscription, rendering the entire sequence useless.

With so few paths open to them in cultivation, men could only make their mark through smithing. It had practically become a matter of pride for them. The burly blacksmiths gathered together in solidarity, frowning as they discussed the matter in low voices.

“There’s no way to repair this. My knowledge of smithing doesn’t cover runes.”

“Same here. Ten years ago, we could still ask scholars to teach us. But now the Church has monopoli—tightened its control, and we can’t get our hands on this kind of smithing knowledge that borders on magic.”

“This is asking the impossible. Besides, the material this sword’s made of is no ordinary stuff. Black Ore Town has plenty of minerals, but none of what we produce can be used to mend that crack!”

Eva’s displeasure was written all over her face. They’d come in response to a distress letter from the Black Ore Town region, but these people had completely misreported the enemy’s strength and numbers. As a result, Shining Knight Captain Kashalia had fought a grueling battle to cover her teammates, and in the end, her family’s treasured greatsword had been damaged. One line of runes on it had stopped working!

The Church knights could be held directly responsible for not being strong enough, but ultimately, the people of Black Ore Town hadn’t reported the situation honestly. It might sound like they were just shifting the blame, but the knight squad had played it safe before setting out and brought two extra male knights and two extra female knights. That showed just how far off the report had been.

“This is the sword of Lady Kashalia, the Shining Knight Captain. I’ve already been very generous by not holding you responsible for your false report, and your town is famous far and wide for its swordsmiths. Yet you can’t find a single person who can repair it!” Another female knight, Yeda, shot a glance at Mayor Campbell. The icy look made Campbell’s body tremble.

Campbell was at her wit’s end. She hurried to explain, “We truly didn’t expect the abandoned mine to be such a terrifying mess. We thought it was just corpses mutating because of the evil god’s followers. May the True Gods hear my sincere prayers!”

“Didn’t Black Ore Town used to have swordsmiths who specialized in engraving runes?” Eva’s tone softened a little. She knew there was no point in giving these people a harder time. If it came to it, they might have to return to the Church and deal with it there.

Campbell rubbed her hands together and said bitterly:

“That was at least ten years ago. These days, Black Ore Town can make Fine-quality weapons, and even enchanted weapons, but engraving runes is...”

“Madam Mayor, isn’t that oddball from the Coffin shop always bragging that he can repair any weapon?” Baker, a weasel-faced blacksmith, whispered in Campbell’s ear.

The Coffin shop Baker meant was Fenmu’s, of course. He was clearly trying to shove Fenmu into a fire pit. But Baker wasn’t the only one who disliked him. Most of the town’s male blacksmiths hated Fenmu, who’d only settled there in recent years.

Why was it that whenever their own wives were in a bad mood, they got beaten black and blue, while Fenmu’s wife was not only beautiful and powerful, but doted on him, too? You could hear his blissful screams ringing across the whole town as he walked down the street in broad daylight!

Campbell had been about to reject the scheming fellow’s suggestion outright. It was normal for a shopkeeper to boast about what their business could do; everyone did it to drum up trade. But Anastasia had just given her a sharp rebuke, and Campbell was feeling resentful, too.

So what if she couldn’t beat you? She could at least go after your little husband, right? It was bad enough that you had such an adorable young man all to yourself, but you were also so arrogant and haughty. This was the perfect chance to use the Church knights’ influence to take you down a peg.

“Lady Eva, it seems there really is someone in town who might be able to repair this greatsword.”

As soon as Campbell finished speaking, the skinny Baker eagerly pointed at Fenmu, who’d just arrived late. Everyone’s gaze followed. Fenmu could only stare back, baffled.

What’s going on? This isn’t roll call at church. I’m only a little late—why’s everyone staring at me like that?

Shining Knight Kashalia also looked over at the rather clueless but handsome young man. She’d been brooding in silence nearby over the damage to her family’s sword. Now that she’d heard there might be a solution, she was still skeptical, but she picked up her greatsword and walked over to Fenmu.

He seemed a little slow on the uptake, but this boy was unexpectedly good-looking. He was probably sixteen or seventeen.

Kashalia asked politely:

“I’m Kashalia, the captain of this squad. Hello, blacksmith. What’s your name?”

“Fenmu,” he replied, politely and discreetly letting his eyes take in the pretty female knight.

That backside... Not as nice as my master’s, but still pretty good. But your butt tells me you’re just a decent person who barely makes the grade, Miss Knight.

“Can you repair my sword?” Kashalia held up the damaged part of the blade for him to see.

Fenmu only gave it a quick look before reaching a conclusion. He said:

“I can, but is there a reward?”

“How dare you! The sword was damaged because of your stupidity, and now you’re asking for a reward?” Eva snapped.

“Calm down!” Kashalia gently chided her comrade, then nodded to Fenmu. “You can have a reward. Don’t worry about that for now. First, you need to repair the sword.”

Since he was a decent person who barely made the grade, and she herself had a good reputation as a Shining Knight, there shouldn’t be any need to worry about him refusing to pay.

“All right. I’ll have it ready tomorrow morning.” Fenmu took the greatsword, slung it over his shoulder, and headed home.

Baker and Campbell had only wanted to watch him embarrass himself in front of everyone. They’d never imagined he’d actually take the job. Even the most experienced blacksmith in town wouldn’t dare act so confident about this!

“What an idiot...”

“The Church knights won’t kill him, but he’ll never be able to show his face in town again.”

“Exactly! Maybe Lady Anastasia will see how useless he is and turn her favor toward me! I’d let her beat me and stomp all over me every day!”

“You must still be dreaming. I’m the only one worthy of being trampled by that goddess of a woman! Just you wait—I’m going to tell your wife exactly what you just said! You’re dead!”