Twenty longswords, fourteen shortswords, and twenty eight knives. These were the orders I'd received for the day. A single longsword could take an experienced smith a couple of hours to a day to complete, depending on the quality. Same with the shortswords, while the knives were a bit faster.

If I recall correctly, this was significantly faster than my world's historical sword making capabilities. It probably had to do with magic here making life a lot easier. Fires that didn't constantly shift in temperature, tools that were enchanted to never dull, and clothing that prevented heatstroke from being in the forge for too long. Little things like that added to make sure that smithing here was just a hard job, but not a back-breaking one.

Still, hammering down a slab of steel takes a long time. Juukulius had given me a week to do all of the orders, while I had no stock to speak of. For any other smith, that would be impossible without lowering the overall quality of the weapons. I'd even go so far as to say that had Juukulius asked someone else for this order, he'd have been laughed out of the shop.

I'm not just anybody though. See, unlike other blacksmiths that took pride in their work, I had absolutely none. Instead, I did what should have been obvious for everyone in this world.

I cheated.

Or, to put it in another way, I did what these morons of another world refused to even consider. Instead of using magic as nothing more than tools of war, I used it to make those tools of war.

For starters, there are six elements of magic. The first four were all pretty much the same as any other setting, but had a surprisingly new twist to them. For example, fire didn't just include fire itself, but instead governed over temperature. That meant that while yes, fireballs were still certainly a thing, shooting ice shards and then calling it fire magic was also a thing.

Weird, but I could grasp it all with a bit of thinking.

That left two elements unaccounted for, yin and yang. Essentially yin was for debuffs, and yang was for buffs. Simple, elegant, and also very misleading.

First off, what even classifies as a buff or debuff? I mean, why the hell does dimensional magic, which I know for a fact exists, fall under yin magic? You can't tell me with a straight face that opening a door and having it open to a completely different place is a debuff!

Anyway, that's why I hate the in-lore books of an isekai.

All of them had barely any credibility other than 'I knew this guy who knew this guy'. Sure, some of them are decent, but when it comes to magic? Nearly all of them were hearsay, no sources, and not even any real step-by-step instructions on how to actually cast anything.

Suffice it to say, I had to learn on the fly. And in doing so, I had done what many hadn't really expected.

When you had the ability to fire Magic, with a capital M, from your hands, you would probably try to be the best at doing so. That goes double for a world where mages are often given better lives just because magic makes even the lowliest scum on the street into a formidable threat that no one really wants to deal with.

I could have been one of those, if I'm going to be honest. People sure did think I was a thug when I first arrived here, most likely because of my eyes. But, and this may be a shocker, I wasn't. I was just a high school student that didn't know what was happening.

Regardless of who I am, where I was, and why I was taken, I still had my morals. I wasn't about to be that edgy protagonist that threatens people to get what he wants. I also wasn't going to become a riajuu that also gets what he wants, but with more smiling.

What I needed to be was someone who wasn't hungry. And to do that, I either needed to steal food, or buy it.

So I worked my ass off. I got a job from one of the local blacksmiths, the only one that I would take some random teenager asking for one. From him, I learned what makes a sword a sword. I learned how to blacksmith the traditional way. In turn, I helped around the shop, managing the customers the old man was too busy for. In fact, that was the first time I met with Argyle, who was looking around for blacksmiths for a contract of theirs.

It was a difficult period, I won't lie, but it was definitely worth it.

My only regret was that I never did learn the old man's name before he passed.

When my mentor left me with all his tools, I was stumped. I didn't exactly know what to do. Eventually, I would find my current place, set up my own shop and everything. I became an educated blacksmith. At first, I was absolute dogshit at it. I may have learned some things from the old man, but it wasn't enough.

Still, I made enough money to buy some books on magic, which was how I found my affinity for not one, not two, but three elements: earth, yin and yang. It was at this moment, I knew better than anyone, that Fate liked fucking with me.

A mage by itself was uncommon. Two natural elemental affinities were rare. Anything above that? Obscenely rare. The only other person with more than two natural elements that I knew of was the Court Mage, Roswaal L. Mathers. And yes, the 'L.' was important since for some reason, every single head of the Mathers family was called Roswaal.

I suspected something either conspiratorial, or something ridiculously stupid. There's no in-between.

Anyway, with those nearly completely unhelpful books in hand, I managed to use the three elements with blacksmithing. Taking a page out of a certain blind earthbender, I figured I could use my earth affinity to also affect metal due to the inherent impurities in the steel I use. So, I went about casting Dona on a couple of ingots.

It didn't work. And weeks later, I was still no closer to doing anything other than tire myself out. By that point, I was at my wits end and trying anything I could. As well as getting annoyed with all the damn dirt.

Eventually, I grabbed a steel ingot and just started to pump as much mana as I could into it. I had nothing to lose other than a trip to my supplier if the steel became unusable after all. To my surprise, the metal started to feel a lot softer. Almost like clay, really.

Through repeated experiments, I found that pushing yin mana into objects would debuff said objects. Conversely, pushing yang mana would strengthen it. Originally, I didn't think that either could be applied to inanimate objects. All the resources that I had bought told me that they shouldn't affect something like this.

I realized then and there that it's precisely because of texts like these that no one had found out before what I had by accident. Why the hell would you even try to buff or debuff a bunch of metal?

Ever since then, I have been able to do a lot more. I forge weapons by weakening them to the point of almost liquidy, hammering with an ease I hadn't expected at first, before strengthening them to the point that my weapons, shoddily looking as my first ones were, caught the eyes of the knights of the city.

Since then, I'd improved my technique, making my blades some of the highest sought after weapons on the market, not only because they were quickly supplied, but durable as well. Most weapons that the knights used broke after a couple of weeks, not due to misuse, but because the opponents they face usually have something stupid about them.

Like, who the hell comes up with a giant cat whose fur was as strong as steel? Or a frog that spits out corrosive acid? Nobody sane, that's who.

At any rate, the weapons that I'd been creating were almost finished. I was on the last two of the knives. With all of my magic, I could do what an entire blacksmithing guild can do in a week, in just a few hours. Coupled with me not needing a forge, and my mining of ore by the truckload thanks to my earth magic, I could sell my weapons at significantly lower market value, and at a rate that outpaces anyone else.

I finished the final knife, and started to infuse the weapons with mana. Still, I didn't want to crash the economy, so I've been laying low with my weapons, unless someone directly mails me. That, and I purposely didn't max out the yang mana in anything I made. In fact, I only made them marginally more durable while increasing their cutting power. Hm? Why do that? Well, it's simple.

Why the hell would I sell something that they'd only buy once? If my swords were the strongest they could be, everyone would have one, because the initial investment pays off with an unbreakable blade.

I want returning customers dammit!

"Ah, Hikigaya-san, is Julius' order ready?"

I raised my eyebrow at the person who just came in. I didn't want to say that I already did, since they might catch on to what I could do. Actually, scratch that, he'd probably deduce it the moment I even tried to lie.

Reinhard Astrea was like that.

"I have a couple blades here, I'll send the rest later." I mean, I didn't lie there. I really did have two of the swords with me. Astrea smiled as I handed the blades over.

"Thank you on Julius' behalf." Damn, as much as I want to hate the guy, unlike Juukulius, Astrea was just too honest about, well, everything. Where I had found Hayama to be nothing more than a cold bastard underneath that mask of his, Astrea really was just an actual nice guy.

"Ah, Hikigaya-san-"

"I already said no twice today, don't add another one."

"Of course not. I know by now how stubborn you can be." I didn't think the guy had it in him to give a backhanded compliment like that. Good job. On the other hand, oi, that's me you're talking about.

"Here, I have an order from the Council." He handed me a note. Reading it, I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. They were essentially asking me to equip the entirety of the capital's knights twice over. I could do it, but not without rest, and it would take longer than usual. There was one glaring issue, however.

"The payment…"

"Yes, the Council is serious about that."

"You're giving me a literal blank check to the kingdom's treasury. What the fuck?" I stared at him incredulously. Seriously, I'm just some back-alley cheating blacksmith. Why the hell would the Council care for me of all people?

"If it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one they gave an order to. Several others, though I can't disclose any names." Astrea suddenly sobered up, his smile turning into a thoughtful frown, "I understand you have questions as to why as well. Tell me, have you heard of the recent uptick in the Witch Cult's attacks?"

"Who hasn't?" I retorted back. It was impossible to miss with how nearly everyone in the markets knew someone who'd just been recently attacked by those lunatics. Hell, there was a massive riot just last week because of a food shortage since traders didn't want to come through Cultist hunting grounds.

Astrea let out a breath, "Please, don't tell anyone else this. Our strategists were mapping out the attacks when they found a rather startling conclusion; the Witch Cult is getting closer to the capital."

An icy lance shot through my heart.

"With their path, it is likely that the Mathers' domain will be attacked next, after which, the capital will be next. We are sending the orders now to prepare for that."

The pounding of my heartbeat in my ears.

"We can't mobilize the rest of the knights without tipping off the possible spies that we know of their plans. That's why you're one of the ones the Council chose; you're familiar with several knights, and are small enough that any large transaction would only be seen as you trying to expand your market."

I slammed my fist down on the counter, "Dammit Astrea! You're telling me the fucking Cult is going to attack the captial! I shouldn't be here, I should just pack up and go!" Under no circumstances did I want to encounter the Witch Cult. I'd heard of what those bastards did, and even if some of them were exaggerated, there were likely some nuggets of truth in what the people said about them.

"Yes, you should." Astrea was way too calm for this. He's talking like he's talking about the damn weather! "But it is likely that the Cult has men around the capital already. You leaving would only paint a target, being one of the few blacksmiths that well-known knights frequent."

Dammit, I knew these three bozos would be the death of me!

A beat.

"Fine. I'll take care of the damn order. Just make sure that you knights actually take these assholes down when they do come. And don't let me die, you still owe me big time for bringing this shit up, and I intend to collect."

I didn't like it, but the capital was the safest place. With the Sword Saint, any attack would likely be dead in the water. The only problem was that he couldn't be everywhere, hence, making sure the knights were equipped only improved my own chances of survival by making sure there was a warm body between me and a cultist.

What? I can be greedy for my own life, you know.

Astrea smiled once more, an aura of relief nearly palpable. "Thank you once again, Hikigaya-san. I'll-" He made a motion to turn around, when out of nowhere, right outside, we could hear shouting.

"HELP! I NEED A MAN!" Okay, no, I'm not listening to that shit. Especially when that didn't even sound like some damsel in distress. More like, a boy in some coming-out-of-the-closet moment. The Sword Saint didn't seem to think so. He marched resolutely to my door after giving me an apologetic nod. I nodded back, though I didn't need the apology.

"Oi, don't make a mess of the crates there. If they break, I'm billing you for them."

Astrea chuckled as he exited. Damn bastard, you think I won't do it? Those things were way too expensive!

A/N: If you like what I do and want to support me, check out my P-atreon at P-atreon•com(slash)Almistyor.