Editors: Ana_Banana, Sei
After the series of commotions in Lirua subsided a bit, Lukas found himself standing before a familiar blacksmith.
To be precise, it was a Dragonman with bright blue hair who was said to be one of if not the best blacksmith in the entirety of the Heavenly Realm.
When Lukas first arrived, this female Dragonman, Nekdu, didn’t seem to be very busy. In fact, she wasn’t even wearing work clothes. Instead, she was dressed neatly as though she had been waiting for Lukas to arrive.
Nekdu looked at Lukas with her aqua blue eyes and said.
“You took longer than I expected.”
“The clean-up was a bit long.”
“Right.”
Nekdu stood up from her seat and continued.
“Let’s go someplace quieter.”
Nodding, Lukas followed her.
They headed to the second floor of the smithy. That was where the rooms the blacksmiths lived in were. Nekdu’s goal was a door at the end of the hallway. (TL: Going to her room already? OwO)
Click.
When she opened the door, a cloud of dust flew out. It seemed that this room had not been used for a long time. The entire room was covered in dust, but Nekdu didn’t seem to care as she stuck her butt on a chair —the original color of which was indiscernible due to the layer of dust— without any signs of discomfort.
“It seems that you really went wild.”
“…”
“I know everything. I heard about it from the craftsmen that you saved from Kangki’s little dungeon.”
It seemed she had her sources of information.
Lukas simply nodded.
“What about Kangki?”
“Dead.”
“…I see.”
There was no change to Nekdu’s expression.
However,
[Unlocked hidden title ‘Major City Lord Slayer’.]
[The Lava Blacksmith, Nekdu, is surprised by the participant’s great achievement.]
[Nekdu’s favourability has increased.]
[Lave Blacksmith Nekdu]
[Level: 64]
[Title: Fire Hammer of Babylon, Blessed by the God of Blacksmiths, Descendant of Iron and Fire]
[Occupation: Blacksmith]
[Race: Dragonman]
[Favourability: 45]
[Difficulty: B]
He saw more information than he had previously.
This allowed him to notice two things.
First was her level. Lukas realised that Nekdu’s level was much higher than he’d initially expected. At level 64, she was even higher than Bargan.
Next was favourability.
He figured that this was probably similar to the loyalty stat that Bargan and Ashstar had.
“This means that someone else is using the [Creed of Kamesh] now.”
“Right.”
After thinking for a while, Nekdu looked at Lukas before bowing her head.
“First off, I think I should thank you.”
“Were you also trapped here by Kangki?”
“It’s not that. To put it bluntly, he used collateral.”
“Collateral?”
“Right.”
Nekdu nodded.
“Did you learn of my identity from Kangki?”
“He called you the Hammer of Babylon.”
“Right.”
“Then the person in Babylon now is…”
“My disciple.”
Lukas tilted his head slightly at those words.
“I know the Major City Lord of Babylon. She seems to me like a thorough person. At the very least, I don’t believe she wouldn’t be able to tell that a famous craftsman in her city was a fake.”
“The nickname ‘Fire Hammer’ is something that is given to the best blacksmith in Babylon. In my case, I left the city around 100 years ago, so in truth, I can no longer go by the title ‘Fire Hammer of Babylon’.”
Lukas nodded.
So that’s how it was.
“Besides, this generation of Fire Hammer isn’t bad at all. They aren’t much worse than I am.”
Nekdu’s words still implied that she was better. This was probably a remark that came from her pride as a craftsman.
After saying that, however, Nekdu let out a long sigh.
“Anyway, I wandered around for a while in order to polish my skills. My biggest mistake was coming to Lirua about 25 years ago, because I managed to catch the eye of that bastard, Kangki. At that time, Kangki was kidnapping various craftsmen around the world, and among them were several of my acquaintances and disciples. He forced me to help him make a few things by threatening to kill them.”
“Is the Creed of Kamesh one of those things?”
“Right. Compared to the others, that one took a bit of effort.”
“…”
From her tone, it didn’t seem that Nekdu considered the Creed of Kamesh to be one of her masterpieces.
Judging from the techniques used in the [Staff of the Distant Night Sky], it seemed that Nekdu was more comfortable making weapons.
Nevertheless, she was so talented that there weren’t any problems when she made the armor.
“In any case, I owe you one, so tell me if you ever want me to make something for you in the future. I’ll do my best and make three things for you.”
Three items were made by the Hammer of Babylon, Nedku.
It seemed that his gains this time would be much greater than he’d imagined.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it. What else did you come to me for?”
Lukas’ expression changed slightly and he immediately brought up the main point for his visit.
“Have you ever been to Dragon God Island?”
“…why that?”
“I have a question about the ‘Sculpture of the Dragon God’ that is placed there.”
Nekdu couldn’t help but tilt her head to the side.
“Sculpting is not my field.”
“I thought so. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but feel that a blacksmith like you would know more about it than others.”
This was evidenced by the fact that Nekdu knew refiners capable of refining an Ancient Dragon’s heart. But most of all, it was proven by her reaction when he first mentioned ‘Dragon God Island’.
“That…”
Just as Nekdu stopped hesitating and opened her mouth,
Click!
The door opened and someone entered the room.
It was one of the blacksmiths that Lukas had met before, Rytol.
Nekdu frowned.
“What is it? Can’t you see I’m talking right now?”
“…I’m sorry. But this matter is urgent, so there’s nothing I could do about it.”
As he said that, Rytol turned away from Nekdu, and instead looked at Lukas. Seeing this, Nekdu looked back and forth between Rytol and Lukas for a moment before opening her mouth.
“It seems like you have something to do. Why don’t you go deal with that first? In any case, I need some time to think.”
“Sure.”
Lukas nodded and got to his feet. Then, he followed Rytol to the first floor where he saw an unexpected face.
“Bargan?”
Lukas knew that he had been fairly busy these past few days. He hadn’t even had the chance to meet him properly. Instead, he could only send his subordinates over to give reports on his behalf.
At that moment, Bargan’s expression was much more serious than usual.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, my Lord.”
“It’s no problem. What’s the matter?”
“…an envoy from Dragon God Island came.”
“From Dragon God Island?”
“Yes. They said they would like to meet you, my Lord.”
“Me?”
Lukas narrowed his eyes slightly.
It wasn’t very surprising that an envoy had come from Dragon God Island. After all, it was the entity that practically ruled over the Heavenly Realm.
If they had found out about the recent purge of the arena, it wouldn’t be strange for them to send someone to find the reason.
However, Lukas had kept a tight leash on all the Fighters who had been involved that night. They feared him greatly, so at least for the time being, he was certain that they would never reveal anything even if their lives were put on the line.
Even though he expected leaks to happen eventually, this was way too fast.
More importantly,
Lukas wasn’t convinced that the delegate from Dragon God Island wanted to meet him specifically.
“Are you sure that I am the one they asked to meet?”
He thought that they might have used a simple title.
For example, it was possible that they’d seen through Bargan’s impersonation of Kangki, and had asked him to bring his superior.
But, contrary to his beliefs, Bargan shook his head.
“That’s not it. The envoy clearly stated that they would like to meet ‘Lukas Trowman’.”
Lukas couldn’t help but pause when he heard those words.
“…Trowman? Did they really say that?”
“Yes. Ah. Now that I think about it.”
Bargan tilted his head slightly.
“This is my first time hearing your last name, my Lord.”
“…”
That was to be expected.
After all, ever since he’d come to the Heavenly Realm, Lukas had only introduced himself as ‘Lukas’.
Even if you counted the widely used title that was associated with his name, ‘Dragon Hunter’, or the titles commonly used by the spectators of the Lirua Arena like ‘coward’ and ‘runaway’, there was never any mention of a surname.
This fact naturally brought a question to mind.
Who was this envoy from Dragon God Island, and how did they know that his surname was ‘Trowman’?