Chapter 148

“Oh, it’s me, always good to see you, are you done?”
Nerfai asked as he was greeted by Myung Hu.
“Yes. Good job.”
“Alas, that’s too bad, I had something else to make for you. Come on in!”
Nerfai looked relieved at Ming Hu’s words. He turned to Ming Hu and quickly entered the forge. Once Nerfai was inside, Ming Hu turned back to look at the user and said, “I’m sorry.
“What did you say?”
The user’s face turned pale.
“Oh, that’s…that’s…”
The user who stuttered was unable to say anything. Seeing such a user, Ming Hu smiled and opened his mouth to speak.
“You said you’re a bit of a mouthful to NPCs, didn’t you?”
“…Yes.”
“If I see this one more time, I’m out of options.”
The user gave Ming Hu a look that said, “What does that mean?” and Ming Hu continued.
“You’ll see whose breath is stronger.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Let’s go.”
Sigh
Hearing the user’s answer, Ming Hu turned around and walked back into the forge. As he entered, the players working in the forge looked at him and smiled. Ming Hu shook his head at their inexplicable smiles and approached Nerfai. As he approached, Nerfai opened his mouth to speak.
“They say that most of the Iron Knights’ armor you made before is broken. It’s not that you did anything wrong, of course, but that they were used too hard, so we need to make them again, and, as you know, the others can’t handle heavy iron as well as you can. I’d like you to make me some Iron Knight armor.”
<Broken Iron Knight's Armor
The armor of the Iron Knights is now mostly in disrepair as they set out to explore more dangerous territory. The Emperor has ordered that the Iron Knights' damaged armor be reforged upon their return from the frontier. Nerfai wants you, a man skilled in working with heavy iron, to make the Iron Knights' armor once again. Get to work on the Iron Knights' armor!
[Heavy Iron Lance: 0 / 50]
[Heavy Iron Armor: 0 / 50]
[Heavy Iron Shield: 0 / 50]
Difficulty Level: B
Quest Reward: 200,000 Helioca Merit
'Ho-ho. That really doubled.'
When you crafted the Iron Knights' armor, you were rewarded with 100,000 Merit. Now it's twice as much, 200,000.
"Yes. I'll make it right away."
[You have accepted the quest].
After accepting the quest, Ming Hu glanced at the users who were staring at him with a slightly surprised expression and walked over to his workbench.
"Let's make it."
Arriving at the workbench, Ming Hu opened the crafting window to craft the items needed to complete the quest.
"Oh."
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Ming Hu, and he paused, turning his head to look at the users. They were still staring at him.
'I don't think this should be visible…'
He makes most of his items with a single hammer blow, but not them; he felt that if he was seen making items in one go, it would be troublesome in some way.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Ming Hu saw Thompson hammering furiously at the workbench next to him. When Thompson felt Ming Hu's gaze, he stopped hammering and looked at Ming Hu and asked, "What are you doing?
"Hmm? Why but?"
"Uh… do you think we could put a board or something around the workbench?"
"Pan?"
"Yes."
Thompson shook his head and continued.
"You mean a valve that covers something?"
"Yes."
At Myung Hu's nod, Nerfai looked at Myung Hu with a puzzled expression.
"Do you have any idea… Do you have any idea what it was?"
"Because of the new people in there, and I don't want them to see me working."
"Aha. Come to think of it, they're just as foreign to you as you are to them, chuckle. If you look under the workbench, you'll see buttons, would you like to press the red one?"
Sigh
At Thompson's words, Ming Hu looked down and checked under the workbench. There, just as Thompson had said, were the buttons. Ming Hu pressed the red button Thompson had mentioned.
Clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk!
Then there was the sound of something moving, and a thin plate made of iron came out of the workbench and covered the surroundings. Looking at the inside of the workbench, which was cut off from its surroundings by the iron plate, Ming Hu looked a little surprised and heard Thompson's voice outside the plate.
"Now, would you like to press the blue button next to the red button?"
At Thompson's words, Ming Hu pressed the blue button.
Clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk!
The griddle began to slide back into the workbench. Ming Hu looked at Thompson. Thompson smiled.
"The workbench over here has a valve set up like this. I don't usually use it because it's annoying, but sometimes I use it to focus."
"Oh. Thank you."
"No, no, no!"
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Thompson let out his trademark chuckle and resumed hammering. Ming Hu looked away from Thompson and pressed a red button under the workbench.
Clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk!
Steel plates came out and covered the workbench. Ming Hu opened the crafting window, smiling with satisfaction at his workbench cut off from the outside world.
"Let's make it!"
Bam!
[You have successfully crafted the Iron Lance].
Ming Hu then began crafting items.
* * * * *
In a vacant lot near the Imperial Forge, a half-dozen players currently working in the Imperial Forge gathered to chat.
"What happened?"
"Why is he using that seat?"
To be precise, one person was taking questions.
"Mr. Heimer, you're the user, right?"
"What were you talking about?"
Heimer's face was puzzled by the constant stream of questions.
"I need to know something to tell you…
All he knew was the user's character name, that he'd been working at the forge long before he arrived, and that he'd been away for a while for work. But he couldn't help but speak up, so he did.
"Th-that."
When Heimer opened his mouth, the users who had been asking questions fell silent and focused on what Heimer was saying.
"I don't know much about it, but I think he came in before me, that's for sure, and as you know, the better the skill, the closer the workbench is to the ingredient storage. But judging by his position, he's better than the NPCs, and probably the best in the forge. Oh, and his character's name is Minghu. That's all I know about him, and I didn't get to talk to him properly because Nerfai came right after we started talking."
'Thank goodness.
As he said this, Heimer remembered the situation and breathed a sigh of relief. If Nerfai hadn't come along then, he might have crossed the line.
"…can't be kicked out.
If you crossed the line, you would know whose breath was stronger. You couldn't kick yourself out of this place.
"…What."
"Sure."
"But… something feels off."
"Huh? You too?"
Users were puzzled and scratched their heads as they realized that something was wrong.
"Ah! Got it!"
Just then, Leto, a quiet-looking user who had remained silent until now, shouted out in a loud voice as if he understood. Heimer's and the users' eyes focused on Leto. Leto took in the attention and began to speak.
"Mr. Heimer."
"…?"
Heimer looked at Leto with a puzzled expression as he suddenly called out to him.
"You said his character's name was Ming Hu, didn't you?"
"Yes. Nerfai said he was definitely dead."
Leto smiled slightly at Heimer's comment, then looked around at the users.
"You've seen the blacksmithing video, right?"
"That video of the blacksmith hitting the Twin Axe Guild?"
Heimer replied to Leto's comment.
"Yes."
"Of course I saw it, who hasn't?"
Heimer looked around at the users. They nodded in agreement, and Leto, seeing that, continued.
"The Twin Axe Guild is based here in Nexus, and the video was taken in front of the Nexus Exchange, and a lot of people don't know this, but the blacksmith character in the video is named Ming Hu."
"…!"
"…!"
Leto's words startled the five of them, including Heimer. Then he nodded and muttered, "We'll see.
"I thought something was wrong… the blacksmith character's name was Ming Hu."
"You could be a video blacksmith with that much space…"
After muttering to themselves for a while, the users stopped muttering and looked at each other. The reason they had gathered here in the first place was to talk about Ming Hu's identity, but now that they knew, they had nothing to say.
"Shall we?"
It was Leto who broke the silence. At Leto's words, the players entered the Ururoo Forge, but one person, one person only, could not enter.
"Mr. Heimer, aren't you coming in?"
Leto said, turning to Heimer, who was still standing.
"Go ahead and go inside. I need to think about something for a minute."
"Oh, yeah."
Heimer told Leto, and Leto scurried back into the forge. Alone in the clearing, Heimer muttered to himself in dismay.
"The… Blacksmith."
He didn't want to believe it. They hadn't crossed the line, but that didn't mean they were on good terms. Of course, they weren't on bad terms, but Ming Hu's relationship with her was a little off.
"Ha…"
Heimer looked at the forge and sighed deeply. Then he turned and walked into the forge.