Double Blacksmithing for the White Rookie
"Achoo!" Lili sneezed and Risty hands her a tissue paper.
"Looks like this little one is going to bed rested for the day, that means no adventuring in the dungeon for us." Risty informed Bell and Leina.
"I guess that's for the best, can't have one of our party members go out in a bad condition." Leina said as she looks at her sicken friend.
"I'm sorry…" Lili apologized with her voice sounding weak of the cold.
"It's okay, things just happen and there's nothing we can do about it even if we were prepared. Even the bravest and strongest adventures can't overcome the things such as a cold." Melpha stated bringing in a bowl of soup.
"Thank you." Lili thanked the nun woman.
"Guess I better go tell Welf the news that we won't be going to the dungeon today." Bell crossed his arms.
"Want me to go with you?" Leina asked.
"No, I'll be fine on my own and this could give us some time to be more prep for our next tackle on the dungeon. I just hope Mirim is doing okay after yesterday." Bell concerned for that green hair girl who tagged along with them since yesterday on Cattleya's favor.
"The girl wasn't physical hurt, so she's fine. Probably just trying to get herself mentally ready for the dungeon again." Risty stated.
"Maybe I should go check up on her, only I don't know where she lives." Leina realized that.
"You could try going to Cattleya's shop and ask her where Mirim lives." Melpha advised.
"Yeah, I think I'll do just that." Leina nodded; she's been meaning to go seek Cattleya about something too.
"Well then, I'll be staying here and keep an on this kid, so she doesn't try anything funny." Risty teased, earning a stare from Lili.
"Just let me know if anything goes wrong, like if a monster suddenly attacks the city." Leina suggested as she is worried for Bell.
"Don't worry, I doubt anything like that will happen again." Bell assured and kissed Leina on the cheek for comfort.
(Dungeon Tower, Outside)
"So, everyone is off today?" Welf asked from what Bell just told him.
"Yeah, Melpha said she needs some rest and Leina is off to check on Mirim. So, we're having a day off from dungeon exploring." Bell nodded.
"I see, that's too bad." Welf scratched the back of his head, then got an idea.
"In that case, do you maybe wanna come hang out with me for the day?" Welf offered to have Bell come over to his home much to his surprise.
"Just think of it this way. I like to say thank you for letting me be in your part, I'll make you a new piece of gear." Welf smirked making Bell smile.
"Sure!" Bell accepted the invite and offer of a new gear.
(With Leina)
Leina arrives at the blacksmith shop of Cattleya to ask her about Mirim and about something else that's been on her mind.
"Cattleya! Are you here? Cattleya?" Leina called out.
"Leina, is that you?" Rana asked as he comes out from the back.
"Hello Rana, I'm looking for your mother. Is she here right now?" Leina asked as she walks up to the counter.
"No, you actually miss her a while ago. She's going off to see drop off some orders and won't be back for a while." Rana informed that his mom is gone.
"I guess that can't be helped. I wasn't hoping to ask her about Mirim and where she lives to see if she is doing alright since her first dungeon yesterday." Leina explained.
"Oh, I know where Mirim lives. I was actually thinking of going to her myself." Rana revealed.
"Why? Do you have a little romance for the farmer girl?" Leina asked teasing.
"What? No, of course not! I just wanted to return her basket, she left it after she changed out of the broken armor she came back with." Rana showed the backet.
"Oh, well, that's a very nice thing you are doing." Leina commented.
Leina and Rana exit the shop with the boy turning over the sign saying, "Be Out Temporary" and lock the door, just in case someone tries to steal anything from the shop.
"Have you gone off on your own like this?" Leina asked.
"Not much, I mostly stay home minding the shop and do some of the chores. I even help mom with working on some weapons and other items." Rana explained while holding the basket.
"Do you have any friends to play with?" Leina asked.
"I have a few friends, they come by whenever they can like Michael with trying to sell some flowers." Rana mentioned Michael.
"Oh, I remember him. He was the one who told my older sisters about me being in a Familia and seem to be always be by Elina's side." Leina remembered the flower selling boy.
"You have older sisters!" Rana shocked.
"One older sister and a younger sister, they tried to force me back home but I challenge my older sister to a fight for my right to stay here and I won. It was the toughest fight of my life, and that's not even comparing her to the monsters." Leina explained.
"Wow, sounds like you went through quite the adventure outside of the dungeon." Rana amazed.
"You can say that again. I just hope they'll come and visit me; it would be nice to have them around." Leina looked up at the sky.
"I don't have any siblings, but I know I would want to spend time with them as much as I can." Rana stated.
"Me too, Rana. Me too." Leina chuckled.
(With Bell and Welf)
Bell follow the red hair blacksmith young man far from the dungeon tower all the way to a small wooden house with some logs and an axe outside and a metal chimney.
"(Is this where he lives? It looks a little like a workshop.)" Bell thought curious of this place.
They enter the little house as Welf place the sword he was carrying down on a wall while Bell looks around the place seeing lots of different stuff like swords, little daggers, hammers, and a heated stove one could use for some cooking or what appears to be blacksmithing.
"Is this… where you make your weapons, Mr. Welf?" Bell asked.
"Yeah, sorry about the mess. Didn't expect a guest." Welf apologized.
"Oh no, that's okay." Bell assured that there's nothing wrong with the scene here. It just looks like something a blacksmith would be working in.
"So, what do you need? Feel free to try something out." Welf said.
"I don't anything. The light armor you gave me is perfectly fine." Bell stated, really loving this light armor.
"You should always be looking for better armor, Bell. Adventures need to make sure they're as prepare as possible at any given time, right?" Welf pointed out.
"Well, that's true." Bell agreed with Welf on that since he's still a rookie at adventuring.
Bell looks around for a bit and got interested in one of the swords hanging on the wall and look down seeing one leaning on the wall.
"Do you mind if I take a look at this?" Bell asked, pointing at the sword.
"Try it." Welf nodded.
Bell held the sword in his hands seeing how it's so well-made with the sharp edges look like they can almost cut through anything, he can also tell this one feels like it wasn't just Welf making this sword though he couldn't tell why.
"That one didn't sell." Welf mentioned.
"Seriously? It's awesome!" Bell surprised which got Welf to laugh.
"Wait, what's so funny?" Bell confused of that little laugh.
"Thought you'd be looking for magic swords." Welf said which confuses Bell some more.
"I assumed Goddess Hestia has already told you about my special talents for making magic swords." Welf said as he sat down. This surprises Bell that he almost drops the sword.
"Apparently, she's been asking around about me for the past few days." Welf said.
"Sorry…" Bell apologized, feeling a bit responsible for being curious about Welf's life since he just heard about him.
"It's really not a big deal. I mean I contracted with a member of her Familia, I get it." Welf said though look away a little.
"But… I thought you might think badly of me if I told you. So, I didn't." Welf explained his reason for not mentioning about himself and his family.
"I'm sorry if I deceived you like that." Welf apologized with his hands together.
"I-It's okay." Bell said, seeing no reason for Welf to apologize since he just likes to keep his privacy.
"Now! Let's get back to what I should make for you." Welf suggested then immediately notice a red horn strap in Bell's belt.
"Did you get that from a monster?" Welf asked, pointing at the horn.
"Uh, yeah. It's a Minotaur horn, I couldn't let myself throw it away." Bell answered with a shy chuckle.
"Well, why don't we use that?" Welf asked.
"For what?" Bell confused of the question.
"To make you some equipment out of it. What else?" Welf clarified of what he was saying.
"You mean you can do that?" Bell shocked.
"Can I do that?" Welf repeated the question sarcastically and this got Bell excited.
"Then would you mind if I help you?" A woman's voice entered the blacksmith home getting the boy's attention.
"Cattleya!" Welf and Bell shocked at the same time.
"Hello, I just came by to drop off these usual materials you requested." Cattleya showed the bag of metal and other stuff.
"Oh, thank you for that. And did you just say you want to help me?" Welf asked, hoping he heard that right.
"Yes, I also wanna do something to show my thanks to Bell and I even have this brightsteel stone for that." Cattleya showed the brightsteel stone in her hand.
"No way, you actually got brightsteel stone! They're almost hard to come by!" Welf amazed and shocked at the same time.
"Yep, I have some order a month ago and they just came in this morning." Cattleya smiled.
"Wow, so you can mix things with that stone?" Bell asked.
"That's right, this stone is going to help make the new equipment out of that horn not only lighter, but also twice as hard as normal steel." Cattleya answered.
"Well then, shall we get to work?" Cattleya asked Welf.
"Yeah! It would be my honor to work with you on something again." Welf excited.
Welf and Cattleya started getting to work on making a new dagger for Bell which was decided a little later on what they should make the Minotaur horn into.
"Bell, you should know that despite Welf having an incredible talent for blacksmithing even to make magic swords, he actually despises them." Cattleya mentioned, surprising Bell.
Welf heated the horn in fire and split in half while Cattleya is working on heating up the brightsteel stone and breaking it into several pieces, Bell watches on though accidentally got a sight of her big butt and quickly looks away with his cheeks blushing like crazy.
"Yeah, the reason for not liking magic swords is because they always bring out the worse clients. Everybody comes to me because they want a magic sword, and they know I'm a Crozzo. I'm so tired of it, all they ever talk about is how they want something that'll "Make them strong" or "Make them famous"." Welf explained about how things were in the past.
Cattleya gently pours the liquid metal onto the heated block as the liquid metal glimmers with tiny white lights before Welf place that block on the rocks and fire.
"Not all of them. There was this one costumer who want a magic sword to make him faster, how he didn't want to be left behind by his powerful and caring companions. How he didn't want to miss out on all the moments with the." Cattleya recalled that costumer.
"Oh yeah, then there was that girl who wanted a katana to help her grow as a person while trying to find herself as a warrior." Welf mentioned that one too.
Bell is amazes as he continues watching how well both Cattleya and Welf are working together on making that new special dagger for him, he can even feel the heat of this blacksmith working aside from the actual heat that is making him a bit sweaty.
"Anyway, those jackasses were so missing the point of what weapons are for." Welf said.
"A weapon is not a means to conquer the world or showing off the power to get attention. It's an equal partner its user. No matter what happens, your weapon is the one thing that would never betray you." Welf said some wise words.
Cattleya is holding the heated block while being slowly shaped by Welf hammering it down and the shape starts to look more like a blade.
"I see you remember Owen's words. He would be proud of you right now if he were here." Cattleya smiled.
"Thanks, I always took those words to heart and glad to have found someone who felt the same thing as I have. But he did try to say the same thing about magic swords even though they always break and leave you with nothing." Welf said.
"They destroy people… The user's pride, the smith's reputation, everything. That's why I have always refused to forge one." Welf revealed the intention of never making a magic sword.
"But Owen had always try to help you see that magic swords can be just as much as an equal partner, never afraid to express yourself to your weapons." Cattleya reminded him of those times.
"Yeah, that guy seem to have more pride of being a blacksmith then me." Welf chuckled.
The shape has been fully made and Welf finish the job by placing the heated dagger into the cooling water, then once the cooling is done the work is done.
Welf open one of the windows seeing that it's already sunset and held the red blade to the light seeing that it came out really great.
"Wonderful! It came out perfectly!" Cattleya smiled.
"It looks so great! And it was done by you two!" Bell amazed.
"Now, I was thinking we should call it Ushiwakamaru. It's the name of a great warrior from way back when." Welf decided on the name.
"Hold on, we don't need to go with that!" Bell gasped.
"He's right, the name should be something rememberable like Little Crimson! It sounds cute and the crimson color is strong too." Cattleya suggested another name for the dagger.
"No! I don't think naming the dagger is necessary!" Bell said.
"Well, we gotta call it something." Welf said as he held the newly forged weapon to Bell.
"I really appreciate this, Mr. Welf." Bell took the dagger, but Welf doesn't seem to budge.
"Listen, I know we just met and I know you don't have a reason to trust me. But we're friends now, so you don't have to keep calling me "Mister" from now on." Welf smiled.
Bell can feel a sort of connection with Welf that he truly wants to just be call by his normal name and saw himself as one of Bell's precious friends.
"It's a deal." Bell said.
Cattleya smiles on this wonderful moment of the two becoming good friends along with Welf starting to open himself more even if it's just a little bit, but that little will soon grown that could help him become a better blacksmith in the future.
"(Owen, I believe things are starting to look bright for our young blacksmith companion.)" Cattleya thought believed.
Cattleya and Bell leaves Welf's workshop walking together for her blacksmith shop again, then the come across Leina and Rana who were just on their way back after visiting Mirim as they wave hello to them.
"You were really amazing, when you were helping Welf make me the new dagger." Bell complimented.
"Thank you, but all I was doing was helping Welf be a little more open." Cattleya stated.
"Maybe so, but you're also a great blacksmith I would come to whenever I need you." Bell said with a smile.
Cattleya suddenly felt her heart just skipped a beat upon hearing those words, almost like how she felt with Owen.
KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!
Bell got himself a new dagger that is going to be called Little Crimson made by both Welf Crozzo and Cattleya Slayer, and it looks like Bell may have started to make Cattleya fall for him when saying those sweet words.
KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!