Only I Am A Reader
chapter-13

Smoke rose as Crane held a basic sword blade with a plier-like tool, unable to remove his attention away from it.

The blade didn't even have a hilt yet, all that was completed of it was the metal part, but Crane didn't seem to care as he simply struck its flat side at the anvil.

Klang!

"Incredible!"

Seeing that the blade was still intact after his heavy strike, Crane couldn't resist shouting in shock, this was inconvincible. A sword that contained so many different metals actually showed no signs of brittleness!

"It really works?"

However, he quickly came back to his senses, hesitating to invest more hope too early. Instead, he proceeded to slash the blade's sharp edge at a wooden block.

Woosh!

"Astonishing! Did you say that kid suggest this 'recipe'?"

At this moment, Crane's mind was nothing but a pool of chaos, he was happy for finding a path that was advanceable, but he was also perplexed about the nature of the path that was denied long ago. Most importantly, he found it hard to believe that the one who guided him to this path was none other than a pair of siblings that weren't even 16 years old!

Not only was the metal that resulted from the metal tough, but it was also sharp and flexible, it could even recover its shape on its own!

"Mhm, I only suggested the idea to my brother and he provided me with the specifics. It's not really possible for me to have come up with all of this on my own…"

Leo scratched the back of his head as he answered awkwardly, hoping that Crane would be immersed enough in his new discovery.

As one who read enough books on steel refinement, he naturally remembered the composition of a few alloy steel types that were best suited to be used as swords in this era. He had simply recited the composition of '9260 steel', which had silicon and manganese as its main alloying elements.

Crane wasn't exactly convinced at first. However, Leo didn't mind since everything would be revealed as long as one experiment was performed.

Thankfully, as a smith who researched the possibility of replacing mutated metals with abundant metals, he had several samples of the required metals for '9260 steel', all that Leo had to do was describe the color and properties of these metals since they didn't share the same name in this world.

"Alright, I have questioned you enough. It's not like I don't know your brother is abnormal, and you don't seem to have stolen it either…"

Naturally, having had to give a full 'recipe' for '9260 steel' along with the specific description of the required metals, Leo didn't admit to being the source of this part of the information.

He simply stuck it up to the protagonist! Nothing would be too abnormal as long as the main character was its source! That was especially the case considering Crane was a special character prepared for the protagonist, he didn't discriminate by age as much as normal characters.

'Since the scapegoat event is caused by the protagonist, he shouldn't mind me using him here…'

Leo didn't have any qualms about his method as it was for the sake of his and the Orphanage's survival. Moreover, the degraded blacksmithing in this world was basically a piece of plot armor that the author has set for the protagonist, it was just that he refused to rely on his 'modern' knowledge early on and use it much later.

'I will make good use of it.'

Although there was the risk of causing a butterfly effect through this action, it was unlikely for Crane to spread this before he perfected it to a certain level, and it would be spread publicly, the grounds would still be even between powers in that case.

"No matter how you came to learn of this, you have indeed delivered an idea that I would buy."

Crane put the blade away after swinging it a few times, he was truly satisfied with the result. Although this mixed steel still couldn't compare with mutated metals, its durability and lifespan were greatly boosted, which were the most important properties of swords in this era. He didn't regret going through a tiring conversation for the sake of this 'recipe'.

After all, '9260 steel' was known as spring alloy steel in Leo's modern world, it could allow objects made of it to return to their original shape despite significant bending or twisting, thus giving swords superior strength, flexibility, and edge retention!

In this world where losing your sword meant losing your prowess, such properties were practically life-saving. Crane believed that he had already taken a steady step to his end target.

'It's too precious…'

Measuring the worth of this 'recipe' and Leo's guidance in his mind, Crane nodded as he headed to the inner chamber of the shop, returning with a clinking bag.

Clink… Clink…

"Since you demanded financial help, you can take this as payment for your 'idea'. However, this can only be considered a part of it since my funds are currently limited."

The reason Crane was meticulous with what he received was that he was meticulous with payment, as long as he received something that satisfied him, he paid at least as much as he weighed it to be worth and sometimes even more.

Unfortunately, research was something that ate up money very quickly. Moreover, he had just obtained a new field of research, so he could only give away half of his accumulated wealth even though it was still lower than the value he had in mind.

"Thanks for your patronage!"

Leo simply smiled as he received the bag and put it into another one that he brought along, a sack of coins would definitely be conspicuous if he didn't hide it probably. He could tell from the weight of the bag that he had at least received enough for his plan, so he didn't check the number of the coins for the sake of his image. However…

'I still need to…'

Just as Leo was thinking about the secondary target for his trip to the 'blackbird' he was slightly surprised by Crane's following words.

"In exchange, I will give you a chance to ask for anything that's within my power for the rest of the payment."

'It looks like I gained an unexpected bonus…'

Leo smiled even deeper in his mind, things were going smoother than expected.