kscans

Chapter 153 - A Fine Sword, It Seems ~Act One~ 3. Special Steel

Yuri's alchemy came with a (Strange) suffix, and what's more, it was still at a beginner's level. If he added silicon to all of the material, and it turned out to be unusable, it would be difficult to remove the silicon and return it to its original state. Or rather, it would be nearly impossible at Yuri's current level. Considering that, it would be wiser to refrain from making it entirely out of special steel. In that case, should he make only a part of the steel special steel and use that to forge the sword?

Here, Yuri remembered something. Weren't Japanese swords of a dual structure, with a soft core steel wrapped in hard skin steel? Following that example, he could wrap ordinary steel with special steel...

"...Yeah, that's a hassle. And besides, there's no way I have the skill to do it."

Normally, he would have given up right there, but at that moment, Yuri, for better or worse, remembered another composite steel. The metal called Damascus steel.

"I seem to have read that what's called Damascus steel today is actually an imitation made in an attempt to restore the original Damascus steel... but I'm pretty sure that was a laminated steel made by kneading together two types of metal..."

He did not know the correct recipe, but he figured that in the end, he would be relying on magic anyway, so Yuri resigned himself and kneaded together two types of carbon steel, one with silicon added and one without. Adding silicon would increase the strength, but he had a feeling it would also make it brittle. However, this world had magic. It would be dangerous to judge based on knowledge from his past life on Earth alone. He intended this to be an experiment, keeping that in mind. Normally, they would be mixed by forging, but he was relying on convenient magic for that. Though they were still basic, Yuri skillfully used both his Smithing and Magic skills to create a composite steel. It was difficult to mix them uniformly like an alloy, but Yuri had no intention of mixing them that much. He was pretty sure that a characteristic of Damascus steel was a pattern like wood grain formed by the two types of steel. In that case, he just had to stop kneading them together when that kind of pattern appeared. ...He had a feeling that this was quite different from the original method of making it, but he figured that since he was using magic anyway, it was already strange, so he resigned himself and made it with abandon.

"...Something like this, maybe? After this, I'll just punch it out from a steel plate like before..."

He struggled because of the increased hardness, but after a valiant effort, a Japanese sword-like blade was completed.

When forming the edge, he imbued it with magic power so that a hard structure like martensite would form, and he was moved when a curve was properly created due to the difference in volume change. Yuri had thought that the "curve" of a Japanese sword was formed from the beginning, but he learned that was not the case after reading the explanation from Professor Appraisal. According to it, due to the difference in thickness of the yakiba-tsuchi clay applied during quenching, a difference in hardness and volume occurs between the rapidly cooled "edge" and the slowly cooled "spine." The volume increases on the edge side where the rapidly cooled martensite structure forms, resulting in a curve. Yuri had not followed a procedure like quenching, but when he imbued the edge part with magic power to harden it, it seemed to have resulted in the same shape. It was a little shorter than a typical Japanese sword, but that was so Yuri could handle it with his physique.

...Incidentally, when I said "Japanese sword-like," I meant it literally, because the result of the Appraisal clearly stated that it was not a "Japanese sword."

«Mottled Blade Sword: A special magic iron tool created by shaping a composite steel prepared with Alchemy (Strange) and Smithing (Strange) using magic power. Because two types of special steel with different properties are mixed together, it possesses both high hardness and toughness. Since it was created entirely with magic, its affinity for magic power, especially that of its creator, is high, and its abilities are multiplied several times when magic power is passed through it. Blade length one shaku, eight sun, five bu (61cm), medium curve, slightly shallow, spine slightly thin.»

"...This is... beyond the level of just being conspicuous..."

Yuri stood there for a moment, stunned, having created something that seemed even more dangerous than that Magic Stone Tool. He wanted to live a quiet, inconspicuous life as a recluse, so why did he keep making things like this? It was definitely not his fault... it shouldn't be.

"...W-well, its performance as a weapon doesn't seem bad... and as long as no one finds out, it should be fine... probably..."

It seemed that handling it would require caution, but more than anything, its performance was the issue. Normally, he would ask a sword tester to do a test cut, but unfortunately, Yuri was the only one here. If a test cut was necessary, then Yuri would have to do it himself. For now, he attached a temporary handle with Wood Deformation and fixed it so it would not slip out when he swung it.

"...I've never done a test cut before..."

Before that, he had never even handled a real sword, even counting his thirty-seven years before reincarnation. In fact, he was not even sure if he could swing it straight.

And yet... why did he try to make a Japanese sword?

It was getting strange even to himself, so he did a few light practice swings on the spot. He had spent a long time in the hospital in his previous life, so he had not a shred of kendo knowledge. On the other hand, he did have an interest in martial arts, so he had seen books and DVDs about old-school swordsmanship. Relying only on those memories, the physical functions optimized by God upon his reincarnation, and the swordsmanship skill from Anti-Monster Tactics, he tried swinging it...

"...Somehow... it looks the part... I think?"

Tilting his head in thought alone was not getting him anywhere. Deciding that, Yuri boldly decided to attempt a test cut. He went to the shed where he had stacked lumber and took out a branch of a suitable thickness. He created two stands to rest the branch on with Earth Magic, and with a spirited shout, he swung the "katana" down at the branch he had placed across them...

"Somehow... it cut so easily..."

In Japanese sword testing terms, it might be described as "Dew on the Bamboo Grass," "A Bucket in a Well," "The Dancing Buddha," or perhaps "A Fleeting Dream." The blade passed through with such a lack of resistance that Yuri was, in fact, shocked by it.

...This is definitely something I can't let anyone find out about.

"Its sharpness... or rather, its performance as a weapon is flawless, but..."

The all-too-flawless sharpness made Yuri realize anew that he could not carelessly bring it out in public and that he needed to fashion another one out of plain steel for everyday use.