I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 102: The Iron Hand

Chapter 102: The Iron Hand

It was a bit burdensome having all eyes on Arthur as he opened a box containing something so personal. He was still undoubtedly in a sensitive state after what he had experienced. He had been feeling a bit useless, but he hoped no one would take notice of it.

As the iron hand was revealed, he wasn’t entirely sure what he had been expecting. Of course, the thought occurred to him that they might try and find a way for him to properly wield his sword, but the prosthetic hands he had seen were no better than hooks with clumsy mechanics. He didn’t particularly want to wear something so useless just to assuage the bad feelings that people experienced whenever they looked at him clumsily wielding a sword.

However, what lay amongst the hay in the box was an iron hand well crafted with joins on the fingers and wrist. Samson even went so far as to create nails on the outside of the fingertips.

The very action of going through so much trouble struck him.

"I don’t quite know how to thank you for something like this," Arthur admitted. "It is a gesture far beyond my understanding. I feel I must repay you."

Stanley was quick to wave away the sentiments.

"I refuse payment," the mage insisted. "My staying here with the mages and having knights protecting us from people and monsters is enough. You are a highly regarded knight so I must do my part in ensuring you remain as such."

It was probably the nicest thing Stanley had ever told anyone and Irene couldn’t hold back her surprise.

Usually, he was a man of action but fewer words unless he was pointedly tearing down someone with insults or quips. However, it seemed that Arthur meant a lot to him as well even if he didn’t directly say that.

"Would you like to try it on?" Irene wondered.

She had been dying to see him try it out since it was presented to her just before she went to sleep. If she hadn’t been so exhausted while they adjusted to the night schedule again, she would have stayed up regardless, too excited at what lay ahead.

Arthur held out his arm.

"If you would help me with it," he told his daughter who was immediately up to the task.

"Yes, father," she responded. Without hesitation, she was pulling the hand out of the box. "Will you try it with your sleeve covering it or with it bare?" she wondered. "Won’t it be uncomfortable to be nestled against the metal like that?"

Samson had to defend himself.

"On the contrary," he began. "I lined the inside with leather and wool so that it should be comfortable and a snug fit. It was Stanley who requested as much since he said that the bone in Arthur’s arm is jagged despite the flesh pulled over it."

The thought made Irene’s hands shake as she handled the iron hand. She had witnessed firsthand what it looked like when the mage tried to shave down the bone. Things she had never considered before in her life were normal for the mage. She wondered what he had been through to already know what must need to be done when someone was so badly injured.

"Seems he thought of everything," Arthur admitted. "Go ahead, Ire—" the knight cleared his throat. "Iro."

She glanced at her father in a slight panic before sliding the prosthetic over the arm revealed after he pulled away his sleeve.

It was easy to figure out how to put the leather straps on the other side of his elbow to secure it snugly. There was a way to adjust it as well so it would fit to his size perfectly. It wasn’t as if they had the measurements down perfectly, although based on the sketches in the box, she wouldn’t be that surprised if Stanley somehow measured that as well.

Once the hand was on his arm, Arthur turned his arm to see if the hand would follow. It moved correctly but stayed in the stiff, not quite open and not quite closed position it had been in from the start.

"And these..." Arthur trailed off, looking down at the buttons on the back of the hand, towards the wrist, and next to the fingers.

"These will help you properly position the fingers," Stanley explained. "It will be able to close and lock on something as small as a quill or as large as a sword. The fingers can move all at once but, unfortunately, you will have to set these things themselves."

Arthur pressed on the fingers, seeing them move slightly since they weren’t locked. He then laced his fingers together, but they weren’t wide enough to support his other, larger hand.

"Certainly not built for the touch of love," Arthur muttered as he explored the capabilities of the hand with interest. "It seems I will have to get used to this just as anything else. Regardless, thank you for going through the trouble to bless me with my other hand again. I will cherish what you have done for me."

"Not a trouble at all," Samson responded. "I’m relieved to see that something practically out of my realm of understanding will be useful to you, Arthur."

Arthur nodded.

"Then I suppose I should practice with my sword for a bit before I’m forced to participate in the winterization monster culling," Arthur stated with a slight smirk. "Who shall face my right hand first? It’s a bit out of practice."

It was Gunnar who was forced to deal with the hand first and all the apprentices gathered around after their midday meals to watch the two sword fighting with wooden practice swords in the yard.

For the first time in a while, Irene watched her father smile while he practiced with more concise strokes that what he had been dealing in the days leading up to that. The life had been taken out of him but it was back in full force now that he had more use of his right hand.

She couldn’t imagine the truth that, later when he removed the prosthetic, there would be blood dripping from where his bone took more impact than it likely should have.

With that, it was time to seriously begin the preparations for the winterization. As far as they knew, the knighthood had the Wolf of the North back and they were going to use him as much as they possibly could before he would settle back in his family home for the winter.

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