un: forgery; (posted 5-10).

[misclassed]

This is Muramasa.

Just before we left last month, I was given leave to keep a smithy on the premises of the base in Kyoto. It's functional now, so the lot of you using blades from our employer need to come have a proper edge put on them. Don't dawdle: you're embarrassing me, walking around like that as it is with those things. Same goes for those of you with personal blades that need upkeep.

[ now, time for the announcement of the grand opening of peepaw's sword emporium. Sort of. ]

Now, if you just want a proper blade of your own for our work here, and I've got a finished one on hand, you can have it if you pay me back for those materials. (Don't do anything stupid with it — they're swords, not toys.) Or, if katana ain't your style and you want something special, or you'd like a matching set, I can do that too. I'll have to test ya so I can see what suits you, plus I'll be charging you for materials and time away from my own work, but it's a properly forged sword made by a master, and you can't beat that price these days.

[ nobody would be so shifty as to start selling those swords on an underground, black market, right? definitely not. ]

And before I forget—Kuzunoha, Laios. You two come see me at the smithy when you're free, regarding the work we talked about before.

[ He already talked to you boys about blades, so you're exempt from this decree about payment... but only once.

And lastly, but most importantly: ]

... Tsurumaru-dono, please feel free to come visit as well. I'd like to see how you're holding up, now that there's a proper forge to work in.

Comments

🎀

[misclassed]

... That would do it, yes.

Anyway, remember what I said about testing, and send your brother over. More of you want custom work than I was anticipating, so the sooner, the better.

[ Good thing there's that new surge in interest in swords, right? There's all sorts of posts about different swordsmiths and the blades they've made. ]

[lostdestiny]

[ Aw okay if Muramasa likes what he’s good at then swords all day every day is probably okay. But hey wait ]




Aren’t you Muramasa

[ If yes then what does “Muramasa was already a smith” mean… ]

[misclassed]

Yeah.

[ Guess you have to ask and find out ]

[lostdestiny]

Didn’t think you were the type of guy who goes around being cryptic and weird

[misclassed]

Considering that I'm gonna be doling out swords that would cost some warriors three years of income for little more than a song and the cost of the charcoal, I deserve some perks on the side, don't I?

[misclassed]

[ Consider him menaced. Muramasa's brow furrows, mouth turned down in a bothered frown — ]

Don't be ridiculous. I know it suits me, but what swordsmith wouldn't want to know how the blade feels about the workshop?

[ It's a far cry from something he'd choose himself, but considering the work he put into restoring the dilapidated building, and trying to overcome the lack of industries that would have supported a smith in his own life, he's proud of what he accomplished in such a short time. A Servant's lack of sleep is useful, when it comes to this.

He just wants... a little bit of a second opinion. That's all. ]

[cranekin]

Oh?

(He lets out a laugh, cheerful and bright. How can he not be amused? It's not every day that someone asks a sword for its opinion. Even in his current form, he's aware people mostly care because he's more human than blade. They wonder about person, Tsurumaru Kuninaga, and not the thing, Tsurumaru Kuninaga.)

It's quaint. (Old fashioned but charming,) It's lacking. From here, I can feel only a little. There isn't much, is there? You've accomplished only a small fraction but of course, you've only just begun.

(Unlike the forge back home, he can't feel the same heavy feeling of unrefined iron or the sharpness of steel. But maybe there are better ways to explain he can tell the smith is lacking proper resources.)

Ah, but even from here, I can feel the warmth of the forge. Burning and hungry and bright with promise.

(Words light, carefully chosen and reminiscent of the old poem songs than regular speech. It's less of an answer for a question and more like the beginning of a story only for his tone to drop and return to a more regular cadence,)

Very few blades care about where they're forged, Muramasa-kun. As long as you create a sword with purpose, you'll create sword that will think, "I'm proud to have been made."

[vorous]

That’s right. But the greatest part about it is the fact that I was the one to discover that Living Armor is actually a mollusk creature and not just armor controlled by a mage.

It eats algae that grows on the dungeon walls, and each suit of armor is a whole colony. It kind of makes me sad that I separated them from their home, but in my defense, I did not know that about them at the time. The dungeon is a whole ecosystem that can survive on its own. Everything in there is for a purpose.

_{[ sorry he could talk about this forever.. ]}

[misclassed]

What, like a clam or something? I've only ever seen armor move with magecraft or machines like the kids here have.

You don't have any trouble feeding it here, do you? Adding something to the alloy would help keep it from becoming brittle, but if it's a plant-eater...

[vorous]

Nah, there’s plenty of green stuff growing on things around here. It seems to be fine!

And that’s right— it’s very similar to a clam. It’s very cute, isn’t it?

_{[ bro has no idea… ]}

[misclassed]

[ ... Is it? ]

And it doesn't need to live in water or anything? Huh. Interesting. It'd be nice to have a way to harvest iron like that, but I can't imagine it's efficient.

Well, I'll make doubly sure he stays away from the fire when you bring him by.

[ ... you can eat clams... ]

[vorous]

_{[ He's just happy that someone thinks it is as fascinating as he does. ]}

I have no doubt you'll take good care of him. You wanna know his name? HIs name is Kensuke! So make sure you call him that.. oh! And give him plenty of pets and affection. He really likes that.

_{[ DOES HE THOUGH? ]}

[misclassed]

[ ... what a... traditional sounding name. ]

... Like a clam, you said?

[misclassed]

... That's good to know.

[ He hopes that sword, the one he shaped into existence back in the forge at the heart of the world, is proud of itself. He hopes it helped her, in the end.

When they enter, Muramasa's forge is tidy in the way only a workshop still in the calm before a prodigious amount of work is done can be. The work area is small, but the the tools that neatly line the walls all have their place. The anvil sits ready for hammering next to the hearth, which is clean of ash and stocked with fresh charcoal.

But though the tools are structurally perfect, seemingly whole, they're also hollow in a way, missing the most essential essence of a thing. The lacking presence is in nearly everything made of metal, from the tongs, to the hammers, even the anvil with it's solid weight. Rather, it's more like fragments of Muramasa himself filling in the places where metal should rightly be. The sole exception is his own hammer, which sits solidly in its home. ]

Charcoal's the one thing I haven't had trouble getting my hands on. [ The forests that have grown up around Kyoto are a blessing, with only the occasional beast stopping his and Yuta's trips out to chop firewood and set up the mounds, lit with a stray spark and a touch of mana. ] Everything else, I've had to make do with... well, I'm lucky enough that I can pay the price in advance, for things like this.

[ Every spare scrap of iron he's gotten his hands on is going into a blade, not his tools. He'll fix that later. ]

[vorous]

_{[ yeah............ i thought so too........... laios loves the east ]}

Yeah, just like that! I feel a little bad for eating his colony, but we were hungry and we cooked them all sorts of ways. We steamed them, grilled them and made a soup out of them. Very much like eating a clam.

Did... you want to taste him too? I noticed you licked him last time.

_{[ he noticed that part..... very well... ]}

[misclassed]

Good to know it didn't poison you or something. And I licked it 'cause the iron didn't look right, not cause I wanted to chew on a clam shell. It made sense after you explained he was a living thing, and the iron was grown.

I'll have to pass, though. If it's just like any other mussel, I'm not gonna kill your blade's... host when I can get perfectly decent stuff like that in town by flashing cash.

Unless you're dying for a chance to get a genuine Muramasa to replace it?

[ He's... quite matter of fact about the whole idea, eating a iron-growing clam monster. ]

1/2

[vorous]

… Oh.

2/2

[vorous]

Well, I mean, that’s fine, but there’s also plenty of other monsters you can eat! Have you ever thought about that? Are you hungry now? I actually have some stuff prepared if you wanna come over!

_{[ not subtle at all.. ]}

[misclassed]

[ No, indeed. But it seems such a reasonable thought for the world they're in (where food is scarce and monsters are plentiful) that Muramasa's not even questioning why he's being weird.

Isn't eating dragon a common occurrence in Chaldea, anyway? ]

Nah. I'm on a tight schedule for keeping the fire at the right temperature to melt scrap, but maybe another time.

[ And he can't just leave Aventurine all alone in his forge. ]

Whaddaya got? Some of those big boars? I'm shocked we're not being asked to bring any back when we go out to cull them.

[vorous]

I think it’s because it’s.. um.. sold at




the market.

_{[ sweats profusely… the black market… yeah, Laios is jeopardizing himself by bartering at the black market for kaiju meat. That’s how obsessed he is with this. ]}

I do have the boar.. drizzled in an apple sweet sauce, and coconut crab legs.

[misclassed]

Why're you wasting your money? We work for kaiju hunters.

Sounds fancy when you describe it like that, though.

[vorous]

Oh, trust me. I hoard as much of it as I can, but I’ve gotten in trouble with LILITH before for.. eating their research samples.

Sometimes I also crave kaiju meat that isn’t accessible. But at the market where everyone is mean, I can find whatever I want.

_{[ he’s traumatized everytime he goes there but it’s worth it ]}

[misclassed]

[ ... ]

... You ain't actually a fairy or something, are you? Didn't strike me as one when we talked.

[ its not homophobia its that fang clan faries eat weird shit and also people sometimes. ]

[vorous]

Uh. No.

Fairies are made from magical herbs, blood and horse manure.

They’re probably not tasty either. Like crap.

_{[ laios nobody asked about their flavor ]}

[misclassed]

Made? Thats a familiar or something, not a fairy. You know, like a nature spirit.

[ No comment on the taste comment but it REALLY... is not helping the argument that laios isn't... you know. fang clan. ]