I was so excited, but there was no way I was going to get any work done when the strike team hadn't even left yet. I might as well have told my father and slept until after noon.
　I'm not feeling well enough to go to sleep ...... now, and there's not much I can do to help at this hour, just before the departure.
　If that's the case, it would be better to finish the tip of the spear lying inconspicuously in the corner of the office as a preparatory exercise. I decided to do so and started to light the charcoal left over from yesterday's work.

　As the fire was starting to build up, I manipulated the fungo to let the wind blow. When the fire was sufficiently roaring, I heated the tip of a spear I had brought secretly from a corner. I added more charcoal and operated the funnel to raise the temperature.
　When it was hot enough, I took it out and hammered it to shape it. Since I don't intend to give it to anyone else, I'm using the custom model method, but I'm pretty sure that the magic power is thinner here than in the Kuro Forest where the main workshop is located. It will boost my abilities, but I don't think it will be as good as what I can make over there.
　If you make a knife in the same way, you can cut the whole log at the main store, but at the branch office, you can only cut into half or a third of the log. Even so, the performance is good enough.

　While I was working like this, about four soldiers brought me two barrels of charcoal. It was surprisingly quick, but I guess Miss Frederica is not too busy at the moment. When everyone comes back from the attack, then the lid of the cauldron of hell will be opened.
"Oh, excuse me. If you could just leave it over there by the barrels, it'll be fine.
"Okay.
　The soldiers put the barrels down and left. The troops were probably already on their way to the cave, so they must have been the ones left behind as guards. It's possible that I've cut short their rest time. I feel a little guilty when I think about it, but I'll let the young man work to his heart's content. With such black thoughts in my head, I was about to go back to work.
　Just then, a loud voice came with the source.

"Eizo! I've come to have you check out my knife!
　It's Sandro's father. Well, I said so myself yesterday, didn't I? I'm getting forgetful in my old age.
"Hey.
　I replied, not forgetting that I had forgotten all about it. Two kitchen knives were handed to me. They were two large and two small knives with a shape similar to a beef knife. The young man's knives were almost the same in shape, but since there were two small ones and one large one, the large one must not be used often.
"Well, I think we'll be done in about half an hour.
　I said as I checked the two knives. As expected of a master. They are almost perfectly cleaned. A good craftsman has first-rate tools, but his care is also first-rate. They take care of their own arms, hands, and fingertips as well.
　When it comes to the care of knives alone, there may be a part of you that is better than Rike.
"Can I watch you for that long?
　Oya-san asks me in an unusually quiet voice, though it's still loud. The fact that he doesn't sound hesitant comes from his size and the volume of his voice.
I don't mind, but it might be boring, you know?
No, I just thought it might help me with my grooming.
　Okay. I had no reason to refuse, but if you say so, I have no reason to refuse. I readily agreed to his request.

I'm going to hit you to make some adjustments, but don't be surprised.
Oh.
　I'll tell him no. I don't want to offend him by hitting it suddenly.
　If you put the knife on the anvil and check it with a cheat, you will see that it was made by a skilled craftsman, and it is quite good.
　If I were to accidentally put magic power into the knife, it would become very sharp, so I did not put magic power into the knife, but I beat it carefully to fix the slight distortions and variations in the structure, but not to change the shape. It's a cheat to be able to do this, isn't it?
　No heating is done in this process. It looks burned in, so heating it would be more than an hour's work.

　Both pieces were made in this way to remove distortions and variations in the structure. It's about as good as a high-end model in my workshop.
And...
　When the work up to that point was finished, the master shouted in admiration.
I have no idea what you're doing.
"Well, that's the thing about this work. This work is out of the scope of normal maintenance. I have no idea what you guys do when you prepare food, either.
"I see.
　In fact, there is more than a difference in professions, and even an average blacksmith probably wouldn't know what I was doing, but I'll say so. He trusted me.

I think you'll understand from here.
"Oh.
　I'm sure you've done a lot of work on the sharpening process, and you may not understand the details, but you'll know what I'm doing.
　I'm going to sharpen slower than usual. Of course, I'll use cheats to make it sharper. Basically, it's a matter of angle, but I think the sharpness has increased even when sharpening normally because of the adjustments I made earlier.
　It didn't take much time, because the original maintenance was good. If you are good enough to use it, you can take care of it yourself without any problem.

Now we're done. From the looks of it, I think you've done a good job.
　I handed him the two finished knives.
"Oh, I'm sorry.


Make me a nice meal out of this.
"I'll take care of that!
　"I'll take care of that!" he assured me in a voice that was even louder than usual.