Chapter 564

The Volcano’s Smithy
After finishing our inspection of the fantasy metals, we headed over to the building that housed the forge.
This building was old, clearly weathered by time, but somehow it wasn’t falling apart. Strange, really.

“… The condition’s surprisingly good, huh? How old’s this place supposed to be?”

“The dragon said it’s a building that’s been around for over a thousand years. But, as you can see, it’s like this.”

“Hmm. Can’t make sense of it. Anyway, let’s head inside.”

Taysa took the lead and entered the forge building.
I’d already scouted this place beforehand, so I knew there weren’t any traps laid out.
Even so, Taysa sure had no hesitation barging right in.

“Hm. So the entrance area’s a living space. Judging by the look of it, the last user lived here alone, huh?”

“Seems so. Still, I think you should get new bedding and such. You never know when the old ones might give out.”

“We’ll worry about that later. Now, the real deal—the forge, the forge!”

Brimming with excitement, Taysa flung open the door leading deeper inside.
But when she saw the view that opened up before her, she froze.
… Did something bad happen?

“S—”

“S?”

“Superb! This forge is insane! It’s streamlined to the max!”

“Uh… you can tell just by looking?”

“Yeah, just by looking. The ore storage, the furnace, the tool racks—everything’s laid out without wasting space. And the fact that dwarves used this place looks legit. The placement of the tools is set to match their height.”

Ah, now that she mentioned it, that’s true.
I hadn’t noticed because I’m not that tall myself, but for a human smith, the tool hooks and racks are set too low.
So this really was designed for dwarves.

“Next, we gotta see if the furnace will light up.”

“Oh, that furnace is supposed to be special.”

“Special?”

“The dragon said it works by channeling in heat from the outside lava. I haven’t tried it myself though, so I don’t know if it’s true.”

Yeah, I didn’t touch it.
I don’t know a thing about furnaces, and if I broke it, that’d be the end of it.
Best to leave this stuff to an expert.

“Got it… Hmm, if I twist this knob and push down this lever—there we go!”

“Whoa. The lava actually started flowing in.”

“This is amazing! A furnace fueled by lava! Makes sense—you’d probably need this much heat to work fantasy metals!”

So it’s that troublesome, fantasy metal.
Well, I’d like to think it just makes the forging easier.
I’ve heard city smiths can craft weapons from it, at least in rumors.

“… Alright, now that we’ve got the furnace figured out, I’ll check the rest of the equipment and make sure this forge works properly.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Nah, I can handle it myself. You lot should be thinking about how to haul all that fantasy metal down to the foot of the mountain.”

… Ah. Right. That too.
Just thinking about it makes me feel faint.

What do you think about this chapter?