Chapter 168

Uesugi Toru's gaze was quietly drawn by the clear, crisp blade bodies all around reflecting everything, his line of sight rising and falling along wave after wave of elegant hamon on the blade surface.

This uchigatana is, without a doubt, Epic Level!

A Sengoku Period blacksmith actually managed to personally forge Epic Level weapon equipment?!

Although this uchigatana still falls quite a bit short compared to Kaga Kiyomitsu, and no trace of its own spirituality can be seen.

But Kaga Kiyomitsu was personally forged with no small effort by the aging blacksmith of Arakawa Ghost Village, who is a Tenko.

The two naturally cannot be mentioned in the same breath.

But this is already enough!

Earlier at the Special Affairs Division, Uesugi Toru had specifically asked Aoyama Gi whether he could forge Epic Level — that is, equipment of similar quality to Kaga Kiyomitsu.

The answer he got at the time was that he couldn't.

The highest quality equipment Aoyama Gi could forge was at most Rare Level, perhaps occasionally touching Rare+ with some luck, but that was it.

Uesugi Toru never expected that just Imagawa Yoshimoto bringing him along on a whim to casually purchase a tachi would actually run into a blacksmith of such strength.

— And if it's a blacksmith capable of forging Epic Level equipment, perhaps they could use Qualified Spirit Gold to reforge and upgrade Kaga Kiyomitsu once more!

Thinking to this point, Uesugi Toru, still standing at the shop doorway, maintained a calm appearance and asked Imagawa Yoshimoto beside him,

"If expensive, then how many mon would a common finished wakizashi or uchigatana like these cost to buy one?"

Imagawa Yoshimoto crossed her arms,

"I remember... any random wakizashi in here would cost."

Seeing the shop-watching boy apprentice's eyes half-narrowed, seemingly not yet having noticed them, Imagawa Yoshimoto said quietly: "Simply expensive to an outrageous degree, this money could outfit over a dozen fully armed ashigaru."

In the Sengoku Period, a common tachi's market price was roughly around five kan, while uchigatana and wakizashi were even lower, two or three kan being the absolute ceiling.

Even buying an ashigaru a long spear and armor, one person would still be under ten kan.

"Let alone uchigatana and tachi, they're all at least three-digit prices, and if you want to buy a fine piece among them five hundred kan is quite normal."

That is to say, Excellent Quality weapons cost at least sixty or seventy kan.

And if you want to buy Rare Level blades in this shop, you'd need to prepare at least three or four hundred kan to have the confidence to walk in.

Hearing this price, even Uesugi Toru, who wasn't too sensitive to Sengoku Period prices, couldn't help but click his tongue.

You have to know, this era's teppo, that is matchlocks, are only a hundred or so kan each.

These swords are that much more expensive than guns, it's completely backwards.

With this kind of price... it's no wonder the customers in front of this blacksmith shop are so scarce.

Normal people would most likely hear the price and turn around and leave without a word, then make up their minds never to come again.

"But expensive as these swords are, they have their reasons for being expensive."

Imagawa Yoshimoto continued speaking, her voice finally startling the little apprentice in the shop,

"They cut iron like mud, can easily sever common o-yoroi shoulder plates, and can be called worth the price. Motonobu has come here to spend several times already."

"Ah, welcome!"

That cloth-clothed boy apprentice first subconsciously looked toward the two-shaku-plus Adult hugging the vermilion Kaga Kiyomitsu, the most eye-catching.

Immediately after, the apprentice realized she was just a child, and shifted his gaze onto the tall Uesugi Toru.

But in just two seconds, before the next words could leave his mouth, he reacted to who the female voice from just now was.

The Imagawa Clan's young Head of Family!

She's come again!

So the apprentice hurriedly walked to Imagawa Yoshimoto's front side, ushered her in and said softly: "Please wait here a moment, Adult, I'll go call Teacher right away."

The apprentice's attitude went from dazed to exceptionally respectful in just three or four seconds, which naturally couldn't escape Uesugi Toru's eyes.

He was just a bit puzzled — how this apprentice who looked indifferent to his actual job could instantly recognize Imagawa Yoshimoto under the straw hat.

Imagawa Yoshimoto seemed used to this, nodding then kneeling on the wiped-clean spacious cushion in the shop,

"No rush, if Teacher is still working, then let's wait for him to finish this step."

"Okay okay! Thank you for your generosity, Adult!"

The apprentice memorized these words verbatim, bowed respectfully once more, then with quick light footsteps lifted the cloth curtain and headed toward the inner room.

Seeing the apprentice's back disappear from view, Uesugi Toru walked closer while admiring that Epic Level uchigatana and casually asked: "Lord Imagawa, this apprentice who can fall asleep watching the door — how has he not been fired after working this long?"

Uesugi Toru asked this because from the two's familiar attitude he could tell Imagawa Yoshimoto should have met this little apprentice quite a few times.

That's why he found it strange.

The two-shaku Adult hugging the sword followed silently behind him, eyes not straying, pretending not to see Imagawa Yoshimoto lightly patting the other empty cushion.

"This is just a blacksmith shop, not some important place or the Imagawa Residence."

Imagawa Yoshimoto put her legs together, rested her hands behind her knees and said rather lazily: "On ordinary days, maybe not a single customer visits all day, so him dozing off a bit is normal."

"Anyway in Sunpu Castle, being able to come to this blacksmith shop a second time means there's no other choice.

And this little apprentice's skill lies in remembering the name, features, personality, and preferences of every returning customer clearly, even if a year or two passed in between."

Uesugi Toru more or less understood.

For customers who can shop at this blacksmith shop, there's no other choice, so relatively speaking service isn't valued much.

And the little apprentice remembering every visitor means when calling the blacksmith from the inner room, he can give the blacksmith a mental or verbal heads-up about the customer.

For a moment, Uesugi Toru actually felt a bit envious of this little apprentice.

Normally idle and bored, he can nap and slack off freely, the only thing needed is to "shout 'Master, welcome home'" when a customer arrives.

And because of the specialty "super memory," his wages probably aren't low either.

Practically skipping thirty years of detours.

During the brief wait, Uesugi Toru looked around this "doma" section facing the road used for business and reception, discovering the shop's decor was abnormally clean and simple.

Not to say it's gorgeous, it could only be described as bare walls.

Apart from the long and short swords neatly arranged in rows, various spearheads and simple armor, there were only bare wooden walls and floor.

At most there was also a small counter-like table... but calling it a table isn't quite accurate either; in short, it was just another surface for placing items.

In contrast, the various forging tools and environment inside must surely be top-tier; even an inconspicuous little prop would probably cost dozens or hundreds of kan.

Uesugi Toru thought silently to himself.

Before long, the apprentice emerged from the thick cloth curtain again, then stood to the side holding the curtain open with his hand.

The person had not yet arrived, but his voice came first.

"Haha! A rare guest, truly a rare guest! What wind blew you here, my lord!"

A cheerful, hearty laugh instantly burst from the corridor into the entire earthen-floored room.

The next moment, a sturdy, tall young man appeared with a half-damp hemp cloth draped over his shoulder, looking somewhat unkempt because of his unshaven beard, and walked with large strides toward Imagawa Yoshimoto, who was wearing a conical hat.

His whole body was still giving off faint trails of high-temperature steam; his sleeves were rolled up high, his forearms bright red — clearly he had just been clanging away forging iron in the inner room.

Imagawa Yoshimoto immediately stood up and exchanged a few pleasantries with this young blacksmith.

Uesugi Toru blinked, discovering that this young blacksmith was quite a bit younger than Aoyama Gi.

And this is the Sengoku Period...

This really is... accomplished at a young age.

"—This visit is to have this gentleman select a tachi."

After the brief pleasantries, Imagawa Yoshimoto stated the request without hesitation, paused, then continued: "If you have any in stock, please also bring out a plain spear."

The young blacksmith looked at Uesugi Toru at these words, sizing him up for a moment before saying: "This gentleman, I have not yet asked for your honored name."

Uesugi Toru: "No need for honorifics; my humble name is the single character 'Toru'."

"So it is Mr. Toru."

The young blacksmith first responded formulaically, then seemed to feel the name sounded somewhat familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before.

He pondered for a moment, scratched his chin, but could not figure out why.

After all, he spent his days cooped up in the inner room forging iron, his whole mind focused on how to improve his forging skill.

Normally only the little apprentice and the nearby food stall owners could exchange a couple of words with him, but he never took those words to heart anyway.

Yet the little apprentice standing to the side had long since gone pale, drastically changed, wildly changed.

If the Imagawa clan head did not greatly dislike being interrupted while speaking, he would have long since run to his master's ear and told him this is that Onmyoji Toru who has been hottest lately, urging his master to quickly get on good terms with him!

The apprentice muttered in puzzlement: "Why does an Onmyoji still need to wield swords and spears?"

The young blacksmith naturally did not know what the apprentice was thinking.

He felt Uesugi Toru did not look like much of a fighter; perhaps he was the son of some old Imagawa retainer.

As for this single-character name, it was naturally an alias...

So the young blacksmith returned to the inner room, rummaged out several extremely slender, lightweight tachi that were more ornamental than practical, placed them one by one on the counter, and said,

"Mr. Toru, please try how these few tachi feel in hand?"

Uesugi Toru gazed somewhat speechlessly at the few tachi emitting a faint green light, mostly Excellent Quality at best.

Before he could speak, Kaga Kiyomitsu in the arms of the two-shaku-tall adult "shua"-ed out, letting out a faint but high-pitched hum to express dissatisfaction.

As if saying: "Do you expect me to work alongside these third-rate goods from now on! No, absolutely not!"

The young blacksmith instantly turned his head, eyes bulging larger than bronze bells, staring fixedly at Kaga Kiyomitsu.

His gaze turned green, practically like a Shiraishi who hasn't eaten his fill in over a decade laying eyes on a Manchu-Han Imperial Feast, drooling with desire.

"Mr. To, Toru!" the young blacksmith stammered, not willing to blink for a single moment, "This uchigatana, is it a spirit weapon?"

"Indeed it is."

Uesugi Toru spoke: "Xiao Jia, we're still in someone else's shop, stop fooling around."

He admonished earnestly: "When outside you must be sensible, don't always make the two-shaku adult holding you worry."

Hearing Uesugi Toru's words, Kaga Kiyomitsu trembled slightly twice in dissatisfaction, but still obediently shrank back into its scabbard.

This miraculous scene firmly captured everyone's gazes.

The blacksmith's eyes shone even brighter; he swallowed saliva with some difficulty, but still suppressed the impulse to reach out and touch Kaga Kiyomitsu, saying,

"If that is the case, then Mr. Toru naturally looks down on these scrap copper and rotten iron."

"Please wait a moment."

The blacksmith rushed into the inner room and brought out several more tachi, carefully placing them on the counter.

This time they were all Rare grade, and among them was even one emitting a deep blue light — estimated to be "Rare+" quality like the Five Thunder Orb.

"Mr. Toru, how about these?" The blacksmith smiled proudly, continuing to stare at the already-retracted Kaga Kiyomitsu, "These are my proudest works; though they cannot compare to your uchigatana, they are still considered usable."

Uesugi Toru pretended to observe carefully and agreed, but actually did not care too much.

Compared to Rare grade, or even possibly existing Epic grade tachi, he was more concerned with whether this young blacksmith could forge Qualified Spirit Gold into Kaga Kiyomitsu.

Because Kaga Kiyomitsu's growth potential alone destined it to be rarer than the vast majority of Epic weapons.

Not to mention it has also awakened spiritual wisdom, possessing an outrageous trait called "Separation Sorrow Domain".

So after handling them and roughly confirming that one tachi suited him better, Uesugi Toru changed the subject and asked,

"Are there any uchigatana similar to the one displayed in the center of the shop?"

First, he needed to determine what level this young blacksmith's forging technique stood at.

—If the young blacksmith could forge Epic weapons at will, Uesugi Toru would the next moment produce Qualified Spirit Gold and request him to forge for him.

The blacksmith, who had obtained the two-shaku adult's permission and gotten to slightly touch Kaga Kiyomitsu, froze, then shook his head with some regret,

"This uchigatana can only be counted as a once-in-a-lifetime fluke."

The blacksmith recalled for a while, then said with emotion: "It was forged by a bold stroke of fate when I happened to encounter thunder one day, a miracle I have been unable to replicate to this day."

"But."

The blacksmith moved his specially cleaned fingers from Kaga Kiyomitsu's sword hilt and said seriously, word by word,

"In the future, I will definitely forge a weapon more perfect than it, and even more perfect than your spirit uchigatana, Mr. Toru."

Wow, I can even hear some hardcore stories about ruthless people.

Uesugi Toru sighed, but still felt a little disappointed in his heart.

This blacksmith could indeed stably forge rare-grade weapons at such a young age; he was truly impressive.

But since he couldn't even forge epic-grade weapons, it meant his forging skills weren't much better than Aoyama Gi's, and the latter had the aid of modern equipment...

Perhaps, coming back in two years might bring a surprise.

So Uesugi Toru picked up the tachi he had already chosen, and at Imagawa Yoshimoto's urging, also bought a rare-grade plain spearhead, waiting to come back next time to take the fully assembled plain spear.

Seeing Imagawa Yoshimoto take out a gold leaf from his bosom, the blacksmith shook his head,

"No need for this amount."

He only took a small half: "Seeing you again today is one joy, Mr. Toru letting me broaden my horizons is another joy; this is double happiness arriving at the door."

Imagawa Yoshimoto did not decline, but carefully took back the remaining gold leaves and stuffed them back into his lining, saying softly,

"I'll still have to trouble you, Blacksmith."

Blacksmith?

Uesugi Toru noticed this strange title.

Imagawa Yoshimoto must have come to this blacksmith shop many times, so why would he address the other party so distantly?

The young blacksmith noticed Uesugi Toru's puzzled expression and smiled: "Before I fully recognize myself, I am not worthy of shaking off the two words 'Blacksmith' and possessing a unique name."

Why did this sound familiar?

Uesugi Toru narrowed his eyes and pondered for a long while before remembering that the zashiki-warashi seemed to have said similar words a long time ago.

And the zashiki-warashi was a Tian Gong Apprentice.

Could it be...

Uesugi Toru's heart suddenly jumped, and he asked tentatively: "Mr. Blacksmith, have you heard of Tian Gong?"

The smile on the blacksmith's face disappeared.

He asked quite seriously: "Where did you hear this word?"

Uesugi Toru's eyes lit up, and he took out the Qualified Spirit Gold from his Storage Backpack, talking nonsense,

"After I accidentally obtained this piece of spirit gold, I sought many blacksmiths to forge it together with Xiao Jia, but they all said it couldn't be done."

And among them, one blacksmith told me: 'Tian Gong can do such things.'"

The blacksmith fell silent, first took the Qualified Spirit Gold and carefully looked at it repeatedly for a long time, then said,

"Mr. Toru, would you be willing to part with it? I might be able to forge a wakizashi of similar quality to that Thunder Blade with it..."

After speaking, the blacksmith immediately offered an extremely high price.

Uesugi Toru shook his head without thinking: "This is for Xiao Jia."

"Is that so, what a pity."

The blacksmith carefully returned the spirit gold to Uesugi Toru, and added: "Of course, the pity is only for me."

"But Tian Gong..."

The blacksmith looked at the Qualified Spirit Gold, and after deliberating for a moment, still said somewhat reluctantly,

"I, in the past, perhaps met one."

—Even though this extremely precious spirit gold could not be used by himself, he also hoped the spirit gold would fall into the right person's hands and be put to good use.

At this moment, Imagawa Yoshimoto, who had been listening quietly for a long time, spoke: "Lord Blacksmith, if you can tell Toru the 'details of Tian Gong,' I can promise you one thing."

Although she didn't quite understand what spirit gold was used for, or what the two words Tian Gong meant.

But Imagawa Yoshimoto knew one thing.

She noticed that after mentioning the two words Tian Gong, Uesugi Toru's expression became unprecedentedly serious.

This was very important to him.

The blacksmith was delighted upon hearing this; he had intended to tell everything in detail anyway.

Now he could also receive the goodwill of the Imagawa Clan Head for free—this was truly a great deal.

So, after pondering for a long while, the blacksmith slowly began,

"The location was in a deep mountain somewhere in Mikawa Province... there was a ruined temple in that mountain."

I was young then, and the overly fine details I couldn't remember fully; I only remembered getting lost in the mountains and arriving at the doorway of that ruined temple, and after falling asleep, she picked me up into the temple.

According to her, it seemed a Mountain Whale Demon King was rioting in the mountains at that time, so I stayed in the temple for an especially long time, over ten days.

In between, I heard her mention Tian Gong many times."

Speaking to this point, the blacksmith smiled nostalgically: "Speaking of which, many key forging techniques were also taught to me by her at that time."

I still clearly remember her forging day and night with full concentration, forging, forging, forging, as if she would never tire... Now that I focus on this, perhaps it is also thanks to her."

Mikawa Province, in the mountains, a ruined temple, and a Demon King who had once rioted.

The information provided by the young blacksmith was already quite obvious.

But what was a "Mountain Whale"?

A whale in the mountains?

This was truly an unheard-of yokai.

Uesugi Toru asked further: "What did she look like?"

"Appearance..."

The blacksmith frowned and pondered for a long time, shaking his head: "I can't remember clearly; I only remember she was a generous and burly woman."

"Besides that, I can't remember anything more."

Uesugi Toru wrote down everything the blacksmith said: "This is already enough, thank you, Master Blacksmith."

"No need to thank me."

The blacksmith grinned at him: "If Mr. Toru can find that person, please convey my thanks for their hospitality."

"I will."

After finishing the last question, Uesugi Toru prepared to leave the blacksmith shop with Imagawa Yoshimoto.

Before leaving, Imagawa Yoshimoto's footsteps suddenly stopped, and he looked back at the apprentice in the corner whose complexion had changed countless times yet still hadn't said a word,

"Master Blacksmith, may I borrow your apprentice? I want him to take Mr. Toru to Motonobu's home."

"No problem, no problem! Adult, please feel free to borrow him!"

The blacksmith, who had already turned around, casually waved his hand behind him; after speaking, he drilled back into the cloth curtain, appearing to continue focusing on forging iron.

The apprentice, who had been arbitrarily assigned the task of leading the way, bowed with a smile, showing not the slightest dissatisfaction: "I am willing to serve you, Adult."

Imagawa Yoshimoto, however, took out several dozen wen of broken silver from his inner lining and placed it in the apprentice's hand,

"For your trouble."

Seeing this, the apprentice hurriedly waved his hand: "A... Adult! This is not necessary!"

Imagawa Yoshimoto said in a flat tone: "I give it to you, you just take it."

The apprentice immediately closed his mouth, and after a moment said: "Adult, please feel free to leave with peace of mind."

"That's good."

Imagawa Yoshimoto walked to Uesugi Toru's side and spoke softly to him: "Then Tetsu-kun, we will part for now, and meet again when we return."

"Lord Imagawa, take care."

Uesugi Toru originally wanted to take out some props for Imagawa Yoshimoto's self-defense, but after searching around he discovered that both the Shaking Bell and the Blood-stained Crown required Spirit Power to activate.

Otherwise they wouldn't be of much use.

If he took the initiative to ask the Two-Shaku Adult to follow her, it seemed a bit presumptuous.

He had no choice but to let it go.

And within Sunpu Castle, there shouldn't be too much concern for Imagawa Yoshimoto's personal safety.

Watching Imagawa Yoshimoto slowly leave and merge into the crowd, Uesugi Toru then looked at the apprentice with a face full of satisfaction,

"Please lead the way, sir."

The apprentice put away the windfall wealth, patted his chest heavily: "Mr. Toru, rest assured! I will definitely take you to Okabe-sama's residence; if you have any needs along the way, just tell me!"

Even if it was on the way, Okabe Motonobu's residence was unexpectedly far from the blacksmith shop.

Uesugi Toru followed the apprentice for nearly forty minutes, going further and further off the beaten path, until the flow of people became so sparse they could hardly be seen before the apprentice stopped his footsteps.

He asked somewhat doubtfully: "Does Okabe-sama live here?"

The apprentice replied as if it were nothing strange: "Because Okabe-sama likes quieter places."

He pointed to the only courtyard surrounded by a wall nearby,

"Mr. Toru, that is Okabe-sama's home."

Uesugi Toru nodded, walked to the doorway and gently knocked on the door: "Excuse me, is Okabe-sama home?"

No one responded.

Next, Uesugi Toru waited for a good while, repeated it several times, but he discovered that still no one opened the door.

Could it be that no one is home?

To avoid a wasted trip, Uesugi Toru still had the Two-Shaku Adult float up first, wanting her to observe the situation from midair.

The Two-Shaku Adult holding the sword floated up slowly, causing the apprentice behind to stare with his mouth wide open in shock.

After a moment, the Two-Shaku Adult's somewhat complex voice transmitted,

"Toru-sama, I think you should push the door open and look... Hmm, it should be fine."

Uesugi Toru blinked, not doubting the Two-Shaku Adult's words.

He tentatively raised his hand and slowly pushed open the wooden door that was not locked.

Then, he stood frozen in place with a wooden complexion, just like the Two-Shaku Adult in midair.

This... this this this...

Tell me this is Okabe Motonobu?!

This isn't right!

End of Chapter