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Two children, (Y/N) and Mizu, watch in awe as a man swings his sword around, The swordmakers hand on his back. "Show me everything. To make the right sword, I must know what a samurai will do with it. All his techniques." The swordmaker said as he took his hand off the man's back.
"But my Shindo-Ryu is secret." the man with the sword says as he stands tall. "Every secret is revealed here." The swordmaker says. The man looks down at his sword for a moment before starting to swing his sword once more, the blacksmiths hand on his back again.
The man swings his sword, cutting a drop of rain in half. Mizu leans closer to the fence to see more whilst (Y/N) taps Mizu's back in rhythm of the man's movements.
The fire crackles as Mizu uses a bellow to keep the fire at steady. "The sword is the soul of a samurai." The swordmaker says as he places metals in a mold. "And so it must match the man." He says as he places a talisman on metals to keep them together.
"His blade should be rigid and thin." He continues, sprinkling ashes from the fire onto the talisman. "And gaudy." He finishes as he places the metals in the fire.
"We fold the steel to blend it." The swordmaker says, hammering the side of the hot metal to shape it. "We beat the blend to remove impurities." He says as he turns it so it's flat then continues hammering it.
"The more pure the steel..." The swordmaker says, Mizu and (Y/N) sweeping the floors. Mizu sets down his broom after barely cleaned anything up and gets tapped atop the head with the blacksmith's tongs. ".. the harder it is." The swordmaker said after he bonked Mizu, making (Y/N) snicker quietly as she continued sweeping.
"But too pure, and it becomes brittle." The swordmaker says. (Y/N) carves small daggers out of wood she had found as Mizu helps The swordmaker hammer the metal and form it into a sword.
Mizu puts away a hammer, leaving it slanted and earning another hit on the head with the tongs. "We must leave something of how god made it." The swordmaker says, making Mizu readjust the hammer so it's properly on the wall.
"But I thought we must beat our impurity.." Mizu says, confused as to why The swordmaker is saying that the metals mustn't be completely pure. "Yes, yet an impurity in the right place is a quality." The swordmaker replies.
"Soft steel in the center. Hard steel for the edge." The swordmaker says. Mizu continues hammering the metal, sparks flying with every hit. After a few more hits Mizu misses but before the swordmaker can bonk him on the head again he continues hammering. "Knees together." The swordmaker advises before continuing his lesson. "...and there can be greatness."
The swordmaker hands a customer his newly forged sword, Mizu and (Y/N) sitting quietly behind him.
Later that night Mizu and (Y/N) attempt to forge their own blade, a good sized knife. "One two." (Y/N) says, keeping Mizu's hammering on a Rhythm. "Hmm.." The swordmaker hums as he extends his hand expectantly, wanting to feel the children's handiwork.
