That Time a Shut-in for 300 Years Continued to Make Antiques , but All of It Turned out to Be Cheat-Level Magic Tools - Chapter 67

In the backyard of the workshop, a stand was prepared, and a bundle of straw was set up on top of it. The purpose was to judge whether the sword crafted by Meiku or the one made by his son, Kurie, was superior by cutting the straw.

The person wielding the swords was Hazan, a B-rank adventurer from the Adventurer’s Guild. He was more than suitable to demonstrate the trial cuts.

“Alright, Hazan, we’re counting on you.”

“Yeah, leave it to me.”

Hazan took Meiku’s sword and stood in front of the straw bundle. For the first test, the straw had a red cloth wrapped around it.

With everything ready, Hazan positioned the sword and raised it slowly.

“Haaah!”

With a swift strike, the sword cut diagonally through the straw, producing a sharp, clean sound, and one side of the straw bundle slid off.

“Hmm, it’s a good sword.”

“Of course, this is my masterpiece. I doubt I can forge something better than this again.”

As Hazan held up the sword and praised it, Meiku grinned proudly.

“I see.”

Hazan nodded, while Mei replaced the cut straw bundle with a new one.

“Alright, next is the sword Kurie crafted.”

“Th-thank you!”

Kurie bowed to Hazan, his eyes fixed on his movements. His stiffness was understandable—after all, this was the moment his sword would be judged. For a blacksmith, a sword they forge is like their child.

“Alright then, here we go! Haaah!”

With a powerful shout, Hazan swung the sword down once more, the clean sound echoing again as the straw was sliced smoothly at an angle.

“Hmm, not bad. It seems you’ve improved a bit. But how do we judge this? Both swords cut cleanly.”

“No, the decision has already been made.”

Meiku, puzzled, turned to Hazan, who faced us with a decisive look.

“This sword is clearly superior. The sword Kurie crafted wins.”

“Huh? W-what did you just say!?”

Meiku’s eyes widened in disbelief as he stormed toward Hazan.

“You’re joking! Are you saying my sword is inferior to my son’s!?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Ridiculous! How could you know that!?”

“When I cut with your sword, I thought it was a good sword. But when I cut the straw, there was a slight resistance. However, with your son’s sword, the blade sliced through without any resistance at all.”

“Impossible! I refuse to accept this! Wait, you must have been in cahoots with them! You must have rigged the test in favor of my son!”

“Huh? Are you saying I’m lying?”

“Yeah, that’s the only explanation!”

“Meiku, that’s incredibly disrespectful.”

As expected, Meiku wasn’t going to accept this easily. Hazan looked frustrated, his expression darkening.

“Well, I figured this might happen, so I deliberately had you cut this specific straw.”

“What? What’s so special about that straw?”

“Look at the cut surfaces of both bundles. Mei, bring them here.”

Mei brought the two halves of the straw bundles. Hazan held one in each hand and showed them to everyone. Guard, Hazan, and Meiku all inspected the cut surfaces closely.

“…I see. They are indeed different.”

“Yes, one of these bundles has a perfectly smooth cut with no distortion. The other is slightly crushed in places.”

“Exactly. While Hazan’s skill is excellent, the sword that made the crushed cut would cause its victim more pain, leaving them to die slowly. Meanwhile, the sword with the clean cut would kill instantly, without the victim even realizing it.”

“And look, the crushed bundle has the red cloth wrapped around it, meaning—”

“Th-this can’t be…”

Meiku’s shoulders trembled as he stared at the cut straw in disbelief.

The red cloth was only wrapped around the first straw bundle. The crushed bundle was the one Hazan had felt resistance with.

“It seems the truth has been revealed.”

“Damn it! No, I still refuse to accept this! It was probably your poor technique that caused this result in the first place!”

“Meiku, that’s enough!”

“Shut up! It must be true!”

“How stubborn… I’ll make it clear in a way even you can’t deny.”

As Guard scolded him, Meiku looked increasingly desperate. Kurie also appeared saddened.

But there was still a way to make Meiku understand the difference.

“But brother, how do you plan to make him accept it?”

“Who are you calling stubborn?!”

“Meiku, it’s obviously you.”

Guard sighed, but the solution was simple.

“There’s no need for anything complicated. Meiku, I’ll let you decide for yourself. Lick your sword and Kurie’s sword.”

“…What?”

“Come again?”

“Wait, are you serious?”

“I’m completely serious.”

“Can you really tell by licking them?”

Kurie looked baffled, but Meiku would surely understand.

“You’re not joking about licking the sword, are you?”

“Not at all. I’ve licked your sword before. You can tell the quality of a sword by its taste. Don’t worry, it’s clean—I wiped it down.”

“Ugh…”

“What’s wrong? A blacksmith who can’t even taste the metal?”

“Fine! I’ll lick it!”

Meiku took his sword and ran his tongue along the blade.

“How is it?”

“…It just tastes like metal. It’s got that metallic tang, nothing more. It doesn’t taste good at all.”

“Now, try licking your son’s sword.”

“Fine, but what could I possibly learn from this?”

Meiku took Kurie’s sword and, with some hesitation, licked it.

“—!?”

At that moment, Meiku’s expression changed. His eyes widened in shock as he looked at the sword more closely.

“How does Kurie’s sword taste?”

“This… this can’t be happening! It’s different! My sword tasted purely of iron, with that unpleasant metallic smell. But this sword—it’s different! It tastes clean, like fresh river water, with a hint of sweetness!”

“Sweetness?”

“A sword… tasting sweet? Is that even possible?”

“I can’t believe it. But it’s true! Kurie’s sword tastes sweet! Why!?”

“You really want to know why it tastes sweet?”

“Dammit!”

Meiku gritted his teeth, frustrated.

“Tell me. This has never happened before. A sweet-tasting sword? Please, tell me why.”

“I want to know too. Why does the sword taste sweet?”

“I’m curious as well.”

It seemed everyone wanted to know.

“Alright, I’ll tell you. The secret is this!”

I pulled a small bottle from my pocket and showed it to everyone.

“…Huh?”

“What? That bottle is the secret?”

“What’s in the bottle?”

“Heh, it’s all about what’s inside. This bottle contains… sugar!”

“Sugar?”

“Yes, sugar. I sprinkled sugar on both swords when I wiped them down. That’s the reason for the sweetness!”

For a moment, the entire group was stunned.

“…Are you kidding me?”

“Uh, what?”

Hazan and Guard looked at me in disbelief, while Meiku’s shoulders shook as if holding back laughter.

“You… you’re messing with us!”

Suddenly, Meiku rushed at me and grabbed my collar.

“What are you so mad about?”

“Of course I’m mad! You’re screwing with us! Of course the sword tastes sweet if you sprinkle sugar on it!”

“Oh? So you agree it would taste sweet?”

“Of course!”

“Well, I sprinkled sugar on your sword too.”

“…What?”

Meiku froze, still holding my collar. I shook his hand off and picked up his sword.

“I did sprinkle sugar, but equally on both swords.”

“No way… but my sword didn’t taste sweet at all.”

“Exactly. You said it yourself: your sword tasted purely of iron. That means the taste and smell of the iron overpowered the sweetness of the sugar.”

“Then… brother, what does this mean?”

“It’s simple. The metallic taste and smell Meiku noticed were caused by impurities in the iron. The more impurities, the stronger the metallic flavor. That’s why you couldn’t taste the sugar.”

“Wait, so that means Kurie’s sword…?”

“Yes, Kurie’s sword has far fewer impurities, making it a purer iron blade.”

“No way! But there’s no proof you sprinkled sugar equally on both swords!”

“That’s a pathetic excuse, Meiku.”

“W-what?”

Mei stepped in, cutting Meiku down with her words. Yes, he was already defeated, regardless of the sugar.

“Meiku-sama, you said earlier that Kurie-sama’s sword tasted like clean water, with no unpleasant smell. That’s proof enough that his sword has fewer impurities.”

“Gh…”

“As Mei said, this proves that Kurie’s sword is far superior. The purer iron resulted in a much cleaner cut.”

“Ahhh! Damn it! You bastards!”

Meiku let out a frustrated howl at the sky, admitting his defeat in the process. Though, of course, this was only a duel of iron swords.