05. Deal with the Devil (3)

Hot fire. A hot, suffocating heat.

The smell of oil and steel.

I have been working in a workshop for the first time in a long time.

[Hey! You bastard! Can’t you hear me!?]

Ignoring the words in my head.

The moment he suddenly spoke, I finally understood why Kertatus kept his mouth shut. It seems he didn’t want me to find out he was weak.

Taking his body by force must have consumed quite a bit of physical strength even for Kertatus, so his presence was much weaker than usual. Thanks to that, he was able to focus on what I had to do without worrying about his body being taken away.

This is absurd. You took my body on your own and the situation seems to be at a disadvantage, so let’s negotiate first?

If you want to negotiate, should I accept it? There’s no way. I’ve been through so far, but I didn’t have the slightest intention of meekly negotiating.

Even if you listen to the story, it will be after the completion of this object you are making now.

I concentrate on my work, wanting to see where the dog is barking no matter what Kertatus is talking about. It’s easy. The sound of my hammering is louder than that guy’s talking.

And I’m the type of person who concentrates so deeply that I forget the sound of hammering once I start working.

Pu-wook! Shhh!

I move my arms vigorously and blow air into the bellows. The flames of the blast furnace infused with oxygen heat up, and you can feel the heat on your skin.

Today, I’m going to cut off the chain of Bongma as much as I need.

What to make? First of all, the chain itself was not suitable for processing and making something else.

Steel does not become a perfect lump even if it is heated and beaten. If you heat and forge an iron lump with a hole in the middle like a chain, it is perfect for creating a hot water boundary. If something like a sword or armor is made from such defective iron, it will break easily.

The only way to process something like this without flaws and make it easy to forge is to cast it or put it in a barrel and sprinkle it with iron powder to make it into Damascus.

The problem is that, as a result of analysis, the heating point of the heating furnace with a lot of magic stones is absurdly high. I don’t know how the people of this world processed this, but if it’s at a temperature high enough to melt the sealing stone, my whole furnace will burn up. So casting is not possible.

Damascus is also a bit ambiguous. It is possible with my skills to the extent of filling a metal barrel with chains and magic iron powder and combining them without gaps, but only then will it not be a 100% pure magic stone. There was no magic stone powder, so this method was not a good idea either.

In the end, I thought about what to make, but I couldn’t come up with anything other than cutting and writing, and I couldn’t think of anything other than accessories that I always carry on my body. Even if you try to make more than that, the amount of steel is not enough.

As expected, a ring would be the most acceptable.

I held a chain saw in my workshop. It could be cut with a grinder, but in fact, if the Awakener’s physical ability is on the premise that the chain saw can withstand it, it can cut steel with a stronger power than a machine.

‘No, isn’t that right?’

No matter how hard you try, you can’t beat Klaproth’s industrial products. That’s because the power source is a whole magic stone. However, there is no way that such an expensive thing is in my house, so I have no choice but to fill it with my body.

“Suck!”

I held the chain firmly in a vise and strained my hand holding the saw.

Close up!

“… ….”

What is the sound of this? Shouldn’t you hear a cheerful squeak sound?

A foreboding feeling chilled the back of my neck.

I checked the chainsaw just in case, and the blades were all sharpened.

“No crazy.”

–

Come to think of it, that vicious devil worshiper, in that world, is a tool to restrain the beings called demons, but it would be even weirder if it was cut with a common chainsaw. It was natural that it was very strong and solid.

Bongma Stone surpasses all the materials I have ever touched in terms of processing difficulty.

But it’s not like I don’t have a way either.

“You said you were taking a break because you were sick, so were you making this in the studio?”

“Hmm. I want to finish quickly.”

I took a break from work for a while and brought Yoon Seo-hee, who said she would visit her in the afternoon, straight to the studio. When she was notified that she had arrived, she went out to meet her, but she was not alone at the front door.

“Is Jisoo also here?”

“Yes.”

A white girl nodding her head calmly.

Yoon Seo-hee smiled awkwardly next to her.

“Didn’t you just run into something on the way? I thought I knew where you were going, so I just came with you.”

The two of them were holding something in their hands. Yoon Seo-hee bought a lot of medicine that she said was good for a cold, and Baek Ji-soo… What is this? Instant porridge?

“I like porridge when I am sick.”

“Uh, yes… thanks… ?”

If you think about it, back in the day when Baek Ji-soo was sick, he ate porridge at my house. I suddenly think of that time.

“By the way, Lee Jin-ah, are you really okay? Aren’t you overdoing it with a sick body?”

Yoon Seo-hee put her palm on my forehead with a worried face. Then, they put her hand on the other side of their forehead and measured each other’s body temperature.

“Umm~ Fortunately, I don’t seem to have a fever….”

Of course, the reason why she is sick is because her grandfather gave her an excuse.

Anyway, the eyes are too close. Her soft hand touching her forehead and her wide, worried eyes are a bit of a concern.

I shyly cleared my throat and stepped back.

Huh? Why did I avoid Yoon Seo-hee? I’m not sure either. It’s just that she was nervous because Yoon Seo-hee was so close to her, and she withdrew without realizing it because she got on her nerves.

Did you think it was because you were afraid that saying you were sick would be found out?

She could feel Certatus, who had been cleared away in a corner of her head, screaming desperately from afar.

[This is Ada… asshole… Eunuch bird… !]

Why is this guy just swearing and messing around?

As I remembered, it would be better to honestly tell the two what happened last night. They both know about Certatus, so there’s no need to lie.

“Sorry. Saying it hurt is a lie.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yes. Actually….”

I explained the events of last night step by step. The sudden loss of consciousness by Kertatus, what he did last night, and the fact that he was at Yuna’s house when he opened his eyes.

The two focused on the story with serious faces.

Baek Ji-soo seemed shocked by the fact that Kertatus had already recovered his strength and actively launched an offensive to steal his body.

“I never thought that such a thing would be possible….”

Yoon Seo-hee focused more on other topics.

“Yu, he said he slept over at Yuna’s house… ?”

“Huh?”

“Ah… No, nothing!”

She was distracted by other things for a while, but she seemed to focus on the story again. ‘It wouldn’t have happened… I couldn’t hear the muttering of my lips quietly, but I could read the shape of my lips through analysis.

“So you called me to the studio, so you need my help?”

“Right. Seo-hee, I want you to use your aura and cut this chain.”

“Ah! This?”

I pointed to the chain of the steed held in a vise. Since Yoon Seo-hee visited the warehouse of the Claprot mansion with me, she seemed to immediately recognize and understand what it was.

“How much should I cut?”

“You don’t need much. It just needs to be the size of a ring.’

“Yes! Okay!”

Yoon Seo-hee put her hand into the space expansion bag that Yuna had given her and took out her golden egg. That sure looks convenient. You could call it a mini subspace.

Chal Jwajak! A golden aura clearly formed on the golden blade. She could see that Yoon Seo-hee’s aura skill had risen by leaps and bounds as she took it out as lightly as breathing without even concentrating on her mind.

“Sum!”

Sureung! Just one swing. The chain, which hadn’t been cut no matter how much I tried, was neatly cut with a light blade that I didn’t use much force on.

“Oh… How easy it is.”

Chainsaw? Grindstone? Don’t need all Aura was also great.

“Did I do well?”

“You did really well. Thank you, Seohee.”

“Huh? Yes… What is this about! Just say anything!”

Yoon Seo-hee couldn’t make eye contact and scratched her cheek as if she was embarrassed. Were you ashamed to be praised for your skills? She could have had more confidence in her own skills.

This is not an empty word. Indeed, Aura users are of different levels. It is regrettable that such excellent cutting power is not properly used in the industrial field.

If I ask another auror user, ‘Cut this ingredient into star shapes!’, I might be the one who gets cut into star shapes. That’s why high-ranking hunters think auras are special.

I was really fortunate that Yoon Seo-hee was my friend.

Anyway, once I cut it, the next thing was easy. I put a piece of Bongma Stone cut to a suitable size into the furnace and forged it into a long plate shape by beating it with a hammer.

When the sword had to be crafted, there were times when a smaller piece of metal was made into an elaborate shape, so a ring was not a big deal.

Kang! Kang! Kang!

The elongated plate is heated, bent again, and beaten again to form a round shape. Of course, this isn’t complete. Since it was just a round plate, the outer surface of the ring was uneven, so it didn’t look like it could be called a ring yet. You need to trim the surface neatly with a file.

But since Galilee didn’t have a magic stone with a normal rope, I asked Yoon Seo-hee for this as well.

“Can I do this?”

“Yes. You’re doing great.”

Ssuksssss The ring, which used to be bumpy, transformed into a neat and shiny ring every time the aura-bearing string cut the outer surface.

It was a job that required a lot of delicacy, but Yoon Seo-hee did it easily, as if it wasn’t too difficult. Since she is a swordsman by any means, she is said to be skilled with her hands. Even if she is not an artisan, she has excellent innate senses.

That’s how the ring made of the magic stone was completed.

But there is still one more step left. I took out a small box that I had put in the workshop drawer.

“Oh, that!”

The holy water brought by Yoon Seo-hee. To be honest, I don’t have any religious or magical knowledge, so I’m not sure how to use this holy water to properly consecrate.

Can I just spray it on the ring? Or should I soak it in holy water?

You can do both at once.

The moment I was about to open the lid of the glass bottle with that thought, Baek Ji-soo quietly grabbed my hand.

“Binary. Leave this to me.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I learned a spell yesterday.”

I lack religious and magical knowledge.

The regressor reliably opened his mouth, as if he would make up for what you lacked.

“That will make this ring even more special.”