At those words, Minara widened her eyes in surprise, only for it to swiftly turn into excitement. After all, from what the man was implying, she would possibly become one of the many few in their town to witness history being made from up close, especially with how they've been relying on looted orc equipment for all of their fights so far.

Not wanting to miss the action unfold later on, Minara swiftly separated from the man as she moved at the fastest speed she could muster to find Neure. On the other hand, the man looked at the tools and items that were strewn in front of the stone building before him, closing his eyes for a bit to recall memories from his past living under the orcs' rule.

Though delving deep into his memories had caused him to frown as it had brought up some unsavory memories he wished to bury deep inside him, the man's expression eventually smoothened once he found the memory he was looking for. With him being one of the strongest people within town, the man's capability to recall memories from the past had become more robust, allowing him to remember most things with great clarity.

From the memory he had brought up, the man could recall walking along the streets of the earlier orc settlement alongside his former master in the hopes of attracting a crowd of orcs. While doing so, they passed along the stone building that currently stood in front of him.

With the sounds that emanated from the building piquing his interest, the man looked in the direction of the building, only to see that the orc that had occupied was wielding a hammer into front of a large flame. Using the hammer it held, it hammered down onto a malleable material that glowed hot red he eventually found out from other orcs to be something called metal.

After a few more swings, the orc had turned the metal into the rough shape of a weapon, nodding in satisfaction as it dunked the metal into a barrel of water. Though the man did not see what had happened next since his former master did not care for such things, he felt like remembering it would come in handy someday.

Coincidentally, that day was today.

"Hey, leader! Minara told me the shiny rocks I was collecting would help you out!" By the time the man was finished going through that specific memory, he was greeted by the sight of Minara and a man in his early twenties, the latter of which carried a heavy-looking sack made out of coarse cloth.

"Everyone else was telling me that there was no point in me collecting these shiny rocks." Neure grinned. "Now who's laughing now? The leader wants to make use of the shiny rocks that I, the great Neure, have collected!"

"I'll probably need you to collect more of these shiny rocks with other people in the future," said the man after chuckling, grabbing the cloth sack Neure was carrying. "If my thoughts are correct, these shiny rocks you've collected make up the most important part the orcs have used in creating weapons."

"They called it metal… or something along those lines." The man shrugged. "Either way, the others would have probably come across the information need to create weapons already from the other orc settlements they've entered. I just hope they bring it back."

"You're going to try and create a weapon, right?" asked Neure after listening to the man's words, to which the latter nodded in response.

"I am. Since you're the one who brought the material to me, then you'll be the first person ever to get their hands on a weapon that was made by humans." The man grinned, which caused Neure to only become more ecstatic.

Chuckling at how energetic Neure had become after his words, the man soon returned his attention to the tools and items before him, taking a deep breath before beginning. First, he lit a large flame that was hot enough to turn the shiny rocks Neure had brought glowing red hot. Telling the two to step back as they knew they'd watched on, the man then grabbed the tool the orc back then used for gripping hot objects, using it to grip onto one of the large shiny rocks before placing it deep into the large flame.

Though not much happened at first, Minara and Neure's eyes widened in surprise once they saw the shiny rock the man had brought into flame become shinier. However, after it reached the point of becoming incredibly shiny, the rock soon began to give off a faint light, its color contrasting against the flame the man had lit.

"Hup!" Moving the slightly molten rock away from the flames, the man then placed it onto the flat surface the orc back then used as a spot for hammering the metals into shape. Tightly gripping onto the hammer that was left behind by the orc, he then began to hammer the rock into shape, putting a fair amount of his strength into each strike.

Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!

With the hammer striking against the metal, a loud sound soon echoed throughout the area, causing some of the people passing by the place to take a closer look at what was going on. Seeing that the man making the sound was the leader of their town, everyone decided to stop what they were doing for the meantime and continue watching, letting their curiosity get the better of them.

"What weapon do you want to use?" asked the man, placing the shaped metal back into the large flame in the off chance he needed to shape it further.

Neure scratched his head for a bit before eventually responding. "I don't really think swords are the thing for me… is it fine if you make a dagger?"

"A dagger? Sure." Nodding in response, the man allowed the metal to get up to temperature once more before shaping it into the rough form of a dagger. Not knowing how the orc had fashioned a handle to wield the dagger, the man decided to extend a bit of the metal outward to form the handle instead.

With a few more trips to the flame and the hammer, the man eventually looked at what he had done before nodding in satisfaction. Then, using the tool he had used earlier to grip onto the metal tightly, he then dunk the pure metal dagger into the barrel of water he had the others bring him, causing a small cloud of steam to cover the whole area.

By the time the steam had subsided, everyone watching witnessed the leader of the town holding a crude metal dagger that shone a dark gray light under the light of the sun. Though there were many things about it that seemed inferior compared to the weapons they had obtained from the orcs, the humans watching that realized what was happening looked at the dagger with excitement in their eyes.

"From this day forth, gone are the days where we would need to ransack the orcs for our weapons." Turning to look at the crowd that had begun to surround him, the man looked at everyone with a solemn expression before raising the dagger upwards. "Gone are the days where we rely on another race's items to obtain our future."

"From this day forth, the humans shall forge the path of freedom entirely by themselves."

"From this day forth, the era of true freedom has begun!"

chapter-619
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