Volume 3 Chapter 20 Workshop Chief
"K-Kikina here..."
"The genius Blacksmith, Kikina Anvil is here..."
The blue-haired woman who suddenly appeared at the venue left the audience in shock.
It's no surprise, as this dignified woman is one of the most renowned figures in the current blacksmithing industry.
And she is also Brue's mother.
Though not obvious at first glance, she has a slightly muscular build in her arms and legs.
Yet, she has an ideally beautiful physique.
Brue clenched his teeth tightly as his mother, who was supposed to be hospitalized in a clinic facility, appeared without warning.
"M-Ms. Kikina! Are you okay now!?"
Fran, surprised but smiling broadly, called out to Kikina.
In response to Fran's voice, Kikina walked up to the stage and informed the staff before stepping up.
She gently placed her hand on Fran's flaxen hair and patted it softly.
"I worried you, huh, Fran? I just got discharged this morning. So I'm fine now."
"A-Are you sure you're okay even without resting...?"
"Yeah. Right now, more than that, I need to give my foolish son, who's been doing whatever he wants while I was away, a good scolding."
"..."
Cold sweat trickled down Brue's forehead.
At the same time, memories from his childhood resurfaced in his mind.
No matter what he did, Brue could never win against his mother.
It goes without saying that her blacksmithing skills were unmatched, and in fights or arguments, he was always thoroughly defeated.
Especially when he made Kikina angry, it became so one-sided that he didn't even have a chance to rebel.
Seeing the blue veins on Kikina's forehead, Brue shivered.
"W-What are you doing here, old hag! Stay quietly in the clinic facility!"
As the audience silently watched the unfolding scene, Kikina narrowed her eyes and directed them at Brue.
"Don't shout like a grown man. If you're my son, act more dignified. And let's stop you from sullying my workshop any further."
"..."
With that tone, Brue glared at Kikina with sharp eyes.
It seems that she has safely been discharged from the clinic facility, and she's aware of the current situation at the workshop.
Looking around, she sees the Blacksmiths who work at the workshop gathered at the entrance where she was standing earlier.
"Looks like you're showing off your skills, and now you're acting as my representative. But I never agreed to hand over that workshop to you."
"Hah! It's our useless crew that's the problem! If you have complaints, then they better improve their skills first. In the world of Blacksmiths, skill is everything. Besides, that workshop will be mine soon enough. What's wrong with me acting as the workshop head's representative?"
Kikina has been in poor health for a long time.
This is the first time for a long-term hospitalization, but this is not the first time she's been taken care of by the clinic facility.
It's only a matter of time before her limits are reached, and she'll die leaving the workshop behind.
That's why she lets out a scream, and Kikina tilts her head in confusion.
"Who said I would hand over that workshop?"
"Huh?"
"Do you really think I'm going to kick the bucket soon? No way! I'm still going strong. The healer even gave me the green light that I'm safe for a while."
Kikina jumps up and down to show she's still alive.
Brue, facing his mother who has returned healthy, feels like he's chewing on a bitter bug.
"And even if I were to die from illness, I have no intention of handing over the workshop to you. Just because you're my real son doesn't mean I'll overlook your arrogance. So, I'm designating Fran as the next workshop head."
"What!?"
That sudden declaration shocked not only Brue but also the surrounding audience.
The surprise of Fran being part of Kikina's workshop and the shock of being directly named as the next workshop head filled the venue with a stunned atmosphere, and Brue stomped his foot with a 'Damn!'.
"Are you kidding me, old hag!? You want to make Fran the workshop head instead of me? Have you finally lost your mind!?"
"I'm not crazy or anything. I just want to pass my workshop on to a skilled Blacksmith so it can last as long as possible. Besides, you said it yourself earlier: 'Skill is everything.' If that's the case, isn't it reasonable to hand it over to Fran, who is more talented than you?"
"Are you saying Fran is better than me...?!"
Kikina smiled and spread her arms in response to Brue's frustrated question.
"If you look at the auction results, it's obvious. It seems the prices were 5.5 million and 15 million. Sure, you have remarkable talent, but the experts in the venue valued Fran's weapons higher. Doesn't that clearly show the difference in skill?"
"――!"
He couldn't come up with a comeback.
This was the stage to demonstrate his skills as a Blacksmith.
With no room for excuses and having been defeated, even he, Brue, couldn't resist any further.
At the same time, he looked at his mother, who seemed so confident, and felt suspicious.
It was as if she had known this would happen from the start.
No way...
"...Did you realize Fran's talent from the beginning?"
"Talent? I have no foresight like that. I just felt a stronger 'will' and 'grit' in Fran's sword than anyone else's."
"..."
As he grew angrier at such vague reasoning, Kikina turned to Fran.
"So, what do you think, Fran? If you're willing, would you take over my workshop? Just in case something happens to me."
"M-Me, the head of that workshop...?"
Fran looked confused, and from the entrance of the venue, voices from friends called out.
"Come back, Fran!"
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you and could only watch!"
"Getting a price of 15 million Flora is really amazing! You should definitely be the next head of the workshop!"
"..."
While being bullied by Brue, his friends had tried to stop him by calling out to him multiple times.
In the end, he was silenced by his display of skill, but they still tried to stand by Fran until the very end.
As they reaffirmed their support, Fran felt tears welling up at the corners of his eyes and nodded back at Kikina.
"If, if it's okay with you, please let me be the workshop head...!"
The stage was enveloped in an emotional atmosphere.
Watching from the side, Brue felt his mind go blank.
He had lost to Fran. The position of workshop head was taken from him.
He was outshone by his blacksmithing talent.
"Hah... Hahaha! You guys are seriously out of your minds. I refuse to work under this guy. If it comes to that, I'll just quit that workshop myself. There are plenty of other workshops that want me."
Thinking he couldn't deal with this anymore, Brue walked toward the waiting room as if to escape.
It was frustrating to retreat like this after losing, but staying in this awkward venue felt incredibly uncomfortable.
It was also extremely unpleasant to remain in that workshop, so he decided to pack his things and look for another workshop as soon as he got home.
After all, there were countless other workshops that wanted him.
"Wait, Brue!"
"...?"
"You think you can just leave for free? I told you, I'm going to give you, a stupid son of mine, a good scolding."
Brue broke into a cold sweat at those unsettling words.
Could it be that in front of all these people, she intended to raise her hand against him?
For a moment, he panicked, but then he calmed down, thinking that he wouldn't fall behind Kikina, who was just recovering from illness.
Just as he thought that, he was hit with an unexpected attack.
"The 'Sapphire Longsword' you worked on this time. The rare material 'Aquaite' used for it. You got that through an 'unfair trade,' didn't you?"
"──!?"
His heart raced.
With curious glances from Fran and the audience directed at him, his heartbeat quickened as Kikina narrowed her eyes even further.
"Did you think I wouldn't notice? Aquaite is basically prohibited from being taken out of the country, whether raw or processed. It's an ultra-rare material that you can only obtain by negotiating with organizations that investigate the Sapphire Ocean and making a hefty donation."
That's why it has high rarity value, and when used as materials for weapons or tools, it fetches a proper price.
Brue chose that material for the auction for that big reason.
"However, it seems there hasn't been an official record of Aquaite being traded recently. I heard that it was way too quick for you to get Aquaite after deciding to put it up for auction, so I had my guys at my workshop help me investigate. How exactly did you get your hands on Aquaite?"
"...I got it at a reasonable price. From someone who obtained Aquaite through official channels. If you want, just ask that person directly."
Of course, Brue had prepared an excuse.
He was connected to a merchant who deals in many special ores, and that merchant had a history of trading Aquaite.
He had coordinated with that merchant beforehand, pretending that the transaction happened about a month ago.
If asked where he got the material, he could just say he bought it from that merchant.
"You should have just been honest instead of telling a bad lie."
"...?"
"Hopper Slang."
"――!?"
Brue's face went pale at the sudden mention of that name by Kikina.
"Apparently, he's quite a well-known 'smuggler' in that field. He gathers rare materials that are banned from being collected by outlaws and spreads them through illegal channels. It seems he was caught just 3 days ago."
"Wh, what did you say──?!"
Immediately, Brue instinctively covered his mouth.
He reacted without thinking, and his anxiety was felt by those around him.
He tried to make excuses, but his thoughts couldn't keep up with the overwhelming facts.
Hopper Slang was caught?
No, more importantly, how did she find out he was connected to that smuggler? He shouldn't have done anything wrong...
"About 3 weeks ago, you were secretly meeting with that Hopper Slang in the forest near town, weren't you?"
"...!?"
"From there, it seems the footsteps of the smuggler Hopper became clear, leading up to this capture. And it looks like you've met a few times before that."
Brue, feeling a chill from the fear of her mother knowing everything about her exchanges with Hopper Slang, turned her gaze towards the entrance of the venue in response to her mother question.
"Your tyranny has been hard to ignore for a while now. I was prepared for you to break the law someday. That's why I had the workshop folks keep an eye on you, and thanks to that, I was able to uncover the foolishness of my son."
"..."
Realizing it was the work of the workshop people, Brue narrowed his eyes towards the entrance.
It seemed someone had seen one of the deals with Hopper.
At that point, it didn't seem like the meeting was identified as Hopper, so he wasn't immediately confronted.
Later, through the investigations of the Vigilante group, Hopper's identity was revealed, leading to his capture 3 days ago.
(Was it that old hag's doing...!)
Though he hadn't let his guard down, he never expected to be under the watchful eyes of the workshop folks.
With Hopper caught, various details about the deals would surely be exposed through testimonies.
Naturally, it would include Brue's illegal dealings.
"Those obtained through illegal means will result in severe punishment for both the seller and the buyer. Especially if you knew it was a malicious deal. Well, I guess you did it because you really wanted to win against Fran, and wanting to win isn't a bad thing. But breaking the law is something that can't be accepted."
"Don't... mess with me...! Me, here...!"
Brue gritted his teeth, his body shaking.
He was hit with intense regret as he felt the suspicious or disdainful gazes of the surrounding audience.
The brand he had built as a Blacksmith.
The path to the promised glory.
All of it had completely crumbled because of his single-minded desire not to lose to Flax Ran.
Perhaps the one who felt the most potential in Fran's talent and feared it was... himself.
Kikina had a face that showed regret about her son's behavior as she reached out to him.
"Come on, let's go to church together. You're going to get a good punishment, Brue."
"Damn it!!!"
Brue's anguished scream echoed emptily throughout the room.
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