"Sell your idea? What made you think that I need your idea?"
Crane looked at the kid that just stated something absurd. Even though he had been facing nothing but failure lately, he wasn't desperate enough to require the help of a boy that didn't look to be older than 15 years old. Although he was slightly curious about how he knew his name.
"Well, someone close to me mentioned you once before. I believe you should have an idea of who would that be if you thought about what we have in common."
Leo didn't remove his smile as he talked calmly, as this novel's reader, he naturally didn't find it hard to deal with most of the characters. He was confident in getting what he wanted.
'I didn't read a dozen books about communication for nothing.'
Furthermore, he was using his connection with the person who this world revolved around. This was practically a piece of cake since Crane was one of the characters that were placed close to the protagonist out of convenience.
"You… You know that sword lover brat?"
Looking at the young but confident kid sitting before him, Crane quickly remembered another brat who had a similar temperament. Perhaps this could also…
"Yeah, he is more or less my brother. He is no longer around, but he told me to come to you in case I met a troublesome situation."
"That brat! Does he think I'm running a charity here?"
Crane started remembering that time when that brat that was even younger came into his shop. He asked to 'inspect' his swords because he felt 'lonely', making him appear like a weirdo. However, after they exchanged words, Crane felt like he obtained a lot of insights.
He was a person who clearly knew how to repay favors, so he ended up giving him the most treasured sword in the smithy. Wasn't it a bit overboard for the brat to send his 'brother' to freeload on him?
Naturally, Crane wasn't completely sure that the kid was actually that brat's relative, he could just be a scammer.
"No need to get angry Mr. Crane, like I said, I don't want to get help for free. I plan to sell you my idea, you are free to decide its price yourself after hearing me out."
"You trust me enough to tell me without worrying that I won't pay you anything?"
Crane started feeling confused. Was this a new scam that the kid wanted to try out? Or was it really that he trusted that his work was worth it?
"I can't say I trust you having only met you today, but I trust my brother who trusts you."
Leo played the protagonist card once again, but what he said was nothing but nonsense. In the novel, there was no case where the protagonist mentioned the 'Blackbird' to Arthur.
However, while Leo didn't trust either Crane or the protagonist, he trusted the words he read, and in the few chapters that Crane appeared in, he was as honest as one could be. The last thing he could do would be to steal someone's 'precious ideas'.
"Well, have it your way. While I find it nearly impossible that you would be abnormal as your 'brother', I will hear you out, but don't expect me to accept a repetition of what he told me back then."
Crane shrugged as he rested his head on his palm. He was quite bored and unmotivated now that his 1111th try failed today, he might as well listen to the kid's words. It would at least be better than doing nothing.
"Alright, let me start with a question then. You are still trying to find a way to improve steel, aren't you?"
"Huh?"
As soon as Leo asked his question, Crane raised his head as he looked at the kid in slight shock. Asking that question wasn't hard if that brat from before shared what he told him with his brother, but was he seriously proposing that his idea was related to this?
"I can see you are already starting to doubt me, but let me continue first. Aside from when you try to make the standard steel swords, you find it hard to control the temperature well enough to produce a tougher version of steel that isn't brittle, correct?"
"How do… know that?"
Crane stopped having doubts about this being a scam as he continued to listen to Leo. He only started to wonder whether he genuinely wanted to sell his idea or a spy that came to check on his progress.
"Well, the reason is obvious, isn't it? I'm also someone who is interested in smithing, so it isn't hard to notice your current situation looking at the scrap metal and the sword from earlier."
Leo smiled even brighter. The man should have already caught the bait. It was about time to use the knowledge he had obtained from reading the Science University course about iron and steel.
"You mean to say that you have a way to solve this problem?"
In 'The Sword Master's Second Life', the level of cold weapon production was drastically low. Before the Sword of Epoch changed the world, the only ones who could produce steel were the few kingdoms and empires that ruled the world. Unless you were part of an army, the best you could get your hand on was a normal iron or bronze sword.
The reason behind that was simple, the principle of sword forging was restricted so that commoners wouldn't pose threats. Furthermore, even if one knew the main gist of it, controlling temperature over 1000 degrees celsius couldn't be done easily.
However, all of that changed just like the rest of the world did, after sword breath filled the world and the long war that lasted a decade, steel sword forging methods became widespread.
The smithing industry flourished, especially thanks to the discovery of a certain volcanic rock that mutated under the effect of sword breath. This rock was capable of producing the fire required for steel production!
Unfortunately, as several types of mutated metals emerged as well, steel forging stood in its tracks. All the smiths that researched making better swords focused on these new metals, which surpassed the usefulness of steel in no time.
"Unfortunately, I don't have the means nor the ideas to solve your current problem…"
As Crane heard Leo's answer, the slight hope he had was almost instantly extinguished, what was he expecting to come out from a kid's mouth anyway?
Unlike his fellow smiths, he refused the idea of making people reliant on the rare metals; several small wars started just over the control of one mine or two. He sincerely wanted to make steel, which could be made from the abundant iron, capable of contesting with the swords made from these metals.
"But… What if I tell you that I can guide you to another method that can produce instant success?"