"W-wait, why are you keeping that sword so close to you!? Are you an idiot!? That’s a cursed weapon! Just being close to it creates disturbance in the very fabric of reality!!"
Kifrid’s grandpa threw away his beer and hurriedly created a protective barrier around him and Kifrid with his mana.
Rio’s eyes widened in shock when he noticed that Kifrid’s grandpa was in fact an awakener.
Until now, Rio hadn’t noticed this fact.
Rio, who’s even able to see people’s soul fluctuations as long as they are in the same rank as him or below, didn’t even notice anything amiss in that old dwarf’s body.
Which only meant one thing.
"A Demi-god!?"
Rio almost had the thought of running away, but then he felt confused and didn’t run.
"W-wait, you know my father? His name was Kevin Flash..."
"By the way, you don’t need to be that cautious; I can keep this sword in check. Ever since I made a bond with it, it’s been with me..."
Kifrid’s grandpa was so shocked by Rio’s words that his jaw almost fell on the ground.
"What the f*ck are you talking about kid!? The ’law’ of ’absolute destruction’ has manifested in that weapon! That thing’s not something a random kid can control!"
"No wait... You are an S-ranker!? This energy... this is ’Sword Intent’!!"
"To think that I will get to see ’Sword Intent’ so strong in my life once again... it’s unbelievable!"
His words made Rio even more confused.
"Wait, you have seen someone else with ’sword intent’ as strong as mine? Bullsh*t!"
Kifrid who was getting annoyed by the two of them arguing, jumped out of his grandpa’s shield and shouted,
"Calm down, you two!! Don’t fight! Mom says that all troubles can be solved without needing to argue!"
Kifrid’s shout snapped Rio and his grandfather back to their senses, and they both stopped arguing.
Kifrid’s grandpa took a deep breath, patted his grandson’s head, and calmed down.
"My bad, I guess my age is getting to my head; I lost my cool the moment I saw that source of disaster come so close to me..."
Rio also nodded his head and put his sword into his space ring to de-escalate the situation and show that he didn’t have any bad intentions either.
"I was in the wrong too; I came barging in out of nowhere..."
At Rio’s apology, Kifrid’s grandfather nodded his head and went over to grab another big mug of beer to calm down his tense nerves.
After taking the beer, he waved his hand to the two kids and said,
"Sigh, follow me, you two; let’s settle down and talk things out properly..."
Rio also nodded, took Kifrid’s little hand, and walked towards the living room of the small house.
There was a fireplace inside, and the room was warm and comfy.
Kifrid and Rio sat down on a sofa, while the old dwarf sat down on a big comfy chair beside the fireplace.
"Sigh... That little grandson of mine is really an odd kid; he’s brought me such a surprise today. How did he end up befriending you out of nowhere?"
"I must say, it’s quite rare to see humans in the dwarf nation. what brings you here kid... You are quite young, and such a young S-ranker like you won’t be wandering in other nations’ territory just for fun, right?"
Rio could only sigh and reply honestly,
"Actually, a close friend of mine got lost in the spirit realm. I am on my way to the entrance to the spirit realm..."
"I stopped by this town to take a brief rest, by sheer coincidence... No, it would be better to call it a meeting arranged by fate. I met Kifrid..."
Kifrid’s grandpa was surprised by Rio’s words.
"You want to go to the spirit realm!? You must be joking, right!?"
"If your friend is lost in the spirit realm, it might be a better option to just consider him dead actually... it’s impossible to find him in such a place..."
"By the way, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Kehrid, a blacksmith by profession..."
Rio didn’t take Kehrid’s words to his heart and replied in his usual emotionless tone,
"Even if it sounds ridiculous I still have to try and find him... Wait! You said your name was ’Kehrid’!?"
"Are you Kehrid the ’Master Smith’!?"
Rio knew the name Kehrid from the original novel and from the documents that Ashtel had given him.
In the original novel, it was mentioned that the world greatest blacksmith was called ’Kehrid,’ and his title was ’Master Smith.’
He was never described in detail in the original novel, so Rio didn’t know much about him or where he lived. Rio didn’t even know that he was a dwarf.
Only when Rio read the documents given by Ashtel did he realize that the ’artifact’ that he was looking for was actually made by a dwarf called Kehrid.
"Err.. so you know my previous title? That’s odd; I remember asking those b*stards to erase the records of my existence after I retired..."
Kehrid didn’t deny Rio’s words and acknowledged the fact that he was actually the blacksmith who was once close to King Allen Von Reinhart!
"So you have been living for 2000 years!?"
Kehrid immediately shook his head at Rio’s question.
"No way, I was born very late... I was born around the time when demon extinction war was already in its last stages..."
"I only met that weird human when I was 100 years old or something; at that time I was quite young actually..."
Kehrid stroked his long beard as he felt nostalgic while thinking about the long-gone past.
"To tell you the truth, that human had a very weird personality; he was sometimes warm, sometimes cold like an iceberg..."
"By the way, when I said that I had seen sword intent as powerful as your before, I was referring to him..."
Rio was shocked by Kehrid’s words.
"Wasn’t King Allen a martial artist? Why did he have ’Sword Intent’?"
Kehrid smiled at Rio’s words and said,
"Who said you can’t have ’Sword Intent’ if you are a martial artist... In fact, that weirdo had ’Dao Rhythm’ and ’Sword Intent’ both at the same time!"
That answer nearly blew Rio’s mind and shattered his worldview.
Rio had never even thought that it was possible to wield two completely different types of ’legendary skills’ at the same time.
’Sword Intent’ is a purely offensive type of skill, while ’Dao Rhythm’ focuses more on physique, defense, and balance.
Having both of them at the same time is like equipping your game character with cheat codes, making him invincible while still having insane damage at the same time.
"No wonder he’s the only person in the world who’s been given the title ’King’... regular SS-rankers don’t even come close to him..."
Kehrid smirked at Rio’s words and replied in a proud tone,
"I myself am a peak SS-ranker you know, but even I, who has already lived for over a millennium, can’t fathom how much stronger that guy was..."
Kehrid glanced into Rio’s eyes as he said,
"I recognized ’Vinash’ instantly because it was none other than me who created that ’weapon’ of ’mass destruction’!"
Rio felt a chill run down his spine after hearing those words.
Finally, Rio understood why ’fate’ brought him here.
’No wonder my intuition was telling me to go to the dwarf kingdom over and over... it was all because my sword wanted me to meet its creator...’