The Invincible Blacksmith

Episode 1

Kane has trained for years under a master who now admits there is nothing left to teach him. The old swordsman names him the new Sword Master — but Kane has one duty left: his father's dying wish that he go home and marry the woman chosen for him. His master warns him the world is a viper's nest, and to live as an ordinary man. Elsewhere, someone races to find the Sword Master and bring him back to Arandil, only to arrive too late. Then a young woman is hunted down, taunted as a "little princess," and dragged toward the city gates to force a surrender.

Episode 2

Three beastkin corner one man, and a passing "peasant" blacksmith tells them to walk away — then kills all three in a single, impossibly clean strike. When King Roderick arrives and asks who saved his daughter, Kane hides his skill, insisting he is just a blacksmith and the beastmen were already dead. Grace scoffs that a lowborn peasant could never do it; others whisper it must have been the Sword Master, whose mountain sanctuary was found empty. The king, grateful, offers Kane any reward. Kane asks only for help finding his fiance — then Grace notices his pendant matches hers exactly.

Episode 3

Kane reveals he is his father's son and shows the pendant his father gave him, naming King Roderick his father-in-law by a betrothal made years ago. Roderick dismisses it as a drunken joke between old friends. Grace is furious: she is crown princess of Arandil, first in line for the throne, and will not marry a lowborn blacksmith — "try it in the next life." The king offers 100 gold coins as a generous settlement. Kane refuses the money and fires back: when Roderick once begged his father for a marriage alliance to claim the crown, was that a joke too?

Episode 4

Word spreads fast: the princess is apparently engaged to a blacksmith, and Prince James — who has chased Grace for years and brought 5,000 soldiers to defend Arandil — will be furious. Grace tells Kane bluntly that she will marry a legendary warrior or a hero, not a man covered in coal and soot; marrying him would bring ruin to Arandil. Kane accuses the king of breaking his own sworn oaths. Roderick insists he is no oathbreaker and offers a compromise: Kane may come to the palace, train as a knight, and spend time with Grace. James openly mocks the idea.

Episode 5

James protests that the royal knight trials are the elite's proving ground, not a shortcut for a blacksmith with a father's old favor. Even Grace argues Arandil's survival matters more than one oath. So Roderick sets the terms: win the royal knight trials today, and he will see Kane married to Grace. Kane accepts cheerfully, treating the deadly arena like a party. The rules are simple — each candidate faces the beast alone, and the fastest kill wins. James's record stands at one minute. Kane predicts the next fighter will take five minutes and lose an arm — and it happens exactly as he said.

Episode 6

The crowd dismisses Kane's call as a lucky guess; a blacksmith knows nothing about fighting beasts. Then Kane steps into the pit as the next candidate — without a sword. Spectators mock his scrawny arms and assume the beast will tear him apart. The opponent is no puppy: a three-headed hound hauled out of the deepest hell of the Darkwood, said to have taken 500 elite soldiers to capture. Grace urges him to get out while he can. Kane dodges with flawless footwork, stepping into the beast's blind spots before each strike lands, and the crowd starts to wonder if he is truly just a blacksmith.

Episode 7

Kane kills the three-headed hound with a single finger. The arena erupts in disbelief — no way a blacksmith is that powerful — and many insist he must have planted something and triggered a cheap trick. The judges agree, declaring the trials are about honest skill, and order him thrown out. Before that can happen, warhorns sound: the beastkin are attacking. Their champion Ferris demands King Roderick come down and face him, then turns his threats on Grace, promising to chain her to her father's throne as his plaything. Prince James vows to cut him down instead.

Episode 8

James fights Ferris and actually looks sharp — until Kane notes that his form is full of openings and predicts he will lose within three moves. The crowd tells the blacksmith to shut up; James is clearly winning. It doesn't last. Amid the clash, someone asks about the swordsman rankings James kept mentioning. The answer: the Sword Master created the list to record the realm's 50 greatest swordsmen. James, the youngest man on the list, ranks twentieth. And the Sword Master himself? He is beyond the list entirely — practically a god no top-20 swordsman could touch together.

Episode 9

Someone snipes Ferris's blade out of the air — with a pebble. The crowd rationalizes it as a blacksmith's knowledge of weapon weaknesses, but Ferris is rank fifteen, born with monstrous strength. Ferris offers a wager: beat him today and the beastkin retreat; otherwise, when the walls fall, no one inside survives. King Roderick, rank sixteen, insists on fighting despite Grace's protests. He is losing badly until Kane spots what neither the king nor James could see — Ferris's exposed right leg — and shouts for the king to strike it. The crowd demands to know who Kane really is.

Episode 10

Ferris's brother arrives — rank twelve in the realm, personally guided by the legendary Sword Master himself — and sneers at Ferris for losing to a lower-ranked human. He orders Roderick to surrender Arandil or die, but the king refuses while he still breathes. When Grace steps forward, the brother mocks her, saying she isn't even ranked, then grabs her and declares he'll drag the crown princess back as a plaything for the world to watch. Kane steps in with a warning: touch his fiance again, and he dies.

If you like a hero who lets everyone underestimate him right up until the moment it counts, this one's worth hitting play on.