Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1910, 1882. The Famous Sword Moon Concealment
"Ah, don't misunderstand. I'm not complaining about anything."

Seeing that Lan En and the other two were all focused on the iron chains on his ankles, Xiu Gu said indifferently, his tone calm.

"My capture is not your fault. Besides, I am not opposed to forging weapons."

"No matter who I am, I can make weapons stronger—technology and time will never betray me. And..."

As he spoke, Xiu Gu's tone suddenly became even more subdued than before.

"This will allow me to temporarily forget the terror of that lord."

Xiu Gu spoke very cryptically about 'that person'.

Furthermore, he said this while he was lost in his own thoughts, which rules out the possibility that he was deliberately teasing the riddle man or was afraid that Lan En and the others were around.

He was genuinely afraid of that so-called 'adult,' so much so that he subconsciously tried to avoid mentioning his name.

However, when Lann left Rodel to carry out a mission in Lienia, he once heard the hybrid blacksmith's prayers from the bottom of the stairs, thanks to his extraordinary hearing.

He was begging Queen Marika for forgiveness and leniency. Forgive him for still failing to forge a weapon powerful enough to kill a god.

In other words, the person who made him so afraid was Queen Marika?

Lan En recalled his two meetings with the [Eternal Queen] within those dozen or so hours.

The first time, she was overcome with grief, anger, and repression before the body of her eldest son. The second time, she emerged from the depths of despair with bad news, yet she seemed to suddenly become calm, even cold-hearted.

It was only on their second meeting that the queen, who ruled the entire Golden Dynasty, noticed Lann and made eye contact with him.

With such limited contact time, it was difficult for Lan En to judge whether the personality and spirit of this Eternal Queen were really as Xiu Gu feared.
Or is there... another reason?
Fortunately, even when the mixed-race blacksmith was briefly lost in his own thoughts, it didn't affect his work. As he himself said: skill and time will not betray you.

His skills have become second nature.

The forging stone was gradually shattered on the valley raiding knife, and then gradually melted into it.

"The battle ash on the [Famous Sword Moon Shadow] is called [Moon Shadow Between Gaps], I remember." Xiu Gu adjusted his mindset and continued, "It can unleash a sword aura that looks like a sliver of moonlight through a gap, it looks extremely fierce."

"But hey! That's just using the radiance stones embedded in the blade to unleash magic to simulate the effect of a real master's swordsmanship. When this stuff hits you, it's pretty much the same as magic hitting you. Eating a bite of [Magic Resistance Liver] beforehand will make a big difference."

"How could someone like you be interested in this kind of 'counterfeit'?"

As he spoke, Xiu Gu's eyes unconsciously glanced at the Lake Maiden Sword at Lan En's waist.

He was an old-fashioned craftsman, so he naturally didn't think highly of the cleverly made 'imitation', such as [Moonlight Shadow in the Gap].

He had never seen Lan En's swordsmanship before, but he had seen the Lake Maiden's Sword and [Turbid Stream - Annihilation] before.

Since he was qualified to carry a weapon of this caliber, Lan En's swordsmanship and knife skills were automatically at an indescribable level in his eyes.

A casual swing of the sword energy should be nothing special, so why care so much about such a clumsy imitation as [Moon Shadow in the Gap]?
"This knife isn't very useful to me, but isn't it quite pretty?"

Lan En's words are true.

The 【Moon Shadow Sword】 was created by the magic craftsmen of Seria. They borrowed the shape of a Japanese katana, but it is essentially a magic weapon commonly used by Seria's magic assassins.

The blade is inlaid with tiny, luminous pyroxene stones, and the handguard is not in the traditional style of Japanese swords.

Instead, it makes full use of the respect that the boundary places for the Elden Ring, with several circles nested and overlapping each other, some of which are solid and some are hollow, forming a regular and complex pattern.

However, Xiu Gu had no interest in even sneering at this statement; he merely pursed his lips.

It's like they're saying every piece of equipment on Lan En is ugly.

Although some are fierce, some are elegant, and some are simple, the key is that when paired with him, who can say "not good-looking"?

“No joke.” Lan En waved his hand. “Actually, I think there’s nothing wrong with imitation. After all, imitation is the first step in learning. I have some friends whose swordsmanship is not as good as mine. If they can use [Moon Shadow in the Gap] more often, I feel it will greatly help their learning progress.”

Lan En has always felt that the advantage of the [Combat Skills] and [Battle Ash] power systems lies in the large-scale training of advanced warriors.

After all, a high-level warrior uses his soul power to imprint his most prized and reliable moves onto a weapon. Then, as long as the basic requirements of the weapon are met, anyone who gets his hands on it can use the moves imprinted on it.

This is almost equivalent to a high-level warrior using their soul power to imbue a newbie with the attack when the newbie uses this move. After the newbie uses it once, even if it's just muscle memory, they should still retain a significant amount of it.

So Lan En's interest in these "war ash" is mainly because he wants to accelerate the learning progress of the Ember Knights after returning to the magical medieval period.

“It’s your business if you’re interested in counterfeits. But I have to tell you, the battle grime on this knife can’t be removed.”

Xiu Gu had already enhanced the Valley Raid Blade; many of the steps and tools required by a regular blacksmith were completely unnecessary for him. The hybrid blacksmith handed the pair of weapons to the velvet ball, whose eyes were already shining, while saying something to Lan En.

"【Moon Shadow in the Gap】is the magic that activates the gemstones on those blades, releasing sword energy. This Battle Ash, placed on other blades, doesn't have the magic for you to activate."

"It's just to learn the style, not to actually replicate the imitation."

Lan En said nonchalantly, while putting the famous sword Moonshadow back into his alchemy bag, but seemingly unintentionally took out a small box.

He glanced left and right quite naturally to make sure the patrolling Rodel soldiers were far away and no one would be coming anytime soon.

Only then did he open the box and turn the contents toward the mixed-race blacksmith.

"This is……?!"

Xiu Gu had already finished his work and was about to call it a day, but when he casually glanced at Lan En's hand, his body suddenly stiffened.

His gaze kept shifting between the box and Lan En's face.

"The power of [Death], to be precise," Lann closed the box and put it back, "the power of the sealed [Death Rune]."

Xiu Gu's eyes looked as if he had seen a ghost... or, to him, even more terrifying was the sight of Queen Marika!
"What happened last night!" He tried to lower his voice, but it didn't work. "You did it?! Who did you kill?!"

Lan En could tell at a glance that he had misunderstood.

After all, Lani orchestrated the Black Knife Plot Night, and the Faded Ones had only informed a few high-ranking officials in the royal city of Rodel. Xiu Gu, a mixed-race blacksmith locked in the Round Table Hall, probably didn't even know what exactly happened last night, let alone the conspiracy behind it.

“What happened last night has nothing to do with me,” Lan En immediately cleared himself of suspicion. “I just got this trophy after fighting someone, and I don’t know what it’s for.”

Xiu Gu was skeptical about this, and Lan En didn't know whether he believed it or not.

But he still revealed the information about the 'beast claw stone fragment' to Lan En in the end.

"This is the [Blasphemy Claw]. As you know, it possesses the power of [Death Rune]."

"This power is trapped within the stone fragment itself, so it's no longer very lethal. But if you can skillfully activate the power within, you might be able to deflect the [Death Rune] power attacking you. But to be honest..."

The mixed-race blacksmith looked at Lan En with a complicated expression.

"If that beast capable of using [Death Runes] really comes knocking on our door... whether we have this thing or not probably makes no difference, right?"

Xiu Gu was unaware that nowadays, the black blades of the black blade assassins all contained some residual power of the [Death Rune].

Therefore, the beast he was referring to must be Maricus, Queen Marika's adopted brother.

It seems that Xiu Gu lived through the era when Maricus was active and knew what kind of power it was.

Lan En withdrew his blasphemous claws and pondered the situation.

The Blasphemous Claw can deflect the incoming [Death Rune] power to some extent, and it was a gift from Lani to Raccard.

This gift will certainly not be just a souvenir or decoration, but an item with extraordinary practical value.

As for practical use... who does Rakad intend to use this against?
Without a doubt, Lan En immediately sorted out his thoughts.

Even the few remaining traces of the [Death Rune] are extremely rare in the current border region, and may even be unique.

Lakad wants to deal with Marikas!
Once this point is clarified, it also proves that the Queen's sworn brother, one of the Golden Dynasty's top fighters, did not, as the pessimistic views held by the dynasty's upper echelons suggested, have betrayed Queen Marika.

After confirming the news, Lan En and the other two made a promise with Xiu Gu that they would continue to strengthen themselves in the future.

Lan En asked how to transfer the [Battle Ash] to other weapons, and Xiu Gu gave him a whetstone knife.

A whetstone is normally a sharpening stone, and every soldier knows how to use it.

This whetstone knife has a handle attached to a whetstone shaped like a blade, and the whetstone also has a string of glowing, complex characters.

"This whetstone is engraved with [secret text], so it can dismantle war ash. Take it if you need it; I don't need such a simple tool anyway."

After thanking him, Lann accepted the knife. Just then, the Witcher, having inquired further about the weapons of the Borderlands from the hybrid blacksmith, was urged by Baizhi to get to work.

There are just too many things to do right now, especially after bad news came from the grassroots level.

(End of this chapter)