I Was Trying to Stream a Slow Life, but It Seems My Golem Partner Started Warming Up. - Chapter 13

“Alright, from this point on, we’ll be entering a non-disclosure crafting area. So, while I’m working, I’ll have Delta-chan answer everyone’s questions.”

“Wha-?! This was not agreed upon during the briefing?!”

“It’s an order from your Master! I’m leaving the audience interaction to you!”

Her face of utter despair is hilarious lol

It’s a Q&A corner~

But seriously, this golem girl clearly isn’t suited for audience interaction.

Beta-chan’s the household type, this one’s the combat type. My predictions are always right.

Then let the Q&A coooorner begin!!

You’re the one starting it lol

Alright, I would leave the stream to Delta-chan and do my work off-screen.

The reason I was having Delta-chan handle things while I worked in secret was because this was common sense in the world of crafting.

In crafting, revealing your production methods held significant meaning. That was because your methods were the seeds of your business—in other words, how you made money. They were things arrived at through years of experience, and in some cases, it might have taken generations to reach the current manufacturing process.

What I was doing right then was like saying, ‘Here was how you could make something that earned money!’ for free. That was why, when revealing crafting techniques on stream, you absolutely had to create an area of secrecy. It was the part where you said, ‘This bit was a trade secret, so I couldn’t show you!’ This was an unspoken rule that everyone abided by, though no one knew who started it.

Well, no idiot would reveal everything from the get-go, anyway.

So, it was decided from the beginning that this part of the process wouldn’t be shown on stream, and that was also why I had Delta-chan come that day. In other words, it was to handle the audience interaction during the time I couldn’t be on camera.

While Delta-chan bought me time by interacting with the viewers, I proceeded with forging the katana.

The most crucial part of katana-making, the trade secret bit, was that it actually required two types of magic steel with different hardness.

Magic steel made to be relatively soft—in technical terms, shingane (core steel)—and magic steel made to be relatively hard—also in technical terms, kawagane (skin steel). The greater the difference in hardness between these two, the sharper the blade became, but it also became more fragile. Well, the specific ratio of this hardness difference was also a trade secret, I supposed.

The harder kawagane was wrapped around the softer shingane, then heated and forged together. To put it simply, the outside was hard, and the inside was soft. This process was sometimes called tsukurikomi (construction method) in technical terms, but that wasn’t important.

The purpose of this tsukurikomi was to achieve the katana’s unique structure: “cut well, but didn’t break easily.” Incidentally, I used two types of magic steel with different hardness, employing the most common method called kōbuse.

Other methods included hon sanmai, which involved placing the shingane on top of another type called hagane (edge steel), and then sandwiching them from both sides with kawagane. Furthermore, there was an even more advanced method called shihōzume, which added a fourth type of magic steel called munegane (back steel) on top of the shingane and kawagane. But these were all probably irrelevant details.

Having finished the tsukurikomi using the kōbuse method and completed the blade’s basic structure, I then heated it and gradually hammered it out, elongating it. This was how it was shaped into a blade. The important thing up to this point was that I hadn’t used any alchemy at all.

Actually, during this time while Delta-chan was handling the stream and I was working off-screen, I had barely used any alchemy. The only time I used it was probably for heating during the tsukurikomi and the elongating process to shape the blade.

Both the tsukurikomi and shaping the blade would have been faster and easier with alchemy. However, if I used alchemy to make it, resources were diverted, leaving less capacity for magical enchantments.

“Plus, simply put, a well-made item just took enchantments better.”

Well, if you were asked which was better, a sloppily made item or a carefully crafted one, obviously the carefully crafted one was better. Maybe magical enchantments followed the same logic. No one had ever verified it or tried to research it, so who knew.

“Alright, now just to apply the magical enchantment, make everyone happy, and end the stream—”

Thinking that, I went to check on Delta-chan—

“Yes, Delta had always been a golem who adored Master. My feelings were merely at the level of reverence, and as for Gamma, we simply enjoyed conversing with each other—”

Another golem I don’t know just appeared?!

Gamma, never heard that name before.

Looking at it this way, I’m also curious why Alpha is the only one who hasn’t appeared even once.

Hey, Delta-chan? Is there no golem named Alpha?

“Regarding Alpha? For that, I had to obtain permission from Master to speak— Ah, Master! Could I speak about Alpha?”

“…Please allow me to conclude today’s stream here.”

I said that and cut the stream. I felt I should apologize later for ending it so abruptly.

“Delta-chan.”

“…Um, Master? Were you perhaps, shall we say, incandescent with rage? My intention in speaking of Alpha was merely—”

While soothing the somewhat bewildered Delta-chan, I discussed what to do about the magical enchantment.

Yes, Alpha was not to be discussed on stream. Because Alpha was my trade secret.

—