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Diluc knew he should have taken Wagner’s advice about getting his claymore checked every month or so. Sadly, he didn’t take it as seriously as he should have, or else he wouldn’t be in this situation.
It was a normal day. Diluc finished his daily duties pretty early, so he decided to go check on some old domains to clear out any abyssal monsters that were using them as hideouts. During one of these fights, he took a hard swing at a pyro abyss mage, because of his vision, it made defeating them harder, and he had to use brute force more than usual. Which caused the small crack that formed over the past few nights to turn into a far bigger one. He was lucky that it didn’t fall apart at that very moment.
Of course, it would be a simple fix for Wagner—if he were there! Diluc went all the way to Mondstadt only to find Wagner’s assistant, who couldn’t even work on any weaponry. Why even keep the shop open if no one can do the job? So Diluc couldn’t get it fixed up by buying some iron. He needed this fix by tonight. He has been hearing rumors that the abyss is planning something, and he needs his best weapon at the ready, not damaged to the point that one hit could shatter it.
So he would have to do it himself, then, so he made his way back to the winery. There was a forge at the winery, mostly used to make or repair the metal rings on the barrels. It wasn’t full of all the best tools like at the forge in Mondstadt, but it's not like he could use that anyway, so this one would have to do.
He knew a bit of what to do, watching his father hundreds of times make weapons before even making a few from scratch himself. Now he wondered what those weapons were for. Were they for the knights, his father did give the Favorious a lot back in the day.
The newest barrels were made last week, so the forge hasn’t been touched in a few days and probably won’t be for a few more days, leaving Diluc alone to do his repairs. He was careful to put down the blade, expecting the damage now that he had better light.
His claymore had many little dents, chips, and scraps over the years of use. The crack was closer to the end, starting from a small prong near the end of the blade, working its way up near the center. It wasn’t as deep as he thought, but still going to be a problem if it wasn't taken care of.
So he got to work heating up the iron he bought; he could already feel the heat from the coal-filled furnace, and took off his coat and a few other layers. Being a pyro user with an already high temperature by nature, being in a forge made it a bit harder.
Once the iron was hot enough, looking almost like soup, he knew it was time, grabbing a large set of tongs to grab the bucket that the liquid metal was in. This was the hardest part. Filling in the cracks without getting it all over the place. Scrapping away the excess can be done, but he really doesn’t want to cover the original work. He was slow with it, but didn’t want to go so slowly that the liquid would harden once more before filling the crack.
There was a bit of excess around the area, but it was minimal. He put the rest of the iron away for it to cool. With a bit of buffering and polishing to get off the extra bits, and smoothed down, it was done. Just like every other crack that has been filled in and repaired once it cooled down, it turned into a paler red color, almost orange, that contrasted against the original darker red tones.
Another mark was a reminder of how many years he had used his claymore. He picked it up, giving it a small spin in his hand. The weight was still even, not too heavy or too light, the change would be unnoticeable in a fight. But he still needs to make sure it won’t break during a fight.
He didn’t bother to put on the extra layers, still hot and sweaty, and didn’t want to get his clean clothes dirty, besides, there was no one around as he walked around finding a tree. It was large and would take a few good hits just to make sure it wouldn’t fall apart on him.
Maybe he really has too good of a swing because it only took three hits for that very large, healthy tree to fall to the ground, the blade still perfectly intact. Maybe now he can do his repairs himself instead of going to Wagner next time.