"I don't know what you're talking about"
The old man turns to his workshop, ignoring John. This also perks up Theia and Hilda's curiosity.
"Is it a mystic item, brother?"
Theia asks with interest, Last time they were fighting a mystic and won! Even if she's barely participating, not everyone could say they kill a mystic.
"No, it's much better than that" John couldn't articulate "It's a..."
Bang!
The old man drops his tool on the floor very loudly. Drawing John and his party's attention.
"Come in here, we could talk"
He uses his hand to get John to come inside the smithy. There the smell of iron intensified. The heat also increases, being able to draw some sweat from his forehead. The maid got it worse since he was usually in her maid uniform.
"How did you know about it?"
The old man asks with a serious face, he crosses his muscle arm together.
"I just read about it in the book...."
"I'm not an idiot," The old man said "They scrub all the records clean and kill everybody that has known about it. They only leave me because their fucking god said so. How did you know about this?"
His rage is seething from his voice, and his hand grip tightens. If one listens closely, one could hear it crack.
"I know about it from the future."
John said with a confident voice. As much anger as the old man has, he also has the same amount of fear.
"Then you would know that I'm not gonna make it for you. let's say that this never happened and go our separate ways"
"You have no choice."
"Are you threatening me?" The old man looks around and lifts up a hammer "These old bones could take a young pulp and two women easily, try me"
Hilda heard that like a declaration of war but she knew that her mother didn't want her to start a fight. After all, he still heard the old man's service.
"I'm not here to fight" John smiled "Just to make an offer, I get the gun and you get mystic power"
"Who are you!?"
The old man's voice is filled with fear, he has only seen two mystics in his long life. One when he was young but from a village and one when he was working 40 years ago. Both of the time he couldn't help but admire them. They have power beyond what humans can.
"Heretics?"
The old man ready his hammer, one wrong word and he would swing.
"That's just a way for the church to regulate such power, they call them heretics because the power is not in their control. However, if no one checks, no one would know you have such power."
The old man seen shaken to his core, He looks at John trying to asses the truth but John's eyes don't seem to tell him anything at all. However, he could tell from their cloth that they were just a minor noble, people like that don't have the authority to know such people exist.
"Do you have any proof?"
Finding a mystic is rare, and finding a person who could create the being Is much rarer. The information about making one is highly regulated, Only the royal family and the church know about it.
However, other people could create it. They borrow power from somewhere else and create The star. Another foundation that could reach into the mystical realm. However, it's unstable and has a lot of price to pay. In exchange, one could gain a powerful ability.
Both ways could occur naturally, depending on the person's circumstance. But they could be facilitated. Klad the original protagonist uses this way to gain the first circle as well.
"I have two mystics beside me, Hilda, transfer your wound to him"
This time, The old man was shocked, are Mystic so easy to find and create nowadays? Hilda walked over and reached her hand out.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to show you my power," Hilda said, "hold my hand."
The old blacksmith does not seem convinced. On the one hand, this could be a ruse; on the other, he could be looking at a genuine mystic. This raises the likelihood of him being killed. He is convinced that the church will not harm him, but he has no guarantees from other forces.
The church banned guns after they were used at the end of the war. The church proceeds to erase any evidence of this item being made, but they merely keep him alive in case they need his innovation again.
The fact that this noble is aware indicates that the church has leaked its existence, or that John revealed the truth.
However, he has little choice, under the pretense of the maid and the girl being mystics, he cannot possibly escape them. Heretics have a bad reputation, most of them kill and steal anything they can.
"You wouldn't kill me right?"
"I just need the guns," John said "And I'll give you the power"
"What are you gonna do with it?"
Even if it's a little hard to reload, the gun could kill a person within a second. If they're not healed by the church hospital, they would suffer death.
"Self defence" John answered confidently "I don't feel safe without it."
"....."
John and the old man look at each other.
"Even if I made it for you, if this gets out I'm gonna be trouble, I could not make it for you."
"Hilda"
the maid rush in close to the old man and grab his neck. The blacksmith couldn't possibly react to a well-trained assassin. He tried to resist by punching and grabbing the maid's arm but her hand didn't seem to get affected by his punch and his hand got more and more bruise.
Evidently, he realizes that he's dealing with a real mystic.
"This is not a trade anymore,"
"I'm not gonna make it for you!!"