The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 22 (Patreon)

Chapter 22 – Forging a Blade

Now, if someone was going to go with a traditional forging process for a katana, using all the old ways, the time to complete a blade could be a whole year, from the time you start making the tatara to when you finish polishing the blade. And that was with a team of thirty craftsmen all working together! Naturally, I did not have that kind of time or staff.

Fortunately, I didn’t need to do all that. Magic and modern technology could substitute for several parts of the process. For instance, I didn’t need to make a tatara, when I had a modern crucible that I could use to smelt the tamahagane. Even better, the steel would be more uniform in quality, unlike the traditional style where the steel around the edges was better quality than the steel towards the center.

Using modern steel and a modern furnace allowed me to cut a bunch of time off the process. I wasn’t going to use a power hammer, because I wouldn’t be able to infuse mana into the steel while I worked it like that. And infusing mana was important if I was going to make this sword a thing of legends.

Using magic to watch over the crucible, I spent thirty-six hours refining the steel, allowing the carbon to infuse itself throughout the mixture, getting a uniform steel. At this point, I poured the steel and drew it out into a sunobe. So far, so good.

Once I had the sunobe, it was time for the arduous task of folding the blade. Now, this went faster for me than it would for a feudal era blacksmith, since my undead form was stronger than a normal human, and I did not tire from the work. This meant that I could continue hammering the steel faster, and for far longer than any master blacksmith could have hoped to do as a mortal man.

However, there was a limit to how much faster I could go. I needed to keep at a consistent speed, as I literally hammered mana into the blade with every stroke, infusing it. If I tried to go too fast, I risked an uneven distribution of mana, which could ruin the piece. So, the process was only slightly faster than normal.

What would have taken weeks of eight-hour days was completed in a single week of constant hammering, folding the blade twenty times. It was possible to fold the blade more than that, of course, but the benefits trailed off rapidly, especially compared to the work required. No, twenty folds was just fine, especially since each layer had mana hammered into it. I wasn’t even finished, and already I could tell that, when I was done, this blade would become a legend overnight.

With the folding done, I moved to the next step, carefully applying the clay to the back side of the blade, so that, when I heated and quenched the blade, one side would cool differently than the rest. This helped the blade hold its edge, while still being ‘springy’ enough to hold up to the stresses of combat. And I had no doubt that this sword, no matter how beautiful I made it, would see combat.

Back and forth I moved from the forge to the basin. Normally, one would use water to quench the blade, but I already knew what kind of enchantment I wanted to use on this sword, so I decided to use another liquid. Blood.

Getting enough blood to fill the basin was easy enough. After all, it only took draining about five hundred thousand people dry to get that much blood. To say that I had killed a lot of people in the other world would be an understatement. I had killed entire countries worth of people, collecting their bodies and draining them of blood before I caused them to rise up and join my army as skeletons and zombies.

All that blood I kept safe, in sealed jars kept in my inventory to preserve its quality. Blood was used in so many enchantments, especially those revolving around life and death, or those made for war. Unfortunately, being undead meant that neither I, nor my army, had the necessary blood to contribute to those kinds of enchantments, and it wasn’t always possible to get prisoners to volunteer. So, not wasting the blood was essential.

Actually, that was one of the lessons that my crown-appointed teacher made sure to teach me. Saving bodies, and preserving their fluids, was the first role of a necromancer in old Athelia. Raising the undead was forbidden without supervision, but even a righteous kingdom acknowledged the usefulness of keeping bodies intact, and so anyone with necromantic aptitude was taught the spells for preserving bodies and their potency.

Each time I quenched the blade in blood, I made sure to draw mana through the blade. That sounded counterintuitive, considering that I had spent so much time hammering mana into the blade, but I wasn’t actually drawing the mana out of the blade. Rather, I was using the blade like a siphon, causing it to soak up the mana in the blood, infusing the sword with the essence of blood.

The essence of blood was important, especially for a weapon that would be hunting humans, because a weapon infused with it would, even without enchantment, take of the blood it tasted in order to repair itself of any damage that did not outright destroy it. The blade I made would stand up to normal abuse, of course, but there were always forces that could harm a blade, or dull its edge. With this, any chip, any crack, even at the microscopic level, would heal itself as the blade drew in blood essence from its victims. As an added bonus, no blood would stain the sword or its fittings, even if it killed a thousand men.

The body of the sword forged, I began sharpening the blade, making sure that it was razor sharp. Sharper than that, even. Magic made it so that I could sharpen it down, sharp as it was physically possible for steel to get.

That done, I set the blade aside. Now, I had to choose the blade’s fittings. Most of the parts were simple to make, though I ensured they were done with quality material. The tsuba took a bit more time, as shaped into the shape of a cherry blossom surrounded by a ring in which I etched a dedication.

愛する祖父からの忠実な孫娘のために

‘For a loyal granddaughter, from a loving grandfather.’ Simple, perhaps, but it was part of the oyabun’s request, so I made sure that each line was completed precisely. This was, after all, a gift for the oyabun’s granddaughter. It wouldn’t do to make a mistake.

The tsuba I painted white, with pink along the edges, making it look like a true Sakura flower. The ring I left black, with gold highlighting the engraved message, making it pop just enough to be seen, without being ostentatious and garish. Then, I used magic to set the paint, so that it would not chip or fade from any impact that did not damage the tsuba itself.

With the tsuba done, I turned to work on the hilt. The materials, obviously, were high quality and traditionally sourced. I imbued them with mana as I worked them, making them fit as though they were grown out of the tang itself. I kept the wrapping simple, a cherry-blossom pink upon white.

The aesthetic I wanted to go with for this sword was beauty that belied the danger. Sakuras would be the theme of the blade’s look, but the blade itself would be far from a simple flower. It was fitting, as I was inspired by the woman the blade was destined for. I’d seen pictures of her, and she was beautiful. If she were dressed in a kimono, one would never suspect that she was one of the most feared enforcers in Tokyo.

With that done, the time came to fit the saya. I made it from wood, in the traditional style. Like the tsuba, I painted it white, with a cherry blossom motif running along its length. And, as with the tsuba, I ensured that the paint would not chip or fade.

The next step was to engrave my maker’s mark upon the blade, just above the handguard. The crest of Risen Athelia would grace this blade, to let all know that it was the Lich Queen’s work. Above my mark, I then engraved the sword’s name along the blade: 血を飲むさくら. Chionomu Sakura, the Blood-Drinking Sakura, deserved no less.

Finally, there was only one step remaining, before I began enchanting the blade, and the saya. Before I could do that work, the sword needed to be polished. It wouldn’t do to have any of my enchanting work wiped away by the polishing stones, after all.

Polishing the sword, properly polishing it, so that the blade gleamed and was ready for my enchantments, was hard work. Traditionally, it would take weeks to polish a new blade, perhaps more time than it took to actually forge it into shape! But a good polish could make even an inferior blade look like a work of art, and a bad polish could ruin even the best of blades, and not just aesthetically! The traditional ways were slower than just using a power tool, but the results spoke for themselves. Even so, it took me another week of work, literally working around the clock, with seven grades of stone, to properly polish the blade, I knew it was worth the time to do this right.

Eventually, the crafting of the blade was finished. I held it in my hand, and then swung it a couple of times. I was no expert swordsman, of course. I was a necromancer, after all. But it served any craftsman well to know at least the basics of what their weapons were used for, or they could miss things that would be obvious to any practitioner.

I knew enough to know what to look for when holding the blade. Balance, edge alignment, the pattern on the blade, ensuring the blade was straight, all of that mattered. And so, when I held the sword in my hand, I checked it over. I could tell that the balance was perfect. In one hand or two, the blade felt like an extension of the arm, almost weightless, despite its 1.2 kilograms of mass, and the blade was straight and true, with the wave pattern just as it should be. A flawless blade.

I paused. I would have taken a breath, if I needed to do something so mortal. Looking at my phone, I saw that it was almost midnight. It had now been almost a month since I took the commission, and just over three weeks since I’d begun the crafting process. I hadn’t left the shop in that time, since I did not need to eat, drink, or sleep. I could afford to take a bit of a break, and relax.

Walking out into the office, I checked through my business messages first. Thankfully, between Hideo and Hisa, the things I actually needed to take care of were relatively minor. Just a few things, like approving the next month’s budget, and signing off on a couple projects to partner with Phantomline on. None of it time-critical. They would have come to me if that was the case.

Checking my personal messages, I saw a message from Holly, with a compiled list of the different outfits wanting me to go on their shows, or do public appearances, for one reason or another. Most of them were junk, but a few were worth looking at. A guest lecturer spot at her niece’s university on the nature of magic. A keynote speaker and judge position at the National Magic Competition, too. That one actually came with a separate request for a magic exhibition as part of the ceremonies. I sent acceptances to all of those.

I was just about to go back to work when I felt a tickle at the edge of my wards. Someone was coming to visit, it seemed, and we were well past closing. Perhaps I should see if they were lost?