I entered the workshop and started with a puzzle. There are eight pieces of a rather wide sword blade, of various sizes. The first step is to assemble these pieces into the original shape. Naturally, the skill of blacksmithing is irrelevant in this work. The five of us, including Liddy, assembled the sword puzzle in a lively manner. In the end, it will be assembled into this shape.
　Because it is mithril, there are many parts that do not need to be taken care of. With steel, reheating causes metamorphosis of the structure, so it is difficult to adjust after joining. Mithril doesn't have that problem, but it's hard to join them in the first place, so it's either one or the other in terms of time and effort. Mithril might be harder because steel is a cheat and you can manage to adjust it after joining. The fact that the steel can be readjusted is a cheat.

　The first step is to attach the sword to the hilt, so that the fire can be lit in the fire pit. It's magic, of course.
You can use magic, right, Mr. Eizo? Yesterday, you used magic to ignite the fireplace.
　Liddy, who was watching the scene, pointed out. It's like a regular event in our house.
The only thing I can use it for now is to light this fire and create a little wind.
I'm sure you've had a fair amount of practice with that, and it's quite strange that you know almost nothing about magic.
　I'm not sure what to make of it. I guess she doesn't trust me at all when I say that I don't know anything about magic. I was given magic as a "bare minimum", I didn't practice it or anything, not to mention Samija, Rike and Deanna don't know anything about magic at all. I'm sure you'll be able to find something that will help you out.
I'm sure you're not the only one.
I don't know, I didn't really study that much.
　Deanna replies, looking away. I've been slacking on this one. It's easy to imagine that the tomboy placed more importance on swordsmanship, as it's useful in many ways, but it doesn't matter if you can't use it.
I see. I'm not mad at you, so don't worry about it.
"Oh, yeah?
　Deanna was blatantly relieved. But with a sister like that, the Amours must have been a very cheerful family.
I'm ashamed to admit that I don't know much about it, since I don't know much about it and none of my family does either.
"I see. ......
　Mr. Liddy is pondering. When the fire has been sufficiently ignited, I grab the hilt of the sword and the nearest fragment with a pestle and put it in the fire pit to heat it with air. Liddy is watching me closely, pondering. If you ask me too much about magic, I can't give you any more information than "I've just learned to use it somehow, but I'm not aware of anything in particular.

　Use a cheat to find the temperature at the edge and take out the two at the same time. The temperature of the part to be joined and the surrounding area is rising, so I ask Rike to help me attach them together and hammer down. If this were steel, I would have needed borax or something, but thankfully for Mithril, I think I can make it stick. However, the temperature and the hammering are more severe than when you just hammer it out. It's hard to find a blacksmith who can do this better than making new mithril armor.
　After three strikes, the temperature was already out of the proper range. I put it in the fireplace and adjusted the position of the charcoal so that only the joint would be heated.
This is a tough job.
　I muttered to myself.
"Do you think you can manage?
　Liddy asked me with a raised eyebrow, but I was surprised to hear her voice from an unexpectedly close distance. In fact, our faces were quite close. I replied with a bit of trepidation.
Well, it's difficult, but I think you can get it back. But it's going to take a lot of time. I think two weeks is just about enough time.
"I see. Thank you very much.
No, it's my job.
　I turn my attention back to the fireplace. It's getting to a good temperature. When it's just right again, I take it out and hammer it. Carefully, so that there are no gaps, so that this shiny stuff doesn't fall apart. A cheat tells you that if you hammer it three times, it will stick a little. If possible, I'd like to increase the pace a little, but if it collapses, it's no good. I put it in the fireplace again and start heating it up.

You can still see the flow of magic, Eizo-san.
　This time, I can hear Liddy's voice from some distance away.
"Is that so?
Yes. You're making sure that the flow is uninterrupted, right?
No, I'm just trying to keep the sparkly bits from falling apart.
That's it!
　Liddy comes closer and closer. The majority of my vision is occupied by the sapphire eyes framed by long eyelashes. She is so close that I can almost feel her ragged snort against my skin. When I'm too pressured to move, Ms. Liddy straightens her posture.
Excuse me. I'm sorry. Anyway, that's magic power. So Mr. Eizo could sense it after all. I just didn't know it.
Apparently.


　When I hit the steel, I also see other things like organizational bias, but I'll keep that to myself.
Now one of my questions is cleared up.
　I looked at Liddy, who was in a good mood and smiling.
"Thank you very much for that.
　I returned awkwardly, took my sword out of the fireplace, and hammered again.