Book 1 Chapter 267
Kaang-! Kkang-!
The sound of the hammer striking the heated metal echoed.
A small giant.
Dwenno poured his soul into the hammer.
His demeanor was more serious than ever.
Hwarururuk-!
Bright yellow flames burst from Dwenno’s hands.
Flames that could also be seen as golden.
“Sharp enough to cut through black flames.”
Dwenno muttered.
Kkang! Kkang!
“Hard enough not to yield to black flames.”
Dwenno, who usually praised beauty, made his weapon as beautiful as possible.
But he paid no attention to the exterior of the sword he was making now.
He didn’t engrave beautiful patterns on the blade.
The blade didn’t emit a brilliant light.
He put only one thing into the sword.
The wish that the user would not succumb to the flames of disaster.
Hwaruk-!
The bright yellow flames, symbolizing Dwenno, shone brightly.
To Kyle, watching from the side, the light looked like gold.
Eventually, the flames subsided.
Dwenno reached out his hand.
The sword was still red-hot, but Dwenno didn’t mind.
A dwarf beloved by fire, he had strong resistance to fire.
Teop-!
With the blade facing downwards, Dwenno held out the sword to Kyle.
“Try holding it.”
At his words, Kyle hesitated.
Dwenno, who had heat resistance, might not be affected by the heat of the red-hot sword, but Kyle was not.
After a moment of hesitation, Kyle reached out his hand.
Deopseok-
He felt a burning heat in his hand.
Hwaahahwah-!
But that was short-lived.
The heat soon turned into warmth.
The red-hot sword quickly turned into a transparent silver.
A crude longsword, unbelievable that Dwenno made it.
But the sword was perfect.
The moment he held it, it felt like a part of his body.
Woong-!
The sword spoke its name.
It reacted to Kyle’s touch.
“This sword was made with you as inspiration.”
“Didn’t you say there was nothing to get inspiration from me?”
Dwenno, who worshipped beauty, drew inspiration from all beautiful things.
He drew the most inspiration from Lissinas and Luna.
Not as much as them, but he also drew inspiration from Arion.
However, he had never said he got inspiration from Kyle.
“That’s right. I thought I couldn’t get inspiration from you.”
Dwenno let out a low laugh.
“Because you seemed to have no dreams.”
The beauty Dwenno spoke of was not simply outward appearance.
He was a dwarf who considered the dreams people pursued and the process of achieving them to be the highest beauty.
Lissinas harbored the grand aspiration to save the world.
Luna had the goal of creating a world in full bloom with flowers.
Arion dreamed of a world where many children in the world were not unhappy.
Dwenno also had the dream of leaving behind beautiful works of art.
But Kyle had nothing.
“In my eyes, your inner self looked like burnt ashes.”
“That’s not an incorrect assessment.”
Kyle let out a snicker.
When he heard Lissinas’s plan to defeat Erebus.
Luna treated Lissinas as a madman, but she didn’t mock his aspiration.
Arion was terrified, but he soon showed Lissinas trust and faith.
Dwenno, though bewildered, lent his strength to his grand ambition.
But Kyle was different.
He had mocked Lissinas when he first visited, and he continued to mock Lissinas’s dream even as they began their journey together.
Now, he understood why he had done so.
‘Because I have no dreams.’
He had lived each day struggling.
That’s why he earned the title of Hero of Survival.
A cursed hero whose companions all died.
A person whose goal was simply to live each day, without any ideals or goals to pursue.
That was himself, Kyle thought.
“Actually, I really hated that about you.”
Dwenno smiled bitterly.
“That’s probably why I turned a blind eye to you. I thought there was nothing beautiful about you and ignored you.”
“That’s a bit too much.”
“Yes. It was a pathetic and ugly thing to do.”
Dwenno looked down at his hands.
“Your grayness… reminded me of my past self.”
“Your past self?”
“Yes.”
Dwenno clenched his fist.
“People say I’m a man beloved by fire. But for me, this ability was a curse.”
Since awakening his ability as a child.
Dwenno said he burned everything he touched.
Everything around Dwenno was devastated.
“It was unfortunate for a dwarf. My flames melted even the anvil and hammer.”
A monster of fire that spewed flames that even the Great Spirit of Fire and the Phoenix feared.
A cursed dwarf who turned everything to ashes.
“You say nothing around you survived, so how did you become a crazy dwarf who can’t get enough of beautiful things?”
“I’d prefer you remove ‘crazy dwarf’.”
“Be grateful I didn’t call you a perverted dwarf like Luna.”
Dwenno, looking at Kyle with dissatisfaction, said.
“One day, I saw something. A beautiful elf woman.”
“Is that why you’re so obsessed with asking Luna to be your model? Because she reminds you of the elf you saw back then?”
“Don’t compare her to Luna. That would be an insult to her.”
Dwenno was rarely serious.
The reason Dwenno often asked Luna to be his model was simple.
When she shut her mouth, she was truly a beautiful elf.
“She was a painter. An artist who captured the beautiful scenery of the world in her paintings.”
“Was she a famous painter?”
“No, she was just a traveling painter. A woman who left her kin because she was tired of elven society.”
Dwenno smiled faintly.
“But the paintings she drew were truly beautiful.”
He said that was the moment Dwenno became fascinated by beauty.
“I tried to control my power so as not to harm beautiful things. And I succeeded.”
Dwenno looked down at his hands.
“I hate my past self who couldn’t control my power. Turning away from you was due to my ugly heart trying to turn away from the past.”
Dwenno looked at Kyle.
“Only recently have I been able to truly look at you, Kyle.”
“So? What is it? Did you see any dreams that could be inspiring?”
“No, you are still full of grayness. But I saw something I couldn’t see before.”
“What is it?”
“That you don’t stop moving forward, even though there is nothing.”
Dwenno’s eyes curved gently.
“And I learned that the reason is for us.”
Kyle, reflected in Dwenno’s eyes, was a man who carried no burden of his own.
But he silently carried the burdens of his companions.
“When I realized that, I understood. You are a person with a beauty that cannot be replaced by anyone else.”
Dwenno smiled faintly.
“That Lissinas chose you, that Luna relies on you the most, that Arion wanted to become like you. And that I, who doesn’t make weapons for those I dislike, made a weapon for you.”
Dwenno stared intently at Kyle’s face.
“It’s because I, an aesthete, instinctively saw through your beauty.”
Dwenno puffed himself up.
“Therefore, that sword is my greatest masterpiece.”
Kyle looked at the sword in his hand with slightly surprised eyes.
Dwenno does not call the weapons he makes ‘works of art’.
This is because Dwenno doesn’t particularly like making weapons.
Yet he called a simple, crude longsword a masterpiece.
“That sword is just like you. It holds no mana. To others, it’s just a hard and sharp iron rod.”
It was too humble for a sword made by Dwenno.
Dwenno loved anything ornate.
“But… the moment you hold it, that sword can become anything.”
It could be a powerful weapon, or a formidable magic staff.
Or it could be a catalyst to summon a familiar.
“The only sword in this world… for all classes.”
Kyle looked down at the sword.
He could feel the sword reacting to his abilities.
“What is the sword’s name?”
“Posteritas.”
At Leo’s question, Dwenno smiled meaningfully.
“It means future.”
***
“This is Kyle’s sword.”
Mel exclaimed at Leo’s mumbling.
“How do people in the future evaluate this sword?”
“The dwarves predict that it might be a failed work made by Dwenno.”
Dwenno’s weapons are all so beautiful that they can be considered works of art.
Furthermore, they maintain their form even after thousands of years.
Of course, very few of Dwenno’s ultimate masterpieces, the weapons used during the final expedition, remain.
Even if they remain, they are on the verge of being destroyed by fierce battles but have barely maintained their form.
But this sword, in the shape of a crude longsword, felt no power.
Moreover, its form was not properly maintained.
The history of the sword was even more unknown, so the dwarves considered this sword a failed work by Dwenno.
“I can’t believe it was Leo’s sword.”
As Mel exclaimed, Leo said calmly.
“This is also the last sword Dwenno made.”
“Yes?”
‘In the battle after completing the sword… Dwenno lost his life.’
Leo’s eyes darkened.
‘Move forward, Kyle. Create a path for those who will follow… That sword is for that purpose.’
Even as his lower body burned away and his life faded, Dwenno said so with eyes burning like flames.
And inheriting that will.
This sword succeeded in opening the path to the future.
“I can’t believe it was Dwenno’s last weapon…”
Mel exclaimed, learning a fact she didn’t know.
Mel, whose eyes shone like a girl listening to an old story, suddenly realized something.
“Wait a minute. If that’s the case…”
“Yes.”
Leo reached out his hand to the sword.
Woong-!
Though already damaged beyond recognition as a sword, it responded to its master’s call after 5,000 years of silence.
“This sword conquered Erebus.”
Hwaak-! Tak-!
The sword hanging on the wall flew into Leo’s hand.
As if delighted to be held by its master after thousands of years.
The sword continued to resonate.
And at the same time…
Woong-! Woong-!
Dwenno’s legacy stored in the armory began to react.
Mel looked around the armory with a startled expression.
Hwarururuk-!
Yellow flames burst from Leo’s hand.
Dwenno’s flames, awakened by Fivva’s divine power imbued in Folium.
All the weapons here were born from these flames.
‘Dwenno didn’t call the weapons he made works of art.’
Leo looked around Dwenno’s legacy.
‘But he didn’t lack affection.’
Dwenno poured his heart into making weapons.
The reason Dwenno is called the Divine Blacksmith.
It’s because the weapons have will.
It’s not a will made by magitech like Egosword.
Pure will imbued in the weapon.
It was as if that will was shouting something.
‘Perhaps these weapons have been on display for a long time, thousands of years at the longest, and hundreds of years at the shortest.’
From the dwarves’ perspective, they would want to preserve the legacy left by the great Divine Blacksmith.
But would these weapons want to rust away like this?
Hwarururuk-
The weapons spewed bright yellow flames.
And in an instant, they returned to their brilliant forms from the past.
Mel’s mouth fell open at the sight.
“I see.”
Leo nodded at the sight.
Once, he had asked Luna why she didn’t call the weapons she made works of art.
Dwenno had replied like this.
‘The essence of a weapon is, after all, a tool of battle.’
Dwenno said habitually as he struck the weapon.
‘It’s an object that has to fight on the battlefield eventually. That’s why I can’t call it a work of art.’
Dwenno gave a bitter smile.
‘These children… are destined to disappear on the battlefield someday. That may be the greatest happiness for these children.’
“You mean you can still… fight?”