The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 277

Chapter 278
Your father is so… so short.
Logically, this small village that can’t house even a thousand people shouldn’t be that large.
Moreover, Haina’s house wasn’t located on the outskirts of the village, but in the most central and best-environment spot of the entire village.
As Eivass and Sherlock followed Haina, it didn’t feel like they walked very far… but when they arrived at Haina’s doorstep, they looked up and discovered the moon was already high in the night sky.
—— Without realizing it, it had already turned late at night!
Eivass and Sherlock exchanged a glance, then looked at Lily, who also wore a surprised expression. They confirmed in their hearts that the time here was disordered.
However, they could only ascertain that such disorder inevitably existed; they couldn’t pinpoint the underlying pattern. The only certainty was that Haina, as a local, perceived no abnormality, while they, outsiders, all did…
As their group approached, they could see the light emanating from the blacksmith shop in Haina’s house. It was brightly lit inside, but no conversation could be heard from the outside.
“Mom, I’m back.”
Haina directly pushed open the tightly shut blacksmith shop door. Her voice sounded somewhat weary now, lacking the excitement she had when she first returned home.
The outside was lit, but there was no one there. Only some completed weapons hung casually on the wall, while large swathes of tools like pliers, cleavers, hooks, rasps, saws, and sickle heads, along with fragments of iron from those tools, were scattered messily like harvested wheat on tables or hung on shelves.
Some of them were already stained with rust, yet they weren’t removed but placed alongside other tools.
Pieces of raw iron were piled messily in a corner of the wall, while cast iron ingots were neatly stacked in a pyramid shape on the floor in another corner.
Haina led them through the front counter, preparing to head towards the inner room.
But as soon as Sherlock stepped inside, he sensed something was wrong.
…Why is it so cold in here?
He then looked around, his eyes widening in surprise.
—— Why is your furnace placed indoors?
This made Sherlock freeze on the spot, taking a long moment to understand why.
Therefore, as they passed by the forge and the furnace, Sherlock specifically reached out to test their temperature.
Ice cold.
Not only was there completely no fuel added, but even the ashes had been meticulously cleared out—Sherlock touched it and surprisingly found no significant ash.
Sherlock raised an eyebrow, mentally taking note of this matter.
After all, there were only a few blacksmiths left to be seen on Glass Island; blast furnaces and steam hammers had replaced the work of blacksmiths. Not only was the efficiency higher, but the quality of the ironware produced was also more excellent and stable.
The blacksmiths still active now were either Extraordinary Artisans capable of forging Extraordinary Weapons, or Village Blacksmiths who crafted inexpensive farm tools for farmers.
The rarer the Profession, the more it piqued Sherlock’s interest. He had studied this area specifically.
—— A forge is one thing, but can a furnace really be extinguished?
These artisans were not blacksmiths in the traditional sense, but Extraordinary Professions from the Path of Devotion called “Blacksmiths.” They could summon Fire Sprites that accompanied them—these were Extraordinary Creatures raised by the Flame Heavenly Envoy of the Path of Devotion.
These Fire Sprites, with their childlike intelligence, could assist them in extraordinary crafting—melting materials that were difficult to melt, or incorporating Occult materials that couldn’t be infused into the core through conventional forging techniques.
Because even becoming such a “Blacksmith” wouldn’t grant them the corresponding recipes; a blacksmith without a recipe was useless.
Therefore, “Blacksmith” and its advanced Profession “Artificer” were usually passed down within a lineage—and the Artificer in Avalon who forged Elven Short Swords came from the Elves of the Church, and his disciples for several generations were all native Avalonians.
This was also one of the aids sent by the Church when Avalon was founded.
However, even if Sherlock didn’t understand blacksmithing… he understood logic.
He perceived something was wrong from a logical standpoint—
Since there was raw iron in the house, it indicated that the blacksmith here didn’t use finished cast iron bought from the city. Instead, he refined raw iron from iron ore himself, meaning the furnace wasn’t just for show but was genuinely used.
But to refine high-quality iron, a furnace required a sufficiently high temperature.
This kind of civilian furnace wasn’t a blast furnace found in factories, and these mortal blacksmiths weren’t Extraordinary beings—they couldn’t summon Fire Sprites. Therefore, to raise the furnace’s temperature to produce iron of adequate hardness, it required a long preheating time, gradually increasing the heat through accumulated thermal energy.
And this would consume a large amount of fuel—in other words, a large amount of money.
Once the furnace extinguished, relighting it to a usable temperature again would require prolonged preheating. This, in turn, would consume a significant amount of money and time.
So, the forging furnace in the blacksmith shop and the furnace outside were generally kept constantly burning. Thus, upon entering, one could immediately feel the intense heat.
It was also precisely because of this that the furnace was placed outside—because the furnace’s temperature was exceedingly high, placing it indoors would not only cause intense discomfort but also pose a fire hazard.
Seeing this scene, a thought immediately flashed through Sherlock’s mind—
Is Haina’s father… an Extraordinary?
Only an Extraordinary who could summon Fire Sprites wouldn’t need such a crude method of heating up…
But this made Sherlock puzzled.
—— If your family has a blacksmith lineage, why did you travel all the way to Avalon to study something else??
Wouldn’t your family’s Artificer recipes be more valuable to inherit?
And moreover…
Does Haina have an aptitude for the Path of Devotion? How come I didn’t notice it?
Or perhaps she isn’t her parents’ biological daughter?
Sherlock’s mind was filled with questions.
And after Haina entered the inner room, the Middle-aged Man’s gruff scolding immediately came from within: “Your mother asked you to pick up the guests, how could you be playing outside until night and still not be back! Don’t you know what lurks in the village after dark?!”
Haina pouted slightly, feeling wronged, and leaned against the wall near the door, remaining silent.
She also felt quite displeased but couldn’t refute—because, in terms of the outcome, she felt she had done something wrong. But she also found it somewhat baffling… because she truly didn’t know what she had done to cause this specific outcome.
Following closely behind Haina, Eivass also walked in.
This was Eivass’s first time meeting Haina’s parents—
But after just one glance, Eivass was immediately taken aback.
Eivass’s words stopped short: “Uncle… hello…”
…So short.
Lily was also stunned for a moment, and Sherlock couldn’t help but exclaim, “Yi!”
—— Because Haina’s father was actually a Dwarf!
He had skin like gray marble, with pure white beard and curly hair. A large nose, large ears, and a pair of small eyes. He was currently sitting on a beautiful deep red sofa, his short legs, like those of a mischievous child, swinging continuously.
…This was a perfectly standard Dwarf.
This was also Eivass’s first time seeing a Dwarf with his own eyes.
The only incongruity was that the relationship between Elves and Dwarves was notoriously hostile. Generally, Elves wouldn’t approach countries primarily led by Dwarves, and similarly, few Dwarves would be seen in countries led by Elves.
Avalon was clearly the latter—the overly solicitous Avalonians were even more extreme than the Elves themselves.
Elves merely despised and were hostile towards Dwarves, but the Avalonians went a step further—they directly expelled all Dwarves from their territory to express their friendly attitude towards the Church.
Anyway, there weren’t many Dwarves in Avalon to begin with, so making such a gesture was completely cost-free.
Currently, many Dwarves were gathered in the Everfrost Empire to the north of Avalon. And Eagle Cape Village was located in the northwestern corner of Avalon, so it was indeed possible for Dwarves to sneak in…
This also explained why Haina, despite having the “Blacksmith” inheritance, still chose the official Path of the Extraordinary.
Because the old blacksmith who could pass down this inheritance to Haina was fundamentally not a regular blacksmith from the Church, but an illicit Extraordinary—an unlicensed, and likely smuggled, individual. Not only was the inheritance illegal, but he himself was likely illegal!
—— That is, Haina’s father!
Couldn’t sleep, crawled out of bed in the middle of the night to finish a chapter, and now I’m sleepy… I’ll post it first!
I’ll write the second chapter after I wake up this afternoon.