Chapter 21
Inside a dark room, the only thing that could be considered a source of light was the furnace inside of Tsubaki Collbrande's forge.
*CLANG*
*CLANG*
*CLANG*
*CLANG*
The clanks of her new hammer hitting metal were the only toll that resounded in the forge, generating a shockwave of Aura every time the hammer made contact with the yet unfinished weapon.
Usually, she wouldn't be as irresponsible as to not turn on the lights within the forge; and if she did by some mistake, her maids would turn on the lights for her. But she had given the order not to be disturbed under any circumstance.
That had been three days ago, the Blacksmith not leaving her Forge under any circumstances. She had stored some dried food and water for the occasion, only taking the moment to eat in between the processes of her forging. And all that time, with a face that could only be considered a mixture between a scowl and a frown.
One would think she would be happy, seeing as she was finally taking a step forward, toward her goal. However, this was not the case. And as to why she was in such a state? Well, it all started like any other big commission of the Hephaestus Familia; with her Goddess complaining about something… or in this case, fawning.
Flashback
"Can you believe it, Tsubaki?" her Captain sighed, already expecting this to happen sooner than later. But even so, she couldn't help but mentally groan as the time finally came.
"He gave me, ME, something!" The Goddess exclaimed, signing an important paper with so much delight that it almost made Tsubaki jealous. "And a wonderful, out-of-this-world forging hammer no less. Can you believe it, Tsubaki?"
Her Captain got a sense of déjà vu, which was something natural seeing it was the fifth time her Goddess had fawned over her gift. Now mind you, she had received several gifts in the past, but that was before those making promises and compromises with her saw what lay under her eyepatch.
But now, that wasn't the case anymore.
Drake Aurion had given her a gift even after seeing Hephaestus' right side, and even had the audacity of calling her beautiful. And since he couldn't lie, there was nothing that Hephaestus could do to refute neither his claims nor his gift.
However, Tsubaki couldn't help but narrow her eye when she first heard the whole tale. She was happy for her Goddess, of course she was; but the fact that she was also fawning over his skills as a blacksmith worried her. Because knowing her Goddess, it was almost as if she was falling for the guy.
'If she hasn't already.' Tsubaki scowled at the thought, hiding her face behind a mountain of paper she was holding, assisting her Goddess with the ever-growing paperwork.
No.
It wasn't that she was jealous of Goddess, or that she loved her blonde friend in a romantic way. Tsubaki was just afraid that things could become complicated between those two, for various reasons. 'That would be a time bomb ready to blow up.'
Right now, her only hope was that someone else gave her something greater for a gift and called her beautiful…
'… nope. That isn't happening any time soon.' She moved slightly to the side and looked at the red hammer in question, narrowing her eyes and concluding that neither of those things were going to happen.
'Fuck my life.' She cursed herself, subconsciously saying a phrase Drake would use when the situation was about to go FUBAR.
"But his forging," her train of thought stopped when she heard her Goddess's voice before the redhead sighed in delight. "So perfect…"
"Speaking of which," Tsubaki spoke, going against her rule of interrupting her Goddess's complaints or fawning seeing it would only make it worse. But this time, she had to do it, seeing how her curiosity was killing her.
"How exactly did he forge the Hammers and the Chisel?" The Captain instantly noted how her Goddess's quill stopped mid-signing, with a very well-hidden frown on her face before it was replaced with a stoic expression.
Hephaestus sighed, noticing the ink on the quill was dripping on her paper, ruining it in the process.
"I thought he told you when he gave you yours." She replied, eyeing Tsubaki's hammer hanging at her hip.
"He didn't. He was too tired that night, he pretty much went to sleep straight after." Her eye twitched, recalling what had happened the following morning. "Asshole kicked me off the bed."
Tsubaki could see how her Goddess narrowed her eye in a slight scowl.
"Oh… do tell more."
The Captain rolled her eye, already fearing her worries from before were becoming a reality if her Goddess giving an aura of jealousy was a clear sign.
"It wasn't like that. It was raining and there weren't any free rooms at the Hostess. Nothing I could do about that."
She could maybe have not used his arm as a pillow, or literally, drool over him. But her Goddess didn't need to know that part.
"Anyway, how did he do it?"
Hephaestus rubbed the back of her neck at the sudden tension she felt. Despite how incredible Drake had been as a blacksmith, she couldn't help but frown and flinch a little at some of the things he did.
"Well…" and so, her Goddess started, not leaving a single detail out of her recollection of events; including how he pretty much mutilated his own body to create holy fire in Hephaestus's furnace, or how he put his hand in said divine fire to forge the chisel.
Her mood increased a little at the other finer detail, sighing in satisfaction again as she recalled the events. However, Tsubaki on the other hand couldn't help but have an unreadable expression on her face behind the pile of papers as she continued to listen.
"I noticed way later that his hands were a complete mess," Hephaestus stated, recalling that low-level blacksmiths would pretty much ruin their palms with bruises and their own blood due to that kind of forging. But Drake's… his were different. "His arms were complexly black and swollen… it was almost as if they were throbbing. I guess it was because he had been using divine fire… but he didn't complain… not even once." Hephaestus gave a small smile, admiring his dedication and not showing any sort of complaint about the process. "Good thing he heals fast. I wouldn't have let him go otherw-"
"Goddess." Hephaestus almost snapped in surprise at the serious tone of her child, but she couldn't help but mentally sigh as Tsubaki placed the pile of papers on her table, letting her see an expression she didn't show often.
"… How many days?" the Goddess asked, chuckling as she focused on her papers; she already knew where this was going.
"Five days."
"Go on then, don't let me stop you." She stated before Tsubaki gave her a thankful bow and left the room soon after, making the Goddess groan once she was gone seeing she now had to deal with all the paperwork on her own. But even so, she couldn't really say anything to Tsubaki when she had a such determined fire in her eye.
"I hope you get what you are looking for," she stated, hoping for the best for her Child. She knocked all thought about what just happened and placed a new paper to sign in front of her, only for the pile that was just placed on her table to fall all over her desk; knocking her bottle of ink in the process and ruining all her work.
"…" The redhead just stared blankly at the mess that just happened, slamming her face on the table and groaning as she recalled that fresh ink had been just spilled on it; her whole face was now painted black.
That had been three days ago.
Now here she was staring at her messed-up hands. It had been a very long time since her early years that she got her hands in such a sorry state. Despite being a high-level individual, the Aura shockwave made by the hammer with every hit hurt her hands and arms a little.
She supposed it was only natural seeing how she didn't have an Aura of her own, so she didn't have any sort of protection against the effects.
But even so, she knew the damage hadn't been as bad as the one Drake's hands had due to the divine fire if Hephaestus's statements were anything to take into account. So, she didn't have it in her to complain, no matter how much it hurt.
If anything, this whole thing would hopefully raise her endurance; and in the best-case scenario, manifest as a skill. But that last one was just wishful thinking.
Even if nothing changed on her Falna, she wouldn't say anything. Because this is what she wanted, a desire for which Drake had wounded himself and shared knowledge that could kill him in order to help her.
So, she didn't have any right to hesitate over every single negative fact she thought of.
She sighed, knocking off her train of thought as she took her chisel and hammer to engrave her third weapon with care.
And after a few hours, one of the corners of Tsubaki's lips moved upward as her weapon started to generate light blue electricity.
"Lily wants a raise."
Drake Aurion rolled his eyes as they entered the Hostess of Fertility. This was their third Dungeon dive together, and the 'not' Pallum had started to get used to the antics the Dungeon tried to pull on them. But even so, she still felt exhausted from just being next to him.
"Lily already gets 100% of our earnings, which is ten times more than the average Level one and two Adventurers get. So, Lily should really be grateful for what she has."
She couldn't help but frown at the emphasis on her name; Drake was clearly mocking her verbal tic. Both went ahead and sat at the counter, telling the closest waitress to bring them two specials of the day.
"Lily knows. But somehow, money doesn't thrill Lily as much anymore." Sadly, she wasn't lying. She could not use said money due to her Familia ambushing her at any moment.
"Beggars can't be choosers, brat."
The Supporter tiredly slammed her face on the table. "It would be nice if Boss treated Lily to something." she rolled her head and noticed him giving her a very serious look.
"Sadly, I ended up meeting an overbearing bitch the last time I treated someone to ice cream." The memory of meeting Freya came to mind as he heard something breaking inside the kitchen. "Don't want to run into that crap again."
"Boss is too paranoid."
To her surprise, he nodded as the green-haired Elf stood behind the counter with their food. "Sadly, that's also one of the reasons I am still alive today."
Lily shrugged off his superstition before silently thanking him for her food. She was about to dig into her dish; golden chicken mixed with chili underneath, but a hand suddenly grabbed hers just when her fork was about to pick up the food.
"Bo-!?" Lily couldn't complete her question; she had frozen in place as she noticed the blonde had a serious gaze in his eyes as he held a fork filled with food while holding it with his other hand.
"Please don't involve Lily in your paranoia." She stated, finally being able to calm herself as she figured out he probably thought the food had been poisoned or something. She was about to complain again, only to stop as she noticed he was now staring in front of him with the same serious gaze.
"Why so nervous, Ryuu?"
Lily's eyes widened as she stared at the usual stoic Elf, whom she now met for the second time. However, despite how calm and collected Ryuu might have looked at the moment, all of her efforts were for naught due to the few droplets of sweat running down her face.
'Is this poisoned!?' she thought at a now alarming rate.
"…" Drake narrowed his eyes before dropping his fork and letting go of Lili's arm. "That thing returned today, didn't it?" he punched the bridge between his eyes as Lily saw the Elf's eye twitch.
"Please, do not address her as such."
Drake snorted, looking at the corner of the kitchen a familiar gray head peeking a little. "The fact that you know who I am talking about means you at least recognize her as such deep down. What do you think?"
"I think it's rather rude you don't even consider me human!" Syr Flova finally popped her head off the corner, pouting with slightly narrowed eyes.
He scanned her whole face, looking for traces of a scar as evidence of the reason she had been absent for so long. '… please tell me that's not just it.' he thought, noticing a very well-healed little scar on her forehead; one that no one with a bad eye would ever notice.
"Here I am cooking for you as proof as my miraculous return-"
"You scratched your face, get over it already you damn drama queen."
"-and you just disregard me in every sense, you are too cruel." Syr finished, not paying attention to his interruption despite her twitching eye. "Also, I will have you know I have been practicing!"
Drake just stared boredly at the cheerful waitress, his eyes moving slightly up to see the Darkness lying detection in play.
False/False
To be honest, he was kind of surprised he got a double negative of her, and at the same time he wasn't.
"May!" he decided to ignore her and look at the entrance of the back of the pug.
"She came into the kitchen while I was on break nya~!" the head chef shouted from the kitchen. "Blame the spineless cowards who let her in the first place."
He sighed as he heard multiple groans coming from the kitchen.
"So, will you eat it? Or are you going to let this poor maiden's effort go to waste?"
Not just Drake, but even Ryuu rolled their eyes. The Elf gave a look that could be translated as 'just get it over with.'
"Only because I don't want the ingredients to go to waste."
Syr tilted her head to the side in delight as they saw him pick up his fork to eat, but someone had to put her two valis on the topic.
"Um…" all looked at Lily. "Lily would like to know if this is edible?"
"…" Ryuu's jaw was left half-open, hoping her instincts as an Adventurer could help her come up with something out of her mouth; too bad all of her experience couldn't sort out any kind of bullshit to convince the girl.
"Lily would like to speak with the manager."
The former Noble held the urge to snort, seeing as both waitresses paled at his Supporter's request.
"You know… I think I might actually give you that raise." Lily's eyes sparkled at him at his sudden proclamation; if there was a time to be a Karen, she was damn sure it was this one.
"Oh. I didn't notice you have a da-"
"Let me stop you right there." The blonde interrupted her without mercy at her attempt to derail the conversation, noticing her forced smile once she noticed the not Pallum. "She's just my supporter, and it's all strictly professional." Lily nodded solemnly. "Also, I don't do underage nor women that are shorter than this." He made a motion with his hand, making the Supporter scowl at him.
"Lily feels really offended by that last comment." No one commented on that as Syr looked at him intrigued.
"I had the idea that you were someone who would look past appearances." Ryuu closed her eyes in a solemn way.
"I may be a lot of things, but I am not gonna tolerate being labeled a cradle robber, pervert, or pedophile, unlike some people." Both waitresses and long looked to the side to see Chloe Rollo sneezing just in time before addressing each other again.
"You may have a point there."
"Of course I do, you perverted Elf." Ryuu's stoic expression faltered for a moment, not being able to hide her blush as she recalled the incident in Rivira, effectively shutting her up for the rest of the conversation.
"That still doesn't answer my previous question, what exactly is your type?" Now he had to deal with the Hostess's most annoying waitresses. But just when he was about to discard Syr's whole presence, someone else butted in their talk.
"He likes women who are strong; personality included, big breasts and short hair is also a plus."
Drake's eye twitched as he gave his thoughts about the subject before turning around.
"Did you manage to establish contacts with my brothers somehow without my knowledge? Because they have a similar idea about my supposed taste in women, Tsubaki." He replied, turning around to nearly deadpan at her appearance; it was a mess, something all patrons and workers in the Hostess seemed to agree to.
Her hair was drenched, and since it wasn't raining it was sure to assume she got off a bath without properly drying herself up. There was also the fact that her one single visible eye had a massive bag under it, a clear indication of sleep deprivation. But the thing that bothered Drake the most, were the never before seen bandages wrapping her hands all the way to her elbows.
"Go ahead, say it." she voiced with a serious expression on her face, waiting for her friend to state the obvious.
"You look like shit."
The Blacksmith shrugged. "Went on a straight three days and nights of marathon. Just got over it recently."
Drake raised an eyebrow. "And your hair is drenched because…?"
"Because my maids forced me to take a bath the moment I left my damn forge." she rolled her eye. Had it not been she saw reason after all of them stated she stunk; she wouldn't have accepted.
"And you left right after your waitresses finished giving you a bath, not caring one bit about drying your hair."
Tsubaki snorted as she got closer. "Who do you think I am? A woman who would make a fuss over a broken nail?"
"No," he stated blandly, looking over his shoulder at a certain gray head. "But I can easily think of someone who would?"
He ignored Syr's pout as Tsubaki stood between Drake and Lily.
"I need you tomorrow for something. I don't care what Mia says, I am dragging you with me if I have to." Drake narrowed his eyes, contrary to the rest close by due to the sudden serious expression on the blacksmith's face.
"I take it you managed to achieve something."
The corner of her lips moved upward. "Obviously."
"Oh! Did you manage to forge some kind of amazing weapon, Miss Collbrande?"
She looked at Syr. "We shall see about that tomorrow," Tsubaki replied, taking note of the food served in front of her, making her stomach growl in the process.
"I take it you barely ate anything during those three days, huh?"
"Only bread and water between processes." She took Lily's fork without hesitation. "But not anymore!"
"Wai-!" Lily tried to stop her, only to fail as she saw the horror as the face of the Captain of the Hephaestus Familia started to contort in an unnatural way.
"Oh, don't exaggerate. My food isn't that terrible." Syr whined, seeing as Tsubaki rested her forearms on the counter to not fall down on the floor, forcing her to swallow the food before glaring at Syr.
"You cooked this!" The waitress nodded happily. "Did you even bother tasting it!?"
Syr crossed her arms and raised her chest proudly. "A great chef never tests her creations, isn't that right Ryuu?"
The Elf sighed as she nodded, feeling guilt for enabling her friends' antics. "You also shouldn't taste other people's food without permission, Miss Collbrande."
A vein started to pop on the blacksmith's forehead before she let her forehead rest on the counter, eyeing Drake with malicious intent in mind.
"… Ok. I am down for it." everyone but Tsubaki looked at him in confusion, especially when he picked up his fork full of food, making Syr smile in delight as it seemed he was gonna take a taste of her food.
How wrong she was; as no one noticed Tsubaki picking up Lily's fork full of food once more.
The next thing Syr knew was how Tsubaki had easily inserted the eating utensil in her mouth thanks to her Level Five-speed while Drake did the same with Ryuu. Truth be told, the Elf had blushed at the blonde's sudden action. Too bad it didn't last too long, their faces started to contort once the taste of the food invaded their mouths.
"Accomplices also get judged, Ryuu." His statement was barely heard as both waitresses ran to the bathroom, holding their hands over their mouths while trying not to stumble in the process.
"Anyway…" he looked at Tsubaki, who was drinking a glass of water as if her life depended on it. "Don't worry about Mia, she gave me the full week off."
The blacksmith raised an eyebrow before she snorted. "You poor thing. I bet you were bored as hell."
"Something like that." He eyed Lily for a moment before addressing his friend again. "I will meet you here in the morning if you so wish. However, I want to ask you for something in exchange."
"Anything." She stated with a serious expression.
"Go to bed."
Tsubaki lost her balance for a moment at his request, especially by how bland it sounded.
"It's a fucking miracle you even decided to blink during those three days. You are already free, so take the chance to rest."
"But it's barely past noon!" she complained, almost whining.
"And I don't give a shit. Go to bed, Tsubaki. Or I will make you."
"But-!"
Drake raised his finger, effectively interrupting her before she sighed in defeat.
"Fine…" her stomach growled. "… Can I at least get something decent to eat first?"
Drake sighed before he stood up, and pickup up both of Syr's plates. "I will bring you something as well, Lily."
The supporter nodded as he disappeared into the corner, leaving Lily alone with Tsubaki; the latter looked at Lily with a raised eyebrow.
"… And you are?"
Drake tossed Syr's food in the trash, and none of the members of the kitchen staff dared to look at him for allowing the waitress to cook something. He was about to see what he could prepare, only to sigh in exasperation as he heard Tsubaki's shout all the way from the pub.
"Why the fuck do you of all people need a supporter!?"
"So, that's how it is." Tsubaki pondered out loud, as the party of three that consisted of Drake, his supporter, and herself headed to Rivira.
She thought the way there would be a little more hectic, seeing how the Dungeon had a hate boner for her friend; but today, it seemed that wasn't the case.
"Should I be worried about you and your brothers going on another walk as you did with Aeshma?"
"Assume I will. Contrary to that red-haired God, I had yet to know why he would task one of his children to tail me and get personal information out of me."
Tsubaki simply hummed at his reply, crossing her arms behind her head before looking back. There she saw the small supporter carrying her newly forged weapons with a little bit of struggle.
"I still don't see the reason for bringing her with us." She looked at him. "Nor force her to carry out my weapons."
"I am waiting for something." she raised an eyebrow, knowing there was a hidden meaning behind his words, but decided not to ask for it. "As for the second;" she didn't know why, but she just knew he was smirking behind his scarf. "If I am gonna pay her, she might as well do her job as she should, right?"
The corner of the blacksmith's lips turned into a half smirk before she scowled, looking once again over her shoulder to stare at the supporter straight in her eyes before mouthing in a very clear way 'drop them and I kill you.'
Lili gulped out instinctively.
She had been walking several feet away from the two; so, she wasn't able to hear what they were talking about. Not that she really had the focus for it anyway, seeing as she was carrying three wrapped-up weapons with her bare hands; each one bigger and heavier than the rest.
But even so, Liliruca Arde would prefer this any day than being literally dragged through the Dungeon by her 'Boss', while being chased by a horde of monsters.
"No, no, no…Hell no!"
Drake sighed as he and Tsubaki stared at a rather pale Bors.
"How much I am gonna have to bribe you this time?" the blonde asked, pulling a rather big bag of Valis off his jacket's pocket.
"…How do you keep doing that?" Bors asked, seeing as previous times; the bag was way too big for it to be kept inside a mere pocket. However, the eye-patched man shook his head, focusing on the current subject at hand.
"It's not a matter of money-"
"Bullshit." Both Drake and Tsubaki stated blandly.
"You are asking me to stay quiet about you two facing the Goliath!?" The problem was a little more complicated than just that, seeing as Bors didn't really want to go into detail.
The Monster Rex had already been defeated recently by Loki Familia, so it was still too soon for it to spawn again. But seeing as the pair of unhinged individuals claimed they were going to fight it, it could only mean he was gonna force it to come out; and that could be dangerous for everyone else.
Ever since the incident with the Abnormal Goliath over a month ago, Bors couldn't help but debate with himself whether the blonde in front of him was a God breaking the rules or not; in the end, he always discarded the idea for various reasons.
But that still didn't discard the fact that he was an anomaly. The fact that he managed to beat Udaeus not too long ago helped him confirm that even more.
So, knowing nothing normal happened whenever he was around, let him easily believe he could make another Goliath spawn before its usual time. But even worse, he couldn't help but consider… What if it was another Abnormal?
Even if the Unknown and the Cyclops could beat it like last time; he couldn't let that happen as the de facto leader of Rivira.
"Besides!" he raised his voice. "What about the rest of Rivira!? Are you gonna deprive Rivira of another chance of a group raid like Loki Familia did?" That gathered the attention of many Adventurers, some scowling at the memory of Bete Loga ditching their complaints seeing his Familia decided it was a good idea to just beat the Monster Rex without any warning.
"Hey, hey, hey. Don't compare me to those damn clowns." Drake replied, knowing Bors could pull something like this to avoid asking for a favor. But he was already prepared for this situation. "Tell you what. Seeing as I will be taking everyone's chance to raid the Goliath…"
'Even though I am the one that's gonna make it spawn.'
"Why don't I give all of you a sort of compensation?"
Bors paled greatly, seeing as he pointed at the roof of a nearby establishment so everyone could see a young girl holding several bags of Valis. "Lily, do the thing."
The Pallum in disguise shed tears of misery as she threw the bags in the air; each with a loose knot that opened up while being airborne, making Valis rain on the whole street. To her the simple act of giving money away. It was like an act of sacrilege.
Meanwhile, Bors could only stare as every Adventurer in Rivira started to raise their hands and kneel on the ground to pick up as much money as they could.
"I take it with this your silence has been bought?"
"Sir, yes sir!" Every Adventurer sans Bors shouted, leaving the latter simply staring at the two responsible individuals for this whole mess before extending his hand.
"… May I please have that bag as well?" he asked in such a defeated tone that it almost made Drake feel bad for him.
"Relaaaaax," Tsubaki said as Drake handed Bors the bag of Valis. "I am just gonna test some new weapons and be done with the Goliath, nothing bad is gonna happen." She replied as both started to walk away. "You just jinxed it." Bors simply stared as they kept having their conversation. "Meh. The worst thing that could happen is us destroying the damn floor."
It was a good thing that Bors had accepted that bag of Valis, because his tab at the bar might go overboard with how much he was gonna need to drink.
"I will be taking this," Drake stated, taking off the two biggest weapons out of Lili's grasp.
"What about this one?" Lily asked, referring to what she guessed was a katana judging by its curve and length.
"Take care of it while we do the testing." Not only Lily's but also Tsubaki's eyes widened, although for several reasons.
"Now wait a se-" The blacksmith's words died in her mouth the moment Drake raised his hand while only showing his back. She didn't want to leave her creations in the hands of a thief/spy in disguise, but she was gonna have to trust him on this.
"It's too dangerous for you to go with us, especially since I am not entirely sure how the results are going to be."
"But Boss, why not take this one as well?" Lily asked, not really complaining about staying behind to avoid imminent danger; even if that decision went against her objective.
"Don't worry about it." He waved his hand nonchalantly before he started walking away with the two weapons, but not before Tsubaki pointed at her narrowed eye and then at Lily.
There was no need for words to understand that was a warning.
So, Liliruca Arde sighed in defeat as she went to look for a pub to stay at in the meanwhile, not realizing various pairs of eyes were on her.
"I am not gonna ask what exactly you are thinking or planning," Tsubaki said as they arrived at the Seventeenth floor. "But could you please not involve my creations in it?"
"I did this for a lot of reasons; mainly, it's because I didn't want her to see what we are about to do." Tsubaki frowned, seeing no faults in his arguments since both knew that Lily was spying on him. Showing what her new weapons could do would be detrimental to her in the long run since it was meant to be a secret.
"And the other reason, is it related to why you left one of my weapons with her?"
He narrowed his eyes.
"To get unwanted eyes off us."
Tsubaki's eye slowly widened in realization. "… We were being tailed?"
He shook his head. "No. I felt various eyes on us the moment we stepped into Rivira. Sadly, since there were a lot of Adventurers in the area, I couldn't pinpoint from which Familia they were from."
She scowled. "So you used the girl as bait to keep others from spying on us at the moment- no, scratch that, you used my weapon as bait." He could feel the anger in her tone and in all honesty, it was deserved.
But even so, despite how she felt; Drake pointed down with his index finger, making her raise an eyebrow for a moment before she did as he indicated. It took her a moment, but her eye widened slightly as she noticed something was missing.
"… Where's your shadow?"
"I tasked my brothers to take care of the problem." He sighed. "Which one will be taking the mantle of babysitter… I do not know." He stated, making Tsubaki feel a little relieved seeing the blonde had stated each was as strong as him, if not stronger if certain conditions were met.
However, she couldn't help but feel confused.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"They couldn't decide which one would be better for the job," he pinched the bridge between his eyes. "And they couldn't come to a valid decision either through reasoning… so they opted to imagine a magic eight ball, which they baptized as Seer to decide for them."
Tsubaki nodded, even though she was still confused about one thing.
"… the fuck is a magic eight ball?"
Drake facepalmed. "Let's just carry on." opting not to answer her question.
"Good enough for me!" she shouted enthusiastically, taking off one of the wrappings from one of the weapons to reveal a massive red curved blade with glyphs on both sides of it. Its metal flowed with a red Aura, It was almost as if watching the surface of the ocean in its natural state. And one thing was for certain; it made it look alive, just like the tools he forged for her and Hephaestus. But he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the rather weird handle.
"Do your thing then."
He nodded, taking a deep breath as his black Aura embraced him, raising it little by little until it would stand close enough to the edge line of his mortal and divine territory so the Dungeon would react. And so, it did, as the room turned into shades of red as the crystal wall was easily shattered by a massive dark fist.
"Great!/Great." Tsubaki grinned madly. "An Abnormal!/An Abnormal." While Drake just cursed his luck.
The blacksmith held the long blade in hand; Drake could see how a red Aura ran through it, lighting up all the glyphs on the side of the blade.
"Test One-" she pulled the blade back with both hands before making a swinging motion; as if it were a baseball bat. "-is a GO!"
Despite how much strength Tsubaki had put in such an action, what was shot off the blade was a decent-sized wave of energy, almost similar to a normal [Azure Edge]. However, while the attack flew towards the incoming Monster Rex, Drake analyzed with a tilted head the combination of Glyphs Tsubaki had used.
"… Oh." He exclaimed, just as a massive explosion occurred to the side. He eyed where the Goliath was supposed to be, only to see a massive body -or rather half of one- falling a few feet away.
"Not bad for a Level One, huh?" Tsubaki gave him an excited grin while looking at the glyphs one more time.
The ones on the side of the blade were a combination that stated the output of explosive energy on the sword; the reason it had been so small when it was shot off the blade, was because all the force and energy was being contained, being only released once the energy made contact with the target. Besides that, there was also an enhancing glyph that augmented the force of the explosion. But what got his attention the most, was the rather odd design on the side handle; there were two glyphs that looked like they were designed as if they were-
"Slots." He came to the conclusion. "You put slots in a damn weapon."
"Pretty clever, huh?"
To be honest, it was; especially since he could guess what one of them could do. it was in apposition which glyph could be easily translated as 'X1'.
"The first one is a multiplier." She nodded, and both looked at the damage done to the Abnormal. The damage had been so big it had obliterated more than half of his body, leaving the crystal exposed as the body regenerated; which was amazing for a mere Level One attack of the blade, seeing as both remembered how sturdy the skin of the Abnormal was.
"Now, imagine how much damage I could do at a higher multiplier?" both watched as most of the damage was already regenerated at an amazing speed.
"What's the biggest one?"
"Five."
Drake whistled, showing his little amazement at her creation.
"So… what do you think? Go on ahead, grade it."
"Seven out of ten."
Her jaw dropped. She knew of his reasoning for never giving a max punctuation to something, but she expected at least an eight for being her first try.
"It's a damn explosive sword; the basic 'to-go weapon' whenever someone wants to think of what kind of weapons they would want to use."
"… Ok, you have a point." She clapped her fingers at him. "However, I did it mostly to compare it to the output of a Crozzo Magic sword."
His mind went to the redhead he met during the visit to Tsubaki's mansion. He had studied many things besides the Dungeon in his free time; the world, fauna, locations of importance, and some of its most historical events and figures. One of them was the Crozzo bloodline; famous for their creation of Magic Weapons due to a dependency on spirit blood in their veins.
Drake couldn't say if Tsubaki had succeeded in her attempts, given that he had never seen their power in person.
"Do you think you succeeded?"
"Hmm… I don't know… do you think a swing with the same power would set a massive forest full of Elves on fire?"
She received a rather narrowed look in response.
"Tsubaki."
"I am kidding." She wasn't, but it was just a rhetorical question either way.
"Anyway, what about the second slot?" he asked after a tiring sigh, taking a second look to see the Glyph translated as 'Explosion' on it.
"Oh," she said, just as Goliath's roar got their attention. The Monster Rex was already on its feet, charging at them as Tsubaki rolled the slot to change the glyph; he could barely see it, but he managed to translate the top of it simply as 'Especial'.
"You are being really specific with those names."
"Oh, just shut up and watch!" She took a samurai stance as the edge of the blade started to glow. She made five directional slashes, releasing a red blade-like projectile that severed the Monster from its four limbs and head as if it was made of butter.
"… A concentrated slash which heats can cut through things easily… but I can't seem to see how it fits with an explosive sword." He eyed the glyph again, raising an eyebrow at something that confused him. "The fuck did you add a timer for?"
"… Never mind." He watched at the last second before it happened. Several familiar Artes Glyph appeared on each of the severed parts of the body, and in each of the open wounds on the body, counting up to ten explosions in total.
Both heard a massive object crashing into the ground, waiting for the smoke to clear to see the Monster Rex's crystal; still intact and barely covered in flesh that was starting to regenerate, but at a much slower rate.
"Still a Seven out of Ten?" she asked with a smug smirk before stabbing the blade into the ground.
"Don't expect me to change my grades, you bitch." He could hear a very audible 'tch' as she looked away.
"Anything else that blade can do?" he asked, seeing her wrap up the first weapon.
"Not at the moment." She started to unwrap the second one, a war hammer that had glyphs all over its heats as Lightning sparks danced around it.
"Somehow I am surprised seeing how your Familia symbol consists of Hammers… but you made its element Lightning?"
"I already made a flame-related weapon, I just thought of the second element that came to mind." She voiced with a shrug.
"Actually, some say Lightning is also called-"
"The cold-blooded fire, I know, I know…" The Blacksmith rolled her eye, realizing she pretty much was thinking of Fire when she started forging the hammer.
"I think I am gonna start questioning your creativity from now on." he rubbed his chin through his scarf; she was pretty sure he was mocking her. "I also seem to recall Hephaestus saying something about your naming convent-"
"Ok, fuck off Drake." She pointed the hammer at him, making him feel the Electric energy field surrounding it. "Or perhaps you would like to be the test subject for this baby?"
He snorted. "And what exactly does this do? Hit things very hard?" Despite his joking, it would be incredibly detrimental for him to be hit by the weapon; mainly because Tsubaki's Dragon Slayer skill would make it something incredibly painful, if not deadly. But the blacksmith was too annoyed to realize that.
"Well… yes- I mean-" she groaned, knowing Drake already knew what the Hammer did due to the Glyphs around it. "Just let me have the damn it!"
The Former Noble shrugged as Tsubaki walked up to the currently healing Goliath; who to his surprise was not only panting after its head had completely regenerated; but also seemed to be in a state of panic as its eyes focused on the rather ominous Hammer resting of Tsubaki's shoulder.
"What do you know? I actually made something worthy of their fear."
The Monster Rex seemed to start panting as it tried to stand up again, only to fall on its face due to the lack of notice that its legs had yet to fully regenerate. So, in a rather newfound state of panic, the giant used his arms to start crawling in any direction that wasn't the one its imminent death was coming from in the form of a very eager blacksmith.
"Oh, where are you going!?" Tsubaki grinned madly, using her speed as a Level Five to catch up with it. She quickly made a slight leap as she ran, swinging her hammer with moderate strength.
From a simple and rather ignorant point of view, if someone said the Hammer only hit hard… they would be right. However, for someone with good eyes, that was a different story.
Drake's eyes narrowed as he saw the whole thing in slow motion. The Hammer released an electric power field the moment it made contact with the Goliath; he could see how the field of energy eradicated, piece by piece, the monster's tissue before it was sent flying.
"… I still rate it poorly for lack of originality."
"Can you please let me have this!?"
He mentally snorted at her reaction, which was well warranted. The explosive blade from before had more functionality than the hammer. But creating a weapon capable of generating that kind of energy was not something simple, especially by Orario's standard.
*CRACK*
However, there was something that was bothering him a little bit; the very distinct sound of something breaking.
"Baki." He raised his voice loud enough with a tone of inquiry, only so she would know he wasn't messing with her.
"Yeah!?" She didn't bother looking at him and instead focused on the beaten-up Monster with no legs that was now crawling its body to look straight at the blacksmith.
"Mind filling me up with the process you used forging the hammer?"
Tsubaki stopped midtrack, before turning around with a very confused look.
"Humor me." He said, before pointing at the monster behind her. "Also, beam."
Her eye narrowed as she hastily pushed her hammer forward just as the Goliath shot a beam from its mouth. The beam was easily suppressed by the force field the moment its attack made contact with the hammer.
*CRACK*
"I just forged the hammer using the tools you gave me and then proceeded to make the glyphs, why?"
Drake internally groaned as he saw his friend charging at the Monster Rex without mercy, making him internally wince as the sound continued to echo.
*CRACK*
"Not bad for a first try, I suppose." He sighed as he took off his scarf before attaching it to his right forearm.
"What!?" Tsubaki shouted, not really listening to anything but the sound created whenever her Hammer pulverized more and more of the Goliath.
*CRACK*
But that one final time, she heard it.
Her eye narrowed as she eyed the head of the hammer for a moment.
*CRACK*
Several cracks on it started to become visible, but it wasn't on the edges. No, these cracks seemed to come from the inner part of the hammer. "… Shit," she thought out loud, realizing what her mistake had been when forging the hammer. But it wasn't time for that right now, seeing as the hammer and its cracks started to glow brightly while the force field around it started to become unstable.
"Take co- huh!?" she was about to toss the hammer as far as she could, but the sudden sensation of something wrapping up around her waist stopped her mid-movement. She didn't have time to look down as she was suddenly pulled back with ease, dropping the unstable hammer near the Goliath in the process.
Tsubaki didn't have time to say anything as she noticed she was being pulled by Drake's scarf. She wanted to argue back once she felt Drake catching her up after being pulled back, but his next action made her whole ability to think crash as she suddenly found herself in his embrace after turning her away from where the hammer was.
It reminded her of the first time they fought together when he did the very same thing to take the incoming first of a Goliath. Her eye widened in realization of what he was doing given the situation.
She was about to protest, but he beat her to it.
"Cover your ears and close your eyes." He said, just as she managed to see an intense light over his shoulder. She opted to do as told, but even so, the intensity of the explosion was so much that she almost felt blinded despite having both of her eyes covered. And the sound wasn't any better, as even after the explosion had happened, she felt a little distorted.
Drake now held both of her shoulders; she couldn't make out what he was saying. Her sight was a little blurry and could barely hear anything for a while.
"-you ok?" she nodded slowly, finally having a better grasp of her senses before sitting on the floor, rubbing the side of her head as she looked around.
"… Holy shit." her jaw dropped slightly as she saw the massive hole made where she had left the hammer. But that was just the tip of the iceberg as the Goliath was completely gone, not even its crystal remained.
The rest of the floor was not in a better shape seeing as even most of the crystal wall around the room had been completely torn apart by the energy explosion.
"… Are you ok?" she asked, still awestruck by the level of destruction left in the room.
"Better than you." He sat next to her, just as her eye caught a glint of green sparks dancing around his body.
'Right… he can absorb lightning.' She thought, recalling some of his explanations in the early days after they met. She mentally thanked her Goddess, seeing as nothing bad happened due to her mistake…
"Fuck." She cursed herself, rubbing the side of her head out of annoyance.
"It looks like I don't have to explain what you did wrong."
He didn't.
She realized her mistake the moment she saw the cracks coming from the inside of the hammer.
From her point of view, that hammer had been her best creation up to date without even applying the runes; seeing as she was able to make it so it had an Aura thanks to Drake's tools. No, her mistake hadn't been in the runes, but in the design of the hammer itself.
The runes she applied worked so a force field of electricity would be created at contact. That would mean the energy would run through the whole head of the hammer, including its inner part. This resulted in the inner structure of the hammer degrading with every hit as some residual energy accumulated with every hit, making it more unstable in the process.
Drake saw her looking down at the crystal floor with a very dangerous gaze before she sighed and shrugged. "Well… it is what it is." She rubbed the back of her neck. "I will just have to do better next time."
"… for a second I thought you were gonna throw a temper tantrum."
She scowled at his mocking expression. "Who do you take me for? I am a grown-ass woman, not a damn blacksmith novice." She mentally cursed herself for making a comment about her age, but he opted to not make a comment about it.
"I have no doubts about that, but first-" he suddenly grabbed one of her bandaged arms, making her eye widen as he started to remove them. "I am gonna deal with this."
The blonde narrowed his eyes, cursing himself at the state her hands were in; completely swollen and black. "I overlooked the fact that you don't have any Aura, so the wave of Aura created by the forging hammer would naturally harm you… why didn't you say anything, you stupid cunt?"
Tsubaki just looked at him with a blank face before answering, annoyance clear in her tone. "Oh, I don't know… maybe because someone willingly mutilated himself and put his hand inside a furnace full of divine fire to forge my tools."
Drake internally groaned, blaming Hephaestus seeing she was the only one who could have told her.
"It's not a competition."
Tsubaki diverged her gaze from his; as if she wanted to avoid being scolded.
"… I just didn't want to bitch about it after what you went through because of me."
Drake internally sighed. "Give me your other hand." she reluctantly did as asked before he placed his hand over both of hers before green energy came out of his palm. "[Healing Wind]"
The blacksmith let out a comforting sigh as she felt a nice breeze embracing her hands, healing them completely.
"… I thought you said you have a shitty relationship with magic." Her remark was met by the blonde spitting some blood off his mouth.
"I do." he tried not to look at her, not wanting to see a very judgmental look she was giving him.
"Is it too much to ask you to look after yourself?"
"Tsubaki, whatever damage you think I feel now, it's nothing compared to the many things I went through." She knew this. He had already commented nonchalantly once he had been put through a torture session under the group Adam Taurus used to be a part of. And there were also those divine wounds on his body.
"That still doesn't mean you should just proceed to harm yourself like a goddamn masochist."
"… Without sacrifice, there's no victory. If I have to pay or suffer a little to achieve something in the long run, then I would say it was something worth it." She was about to argue about the state of her hands, but Drake beat her to it. "What you did, however, was just plain stupid. You're a blacksmith for fucks sake, what are you gonna forge with, your damn feet?"
She cringed, but still couldn't say anything to refute his reasoning. She ran her hands through her face in exasperation. "So, you are saying that if you had to chop off your damn arm for my benefit, would you?"
"Yes."
Tsubaki Collbrande hated the fact that his answer came in a heartbeat.
"For someone who denies his divinity with a passion, your lack of common sense when it comes to your wellbeing is very fucking worrying."
"I don't know if you recall, but I did say I would help you succeed. And if I had to do something others consider drastic, then so be it; because I know I can heal in the end."
If Tsubaki didn't feel guilty before, now she sure as hell did. And the worst part of it all was, that a part of her was grateful, yet unremorseful for what he did.
'I really am a piece of shit.' She thought, remembering that every Adventurer was known for having a certain darkness in them due to their experience; it was now that Tsubaki was being conscious of her own darkness.
"… Can you at least please assure me that whatever gloves you will make for me won't involve more mutilation or self-harm?"
"…" he suddenly raised his pinky, his stern face still in place. "You want me to…pinky promise?"
"Oh, fuck off." She tried to be serious about it, but now she couldn't help but snort at such a childish notion, but decided to indulge in it in the end.
"I am just gonna need the bloody chisel, the forging hammer, and a good pair of gloves, nothing more."
She sighed in relief before both stood up from the ground. "Shame I never got to test my third weapon… we can always go and see if the Amphisbaena has-"
"Not happening." He said, ignoring her pout as both started to head back down to Rivira, only for Tsubaki to notice Drake had stopped walking.
"…What?" she asked, noticing he was pinching the bridge between his eyes.
"Well… at least I know which of my brothers was chosen by the 'mighty' Seer."
"Was it a bad roll?" She couldn't help but be worried seeing how annoyed he seemed.
"Not at all. It's the two Adventurers he's dealing with that annoy me."
She raised an eyebrow, her question to him was an obvious one.
"Here's a hint; not too long ago, Lloyd and I threw some shovels at her…" he titled his head. "Ring any bell?"
"… fucking-" Tsubaki groaned, not expecting her of all people to be mentioned in someway in her business in any form or shape. "-Freya"
Liliruca Arde held the sheath of a rather dangerous blade with her trembling and bloodied hands, watching with fearful eyes at the two cloaked Adventurers; both of which she recognized by appearance, before her. A royal blonde Elf, and a Royal Dark Elf; both execute members of the Freya Familia.
However, Lili's focus wasn't on the two highly dangerous Elves; but rather, on the man standing between her and the two Elves.
For a moment she thought it was her Boss seeing as he also had blonde hair. However, the color of his jacket and hairstyle was different. But even so, his most notorious difference at the moment was the tattoo of the number Six on the back of his right palm.
"Who dares? Who are you to interfere with our Goddess's holy task!? Identify yourself, mongrel!"
The blonde man just sighed. "Great… I am dealing with someone with the eighth-grader syndrome…" he ran his hand through his hair. "As for who I am," his dark green eyes glowed at them. "I am just a rather amazing Guy."