Chapter 21: 20. The Missing Bed
1.
Nothing else is dopamine.
This is dopamine.
A kind of escape act, with my freedom to sleep alone at night for the next five years on the line.
If I get caught, I get confined.
Creak.
I carefully gripped the now-repaired doorknob and closed the door.
The result—success.
The only person I had encountered on the way over was a servant mowing the lawn.
And they had been so focused on their work that they had not even looked my way.
"..."
I looked around the workshop.
I had never actually lit the forge before, and yesterday’s pouch of enchantment powder was still sitting on the workbench.
Two hammers lay beside it.
Honestly, I had come to the workshop, but...
I had only run here in the heat of the moment.
I looked down at my right hand.
"...Oof."
With it swollen up like this, it was true that doing anything would be difficult.
Maybe it was because I had a child’s body, but it was clearly more vulnerable to irritation.
I should call it a feeble little body.
Still, no need to worry. I had plenty to do.
It was just hard to swing a hammer.
It looked sufficient to fire up our forge, worth thirty thousand gold.
I had already learned plenty about the standard use of a forge from textbooks.
In other words, I had thoroughly studied the theory.
Then...
Now, what is metallurgy?
Metallurgy is one enormous perverted undertaking.
To put it simply:
You crush ore, melt it, extract the metal, mix metals to make an alloy, produce ingots, heat and melt them according to the situation and purpose, hammer and forge the heated ingots into shape, quench them to cool them, and finish.
Written out, it looked pretty easy.
And in reality, it did not seem like an especially difficult process.
It was just that, if you slipped up, your hand got roasted like a frankfurter.
Something I had realized here:
What was it that gave the Sun Dwarves such a qualitative edge over everyone else in metallurgy?
"This is fine dining."
I possessed a total of three blacksmithing textbooks.
One from the forest elves, one from the Frostblade Tribe, and one from the Sun Dwarves.
The first seemed specialized in fine craftsmanship.
The middle one was specialized in mining altogether.
But the Sun Dwarves’ persistence and obsession at every single stage were no joke.
Those minute differences came together to create value.
Like fine dining.
For example.
Let’s start with minerals.
Normally, melting minerals required a forge with extremely powerful heat.
The best option was a blast furnace, of course.
But this forge’s model seemed to be something like a pseudo-blast furnace.
I had not known that either. I had originally thought this thing could handle everything.
This forge could both smelt minerals and melt ingots, but...
The higher you went, the more you needed a blast furnace.
Honestly, I might have to ask Mom to buy an additional blast furnace later.
But I felt awkward about it, so I was considering selling the gloves and buying one with that money.
I tried to take some minerals from the basket Dolores had prepared.
But then...
"...Huh?"
Inside the basket were not minerals.
They were already-made ingots.
In other words, things that had already skipped a whole series of steps.
"Hmm..."
I did not like it.
The Sun Dwarves’ attention to detail began with melting ore and making ingots.
To use fine dining as an example, it was like suddenly pulling out frozen meat patties.
No matter how well you grilled them or made the sauce, they were still frozen meat patties.
Just as I had done all sorts of things with leather, dwarves started from there.
Because ingots were things with enormous quality differences.
It was not simply a matter of melting metal and letting it harden.
Its grade differed depending on what was mixed into it and how much, how evenly it was mixed, and how many impurities it contained.
And you had to make different ingots for different equipment.
As I was feeling disappointed in more ways than one, something appeared before my eyes.
─────────────────
[Iron Ingot] [Common]
─────────────────
[Composition]
[Iron] [96.30%]
[Carbon] [2.85%]
[Sulfur] [0.42%]
[Phosphorus] [0.28%]
[Stone Powder] [0.15%]
─────────────────
[Quality]
[Uniformity] [C]
[Density] [C]
─────────────────
[Evaluation]
Mass-produced industrial ingot.
A typical cheap ingot with only its iron content raised. Unsuitable for shaping.
─────────────────
It seemed I could inspect an ingot’s condition just like equipment.
Was that only natural because I was a blacksmith?
Honestly, rather than marveling at my new ability right then...
"God, this is annoying."
Tap, tap, tap.
I stomped one foot against the floor with a deeply displeased expression.
Could this garbage really be called an ingot?
For the past week, I had done nothing but look at the Sun Dwarves’ textbooks every day, full of their perverse ingots and production processes.
I had done an absurd amount of imaginary metallurgy.
I had never even considered using such a pathetic ingot.
Me? Using this pathetic ingot? Why?
I am a Sun Dwarf.
All the strength suddenly drained from my arms.
Its carbon ratio was too high, so it would fracture if handled badly.
And because impurities had entered while its iron content was raised, its density was lousy too.
Ugh...
Steam was practically rising from my forehead, but rather than use this crap, I would be better off duplicating a hundred +20 old trees.
Seriously.
First, I decided to deny reality.
"From now on, you are not an ingot. You are ore."
I would treat the ingot as ore.
Honestly, it would probably be better for it to be reborn too.
Let’s begin metallurgy image training, an evolution of notebook metallurgy.
I tried image training for lighting the forge.
I tossed the charcoal beside it into the forge.
Now, I would light the charcoal with tinder.
Of course, I had not intended to actually light it right now.
"Ah~ shall we light it up~"
[Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~]
Yuna took over the role of the forge for me.
Good.
Let’s say the charcoal had caught fire.
When the inside had heated up a little...
Right now.
Slide...
I slowly pushed the mineral—ingot—inside.
I lightly placed the ore on top of the charcoal. Normally, you would crush and break up the ore first before putting it in.
But I would skip that process for now. I was learning how to operate the forge.
Let’s say the charcoal had caught fire.
The ore was on top of it.
From this point on, what I had to do was raise the heat like crazy.
Ordinary charcoal fire only consumed oxygen from the air. So it was difficult to make it hot beyond a certain point.
So, at that moment...
At precisely that moment, you forced air into the charcoal fire. So the charcoal could consume more oxygen.
So it could burn even hotter.
That was bellows work.
In the Sun Dwarves’ textbook, it was a very convenient process handled by pressing a single button.
This step was supposed to be effortless.
"Hehe."
But...
Where was the button?
"..."
As I looked around, I spotted a suspicious-looking iron foot pedal below.
It looked like a car accelerator.
"...?"
No way, right?
Surely not.
Unable to resist my curiosity, I pressed it lightly with my foot.
Creeeeeeak...
Holy crap, it was insanely stiff.
It was so heavy that I had to put my entire body into pressing it.
That was hard for a thirteen-year-old baby like me.
I put more force into it and stomped down hard.
Then...
Whoooosh...!
The dust clinging to the charcoal’s surface blew away.
Fuck.
[Fwoosh!]
Fwoosh?
Then that meant the fucking thing had caught fire.
Was this really bellows work?
"Hyaaaaaah!"
I stepped on the pedal once more.
Whooong!
[Fwoooooooooosh~~!]
Ah...
The bellows work in my memories was a process where you pressed the W key and a sheep-like character breathed cone-shaped fire from its mouth.
Then when you struck with a hammer, it went clang!
"Haa..."
This was exhausting.
I had stepped on it maybe three times, and all my strength was gone.
Creeeeak...
[Fwoosh.]
Creeeeak...
[You are pressing it too much right now, so the fire is coming out the outside.]
"Thanks..."
[This is amazing.]
I wished it would all just burn up.
After desperately working the bellows a few times like that, all the strength left my body.
"Wow... is this seriously right?"
Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I roughly perched on a chair.
There was one thing I had overlooked.
The Sun Dwarves’ technology was cutting-edge within their world.
But the forges and such used by humans in the Outer Tower were severely outdated.
Should I grease it or something?
Though it did not seem like something that could be solved at that level.
"..."
A sudden ominous thought came to me.
I did not have to build a dwarf-grade forge, did I?
Please.
Though, honestly, that was my field.
Mechanical engineering...
Dripping with sweat, I pushed all my hair back.
I thought I roughly understood how to use the forge.
After all, every step of this was for Dolores.
So far, the only equipment of hers I had observed was the White Gloves of Gorgonew.
It seemed about time to replace her other gear too.
But judging from this mess, metallurgy would need a little more time.
I had done gloves.
"That leaves clothing..."
Shoes, pants, tops, things like that.
Or...
One thing came to mind.
‘Underwear.’
I closed my eyes.
Honestly, it was the most straightforward.
It stayed against the body the longest.
It went on first.
And it did not seem like it would be difficult to make.
This was seriously way too much.
"It is not like I can just strip her..."
Based on what I had confirmed so far, detailed information only appeared if I directly saw her equipment with my own eyes.
As if to prove it, every slot in her equipment window other than the gloves slot was blacked out.
Right, let’s stay away from underwear for now.
Let’s consider that one off-limits and find the next target.
I kept turning it over in my mind.
Shoes... would shoes be the best choice after all...?
"What do you want to take off?"
"Her feet first..."
Huh.
My body froze completely.
Yuna, was that you by any chance?
Let’s refrain from jokes like that between family members.
[...]
Don’t do that.
Then who was I talking to?
As I stood frozen stiff like a mouse before a cat, unable to do anything...
"Feet?"
Once again, a voice came from behind me.
"..."
I slowly turned my head.
There, leaning her upper body against the workshop’s inner windowsill through the wide-open window, was Dolores, looking at me.
Her smile was as gentle as ever.
Just when had she been there?
When I was whining about the ingot?
Since I started cursing while stepping on the pedal?
No, what did any of that matter?
I had just said I wanted to take something off.
I did not know about anything else, but it was a tremendous relief that I had not mentioned the subject.
"Lionel~"
Dolores smoothly swung herself over the windowsill.
Then she slowly approached me.
"What are you planning to take off?"
She gently lifted me into her arms, then dabbed at my forehead with a handkerchief.
I was floating around one and a half meters in the air, so escape was no longer an option.
"F-feet... taking off..."
"Whose feet?"
"..."
Now.
There were two possibilities.
I could tell a lie, get caught by her ability, and then confess the truth.
Or I could simply confess the truth right away.
Since it would be the latter anyway, the former was just a losing process.
"D-D-D-Dolores..."
In the end, I told the truth.
Still smiling, Dolores wiped the sweat from my forehead.
What would happen now?
As I tensed up, she merely gazed calmly at my face...
Kiss.
She kissed my forehead.
"Lionel, how can you work so hard...?"
And she hugged me.
With a bewildered expression, I rested in her embrace.
2.
Dolores quietly followed behind Lionel.
When Lionel slipped out of the manor and crossed the garden.
When he carefully opened the workshop door and went inside.
Dolores followed exactly ten steps behind him without making a single sound.
Pitter-patter.
The sight of his back as he looked around warily and scurried inside was so adorable that she nearly forgot why she had come to catch him.
Once the workshop door shut, Dolores erased her presence completely and went around to the back.
Swoosh...
There was an open window at the rear of the workshop.
Keeping her presence completely concealed, she rested her upper body on the windowsill.
She could see the inside clearly.
"..."
With his back turned, Lionel picked up an ingot from the basket.
"...Hmm."
Something seemed to displease him, and he sighed.
It seemed like he was grumbling too.
‘Cute.’
Dolores began making mental notes.
‘The ingots do not seem to please him. I should replace them.’
Then, Lionel suddenly pointed a finger at the ingot.
"From now on, you are not an ingot. You are ore."
"...?"
He declared it in an unusually feisty tone.
Then he suddenly started humming again, tossed several pieces of charcoal into the forge, and said:
"Ah~ shall we light it up~"
He picked up the ingot and put it into the forge.
"..."
So, it seemed he was practicing something.
But that was not what Dolores noticed.
Lionel...
He was cautiously carrying out every step using only the hand opposite from the one she had applied medicine to.
‘You must not use that hand.’
She had told him not to, so he truly was not using his injured hand at all.
And yet, despite being told not to do anything...
Perhaps because his heart had not been at ease, he had come all the way out here to work this hard despite being in pain.
Something stirring welled up in Dolores’s heart.
‘Why are you trying so hard...?’
He could have simply rested.
Then...
Lionel stepped on the pedal.
Creeeeak!
"Hnnngh!"
Creeeeeeak!
"Nghaaaah!"
With his tiny little foot, he was stomping with all his might on a pedal that seemed far too much for him.
He was practicing how to operate the forge.
She wanted to go over at once and press the pedal for him.
But from what she had seen of Lionel’s personality so far, he seemed to like standing on his own.
After pressing it several times in a row...
"Wow... is this seriously right?"
Perhaps all his strength had drained away, Lionel sat on the edge of a chair and wiped his sweat.
‘Poor thing.’
He looked so pitiful.
The sight of him panting and wiping his forehead was pitiful.
Watching his small shoulders rise and fall, something welled up inside Dolores’s heart.
Then...
"That leaves clothing..."
Lionel muttered something.
"It is not like I can just strip her..."
Take off... strip...
Clothing...?
Dolores’s eyes widened.
Surely, if everything Lionel was doing right now was...
She urgently asked him:
"What do you want to take off?"
"Her feet first..."
The child’s body stiffened at the voice coming from somewhere.
She had not intended to frighten him, so she quickly went inside.
"Lionel~"
Calling his name softly.
"What are you planning to take off?"
She immediately lifted Lionel up...
And wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"F-feet... taking off..."
"Whose feet?"
"..."
Lionel squeezed his eyes shut and thought it over...
Then he slowly opened his mouth.
"D-D-D-Dolores..."
"..."
Thump, thump.
What the words pointed to in her ears...
Was the truth.
Lionel had come all the way to the workshop while his body was in pain.
And what he was doing, without using his injured body, was crafting equipment for Dolores.
How could he possibly think such things?
Kiss.
Dolores kissed Lionel’s forehead.
"Lionel, how can you work so hard...?"
She buried her face against his shoulder and stroked his back.
She tried to say more, but the words would not come out.
Something was caught in her throat.
Someone’s unconditional goodwill.
Even if she had received it before, she had never imagined it would come from a thirteen-year-old child.
She stroked Lionel’s hair again and again.
"Thank you..."
There was nothing else she could say besides thank you.
"Haha..."
Having read the mood, Lionel squirmed in her embrace.
Then...
"Um... Dolores?"
"Yes."
She lowered the Lionel she had been holding and met his eyes.
"Um, do you perhaps... have any ore?"
"I do. I will make sure to prepare some for you."
Lionel’s body twitched, and his expression brightened a little.
‘This child can be happy over something like this.’
Taking in that expression, Dolores smiled softly.
"Do you perhaps have any lubricant...?"
"I do. I will make sure to apply it."
"Hehe."
He liked that too.
Dolores let out a small laugh.
What a child, reacting to such little things.
Her mind was already turning over what she should prepare for him next.
Then Lionel cautiously added one more thing.
"Um, since it is daytime now... what you said earlier is okay, right?"
What she had said earlier.
Ah.
"..."
Dolores looked at Lionel for a moment.
Then she smiled gently.
"No."
Night or day.
He had been caught, so there was nothing to be done.
"A promise is a promise."
And especially after seeing him just now...
Dolores could not leave Lionel unrestrained. All the more so.
"Pardon...?"
Lionel’s face stiffened.
Dolores stroked Lionel’s hair one more time.
"Starting today, we will stay together."
"..."
That afternoon...
The bed in Lionel’s room had vanished somewhere.
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