Smithing Up for Some Upgrades
Bell just walked out of the old church and stretching out his arms to let his body be greeted by the morning sun, he can feel that it's going to be a great day for everyone with nothing to worry about nor any danger since they're not in the Dungeon.
"(It's been five days since that big battle with the Black Goliath, everyone went through Hell to help out defeating that monster.)" Bell thought recalled how hard it was against that giant.
"I wonder what we should do today?" Bell asked himself.
Bell took out his Hestia Knife to see that it doesn't have any dents in the edges and still shines sharply like it was just recently made, but then he remembers that the other knife he had was destroyed.
"It looks like I'm gonna need to shop for a new knife before even thinking about going back into the Dungeon with my party." Bell said.
"That sounds like a good idea." Leina agreed, walking out of the church.
"Oh, Leina! Good morning." Bell was surprised to see his first girlfriend up and about.
"There was an odd feeling in the bed and when I woke up, you weren't there. I was kind of worry that you might've gone off somewhere on your own." Leina explained as she walks up to him.
"Well, as you can see, I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." Bell smiled, took her hands into his.
"Glad to know." Leina smiled, and the two shared a kiss for a moment.
"So, you wanna visit Cattleya to give you a stronger knife?" Leina asked.
"Yeah, but let's have ourselves some breakfast with the others first." Bell said.
"Oh, I have a feeling that the girls would want more than just having breakfast with you." Leina giggled.
Bell blushes as he could already tell that the girls would definitely want to have some lovemaking time with him again, including Leina who looks like she could pounce on him at any time but is choosing to hold herself back for a while.
But even so, he doesn't mind spending time with his harem to make them happy.
"You know, we really come a long way since we first met, haven't we?" Bell asked.
"Yes, I was new in the city, and you were screaming happily while covered in blood and I almost attacked you because I thought you were a monster." Leina chuckled at the memory.
"Don't remind me, I wasn't right in the head when I wanted to know more about Ais." Bell felt embarrassed upon remembering that time.
"Oh yes, the girl you admired so much and in love with her too." Leina teased with that.
"W-Wait, it's not like I love her more than you girls! I love you all equally!" Bell promised.
"I know, silly. And I think you should try talking to Ais, see if she is interested in joining the harem." Leina advised.
"Are you sure about that?" Bell asked.
"I wouldn't be telling you this if I wasn't." Leina answered.
"Now come on, the others are about to wake up soon and they'll be sad to know that our bunny man is there to cuddle them good morning." Leina bragged Bell back into the church.
(Later)
Bell and Leina are walking together heading for the blacksmith shop to pay a visit to Cattleya and see if she could make him a new and stronger knife that could be close to his Hestia Knife.
"I wonder if Cattleya has been busy since our Dungeon explore on Floor 18. Mirim was wearing a new set of armor and must've done a lot of work on it since." Leina hoped Cattleya won't be too busy.
"I'm not sure, but she must've gotten a good reputation from Mirim saying how good the armor was." Bell said.
"Hey, look. Aren't those the two Adventurers who defeated a powerful monster a while back?" One woman asked, noticing the couple walking by them.
"Yeah, it's Bell the Rookie and Leina the Wandering Warrior." One man recognized those two.
Some of the people started to talk to each other about those two being the hot gossip of the entire city ever since the Floor 18 Boss fight, that fight has earned them a reputation for being the strongest rookies there ever was in the history of Orion.
"I'm feeling nervous about having this much attention on me." Bell admitted.
"Well, we did survive the Goliath and even killed it in the end." Leina pointed out.
"I know, but this still feels a little overwhelming to me." Bell said.
The couple attacks at the Slayer Blacksmith shop as they enter seeing Rana at the counter working to help his mom as always.
"Hey guys, I take it you come here for something from my mom's help?" Rana greeted them with a friendly face.
"That's right, is your mom here?" Leina asked.
"I was hoping if she could make me a new knife that is strong and durable and maybe have some resistance to element magic attacks." Bell explained.
"But won't you need Welf for that?" Leina asked, remembering that Welf is the one with the special skill to make magic swords.
"My mom is outside in the back; she's actually helping someone train in combat." Rana mentioned, pointing at the back.
"She's training someone? I didn't take her to being the teacher type." Leina was surprised as did Bell.
"Yeah, come on. I'll show you." Rana decided to show them.
Bell and Leina became curious as they follow Rana to outside in the back of the shop, wondering who this person could be that is getting training from Cattleya who used to be an Adventurer and quite a powerful one in her own right, meaning this person must have some high respects for her.
"That's right, your swings are improving." Cattleya said.
"There she is!" Rana pointed at her mom.
Bell and Leina can see the mother blacksmith in all her glory, and they can see another person in the backyard, but her hair color and body size does seem familiar to them somehow.
"Now, hold that pose and… strike with swiftness!" Cattleya commanded and the trainee does just that.
"Good work, it looks like you're getting better with your sword swings and in such a short amount of time too." Cattleya smiled proudly at her student.
"Well, I've gotten better thanks to your great instructions." The trainee's face is now seen revealed to be Mirim.
"Mirim?!" Leina and Bell gasped upon seeing this. Their loud gasping got the two young women's attention.
"Oh, hey guys! How have you been?" Mirim greeted them.
"We should be asking you that question. When did you start training under Cattleya to fight, and why?" Leina asked.
"Well, I kinda started training the next day after we came out of the Dungeon." Mirim answered that first question.
"Whoa, you took on training right away!" Bell was surprised.
"I was really surprised myself when Mirim came to me not only to return the armor, but she also said that she wants to wear it again and asked me personally to train her in the ways of fighting the dangers in the Dungeon such as the monsters." Cattleya explained.
"As for the why. Well, the reason for that is because of you two." Mirim pointed at Leina and Bell.
Both of them look at each other for a second and back at Mirim while pointing at themselves to make sure she was really talking about them. Mirim nods to confirm this.
"You see, it was during the great battle against that giant monster and how I was really trying my best to help everyone with everything I have including the armor I was wearing. I've never been in such a situation where I almost die, my family were really scared for me when I finally returned home." Mirim started explaining her reason.
"That moment, when you two stood back up and fought the monster with everything you had, it made me feel something inside that told me to become strong and seek our adventures, it was the first time I ever felt like this in a long time." Mirim smiled.
"So, the next day, I immediately went over to Cattleya and asked her to train me so I can be ready for the next time we go in the Dungeon together!" Mirim finished her story.
"You really want to go into the Dungeon again?!" Bell was shocked.
After what happened with the Goliath and so many people got hurt, they figured that Mirim wouldn't want to go out exploring in the Dungeon again having survived the ordeal and never wanting to see any more of those monsters again.
But no, it's the exact opposite with Mirim right now expressing her desire to get stronger as a warrior and wanting to go on more adventures with Bell's Party again in the near future.
"Wow, it sounds like you already thought a lot about this." Bell was amazed.
"I guess you could say that it just felt right to me." Mirim smiled.
"In that case, we wish you luck in getting stronger and being more capable." Leina believed that Mirim can do great things.
"Thank you!" Mirim smiled.
"(But there is also another reason why I want to get stronger because of you two. I'll save that for another time.)" Mirim thought blushed.
"So, is there any reason why you two came to my shop today?" Cattleya asked.
"Oh, I was so caught up about Mirim that I almost forgot what we came here for!" Bell gasped, remembering the reason why they're here.
"Cattleya, I was wondering if you could make me a new knife." Bell revealed his request to her.
"A new knife? What happened to the one you have, the one that was a gift from your Goddess?" Cattleya asked.
"This one is still doing great. I'm actually hoping to get a second one." Bell clarified on what he meant.
"I fight with two blades sometimes and while I don't mind fighting with just one blade, I thought maybe I should be a little more prepared to have a second blade with him to help my survival chances in the Dungeon a little more." Bell explained.
"You were always good fighting with two blades." Leina complimented him.
"Hmm, and how would you want the second knife to be?" Cattleya asked, getting interested in this request.
"Well, I want it to be durable that it can withstand anything like my Hestia Knife, and very sharp to cut through any hard stuff we might come across. Maybe… a little bit longer, and can you also make the color white as the opposite of the Hestia Knife." Bell described how he wants his second knife to be.
"And would you like anything else on your knife?" Cattleya asked nodding.
"I'm not sure if you are able to do it, but I would also like the knife to have some resistance to elemental attacks." Bell mentioned.
"Oh, so a challenge for a blacksmith like me. Very well, then I shall make this knife of yours right away!" Cattleya declared that she would make Bell's second knife.
"Really? I thought you'd be busy with other requests for your crafting skills!" Bell was shocked that Cattleya just accepted the job straight away.
"Actually, I was already done with some requests, and I needed something a bit more of a challenge, and you just gave me one!" Cattleya felt excited.
"When are you going to the Dungeon?" Cattleya asked.
"We're planning on resting up for four more days, then we'll head in." Leina answered.
"I see, then I'll have that knife ready for you in three days!" Cattleya promised with a strong confidence feeling in her eyes.
"Can you really do that in just three days?" Bell asked.
"I'm quite the blacksmith who get things done before anyone would know it. Not only that, but I will be finishing up on improving Mirim's armor as well." Cattleya mentioned, making the farm girl happy.
"Thank you so much, Cattleya." Bell thanked her.
"You're welcome. Anything to help a friend but just know that I'm still running a business and I don't work for free." Cattleya reminded him.
"I understand." Bell nodded.
"Just you guys wait, you'll be seeing a whole new me when that day comes!" Mirim smiled.
"I'll be looking forward to that." Leina smiled.
"Now, I'll just need to check in my shop to see if I have everything to make your knife." Cattleya walked back into the shop.
"Rana, could you be a dear and get those white crystals from the closet? We're going to need them to make the knife white." Cattleya requested her son for help.
"You got it, mom!" Rana nodded and ran in after her.
"Well, with that taken care of, we can't enjoy the rest of the day to ourselves." Bell said.
"That also means I'll have to train by myself now that Cattleya is going to be busy with making that knife, but I don't mean because there are things I need to learn by myself." Mirim said.
"Actually, why don't I take over training you in Cattleya's place. I've been through plenty of training to know a thing or two." Leina offered to train Mirim.
"Really? Thank you very much!" Mirim smiled.
"And if you're going to become an Adventurer, then you're going to need to join a Familia." Bell pointed out.
"That's great, I was hoping if I could join the Hestia Familia!" Mirim revealed her intention on joining the Hestia Familia because she believes that group is what will help her become stronger as an Adventurer.
(With Hephaestus)
The blacksmith Goddess is in her office looking over some paperwork about request of new weapons and some other business for the Familia, the usual thing for the Hephaestus Familia to go through with blacksmithing and all.
"Excuse me, Goddess Hephaestus?" One man said, opening the door a little.
"What is it?" Hephaestus asked, wondering what it could be.
"Someone has come to see you. It's a former member of ours." The man informed.
Hephaestus smiles upon hearing that one of her former members has come to pay her a visit, and she could already know who that is.
"Let her in." Hephaestus ordered.
And so, the former member stepping into the office is none other than Cattleya with her warm and motherly smile.
"Hello, Goddess Hephaestus. It's good to see you again." Cattleya greeted her former Goddess.
"Great to see you again. Getting a surprise visit from you has certainly made my day feel brighter." Hephaestus smiled.
"I hope you don't mind, but I saw something that reminded me about paying some old friends a visit whenever I can. And so, here I am." Cattleya explained as she sat down on one of the chairs in the office.
"Well, it's nice to see that you've been doing good ever since what happened to Owen. I'm really for that, I wish there was something I could've done." Hephaestus looked sad, feeling bad about losing Owen like that.
"Thank you for caring." Cattleya nodded.
"So, the thing I saw that brought me here was a little knife that belonged to Bell Cranel. I couldn't help but notice some inscriptions on it along with a sense that it's been enchanted, and there was only one woman I know who could make such a weapon even without her divine powers." Cattleya mentioned.
"Oh, that little thing. Yeah, it was a request from Hestia to make something for her child to help him grow stronger and showed she really cares about him. You can imagine how move she actually made me." Hephaestus looked back at the time when she made that knife for Hestia.
"I bet you felt proud in making something with your own two hands, just like how you personal showed Owen how to do it when he was just a little boy." Cattleya pointed out.
"I may have felt a little pride for that." Hephaestus smiled. Out of all the children in her Familia, Owen was her most pride and joy aside from Welf.
"So, is there anything else you want to talk with me about?" Hephaestus asked.
"How about the time when Owen had you pretend to be a waitress for our first date?" Cattleya mentioned, and the two friends started laughing together as they recall the days when they were together.
KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!
Bell and Leina have gone to visit Cattleya for a request to forge him a second knife while Mirim has been getting some combat training to become an Adventurer, and then we get to see a moment between Cattleya and the Blacksmith Goddess Hephaestus on the days when she used to be part of the Hephaestus Familia.
KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!