CH 28.1

Chapter 28. Proposal

While the finals were going on, Primera was in the waiting room praying to God. Maybe what she was praying for was for Bash’s luck, but she had no specific wishes about what she wanted to happen, but she was just praying.

For a while, the anteroom was silent. There was no buzzing of the arena. Unknown to Primera, even the arena itself was not very noisy.

A few moments later, a hiss of cheers told her that the fight had begun. There were a few more cheers. It didn’t last long. But with each cheer, Primera’s shoulders shook.

Soon, she heard a loud cheer that shook even the waiting room. She knew immediately that the fight was over. Primera folded her hands and prayed. She still didn’t know what she was praying for.

Had her prayer been heard or not?  The door to the waiting room opened with a bang.

In the doorway stood Bash. The orc stepped into the anteroom.

“Huh…” He let out a small voice. At the same time, with a clang, his shoulder pads fell off. The fastenings had popped off. Whether it was because his greaves had broken, or perhaps because they had fallen off somewhere, one of his legs was bare. But that was not the end of it. The sword in Bash’s right hand was also broken in half and had lost its blade.

“Ah…”

Primera looked at Bash with a sense of relief, but also of apology. He had lost. Because of her inexperience as a blacksmith.

“You lost, didn’t you?”

“Yes…”

Bash nodded with a tone of disappointment that she had never seen him do. However, Primera thought this was for the best. He had no use for her due to her lack of experience. Her weapons and armor were not only far from perfect, they were toys compared to what the other fighters were wearing. There was no way she would have won. There was no way she would have received such an honor. Second place was by no means an appropriate result for Primera, but it was still better than winning. She was relieved.

“Sorry.”

“…There’s nothing to be sorry about. Donzoi’s spirit was real. If I hadn’t attacked him in earnest, my pride would have been hurt too.”

At the same time, she felt frustrated. If only she had been able to forge better equipment… If only she had been able to forge better armor, the kind that could withstand the real power of Bash… She couldn’t help but think about it. If she had been more skilled, she could have prevented Bash from having to say something like this.

“What are you going to do now?”

“Right… we’ll probably go to another town.”

As for Bash, he could continue his search for a wife in another town. This was a dwarven town, that was the truth. However, he had just wasted the biggest and surest opportunity of all: The Armament Festival. So there was no reason to stay in this city. After all, most of the people here were dwarves. Some of the women weren’t bad, but they were basically not to Bash’s liking.

“I… I see…” Primera bit her lower lip when she heard that. He couldn’t win because she wasn’t good enough. If that was the case, the promise she made before the match couldn’t be kept. Primera had mixed feelings. She felt relieved while disappointed at the same time, but she felt it would be strange for her to renege on the promise she made if he won the tournament. “Will you be leaving soon?”

“Yes, I have nothing more to do in this place.” Bash said, and turned on his heel. After this, he would probably retrieve the sword left in Primera’s house and embark on another journey.

“Hey!” Primera called to Bash behind his back. Something in her was screaming at her not to let him go so easily. So she shouted with determination. She was aware that she would skip a few steps, but she said it.

“Let me… let me be the person who fixes your equipment for the rest of my life!”

It was a proposal in the manner of the dwarves.

Make weapons for the warrior you would spend the rest of your life with. “I want you to be my life companion on the battlefield”. These were the words of the dwarves in times of war. If times of peace continued, different words would be born, but it had only been three years since the war ended. Primera knew only those.

“Until that time.”

And of course, Bash didn’t know those proposal words either. Although if there had been that pesky fairy here, she’d make a fuss and tell him “Now! It’s what you’ve been waiting for!”… Unfortunately, there was no Zell here.

“I see… you’re right… someone as good as you, I’m not…”

Primera’s shoulders slumped and she nodded weakly, making Bash feel somewhat uncomfortable. It was natural for the beautiful girl to be depressed by his defeat. What should he do, should he say something to comfort her?

“If my sword breaks, I will come to you for help.” After much deliberation, what Bash uttered were these words.

“I will! Until then, I will make sure that I can forge a sword that you will be satisfied with!” Primera looked up and nodded repeatedly. She wasn’t quite sure what Bash had said, but she believed he had shown her that there was still a chance. Then…

“Yes…”

And so, Primera watched Bash’s back. The back of a great man who put up with her selfishness, but never complained until the end, and taught her what was really important…

“Thank you… I won’t stop trying…” In the lonely waiting room, Primera renewed her determination.