The katana still gleamed, as if imbued with a mysterious power. Duncan slowly placed it on the anvil, and the man beside him—the local blacksmith—couldn't stop staring at it.
"Who are you?" he asked in a hoarse voice, somewhere between astonishment and fear.
Duncan hesitated. He couldn't possibly be telling the truth: that he had died in his world and awakened in a foreign body. So he simply replied:
"A blacksmith. Nothing else."
The man looked him over for a long moment, then shook his head. "Nothing else, huh? I've never seen a blade like that in my entire life. Not here, not in this city."
"What city is this?" Duncan asked, seemingly nonchalantly.
The other man raised an eyebrow. "How can you not know? We're in Grenswick, the largest port city in the kingdom of Althar. Although… great is no longer the right word. Since the war began, everything is falling apart."
Duncan bit the inside of his cheek. A war, then.
"And the king? Who rules here?"
"King Eldric IV, although his power is no longer as strong as it once was. Taxes have increased, villages are in ruins, and the nobles care more about their lands than the kingdom. But the enemies do not wait: to the north the barbarian clans, to the east the rival empire of Kaarl. Without weapons, Althar will fall."
The blacksmith paused, looking at the katana again. "And that's why a man like you… could change everything."
Duncan remained silent, but inside himself the questions multiplied. A kingdom at war. A ruler in difficulty. A city at the end of its tether.
And he, a blacksmith from beyond that world... but with skills that seemed impossible here.
He didn't have time to think further: the door to the shop swung open.
An armored man, with the golden lion emblem sewn onto his cloak, entered with a determined stride.
His eyes immediately fell on the blade.
"Who forged this weapon?" he asked, his voice firm.
Duncan looked up.
"I did."
The knight studied him for a moment, then nodded. "Then you will come with me. The king seeks a blacksmith... and I believe you are exactly what we need."
---
👉 Here Duncan begins to gather basic information about the world:
Name of the city (Grenswick).
Name of the kingdom (Althar) and of the king (Eldric IV).
The war on multiple fronts.
The internal decline and the importance of weapons.