God!
"You say you are the blacksmith Muramasa?"
Hearing Shirou's words, even Dragon King Perugius couldn't help but show a surprised look on his face.
Ever since Muramasa's first forged weapon appeared, the whole world knew the name of the blacksmith Muramasa, and was amazed by Muramasa's wild and incredibly powerful weapons.
In the world's strongest country, the Asura Kingdom, being able to get a Muramasa weapon was a matter of great honor. In fact, not many nobles in the Asura Kingdom had the honor of owning a Muramasa weapon because they simply couldn't compete with even more extreme people.
So far, the buyers of the weapons that Shirou sold under the name of Muramasa were either the Second Princess of the Asura Kingdom, or the Pope of the Milis Holy Kingdom, or even the current God of Mines, the current God of Swords, the King of the Dragon Kingdom, and even Dragon King, and more extreme people...
Each of these people is a famous figure, and even Ariel, as the Second Princess of Asura, can only be considered to have bought Muramasa's weapon at a bargain when Muramasa was not yet famous.
Now Muramasa's name is known throughout the blacksmithing world. He is considered the strongest blacksmith in the world today. Even the dwarf race, which originally occupied the highest position in the blacksmithing world, mostly have to admit that Muramasa has more amazing forging skills than the current dwarf race, and can even be compared to the legendary demon blacksmith Yurian Halisko.
However, for various reasons, the true identity of the blacksmith Muramasa has never been known.
Apart from the fact that he is a human, outsiders have no idea what Muramasa looks like. They don't know his appearance or gender, and they can't even guess his age.
But because Muramasa's forging skills are so superb, most people prefer to believe that Muramasa is an old man with deep forging experience, like the sweeping monk in stories, a wise old master.
Of course, some people guess that Muramasa is young, but their guesses are mostly that Muramasa is the kind of person who practiced forging from a young age, relying on his unique talent and tireless efforts to finally achieve success.
Perhaps no one in this world would have thought that the legendary blacksmith Muramasa was just a pure newcomer who had never been exposed to forging at all before his teens, and had never even been exposed to forging skills and processes. Even his daily practice time was more for sword practice than forging practice.
Shirou himself is often surprised at why his forging skills are so superb. After thinking about it, he can only understand it as the influence of Unlimited Blade Works, so that his forging is essentially like another form of projection, and the weapons he creates start at a place that ordinary blacksmiths cannot reach.
So far, the only time Shirou has exceeded the level of projection in forging was when he created Forever Faraway Golden Sword in the Milis Holy Kingdom.
That experience gave Shirou a lot of experience and improvement, which was also the key for him to project Excalibur in the battle with the Third North God.
In short, now that things have come to this, Shirou no longer needs to hide his identity as the blacksmith Muramasa.
As one of the Seven Great Powers, even if he directly admits his identity now, there are very few people in this world who have the ability to target him, so there is no need to worry too much.
It's just that Shirou is used to hiding Muramasa's identity, so if it's not a special situation, he still doesn't want to reveal his identity.
This time, because he needed to ask Dragon King to come out of retirement, he had to directly admit that he was Muramasa, trying to get Dragon King to support Ariel.
It can be said that Shirou's move was very effective.
Not only Dragon King and his twelve familiars, but even Rudeus, who came along, was slightly surprised. He didn't expect that Shirou was actually the blacksmith Muramasa.
Of course, because Rudeus is a magician after all, he knows very little about forging, just like Principal Jinas back then, so even if he knew this news, he wasn't too surprised.
But Dragon King Perugius is different. He has been very interested in Muramasa for a long time, and even bought Muramasa's Jewel Sword Zelretch with his own hands, which is enough to prove how much he cares about the blacksmith Muramasa.
Now that he heard Shirou claiming to be the blacksmith Muramasa, Perugius's expression immediately became serious, and even exuded a never-before-seen aura of power.
"You say you are the blacksmith Muramasa, the one who forged weapons that are famous all over the world, even surpassing the dwarf race, and making all blacksmiths pale in comparison. Do you have any evidence to prove this?"
Perugius asked Shirou with a scrutinizing, even questioning tone.
The familiars, like Sylvaril, also doubted Shirou's wild words, finding it hard to imagine that Shirou, such a young human, was the legendary blacksmith.
The main thing is that Shirou doesn't look like a blacksmith at all. Although he already has the name of one of the Seven Great Powers, the distance between swordsmanship and forging is not very far, but at least it's a great difference. No matter how good someone is at swordsmanship, if they go to forging, it's hard to say what kind of achievements they will achieve.
Shirou had already prepared himself for this kind of questioning. He said calmly, "There are countless ways to prove it. Since I dare to say such a thing, I naturally have as much evidence as I need."
Saying that, Shirou directly took out the Noble Phantasm, Avalon.
The golden scabbard itself exuded amazing pressure, and the holiness unique to Holy Sword contained within it was even harder to ignore.
It can be said that the moment the scabbard was shown, Perugius and many of the familiars' gazes became more serious than ever before.
"This is a scabbard that I forged at the Magic University. Although I borrowed the power of Nanahoshi and many magicians, it is also the highest achievement I have completed so far. I believe Dragon King can understand the value of this scabbard."
Shirou said silently, "In addition, I can also explain to you the problems with the Jewel Sword that you bought back then. That sword is essentially just an experimental product that I forged casually back then. Due to a lack of understanding of magic, I only roughly forged the model back then, but failed to give it the effect of real existence. Now that I have accumulated deeper forging skills, I have understood the flaws that existed in that sword back then."
"You say you can create a perfect Jewel Sword now?"
Perugius asked instinctively. His words already showed that he believed that Shirou was the blacksmith Muramasa himself.
After all, no words are as convincing as the facts themselves.
The moment Avalon appeared, Dragon King had little doubt in his heart, and his gaze towards Shirou even became extremely fiery.
"I guess you could say that."
Shirou nodded silently to Perugius's words, "Back then, I only focused on the shape of the weapon, but ignored the more important essence, which is that the birth of a weapon needs to be injected with a soul. In the process of forging this scabbard, I have understood the more essential concept of forging. If Dragon King is willing to assist me, I would be very willing to complete the real Jewel Sword for you."
"..."
Hearing Shirou's words, Dragon King fell into silence.
Shirou could feel that he was thinking, so he waited patiently.
Dragon King didn't think for too long. He said silently, "When I saw the weapon you forged for the first time, I realized that your forging was extraordinary. At least in the time that I have lived, I have never seen a forging that has more soul than your weapons. Even Yurian Halisko, who forged the Dragon King Sword, can't do it. I once made a judgment that the blacksmith Muramasa will become the top blacksmith of this era, creating the upper limit of human forging history."
"Dragon King, you are exaggerating too much. As the blacksmith Muramasa, I don't think my achievements are that great yet. There is still a lot of distance between me and the demon blacksmith Yurian Halisko who forged the Dragon King Sword."
"Hehe, modesty is a virtue, but I don't like it."
Dragon King said silently, denying Shirou's words, "However, even I never thought that you, Shirou, would actually be the blacksmith Muramasa."
"For some reasons, I can't reveal my identity."
"I understand your thoughts. The world and interests always affect true art. Forging, which is inherently strongly related to interests, is even more difficult to escape the gravity of reality."
After Dragon King silently made an evaluation, he looked at Shirou with extremely admiring eyes, but suddenly shook his head, "But it's a pity, although I do agree with your forging and hope that you can show me the true form of the Jewel Sword, I will not intervene in the Asura Kingdom's civil war because of you."
"Why?"
Dragon King's response disappointed Shirou. He was very confident in his actions this time, and thought that it shouldn't be a problem to ask Dragon King to come out of retirement in the name of Muramasa, but he didn't expect that he would still refuse.
"Because my thoughts will never be changed by external things. I still don't recognize Ariel Anemoi Asura. That Second Princess rashly returned to the Asura Kingdom without any chance of winning, which is even more disappointing to me. The most important thing is that there is that person interfering in this matter..."
"That person?"
The key point in Dragon King's words was noticed by Shirou.
But Dragon King obviously didn't intend to explain. He said silently, "So give up, Shirou. Even if you use Muramasa's forging to lure me, I won't fall for your trick."
"..."
Dragon King's words made Shirou show a helpless expression.
If Dragon King can't give him assistance, he really doesn't know how to prove to Paul and the others that he can come back alive from the Asura civil war.
Next, he will only have two choices, either give up on Ariel and no longer care about the internal strife of the Asura Kingdom, or forcibly sever ties with Paul and the others and participate in the war regardless, abandoning his responsibility to protect his family.
Neither of these choices is good for him. It's an extremely difficult choice to make.
While Shirou was troubled, Perugius suddenly said, "Shirou, I know what you're worried about, but to be honest, to make your family believe that you can come back alive from the Asura civil war, it shouldn't be a difficult thing, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"The biggest enemy you will face in Asura is undoubtedly the current Water God of the Water God Style. She is indeed a powerful person. If I didn't have the Aerial Fortress, it would be difficult for me to say that I could be her opponent, but for you, who is now one of the Seven Great Powers, it's not like there's no chance to defeat her."
"You mean..."
"Didn't I say before that I would help you complete that special barrier magic? During your time in Begaritt Continent, I have completed all the preparations and will do my best to help you develop that magic completely."
Dragon King said with a confident and majestic attitude, "As long as you can complete that magic, I can guarantee in the name of Dragon King that you will definitely be able to win against the Water God Reida. In that case, your family will not have any objections, right?"
"..."
Shirou was stunned for a moment when he didn't expect Perugius to say such a thing. Then he suddenly felt that it made sense.
So he looked at Rudeus and Paul beside him.
Needless to say for Rudeus, he had already witnessed how amazing Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works was, and believed that if he had that kind of power, Shirou would definitely be able to come back alive.
Although Paul didn't know what Shirou's barrier magic was referring to, since Dragon King had made such a guarantee in person, he naturally had no objections.
Therefore, everything began to develop naturally. Shirou's request changed from persuading Dragon King to assist Ariel to him mastering the power of Unlimited Blade Works.
This was undoubtedly a good development for Shirou. Although mastering Unlimited Blade Works was destined to be not easy, it was something he had to accomplish anyway.
Before going with Dragon King to study Unlimited Blade Works, Shirou also asked Perugius about Zenith on behalf of Paul.
But Dragon King didn't have any good opinions on this either. He just raised a similar point of view to the magician who studied curses before, believing that Zenith's condition was more like a curse, and ordinary treatment would not have any effective effect.
Shirou and the others could only helplessly accept this reality, and prepared themselves mentally to spend a long time, or even possibly not being able to cure Zenith.
Of course, Dragon King's words still made Shirou more certain that Zenith's condition might be a curse.
If he used the power of the Talisman's Absolute Obedience to break the rules, he might be able to cure her.
While making this judgment, Shirou followed Dragon King to the room that he had specially prepared, a huge and spacious area located at the bottom of the Aerial Fortress.
Around the area, countless magic circles with unclear details were being engraved one by one.
In the middle of all the magic circles, there was a special doll connected, and the image of the doll was not clear, like a human model that was still under construction.
After Dragon King arrived at the scene with Shirou, he said directly, "Inject your magic power into that doll. In that case, the other half of your soul will be directly projected out, allowing it to meet you in reality. And as long as you can defeat the other you in a one-on-one battle, you may be able to fully master that power."
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