"Your Highness!"
"Princess Ariel!"
Derrick and Luke were anxious when they heard Ariel's words.
As Ariel's guardian knight and guardian mage, they clearly wouldn't allow Ariel to meet alone with a completely unknown person.
Even if the person was the blacksmith Muramasa, the most famous human blacksmith in recent years, unpredictable things could still happen if Ariel met him alone.
Not only Luke, but even Derrick, who greatly admired the blacksmith Muramasa, couldn't help but step forward to stop her.
But Ariel looked as firm as a soldier ready to go to war and said calmly, "Derrick, Luke, you don't need to persuade me. I've made up my mind. I must meet Master Muramasa, even if there might be risks. This is Master Muramasa's test for me. Besides, if I'm afraid to take such risks, how can I inherit the throne? Becoming king is a path filled with pain and despair. If you're afraid to take any risk, you're destined to fail."
"..."
Ariel's words silenced Derrick and Luke.
They clearly didn't expect Ariel to say such things, and for a moment, they didn't know how to respond.
After all, Ariel had never shown such a strong desire to become king before. She had always been indifferent to the competition for the throne, and you could even say she had never wanted to be king.
But after coming to Boreas Castle, Ariel had clearly changed in some ways. These changes made her take actions that were completely different from her past, even to the point of willingly risking meeting a stranger.
After a while.
Luke still disagreed with Ariel's decision, unable to accept that Ariel would go alone to meet Muramasa.
Derrick, however, changed his original attitude. He took a deep breath and said slowly, "Lady Ariel, you truly are someone I believe in, and I'm sure you can become the king of this country! Go and do what you want to do. Let your charm shine. Even Master Muramasa will surely admire your courage."
"Derrick!"
Luke never expected Derrick to agree with Ariel, and he became anxious on the spot.
But Derrick had already made up his mind. He stood directly on Ariel's side, preventing Luke from interfering with Ariel's actions.
Luke's expression was like a kitten splashed with cold water, flustered, helpless, but powerless to do anything.
Ariel looked at Derrick gratefully.
She apologized to Luke, "I'm sorry, Luke. I know you're worried about my safety, and you've always been by my side, protecting me. But, just like parents will always let go and let their children fly in the sky, I can't always be under your protection. I'll never truly grow that way. After coming to Boreas Castle, I've been thinking about what path I should take. I still don't have an answer, but that's why I want to meet Muramasa, because I have a strong feeling that if I meet him, I'll get an answer that's most important to me."
"..."
Hearing Ariel's sincere words, Luke seemed to have been struck by a blow and weakly lowered his shoulders.
He was certainly worried about Ariel's safety, but he also knew how difficult the road Ariel was facing was.
In the past, he always had the mindset that it was okay not to become king as long as Ariel was happy, and he lived his life freely.
That's why he never expected Ariel to have such complicated thoughts, even having an unyielding obsession with becoming king.
This made Luke feel that he, as a guardian knight, had not fulfilled his duty.
He felt guilty and ashamed for this, and finally gave up all actions, supporting Ariel's actions.
"Can we go now?"
The old blacksmith looked at the conversation between the group and couldn't help but think highly of Ariel, the second princess of the Asura Kingdom.
He had stayed in the royal capital for a long time and knew the customs of the nobles in this country, and he also knew what kind of foolish people the royal family was, just people who were born with a higher social status.
However, the second princess felt different.
She was truly a person who possessed the qualities to match her status, with a nature and skills far beyond ordinary people.
If such an excellent princess became king, the Asura Kingdom would probably become even stronger, even becoming the most powerful country.
Of course, that would not be an easy task. The future waiting for Ariel would be unprecedented difficulties and tests.
That's why, if the blacksmith Muramasa was willing to help Ariel, he would definitely be able to give her great assistance.
But this was clearly not something that could be done casually.
The old blacksmith knew very well that Shirou lacked interest in political struggle from the bottom of his heart. He was a pure person and also possessed a pure sense of justice.
So whether he could get Muramasa's support would all depend on Ariel's own efforts.
"Yes, I'm ready."
Although Ariel was very nervous, she had already made her decision.
Although her face was still stiff and the hand beside her was even trembling slightly, she still firmly took a step and followed the old blacksmith deeper into the forging workshop.
Ariel and the old blacksmith came to the depths of the forging workshop and arrived in front of the tightly closed door.
When Ariel came with Shirou before, she was curious about the purpose of this room, and now she finally realized that the room behind was Muramasa's room.
The old blacksmith signaled Ariel to enter.
Ariel didn't think too much and took a deep breath before opening the door to the room.
The interior of the room was wider than expected. The room was filled with all kinds of forging tools, as well as many special minerals and magic stones, each of which was priceless.
The most unique thing was the many weapons placed in the room.
Many of these weapons were newly made and clearly not finished products, but only half-finished products that had not yet been completed.
But even though they were only half-finished products, every weapon in the room gave off an unspeakable sense of oppression, even causing Ariel's heart to stop.
"Master Muramasa... are you here?"
Ariel looked around and didn't see anyone, so she couldn't help but ask.
"..."
As her voice faded, a white-haired man wearing simple clothes and a white mask walked out of the shadows.
The moment she saw him, Ariel was sure that the person was the blacksmith Muramasa himself.
Although she couldn't see his true face, Ariel could feel that all the weapons around her produced a strange resonance after he appeared.
It was like the weapons had their own souls with Muramasa's appearance.
While Ariel was nervous and excited, Muramasa looked at Ariel calmly and asked, "You are the kingdom's second princess, Ariel?"
"You, you know me?"
Although Ariel, as a princess, should have a higher status.
But when facing the man who was clearly the blacksmith Muramasa, Ariel couldn't help but use polite terms.
"You are the customer who bought my first weapon, so I naturally investigated you."
Although the first weapon Shirou made was the Sword of Promised Victory, he used it himself and never showed it to the outside world.
So his first weapon in the true sense was the [Durandal] that Ariel bought at the time.
"I, I'm honored to be able to buy this weapon! This is the most special sword I've ever seen!"
Ariel was so excited that she stuttered when she found out that Muramasa recognized her.
She showed the sword on her waist at the first instant and gave a respectful greeting: "I am Ariel Anemoi Asura, the second princess of the Asura Kingdom. Please take care of me, Master Muramasa."
"What are you here for? Do you need me to specially customize a weapon for you?"
Shirou, playing the role of Muramasa, spoke coldly. He deliberately pretended to have such a cold and arrogant temperament, not only to distance himself from his original identity, but also to prevent Ariel, who had overly sharp eyes, from seeing through him.
Due to Servant Emiya's vast experiences and experiences as a guardian, Shirou could easily play the role of someone completely different from himself without showing any flaws.
And Ariel was clearly a little flustered by Muramasa's inquiry. She said cautiously, "I'm already very honored to be able to buy this famous sword Durandal. I don't ask Master Muramasa to make any more weapons. This time I came to see you just because I simply want to meet a master like you and absorb knowledge and experience."
"I have nothing to teach you."
Muramasa shook his head.
Ariel obviously didn't have any talent for forging, and she wouldn't want to take this path. Even if he wanted to give her some advice, it wouldn't make any sense.
And Ariel clearly knew this, so she took the initiative to say, "No, I don't need you to teach me anything. I just want to get an answer to a question from you."
"The answer to a question?"
"Please, do you think I should participate in the competition for the throne? Or, do you think I have the ability to become the queen of the Asura Kingdom?"
"..."
Muramasa fell silent at Ariel's question.
He looked slowly at the girl in front of him and said, "You're asking this question, clearly not wanting to get an answer from me. What you want is not the answer to becoming king, but the motivation to become king. I won't give you the answer to this question, but I can tell you that every choice that appears will affect a person's subsequent life. I have also faced choices before, and after making the wrong choices, I have regretted countless times why I didn't try my best to challenge the impossible. I often think, if I had tried my best to challenge my limits back then, would things have been different? If I had used my abilities to the fullest from the beginning, wouldn't the people I wanted to protect not have been hurt?"
"This..."
"Princess Ariel, what you need is not an answer, but a reason, a reason for you to become king. As long as you find that reason, whether it's to protect someone or to do something, as long as you're sure that that thing must be achieved, you can take a step forward. Otherwise, even if you are affirmed, you will only choose to give up at the first sign of setbacks."
Muramasa's tone was calm, but every word seemed to strike Ariel's heart, "Doing anything is like forging a sword. The first thing to do is to imagine what the sword you want to make looks like. What kind of sword is it? Is it forged to protect others, or to kill strong enemies, or is it a weapon specially made to assassinate a noble person..."
"Forging requires confirming the shape first, then starting to build the foundation, and then constantly moving towards the goal, hammering countless times, polishing countless times. The more painful the process, the sharper the weapon that is forged, and the more unimaginable the quality that is made. However, most people can't forge the final product, because they all give up in the process. There are many, many reasons, but the commonality is only one, and that is that they lack obsession with the goals they have set."
"Princess Ariel, what kind of sword do you think you want to forge? Do you have the determination and the resolve to give everything in order to forge this sword?"
---
Read 55+ advanced chapters on patreon.com/yeyeqiu
Free member can read up to 4 advanced chapters