“What do you mean no cobalt, you damn geezer?” Merri replied, raising her brows in alarm. Though she was taking it out on her father, she was more surprised at the situation. How did he not managed to buy any cobalt?

“It seems that Smith Carlson had the foresight to buy everything. There was a small shortage, but nothing big, but it seems that his pockets are so deep that he was able to buy up all the cobalt for the next three months.” Terry frowned, crossing his arms as he went into thought.

Merri remained silent, catching the look on her father’s face. She looked to Jack, frowned, and then returned to look back at her father. The two shared a look.

Jack looked between the pair, wondering what they were talking about using their looks. “What?” he asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.

“It would be difficult for Smith Carlson to buy up all the cobalt ore just like that,” Terry said, sighing. “It seems that the Lord is trying to play favourites.”

The Lord playing favourites? Jack looked up at the Smith in surprise. Was that even a good idea? Having two Smiths was already such a favourable thing for the Lord, why would he try and throw away such fortune?

“We’ll just have to deal with it by importing some from another city. There isn’t much we can do about it, especially since this area isn’t abundant with cobalt. Still, to think the Lord would try to pull such a stunt…” Terry felt something was off about the competition. There was no need for the Lord to go to such lengths, especially since his smithy shouldn’t be able to keep up with Carlson’s.

“How long will it take for us to import the cobalt?” Jack asked.

“A couple of weeks at most,” Terry replied. “I’ll spend a little extra so we get the cobalt on time. Even if we lose, we have to do it with something decent, otherwise who will come to buy from us?” How troublesome it was for him to show up with something decent when the Lord was against him. Creating something decent for the Lord while he was against the smithy, it left a sour taste in his mouth, but what could be done?

“Let’s not waste any time!” Merri exclaimed decisively, jumping onto her feet. “Since we don’t have any time to waste, let’s stop talking and get to smithing.”

“Let’s finalise our design first.” Terry said, tapping on the blueprint. “It looks pretty good, but we still have to add the finishing touches. We need it to look gaudy, but in a tasteful way. We don’t want the Lord to think we’re poking fun at him.”

Jack looked up at Terry, wondering what he meant by gaudy but tasteful. ‘Aren’t those two different things?’ He dared not to voice out his concerns.

“Jack was talking about folding the blade when we forged it,” Merri said.

“Folding the blade?” Terry raised his brow. “There’s no need for that. Let’s just get a decent blade made and be done with it.” He couldn’t help but admire the young Apprentice’s inspiration.

Terry added some finishing touches to the design, adding in a few gem insets which were common for the region. Then he started to forge the rod, which would take days of careful forging. Five parts cobalt was quite annoying to work with, and they only had one chance at it. Terry hadn’t made such a weapon in some time, so he needed to take his time. The rod itself would take almost a week to form, and would need constant surveillance, other than when it was left in the furnace on a low heat overnight.

Merri was sent away to buy the various gems they needed to make the blade, whereas Jack remained behind to create various different weapons, and to tend to the repairs. The daily work was split between the two Apprentices, though Terry would appear now an again for the more respected clients.

A week passed until they finally received another letter. Terry had picked it up as Jack and Merri ate breakfast, potatoes and meat. Terry appeared, his face dark with frustration bordering on rage.

“Let me guess,” Merri said, stuffing her mouth full of potatoes. “The Lord’s grace is no better than an ox’s ass.”

Jack looked to Merri, surprised that she was behaving more eloquently with her trash talk. He was sure she was going to call the Lord a fuck.

“He can only wish to have the grace of an ox’s ass.” Terry placed down the letter and sighed.

Merri leaned over to read it and choke on her potatoes, quickly drinking down a glass of milk. “That Lord! What is he even thinking?”

“What’s wrong?” Jack leaned in to read the letter. “An emergency request for one hundred one part cobalt swords?” Jack opened his mouth. A hundred one part cobalt swords? That was way too many, especially considering there was only three of them and they still needed to create the Lord’s weapon for his competition.

“An emergency request isn’t something that we can ignore,” Terry said, rubbing his forehead. “To deny this order would be almost tantamount to treason. The worst part is, it was signed a week ago.”

“So that bastard Lord waited for an entire week and then sent us the message? We’ve already used most of our cobalt for the sword!” Merri stabbed her potato with her fork. “What are we going to do now?”

Terry stared at the letter for a long while, his eyes growing into a glare. The Lord had stepped all over his pride with this. The plot was so insidious, especially considering that this was going to be a public affair.

If he didn’t show up with something decent, his smithy would be under attack. His reputation would be destroyed and he would suffer a setback for a few years. This was his job, his livelihood. This was how he fed his daughter.

The older Smith furrowed his brows, clenching his fists until his veins threatened to burst. His fists were redder than the meat that they had cooked this morning. “Fine,” he said finally. “If that’s the way you want to play it, then that’s the way we’ll play it.” He stood up, his eyes still dark.

“Old geezer, I like the look in your eye.” Merri stood up, drinking the rest of her milk and wiping her lips with the back of her forearm. “So you finally want to win?”

Terry nodded. His eyes fell to Jack for a second and then back to Merri. This was going to be difficult. They had no ore for the order, no real plan of how to win the Lord’s contest, and no support that they could rely on.

“Merri, bring me a quill and some paper,” Terry said, waving a hand. Merri, for once, did not argue back, and instead scuttled away. “Jack,” the Smith called to his newest Apprentice. “You mentioned something about folding the blade, didn’t you?”

“Yes?” Jack replied back, a little nervous. He recalled how the idea had been dismissed by Merri, and even Terry wasn’t bothered about it.

“I’m not entirely confident in my abilities with folding the blade, especially at five parts cobalt, but I will try it. If we want to win, we need to pull out all the stops.” Terry frowned, unsure if he’d be able to do it.

Jack looked up at Terry, surprised, but he nodded. “I understand.”

“The pair of you will leave tomorrow morning with a mercenary group. I’ll send out a quest.” Terry paused for a moment and thought about who he could send. “I’ll need you to bring back as much cobalt as you can get your hands on, at least three barrels full. It’ll be fairly expensive, but it shouldn’t take you longer than a month.”

“That won’t leave us much time with making the Lord’s weapon and the one hundred swords.”

“I’ll be working on the Lord’s weapon until you get back. I won’t rush it, but when you return you’ll be assisting me too.”

“Me?” Jack asked, raising his brows in surprise. “Why me?”

“I have a feeling that we’re only going to manage if you return quickly to help me. I know the theory behind folding blades, so I’ll teach you how to assist me. We need to complete both tasks. Failure is not an option this time.”

Jack swallowed. He had only just become a Smith, how could such an event occur so quickly?

“We have a few one part swords already made, so we can just toss those in to the bunch we send off. As long as they aren’t terrible, we should be fine sending them along.”

“Will we be able to do it?” Jack asked.

“It doesn’t matter if we are able to do it!” Merri said. “If we’re going down, then we’re going down swinging our hammers!”

Terry laughed. “Then let’s get to business. The rod’s finished so I’ll have you, Jack, assisting me with the shaping of it before you leave tomorrow.”

Jack nodded. “Alright!”