Chapter 13

After Azazel left, looking a little lost in his own thoughts, Junichiro remained inside of the workshop. He was still watching his new wooden arm carefully as he opened and closed his fist and tried to understand the flexibility he'd managed to work into the arm. For obvious reasons, it wasn't supremely flexible. He'd need something far more complex made of different materials to even come close to replicating the way a normal human hand could move. He'd probably need to study some medical texts focused on the hand to get a better idea of what he would need to do.

Still, it was good enough for him that he'd be able to close his hand and grip a hammer, or anything similar. The fingers and thumb were just too linear, at the moment, for him to do anything else. Lucky for him, being an Artificer meant he was, technically, ambidextrous. The problem was, even if he was, technically, just as skilled with his left hand as he was with his right, he had zero practical experience using his left hand for much. He would just need to work on gaining that experience from this point on.

He lowered his new arm and focused on the next step that he needed to perform. He needed to learn as much as he could about the properties of the Mana Steel that Azazel had provided. He moved past the Mana Steel and over to one of the smaller gas forges. He had been provided with five of them, each distinguished by the number of burners they had.

Junichiro grabbed a match out of a provided box near the forge. The matches were those nice long thick ones usually used for lighting fireplaces. With the match held in his left hand, he awkwardly used his wooden hand to weirdly grip the valve to turn on the gas flow. Once he heard the expected hiss, he struck the match and lit the forge. He made certain to keep his flammable wooden hand far away from the flames. While he had provided the hand with fire retardation runes, it was not fire proof. The heat of a gas forge would easily break through the enchantment and light his brand new hand on fire.

While the forge was coming up to the proper temperature, Junichiro collected the tools he would need to do his work as well as one of the Mana Steel ingots. He had a small smile on his face as he thought about what he wanted to make. For now, the final product was less important that the process of making it. He studied the ingot for a bit hoping it would tell him what it wanted to be. Sadly, the ingot remained silent. Regardless, he grabbed a piece of rebar and welded it to one end of the ingot so he had something easy to grip in his wooden hand.

After blocking off one side of the forge with fire bricks, he settled the Mana Steel into the forge and sat down on a stool to keep an eye on the metal. He didn't know what the proper temperature for the Mana Steel was to make it workable, but once it was a nice yellow color it should be perfectly acceptable to work on. So, he kept his eyes on it. While he kept his eyes on the metal in the forge, he absentmindedly hefted a hammer in his left hand. He wanted to get a good feel for it so he could swing it properly when the metal was ready.

Once the Mana Steel was glowing a nice yellow, he retrieved it from the flames and set it on a brand new anvil. He carefully held the rebar in his right hand and the hammer in his left. After taking a deep breath to steady himself and prepare for something new, he lifted the hammer and struck the first blow.

Just that one blow told him a lot about the Mana Steel. First, he had it at the right temperature. He could tell from how the ingot had slightly deformed from the hit. Second, the Mana Steel was definitely harder than steel. The second blow, this time while channeling some mana through the hammer, told him that the Mana Steel responded even better when hit with mana.

The sound of a hammer hitting steel rang out for a few more blows before he returned it to the forge to reheat. It took several more heats for him to flatten out the ingot and coat it with his own mana. Though he didn't fold it right away, rather he used the hot cut tool to cut the ingot in half. One half was set aside for later use. Working the Mana Steel had helped him decide to make either a large knife or short sword. He'd pick which further along in the process. With half the ingot put aside for later use, he reused the hot cut tool to help him fold the metal in half.

Between his own mana, the Mana Steel, and a generous amount of flux powder, the fold was easily forged back together. The same applied to the next nine folds for a total of ten folds making over one thousand layers. After observing the slab of forged Mana Steel, he set it to the side to slowly cool down. It was time to call it a day. The sun had gone down some time ago and he'd been ignoring his protesting stomach for a while now.

He just... didn't want to stop.

Stopping meant thinking. It meant having to further acknowledge his missing arm and the subpar replacement. It meant having to think about the incident. It meant dealing with his feelings. He simply didn't want to have to think about anything. Worse, after eating dinner he would need sleep. He knew that was going to be filled with nightmares. Frankly, anything but letting his mind stop functioning and working with his instincts to make something was going to be painful.

Stepping into the kitchen, he was surprised to find Mittelt already there with a pot sitting on the stove top steaming. The petite blonde fallen angel looked over at Junichiro and jerked her thumb at the pot, "I made some stew for dinner."

Slightly confused at her still being around but not saying anything, Junichiro made his way to the pot and lifted the lid to inhale the scent deeply, "It smells good. Thank you."

Mittelt just shrugged her shoulders, "Azazel-sama has assigned me to stick around for the next month or so to keep an eye on you and help out if you need it." He voice became mock haughty, "You should be thankful!"

Junichiro snorted causing Mittelt to smile. After collecting one of his new bowls and a spoon, he collected his dinner and sat at the table across from Mittelt. After tasting the thick beef stew filled with hearty vegetables, he looked at Mittelt and smiled, "It's delicious."

Mittelt preened under the praise, "Thank you. It's not every day that someone gets to taste this Mittelt's cooking!"

Junichiro smiled a little before digging into the stew. Though he'd been raised purely in Japan in this life, his memories of American life let him really enjoy such a simple and hearty meal. It reminded him of the kind of meals the mother in his first life had made for him growing up. Just thinking about the mother in his first life showed him how lucky he'd been in that life. His first mother was a flawed human but she was infinitely better than whore of a mother in this life.

After he finished the bowl of stew, he focused on Mittelt. He studied the small woman for a little while before he spoke up, "I have you to thank for saving my life, right?"

Mittelt nodded, "That's right. I was the nearest member of the Grigori when you triggered the alert. I got there just in time to finish off that stray."

Junichiro shuddered at the mention of the stray. He didn't want to think of that monster eating his arm right in front of him. He swallowed before speaking with a thick voice, "Thank you for saving me."

Mittelt shrugged her shoulders, "It was no big deal. The damage you dealt to her left her pretty weak. She probably would have died from her wounds anyway."

Junichiro nodded before a thought occurred to him, "How did you all not know she was there?"

The question was asked with a hint of suspicion and narrowed eyes. Mittelt, luckily, had a truthful answer to give him, "She wasn't at that location when the area was last checked. I can honestly say she was nowhere near this house."

Junichiro looked over her closely, trying to tell if she was lying or not. It didn't help that Mittelt was actually being completely truthful. After a while, he gave up trying to tell. Mittelt might be among the weakest of Fallen Angels, but she was still at least a millennium old. Even if all the years of his past life were counted, he only had around sixty to seventy years of experience. His Artificer knowledge simply didn't count for that kind of thing.

In that moment he decided to make an item that could detect when people were lying, "Fine. So you'll be sticking around for a while right? In that case, I would appreciate some help from you in the workshop."

Mittelt scoffed, "Don't expect too much from me. I don't know anything about making stuff like you and Azazel-sama do."

"That's fine, as long as you can lend a hand until I can do it all myself, it will be enough."

Mittelt's lips twitched a bit at his statement, though she managed to not outright laugh at him for the hand comment, "Fine. Azazel-sama left me here to help out, so I'll do so until he tells me otherwise." She gave him a level look, "Just remember who my real boss is and don't get ahead of yourself, got it?"

Junichiro nodded in understanding. He definitely wasn't her boss, hell he wasn't even taller than her at the moment. Though he wondered where that irrelevant thought came from. He left the conversation there and got himself a second bowl of the delicious thick stew. As he did, Mittelt called out, "Don't expect me to do all the cooking either. I only did so today as a special exception. I'll only cook when I feel like it."

As he sat down, he eyed Mittelt, "How about we take turns with it? Rather than cooking our own dinner meals we switch off each day and cook enough for the both of us. Then whoever isn't cooking does the dishes for the day?" He waved at the kitchen, "Luckily, there's a dishwasher so it wont be too much effort to do that."

Mittelt seemed to ponder that for a moment before speaking, "So, dishes are your job tonight. Tomorrow you'll cook dinner and I'll take care of the dishes?"

He nodded in reply, "Yup. We'll take care of our own breakfast and lunch meals. Deal?"

Mittelt stuck her hand out, "Deal."

Junichiro reached out with his right hand without thinking, before stopping and sighing. He Quickly swapped hands and exchanged and awkward handshake with Mittelt as he used his left to shake her right. He would take care of the dishes after he finished his dinner.

The following day, Junichiro returned to the workshop after making breakfast for himself. Doing so with the limited mobility of his new hand was strange, but he was slowly getting used to the difference. Eventually he knew he would have a hand as good as, if not better than, his original. He just needed more experience, mana, and proper materials.

For now, he was back to work on the Mana Steel he'd worked on the previous day. He'd decided what he wanted to make out of it during his morning shower. He was going to make a large, at least forty centimeters, long drop point Bowie knife. Bowie's were pretty good all around knives that could be used as easily for working as for fighting or hunting. Being of such a large size it would also be bordering on short sword territory making it a rather impressive weapon.

Bowie knives weren't as popular in Japan as a Tanto might have been, but this would be for his personal use and not something for sale. The first thing he planned to make to sell was going to be a kitchen knife set. If it aint broke don't fix it right? If he could sell that full set he'd make a decent profit and be able to get his hands on more Mana Steel. Round and round it would go, such was the grind at the core of being a good Artificer!

Working the steel made the time fly and it wasn't until a little after lunch that he was finished with the blade, quenching it in what was apparently a blessed oil, and was ready to move onto the handle. He decided to use a left over piece of the magical Ironwood that now made up his right arm. There were plenty of scraps left after making the arm so he had enough to work with. Since the blade was a full tang construction, he just needed to make a nice pair of scales the sandwich the tang with.

It didn't take him long to prepare and rough shape the scales. The problem came when it was time to drill a few holes through the tang of the blade so he could add some pins to secure the scales. It turned out that Mana Steel, even without being hardened, was strong enough to break Tungsten Carbide drill bits. After breaking two, he decided to try something different. A drill bit was a tool right? So...

He concentrated for a little so he could picture what he wanted. Using his tool creation skill, he created a glowing blue drill bit that would fit within the modern drill press. He immediately installed it and got back to work drilling his holes. The summoned drill bit ate through the Mana Steel without any issues and left him with perfectly smooth holes for his brass pins.

From there the work went quick and by the time the sun went down once again, he had a razor sharp forty centimeter, from the tip to the end of the tang, long Bowie knife. It still needed some runes carved into it to truly finish it off, but as of that moment it was technically a fully functional magical weapon. Adding in his runes would elevate it into a different class of magical weapon, something he couldn't resist doing.

Though, despite his progress, he was slightly upset with how long making the Bowie knife was taking him. Despite using a new metal, he would have previously been able to start, and finish, the Bowie knife in a single day. He could clearly see how his clunky wooden arm and using his left hand as his primary was slowing down his progress. He would definitely be replacing his right with something significantly better in the near future. It would never be good enough to replace what he'd lost until he could perform a rocket punch!

Just the idea of having a Rocket Punch move brought a smile to his face. It didn't matter how old his soul, he was still a young man and just the thought of such a cool gimmick made him chuckle. Then again, an ancient being like Azazel had made himself an arm with a Rocket Punch function after he lost his! So, clearly Junichiro was only as immature as an ancient fallen angel.

Junichiro was still in a good mood thinking about Rocket Punching someone in the face when he stepped into the kitchen area of the house and spotted Mittelt. Mittelt had her arms crossed under her small chest and was impatiently tapping one of her stocking covered feet on the floor. They did not wear shoes inside of the house. Seeing her standing there looking impatient with one of her eyebrows raised as if saying 'Why isn't dinner ready yet?'

Seeing the petite fallen like that made his smile grow while he unconsciously muttered, "Adorable."

Mittelt quickly shifted from 'impatient' to 'about to be angry' as she placed her hands on her hips, leaned forward, and gave Junichiro the stink eye, "What did you just say?"

Seeing the 'I dare you to repeat that' look she was giving him... Well, he couldn't resist, "I said 'Adorable' and I stand by it!"

Mittelt audibly growled as her eyes narrowed, "I am NOT adorable! I am a beautiful sophisticated woman! You're damned lucky I'm not allowed to murder you!"

Junichiro scoffed and continued into the kitchen, "I will give you beautiful and woman but sophisticated remains to be seen. Either way, none of that precludes you from being adorable."

Mittelt frowned and held back replying. Azazel had been right. There was something seriously weird about Junichiro. What kind of thirteen year old talked the way he did? His speech seemed more inclined toward a middle aged man with a decent education than a kid who'd spent the last few years living on the streets. Where did he even learn words like 'preclude'?

Unaware of Mittelt's thoughts, Junichiro made his way into the kitchen and checked through the available ingredients. First and foremost, rice. There was a reason rice was a stereotype, it was a part of almost every meal eaten in a Japanese household. Not that Junichiro had been doing a whole lot of traditional home cooked meals throughout his life. Still, it seemed like a proper thing to have for his first homemade meal in years.

And no, the grilling he did in the junkyard didn't count, that wasn't a home.

He grabbed an assortment of vegetables and a couple of whole fish. Some simple seared vegetables with grilled fish and a side of rice sounded nice. It was also rather easy to cook and definitely filling enough. Ironically, cooking counted as a crafting skill and his skills as an Artificer helped him out a bit. It didn't turn him into an instant five star chef or anything, but it helped him not make amateur mistakes. Sadly, he wouldn't be conquering the supernatural world with his cooking anytime soon.

Oh well, that's what his Alchemy was for anyway.

An

And we're back with chapter 13. Pretty quick turn around, mostly because I just finished chapter 23 on pat-reon slash thomasdarkrose earlier today. I try to post chapters here the same day I put a new on on pat-reon.

So, Juni now has his first new arm. It's not much, but it can get the job done until he can make something better. Then make something better, followed by.. shocker! Something BETTER!

Also, wanted to clear something up, while I did mention Boosted Gear being made from Ddraigs body, specifically his scales, as being possible, I was NOT hinting at Juni eventually replacing his missing arm with Boosted Gear. I was just using it as an example of something organic that could potentially grow stronger over time. There are so many different creatures and possible sources of materials to make a strong replacement arm with that I could make it out of just about anything. Could even just use Alchemy to give life to an awesome metal, or dragon scales, and use that as a base to build an arm. So, those who felt that him losing his arm would weaken him, I agree. But only in the short term. Long term, he'll likely end up with an arm capable of growth that will be stronger than his base body.

Also, I wanted to use the time before canon to really show you all how he'll operate. I know sometimes it will slow down, might not be all that great, but once canon hits things are going to go pretty quick so I want to treasure this time to really establish Junichiro, his connections, and his growth before he meets Rias and the others.

Though, if he met Rias the moment she came to Earth it'd be something like 2 years still until canon. I figure she came to Earth her first year of high school and she was in her third when canon began. So she was on Earth at least two years.

Anyway, I'll see you all in the next chapter!