Chapter 3: Unexpected Discovery

At that moment, the figure also noticed Julian standing at the door and hurriedly turned around to walk towards him.
“Hello, customer!”

It was a middle-aged, burly man. He was bare-chested, with only a leather garment tied around his waist. His strong, powerful arms had muscles no less impressive than those of a bodybuilder. His bronze skin and resolute face gave him a somewhat serious look. However, what he said next was somewhat laughable.

“Welcome to Silver Plate Blacksmith Shop. Our craftsmanship is excellent, and our quality is top-notch. What do you need? A pitchfork, a hoe, or a kitchen knife?”

“Well…”

Even Julian was a bit stunned by this strange opening, but he quickly regained his composure and said,
“I want a sword.”

“A sword?”

Hearing this, the middle-aged man was taken aback. He carefully looked Julian over, then composed himself, but his next words were completely unexpected for Julian.

“Look, customer, what do you need a sword for? In our Twilight Mountains, there are no bandits or thieves, and even the wild beasts hide far away in the deep forests. You’re not thinking of going on adventures like those adventurers, are you? We don’t sell any swords here. What’s good about those things for fighting and killing? Why don’t you look at our kitchen knives instead? Look, this kitchen knife has thin grooves on both sides, and that fruit knife peels so easily. It’s just the right length, guaranteed not to hurt your fingers. Since it’s your first time in Twilight Town, I’ll sell them to you for just two silver coins!”

Julian held his forehead and let out a long sigh. Then he raised his head and looked seriously at the middle-aged man in front of him.

“I only want a sword. Even a standard-issue one will do. Do you have any?”

“Then I can only apologize, customer,” the middle-aged man said helplessly, spreading his hands in response to Julian.

“We don’t have any swords to sell you here. As you can see, Twilight Town isn’t big, and there’s no one who needs to buy swords, so we rarely forge them.”

Hearing this, Julian sighed helplessly. It seemed he had been quite naive, thinking there would be no changes, but he hadn’t expected that this world was indeed constantly changing.

“Then, I hope you can forge a standard longsword for me. That shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“Well…” The middle-aged man scratched his head in embarrassment, his face showing a hint of shame for the first time.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know how.”

“Because my old man said back then that no one would come to this godforsaken place, and it was just for making things for our own family to use. Learning to forge swords and knives would be a waste of time, and fighting and killing is too barbaric… so he didn’t teach me.”

A blacksmith who can’t forge swords?

Julian looked at the blacksmith in front of him with an unchanged expression, but deep inside, he sighed helplessly.

“Really not a single sword?”

“Hmm…” Hearing Julian’s words, the middle-aged man frowned. He could see that the young man in front of him really needed one, and country folk are usually simple and honest, always happy to help others if they can. So the middle-aged man didn’t refuse, but tried his best to recall. Finally, he seemed to remember something and clapped his hands hard.

“Right, my grandfather left some weapons behind. Maybe they can still be used.”

“Oh?” Hearing this, Julian’s eyes lit up. The grandfather this middle-aged man mentioned was probably the blacksmith Julian had met here before. It must be said that the old blacksmith’s skills were really good, and the quality was top-notch. That’s why Julian came to this small town specifically after his rebirth, looking for his descendants. Julian thought that even if the old man’s successor didn’t have much innovation, as long as he could learn seven or eight tenths of the old blacksmith’s skills, it would be enough to meet his needs. Unexpectedly, although the man indeed learned seven or eight tenths of the old blacksmith’s skills… he only made kitchen knives.

But the middle-aged man didn’t say anything more to Julian. He hurriedly rushed to the back, rummaging through a pile of junk for a while, before returning to Julian with a long oilcloth package.

“Customer, look, I don’t know if this meets your requirements.”

Saying this, the middle-aged man opened the oilcloth package.

What appeared before them was a black longsword. A plain scabbard wrapped the blade, and from the outside, there was nothing unusual about it. However, due to lack of maintenance, the cord on the hilt had come loose, and even the guard was rusty. Julian reached out and took the longsword, frowning slightly, then gripped the hilt and drew the sword with a “swoosh.”

Unlike its plain exterior, the blade of this sword was unusually complex. Along both sides of the edge, a strange groove carved out weird and elegant patterns. However, the blade itself was pitch black, without any shine, and even looked a bit like a completely decayed iron implement that had no usable value left.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man’s face showed some shame. Although he had never paid much attention to his grandfather’s sword, he was still a blacksmith after all, and selling such an embarrassing thing from his own hands would surely damage his reputation. If he had known, he should have maintained them properly, or at least polished them. It would have been better than this sorry state.

The middle-aged man didn’t notice that when Julian saw the patterns on the blade, his eyes showed a hint of pleasant surprise.

I never thought he would still have it!

The middle-aged man didn’t see it, but Julian knew clearly that this wasn’t rust. In fact, since seeing the blades of these two swords, Julian had already confirmed that this was a weapon made of Darknight Mithril! And speaking of Darknight Mithril, it had a great connection to Julian himself. In Julian’s previous life, he had once found such a batch of Darknight Mithril, and then Julian had the owner of this shop at that time forge a sword from the Darknight Mithril. As for the remaining part, he gave it to the old blacksmith at that time as a memento. After all, Darknight Mithril was priceless and extremely rare. At that time, seeing how the old blacksmith couldn’t bear to part with it, Julian gave him the remaining material. Now it seems that the old blacksmith used these remaining materials to forge another sword – perhaps he hoped to leave a memento for his descendants. After all, using Darknight Mithril to forge weapons was a blacksmith’s dream.

However, the old blacksmith probably didn’t expect that his descendants would become blacksmiths who couldn’t even forge a sword…

Darknight Mithril is a magical metal that is only produced in the Dark Night Forest. But unlike other metals, what makes this magical metal precious is not just its good anti-magic ability, but its place of origin – the Dark Night Forest is the capital of the elves. For those fanatical nature protectors, destroying even a blade of grass or a tree is intolerable, let alone mining. For elves, this is as painful as digging into their own flesh. Because of this, many people who entered the Dark Night Forest to mine ore were left in the forest forever. As a force that cannot be ignored on the continent, no one dared to openly invade the Dark Night Forest to mine. This is why the price of Darknight Mithril is so expensive. Back then, Julian only “acquired” a few pieces by chance when he was passing through the Dark Night Forest with great luck.

The reason why Darknight Mithril is precious is that it has an ability called “Soul Conduction.” When the wielder grips a weapon made of Darknight Mithril, it will, like a water channel, guide the wielder’s soul to fill the weapon. This not only allows for more flexible and free use but also enhances the hardness and sharpness of the weapon. In the face of weapons filled with soul power, ordinary iron simply cannot pose any threat. It can be said that if someone wears armor forged from Darknight Mithril and wields a weapon forged from Darknight Mithril, then on the battlefield, they would be invincible.

However, Darknight Mithril also has its own limitations. If the wielder doesn’t have enough soul power, then it will become the biggest fatal flaw. Fragile souls cannot withstand fierce attacks, especially on the battlefield. Once the soul fluctuations become weak, the weapons made of Darknight Mithril will become sluggish, and may even be impossible to use. Because of this, only the top experts on the continent would use weapons made of Darknight Mithril to fight. Even so, on the current continent, weapons forged from Darknight Mithril are quite rare.

“I’ll take it. How much?”

Julian’s own longsword had been completely damaged in the wars of his previous life, unable to withstand the power. Now seeing the same weapon, he naturally wouldn’t miss this opportunity.

“Well…” Not expecting this customer to actually be interested in this piece of scrap iron, the middle-aged blacksmith was stunned. He thought for a moment before speaking.

“Then how about thirty silver coins, and if you’d like, I can polish it for free…”

Buying a weapon forged from Darknight Mithril for thirty silver coins was a bargain no matter how you looked at it. But Julian didn’t take this small advantage. He spent three gold coins, along with that self-defense short sword – which was worth at least fifty gold coins at market price – to buy this longsword. Of course, he politely declined the middle-aged man’s “kind” offer. Darknight Mithril is not like ordinary materials; it’s better for Julian to handle this himself.

The middle-aged man was obviously unable to accept this price, but when Julian told him that this sword was forged from precious metal, he didn’t say anything more and readily accepted Julian’s payment. As for what kind of precious metal it was, the middle-aged man didn’t ask. In his view, no matter what kind of metal, if it couldn’t be used on kitchen knives, it wasn’t good metal.

After leaving the blacksmith shop, Julian didn’t immediately return to the castle. After all, he had other things to do on this trip.

“Indeed, this is an official document,” Old Clark squinted, carefully examining the seal on the document, his facial wrinkles tightly bunched together.

“So, you’re the owner of that castle?”

With a somewhat pitying look, Old Clark looked at the young man in front of him. Poor thing, he looked no more than seventeen or eighteen, how could he be banished to such a godforsaken place?

“Sigh… I don’t mean to be nosy, Mr. Julian, but that castle…”

“That’s just a rumor, isn’t it?” Julian interrupted Old Clark’s words. He leaned back in his chair, fingers interlaced, and spoke with a gentle smile.

“I’ve also heard these terrible rumors, but after all, that’s just a coincidence. In any case, this is also a sacred and inviolable territory of the kingdom, naturally needing someone to manage it. To retreat just because of rumors of that level would be a cowardly act.”

How convincing these words were coming from the instigator is unknown, but at least the old town mayor in front of him had fallen silent, not intending to say more. Obviously, he had already seen Julian as a deceived, foolish noble. Clearly, the other party didn’t believe these rumors, and was even ambitiously trying to develop this place. But so what? Since that final war, this castle had changed several lords, and which one of them didn’t come here with the same idea, only to die?

This young man in front of him would be no different.

“I didn’t come here to discuss these irrelevant rumors with you, Mr. Clark,” Julian picked up the teacup and looked at the old man through the steam rising from it.

“I’ve already looked at the documents. All along, you’ve been paying taxes directly to Chuka City, but now that I’ve acquired this fief, you should know about the tax issues, right?”

“Of course, my lord,” the old mayor said calmly, obviously not dealing with this situation for the first time.
“We will deliver this month’s taxes to your mansion the day after tomorrow. As for the operating income and expenditure of Twilight Town… I think you’ve already seen it.”

“Of course,” Julian nodded.

“However, I have some other matters I want to trouble you with, Mr. Clark. As you can see, I came here alone, and obviously managing the castle is not something I can do by myself. Therefore, I hope you can help me post hiring notices to recruit residents of this town to serve me… I think this shouldn’t be a problem for you. Of course, I won’t shortchange them on the remuneration.”

Hearing this, a clear and distinct bitter smile appeared on the old mayor’s previously serious face.
“Although I’d like to help you, my lord, please forgive me for saying something presumptuous, even if I posted notices in the town, I’m afraid no one would go.”

“Oh?” Hearing this, Julian curiously widened his eyes and put down his teacup.

“Is it because of that rumor?”

“That’s right,” the old mayor nodded in response to Julian’s inquiry.

“To be frank with you, my lord, many families in our small town have worked in that castle before. For example, old Marfa, whose grandmother started working as a maid in the castle, and old Bomba, who also worked for two lords… However, to be honest, whether you believe it or not, those who owned this castle did indeed die mysteriously. And this strange incident has had a big impact on us. Now people view that place as a demon’s curse and don’t dare to go there, not even willing to approach the castle. Perhaps you don’t know yet, but the old coachman who took you up the mountain fell seriously ill after coming down that day and hasn’t fully recovered yet…”

That’s because he was in a hurry to run away, so he was injured by the night chill.

“I can certainly understand your thoughts, Mr. Clark,” Julian’s voice was soft and gentle, with an undeniable firmness.
“But I’ve already made my decision. Whether anyone is willing to go to my castle to work can only be known after the notice is posted. Choosing to give up without even trying is not my creed. Do our best and leave the rest to fate, that’s the attitude we humans should have, isn’t it?”

Faced with Julian’s words, Old Clark opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, he said nothing. In his view, since this lord had made up his mind, let him have his way. After all… no one would be willing to accept his recruitment anyway.

With this thought, the mayor didn’t say anything more and nodded in agreement with Julian’s opinion.