The swordsmith was unwilling to give his full name, he just said he had forged swords all his life, and now that he was old, calling him "Sword Grandpa" was fine.
Ryosuke asked, "Then what about when you were young?"
"When old, call me Sword Grandpa. When I was young, just a young lad, of course it was Sword Lad."
Ryosuke's lips moved slightly, but in the end, he didn't voice any sarcasm.
Sword Grandpa was very tall. Even though he was old and a bit hunched over, when standing straight, he was still a bit over 1.8 meters. His arms were even thicker than Ryosuke's thighs.
He had a buzz cut, all gray. His nose was high and straight, and his facial features were firm and tough.
Sword Grandpa had a ferocious scar on his right arm, spreading from wrist to elbow.
Perhaps because of this wound, from earlier when eating a rice ball to now accepting the Samehada Ryosuke handed over, Sword Grandpa always used his left hand.
"How do you want to reforge it?" Sword Grandpa asked.
"There's a way to choose?"
"Of course."
Sword Grandpa began slowly unwrapping the bandages wound around Samehada, "Samehada is a very special sword, it's layered."
He lightly tapped on the jagged shark-tooth-like edges of the blade.
"The outermost layer is teeth, further in is flesh, and the deepest layer is bone and soul."
"If you think its 'teeth' don't suit you, I can help replace them with other blades, even directly transform it into a regular large sword with just a straight edge."
"If you think it's too bloated, I can remove the excess 'flesh' to make it lighter and swifter to swing. But if you feel you cannot get along with it…"
Sword Grandpa looked at the sword in his hand with a complicated expression, "Then I can only smash its bones and reshape its soul. But I don't recommend you do that. At that point, it's no different from forging a brand new sword, you may as well not torture it."
Ryosuke hadn't expected that modifying a sword would be this complicated, but he was from a technical background in his past life, and he knew, as development progresses, even a niche field could expand into countless theoretical systems.
Sword Grandpa was even more professional than Ryosuke had imagined.
Ryosuke stated his request, "I don't know which layer I should adjust. My power seems to be opposite to Samehada's attributes, it causes it extremely severe trauma."
"Your chakra attribute? Fire?"
"Not chakra."
"Hmm?"
Sword Grandpa raised his head, his eyes suspicious.
"Samurai?"
"Nope."
Sword Grandpa's curiosity was piqued. He stared at Ryosuke for a while, then silently turned around and dug out from the very bottom of a cabinet a black, still unsharpened sword blank and handed it to Ryosuke.
"Infuse your power into it, let me see."
Ryosuke took the black sword, and passed Ripple energy into it.
A streak of golden lightning flashed, the blade of the black sword shimmered with a silver sheen, becoming sharper. Along with a faint buzzing hum, a burning hot aura emitted from the black sword.
This sight made Sword Grandpa's eyes widen.
He had forged swords his entire life. He had seen countless ninjas and samurai, but never such a unique scene.
Sword Grandpa pulled Ryosuke to sit down, and took out pen and paper, asking one detail after another.
———
The old and the young talked from morning until noon. Their stomachs were growling with hunger before they snapped out of work mode.
Sword Grandpa patted the thick pile of draft papers on the table, sighing, "Imagination running wild and a clear train of thought, compared to me, you're more like a true craftsman."
After a morning of discussion, the two had decided on the most suitable reforging plan for Samehada.
Remove the "teeth" and "flesh", and using the "bone and soul" as the base, telect materials compatible with Ripple to rebuild Samehada's body, and leave pathways for energy meridians.
In battle, Ryosuke used the breathing technique, he and the sword breathed as one. The Ripple's power and conduction would far surpass ordinary weapons.
With the theory set, next came the practical process.
"Leave the rest to me."
Sword Grandpa clapped his hands and stood up, "Give me half a month. Come back to get your sword in fifteen days. In the meantime, it's best not to leave the village, I'll need your help with occasional testing."
"Alright."
"Also, "
Sword Grandpa grinned, revealing a mouthful of big white teeth, "My fees aren't cheap. Since you're familiar with Kamihara, you should already know that."
Ryosuke smiled back, "I don't lack money."
Ryosuke left Sword Grandpa's home, leaving the space to the expert. As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Terumi Mei leaning against the wall.
"You were eavesdropping?"
"What do you mean eavesdropping? I was standing right here in the open, so many people saw it."
Terumi Mei said as she handed over a steaming hot rice ball.
"For me?"
"Yeah. I'm observing you. If you starve to death, then I'd lose my observation subject."
"No need."
Ryosuke didn't plan to have much contact with Terumi Mei.
"Exactly. You're the kind of man... "
Terumi Mei slightly lifted her chin, brushed her bangs back behind her head, raised an eyebrow, and said in a low voice, "who says things like 'I don't lack money.'"
"How could a man like that ever take a liking to my pitiful little rice ball?"
Ryosuke, "..."
He couldn't be bothered to argue with Terumi Mei's sarcastic tone.
With Aerosmith present, Ryosuke had already noticed Terumi Mei eavesdropping outside. The reason he didn't chase her away was because, there was no need.
If she didn't listen now, then once Ryosuke left, Terumi Mei would go interrogate Sword Grandpa anyway.
Even if Sword Grandpa told her everything honestly, with how suspicious ninja were, she might still give him some "skin pain."
Rather than add another step and make Sword Grandpa suffer, better to let things be like this. Everyone saves trouble.
After all, Ripple and the breathing technique were like Ryosuke knowing ninja used chakra, it didn't affect combat. If Terumi Mei knew about them, it was no big deal.
Ryosuke turned to leave.
But Terumi Mei wasn't ready to let him go, she took a bite of the rice ball, walked arrogantly behind him in a swaggering square step, and asked, "You let those two samurai go, aren't you afraid the local magistrate will come looking for you?"
Ryosuke glanced at the rice ball in her hand,
It had filling, peanuts, beef, cucumber, the scent of meat, cucumber, and rice mixed and drifted over.
He turned his head and said, "If I killed them, would the magistrate not come?"
Each samurai had their designated tax collection district.
Break their legs and release them, the magistrate would just think they were useless and had run into a tough one.
Snowy Village was poor to begin with. Over this little bit of tax, would they really send an army?
Ryosuke didn't think it was worth it.
But if he had killed them on the spot, then the nature of it would change.
The villagers couldn't keep their mouths shut. Before long, word would spread, and when that happened, it would be the samurai army and ninja from the county coming.
Terumi Mei was very clever, of course she had considered this. What she meant wasn't that, it was, "You could've just paid. That would've solved it."
Ryosuke shook his head.
If he were alone, he'd have happily paid the money.
But, Ryosuke looked at Rei, who stood silently at his side, never saying a word from start to finish.
If he paid the money, then the seed of fear would forever take root in her heart.
Ryosuke wanted to use action to tell her, in this world, no one could treat her as a commodity ever again. Anyone who dared lay a hand on her, would pay the price.
Terumi Mei saw the care in Ryosuke's eyes. A glimmer of light flashed through her beautiful eyes.
They had only known each other for one day, but she was beginning to see through Ryosuke's core personality.
'A gentle, firm, principled man… is truly rare.'
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