“They’re still just apprentices, so it’s not like they get officially punished. They just get chewed out hard, that’s all.”
“Yeah? And where are those kids’ furnaces?”
“Wh-what?”
“If they thought about putting out someone else’s furnace, they’d better be ready for their own to go out too. Don’t you think?”
At my grin, the Fire-Master Artisan thought to himself that I was a demon.
“I asked where.”
“I-I’ll show you.”
We arrived at the furnaces of the apprentices who’d tried to put out Yeomhwa’s.
I walked up to one of them... and threw a punch straight into it.
KABOOM—
CRRRRRASH—
The furnace collapsed in on itself.
The Fire-Master Artisan stared, appalled.
I hadn’t just put the fire out.
I’d smashed the whole thing.
I broke the other two furnaces as well, then spoke to him.
“I just thought of the punishment you’re going to give them.”
“Wh-what is it?”
“Make them rebuild the furnaces. Exactly the same.”
“U-understood.”
“Not guarding their furnaces properly is grounds for punishment too, right?”
“Y-yes, it is.”
“I’ve given you your justification. No need to thank me.”
He was not grateful in the slightest.
The Fire-Master Artisan glanced around.
Checking to see if anyone had seen.
“Why? Worried someone saw? Worried they’ll think you did it?”
“This is Heavenly Martial Castle.”
“And?”
“What do you mean and? It’s Heavenly Martial Castle, the strongest power in the Central Plains. If something goes wrong, I could lose my head.”
“Don’t worry. I’m stronger.”
“Wh-what?”
“I’m stronger than Heavenly Martial Castle. So stop worrying and go get some sleep.”
He was definitely insane.
They hadn’t just run into someone bad; they’d run into something catastrophic.
I watched his shoulders droop as he trudged back toward his quarters, then turned my body.
The direction I looked in was the center of Heavenly Martial Castle, the residence of the Lord of Heavenly Martial Castle.
Staring that way, I smiled and murmured.
“Sleep well, Grandfather.”
*****
The next day.
Chaos at the auxiliary furnaces.
“Wh-what the hell!”
“Wh-why are our furnaces like this?”
“Who did this! Who smashed our furnaces! Get out here right now!”
The three apprentices were kicking up a fuss, shouting that they’d find the culprit.
Then they spotted Yeomhwa and rushed over.
“You! You’re the one who smashed our furnaces!”
At their accusation, Yeomhwa looked at them like they were idiots.
“What are you talking about? I wasn’t even here yesterday.”
“Who can prove that?”
“What?”
“I asked who can prove you weren’t here!”
Should I say I was with Master Chu?
They’d just flip out and tell me to bring him here.
Ha...
He’d come out today in a decent mood.
Now he was just annoyed.
If it weren’t for his lord, he would have had to swallow this kind of crap for the rest of his life.
But that was no longer the case.
“Do you have any proof I did it?”
“What?”
“Think about it. You’re going off like this without a shred of proof that I did it.”
“You little shit! Who else around here could smash our furnaces except you!”
“You never know. From what I hear, you’ve pissed off so many apprentices that you’ve got a lot of enemies.”
“You got a death wish?”
The three of them moved like they were going to jump him any second, their faces murderous.
That was when—
“What do you think you’re doing!”
The Fire-Master Artisan appeared, and the apprentices snapped into formation in a neat line.
“What the hell? Why are these furnaces smashed?”
He’d been the closest witness, but he pretended ignorance with a straight face.
“S-sir, we came out this morning and found them like this.”
“You think that makes any sense?”
“Someone who holds a grudge against us must have done it!”
“That’s right! I-I suspect Yeomhwa over there.”
“Yeomhwa wasn’t here yesterday. I’m the witness.”
With the Fire-Master Artisan volunteering as witness, they had nothing to say.
“You brats didn’t guard your furnaces properly, they collapsed, and now you’re trying to blame someone else. I heard everything. You were off wandering around instead of tending them, weren’t you?”
“T-that...”
“I also know you left your furnaces in other apprentices’ care.”
At his words, the three lowered their heads.
“I’ll give you until the end of the week. Rebuild them exactly as they were. If you don’t, you’ll face severe punishment.”
“T-the end of this week?”
Impossible.
How are we supposed to finish a furnace in a week?
“Stay up all night, hire help, whatever. That’s your problem. You have until the end of the week. If you haven’t finished by then, you’re expelled.”
At the word “expelled,” the three dropped to their knees and begged.
“This is unfair! We really didn’t do anything wrong!”
“We really did just find them like this this morning!”
“Someone broke them! We’re innocent!”
“Quiet. You have until the end of the week. Remember that.”
After laying down the threat, he turned to the other apprentices.
“What are you standing around for? Get to work!”
“Yes, sir!”
The apprentices scattered in all directions, and the Fire-Master Artisan called Yeomhwa over.
“Yeomhwa.”
Yeomhwa turned his head and bowed.
“Do you have something you wish to say to me?”
“I’m sorry. For how I’ve been.”
“Sir?”
“Work hard.”
He patted him on the shoulder and hurried off.
Yeomhwa just stood there, dumbfounded.
This was the man who’d always looked down on him like he was worthless.
And now he was apologizing.
What is going on?
Then one person came to mind.
His lord, Jeok Wigang.
Lord Jeok must have done something yesterday.
The apprentices who’d bullied him had their furnaces smashed.
The prickly Fire-Master Artisan had apologized first.
Only then did Yeomhwa realize.
My lord...
Jeok Wigang had stepped in for his sake.
Yeomhwa couldn’t hold back the tears that welled up.
In his whole life, no one had ever stepped up for him.
He cried like ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) that for a long time, then went looking for me.
Where did he go?
He couldn’t see me anywhere.
Come to think of it, if someone was late, the Fire-Master Artisan usually made a huge fuss...
But today, there’d been no mention of anything.
In fact, he’d gone out of his way not to even look toward my station.
That was the moment the suspicion in Yeomhwa’s heart turned into certainty.
He made a vow.
If it was for Jeok Wigang, he would do anything.
To do that, he would have to become strong.
And as a smith, he would have to become the best.
He would make it happen.
Resolving himself and heading toward the furnace, he found his path blocked by those same apprentices from before.
“It’s you, isn’t it? The more I think about it, the more it has to be you.”
“Move. I’m busy.”
“Move? Watch your tone, brat.”
Yeomhwa looked at the three apprentices.
Their weak points were clear as day to his eyes.
Clear enough that he could break them right now if he chose to.
But he held back.
“Didn’t you hear us?”
“Since everything’s already wrecked, we might as well wreck you too and call it even!”
The moment all three of them rushed him—
WHAP WHAP WHAP—
“Guh!”
“Urk!”
“Gaaaagh!”
With a single gust of wind, the three apprentices charging at him flew back.
Startled, Yeomhwa whipped his head around, and there I was, standing behind him with a grin.
“What are you staring at?”
“Y-you’re here.”
“Yeah. I went to sleep late yesterday, so I overslept a bit.”
“Did something happen yesterday, sir?”
I let out a small laugh.
“Why ask when you already know?”
“Sir?”
“You already look like you’ve put most of it together.”
“So it really was y— my... lord?”
Realizing how loud his voice was, Yeomhwa dropped it to almost a whisper.
“What does it matter?”
“It matters.”
I looked at him and said,
“Isn’t it normal for me to move for my own people? That’s why it’s not that big a deal.”
Tears filmed his eyes again.
This is the one.
The reason he’d kept living until now was so he could meet this man.
While his loyalty soared straight past the sky, I walked over to the three apprentices groaning on the ground.
“If you bully Yeomhwa again, I’ll kill you.”
“Goddamn it! You hit us like this over some orphan brat?”
“Orphan?”
For a moment, an old memory rose up in my mind.
“They say the mouth is the source of all evil.”
SMACK—!
The slap that followed rang out so loudly everyone around winced.
The apprentice’s face ballooned up from that one hit, showing just how much force I’d put into it.
But that wasn’t the end.
SMACK—! SMACK—!
The sharp sound kept slicing through the air.
“Yeomhwa didn’t choose to be an orphan. Right?”
SMACK—! SMACK—!
“Isn’t that right?”
SMACK—! SMACK—!
The apprentice didn’t answer.
He’d already passed out.
Even so, I kept slapping him.
I wasn’t actually that furious.
I was just in a bad mood.
So I was holding back as I hit him.
If I’d really struck him properly, his head would have turned to pulp and only his torso would be left.
“S-stop. He’s lost consciousness.”
When Yeomhwa intervened, I finally pretended to come to my senses and casually tossed the limp, ruined apprentice onto the floor.
Then I turned my gaze on the other two who’d bullied him.
“You two stole Yeomhwa’s sword, didn’t you?”
“Wh-what are you talking about!”
“N-no, we didn’t!”
“You didn’t?”
“T-that’s right! Stop framing innocent people!”
“You really didn’t? I’ll give you one last chance. Tell the truth.”
“We’ve never done anything like that!”
“We’re already being falsely accused today, and now you’re trying to pin more on us?”
I nodded.
“So we’re done with the nice approach.”
As I started toward them, the apprentice who’d been sprawled on the ground scrambled to get up.
But his legs had turned to jelly and wouldn’t hold him.
“When a person takes a serious shock, that happens.”
Speaking like it was nothing, I walked closer.
To them, it was pure horror.
“D-don’t come any closer.”
“W-we really didn’t do it!”
In front of all the other apprentices, the two of them were beaten to a wretched pulp.
What felt like an endless stream of violence continued to pour down on them.
THUD— THUD—
The two collapsed, showing the whites of their eyes.
“Anyone else?”
No one even tried to meet my gaze.
The apprentice who’d just had his cheek slapped to the verge of death was the strongest among them.
He hadn’t managed a single bit of resistance before blacking out while being beaten.
And even after he passed out, I hadn’t stopped.
That image had been branded into every apprentice’s mind as pure fear.
“I’ll say it again. Anyone who bullies or ostracizes Yeomhwa from now on ends up like this bastard.”
I pointed at the apprentice twitching on the ground and laid down my threat.
In the Heavenly Forge, which had been completely swallowed by fear, only Yeomhwa was crying tears of gratitude.
*****
A few days later.
The promotion test began.
Every apprentice gave everything they had to pass and become a full artisan, not just because they wanted the promotion, but because the biggest reason was that they were terrified of me.
There wasn’t a single apprentice here who hadn’t bullied Yeomhwa, and now every last one of them was afraid of me.
They had no idea when they might cross my path and get beaten.
Terrified, they had gone to the Fire-Master Artisan and complained, but the Fire-Master Artisan was so scared of me that he’d just told them to get along with me and run away.
Seeing that, the apprentices realized I had also done something to the Fire-Master Artisan.
They went one level higher and complained to the Process Overseers, but the Process Overseers also panicked and ran.
In a last, desperate attempt, they even reported the situation to the Guard Corps, but the Guard Corps just turned their backs, saying internal matters had to be handled internally.
It had become, in every sense, my world.
At that point, there was only one way out.
Become a full artisan and move up to the main furnace.
Or quit.
From their point of view, I hadn’t been here long, so it would take quite some time before I could become a full artisan.
And Yeomhwa would deliberately fail the test so he could stay by my side.
So they just had to run.
That was what they all decided.