I'm Ornn, and I'm about to be beaten to my knees by the Man-eating Horse Girl!

Wearing something that can hardly be called shoes, getting home would be quite difficult.

'Perhaps I can borrow a pair of shoes from one of my neighbors and return them to him tomorrow.'

With that thought in mind, the white-haired girl stood on one tiptoe and looked around.

Soon, she saw a sign that read, "Auen products are guaranteed to be of the highest quality."

Below the wooden sign was a detached house that looked very simple, and was indeed very simple.

'Hmm? Was there this house here before?'

The girl used her limited brain cells to think for a moment. She looked around the street and found that there seemed to be only this one lonely house on this road.

After much hesitation, she finally entered the strange-looking house.

Excuse me, is anyone home?

Chapter 2 The Blacksmith's Chance Encounter with Cinderella

In the simple room, Orn was writing something down with a pen.

"The uncle said there are tens of millions of yen in this card, is that true? He's not just bluffing me, is he?"

Muttering to himself, Orn wrote down in his notebook: "[Giant Ninja Katana - 2450 million yen]". In front of this notebook were other weapons listed, such as "[15.62mm Recoilless M16 Automatic Rifle - 2060 million yen]" and "[14mm Giant Magnum Revolver - 3100 million yen]".

"What exactly does Lao Bei's family do? Last time they asked me to build a giant Magnum revolver, the power of which could probably kill a Tyrannosaurus Rex with one shot. Is it really for collection purposes?"

"This time it's turned back into a katana from the era of cold weapons. Could it be that his daughter wants to play with it? If it's for his daughter, why make something so fierce?"

Ornn shook his head, banishing all those random thoughts from his mind.

"Forget it, there's no point in thinking about it so much. It's good enough if I can make money!"

Ornn wasn't a native of this world; he simply found himself inexplicably in this place after picking up a hammer.

He was familiar with the hammer; it was the hammer of Ornn, the Mountain-Hidden Flame. Or rather, the name "Hammer" was finally born after Ornn forged it.

But the hammer in his hand now seems more like a projection. He doesn't possess the legendary power to forge the World Tree and mountains together, nor does he have the ability to create something within a time machine portal.

It really is just a hammer; at most, it can create things with some special effects.

Judging from Lao Bei's expression, it seems that there are quite a few people in this world who can forge such enchanted items. No matter what he brings out, the old man's expression doesn't change at all.

Those flattering words are probably just words to comfort oneself!

"It seems I truly lack talent. Even using the hammer of Orn, the god of forging, and even borrowing his name, I can never reach even a tenth of his power..."

"Sigh, even the country bumpkin from another world couldn't amaze me. It seems I'm still far behind. I need to keep practicing!"

With that thought in mind, Orn stood up and walked towards the basement of the house.

Since he picked up this hammer two months ago, when he opened his eyes again, he was already in this three-story house with a basement.

For some unknown reason, he couldn't leave the room; it was as if a special membrane was blocking his connection with the outside world.

He picked up the projection of Ornn's hammer and used that name instead of his original name, adopting "Ornn" as his code name in this other world.

Of the three-story building above ground, he converted the first floor into a simple reception room, with the kitchen and dining room also located on the first floor.

The second floor was his own bedroom, along with three guest rooms. The third floor was a food storage room. Thanks to the food stored on the third floor, Orn managed to hold out until Beidao entered the shop.

The basement was quite large, nearly 100 square meters in size. Its ventilation system was incredibly advanced, so even if you held a bonfire party there, the air wouldn't feel too stuffy.

All the tools for forging were readily available, and even in a corner, there were piles of design drawings.

Blueprints for knives, modern firearms, household appliances, destroyers, tanks—any design blueprints that Orn could never have seen in his previous life—were now displayed before him one by one.

Among these, the design drawings for horseshoes are the most numerous.

"Perhaps there are magical pegasus or something like that here? Otherwise, what's the point of having so many horseshoe designs?"

Ornn scratched his head in confusion. Trapped in this house, he had no idea what state the world was in. Even though he had used the power of the hammer to create a radio and television, he couldn't receive any signals.

The television screen was completely white, while the radio emitted a strange crackling sound.

Based on his interactions with Bei Dao, this place must be modern and neon-lit, and quite similar to the era in which he lived in his previous life.

Could it be a worldview similar to that of superhumans? Or am I in the Japanese branch of Harry Potter?

Aoun's mind was wandering when, just then, the sound of a door opening and closing came from the reception room on the first floor.

"Oh no! Could it be that the old man forgot to close the door? This is terrible! What if a robber comes and steals everything I have here?!"

"Stealing things isn't such a big deal, but if I use them to harm ordinary people, I won't be able to forgive myself!"

Having made up his mind, he reached out and grabbed a Viking round shield, then picked up a medieval-style open-faced helmet and put it on his head, pulled down the visor, and drew a knight's axe studded with barbs, holding it in his right hand.

Finally, after wrapping his body in the Holy Shroud Golden Apple Enchantment Cloth, he carefully made his way upstairs.

On the first floor, Little Chestnut Hat carefully entered the entrance hall. Although the room looked just as dilapidated as the outside, surprisingly, there was no pungent smell.

On the contrary, the room was filled with a pleasant aroma, like that of someone who had been baked by the sun.

Excuse me, is anyone home?

No one responded. After hesitating, Oguri Hat finally took off her socks, stepped barefoot onto the wooden floor, and entered the reception room.

The reception room contained only two sofas and a coffee table; the rest of the space was filled with various weapon models...?

Little Chestnut Hat walked up to a green longsword. Gazing at its double-edged blade, she thought for a long time before finally recalling from her few fragmented memories of classical Chinese lessons that this green longsword was called a bronze sword.

Legend has it that ancient tribes used these bronze artifacts to worship the three goddesses, and with their blessings, offered these sacrificial swords to the shrine maiden of the Horse Goddess Shrine, praying for national peace and prosperity for all generations.

The hilt of bronze swords is typically engraved with the totem of the Bayel Turks, one of the three goddesses symbolizing battle and struggle.

But there was nothing at the end of the sword.

This thing... must be very expensive, right?

Blinking, Little Chestnut Hat looked curiously at the bronze sword in front of him.

The craftsmanship of this thing was so realistic that she felt as if the sword had just been dug out of the ground, and she could even smell the fragrance of the soil on the sword.

A gurgling sound came from Little Chestnut Hat's belly. She rubbed her stomach and lowered her head in disappointment.

She was exhausted after a long day; she'd just been splashed with dust by a black sedan, her shoes were torn, and this mysterious shop was unattended...

"Well,"

"I just don't know if this thing is edible. If it is, maybe..."

Suddenly, a loud shout interrupted Oguri Hat's sorrowful mood.

"Hey!! You scoundrel! What are you doing here?! Surrender now!! Or don't blame my swords for being merciless!!"

Little Chestnut Hat was bewildered by the long and difficult sentence mixed with classical Chinese. She looked in the direction of the voice, only to see a strange person in a ginger-yellow bathrobe suddenly rush out of the house.

The strange man held a knight's axe in his right hand, and the veil of his helmet obscured his expression. The spiked shield in his left hand served as an excellent deterrent.

Little Chestnut Hat was stunned. She just stared blankly at the strange man, neither speaking nor flinching, simply standing there in a daze.

Even the strange man seemed a little embarrassed; the way he held his weapon and brandished his claws only made him look more comical.

He couldn't help but ask, "You...you're going to say the lines?"

It was only then that Little Chestnut Hat seemed to wake up from her daze. She first said in a flat tone, "Ah."

Then she squatted down, covering her head with her hands, burying her head between her legs like an ostrich. Her two white ears drooped limply on top of her head, trembling up and down with her breathing.

Wait, ears?

Orn removed his mask, staring at the ears with an incredulous look, before uttering in fluent Chinese:

"Holy crap!! I'm in the world of anime!?"

Chapter 3 Ornn's First Trial of Horseshoes

"So I'm just a blacksmith, not some suspicious person, much less a cyborg!"

"Seriously, you can pinch my cheek if you don't believe me... Ouch!!! (Talking Tom screams) Let go! Let go! That hurts!!"

Orn pried open the little chestnut hat's hands; the terrifying pressure just now had almost ripped his face off.

So this is the horse girl? With such terrifying power, she must be incredibly efficient at forging iron, right?

Women, they're terrifying!

Little Chestnut Hat quickly lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry, I... I didn't control my strength well, I'm sorry!"

Orn rubbed his slightly swollen face, then looked at the white-haired girl sitting opposite him on the sofa and asked, "So, your shoes broke while you were out on the street, and you want to borrow a pair from me?"

"Mmmmmmm!"

Its white ears swayed up and down with each nod, and the occasional twitch of those ears made Orn's hands itch with desire.

He really wanted to touch her, but he was afraid the girl in front of him wouldn't agree to that request.

Horse Girls... Just now, from the person in front of him who called himself Oguri Hat, Orn already knew what kind of world he was in. In his previous life, he had indeed heard of the game Horse Girls, but that was all; he knew absolutely no more detailed information.

No wonder there are so many horseshoe designs underground. But can a single horseshoe really make the girl in front of me run at 150 kilometers per hour?

Orn scratched his head. The girl in front of him might be the best opportunity to confirm his guess. Since he couldn't leave for the time being anyway, he might as well have her help him test the effects of the improved horseshoes.

If horse racing is really as grand and solemn as this girl said, then my skills, while not top-notch, should be considered above average!

If the results are excellent, perhaps by leveraging her publicity to build a reputation for Orn's products, she could find extraordinary individuals with expertise in this field to help her escape this dilapidated building.

Thinking of this, Orn stood up and said, "My shoes are a bit too big for you. Miss Little Chestnut Hat, please wait for me for fifteen minutes, and I will go and make you a new one."

Before the other person could react, he turned and walked into the basement.

After confirming that the basement door was locked, Orn reached out and grasped, and a small, antique-looking hammer appeared in his hand.

He then skillfully picked up a piece of finished steel, heated it until it was red-hot, and gently forged it with a small hammer. The metal seemed to flow like liquid in Orn's hands, and after only seven minutes, it had solidified into two Ω shapes.

Ornn grabbed the discarded berserker greaves and iron boots from the side, and with a swing of his hammer, the four shoes were reassembled into two bizarre boots resembling Picasso's style.

"Hmm, it looks a bit ugly. Let's wrap it up with something!"

"Even if I forge weapons by imitating those of the Alliance, I will only end up with some inferior products that are all show and no substance. Alas, it seems that even if I have Ornn's hammer, I will not be able to forge real Doran equipment."

Shaking his head to clear his mind of distractions, Ornn tore off a piece of his holy shroud and wrapped it with a small hammer around the surface of his shoes, which looked like the work of an abstract painter.

Although it was still strange, at least the color scheme was now uniformly yellowish-brown, and Ornn was quite satisfied with it as his first boot.

Fifteen minutes was just enough time. He took the cooled-down combat boots in his hands and left the basement.

Oguri sat obediently on the sofa, a feeling lingering in her heart that this strange man, who seemed so odd at first glance, probably wasn't a bad person.

What puzzled her was that the other party seemed completely unaware of the existence of horse girls, what horse racing was, or what the horse racing industry meant in this day and age.

Even someone as slow-witted as her knows the basics of competition, yet the person in front of her seems completely oblivious.

'He's an oddball, but... he's also a good person.'

This is what Oguri Hat thinks.

'Is fifteen minutes enough time to make a pair of shoes?'

Just as she was thinking this, with a clang, Orn returned to the reception room carrying his newly made combat boots.

Handing the warm shoes to the girl, Orn said, "Try them on. These are a pair of shoes I made based on a rough estimate of your foot size. Their name... let's just call them shoes. Why don't you try them on?"

Little Chestnut Hat didn't notice the shoes' strange appearance; coming from a poor family, she could already sense Orn's affection from the warmth of the shoes.

She took the shoes and put them on.

"...So comfortable, it feels like...um, it feels like I've eaten dozens of carrot burger patties!"

"Ah! That was just my description; I didn't mean your shoes were inferior to carrot burger patties!"

Little Chestnut Hat thought for a long time but still couldn't think of a suitable adjective. If it were her newly acquainted Radiance experiencing these shoes, she probably wouldn't have used such an exaggerated statement to express her inner surprise, right?

Orn couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the girl in front of him. Although she was a bit naive, she was indeed very honest and simple. Both in his past life and in Orn himself, he liked people like her very much.

He waved his hand and laughed, "Since they're so useful, take them and wear them. These shoes aren't worth much, consider it a gift from me!"

Little Chestnut Hat stood up somewhat awkwardly, and hesitated before saying, "Mr. O, I... I can pay you!"

Orn shook his head and said, "No need, you can wear these shoes. If possible, it would be best to give me your feedback after using them. I'm in this house every day, so just knock on the door next time you come."

He looked up at the increasingly gloomy sky outside the window, waved his hand, and said, "Alright, hurry up and go home. It's still almost a kilometer from here. Don't get caught in the rain before you even get home!"

Little Chestnut Hat was half-pushed, half-carried by Orn to the entrance. She opened the door, then bowed to Orn and said, "Thank you for the shoes, Mr. Orn. ​​I'm going home now. I'll come to visit you again tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow... um, I'll bring carrot burger patties tomorrow!"

"Thank you!"