Completed The Markwell Misunderstanding III: Exploring an Opportunity

[Aedifalse]

Previous episode here.

515-SPRING-04

It was late morning in the workshop, and the forge was already built into a roaring wood furnace. After paying the course fees at the reception counter, the student found himself waiting curiously as he watched his towering teacher place more lumber into the forge.

"Today we'll be trying out something a little more interesting than that sword you made," Markwell began. "People call it the Assassin's Dagger, because of its favored status by assassins during the great times of Alahea and Suva."

The blacksmith rolled out a scroll on a nearby worktable, straightening it in place with random tools scattered about untidily. Upon it printed a drawing roughly showing the aforementioned dagger in various angles, with notes of dimensions and measurements scribbled throughout.

"Isn't this just a shorter short sword with a broad blade?" Aedi ventured.

"Or a longer dagger with a broad blade!" Markwell guffawed. "It really depends on your perspective, eh?"

"You will follow this blueprint along with my guidance," Markwell instructed. "You will learn best when you can figure things out without me spoon-feeding you. Just remember what you learned and discovered the days prior."

Aedi nodded as he spotted the approximate dimensions on the blueprint, and he looked around the workshop until he found the appropriate bar of iron. Using his mortal arm to grab it with a set of tongs, he inserted it into the furnace until it was molten hot and ready to be molded to his will.

The first and most important step was to create an unfinished template of the blade, and so he attempted to fashion a rough outline of the dagger from the malleable metal. Using his left arm to firmly hold the material in place against the anvil, he hammered upon it with the tool grasped by his other arm, making sure to grip the metal down tight.

This was important because he was trying to draw out the metal into a shape that befits a blade more than a cube. By hammering it in one direction the material would simply go in another, and by restricting the possible dimensions the material could move to he could essentially force a shape out of the metal. However, doing the same thing continuously would cause an imbalance in the distribution of metal.

In order to mitigate that, he flipped the rectangular bar over so that its neighboring face would lie down on the surface of the anvil, then struck it with the hammer. In a clockwise manner, he painstakingly repeated the process of flipping by one dimension, then striking it to ensure that the bar would get elongated, but maintain a uniform distribution properly. An uneven distribution might seem fine in shape, but would possess severe structural integrity issues should it be put to a functionality test.

Markwell watched patiently as the Isur seemed to have learned from his mistakes, and slowly but surely the bar of iron was hammered into shape, slowly resembling a short rod the length of a human forearm rather than the box of raw iron it was previously.

[Aedifalse]

Now that the bar of iron is now shaped more like rod, Aedi checked again with the blueprints so that the general outline was in order. After confirming that it indeed was, he began the next step. Since he was trying to forge a dagger and not a quarterstaff, he had to flatten the rod which now had a uniform cross-section in three-sixty degrees.

Then again, he realized that simply hammering the rod down to flatten it would cause it to unevenly spread out like a piece of clay being thrown from a height. It would end up looking like an uninformed art piece rather than the lethal choice of pre-Valterrian assassins.

The corners of his lips curled up a little as the Isur mentally laughed at his own joke, and he searched through his mind for a solution. Recalling the lesson on basic operations that he received the day before, he realized that the action would be the same.

However, using the previous analogy he derived from the bowl of water being poured into a new container, he knew he had to restrict the dimensions so that the blade would flatten sidewards since the length had already been established previously.

"Remember the broad edges, Mister Aghanim," The watching blacksmithing called out, as if to reconfirm Aedi's thoughts.

It was fortunate that the Assassin's Dagger was a broad-edged weapon, for then it completely suit the next operation that he would conduct. Since he had not yet attached the pointy edge of a weapon to the rod, its ending face was conveniently flat. That proved to facilitate things much easily because he was able to press it against the curled up side of the anvil which functioned as a wall.

By pressing the end of the rod squarely against the wall while holding it down with his blessed arm, he would force the metal to flatten out sidewards by striking it from the top. The only challenge now was to ensure that the metal would spread out evenly.

"You have to hit it squarely at the center," Markwell commented while peering at what Aedi was doing.

Taking note from the teacher's guidance, Aedi gripped the forging hammer tightly as he stared at the iron. The knuckles in his left arm faded lighter with stress as he kept his rigid hold on the metal to prevent it from going anywhere it did not need to go. Taking a deep breath, he aimed the hammer carefully and struck the metal right at the center while keeping it securely positioned.

The malleable iron clang comfortably, and the Isur saw a minute increase in breadth while its depth slightly decreased.

It's working! The Isur thought excitedly. Though, It was difficult not to excite an Isur in the forge, for it was their natural environment after all.

[Aedifalse]

The apprentice was careful in his movements. Positioning the hammer precisely over the exact spot, then pushing it straight down with a measured force. The need for precision overrode the need for force, and as a result it meant that he had to increase the number of repetitions that he needed to achieve the same effect as a more competent blacksmith like Professor Markwell. However, he very much preferred to trade in the extra time needed for less flaws in his work.

With each strike the iron broadened out a little, and it was a tough and cumbersome process to do so. However, while time may edge by painfully for an onlooker, to the engrossed Isur time was not an issue at all. After all, all Isurs had smithing in their blood and in the essence of their very soul, and they all held the seed of talent and interest in crafting in the divine blood they inherited from Izurdin.

After a considerable amount of time, the iron was broadened out sufficiently, and Aedi noted with satisfaction that his careful forging had resulted in the desired effect. He had spent a lot more time to ensure that mistakes were not made, and his reward was the massive reduction of novice errors.

Next, he had to shape the flattened rod, since its broadened shape now resembled a sheet of paper. Taking another glance at the parchment blueprint, he noted that it was broader at the base and then sharpened more dramatically towards the point, in a way similar to an elongated leaf. He also needed to make the base of the hilt.

Visually measuring the dimensions, he used his Isurian nail to etch the markings of the hilt as well as the different milestones in the edge. The part of the rod that he did not hammer remained as a rod shape, and that small part would serve as the base of the hilt, while the part he hammered would serve as the blade.

The base of the hilt needed to be modified a little though, and he turned it around the anvil while he carefully hammered it with a moderate force. As it had a rod-shaped length it was still four-sided, and by slowly rotating it and tapping it meticulously, he could fashion the malleable iron into a more smooth, cylindrical shape.

Next, he used his impervious arm to mold the soft metal as if it were clay. Making sure to keep the distribution of metal equal, he used his thumb to flatten out the base and to narrow the parts nearer to the point. Once that had been done, he continued refining the shape with the forging hammer to literally hammer the shape into place.

[Aedifalse]

The leaf-like blade was coming to shape with each strike of Aedi's efforts. However, it began to soon resemble the shape of a cut-off leaf. There was still the matter of the point, which was generally made separately, as well as the guard. The apprentice paused for a moment from his work to consult the blueprint again, and he could hear a muffled grunt of approval from Markwell at his progress.

Taking that as a sign of encouragement, Aedi checked the corner of the blueprint where it detailed the measurements of the separate pieces to be made, which were namely the point and the guard. For the tip, there were three things to pay attention to in order for it to match perfectly with the currently blunt edge of the dagger.

Firstly, its base had to match the cut-off end of the unfinished blade in its depth and width. Secondly, the length had to be appropriate. Thirdly, the slope of its edge have to match the flow of the angle of the rest of the blade and neatly tie into a single sharp point. In other words, while simple superficially it required plenty of finesse to do well.

Taking another small nugget of iron, the Isur heated it up in the forge until it was malleable. By now he had done it so many times that it was beginning to be routine in his ability to gauge the appropriate level of temperature to begin work. Placing the unfinished blade on an empty worktable, he placed the molten nugget on the anvil before him as his current object of focus.

First, he used his left arm to manually shape the nugget into the shape of a cone by cupping it at one end and gradually increasing the allowable width as he went down its length. Then, he placed the fatter end of the cone an inch away from the end of the unfinished blade to judge the correct width and depth to use.

From that estimation, he began the process of turning it over and hammering, in essence, a method of shrinking to enlarge the base to fit that of the blade. From there, it was a careful process to gradually slanting the edges of the cone from the base to the tip so that it would end up in a pointed shape. It would still be blunt, of course, since it had not been put into contact with a whetstone, but it was important that the shape was correct.

Taking both the blade and the tip, he took turns in placing them both back into the forge to reintroduce them into a more suggestible state, and with the help of his Isurian arm he combined the two, dexterously smoothing out the areas where they combined so that the combination would have a more natural flow.

[Aedifalse]

The Isur's actions were beginning to speed up as even intuitively he knew that he was nearing the conclusion of this project. He glanced again at the blueprints, and took another small nugget of iron and heated it up. While he knew that Izurdin preached patience, he found himself impatiently looking at the forge as he waited for the iron to be ready for crafting.

The guard was a delicate matter to make, since care was needed to make sure that it fit well into the unfinished hilt. A simple hilt as suggested into the blueprints would just be a flat, rectangular sheet of iron, with a circular hole in the middle for the hilt to fit through.

"Press the hilt into the metal so you can get an exact fit," Markwell remarked, jolting the Isur out of his self-engrossed reverie.

That was an excellent plan, much better than any visual inspections or comparisons. It was a simple matter to mold the piece of iron into a flat rectangular sheet, since there was no need for adornments or complications. He was prioritizing bare functionality over any aesthetic in this case, since time was of the essence. Since the sheet was still malleable from its molten state, he pressed it gently against the rod-shaped hilt of the blade that was not flattened out previously, and it made a tiny indentation.

Recalling the lesson he learned about punching from the day before, he took a chisel and positioned the sheet of iron on a slant so that he could knock out a hole more easily. Using the chisel to gently edge in around the indentation to weaken the connections around the marked circle, he hammered the chisel in gently until he punched a hole in.

While the metals before him were still hot, he slid the guard up the hilt through the rod-shaped hole, and used his blessed arm to further help assimilate the metals to combine more thoroughly by massaging them into place.

"The wooden covers are in the drawers on your right," Markwell stated helpfully.

Aedi immediately searched through the drawers for the set of wooden covers that would serve as the hilt layer of the blade. There were two tiny holes at the top and bottom of the hilt, and he surmised that they were screws to hold the layers in place with the bottom rod.

Fortunately, he had the advantage of his Isurian arm, and he abused this advantage by exploiting his ability to freely shape molten iron effectively. Carefully clasping the wooden layers over the opposite sides of the bare metal hilt, he quickly fashioned some of the unused metal that he had cut out previously into pointed nails, then driving them into the holes of the wooden layers, through the metal hilt, and back out on the opposite end. With his arm, he fashioned the top to flatten out over the holes to hold the wooden layers in place.

[Aedifalse]

Finally, while the iron was still literally hot, he added any finishing touches to ensure that the result looked as much as the model drawn in the blueprints. The parts he mostly focused on was the base of the blade that touched the guard and hilt, ensuring that they were tightly compact and that the components would not jiggle needlessly. The other part he focused on was the part that combined the blade and the tip, and to ensure that the angles flow seamlessly as if they were made of the same material.

With that, he took the tongs and began to douse the blade into a vat of cool water, the signature hissing sound emanating that signaled the end of a blacksmith's "hot" work. Usually after that the smith would engage in "cold" work, or cold forging, which mostly included modifications and ornamentation. However, the blueprints did not indicate a need and he went straight to the whetstone.

The blade was still blunt, despite its crude shape, and it was a matter of diligence and hardwork in slowly grinding the edges of the blade so that it could be sharp enough to deliver the gashing wounds it was famous for. Quickly but consistently cycling the grinding wheel, the clashing sounds of a metal being subject to resistance resounded throughout the workshop as the blade began to take a keen edge.

After both sides were ground sufficiently, he focused on the tip with a smaller but more flexible sharpening tool, and repeatedly struck the tip and ground against it so that it would sharp enough to pierce through unarmored skin.

The sky outside was beginning to get dark as the Isur worked continually throughout the day without rest, and finally the product was done according to the blueprints' instructions and Markwell's nudging. While any respectable assassin would not be seen using this particular blade, it functioned crudely well with a plain and simple form that perhaps a lowlife bandit might consider using.

Aedi finally took a look at the finished blade, and presented it to Markwell who had been munching on a sandwich as he watched the progress. The student's stomach growled with hunger, and Markwell curved his lip in amusement, though his eyes acknowledged the hard work that Aedi had put in.

"Crude, but quite functional," Markwell noted. "I can see you making better things in the future if you put in the hard work to master your technical skills."

The blacksmith took a piece of parchment, and scribbled some notes in it, folding it as he handed it to the curious Isur.

"This is my letter of recommendation to the Armored Scholar. I believe that you do not have a job in Zeltiva here. Go take on an apprenticeship with Rals, earn your keep and polish your fundamental blacksmithing experience with them. At the same time, I will teach you on the intricacies of different weapons and the more advanced skills that most apprentices will not learn."

Aedi thanked the man as he pocketed the note, and his stomach grumbled again.

"And get out of here and go get yourself some food," Markwell laughed as he shooed his newest student out of the smithy. "See you next class!"

Aedi grinned. It looked like his settling into Zeltiva was shaping up quite well indeed. Almost as well as the weapon that he had forged.

Fin.