1.
After completing the equipment, I recuperated for a while.
I’d been at it for nearly three months, so I figured I should give my body some time to rest too.
The whole time, I kept seaweed on my forehead. It was something my doctor, Camilla, had given me.
She told me to keep it on obediently, so I did...
"Ooh."
I definitely felt like I was recovering faster than usual.
Honestly, I don’t really like going to see doctors.
It was the same in my previous life—they were always yelling at me and warning me about things.
Sniff. They’re scary.
[.........]
[Do you not understand what it means when a doctor yells at you, big brother...?]
Sniff. I don’t know.
Still, the doctor I met this time was unbelievably broad-minded.
She gave me the option to do whatever I wanted, as long as I rested properly when it was time to rest, so anyway...
"Good."
By my standards, it was nice.
Eat well, sleep well. Sometimes I’d go out for a walk in the garden, then come back and lie down again.
I wondered if it was all right to live like such an idler, but I actually had a lot to think about while I rested.
『Now that you have made such equipment... more people will come seeking you.』
Like what Harngar had said.
『From now on, more people will come looking for you for all sorts of reasons, my child.』
Or what Gaia had said.
Dolores seemed quite fond of the pendant.
She would probably wear it often from now on... and then someone might ask her about it.
"...Hmm."
In the past, I would have absolutely hidden it and asked her to keep it secret... but this time, it made me think.
"I think I should start revealing myself gradually..."
Like how I had subtly shown off Ruby’s Totality at the social gathering.
I pushed the seaweed sliding down my forehead back up with a finger.
Of course, that didn’t mean I was going to open the door right away and start accepting customers. I just thought I should start considering how much attention I could safely allow.
After all, my ultimate goal was... to open a workshop and make equipment for people.
Of course, Dolores and Ruby came first.
I would only take on others once I was finished with them... but I had realized that, like with Yeomhwa, it was good to occasionally wander down a side path and make new equipment to find inspiration.
"They were both flowers, after all."
I thought the inspiration I had drawn from flowers had been a major factor.
That didn’t mean Yeomhwa herself was some side path, though. Yeomhwa was safely tucked inside the fence around my heart.
Saved in my heart.
Still, it seemed good to receive something from someone completely different and gain new inspiration from it.
I might end up making something I had never even imagined.
"...But what should I accept?"
As payment for crafting, I mean—what should I take?
I was technically from the streets... or rather, from an orphanage, but that part of my life had been very short.
I didn’t really have enough street cred to go around claiming it.
After that, I had grown up luxuriously without wanting for anything.
Maybe that was why I had such a poor sense of money.
I had no idea how much I should charge...
"........."
I wanted to ask, but Dolores had gone to the Tower for tomorrow’s climb.
"Should I browse the community or the temples?"
That was when it happened.
La la la~♪
A cute humming voice came from the hallway.
"Oh."
Should I ask Yeomhwa?
Come to think of it, Yeomhwa was the one who had taught me that I should receive payment for equipment in the first place.
I didn’t deliberate for long.
"Yeomhwa!"
Freeze.
The humming stopped...
Click... clack...
Footsteps approached in my direction.
Creeeak.
Peek.
"Hm? Did you call me, Lionel?"
"Yes, there’s something I was curious about."
"What is it, what is it?"
Yeomhwa trotted over.
Boing!
Then she dove straight onto the bed Dolores usually lay on.
Right beside me.
She immediately turned toward me.
"What’s my clever little one curious about?"
Yeomhwa smiled brightly as she touched my upper arm.
"Last time, you said that blacksmiths usually receive payment when they make equipment for someone, right?"
"Yeah, I did."
"...I was thinking about what I should accept once I open a workshop as a blacksmith."
"Aha..."
Yeomhwa nodded as though she understood exactly what I was worrying about.
She rested a hand against her chin and appeared to think deeply for a moment...
"...I don’t know!"
"Huh."
When I gave her an unconvinced look, Yeomhwa hurriedly shook her head.
"Mmm... I’m not joking."
"Okay."
"Last time, I brought you a whole bunch of things, remember?"
"You did."
I already thought I had received a reward beyond my expectations.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that those things had helped me make the Divine Artifact so exceptionally well.
"Personally, I think even giving you three times that much still wouldn’t be enough..."
"What?"
"But a lot of the things I gave you are hard to put a price on. So it’s difficult to say exactly how much I still owe you."
That much...?
"So anyway, since I still owe you so much, I was planning to pay you back with my body someday."
"Whoa."
"Nice, right?"
"........."
No comment on that one.
Whether she realized she had just made a mischievous joke or not, Yeomhwa kept smiling sweetly without the slightest change in her expression.
There was no answer once you got swept up in Yeomhwa’s pace.
But anyway...
It would be difficult for both sides to settle on a fixed amount of money.
"Honestly, little one, you can just do whatever you want."
"Is that so?"
Yeomhwa nodded.
Swoosh...
Before I knew it, her arm had moved around my back and begun stroking it slowly.
"Yeah. You could ask them for lots of materials, like what I gave you. Honestly, aren’t you the kind of person who likes materials that money can’t buy more than money itself?"
"That’s exactly right."
"Then tell them you accept rare materials and have them bring things over. If you like what they bring, take it as an advance payment and make their equipment."
"And if I don’t like it...?"
"Tell them to get lost. Bring something else~"
It was simple, but wasn’t that a little too arrogant for a business?
How would I know what they would bring?
"...Hehe, you don’t like that either?"
"........."
When I couldn’t answer, Yeomhwa burst into laughter.
"Aww, you’re so sweet... Why are you so cute...?"
Squeeze...
Yeomhwa wrapped her arms around my back and slowly pulled me into her embrace.
...She smelled like roses.
I was a little flustered by how differently she hugged me compared to Dolores.
"...Thank you. I think I’ve sorted out my thoughts a little."
"I haven’t."
"........."
She did not seem inclined to let go of me.
Yeomhwa patted my back, then quietly whispered in my ear.
"Tomorrow is the day Dolores challenges the 146th floor."
"Yes, I heard."
"Did you hear what the trial’s theme is?"
"The theme...? I don’t know about that."
I didn’t know much about the Tower.
There was a trial every ten floors, and a grand trial every fifty floors.
There was an equipment verification station every fifteen floors... and an auction house every fifty floors?
I had heard that the 150th floor was the benchmark for high rankers these days, so whether Dolores could surpass it was important.
"The 146th floor is a team battle. Only the top four teams pass."
"A team..."
Did Dolores have a team...?
I thought the other Dawn Apostles were all on higher floors.
"Who is she going in with?"
"By herself."
"........."
It was a team battle, but she was alone? Then maybe everyone else also participated alone, and it was only called a team battle...
"The other teams have around five people each?"
"What?!"
Five versus one??
I tried to shoot up from the bed, but the arms around my back held me tightly, so I couldn’t get up.
"She’s fighting five people by herself?"
"Yeah, calm down first, little one."
Stroke... stroke...
Yeomhwa smoothed down my tousled hair with her hand.
I calmed down a little.
"It’s fine. She’ll probably kill them all."
That was an extremely violent way to reassure me...
"........."
"Not actually kill them."
I was really startled.
"I’ll bring you a nice video tomorrow, okay?"
Swoosh...
Yeomhwa whispered beside my ear.
"Let’s lie in bed and watch it together, okay?"
"...Okay."
"Good boy."
It was definitely just going to be a combat video, but...
I nodded.
2.
The next day arrived.
Dolores would be entering the trial grounds around now.
Yeomhwa had also left to record Dolores’s battle footage. She had told me we could watch it together when she got back, but...
How was I supposed to wait?
"I’ll just lie down and watch it myself."
I lay on the bed and opened the community.
Actually, there was a certain charm in watching without knowing what would happen, then listening to an expert broadcast explain it all afterward.
The place I needed was the live broadcast board in the Tower system.
Like I said before, it was called a board, but it was essentially an internet streaming platform.
At last, I was going to see how Dolores fought using my equipment.
I searched for Dolores.
[146th Floor Climb Broadcast (Duke Dolores Participating in the Trial)]
[21.1k 👁️]
"...Twenty thousand?"
Twenty thousand people were watching.
Even here, it was common knowledge that the eye symbol represented viewer count.
The moment I entered, the comment feed came rushing upward.
────────────────
- When does it start?
- Where’s Dolores?
- On the other side.
- She really is doing it alone.
────────────────
- It looks like it’ll start in two minutes.
Maybe because I had joined a stream with a decent number of viewers, but the broadcaster’s presentation seemed clean and professional.
"She’s not out yet."
The footage felt as though it was looking down from the stands of a massive arena.
The doors on either side of the arena were closed... so I guessed each team would emerge from there.
"........."
As I waited, I thought about Dolores’s [Kargon: Primordial Garden].
Rather than climbing the Tower the moment she received it... she had first taken time to understand the equipment.
I heard that she had spent an entire week testing the equipment with Yeomhwa, even sparring with her.
So... today would probably be its first real battle.
"I hope it goes well."
Then, a majestic sound rang out from the screen.
Rumble...
- It looks like they’re entering now.
Five people walked out from the left.
Armor... staffs, arrows—they were loaded down with combat gear, clearly prepared for battle.
Then the door on the opposite side opened...
"Mama..."
She really was alone.
She entered the arena while lightly arranging the hem of her dress.
But... the difference in their outfits was way too drastic.
I was suddenly worried. She would be all right, wouldn’t she?
────────────────
- Is she going to a fucking social gathering? lol
- What is this, seriously?
- LMAOOOOOOO the difference is fucking ridiculous.
- Is she gonna blink around and beat the shit out of them?
────────────────
"Blink."
It seemed Dolores’s Silver Palace had become fairly well known.
Right. She had Blink if things got dangerous.
- Once this match is over, the top four teams advance immediately.
So that meant she would pass right away.
Just as the broadcaster finished explaining, both doors closed.
Ba-ba-bam~
A trumpet blast echoed through the arena. Anyone could tell it signaled the start of the battle.
Yet Dolores merely stood where she was, quietly looking at the other side.
"...?"
I wondered whether the battle had not begun after all, but the opposing team had become busy.
Some of them moved as though measuring the distance... and the archer in the rear drew his bowstring.
Twannng!
"Uh..."
Almost at the same time, the mage beside him extended a staff.
Bang!
As the arrow fired, the mage seemed to do something, and the arrow suddenly grew larger.
"Uhhhhh!"
An arrow!! Dodge it!!!
I leaped up from the bed and shouted without thinking, but...
Crunch.
The arrow vanished right in front of Dolores’s nose.
And at the same time...
Pop.
A flower bud suddenly burst behind Dolores.
"...This."
This was that.
The flower that set in exchange.
I stared at the screen with my mouth hanging open.
────────────────
- ??
- ????? What was that just now?
- Where’d the arrow go?
- ?????
────────────────
Dolores glanced once at the withered flower bud behind her...
Then she smiled slightly, as though that was enough.
The reason I knew that expression meant, ‘That’ll do,’ was...
When she woke up in the morning, she hugged me for about five minutes and wore that same refreshed expression.
The opposing side had not gotten to the 146th floor by playing slap games either, and they hurriedly began preparing their next attack.
However.
Dolores slowly extended a hand toward them.
Clench.
As she made a fist...
KABOOOOOM!!!
A huge flower bloomed beneath the five people’s feet, and a pillar of fire surged up and swallowed them whole.
The entire screen turned red.
- Uh, uh... um... fuck...?
The broadcaster stammered.
Then words appeared on the arena’s display.
[Team A Victory]
For the record, Mama’s team was Team A...
- D-Duke Dolores has passed the trial...
I looked at the match timer in the corner.
[00:10]
Only ten seconds had passed...
"That’s insane..."
I put a hand to my forehead, my mouth falling open.
This was the pendant...?
[Kargon: Primordial Garden]...?
For a moment, nothing appeared in the comment feed, as though it had frozen...
But before long, the comments exploded upward.
────────────────
- Fuck.
- Wait, wasn’t the duke an earth mage??
- Is that equipment too?
- ??
- ?????
- What the fuck??
────────────────
[Kargon: Primordial Garden]... its showcase seemed to have gone well.
────────────────
- Fuck, where did she get more bullshit equipment to make everyone miserable again LMAOOOOOO
────────────────
Quite successfully, too.
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