"Grandfather, I really am the one that forged the swords," Keita said softly, not daring to meet his grandfather's gaze. Right now, he knew to act like a frightened little boy.
"Will you show grandfather how you did it?" The patriarch pressed. While he should be proud, he also did not want to attract shame. If word got out that the boy was not the forger of the swords, and the Rono clan helped steal some poor man's credit, then their prestige would be sullied.
"Of course, I have the blueprints too," Keita added. Since he had gotten this far, he might as well strive for more. He wanted to impress with not only his smithing skills, but his blueprinting skills as well.
This only served to shock those present. "Bring them to me." The grandfather said, his curiosity, and impression of the boy, growing.
He was rather impressed by the brightness in the boy's eyes, and how he fiercely fought for his credit. The old patriarch found himself hoping that the boy was telling the truth, but he had to find out.
Once the blueprints were presented before the patriarch, he called forward a wizened old man to inspect the blueprints. The man did not dare to be negligent before the patriarch, so he carefully analyzed the blueprints, from the sketches to the processes.
"Lord, I believe this is a revolutionary way of forging swords, but I cannot confirm anything without first trying. Based on the records of the blueprint, a fully forged sword should take up to five days to complete." The clan's head smith gave his conclusion.
"Find two trusted forgers, have them make swords according to the blueprint and then present them after five days. Only then can we confirm that this really was the boy's creation." The patriarch said as he dismissed everyone gathered.
The old patriarch had nine children. Only three of them were vasilis. For the most part, these three were the ones he paid the most attention to. Not that he dismissed them, but he had much to do, and he did not see the value of entertaining Normals.
Fortunately, Jata, his second born, had been one of the vasilis, and to his pleasure, Jata's son and daughter were also vasilis.
The Patriarch also loved Jata's daughter very much. It was not an exaggeration to call her the apple of his eye. However, he had never paid much attention to Jata's second son.
The boy was sickly and untalented. It was said the first son had eaten the second son's fate, the patriarch never gave that much attention.
For the first time, he began to look at Jata's second son with fresh eyes. Could the boy bring about some changes as well? However much he thought about it, his expectations of the boy remained limited.
The head smith acted very fast, such that by the following morning, two smiths had been picked out and were already doing the preliminary parts of the forging process. It would take five short days before the verdict was out.
Meanwhile, the entire capital had gotten wind of what had happened. This was further accentuated by the fact that it was the Sun scepter sect that had lost face to a ten-year-old boy.
From the taverns to dinner-table conversation, the denizens of the capital discussed the sword competition. Word had leaked that the patriarch had ordered some smiths to follow the boy's forging process, and everyone was waiting to learn the outcome.
"Ridiculous! What five days? Obviously, the Rono family are using our Sun scepter sect to promote their new swords," The austere gentleman exclaimed as he slammed his fist on the table, blowing it to smithereens. From his rage, one could tell, he did not take kindly to people mocking his beloved sect.
"What a beautiful marketing campaign, and we ended up being the joke," another exclaimed. None of them believed that this forging method that could supposedly defeat their own methods was devised by a child. He wondered why he had never thought about it.
"Beautiful? This is just cruel and insulting! Using the younger generation like this, do they have any honor?" The members gathered were expressing their rage. This was a rage felt by all sect members, even the children.
They felt as though they had become the steppingstone for the Rono family to propel the swords forward. Now, everyone in the capital was talking about them.
Clearly, none of them believed that these swords were originally created by the junior in the Rono clan. All this seemed like an elaborate marketing scheme to promote some newfound method of forging.
"Amazing, simply amazing. And we are sure the swords were made by the boy?" In a different part of the city, a dignified lord had gathered the lords and retainers to discuss the sword.
"Yes lord, this matter has been verified." The spy reporting the matter answered patiently.
"How good are the swords?" The lord asked further. He was greatly intrigued by this new even running wild in the capital.
"As far as we can tell, they should be pretty good. Despite lacking any aesthetics, the sword demonstration has shown that little power was needed to cause massive damage, exactly the kind of sword we need. We cannot know for sure until the smiths are done." The lead spy answered.
"How long do we have to wait?" The Lord inquired.
"Just two more days."
"Can we get this blueprint?" The lord asked.
"Lord, we will keep looking for openings, but for the moment, we are unable to. The actual papers are under lock and key, and everyone that approaches the forge has to be severely vetted. The Ronos know what they have, and they are keeping it protected.
We have also investigated the two smiths and found that they are children of the clan's retainers, who had almost been assimilated to the clan. Getting such people to betray the clan for their own interests is extremely difficult, but we will still try."
"Do what you must. If the sword is truly as good as they are making it sound, find a way to buy as many as possible." the man thought of what he had witnessed that day, both in Jata's son and Jata himself. If he had such swords, his regiment would be unstoppable.
Similar conversations were being held all over the city. Be it generals in the army, or merchants, or powerful families or sects seeking to boost their defenses, everyone was discussing the new sword.
They all recognized the potential of a revolutionary new sword in the market. They even started being referred to as supreme swords.
If one could get a better sword, then the previous sword would become useless. If even one's opponent could get a better sword, for what purpose would the weaker sword serve other than exposing one to vulnerabilities.
With all the attention, if the swords turned out to be as advertised, then the clan would gain a lot of renown and prestige, as well as a boost in business. If not, then they would suffer shame and loss of credibility.
With everyone waiting, the five days whisked by, and finally, the swords were produced.