“No, no, that’s not it.”
Keldric suppressed the anger that had risen within him without realizing it.
The response was somewhat unsettling, but there was no point in getting riled up.
“If a shield is out of the question, how about a gauntlet?”
“A gauntlet, you say?”
“Yes. I’m thinking of wearing it on my left hand. Do you have a gauntlet of a similar size in stock?”
The blacksmith was holding a block of wood about two palms long, as if preparing to measure.
To check for inventory as Keldric suggested, it would have been proper to measure the size of Keldric’s hand.
However, the blacksmith quickly rushed into the storage area and returned shortly with an awkward expression.
“I’m sorry, Sir Knight. We don’t have any gauntlets in stock either.”
“…Then, can you repair a damaged gauntlet?”
“I’m very sorry. Due to circumstances, that’s also… not possible…”
The blacksmith’s answer grew increasingly ridiculous.
The longer the conversation continued, the more absurd the blacksmith’s attitude became, leaving Keldric utterly speechless.
It wasn’t as if he was looking down on the knight; rather, the blacksmith was clearly avoiding Keldric for some reason.
As this thought crossed his mind, Keldric’s expression turned cold.
At this point, he had endured quite enough.
“Good heavens.”
Boom!
Keldric’s bare fist struck the wall of the forge.
Although Keldric had moderated his strength, the wall bore the distinct impression of his fist, and crumbled stone dust gently fell to the ground.
Everyone in the forge – the blacksmith, apprentices hammering metal, and even Alyssa standing a step behind Keldric – blinked at the scene before them.
“Ah, there was a bug.”
Keldric was the only one unfazed.
He brushed the stone fragments off his knuckles and placed his unscathed hand on his waist.
“What’s your name, by the way?”
“P-Pardon? Why are you asking for my name so suddenly…?”
“I think I see another bug. Looks like it’s on your head.”
The intense hostility emanating from the massive, robust knight was no joke.
As Keldric took a half-step forward with a hardened expression, the terrified blacksmith stumbled back three or four steps.
While some knights, like Sir Werner, were gentle and merciful, knights were, in general, fierce and intimidating.
If it hadn’t been Keldric standing there, the trembling blacksmith’s head would likely have rolled.
Though the right to execute commoners belonged to the lord, even that had its situational limits.
No matter how valuable the city’s blacksmith might be, openly disrespecting a knight could easily result in death.
A long wooden table stood between Keldric and the blacksmith.
Thunk!
On it, a chilling piece of iron landed with a heavy thud – the mace Keldric wore at his side.
The blacksmith’s face turned pale as he recognized the well-worn mace, which to his eyes looked like a weapon that had crushed countless enemy skulls.
Although Keldric had never used it since receiving it, the blacksmith could only imagine the number of skulls it had shattered.
If he continued to provoke the knight here, it was obvious the mace would soon be stained with fresh blood.
“M-Martin! My name is Martin!”
The terrified blacksmith, Martin, shouted in a panic.
Keldric frowned immediately.
Coincidentally, the blacksmith’s name was the same as that of Father Martin, the only priest in the village of Carlton.
It was common for people to share the same name in this era.
The fact that the blacksmith in front of him shared a name with Father Martin was no surprise.
The only discomfort lay in the fact that someone he was about to possibly beat shared the name of a person he held in some regard.
“Alright, Martin. Why won’t you sell me anything?”
“It’s not that I won’t sell to you! It’s just that we haven’t had proper iron supplies for a while, so―”
“Oh, really? Then once the iron arrives, you can make my item, can’t you?”
“It’s just that I’m worried I might make a mistake in crafting your equipment amidst the chaos…”
It almost sounded reasonable.
Martin’s words might have some truth to them.
Keldric wasn’t a native of Belam, and naturally, Martin, a local, would know the situation here better.
In the midst of melting and reforging iron, crafting the high-quality gear demanded by a knight wouldn’t be easy.
If there was a skilled apprentice to help, it would be much easier, though that was beyond Keldric’s knowledge to check.
But to Keldric, it all sounded like excuses.
‘You should make sense.’
The excuse of ‘making a mistake while crafting’ was absurd when it came to a blacksmith making weapons.
If the weapon failed in the making, it could just be remelted and redone, couldn’t it?
The cost paid by the customer accounted for that entire process.
Keldric looked Martin straight in the eyes.
On the other hand, Martin, unable to meet Keldric’s deep gaze, fidgeted before finally looking down at the floor.
It wasn’t just that Keldric scared him; it seemed it wasn’t only the mace twitching in Keldric’s hand that unnerved him.
Keldric turned and looked behind him. Alyssa, standing there, gave a slight nod.
Martin had clearly been disrespectful, so she was giving him permission to deal with it as he saw fit.
Yet Keldric didn’t throw a punch immediately.
There was no reason for Martin not to sell him items, yet he was holding out like this, which was suspicious.
“It’s not that the blacksmith guild told you not to sell me anything, is it?”
At Keldric’s question, Martin flinched noticeably.
Seeing this, Keldric unconsciously clenched his fist.
His assumption had been correct.
“I don’t know which guild you belong to, but it’s probably one of the blacksmith guilds, right?”
“Th-that’s…”
“You don’t need to clarify. I’ll just visit each of them one by one. Of course, when I do…”
Keldric lifted the mace from the table.
When he swung it lightly in the air, a menacing hum resounded.
“Insulting a knight’s honor is a grave offense, especially if that insult comes from a mere blacksmith.”
Sir Hermann had mentioned that the traitor within the city was likely part of the city council.
And the council members mostly consisted of guilds and tradesmen.
If the guild master of Martin’s guild was indeed the traitor, it would explain why the blacksmiths refused to sell anything to Keldric.
Though he hadn’t expected them to be so blatant about it, it didn’t bother Keldric at all.
“Oh, Sir Knight! I was wrong!”
With Keldric gripping the mace and radiating hostility, Martin dropped to his knees and groveled.
‘I’m going to die!’
People could only hold their ground to a certain extent before breaking entirely.
This was the case with Martin.
Any further resistance and he would have surely snapped.
“It’s not that I don’t want to sell to you! Please, spare me!”
“Then why won’t you sell to me? Tell me the reason!”
“I’m sorry! I’m truly sorry!”
Keldric demanded sharply, yet Martin only repeated apologies, never giving a reason.
“I’m not looking for an apology. I want a reason.”
“A r-reason? A reason…”
“What, would selling to me mean the end of your business?”
In the end, Martin fell silent.
Refusing to answer a knight’s question was a grave breach of etiquette, but in his current state, Martin wasn’t even considering such things.
“So, that’s it.”
He had hit the mark.
Keldric’s instincts were sharp.
He had suspected that the reason the three blacksmiths in Belam suddenly refused to sell items was not merely due to an iron shortage.
“And that was the correct answer.”
Keldric attached the mace he had been holding back to his belt and forcibly helped Martin, who was crawling on the floor, to his feet.
“Did the guild master threaten you?”
“Even if that’s the case, I won’t hold you accountable. I’ll ask again. Is this because of the guild master?”
Martin’s mouth remained tightly shut.
He only gave a very slight nod.
Keldric glanced behind Martin, towards the workshop where the apprentices were hammering metal.
One of the apprentices, holding a hammer, had been glaring at Martin but quickly resumed his work with a start when his eyes met Keldric’s.
“Martin.”
“Y-yes!”
“Do you have a rope or something?”
“A rope? Why…”
“It’s about time you stopped this. Just hand it over if I ask.”
Martin, trembling, hurriedly brought a rope and handed it to Keldric.
Keldric slung the rope over his shoulder and strode purposefully toward the inner workshop, where a wave of heat washed over him.
“W-wait, Sir Knight! You can’t just go in like that…!”
Before Martin could stop him, Keldric went in search of the apprentice he had locked eyes with earlier.
Among the bewildered, sweat-drenched apprentices watching Keldric, only one had a slightly pale expression and avoided his gaze.
It was the same apprentice who had been glaring at Martin earlier.
Without hesitation, Keldric approached him.
The apprentice’s face turned even paler.
“Do you want to walk out on your own, or do you want me to drag you out?”
“W-what do you mean…?”
“Idiot.”
Bam!
Keldric’s fist struck the apprentice’s stomach.
The apprentice collapsed to the ground, vomiting up everything he had eaten that day.
“Urgh…!”
When nothing but bile remained in the apprentice’s mouth, Keldric tightly bound him with the rope and dragged him out.
As they emerged from the workshop, Martin, wide-eyed with shock, and Alyssa, looking slightly queasy, were standing there.
Keldric looked at Martin briefly and spoke.
“Make a gauntlet and shield that will be suitable for me. I’ll pay properly.”
“Oh, uh…”
“Don’t make me say it twice.”
“Yes! I’ll make it with utmost care!”
Martin finally took measurements of Keldric’s fist and arm with a measuring rod.
After receiving Martin’s firm agreement to make the items, Keldric left the forge, with Alyssa, looking weary, following him.
“You’re not planning to look around any more, right?”
“I’ll head back to the castle.”
Keldric gazed at Belam’s castle, looming in the distance.
He had only intended to look around the market, but he had somehow ended up doing the task that Sir Hermann had requested.
“You filthy scoundrel! Do you even realize whose honor you’ve trampled on?”
Shortly after Keldric returned to the castle, Sir Hermann stormed out of the manor and, without even a greeting, struck down the apprentice Keldric had dragged in.
The whip in his hand came down mercilessly on the apprentice’s back, causing the apprentice to groan with each lash.
“Haah…”
Finally, Sir Hermann sighed and put down the whip, which was quickly retrieved by scurrying servants.
The apprentice’s back was a mess, covered in torn flesh and soaked in blood.
“Lock him in the dungeon! He dared to challenge Sir Keldric’s honor!”
After the bloodied apprentice was dragged away, Sir Hermann looked at Keldric with a bright expression.
“Sir! I knew I could count on you!”
Keldric looked at Sir Hermann, whose face was spattered with blood, with slight reluctance.
Although Sir Hermann was known as a respectable knight, he was still a knight.
He wouldn’t have let go of an offense that subtly disregarded and humiliated another knight’s honor.
“It was just a coincidence. I was only looking around the city.”
“Even if it was by chance, it’s still an amazing feat! It seems we’re finally getting somewhere!”
An unpleasant feeling settled in Keldric’s chest.
He had wanted to rest and explore the city, but less than a day later, he had ended up working.
Whether he realized it or not, Sir Hermann only shook Keldric’s hand enthusiastically, beaming from ear to ear.
“To think that the city’s craftsmen are in collusion… I never imagined it. There hasn’t been any issue with the goods delivered to the soldiers.”
“So, what do you plan to do now?”
“I intend to imprison that apprentice and summon the guild master to hold him accountable. A mere blacksmith challenging the honor of a knight? Unacceptable.”
Keldric nodded.
It seemed unlikely that the apprentice Keldric had dragged to the castle would leave in one piece.
Yet, a sense of unease crept into him, as if things were progressing too smoothly.
“Is it really going to be resolved this easily?”
Even if the guild master who betrayed Baron Volpen was indeed behind this, Keldric doubted it would unravel so conveniently.
He looked at the retreating figure of Sir Hermann, who was shaking his shoulders with excitement, with a complex expression.
His instincts whispered that he had missed something.