Read advance chapters for both of my work, exclusively on Patreon at - www.patreon.com/Sniperwoof
-----------------
Triple Village.
One of the few remaining artisan villages preserved into the modern era.
Built nestled against mountains and beside water, yet not isolated from the world.
On the contrary, its outer and middle sections were tourist attractions.
It was less than an hour's drive from the city center.
"In its earliest days, Triple Village was connected to the County, but as it developed into an industrial hub, the Association separated it to protect the artisans," Yan Hu explained to the group. "Triple Village has the most swordsmiths, but they're also highly skilled at crafting other weapons."
With technology advancing to its current state, the number of people making weapons had drastically decreased. Times had changed; no one played by the old rules of close-quarters combat with Pokémon watching from the sidelines anymore.
The law didn't allow it either.
Cold weapons were either for collection or private practice. Especially handcrafted cold weapons.
Most modern swordsmiths treated them like works of art.
Merchants would hype them up, slap on a famous name, and with the backing of a renowned background, sell them for astronomical prices.
They circulated within small circles, hovering in a state between life and death.
After all, modern steel, metallurgy techniques, processing technology, and heat treatment were far superior to ancient methods in terms of strength.
Those once-premium blades were terrifyingly fragile compared to modern steel, and modern steel had the advantage of mass production.
Of course, this didn't account for legendary swords made from special materials or ultra-ancient relics.
Just like the ancient civilizations in the animated world that were lost or unrecorded, full of 'black' technology, Li Xiang's world also had such things.
But those were exceptional cases, generally not within the scope of consideration.
Driving into Triple Village, they found that tourists were everywhere, buying various handmade products from low-rise shops and stores.
Food, toys—everything one could want.
As a famous tourist city, even at the wrong time, Nai City was never short of tourists.
What caught Li Xiang's attention was the vast stretch of jungle near Triple Village.
"That's the Nature Reserve Park, also the largest park in Sakura Island. It borders the sea and connects three small islands. We can visit later," Yan Hu said, noticing his gaze. "I remember there are many species of Pokémon there, including rare varieties rarely seen elsewhere. Quite interesting."
Nature reserve parks, naturally, weren't for protecting humans but were established by the Ranger Union to protect various Pokémon.
You could go in and interact closely with them, but taking out a PokéBall to capture them was illegal, even if you were capturing a Caterpie inside.
As long as it was a Pokémon from the nature park, it was like wearing a "get-out-of-jail-free card."
They could do whatever they wanted inside.
The car moved forward.
Passing through the open sections of Triple Village and arriving at a massive fortress on the mountainside, the first thing that caught the eye was the rugged sloped wall, built from stones of varying sizes.
Above it was a white encircling wall that enveloped the entire fortress.
Through the car window, he looked up at the gray rock-colored hip-and-gable roofs inside the fortress and the faintly visible wooden structures.
Li Xiang suddenly felt like he was surveying a game scene in person.
Especially when he saw two young men in ancient samurai attire, swords at their waists, standing by the fortress gate, along with the Scyther beside them and the bonfire used for lighting.
A strong sense of déjà vu washed over him.
Everyone got out of the car.
Duan Tianxing wasn't with them. Even on a trip, the old master showed his otaku talent, staying guard before Yan Tianyin's memorial tablet.
Speaking of which, he hadn't seen Yan Tianyin's wife these past two days...
He heard she had moved in with her son.
Yan Hu stepped forward. The guards didn't shout cheesy lines like "Who goes there?"
Instead, they greeted Yan Hu with smiles.
The group entered the interior.
"Inside the fortress is the core area of Triple Village that isn't open to the public—the inner section. Please don't wander around or take photos. If you get lost, don't roam around; call me. If you meet someone, give them my card," Yan Hu said, turning around and handing everyone one of her business cards, just in case.
''Why does it feel like a military restricted zone?'
Li Xiang took the card, grumbling internally.
However, this situation was actually quite common in Zhu Xia. Places like the Ho-Oh Temple and the Dragon Shrine had areas closed to the public.
Inside the fortress…
The scenery wasn't much different from the outer sections, but there were noticeably more locals wearing strange attire, along with various Pokémon.
It was like being transported to ancient times in an instant.
Well... the satellite dishes on the roofs, the dense power lines, and the large speakers placed by the doors were a bit jarring.
"Junior Brother, do you think those clothes look nice? Should your senior sister wear them for you?" Qi Sunsun came to Li Xiang's side, looking at a woman in furisode, whispering.
"I wouldn't mind, but whether this 'senior sister' refers to the other two or you specifically—I think that needs clarification," Li Xiang rolled his eyes. Only a fool would fall for such an obvious verbal trap.
Qi Sunsun blinked innocently. "Isn't it all the same?"
"Can't be bothered with you."
Li Xiang waved her off.
Outsiders seemed relatively rare in the inner fortress, drawing quite a bit of attention, but upon seeing Yan Hu, people turned their heads away.
Clearly, Yan Hu was deeply trusted among them.
The group headed toward their destination, the village chief's house.. Which was also the household with the best craftsmanship in Triple Village.
Before they even got close, the sound of ding-ding-dang-dang reached their ears.
Li Xiang couldn't help but feel excited. After all, he was about to customize his first weapon.
However, he had thought private sword forging would be very primitive, like in animations and comics where even high-tech products like PokéBalls were made with clay furnaces and fire tongs.
Unexpectedly, modern tools like lathes and smelting furnaces were everywhere.
It felt more like a modern metallurgy workshop.
Inside the workshop..
Many burly men, shirtless, were either hammering away at iron ingots with clanging sounds or forging under air hammers. By the furnaces were Fire-type Pokémon like Torkoal, Heatmor, and Magcargo.
The blacksmiths would occasionally place the iron ingots in their hands before these Pokémon to let them heat them up.
It looked somewhat peculiar.
Some were even sprinkling "salt" on the iron, a white, powdery substance.
"Why are they putting salt on the iron?" Wang Dong looked puzzled.
"What salt? That's borax! It's used to remove impurities!" Lu Chengfeng glared at Wang Dong.
Li Xiang focused on the air hammer.
In the past, the most labor-intensive part of a blacksmith's work was the hammering process.
Since the invention of the air hammer, blacksmiths had saved a lot of effort.
"Uncle Jin! I brought them!"
Yan Hu shouted, "Where are you?"
"Stop shouting! I'm here!"
From inside the workshop, a short but muscular old man with a white beard and thick gloves emerged, his eyes wide like a bull's.
Yan Hu turned to introduce him. "This is Uncle Jin, the village chief's father and one of Sakura Island's top master craftsmen!"
"Hey! What master craftsman! I'm just an old man who hits iron!" Uncle Jin waved his hand, glanced at Li Xiang and the others, and suddenly shouted, "Taro! Get out here and greet the guests!"
"Coming!"
From deep within the workshop, a relatively cleanly dressed young man emerged. His eyes lit up when he saw Yan Hu. "Sister Yan Hu! You're here!"
"Long time no see, Taro. Did hosting duties shift from your brother to you?" Yan Hu asked.
"My brother went to school," Taro replied, then smiled at the group. "You've all come a long way. Thank you for your hard work. Please follow me."
He led everyone to a courtyard.
After brief self-introductions, Li Xiang learned that the old man from earlier was named Nagayama Jin, inheriting the blacksmith shop known as the Nagayama Workshop.
Strictly speaking, it had a history of four to five hundred years.
It was quite famous in the cold weapons circle.
Outsiders called him Master Nagayama. At its most exaggerated, a single weapon could sell for several hundred thousand.
Clearly, they were selling the Nagayama brand.
However, three years ago, Nagayama Jin had sealed his furnace, no longer personally forging any weapons.
According to him, he was too old. Even with modern industrial assistance, his physical strength couldn't keep up.
Those in the workshop were his apprentices, learning his craft.
Nagayama Jin very much wanted to pass down the Nagayama Workshop plaque. Unfortunately, his son was intent on developing Triple Village into a tourist village, and his eldest grandson preferred studying.
Only this youngest grandson, Nagayama Taro, aged eighteen, had a slight interest in blacksmithing.
"Please."
Taro's mother served tea.
"Thank you."
Li Xiang thanked her softly, taking a small sip. The bitter tea had a metallic taste.
Getting down to business.
Although Nagayama Jin claimed to lack physical strength, his actual condition was clear from earlier. Yan Hu intended for him to personally forge seven custom weapons for the group.
"Since Sister Yan Hu brought you, Grandpa is definitely willing to make them. The issue is the tight schedule. If we have to forge all the blades from scratch..." Nagayama Taro hesitated.
A good weapon couldn't be finished without half a month of fine grinding. Some good swords even required months of accumulation.
Bai Zhi said, "No, no, we don't all want swords."
They each explained their requests.
"That makes it easier."
Nagayama Taro looked relieved upon hearing not everyone wanted swords. He added, "Actually, our family has an armory with many weapons forged in the past..."
He implied they could go there to take a look. If they found something that felt right or they liked, they could just take it.
Yan Hu was slightly surprised. "Huh? Enter the armory? Weren't you not allowed before?"
"That was then." Nagayama Taro stood up. "Everyone, please follow me. To be honest, the stock in the armory is much better than what Grandpa makes now..."
From his words, it seemed that after Nagayama Jin grew old, he had fallen into some sort of bottleneck. The weapons he made became worse and worse, far inferior to before.
The storyline felt somewhat familiar.