Hebans Royal City's commercial street primarily deals in various ironware and minerals. For the Lobre Saint Kingdom, local mineral resources are insufficient to support the kingdom's military reserves.
Fortunately, due to developed sea transport, iron ore is continuously purchased from other countries.
Perhaps because it's dominated by the forging and smelting industry, the average temperature of this street is one or two degrees higher than other commercial streets.
And our Henry Vestafr is precisely the son of Carpon Vestafr, who lives on this street.
Carpon is the most professional blacksmith on this street; even compared to the Dark Dwarves of Abelian Hills, the demi-humans specialized in blacksmithing, Carpon doesn't believe he would lose in pure skill.
It's just that he doesn't possess magical talent, so true divine weapons, those powerful enchanted armaments, cannot be forged by him, a professional blacksmith, which is his life's greatest regret.
In his youth, Carpon was also a member of the Holy Knight Order, although his limited talent was entirely focused on blacksmithing, so he wasn't outstanding among the Holy Knights.
As he grew older, and with the family business needing an heir, he has since retired from the Holy Knight Order to focus on inheriting his father's blacksmith shop.
"Little Henry, can you help your dear father pull the bellows?"
Carpon wielded his bronzed, muscular arms, striking the glowing red iron on the anvil with hammer after hammer.
"Okay, Father."
Young Henry raised his not-so-thick arms and strenuously pulled the bellows, making the fire in the furnace burn hotter.
Six-year-old Henry is the third child in the family; he has two older sisters who are currently studying at the temple.
Next year, Henry himself can also go to the temple to acquire some knowledge, but he feels no enthusiasm for it.
For him, listening to the priests in the temple recount the scriptures of the Four Great Gods is an extremely torturous experience.
When he was only four, he used his extraordinary arm strength to make his three-year-older sister cry.
Although he was later disciplined by his father with a spanking, his father, worried about whether his son had any abnormalities, still took little Henry to the temple to consult the resident priest at the time.
After an examination by the priest, little Henry was confirmed to be a holder of innate special abilities, specifically a simple enhancement of his arm strength, not a particularly outstanding ability.
However, this is a special ability that only appears in one out of two hundred people, and little Henry considers himself that one-two hundredth genius.
Because of little Henry's special ability, the whole family celebrated heartily at the time.
Carpon was also very pleased that his child's future prospects should be better than his own, so he took Henry by his side very early to teach him blacksmithing techniques.
"Henry, Henry, we've come to play with you!"
Two childish voices rang out; they were children about Henry's age, and their fathers were sailors who occasionally brought back strange and wonderful things from the sea.
Honestly, Henry didn't want to bother with these two childish brats, Matthew and Fritz.
He never found playing those demi-human and Holy Knight role-playing games enjoyable; how could such things compare to the wonderful art of blacksmithing?
For young Henry, watching the sparks fly from the furnace was more interesting than playing games with the two of them.
"Little Henry, don't let your friends' kindness go to waste, you know.
When your father was your age, no friends ever called him out to play."
Carpon, focused on swinging his hammer, easily saw through his son's thoughts and skillfully applied his parenting wisdom: children are most susceptible to flattery.
However, it was true that Carpon had no friends calling him out to play when he was Henry's age, because he had long since devoted his attention to his wife, and they had since had two daughters and one son, with a harmonious and happy family.
Feeling that he was finally better than his father in some aspects, Henry didn't think much and left with Matthew and the others.
"Henry, did you know? Fritz has a Slime; it's round and really fun!"
Matthew said enviously; at their age, raising a small creature themselves was a very fulfilling accomplishment.
"Hmm, its name is Fatty; Slime is the species name."
Fritz, a head taller than Matthew, explained.
"I found Fatty in the sewer; he's super tough.
Other Slimes die after two hits, but Fatty took two hits from me and didn't die, so I brought him home."
Fritz proudly recounted his adventure in the sewer, as if it were an incredible feat.
"But didn't the Holy Knight Order say there were suspected demi-human activities in the sewers?"
Henry asked, puzzled.
In his mind, his father, who had been both a Holy Knight and a blacksmith, was very impressive, so the Holy Knights were also impressive, and the Holy Knights couldn't be wrong.
"Oh, Henry, really, how could demi-humans get into Hebans?
And the Holy Knight Order also said not to eat things from the trash can, so how could anyone eat things from the trash can?"
Matthew really wanted to raise his own Slime like Fritz; he had called the strongest Henry for this purpose today.
Otherwise, everyone else would be discussing their Slimes, and only Henry not having one would be very awkward.
"Alright then."
Henry could only reluctantly agree in the end.
They each picked a wooden stick from a tree; to find an excellent Slime, one must have their own wooden stick.
They found a less crowded section of the sewer; adults wouldn't allow children to go into the sewers on their own, so they had to find a less populated street to open a manhole cover and climb down.
"Remember, we can only move in places with light; don't go too far."
Cautious Henry instructed his friends; he always believed the Holy Knight Order's words were trustworthy.
"Got it."
Matthew and Fritz replied indifferently.
The light in the sewer was dim, but the air was not very murky; besides the crawling Slimes, there was only the sound of sewage flowing.
Henry and his two friends walked back-to-back; this was something Carpon had taught them: never expose your back on the battlefield.
According to surveys, every year a number of Slimes are beaten to death by mischievous children, dying prematurely.
In no time, the three of them had killed several Slimes, and the number of Slimes around the manhole cover instantly decreased significantly.
"Don't run too far, Matthew."
Henry said to Matthew, who had left because he hadn't found a satisfactory Slime.
Matthew ignored Henry; he saw a dark green Slime around the corner and wanted to keep that one.
...
"Ah! Run! Ugh!"
Matthew's scream came from around the corner not far away, then vanished without a trace.
"Matthew, what happened?"
Henry asked in Matthew's direction, but no one answered him.
"I was wondering why the air smelled so good; turns out it's dinner time."
A disgusting monster with dark green skin emerged from where Matthew was, followed by two identical monsters.
"Demi-humans? How are demi-humans here?"
Fritz's voice became shaky, and his legs trembled uncontrollably.
"Run!"
Henry pulled Fritz, preparing to escape, but the two demi-humans were clearly faster, running like hounds that hadn't eaten meat in a long time.
Their long tongues shot out of their mouths, quickly coiling around Fritz's calves as he began to climb the ladder.
Henry, helpless, could only pull Fritz, engaging in a tug-of-war with his opponents, while Fritz, paralyzed by the demi-humans' tongue venom, could only pray that Henry would pull him out.
Finally, Henry's strength overpowered the malnourished demi-humans.
He dragged the paralyzed Fritz out of the sewer and began to run in a panic.
"Save my friend, sir, there are monsters in the sewer."
Henry, running and not paying attention to what was ahead, bumped into someone.
"Did Xiao Di hit it?"