1.
"I hope you like it."
There was no question of liking it or not.
She was giving me a hammer. Of course I should gratefully accept it, but...
If there was truly a problem, it was that this hammer was made for combat.
"Is it really all right for me to accept something like this...?"
"I had to procure it in a hurry."
So it seemed.
It did look genuinely impressive, though.
I really did not want to fight much.
Or did she not particularly care about what I wanted? Was she perhaps trying to raise me into a combat mercenary...?
It looked quite heavy.
Yet Dolores held it out to me as casually as though it were a light stick.
Then—
A window activated.
──────────────
[Enchantment List]
[Weight Reduction] [LV.4]
[Lightning Enchantment] [LV.3]
──────────────
Whoa?
What was this?
All of a sudden, a list of the equipment's enchantments appeared.
It was an interface I had never seen before.
Had the equipment until now simply not had anything like this?
The instant I wondered how powerful these enchantments were—
[At Level 1, weight is reduced by 30 percent. Level 2, 60 percent. Level 3, 90 percent. Level 4, 99 percent.]
[It doesn't seem easy.]
"For now, I had its weight reduced substantially in a hurry. Would you like to try lifting it?"
It really seemed like she meant to give it to me. She must have rushed to do that because she was worried I would not be able to lift it.
It was touching.
I cautiously accepted the hammer.
Contrary to its immensely weighty appearance—
Thump.
The hammer rested lightly in my hand.
Yet it still had a satisfying heft to it.
"...Nice."
"..."
It was nice. It really was. I was genuinely so grateful, but...
"Are you really giving this to me?"
Rather than answering my question immediately, Dolores—
"There are certainly many things I cannot understand... but I tend to focus on what I can see."
She pointed to the gloves on her hand.
"In that sense, this is..."
Dolores bent down to meet my gaze.
"My repayment for the gloves."
"...Thank you."
Dolores beamed.
The scenery lay behind her. Sunset light slanted in through the window.
Her unreal beauty made my head spin slightly.
The Warming Gloves seemed to have received a good evaluation.
No words came to mind.
I had forgotten when I had last been rewarded for working hard.
The same went for this sort of kindness. A strawberry latte my advisor had bought me near the end of my doctoral program.
That was where my memory ended.
It was strange.
Something settled in one corner of my heart.
And there was another similarity here: the kindness I received did not suit me.
At the time, I had a strawberry allergy.
And this hammer was for combat.
I should say something.
But how should I say it? She had gone out of her way to buy it, so I could not simply say, "I don't like this."
I needed to offer a reasonable explanation and explain why it would not work.
I decided to use the most beautiful method of questioning that existed in the world I used to live in.
"Dolores, may I ask whether it would be all right to report that I am considering whether I may dare to state that I have concerns regarding whether I might be permitted to ask a question about the hammer you bought for me...?"
As my question went on, amusement gradually spread across Dolores's lips.
"Pfft, Lionel."
She laughed brightly.
It was laughter born of genuine enjoyment.
Apparently, my nested interrogative sentence was quite novel to her.
"You can speak comfortably. Don't be nervous, all right?"
"...Yes."
I took a deep breath.
[Want some help?]
Yeah, please.
I closed my eyes and opened my mouth.
"The thing is..."
I looked down at the hammer once more.
I could not say, It says it is for combat. That would make no sense to her.
"The handle on this hammer is the right length. Short-handled forging hammers are usually about this long."
So far, so safe.
"But the faces—the two sides of the hammerhead—look exactly the same, don't they? Normally, a blacksmith's hammer has one flat side and one narrow or rounded side. The face for flattening and the face for finishing are different."
"..."
"But both faces of this one are flat... and rather narrow. It's shaped to concentrate the impact on a single point."
[In other words, it isn't a hammer that allows delicate wrist adjustments—(pause for a beat! Make a disappointed face~) it seems like a combat hammer.]
"...It seems like a combat hammer."
Thanks to the excellent script Yuna had written for me, I was able to keep talking without stopping.
Dolores quietly listened to me, then slowly nodded.
As I always said, I could not lie in front of her.
She had probably finished analyzing even that just now. It must have sounded true to her.
"...You know so much, Lionel."
"My dream was to become a blacksmith."
That was not a lie either. It was just a dream I had decided on a week ago.
It was kind of funny.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know much about hammers. I thought it only needed to be short. Hmm... what should we do...?"
As Dolores rested a hand beneath her chin and pondered—
Bonk.
Ruby gently bumped her head into Dolores's skirt.
How cute.
She wanted some attention too.
Dolores looked down at her with a smile.
"All right. It is late tonight, so... let's go out tomorrow."
"!"
Ruby froze.
"Ruby, you like Ariel Plaza, don't you?"
"Yeah... I do..."
"Good."
With practiced ease, Dolores soothed Ruby before looking at me.
"We can buy you a new hammer while we're there. Pick whatever you like."
"Would that really be all right...?"
"Of course."
Good heavens.
Was she offering to casually spend a billion on me?
Wait a second. Then what would happen to the hammer she had already bought?
When my gaze shifted to Tozar's hammer and I did not know what to do, Dolores lifted it and examined it.
"Still, what should we do with this one?"
"How much did it cost...?"
"Two hundred thousand gold. It wasn't that expensive."
Two billion?
Two billion?!
My hands trembled. There probably was not a return policy.
Dolores had brought over a two-billion-won hammer as though she had picked up a loaf of bread, then said it had not been expensive.
"The materials seem fairly good, at least."
"..."
"Want to melt it down and use it as material?"
"Pardon...?"
It did seem to be good because of some kind of lightning ore or whatever.
But she wanted me to melt down two billion?
"Melt it down and use it as material."
Stroke, stroke.
Dolores patted my head.
Without realizing it, I leaned my head into her hand.
"What do you say?"
"Thank you..."
Dolores was apparently...
Incredibly rich.
2.
In return for looking after Ruby, Dolores treated me to a delicious meal.
I thought we would go to a restaurant, but then she suddenly pulled something out of thin air.
Hummm.
A crack formed in the air, and a steaming sandwich and a bottle of orange juice that looked cold settled onto her hand.
"...?"
Where had those just come from?
"It's a subspace."
Seeing that I was wondering where she had taken them from, Dolores answered with a smile.
"If you climb the Tower someday, you'll naturally come to understand it."
No, I did not want to climb the Tower.
I did not say that aloud.
The sandwich was unexpectedly ordinary ham and vegetables. The bread was soft, as though it had just been baked.
By the time I finished eating, the sun had completely set.
Stars had been appearing one by one outside the window for quite some time.
It was bedtime.
All right, it was about time for me to leave.
Today had drained far too much out of me.
"Then I'll be heading off to bed now—"
"Where are you going?"
"Huh? To my room..."
"Sleep here."
Dolores pointed to a door deeper inside the cottage.
It was a little large—more like a vacation house—and seemed to have about three rooms.
She appeared to be pointing out one of the spare rooms.
Resistance was meaningless.
"Then I'll just go wash up first!"
I hurried out of the cottage and headed for the showers.
For some reason, I felt like she might tell me to wash here. That would have been a little too much for me.
After giving myself a quick rinse, I knocked on the cottage door.
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
When I entered, Dolores was seated at the table.
Perhaps she was getting ready for bed; she wore sleepwear, while starlight flowed through the window and settled on her shoulders.
The tips of her silver hair gleamed blue.
She looked like a painting even just sitting there.
Since I had nothing to say, I asked after the little girl who had vanished.
"Where's Ruby?"
"She went to sleep. She has always been a child who sleeps a lot."
"I see."
"A mage can train even while sleeping. The more they sleep, the better."
There was a profession that convenient and efficient?
That was useful information. I wanted to become a mage too.
"All right, then good ni—"
"Sit down for a moment."
"Yes."
Escape attempt failed.
Swallowing a sigh, I sat across from her at the table.
Dolores simply gazed at me with her fingers interlaced.
Starlight illuminated only half of her face, while lamplight shone on the other half.
"Lionel."
"Yes."
"Tomorrow, we will return to my territory."
Oh.
Her territory? Since Dolores was a duchess, it was probably a duchy.
She had a home too, of course.
"That's good news."
I said it without much thought.
Once Dolores left, the Warming Gloves request would be over, and I would return to the orphanage.
Back to everyday life.
"You're coming too."
Huh?
"Pardon?"
"Lionel, you're coming with us too."
With a calm expression, Dolores clarified it once more.
I had not misheard her.
"The orphanage..."
"Would there be any problem with me taking you along?"
"No. That's not it."
"I'll build you a workshop in my territory."
A workshop?
No, really?
The ordinary workshop I knew meant a place with a furnace and a comfortable environment where one could live as a blacksmith.
"There... work hard and improve your skills."
"..."
"I can provide you with anything you want."
I could not answer right away.
Not because I disliked it. There was not a single reason to refuse.
When she told me to improve my skills, that meant she believed my ability could grow further.
It meant she had seen my potential.
For a moment, memories of the past surfaced.
How many people had said those words to me over the last five years?
"...Thank you."
My voice cracked slightly.
A man should devote his loyalty to the person who recognizes his worth.
Yes, in this life, I've chosen you, Dolores—
[So cringe.]
Got it.
I lightly shook my head to compose myself, then asked why she was treating me so well.
"What should I do after improving my skills?"
I had a rough idea what this was about, but...
"I don't know how you knew, but..."
Dolores paused briefly.
"Lionel, you were certain that I suffer from a condition called Nine Yin Severed Meridians."
"Yes."
"Make equipment that can cure it, or... at least delay it further."
Dolores gave a faintly cynical smile.
"It may seem ridiculous to make a request like this of a child. But I'm serious."
She looked at me.
"I will spare no support."
From Dolores's perspective, she was clinging to a thirteen-year-old child and asking him to save her.
A duchess. The ruler of the fifth floor. A high ranker.
For someone like her to make a request of an orphanage child at all...
Did that not mean she had tried so many things, and that I was the only possible solution?
"I'll find a way."
That was what I said, but...
My mindset was that I would absolutely do it, no matter what.
"...Yes. Thank you."
Stroke, stroke.
Dolores patted my head.
This time, I did not lean my head into her hand. Even so, her hand did not withdraw.
Smiling softly, she slowly rose from her seat.
"All right, let's get to bed. Tomorrow will be busy."
"Yes."
Dolores opened the door to the inner room.
"..."
Ruby was sleeping inside.
Curled up in the middle of a huge bed, she had kicked half the blanket away.
Where was my room?
But then, something entered my view.
Beside Ruby was a neatly placed blue pillow.
Wasn't I supposed to sleep in a spare room?
To make matters worse, there was a white pillow on Ruby's left.
In other words, Dolores would be beside Ruby, Ruby would be beside me, and I would be next to them.
"...Me too?"
"Of course."
Dolores answered as though it were only natural.
"Babies are scared to sleep alone at night, aren't they?"
I'm thirty, you know.
Of course, I could not say that.
After confirming that I had entered the room, Dolores—
Click.
Locked the door.
"..."
"..."
In front of me, Ruby shifted in her sleep, mumbling something.
So I really had to lie down here.
I rested my head on the blue pillow and stared at the ceiling.
Starlight quietly flowed in through the window—
Kiss.
"..."
Dolores lightly kissed the sleeping Ruby on the forehead.
It was so natural, as though she did it all the time.
Oh, right. She had done that to her forehead earlier today too.
Wait, no?
It couldn't be... this was just me being self-conscious...
Then—
Kiss.
"Sleep well, Lionel."
I had my eyes closed, but something touched my forehead.
Soft, warm, and brief.
"..."
The moment to answer had already passed.
I heard a blanket shift slightly, followed by the far side of the bed sinking down.
With Ruby between us, Dolores lay down.
Before long, only the breathing of three people remained.
More precisely, two people's. I could not close my eyes.
Pinch.
What the hell?
Someone suddenly pinched my thigh with their fingers.
'...Ruby was awake too.'
More precisely, only one person's breathing remained.
My forehead stayed warm for a long time.
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