The blacksmith that Haley found for me was called Bruno.
This man wasn't the best blacksmith from Haley's company, but the best blacksmith in the town.
When Rose heard about this duel, she had immediately sent Bruno over to support me.
Of course, Bruno didn't mind this since I was technically the lord, so it was an honour to be of service to the lord.
The only thing that he was worried about was who he was facing.
After all, standing opposite him was a real living dwarf.
Dwarves were famous among blacksmiths as those with the best skills.
Even if Bruno was confident in himself, he didn't feel like he would be able to win against a dwarf.
So Bruno suddenly said, "My lord, this…"
Before he could finish, I suddenly raised my hand to stop him and said, "Just listen to my instructions and you'll be fine."
Bruno looked like he wanted to say more, but he swallowed his words in the end.
However, it was clear by the look on his face that he wasn't feeling confident.
But that didn't matter since he was a subject and Zwein was the lord.
If Zwein wanted him to do something, Bruno had no choice but to go along with it.
Since they had all gathered and even the crowd was here, there was no need to wait any longer.
Haley came up to the stage and said, "Is everyone ready?"
There was a cheer that came from the crowd before she continued, "Today we are gathered here for the competition between our lord Viscount Zwein." She paused here and cheers rang out after this.
When I heard this, I couldn't help being surprised by how popular I was even though I hadn't done anything for the town.
But thinking about it, I realized that it should be Rose's coattails that I was riding off of.
It should have been her good merits that had won all this goodwill from the people and I was just benefitting from it.
After that pause, Haley said, "The challenger is this dwarf friend who comes from afar, Rondo Silvermine."
As soon as she said this, there was a wave of booing that followed.
Rondo might have a thick face and a large beard to hide behind, but when the crowd made it very clear which side they supported, it was hard for him not to feel anything.
There was a frown that appeared on his face, but it only lasted for a second.
He wouldn't let something like this affect him or his forging.
After she had finished introducing the contestants, Haley said, "The challenge that they will be given is to forge a sword. Both contestants will forge a sword of their choosing and then we will be comparing the two swords that they forge."
After that, she went into the details of the competition.
Since it was a forging competition, the most important thing was time.
Since it was around noon now, they would be given until the sun set to forge their entries.
If they took longer than that, it would be considered an automatic forfeit for not finishing in time.
But of course, the timespan that they gave was quite generous in the first place.
From noon to sunset, that was more than enough time for a common sword like this.
If it was a masterwork, then it could take up to a month to forge it, but there was no need to waste that much time on a common sword.
This was all about a match of skill, so this common sword was the perfect way to test this.
When there was nothing special, the only thing that would stand out is one's forging abilities.
After she had finished explaining the rules, she turned to both sides and asked, "Are you ready?"
Rondo gave a simple nod before walking over to his forge.
Bruno couldn't help looking at me with a nervous look, but I just gave a nod with a confident smile on my face.
With that, Haley declared, "Then let the competition begin!"
As soon as she started the competition, Rondo picked up a piece of iron that he tossed into the furnace.
These furnaces had already been lit since it would take a long time to build a fire from scratch. That would take too long for a competition like this, so they had made sure that the fire was built before they even brought the contestants over.
With how quickly Rondo started his forging, Bruno couldn't help feeling even more nervous.
He was a blacksmith himself, so he could see the skill that came from every move that Gondo made.
This was the skill of a dwarven blacksmith.
It was not one that he could match.
But when I saw this, I couldn't help revealing a smile of pity.
That was because I had confirmed that my information was correct.
This Rondo, he was still using the most basic method of forging from the game
This was the level of forging that was available at the beginning of the game, but as the game progressed, better and better forging skills became available. The game explained it as the world progressing itself and forging techniques becoming more refined.
But that was just an excuse for natural progression in a game.
However, now that the game had become a real world, that lore had become real as well.
As for me who had lived through that game world, I naturally remembered all the information about forging that had been in the game world.
While it would be hard since I no longer could use a system to automatically forge, I still remembered enough.
At the same time, I came from a world where technology was much more advanced than this place.
I had studied quite a bit about sword crafting during the phase where I had been really into swords.
All of that knowledge combined with my knowledge from the game…there was no chance for Rondo to win.