Remember how I said I'd only be able to 'brush' the other character's stories?
Chapter 30
Something about our smith was different tonight. The usually upbeat, laid back smith had his 'working on something' face, but he wasn't at the forge. Of the many things I'd noticed about him, he left the serious thinking back in the shop, a 'leave work at work' sort of man.
Stepping into the shop, he waited until I entered and actually locked the door behind him. Very unusual.
"Okay. I'll bite. Something is up." I said, raising an eyebrow at him as he turned away from the door.
"Over here." He walked over to the metalworking corner of our workshop, and sat down on the thin cushion he used when he worked the anvil. I knelt across from him in silence, knowing that when he wanted to speak, he would.
He reached into a small box, and put two objects on the anvil. One, a dagger hilt, with about ten centimetres of opal white blade that ended at an odd angle. The other, was twenty or so centimetres of blade with no hilt that tapered to a perfect point. He motioned for me to look at them, and after a quick look, I knew two things.
This was certainly Welf's work. His smith mark was tapped into the metal at the base of the blade. And second, someone had cut this blade. Not broken. Instead of a sort of jagged rough spot where the two fragments fit together, they were both glass smooth.
"I know you aren't really the person to ask when it comes to weapon quality." He started, holding up a hand to stall my comment, "You have an eye for it, but since you don't test them, or use them, or even pick them up unless you really have to..."
"Fair." I relented. Often, he would ask me to run an eye over his work. I was quick to notice and mention anything that looked like it might be a flaw. I was wrong most of the time, but every so often, I'd point to something, ask 'is that supposed to be there/look like that?' and be right that it was a flaw. "I remember Bell really liking this one. Good balance, fine edge, excellent point."
"He blocked a simple swing from another smith's weapon, and it ended up like that." Welf said with a frown. "Tsubaki, the captain of Hephaestus Familia."
I thought a moment, "Fairly tall, eye patch, Eastern?" I thought of the lady who simply said 'she's here' to Goddess Hephaestus that one time I visited.
"Yeah. She's a friendly sort. But keeps telling me I'll never achieve my goal, if I refuse to make magic sword." He sighed and watched me put the two blade bits back down.
"That goal being?"
"Every potential member of Hephaestus Familia, after they have proven they are a capable smith, is taken to a room. There, Lady Hephaestus herself shows them a single weapon. A blade she forged, with no divine ability, no special magic. The absolute height of a mortal's skill." His eyes clouded over, looking off somewhere into the distance, "If that blade doesn't inspire that smith, then they are rejected. Unfit for the Familia."
"And you were inspired then?" I watched his eyes refocus on me, his mouth showing that familiar grin.
"Of course. I'd bet even you'd wish you weren't cursed so you could use that blade. She showed me the limit of mortal skill. But I looked at that, and thought, 'I will do better.'"
It was rare to see him passionate about something. He loved his work, that much was obvious, but the look on his face now was something else. "Oh..." I said with a smile of my own, "I think I get it now."
He blinked, snapped out of his moment of grand thought, and I continued, "You're chasing after them both, aren't you? The blade, and its maker." I paused, "Oh... I think I broke him."
My teasing had made him blush as dark as his hair, and he tried to deflect my comment, but he ended up mimicking Bell's 'stuttering idiot'. "But how did you know that?" He managed finally.
"A few things. Your look when you speak of her, HER look when I mentioned entering a contract with you... That sort of thing. You certainly don't think small do you?"
"Ah... I can't get anything by you can I?" He lamented.
"So," I waved my hand in the air as if to clear that topic, "You think Tsubaki might be right?"
"I... I still hate magic sword. I understand it is something I can do. But I just hate the idea of making a weapon that will break." He was looking down at his clenched fist, his voice frustrated. "But can I surpass that ultimate craft, of what a immortal hand made with purely mortal skill?"
I frowned thoughtfully, choosing my words carefully before opening my mouth to speak. "Honestly, no, I don't think so." This time I held up my had to stall his comment, "If you were a cook, who never used a certain food or spice, could you ever master the art of cooking? If you were a painter who never used red, or a writer who never used certain words, could you ever become a master?"
I still had my hand up, even though he really wanted to say something, "If you have the ability as a smith, to do something as a smith, and refuse to, can you ever master the art?"
He bowed his head in thought, his comment dying on his lips.
"Since coming here, I've seen amazing things. Weapons that can cleave stone like bread. Animals that dwarf anything I'd ever seen before. People greater than legends walking the street eating potato puffs." I grinned, "So I say, if a magic sword is meant to break, maybe you can make one that doesn't?"
He blinked at me, "But they always do! No matter what!"
"Inferior blades made by hack smiths." I goaded him, "That jerk Hyakinthos had a blade that he could set on fire."
"That's different. That's an enchanted blade, not a magic one."
"pfft!" I snorted at him, "You are thinking like a hammer again." I tried to make my voice sound like Lilly's, "Your first ever blade probably looked like a butter knife with a jagged edge." I hoped I wasn't right, or teasing him too hard, "But now? Look at this? Even broken, I could shave with this." I motioned to the knife on the anvil.
He stopped in mid hand motion, a protest unspoken on his lips, and settled into a thoughtful face again.
"I'm no expert. But what if an enchanter, is someone who doesn't have enough magic to make a magic sword?" I was trying to get him to look at things from another angle, "Instead of what you do, with that insane power of your bloodline. If you could instead, make the magic fit the vessel, instead of trying to contain it."
"I really wish you weren't cursed. You'd make an amazing weapon smith." He mumbled, "I was so wrapped up in the end result, I never really thought of the process."
"And you'll never think of it, unless you work with it." I said, taking a deep breath, thankful I didn't kick his pride in the wrong spot with my advice. "And it's not like I couldn't be a weapon smith. But I'd feel bad about handing people stuff I wouldn't know I could trust myself."
"Fair." he said, reaching over and picking up a hammer. "Want to help me replace this?" He motioned to dagger on the anvil.
"Sure." I grinned, picking up the sledge.
"You made another one? So quickly?" Bell asked the next morning when I presented him the new dagger. "It's... Almost the same..." His excitement was tempered by his professionalism, as he held the blade and moved it about with simple wrist motions.
"Welf was a little..." I couldn't think of the right word without sounding patronizing, "Well, after a bit of a chat, we made that one. I should be better than the last, even if it's a little heavier."
"Ready to get started then?" He asked, flipping the knife to a reversed grip and settling into his usual stance.
"Stretches first." I said, making the rest of our team chuckle.
"Kodori-san." Mikoto called out after we had started to disperse from our usual round of intense sparring. "Something seems different about you."
I held my tail, to try and keep it from giving me away, and wandering over to Mikoto. "What might that be?" I tried to play dumb, but I wasn't too hopeful I could pull the act off.
"You seem... Like you aren't trying as hard."
Nope... Not fooling anyone.
"Let me help you pack for your trip." I said, letting go of my tail and sighing, "I'll tell you."
A little apart from the rest, as they got their gear together for another dungeon run, I mumbled to her as I helped her with the straps on her armour. "I'm level four now." I made sure to pull on a strap just a little too hard, to make her sudden exclamation sound more like a grunt of discomfort. "Sorry."
Composing herself again quickly, she lifted an arm so I could re-buckle that strap again. "Yours and Bell's insane growth aside... Why have you not mentioned it yet?"
"Because I don't like the idea of my gain involving what it did." I replied.
We spent the next few moments in silence, then, "You do Bell no justice if you hold back. We all know his growth is because if his feelings. Chasing after Ais-san."
"I know. She's an inspiration for me too, but he's always been better than me. Even if it's just a tiny bit. I feel like if I passed him, he'd lose sight of his own goal as well."
Again, more silence.
"Mikoto-san! Almost ready?" It was Ouka, calling from across the yard.
"You know that isn't it. Bell-san is not one to get discouraged by how far he is from someone else." Then she raised her voice, waving to the rest of them, "One moment, Ouka-kun!" She took hold of my tail and ran her fingers through it as it tried to cling to her arm, "I think it will only make him try harder."
"Mikoto-san is wise." I said, retrieving my tail from her, "Good luck."
I watched them leave, Bell giving me a wave as he shut the gate behind him. Waving back, I sighed. She was right. Bell wouldn't see my surpassing him as a bad thing. He'd just try harder, work himself until he caught up. Just like every other back he followed on his path to being the hero he wanted to be.
"Well..." I mumbled to myself, "Just so long as he doesn't murder some one to do it, I won't mind him catching up."
"Lady Hestia?" I said, spotting our Goddess at the dining table, getting ready to head out to her part time job. Even with our Familia turning a good profit from heading into the dungeon, she still worked at the snack store. She was still determined to pay her massive debt to Hephaestus herself.
"Hm?" She looked over to me holding the end of one of her hair ribbons in her mouth.
"I'll walk you to work. I have to go to the guild and tell them..." That I murdered someone. In a way not even a clumsy butcher would slaughter a cow. But I didn't say that. "And that I'm level four now..."
"Sure. I'm sure Eina would like a potato puff too. Maybe bring Chime with you?" She replied, grabbing her hand bag and coming over to our little shoe area.
"Thank you." I replied.
"Eina, good morning." I said, greeting her as I stepped up to the Guild reception desk.
"Ah, Kodori. And your little friend." She greeted me and the rabbit both. The other two girls looked over as well, and I saved them the trouble of asking, and held Chime out for them to pet.
"Friends." I said to the critter before he could try and find out if they were food or not.
"I see that Ganesha Familia has visited you already." Eina said after running a hand carefully over the rabbit's head. "And you've made a harness for the tag. Good work."
"I have the skill, so I should use it right?" I smiled, "I'd like to talk about... Some things." I didn't want to say 'talk about the murder' in the main lobby.
"Ah, this way."
We walked to one of the small meeting rooms, and I sat myself down as she closed the door. I waited until she sat down to put the paper bag of potato snacks on the desk between us, "I have a few things to mention today." I said. "First, you wanted to know what happened?"
"Yes, we need a record of these things."
"You really don't want to know what happened." I said, "But, yes, I remembered what happened. And, will confirm that I did kill Phryne on the nineteenth floor, in defence of myself and my Familia." I shivered a little, petting Chime, who was sniffing at the paper bag and looking back at me.
She frowned at my evasiveness, but nodded, "If you can confirm it, I won't press you for details. You obviously don't want to go into details."
"No." I said, opening the bag and pulling out a fried potato slice, splitting it in half and offering it to Chime. "Food." I turned the opening of the bag towards Eina, who took a slice for herself, "It's... Yeah..." I sighed, nibbling on my half of the snack. "But, because I managed to do it, despite the difference in strength, in defence of my Familia and friends." I reached into my shirt and took out the bit of paper with my new status on it, sliding it across the table.
"..." Eina looked at my sheet, and seemed frozen. Chime, done with his half of the potato slice, hopped over to her, and stole what was left of hers. I waited patiently, until she seemed to come back to herself, and look at the rabbit, "That wasn't fair." She said to Chime, then to me, "I really shouldn't be surprised... But this really is..."
"I know." I replied, "It's been less than half a year, and I've reached level four."
"I have to be honest." She said to me, "As a member of the Guild, I must report certain unusual things. I was able to down play things when you and Bell reached level two as fast as you did. You both managed to beat incredible odds and survive something that has... ended... many other rookie adventurers." She sighed, "But after the war game, and you both managed to reach level three, again, at the same time."
She had to calm herself by taking another potato slice from the bag, pausing to boop Chime's nose for stealing her last one.
"I purposefully misfiled those... Not mentioning your levels to anyone, and just filing them away myself, instead of letting the records people do it. Considering you two managed to not just beat the record for level one in a fraction of the time, but reach level three in an even smaller fraction of time."
"Is it really that much of a problem?" I asked.
"Consider, that many adventurers retire happily at level two. Not just because they give up on going further, but a couple of years of hard work on the upper floors, before or around Rivera on the eighteenth, can earn more money than a lifetime outside the city." She started listing numbers for me, explaining.
Because of the dungeon, there were more powerful adventurers here, than the rest of the world combined. The perfect training ground meant lots of 'exilia', and the endless need for magic stones, and the constant supply of them, meant money was fairly abundant in Orario. But if say, someone were to save up, stay alive, and leave the city, all that extra money could buy you a comfortable living someplace else.
"The war outside is a good example. We have volunteers from some of the top Faimia dealing with the invasion, not because we need them to, but because they are bored. Only a few dozen from Freya, Loki and Ganesha Familia are out there, dealing with about 30,000 level ones and the odd level two." She let that sink in, letting me frown at the thought, "So, consider, you are now level four, and could probably handle a thousand level ones, all by yourself. Do you have any idea what some people would do for that sort of strength?"
"Yes." I replied instantly, "I do know what some people would do."
She paused, "Right... Sorry."
She'd only seen what I'd looked like after being healed from Zanis's magic sword attack.
"So, with this level of growth... People will start to wonder if you have a secret, or are somehow cheating, or if your Goddess is doing something she shouldn't, to manipulate your status. Anything a person can think of that might be 'unfair'."
"Politics." I grumbled, "If I told them I was simply trying really hard from the moment I woke up to the time I went to sleep, pausing occasionally to eat, no one would believe me, because they think they've been doing the same."
"Yes. I've met many adventurers who mention you and Bell. Some wonder if you are cheating. Others think you might be lying somehow. Others still want to see what you are capable of in person, but... There are some who look up to you, and wonder if they can't do better."
"The last group being the smallest." I said, getting a nod.
"But, I honestly don't know what to do with this..." She motioned with the paper in her hand.
"I'm sure with the war outside, there's been a whole pile of paperwork." I said sarcastically, "I mean, with all the coming and going, that pile must just keep getting taller, no matter how much you work on it."
We both shared a dark smile, "Yes, you are correct. Who knows when I might get to the last page, on the very bottom of all those reports..." She sighed, "You're a terrible influence, but at best, it gives me a week."
"Welc... ohhhhh its a rabbit!" Arnya was there to greet me as I stepped into the Hostess of Fertility. "It's so..." It was a slow day, I was here before the lunch rush.
"Friend." I said as I lifted my hand with the rabbit on it so the energetic cat girl could pet it, "It's the mascot of our Familia now, I think."
"Looks kind of like Mister Bell." Syr said as she came over to see.
"Friend." I said again, moving my hand so the two of them could share in giving the critter attention. "Its name is Chime. It followed me home from the eighteenth. I don't suppose I could get lunch?"
"Side of salad, no tomatoes." I heard Mia say from behind the bar, "Heard some of what happened." She patted her hand against the bar top and I walked over to sit in front of her. "Care to share? I worry when my girls are troubled."
I paused in mid-motion, then sighed and sat properly on the stool, putting Chime down on a coaster and running a finger down its back, "After food. It's not a very happy story."
"Sure."
So, about half way through my lunch, a truly amazing bowl of stew and fresh bread, I started my story. Ryuu had come to listen as well, and I could tell that the two cat girls were listening in as they worked, their ears turning to keep focused on me.
By the time I finished my stew, I'd gotten to the part of why I'd gone missing for a week.
"So, yes. I nearly lost, and fully expected to." I said to Mia, "Sorry."
She gave my head a pat, "But you didn't. I'm not really surprised you stood up to her though." She smiled, "You've always seemed the type."
I winced, knowing that she was only half right. "Good influence at home." I tried smiling but wasn't sure I had it right, "And I don't really think I won. Sure I returned, but I had to leave something behind to do it." I sighed, watching Chime work on a leaf happily, "Though, I had this one follow me home after I woke up again on the eighteenth."
"You said you remembered what happened?" Ryuu asked.
"I remember the fight itself, mostly. I wasn't... It was like I was simply watching some one else fight. It was me, but I was doing things I would have never considered doing before. But after that, I think I might have passed out? Maybe run down a tunnel a while?"
"Very strange." Mia said, putting away a dried mug.
"Nyaa?" Arnya made a puzzled noise as my tail avoided her wandering hand, and instead wrapped around her arm. "Hey no fair!"
We laughed as I retrieved my tail, the grim mood broken.
"So why aren't you with the rest in the dungeon today?" Chloe asked, "We saw the rest of them go in this morning."
"Lady Hestia, may her potato snacks sell out, has grounded me." I said as if quoting a holy text.
"Ohhh. But if you are grounded, you won't be able to keep up with Bell." Chloe said.
"Actually..."
"No way..." Arnya caught on instantly, "But..."
"Yeah." I sighed, "Due to what happened, I'm now level four." Just as I said this, I heard some one step in, their boots making a distinct sound on the wooden floorboards "But I'm still not happy I ended up killing Phryne to get it."
And I heard the boots turn around and leave again, my brain only catching on a moment too late.
"Crap." I said.
"You know Chime." I said to the rabbit as I walked towards one of the many shops I had to visit on the way home, "I am an idiot."
The tiny red eyes looked back at me, without judgement.
"Do you think some of the other Gods are bored and trying to mess with people from the Heavens?"
Chime rubbed a tiny paw over its head a few times, cleaning around the little horn.
"I mean, with all that's happened to me. What do you think?"
A very very tiny sneeze was my only reply.
Again, after dinner, Welf came over and pulled me aside. "I need a hand with something. How's the armour coming, by the way?"
"Sure." I replied, pausing to lean over Haruhime a moment to give her a light hug and say, "Don't wait up for me?" She nodded and I turned back to Welf, "Managed to get a little done. Was out on errands most of the time you guys were gone."
"Yeah? Good. We managed a good haul for leather today too, so we should have enough for the rest of the work." I could tell something was bothering him again. He had that distracted tone again, and he was obviously trying to make idle talk as we split off from the dinner crowd. As we got to the workshop, he again waited until I was inside before locking the door.
"Problem?" I asked, and he nodded, his face twisting up in anger.
"Stupid old man." He said with a growl.
"Where did that come from?" I asked, handing him his apron and picking up a hammer of my own. "Isn't he in... Rakia..."
"Yeah, you guessed it." He grumbled, tying the apron on and poking at the banked fires of the forge. "He and gramps are here. In the city. As well as a few other soldiers. Ever since the war game, when Ryuu and Mikoto used my magic sword, they've been planning on getting me back."
We got everything set up as he spoke, "Merchants, one or two at a time, tourists... No one really suspects that." He picked up a couple of metal ingots, weighing them in his hands before setting one down and testing a third, "He has a magic sword of his own, and says he has many more, from an old store house back in Rakia. Saved from the curse laid out on my bloodline."
He chose a metal, then went to our little storage of 'monster bits' that were usable in forging.
"And he's threatening the city, so you'll come back and bring your family to glory and wealth and blah blah blah?" I said, blinking as he handed me a stiff wired brush, "What's this for?"
"He wants me to make magic sword, fine, I'll make him magic sword." He shook the brush at me again and I took it from him, "I'll crush that old relic with my own craft and throw him over the wall." It was rare to see him genuinely angry. Flaming red hair aside, he was usually pretty level headed. "But I want your help." He looked at me and put his hands on my shoulders.
"Sure." I was surprised he put his hands on me. It wasn't that he wasn't friendly, or I was unfriendly, but he wasn't ever really one to touch women in an unprofessional manner. "What do you need?"
"Brush your tail with that. You gave me an idea, and I'm going to give that bastard a surprise he won't ever forget."
It was weird, watching the fur I'd brushed off my tail not burn, but melt into the metal. Even he was surprised at how hot the metal had to get to mix with the little black slivers. But, as we worked together to hammer the alloy of steel and various monster bits together, the blade started to take on a black glassy sheen, almost like obsidian.
Welf himself had that razor focused look he got when he threw everything into his work. I was almost as focused, sparing only a little concentration to listen to the signals he was sending with his hammer, telling me when to bring down the heavier sledge, or not. To hit the metal bar along the edge to form the edge, or the flat to shape the spine.
He even used a sort of backwards version of an idea I'd shared with him. I didn't tell him the original name I'd heard, 'hot dog in a bun', as he'd never have gotten the reference. But the general idea was to take a a softer metal and fold it over a harder one. The harder metal takes the edge, while the softer metal makes up the spine, making the blade both take an edge better, and more flexible, to reduce the risk of it shattering from a poor swing or heavy block.
We worked like that for a few hours. His only words to me after the 'thank you' for giving him a small handful of my fur, were 'make a hilt'. I did that while he finished up the blade grinding it down and polishing it up. And in the end, only a few hours before dawn, we put it all together.
The softer metal became a blade of glossy almost obsidian black. The harder spine was made of a reddish steel, and supported the black metal almost all the way to the point. The hilt, I'd made with more of the red steel, making it long enough for two big hands to hold comfortably, and wrapped in wire made of some of the left over black steel I'd swept off the floor and melted down again. For the pommel, I used the biggest hell hound tooth we had, recalling the time I'd pulled it out of my leg as I gently heated up the base and welded it to the end of the hilt and wrapped it with the last of the wire.
The end result, was a very sinister looking longsword that seemed to drink in the light around it.
Welf held it in one hand, eyes closed, testing its balance. He drew it closer to his body and held it in both hands, one over the reddish steel of the blade's spine. "Let's go." He said finally, smiling grimly.
"I'm still grounded you know." I mumbled as we walked towards one of the small warehouse districts in the city.
He chuckled as he adjusted the bundle of cloth holding our creation on his shoulder, "You want to see if this works right?"
"Well yes. Did I get the balance right?" The streets were clear of people, the city almost silent this early in the morning. I was actually feeling a little cold after leaving the forge.
"Perfect. Make a smith of you yet." He grinned.
"What will he think when I show up? Not that we can't handle it... But if he has magic sword..." I asked, flexing my hands inside my gauntlets.
"A lie." He said, "He threatened the city, saying he'd use those stockpiled magic sword to burn the place down... But if he had that many, would he even need to be in here? Instead of out there bringing down the wall?"
I thought about it a moment and nodded, "Were those blades really that powerful?"
"You know how sis'Ryuu is so strong? With her magic?" He said, turning a corner.
"Very much so."
"Imagine a nation of people like her, being swept aside. That's why my bloodline was cursed. What was left of the elven nation cast a spell so powerful, that it destroyed all the magic sword on the field that day, and took away the Crozzo gift." He said, turning another corner, a pair of men standing at a door popping into view.
I fell silent and felt my blood turn to ice at the thought of how horrible that war must have been. After seeing Ryuu's magic, and even being on the receiving end of it in practice, the thought of a nation of people who could do the same, being nearly powerless to stop the power of the Crozzo swords...
"You were told to come alone." One man said, hand going to his sword.
"She caught me working late, and told me she'd snitch if I didn't bring her along. Go easy on her, she's new to my Familia." Welf lied casually, wiggling the wrapped blade on his shoulder.
"Fine." The other said, opening the door and letting Welf in, then getting behind me and drawing his sword, "Try anything and you're dead." He said to me.
I didn't resist, but had to stop myself from smiling. With all the spotlight time Hestia Familia had received they must really have been from out of town to not know me. I did however take a long slow breath to get my inner magic going. I had no desire to find out if a level one adventurer could get through my back with a blade.
Inside, the warehouse was mostly empty. A few crates, hay bales, buckets, random things. But it was probably for the best, as there were over twenty armed soldiers, as well as two older men. The soldiers were all dressed the same, not in what I'd consider a military outfit, as they had no emblem or regalia visible. But they all wore red over grey shirts and black pants. In a city this size, no one would notice this sort of thing, unless they were all in the same room, like this.
The two older men both had the look of life long smiths. The younger of the two had brown hair shot with grey, with a rough wrinkled face and cold eyes. The elder was far more grey, but despite looking like he was over sixty, his body looked like he had been behind a forge every day of his life. He was fairly tall too.
"Certainly look like you." I mumbled to Welf who grunted an affirmative.
"Quiet!" The man behind me said, shoving me.
"You weren't supposed to bring anyone boy!" said the one who I thought was Welf's father.
"She followed me. Not like I could have stopped her." Welf replied with an angry shrug.
"No matter, if she knows what's good for her she should just say her goodbyes here." The father said, hefting a two handed sword that was resting beside him. In the dim light of the magic stone lamps, I could see that the hilt was old. Like weathered bronze. "Did you bring them? All of your magic sword?"
Welf shrugged and unwrapped the cloth bundle. "Only have the one. Just made it too." The grandfather, who was simply leaning against a crate, thick arms folded over his chest, widened his eyes as Welf revealed the obsidian bladed sword.
"You were supposed to bring them all!" The father yelled, "Foolish boy! Do you want the city to be burned around you? Are you trying to make a fool of us?"
"Stupid old man!" Welf yelled back, "Are your ears full of slag? I said on only have the one!"
Standing behind Welf, I sighed and shook my head. My own father and I shared many moments like this too, back in my world. I caught Welf's grandfather watching my reaction, and smiling slightly.
"You still have that stupid notion that weapons are forever? That just because they break you shouldn't make magic sword?" They were still yelling at each other, the two of them almost pressing foreheads together as they yelled.
"YES! A weapon is a companion! Something you can trust to carry you through a battle!" Welf screamed back.
My ears twitched, and I caught the noise of many feet trying to be sneaky. Just outside, I heard a muffled grunt, just before a boot was applied to the wooden double door shattering it into splinters. Turning, I watched as a dozen adventurers filed in, a mix of races, all dressed differently, aside from one detail. A hammer over a volcano. Hephaestus Familia. More filed in, and soon they outnumbered the Rakia soldiers inside.
And there at the back, standing beside Tsubaki with an eyepatch over one eye and amazing red hair, stood Hephaestus herself. "You aren't taking him anywhere." Tsubaki said her arms folded over her chest.
The father and son stopped arguing and turned to look at the collection of adventurers, "You used me as bait, didn't you?" Welf growled, "You knew he was in the city!"
Tsubaki shrugged, "We suspected and had you watched." Then to the rest of the room she declared, "We have the rest of the district surrounded! Surrender."
"You think that makes a difference!?" The father, wild eyed, pushed Welf away and put his hand on the sheath of his two handed sword, drawing his hands apart and revealing the blade. Swirls of red moved over the black iron surface, almost as if the blade itself was alive. "I'll just burn you all to ash and take my son back home by force!"
As one, the Hephaestus Familia started to take a step forward, but Welf shouted out, "Stay out of this!" holding up the blade he and I had made. "You want to run that by me again old man!? Do it! I'll prove to you once and for all your way of thinking is wrong!"
"BE SWALLOWED BY FIRE!" Once dead eyes now burning with desperate fury the father swung his blade down, the red lines and swirls lighting up and throwing out a massive wave of flame. Standing directly behind Welf, I could see, and feel, that the fire Zanis had burned me with was like a candle to this amount of power.
"Take it all! Oblivion Well!" Welf's bad sense of naming aside, he brought the sword we had made up, gripping the hilt and back of the blade by the red iron we had wrapped it in, and held his ground.
I stood ready to put myself in the way, should it be needed, but as the rest of the room flooded with energy, as soldiers and Hephaestus Familia members were thrown or skidded backwards with the sudden air pressure from the fire from the father's sword, I saw I needn't had worried. The obsidian blade started to devour the flames, soaking them up in a vortex of red and black.
And still the flames poured out from the old Crozzo sword.
The father screamed in rage, as the fire continued, Welf's shirt catching fire at the shoulders, the stone between them starting to look molten.
Yet Welf did not move.
And just as suddenly as the insane conflagration started, it stopped, punctuated by the sharp sound of shattering glass, as the Crozzo relic shattered, the bits falling to the floor with a metallic tinkle. Welf held his pose a moment longer, the once obsidian blade now swirling with the same red traces and eddies as its opponent.
Then, calmly, he pat his hands over the little fires starting to catch on his shoulders, then reached behind him to hand me the blade. I took it, seeing that the youngest Crozzo's hands were red and blistered, and held it carefully.
Stepping forward, Welf reached out to his old man, "See old man?" and as he grabbed his father's shirt, he reached back, and punched him square in the jaw. Not letting go, he hit him again, "Honour? Glory? A smith does! Not! Need! That!" He punctuated each word with a punch, the father slumping down to his knees, face bloody.
But he wasn't done. The elder Crozzo leaped to his feet and punched Welf in the gut, then grabbed him by the collar and hit him again. "FOOLISH BOY!"
The subdued Rakia soldiers and Hephaestus Familia both watched as the two had a fighting argument.
"Our family could have risen again! Wealth! Fame! We could have returned to being blacksmith nobility!"
"A forge! A hammer! Burning desire! That's all a smith needs!" Welf replied, hitting back.
"If not for yourself, then your country!" The elder replied as he shrugged off Welf's punches and returned his own. "With you Rakia could take back its old ways and rule the land again!"
"My home is here! Not some stupid place that can't get over its past defeat!"
"A weapon just needs to be strong! Who cares if it breaks?"
"A weapon must be trusted! An extension of your will!" Welf was started to gain a definitive upper hand now. "I refuse to make a weapon for someone that I wouldn't trust myself!"
On the one hand, Welf was level two. But the father, while level one, looked to have about twenty years of smith experience over him. "You are throwing away the pride of your blood!" The father rallied, smashing Welf across the face with a doubled fist.
Recovering, Welf grabbed his father by what was left of his shirt, and slammed his forehead down onto his nose. "My pride as a smith," He grabbed his dazed father with both hands and yelled into his face, "comes from seeing my weapons COME HOME WITH THIER OWNERS!" He dropped his father, spitting out a glob of blood, "What good is a weapon if can't even accomplish that?" He started to turn away, "Where did that pride go?"
"Enough." The old man said, stepping forward from the wall he was leaning on. Calmly, he used the back of his hand to push the Hephaestus Familia member's blade aside. He walked to his two descendants, intense eyes untouched by his age looked down on them both.
"You've lost Wil." He said to his son, still kneeling on the ground as he tried to stop his bleeding nose.
Even as bruised as his face was, I could see the respect in Welf's eyes as he looked back at the elder Crozzo. "But you came here for the same reason, didn't you?" Welf asked.
"I did. But no, you're your own man." He looked back at Welf, his eyes approving, "Your will is like the metal you work. Strong, tempered."
He smiled at him, the wrinkles of his face making me think he didn't do that very often.
"Looking back, I should never had forced you to make magic sword. To try and corner you into bringing our family back to glory."
Welf looked shocked, as if he just heard some one say something impossible. If I were to guess, this man was his idol, not just his grandfather.
"But, you'll never escape the blood in your veins. You will always be drawn to the magic sword only that power can create." The old man frowned, "Are you sure you won't change your mind?"
There was a pause, and Welf held out his hand to me. Wordlessly, I handed the sword back to him, and he presented it to his grandfather, holding it firmly, "No way. I will turn this curse into a gift. And give my own meaning to the name Crozzo." I watched the grandfather's eyes roam over the blade, and go wide as Welf continued, "I will forge something that will put all magic sword to shame, with my own skill, not just my blood."
"You may have already, cheeky boy." The old man replied, stepping back and helping Wil to his feet, "We won't pursue you anymore."
Horrified, the father looked up at the elder, "But, how will we..."
"We will start over, as proper smiths." I could see the aged hand go white as it gripped Wil's shoulder, "And follow the son's example, not as any sort of nobility, but as proper metalworking blacksmiths." He smiled again, "With a hammer, metal and burning passion, a weapon can be forged anywhere. You couldn't be more right."
He looked past Welf then, past me, and to Hephaestus herself, her red hair and black eye patch standing out among her Familia. "Oh Goddess, the fault is mine. We surrender, so I ask you have mercy on my companions for following such a foolish old man."
"Very well."
With efficiency the Hephaestus Familia rounded up the soldiers, binding their arms behind their backs and leading them out. Tsubaki still managed to mumble something to Welf, who shrugged and waved her away like a bothersome insect. I felt like something of a loose end, having seen everything happen and not need to punch someone for it.
"Well sister?" Welf called as he approached me, "Family can really be a pain some time, huh?"
"Who was that? Your grandfather right?" I asked, walking with him to the door.
"Yeah. Grampa Garon. Taught me everything when I was little. From the time I could lift a hammer until I left."
"Wish I could have met him under better lighting, so to speak." I said with a chuckle.
"Welf. Kodori." Hephaestus said as we got to the door. "May I?" She held out her hand. Tsubaki was there as well, keeping guard over her Goddess.
Wordlessly, Welf reversed the blade and handed it hilt first to Hephaestus. "It's only my first try..." He mumbled, surprisingly sounding a little shy.
Hephaestus and Tsubaki both gave it a critical once over. "Wait... What did you do? How did you..." Tsubaki seemed at a loss, her eyes drawn to the red patterns flickering over the black blade.
"I thought more about the path, than the destination." Welf replied cryptically, making me laugh. "What?"
"Sorry, not used to you trying to be... Oh... I'm sure there is a word for it..." I laughed, not knowing the word for 'mysterious'. He gave me a friendly punch in the shoulder, "Sorry. Heh heh."
"Yeah yeah sister." He said, "Go home and sleep, I'll talk shop with these two a while."
"Sure."
Notes.
It's about here, that Welf declares his mortal love for Hephaestus. Even seeing what is under her eyepatch and everything. Very dramatic and stuff.
Anyhow. Until next time. Maybe a little more 'story' before I go back to 'plot'. I'm starting to enjoy this world building thing a little more, and book nine is rather scary.
:)