"Leave her here," the swordsmith repeated, his tone unyielding.
"...Me?" Nina-chan echoed, her voice barely above a whisper as she looked at the old man, visibly unsettled.
The swordsmith simply grinned, unfazed by her reaction, and continued.
"Yes, that's the deal. I don't need money—just leave the girl here."
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, the first of us to question him.
The meaning behind his words was completely lost on me.
"Exactly what I said," he replied with a gruff chuckle. "I'll forge your sword, but you'll need to pay the price. Labor doesn't come for free, after all. You understand that much, don't you?"
"...Yes," I nodded reluctantly, feeling cornered. The concept of paying for labor wasn't foreign to me; even in my previous life, I'd worked and understood the need for compensation. No one could work for nothing.
