The main church of the Milis faith.
In the Pope's meeting room.
A dozen people were sitting face to face.
The one in the very center was of course the Pope. Beside the Pope was an old person wearing clothes similar to the Pope's, which looked very fancy. This person was likely a cardinal of the church.
Besides them, many high-level members of the church, including members of the Milis Holy Nation's knighthood, were gathered here.
Everyone had mixed feelings about the arrival of the blacksmith Muramasa.
In this situation, the Pope of the Milis Church, as if to set the tone, showed great respect to Shirou, who appeared as Muramasa.
This attitude caused mixed feelings among the church's high-level members, and even caused their original judging looks to disappear.
Many church members even gasped, realizing that something unexpected might happen at today's meeting.
Shirou ignored the various conflicts within the Milis Church.
He quietly said, "No, I haven't made a weapon that reaches the realm of gods yet, so I can't be called Craft God."
Because he wanted to scare these church members, Shirou had already planned to act as Muramasa. A top-level blacksmith would definitely not show any weakness in their tone or attitude. So, Shirou showed a proud attitude.
This reaction seemed to fit the church's high-level members' impression of a top blacksmith. They weren't unhappy at all, and instead became even more respectful than before.
"Is that so? Then let me call you Lord Muramasa for now."
The Pope said with a smile.
He didn't doubt Shirou's identity at all, and showed complete trust. This trust was something Shirou hadn't expected.
But he wouldn't let himself be thrown off balance like this, and replied calmly, "It doesn't matter what you call me. What's important is the Holy Sword you're having trouble with."
"Lord Muramasa really came for the Holy Sword."
"Looking at Saint Milis' weapon might improve my blacksmith skills."
Shirou wasn't lying.
He truly wanted to study Saint Milis' Holy Sword. He was very curious about what was so special about this legendary weapon that could once split the Holy Sword path in one strike.
Helping the Milis Church fix the Holy Sword was just something he was doing on the side.
"Hehe, as expected of a top blacksmith. Even with such a high status and great skills, you still haven't lost your learner's desire for knowledge."
The Pope said with a smile, praising Shirou.
Everything seemed to be going well.
But things couldn't possibly go so smoothly without any problems.
Soon, a bishop wearing fancy clothes suddenly spoke up, "Your Holiness, is it appropriate to let an outsider look at the Milis Holy Nation's national treasure? The Holy Sword has been through hundreds of years of wear and tear, and is already very fragile. If it gets damaged in the process, no one can take responsibility for that."
The bishop kept looking at the cardinal to the side as he spoke.
Clearly, this was all the cardinal's plan.
He wanted to prevent the blacksmith Muramasa from touching the Milis Holy Sword by any means possible, and even more so, he couldn't allow him to fix the Milis Holy Sword, to stop the Pope from gaining more credit.
The Pope hadn't even spoken yet when the head of the Temple Knights, Carlisle, spoke up first, "Blacksmith Muramasa is a top blacksmith from the Asura Kingdom, a Craft God recognized by many strong people in the human race. How can he be considered an outsider?"
"Even if he is a Craft God, he's still the Asura Kingdom's Craft God. What does he have to do with our Milis Holy Nation?"
The bishop wasn't convinced and argued directly.
Carlisle seemed to have expected this and said with a sneer, "Saint Milis has been preaching equality, unity, and friendship since he founded the Milis faith. It was one thing to refuse the Mine God of the Mine Clan to fix the Holy Sword, but now you don't even recognize a blacksmith of the human race as one of us? Is this isolating attitude meant to abandon the teachings of the Milis Holy Nation?"
"..."
Carlisle's sharp words left the bishop of the cardinal's faction speechless.
The cardinal's attitude became even colder.
After all, the Temple Knights were originally his faction, but Carlisle, in order to maintain his position and further improve the Latoreia family's status by using the Holy Sword's repair, had unknowingly switched to the Pope's faction. For him, this was a complete betrayal.
So, the cardinal directly stepped in and said, "Knight Carlisle, what you said based on Saint Milis' teachings is indeed good, but there's still one problem. Who can prove that this man who suddenly appeared is the blacksmith Muramasa? From what I know, this blacksmith Muramasa was introduced by a country noble from the Asura Kingdom. How could a country noble come into contact with someone of Craft God level? Could it be that someone is working together to trick us out of our national treasure, the Holy Sword!"
The cardinal directly blamed Shirou, and his words were sharp.
Carlisle couldn't accept these words, and he immediately said, "The person who introduced Muramasa is my family's son-in-law, Paul Greyrat. Paul was previously from the Notos family, one of the four great lords of the Asura Kingdom. Although he broke ties with the family, he later became the leader of the S-rank adventurer team Black Wolf's Fang. His status and strength are decent, and it's reasonable for him to be able to contact Craft God Muramasa!"
"Hehe, that sounds nice, but we know very well that that Paul is now just a drunkard who drinks every day. And because of the support of your Latoreia family, he's doing all sorts of illegal things in the Milis Holy Nation, forcibly taking slaves from noble families and taking private property! If it weren't for the protection of your Latoreia family, that criminal would have been in jail a long time ago!"
"I've said this before. Paul's actions aren't crimes. He's just saving the innocent people affected by the Fittoa Territory Transfer incident in the Asura Kingdom. Helping those in need is also one of Saint Milis' teachings!"
"Hmph, talking about teachings all the time, are you pretending to be a devout believer, Carlisle? You're just a commoner who married into the Latoreia family. You should be grateful to the previous head of the Latoreia family for giving you your current position. Don't continue to be foolish!"
"My background has nothing to do with this matter."
"..."
In order to prevent Shirou from touching the Holy Sword, the cardinal was clearly being unreasonable.
He made all sorts of excuses to try to stop this from happening.
The Pope didn't say a word, as if he was letting the cardinal put on a show.
In the end, a knight beside him couldn't help but stand up and stop the cardinal from being unreasonable.
"Lord Cardinal, you're overreacting. Whether the blacksmith Muramasa's identity is suspicious isn't something that you or I can affect with just our words. We just need to prove it with facts."
"You say facts?"
The cardinal looked at the knight, wanting to lose his temper, but he closed his mouth when he saw who it was.
Because he recognized the knight as a noble person, Jaljard Nashwenick, the leader of the Teaching Knight Order, one of the three great knight orders.
Jaljard didn't move and quietly said, "Since Muramasa is a top blacksmith, he naturally has excellent skills. Just showing off a little bit would be enough to solve all doubts."
"That... that's true."
The cardinal couldn't argue with Jaljard's words and could only quietly agree.
Seeing that the farce seemed to be over, the Pope smiled and looked at Shirou, saying, "I apologize for making you see a joke, Lord Muramasa. But as you can see, now you may need to prove your identity."
The Pope's attitude was open and honest, and he maintained a neutral attitude throughout, which was enough to show how high his political skills were.
As Shirou praised him in his heart, he quietly said, "The way to prove it is simple. I remember I sold a weapon to your Milis Church before."
"Indeed, I bought a weapon made by you, Galatine, in the capital of the Asura Kingdom, Ars."
"The sword's blade is made of Yiqing iron stone, with three Sunstones inside, and it's enchanted with a special magic circle that can instantly release a light wave that destroys everything. But because the Sunstones need to absorb heat to continue working, it can only work continuously during the day when the sun is out."
"That's right, that's something that only Lord Muramasa would know. At the auction at the time, no one other than me touched this sword, which means that only you and I know the specific details of this sword. I don't think anyone else has any objections, right?"
The Pope wasn't surprised by Shirou's words and directly approved of them.
The cardinal still wanted to say something about this scene, but he was clearly at the end of his rope.
He could only watch everything happen.
In the end, under the Pope's arrangement, Shirou was quickly invited to the Milis Church's smithy.
After learning that the blacksmith Muramasa had arrived, almost every blacksmith showed an attitude of worship, even disbelief, looking like a little fan meeting their idol.
But they also knew the importance of the Holy Sword's repair, so they wouldn't bother him at this time.
So, Shirou was able to touch the Milis Holy Sword alone and discovered that this weapon had been through a lot of wear and tear over the years, and was so weak that it would break if touched lightly.
This problem was even more serious than his Sword of Promised Victory.
It was no wonder that the blacksmiths of the entire Milis Holy Nation couldn't fix this sword, because any attempt to make it would definitely cause the blade to break.
However, Shirou had unique skills and didn't need to worry about this problem.
That was Reinforcement magic!
---
Read 55+ advanced chapters on patreon.com/yeyeqiu