Red Hair Blacksmith of Big Dreams
Bell and Leina are walking together through the street as they decided to get their weapons check out before heading for the dungeon, so they are heading for Cattleya's blacksmith to help them with that.
"I wonder if Cattleya got some new armor in the shop like the one you used to wear while getting your sword was getting fix." Bell mentioned.
However, Leina didn't respond to the mention of the memory as she look sad as she has the look of someone with something deep in the mind like she didn't something she's starting to regret.
"Leina, is something the matter?" Bell asked holding her hand to get her attention.
"Huh, oh! I'm sorry, Bell. What were you saying just now?" Leina asked.
"Just about the armor you wore before." Bell answered with some concern for what Leina was being sad about.
"Leina, you look like you were having a sad moment just a moment ago. Are you coming down with something bad, do we need to go see a doctor?" Bell worried.
"Oh no, it's nothing like that. I was just… thinking back on what I said last night with Ryuu when we were having dinner." Leina admitted.
"What you said last night?" Bell wondered as he starts to remember last night at the restaurant when they were celebrating the names he and Leina got.
(Last Night)
After the man with the scar on his face has been dealt with by Ryuu giving him a lesson and Mamma Mia asking him "Kindly" to leave and pay for the meal, the dinner party went back on track without any more problems.
"I have to say, that woman sure is like a symbol for women or something weird that is cool at the same time." Hestia commented.
"Really? She just seems strong and kind." Melpha said surprise a little.
"She's my kind of woman I could go out drinking with and maybe have an arm-wrestling contest too." Risty smirked looking to where Mamma Mia went to.
"Sheesh, can't you go through meeting a new face once without wanting to pick a fight with them?" Lili sighed, wondering if Risty is supposed to be one of the adults here.
Leina took another bite on her food while looking at Ryuu with a curiosity look on her face about something she has been thinking for a while, she couldn't help but feel something about this woman is more than she appears to be or something that used to be.
"Is there something you want to ask of me?" Ryuu asked causing Leina to flinch.
"You've been starring at me for quite some time now. Were you trying to undress in your head?" Ryuu asked bluntly.
"What? No, that's not what I was thinking at all!" Leina assured with her face blushing of embarrassment.
"I just wanted to ask you about something that I've been having some thoughts about you." Leina said feeling a bit nervous.
"Oh, it looks like you already got yourself an admirer, Ryuu!" Syr giggled and poke on Ryuu's shoulder got the fun, then she immediately stops when Ryuu gave her a scolding stare.
"(Odd, I get a weird feeling that I know her somehow, but why?)" Hestia thought wondered about that Syr girl.
"Very well, what is your question?" Ryuu allowed Leina to ask her question.
"Have you ever been an Adventurer before?" Leina asked.
This causes a big silence moment as Ryuu just said nothing for a moment that send a shiver down Leina's spine causing her to worry, and the others notice this wondering if there is something wrong with the pointy ear maid woman.
"I was, sometime ago." Ryuu answered simply before snipping her cup.
"Oh, okay. Thank you for answering." Leina said going back to eating her meal and everyone got back to their eating and enjoying their meals.
(Present)
"You were asking her about being an Adventurer?" Bell said now remembering.
"Yeah, I think I might have brought up something a sad and hard past to talk about, and that also means I hurt her feelings too." Leina said sadden of the realization.
"I bet she probably hates me now too." Leina worried.
"I don't think she hates you." Bell said.
"How can you be so sure?" Leina asked.
"I don't know, I just get a feeling that Ryuu is a good friend to us, and I don't think she would mind telling you about her past though maybe she would be sad to bring up some old memories." Bell stated.
"Plus, I'm pretty sure the stories of her adventuring days would be fun to hear. I bet she was a strong and noble elf adventurer!" Bell smiled looking up at the sky.
Leina is surprised to see that he is willing to believe Ryuu is a true person they can rely on like an awesome friend and knowing how Bell is when it comes to trusting people is something to behold which could also be a funny thing with how "too" trusting he can be.
"Oh Bell, you really are a man unlike any other." Leina giggled.
"Huh, did I say something weird?" Bell asked.
But Leina just gave him a good kiss on the lips that shock him for a second then kissed her back enjoying the moment until they separated just after ten seconds or so.
"Come on, we should go see Cattleya about our weapons." Leina smiled and grabbing onto Bell's hand running to the blacksmith shop.
The two lovers arrived at the shop seeing Rana out in the front swapping with a broom to clean the front part of the shop, then the little boy saw the couple coming here and smiles feeling excited to see some of his favorite people again.
"Leina! Bell! You guys came to visit us again?" Rana asked excitingly.
"Yeah, we were hoping your mom would be available to help maintain our weapons in fighting shape as we'll be going to the dungeon soon." Bell explained as he looks at his Hestia Knife.
"We were also hoping if your mom has an armor that can help Bell protect himself better, maybe upgrade his current armor too." Leina added.
"You're in luck, mom is in the shop right now and she is also to speaking with a friendly blacksmith we know from the Hephaestus Familia who wants to put his work on display of the shop." Rana answered and mentioned another person.
"Oh, another blacksmith. Is he good too?" Leina asked.
"Yeah, he's good with making weapons and other things like mommy, but he also seems sad whenever he comes here." Rana said.
"Sad, what do you mean?" Bell asked.
"I don't know, he just seems like it when I see him come by just to have a blacksmithing chat with mom or wanting to have his stuff sold here." Rana shrugged as he is confused of this as well.
Bell is now curious more about this blacksmith and his instincts are suddenly telling him to go meet this blacksmith as he enters the shop.
"I know I said this already, but I want to thank you again for allowing to place the stuff I makes in your shop even though they aren't selling much." A young-looking man with red hair thanked the blacksmith mother.
"It's no trouble, I'm always willing to welcome some things to ad to the shop when I don't got anything else from the back." Cattleya assured.
"Besides, it's the least I can do with how much support you have given me and my husband back in the past and kept on helping even after Owen's passing, and you have also been helping out in the shop whenever you can." Cattleya expressed her gratitude.
"Come now, you two were my role models and always amazes with your craftsmanship." The young red hair young man chuckled.
"Even so, you're still having trouble with making magical weapons, aren't you?" Cattleya asked concern causing the young man red hair to be silence for a bit.
"Excuse, I hope we're not bothering you." Bell said getting the two blacksmith's attention.
"Bell, and Leina too! It's wonderful to see you again." Cattleya greeted cheerfully.
"Bell, where have I heard that name before?" The young man with red hair asked himself, trying to remember that name.
"We came to see if you can help sharpen our weapons and maybe make them a bit stronger." Leina requested.
"Oh yeah, I was hoping if you still have any more of those Welf Crozzo armor too? I'm not sure if the other shops have them." Bell asked about the armor brand.
Cattleya's eyes widen of surprise to hear as the young man with red hair is showing the same expression, and then the two started laughing together even when Cattleya was trying to hold it in though having a struggle.
"Huh, is it something I said?" Bell confused.
"Also, are you another blacksmith from the Hephaestus Familia Rana mentioned?" Leina asked.
"Oh man, don't stop until you drop." The young man with red hair smirked.
"Bell, the armor brand you wanted is from this very man of the name you speak of." Cattleya revealed gesturing to the man.
"What…? You're the one who made the armor?" Bell asked shock.
"That's right, the name's Welf Crozzo and it's a pleasure to meet the famous duo Adventurers of the Hestia Familia, Little Rookie and the Wandering Warrior." Welf smirked.
Welf is a tall adult male who has short, spiky red hair and dark blue eyes. He wears a blue scarf around his neck. His attire consists of a dark blue long-sleeve shirt underneath a black kimono with a brown belt tied around his waist along with tanned white pants and long brown boots.
"Wow, you're really the guy who made the light armor I was wearing! It's amazing and I really like the design!" Bell complimented.
"Well, look like you have good taste when it comes to equipment." Welf chuckled.
"I wouldn't say that, before I came to this town, the only armor equipment Bell would ever wear is the chest plate and even I know that was stupid of him." Leina mentioned causing Bell to blush embarrassing.
"They've been coming to my shop for some time now, the girl is even wearing the equipment my husband and I once made years ago." Cattleya gestured to Leina.
"Oh, I thought I felt something familiar about that gear." Welf realized.
"Hmm, Rana said that you're always sad in the eyes." Bell mentioned.
"Oh, did he now?" Welf raised an eyebrow and looked over to Rana is still sweeping the front.
"Hey Cattleya, do you mind if I borrow one of your favorite costumers?" Welf asked.
"Borrow? I think I see where you're going with, just promise me you'll be careful." Cattleya said.
"I will, I will." Welf nodded.
"Say Bell, how would you like to do business directly?" Welf asked.
"What do you mean by that?" Bell puzzled of the question.
"Are you saying you wish to make Bell something too?" Leina asked.
"You could say that. I will give Bell a special deal on any weapons and armor he needs, but I do have one little ol' request in exchange. It's not much." Welf said.
Bell and Leina look at each other for a moment thinking about this Welf as he seems like a nice guy and a new friend to trust, so they decided to hear him out.
"Bell, I humbly request you allow me to join your party." Welf requested which surprises the couple.
"(How odd, I'm getting the strangest feeling that going with Bell's party is going help Welf change for the better.)" Cattleya thought smiled and then gets an idea in her head.
(The Next Day)
Bell's party have made their way down to Floor 11 along with Welf joining as requested and he gets all excited for being on the floor.
"YES! I finally made it to Floor 11!" Welf cheered.
"Sheesh, you're making it sound like you were going to die." Risty joked.
"Sorry, sorry, guess I should have control myself better and hope you don't mind with this, Bell." Welf said to the white hair boy.
"No, it's okay. You're doing this to improve your smithing abilities, so in the long run, this will benefit for me too as someone who has a contract with you." Bell stated.
"Plus, it's nice to have more people in our party even though we're not in the same Familia." Leina added with a smile.
"Well, I'm glad at least one of us is excited about this." Lili muttered which brought concerns for Leina.
"Don't worry, Lili is just having a hard time warming up to strangers like how it was with you two." Risty explained with petting Lili on the head.
"Speaking of which, how come you're not adventuring with your own Familia instead of hanging around with us?" Risty asked curious.
Welf just looks at Risty feeling a bit hurt from the question and Leina answer for him.
"From what he told us, he and his Familia don't appear to be getting along very well." Leina explained a bit.
"Seriously? And let me guess, Bell agreed to let him join because he bribed him for some stupid armor instead of discussing this with your own fellow Familia member?" Lili asked in a scolding tone.
"I'm sorry, it just the armor is so cool, and I couldn't help myself!" Bell apologized.
"Am I that much of a burden to you, pipsqueak?" Welf asked with a name for the joke because Lili is so short.
"Hey, don't call me pipsqueak. I happen to have a name and it's Liliruca Arde!" Lili introduced herself angry.
"Oh, pardon me, Little Bit." Welf laughed a little and offer his hand to her.
"No thanks." Lili refused the handshake which hurts Welf's feelings a bit making him think he's not gonna get along with this girl anytime soon.
"Come on, Lili, we're going to be traveling through the dungeons together. So, I really appreciated if you and Welf Crozzo could get along." Leina pleaded.
Lili and Risty widen their eyes in shock upon hearing the full name of this new guy, especially the last name, and Welf sigh as he can tell from the looks on their faces.
"Hold on, did you just say his last name is Crozzo?" Risty asked, and Leina nods.
"You got to be kidding… As in the curse magic swordsmith from the failed family of nobilities?" Lili asked concern and a little mad at the same time.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Bell confused.
"Why, it sounds like you know about Welf already?" Leina confused as well.
"It would make sense for you two not to know about the Crozzo consider you two are still rookies as Adventurers." Risty said before looking at Welf.
"The Crozzo family was pretty famous when it comes to blacksmithing, and what they do best with blacksmithing is making weapons that could rival even the Heavens, or at least that's what the rumor says. However, they suddenly lost their special gift one day and the family name has been ruined since." Risty explained about what she heard of the Crozzo family name.
"Hold on, how exactly does an entire family lost the things they were good at?" Leina wondered.
"Don't know, and to be honest I don't care. The past is the past." Welf stated.
Suddenly some skinny and big ogres started popping out of the ground surrounding the Hestia party.
"Right now, I don't think it's the best time to talk about the past." Welf said as he brought out his Greatsword.
"He's right, it's best to get ourselves ready to fight." Risty twirled her mace and got into her fighting stance.
"Right, I'm ready to fight!" Bell pulled out her knife.
"Hope you don't mind if I fight the ogre, got to at least show you that I got skills to fight too." Welf offered.
"Guess I can support you as much as I can." Lili said with her crossbow on.
"Oh, so you do care for me." Welf teased.
"Oh yes, she's a dog who loves to play with new people." Risty joked.
"Shut up! And no, it just that I don't want you getting in the way of Master Bell and Lady Leina." Lili said about her intention of supporting Welf.
"Alright, let's go!" Bell declared to fight off the monsters as everyone charges at the ogres.
KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!
Bell and Leina have stumble upon Welf Crozzo who came from a once famous blacksmithing family and now that very man has joined their party, and the lovers are about to find out how strong they have become since they last came down in the Dungeon.
KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!