Blacksmith – Part 11
“Welcome back! Hey, check out my skin, Cecily! It’s so shiny! Lisa polished my blade, and now my skin looks unbelievably beautiful! What should I do—wait, Cecily?!”
Shiny hardly captured the glow of Aria’s fresh and radiant complexion as she welcomed the two back to Atelier Liza with enthusiasm. But when Cecily suddenly plopped to the ground as if all her strength had drained away, Aria’s excitement turned into concern.
“Are you okay?”
Cecily looked up at her with a weak smile. “Seeing your face is so relieving, my knees buckled.” She chuckled. “And now my right hand hurts. Oh, oh, oh!”
Cecily’s sudden writhing genuinely frightened Aria.
Aria glanced over at Luke, and she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. He wore an equally perplexing expression, as if unsure how to react. Aria could only describe it as strange. His toxic aura had vanished, and the stiff impression Aria had of him began to fade.
“Welcome… back?”
Lisa, showing up a moment later, noticed their unusual behavior. She tilted her head in confusion.
Cecily beckoned to Lisa, saying, “Come here.” Lisa unsuspectingly approached Cecily, only to be pulled into a warm embrace.
“C-Cecily?”
“Luke told me everything,” Cecily whispered, resting her chin on Lisa’s shoulder. “About Valbanill, blacksmiths, and Miss Liza—everything.”
“Huh?” Lisa looked up at Luke. He was looking away.
“But I haven’t heard your story yet. It’s important. Only by knowing your feelings will everything fall into place. Would you share it with me?
“Uh…”
“How do you feel about your current life?”
“Um, I—I’m enjoying it! Very much. Because I have you and Aria.”
“And what about Luke?”
“What?! Oh, um…” Lisa glanced at Luke. “I’m really grateful. He lets me work and live here even when I’m a demon, and he teaches me so many things. I respect him.”
“Also, Luke works really hard,” she added. “He practices swordsmanship every night before going to bed.”
“Wow, I didn’t know that.” Aria looked over, but Luke’s gaze was still elsewhere. Maybe he was feeling shy.
“Remember when you helped me choose clothes? After that, Luke started buying me more clothes.”
“Really? You must have been so happy.”
“Yes! I was so happy… so happy that…”
Aria saw tears glistening in Lisa’s eyes.
“It actually made things harder.”
Luke turned to her, stunned.
“I’m a copy of Liza,” she said, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Apparently, I resemble Liza when she was little. But I don’t share her memories at all, and my personality is nothing like hers.”
“Lisa,” Luke called.
“I’m a fake, an imitation.”
“Lisa!”
“That’s why Luke regrets naming me Lisa.”
“Stop!”
“But it’s true!”
Finally, Lisa broke down, crying as she clung to Cecily. Cecily gently held her, comforting her with soft strokes on her back.
Cecily looked up at Luke. Aria did the same. Luke took half a step back, but then he steeled himself and took a step forward.
“Lisa. Listen to me.”
Lisa raised her tear-streaked face.
“I admit, I regret naming you that. I wasn’t thinking straight back then.”
Tears welled up again. Luke hurriedly added, “Wait. You’ve got the wrong idea.”
“I do?”
“You are… well, you,” he said, his nose turning red. “You’re not Liza Oakwood.”
“…”
“You’re not Liza. You may look similar, but you’re completely different inside, and it’s wrong to project my feelings onto you. That’s my regret.”
Lisa listened with her mouth agape.
“If you ever wanted to leave, I wouldn’t have stopped you,” Luke said quietly. “You should live your life how you want. You don’t have to be tied down by someone like me. If your happiness lies elsewhere—”
“Luke!” Cecily cut in.
“I know,” he said. “But I’m grateful.”
Lisa’s eyes widened.
“I really appreciate your presence.”
Luke fell silent, like he’d reached his limit.
He’s as awkward as ever, Aria thought with a smile. Good for you, Lisa.
Humanoid demons often wrestled with the meaning of their existence. Why were they here? How should they live among humans? After all, they weren’t human. They were something else entirely.
But their path wasn’t shut. If someone reached out, offering a hand, there was no need to hesitate.
Lisa gently pulled away from Cecily, wiping her tears and nose on her work sleeve. She looked up at the young master of the forge.
“So, you think Liza’s memories are tying me down,” she said.
“…Yeah.”
“Then I will make it clear. I want to stay.” Her voice rang out, steady and sure. “Everything I do—laundry, cooking, smithing—I do it because I choose to. Liza has nothing to do with that. Besides…” She smiled through her tears, flashing her teeth. “We’re already in this together, remember? We swore we’d lose everything together.” She gave a deep bow. “I hope we can keep working together in the future.”
Luke stared at her for a while. A flicker of warmth touched his eyes, and he let out a deep sigh, releasing a long-held tension.
He placed a hand on her head. In his usual curt way, he said just two words. But it was enough.
“I’m hungry.”
Lisa’s face lit up. “Got it! I’ll make something right away.”
Her head shot up, and she hurried after Luke as he made his way toward the house. There was a spring in her steps.
“You’ll tell me everything too, right?” Aria asked.
“Of course,” Cecily said, smiling. “You’re my partner, after all.”
But Aria already had an idea of what they talked about.
Luke must have told her. About Valbanill, an Inhuman close to being a god.
Lisa had briefly shared her past with Luke, and all the information she provided pointed back to Aria’s origins. About how Infernal Blades came to be.
Aria hadn’t told anyone about the secret of the Infernal Blades. Not Cecily, not even Lisa, who had opened up about her past. Aria herself wasn’t ready to accept it. The desire to reject it always came first. But one day, she knew she’d have to face it. That day would come.
Would Cecily take her hand then? Would her friend hold her tight? Could she find her own happiness?
The thought made her a little anxious, but she trusted her. For now, though, she just wanted to stay still.
“But first, let’s eat.”
“Yeah, let’s eat a lot!”
Cecily and Aria ran together, hand in hand.
For now, she just wanted to hold onto this warmth.
“By the way, Cecily.”
There was a reason why the dignitaries at the round table seemed to be laughing at her.
“That’s a cute flower in your ear. What’s the story behind it?”
Cecily wanted to crawl into a hole.
Epilogue
“Well, I said my piece,” Cecily said, leaning forward. “So, if you could go ahead and make me a katana.”
“Go away.”
It was the height of the scorching season in the Independent Trade City, and even here, in the far corner of the Seventh District at the Atelier Liza, the heat left no one untouched. Simply standing drained you of strength, and beads of sweat trickled down their skins. The air and the breeze blowing past felt somewhat heavy.
On days like this, they often had lunch outside. As usual, a table and four chairs had been set up on the grass. Lisa, the cook, was busy inside the main house’s kitchen, preparing the meal with Aria. For now, only Cecily and Luke sat at the table.
“So, did the old fart say anything to you after that?”
“Not a word. It’s unsettling, honestly.”
Cecily had braced herself for at least a few reprimands after the incident in the conference room, but neither the mayor nor the captain even mentioned it, leaving her feeling let-down. She’d braced herself for more.
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter,” she said, shrugging.
“Doesn’t matter? Sometimes I can’t figure out how you think.”
“Just let it go.”
“You’re way too thick-skinned.”
“Oh, shut up. By the way, there’s something I forgot to ask you—about Lisa and Aria.”
“What about them?”
“When Valbanill dies, it won’t just be the city that’s destroyed. Will Lisa and Aria disappear too?”
Luke’s right eye turned to her. “So, you figured that out.”
“Yeah. Demons can’t maintain their form without regularly absorbing Aetheria, right? If Valbanill dies, the Aetheria will vanish from the continent, and without them, so will Lisa and Aria, won’t they?”
Demons couldn’t survive without Aetheria or Valbanill. Its death wouldn’t just doom the city; it would spell the end for Lisa and Aria, too. The thought sent chills through Cecily. They had become irreplaceable friends and comrades, and the idea of losing either of them was unbearable.
Cecily rested her chin on her hand, troubled. “That means we can’t kill Valbanill.”
“I told you, I never intended to kill him.”
“You don’t actually mean that, do you?”
“How much do you really understand? Yes, I hate Valbanill enough to want to kill it, but that’s all.” Luke sighed. “I can’t give up this life—this life Liza left me.”
He didn’t need to say it outright. Losing Lisa was something Luke couldn’t bear to imagine.
“Oh, is that so? How interesting,” Cecily teased, smirking.
“I don’t like that smug tone.”
“Nah, nah. I couldn’t help but notice how straightforward you’ve become.”
Luke clicked his tongue and looked away, but Cecily felt oddly satisfied.
What’s going to happen next?
There was less than a year until Valbanill would be free from its prison. The actual reality of the situation remained largely unknown, but Cecily knew retreat wasn’t an option.
She meant every word she had told Luke. She intended to seal away the Inhuman using a katana that he would forge for her. After many sleepless nights contemplating her role in the coming events, she couldn’t envision any other path.
She wanted to be involved, no matter how small her part. She didn’t want to be an outsider.
Cecily still didn’t fully understand where these feelings came from. Thinking of Liza Oakwood still made her chest ache, and she struggled to sort out her feelings for Luke Ainsworth. Somehow, he seemed more irritating than ever. How could that be?
She would keep engaging with him, hoping to find the answers.
“In any case, I’m counting on you, sacred blacksmith.”
“You’re the one who told them you’d kill Valbanill, so that’s your problem. Besides, I hate that title.”
“Oh? Then what do you prefer?”
“Do I need one?”
“Of course. Titles are important.”
Luke pretended to think for a moment before answering, a trace of self-mockery in his voice.
“How about the overrated blacksmith?”
“That is downright dull and uninspired.”
“Oh, get off my back.”
Cecily’s suspension was ending soon.
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