"Big sister Ria! I will be going out early today."
While Ria stood in the kitchen corner of the humble Orphanage, ready to start preparing breakfast, Leo went in and quickly snatched something from the table before turning to leave.
"Eh? Why are you in such a hurry for? Shouldn't you at least wait for breakfast?"
Ria was slightly confused, Arthur usually went out early to do some odd jobs to help with the Orphanage's financial situation, but he always did so only after eating breakfast, sometimes even helping with making it. It seemed like something was different today.
"No worries, I will just eat this apple on the way."
Showing the apple he picked up from the table, Leo didn't wait for an answer before leaving quickly.
'Something has been different about him since yesterday. Could it be that Arthur got into something dangerous?'
Ria shook her head in worry. While Arthur didn't show it much, he was greatly affected by the disappearance of his 'brother' who left without leaving any word. If he was starting something reckless, she didn't know if she could help him.
~~.~~.~~
'This town isn't too bad.'
As he moved around in the town of Norn, where the Orphanage was, Leo was quite immersed in the sceneries that turned so real from just being words on paper.
'Let's see, it should be around here…'
Reaching a particular part of the town, Leo could see several columns of steam rising as he felt the temperature rising slightly, he had reached the target of this little trip.
'Blacksmith street.'
Living in this world where the sword meant power, it was almost compulsory for every village, town, and city to have a few blacksmith shops, they would usually be gathered together. Blacksmith street was basically a necessary stop for every wandering swordsman.
Unlike several fantasy novels that Leo read, 'The Sword Master's Second Life' never strayed away from its title, the only weapon that could use sword breath was swords, even if you were a high-grade swordsman, if you didn't have a sword in hand, you would be useless in battle.
'I guess my entry point could be considered good.'
Finally spotting his target, within the street, Leo slowly walked towards it as he thought about his current situation.
While it would have been much easier if he entered from an early entry point like the chapter where the protagonist left on his journey, he would have been constricted to only one plan, influencing the main character.
On the other hand, entering through the chapter that showed the last warm scene of the Orphanage to 'prepare' readers to feel pain from the massacre, Leo was able to have more options to choose from.
Although being 12 years old wouldn't make executing these plans easy, it was still doable in comparison to trying to do so while being only 7 years old.
Despite complaining about it jokingly, if Leo had the choice in deciding one between the two entry points, he would have still chosen his current one.
'The blackbird.'
Unlike the crowding customers that surrounded most of the other blacksmith shops, the shop that Leo stood before was like the desert within a rainforest.
'It's convenient that special people always exist around protagonists.'
Including the plans that were rejected by Leo, almost all of the plans he came up with had the target of becoming a swordsman who nurtured sword breath himself. Unfortunately, due to the constraints of time, doing so could only be delayed after surviving the scapegoat event, that was especially the case with how 'special' Arthur's body was.
Being a person who had the 'legendary' body of 'Blocked Meridians', Arthur was a person whose body couldn't contain and nurture sword breath.
Some readers have even contemplated that the author planned to have Arthur as the second protagonist considering how he had a part of the usual 'main character template', but they were quickly slapped in the face when he died within the first 30 chapters.
'I already know of a solution for 'my' problem, but it's not the time for that yet.'
As a reader, Leo naturally knew of a method to solve his current body's problem. However, not to mention how long that would take, just obtaining a proper 'sword breath manual' would already take more than 13 days.
Taking that into consideration, Leo's 'house defense' had to rely on strategy and deception, but in order to do so, he had to have enough capital.
Knock. Knock.
The 'blackbird' always has its door closed, Leo knocked on the door out of courtesy even though he knew no one would answer the door.
Just like no people crowded the 'blackbird', the hammering noise that was specific to blacksmith shops didn't sound out either. The constant smoke that came out from the chimney was the only part that made the small building look like a blacksmith shop.
Creeeeak…
As the door slowly creaked open from the pressure of the knock, Leo waited a few seconds before stepping through the door.
"Sorry for intruding…"
Lightly voicing out an apology, Leo didn't expect to receive an answer as he looked at the man sitting staring at the fire.
The man's face which was partially lit by the fire didn't appear to be that old, but half of it was obscured by his black beard which was mixed with gray thanks to the flying ashes.
Even though he noticed that he was being observed, the man didn't bother as he continued staring at the furnace melting a strangely shaped sword seemingly mesmerized by its ruin.
Leo did nothing for the next 15 minutes or so, he simply found a spot to sit on as he waited for the rest of the sword to completely melt.
"What can I do for you? If you are here to ask for a sword, then you came to the wrong place."
Only when nothing was left out of the sword did the man turn to Leo and speak out, his voice seemed friendly but his words weren't.
"Sorry for bothering you Mr. Crane, I didn't come here for a sword. I came here to discuss something with you."
Leo didn't seem bothered as he had already expected the man's behavior, he didn't back down as he stated his purpose, which was also the first step to his plan.
"Discuss something?"
"Yeah, I would like to discuss 'selling' my idea."
Leo gently smiled as he ordered his words in mind, it was time to use a transmigrator 'home specialty', otherworldly knowledge!