『Talhand The Clifftop』was the 37th of 51 siblings.


    He was born to an ordinary Dwarf family and was constantly surrounded by his brothers and sisters.


    51 of them.


    Of course, they didn’t all share the same mother.


    Something not generally known is that in the Dwarf village, all children of the same generation are all grouped together.


    I guess you could liken it to a school, but from the moment they are born, they are considered siblings until death.


    And so all the children live as siblings, any disparity in wealth is lost, and they can eventually transition smoothly into positions of responsibility within the village.


    And among their siblings, someone will be the chief, some will be servants, and others will marry each other.


    Of course, that’s simply the state of this village.


    Dwarves outside the village have no such custom.


    Anyhow, Talhand was raised among several tens of people as siblings.


    He was a normal child.


    He was interested in rock and iron, he liked the smell of alcohol, and he admired blacksmiths and builders.


    The only thing that might have stood out was that he seemed to like the men more than the women.


    That aside, among his siblings there was one who was particularly popular.


    His little brother, the 38th of 51.


    His name was『Godbard of the Splendid Heavenly Peak』.


    Godbard had a particular talent.


    Once Dwarf children are of age, they are taught blacksmithing and crafts, as well as simple Earth Magic.


    And amongst those, Godbard far outshone the rest.


    He could use the hammer to create steel as hard as the adults, he could craft ornaments splendid enough to make you doubt your eyes, and if you showed him a building, he could immediately fix its weak points.


    Dwarves live longer than humans.


    Around the time that Godbard’s talent was discovered, there were still those who had lived through the Laplace War.


    “He’s the spitting image of the late Ore God,” they proclaimed.


    At their recommendation he was selected as a candidate for the next Ore God and was given preferential treatment.


    The other children also came to recognise him as their future leader.


    It was at that point that Talhand also began to show changes.


    He lost interest in smithing and crafts.


    Because he knew that no matter how hard he tried, nothing he made would ever outshine Godbard.


    He wasn’t comparing himself to Godbard.


    The adults never even looked at anything anyone other than Godbard made, so there was never even any comparison.


    Did Talhand want to be number one?


    No.


    That wasn’t it.


    Then did he resent the respect shown to Godbard?


    That wasn’t it either.


    Talhand and Godbard were quite close.


    In fact, Godbard was one of his first friends.


    Talhand’s first love was Godbard.


    When he heard that Godbard was to be the next Ore God, he was happy.


    And so, Talhand thought of how he could be helpful to Godbard.


    How he would make up for his deficiencies and become his right-hand man.


    The conclusion he reached was Magic.


    Especially, Water and Wind Magic which the Dwarves considered worthless.


    The previous Ore God was was a God Class Earth Mage, and using the stone he created, produced a legendary sword.


    But it’s also said that the reason he was able to create such an amazing sword was because of the Water and Wind talents of the Elves.


    Blacksmithing is done with more than just earth and fire.


    To grow fire, you need wind. To cool steel, you need water.


    It’s not an incorrect philosophy, but the adults of the village refused to acknowledge it.


    Tradition and formality have prevented previous generations of Dwarves from excelling at Wind and Water Magic.


    They would give all kinds of reasons to prevent Talhand from learning Wind and Water Magic.


    In actual fact, Talhand was far better at Earth Magic than Wind or Water.


    But Godbard had said, “I think it’s a great idea. Those adults’ heads are too hard.”


    Those words gave Talhand determination and further flared his admiration of Magic.


    And so Talhand separated from the norm.


    And because of that, he became an object of scorn among some of his siblings.


    According to them, any Dwarf who couldn’t work a forge, couldn’t be considered a man.


    And Magic should only be used to loosen bedrock, anything used in smithing should be birthed by nature.


    And under their contempt, Talhand slowly advanced his studies.


    It was all for the sake of Godbard.


    When he became the new Ore God, he would definitely need Talhand’s strength.


    That’s what he believed.


    Even when they criticised him, ostracised him, and he became known as an eccentric madman, he continued to believe.


    And then the day arrived.


    The day Godbard became the Ore God.


    In accordance with the succession ritual, the Ore God must craft five swords.


    And for each sword he creates, he selects those he can most rely on.


    The Ore God himself selects his his wife and friends, those who will help him lead the village in the future.


    Talhand of course, nominated himself.


    He’d been training himself for this day.


    But to his surprise, Godbard didn’t select him.


    He selected those in the village who possessed skill and his lover… And that was fine.


    But his last selection was one who had berated Talhand as a lunatic, a stubborn old man.


    Talhand objected.


    “As if I could stand such foolishness, I worked this hard for you!” he said.


    But Godbard replied,


    “Can you make an actual sword?”


    And of course Talhand answered,


    “Of course I can, give me a chance.”


    Godbard gave a bitter look, but he consented.


    The stubborn old man and Talhand.


    They would both forge a sword in competition.


    After that, Talhand continued traveling as an Adventurer.


    He was almost always alone.


    After the incident with Godbard, he could no longer bring himself to trust people.


    After being ostracised for so long, he had no idea how to interact with others.


    And his sexual inclination didn’t help with that.


    His smithery was at the base level a Dwarf should have, but the Magic that he had spent most of his time on was only at a reasonable level.


    It only went as far a reasonable.


    So he clad himself in armour and had no choice but to resign himself to something of a Magic Knight role.


    But he still didn’t think being a solo adventurer was that difficult of a task.


    When Talhand was raised to B rank, a certain person took notice of him.


    Elinalise Dragonroad.


    At first, she had her eyes on his body.


    She felt like eating up a Dwarven youth.


    But with Talhand’s sexuality, he had no interest in her.


    And no amount of seduction could change that.


    And when he finally got tired of her advances, he told her he was gay.


    Elinalise stared at him mouth agape and the proceeded to laugh.


    Talhand wasn’t too pleased with that.


    But he knew he would be able to part ways with the lascivious Elf.


    But Elinalise never left him.


    He had no idea why.


    Maybe she thought she could stay out of trouble by following him around.


    After that the two of them teamed up a quite a number of times.


    The abilities of the fast warrior Elinalise and the heavily armoured Mage Talhand meshed well together.


    He still found her irritating, but for some odd reason, it wasn’t an uncomfortable sensation.


    Maybe because her common sense was bound by strict rules.


    Although neither of them talked about forming an official Party.


    But the appearance of a single boy changed that.


    Paul Greyrat.


    He managed to bring together the scattered Elinalise, Talhand, Gisu and Ghyslaine and form a party.


    The『Black Wolf’s Fang』.


    Their combination caused quite a stir, but that’s a story for another time.


    The members of『Black Wolf’s Fang』were all those ejected from their own societies.


    And although none of them matched with Talhand, they were all faithful to their desires.


    Paul was especially creative in his wild thoughts.


    When he heard of Talhand’s preferences, he simply laughed it off and exclaimed, “So I get the women, Elinalise gets the men, and if you take whoever’s left, nobody gets wasted.”


    Paul was an easy to understand kid and his every action would leave you wanting to sigh.


    Although it didn’t seem as if he acted without restraint.


    He possessed some amount of common sense.


    Even when he was publicly labelled a playboy, he continued to live how he wanted as if he couldn’t care less.


    Paul’s way of life opened Talhand’s eyes.


    Paul’s actions gave the『Black Wolf’s Fang』quite the bad reputation, but it was fun nonetheless.


    Whenever Paul did something befitting of his name, he would give a hearty Dwarven laugh.


    Talhand’s feelings for Paul, while similar to love, were decidedly different.


    It was most likely faith.


    For the first time in his life, he had companions he could trust.


    But that trust was broken.


    Zenith joining the party had destroyed his reliance on them.


    Paul, who had run around uninhibited until now, began to act with common sense to conform with what Zenith expected.


    You could consider it Paul growing as a person.


    But Paul made one mistake right at the end.


    The upheaval caused by Paul’s marriage to Zenith left a scar on each of the members hearts.


    In hindsight, it may have only been a small thing.


    But it resolved Talhand to never join another party again.


    After that, Talhand continued on alone, and before long, the Fitoa Annihilation Event occurred.


    He was reunited with Elinalise, met Roxy, and together with the two of them, his aversion towards groups diminished…


    But his sentiment didn’t extend to Paul.


    He met back up with Paul on his return from the Magic Continent.


    And the man he met, was no longer the unruly child he once knew.


    He was a man, a father, desperately searching for his family.


    Talhand knew he had changed, that he had grown up.


    One day, in his emptiness, a thought came to Talhand.


    That he should learn to blacksmith.


    He couldn’t tell why he thought that.


    But throughout his journey towards the Asura Kingdom, he took up jobs in smithies alongside his work as an Adventurer as training.


    Because of Gisu’s gambling, he had lost most of his fortune.


    And to earn a little more money, when he reached the Millis Continent, he took a break from his travels.


    He started smithing with all of his magic at his disposal.


    Fire, Earth, Water and Wind.


    He made swords, he made gauntlets, he made shields, he made swords, he made armour, he made helmets, and he made swords.


    And through that, he somehow began to understand what Godbard had said to him all those years ago.


    Some things just can’t be conveyed through words. The tempo, the timing, the force, he began to get a feel for all these things.


    His skill rapidly increased.


    The intricacies of Godbard’s forgery were burning in his mind.


    And his knowledge from his time as an adventurer about what kinds of equipment outperformed others played a big part.


    The way he used Magic was far from that his village taught.


    Eventually, people who would buy his wares appeared.


    The Rudo Mercenaries.


    Because he was acquainted with Rudeus, that branch became his sponsor.


    And because of that, eventually he was able to set up his own shop.


    But, as always, his actions didn’t have any purpose to himself.


    His part time Adventures, playing teacher to apprentices, none of it had any meaning.


    What finally changed that was when Rudeus brought his entire family over from Sharia.


    Paul’s son, could stand on the same level as the Latria house.


    When he saw that, he knew.


    He finally understood.


    That he had to return to his village.


    That he had to overturn the decision on that day.


    That’s why he was smithing.


    After getting the rod of black rock from Rudeus, Talhand returned to his store.


    He had always thought that if he had the ability, that was the kind of stone he would make.


    What was once a dream, was now possible through all the training he had put himself through.


    “…”


    The first step was to powderise the rock from Rudeus with hammer and Magic.


    Then mix in iron sand and heat it.


    And using Earth and Wind Magic to achieve temperatures unimaginable with a conventional furnace, raise the heat.


    Both the Shingane and the Tamahagane1would be made of Rudeus’s rock and the iron sand.


    The ratio would be different, but the basic process the same.


    He could have used Red Dragon scales or Hydra bones to produce an even stronger sword, but Talhand wouldn’t use any of that.


    There wouldn’t be any point.


    He began to slowly forge the sword, and after an entire night without rest, he began the tempering process.


    Slowly but surely, he poured the epitome of his magic and willpower into the sword.


    The result: a single blade.


    It was a hard black sword.


    It had no special decorations and no special effects.


    But Talhand was satisfied. He made a scabbard, wrapped it in a first class cloth, and placed it on his back.


    After putting the remaining black rocks in his bag, he set off from Millishion.


    His destination: the Dwarf village.


    Even after so long, nothing had changed about the Dwarf village.


    The village was built from stone at the base of a cliff.


    The memories of the esteemed『Ore God』Godbard regarding Talhand had somewhat faded.


    It was only natural.


    Many years had passed since Talhand had left the village.


    “You’ve grown old, Talhand.”


    “Speak for yourself.”


    “I thought you would have died in the middle of nowhere a long time ago.”


    “I had intended to.”


    The two exchanged only a short greeting.


    Off to Godbard’s side was his wife and right-hand man.


    With the return of the village’s biggest madman, their vigilance was plain to see.


    But there was no such thing between Talhand and Godbard.


    Talhand had decided to face Godbard with a calm heart.


    “…”


    “…’


    But Godbard didn’t have any intention to talk.


    There was so many things that could be said.


    About his experiences outside the village.


    But words were unnecessary.


    Talhand wordlessly took out the sword.


    Godbard, still silently, removed it from its scabbard and marvelled at the blade.


    “…Hoo.”


    Godbard’s response was overflowing with admiration.


    He brought the sword up to his face to study.


    “This blade holds great faith… There is neither wavering nor naivety, but the inexeprience can be spotted. Given the same materials and construction, I could craft a better blade.”


    Talhand smiled.


    Of course he was happy.


    No matter how hard Talhand had worked at smithing in these last few years, he couldn’t catch up to the Ore God who had been diligently studying for over a hundred years.


    That much was obvious.