1.
"Niiiiice!!"
I roared at the dawn sky as day broke.
And then.
Once I finished roaring, all the strength drained from my legs.
Thud.
Still gripping the hammer, I collapsed onto the garden ground.
The first thing that came over me after making the hammer was exhilaration.
Then exhaustion began to wash over me.
Only natural, considering how hard I’d worked myself.
Flop.
I fell flat onto my back.
Ugh, it’s damp.
Morning dew? My back would get soaked, but I didn’t care right now.
The sky was gradually brightening.
I placed Dawn Bringer on my chest.
True to its name, the sun was rising.
How strange.
My body was a complete wreck, yet my mind was clearer than it had ever been since coming here.
It felt like I had finally finished an assignment I’d been putting off forever.
[Congratulations, big brother.]
"Thanks."
As I lay there...
As though it had all been naturally arranged beforehand.
Rustle.
Someone walked across the wet grass toward me.
"..."
I knew without needing to turn my head.
An upside-down face slipped into my field of vision overhead.
Dolores looked down at me without saying a word...
Rustle.
Then she bent her knees and sat down beside me.
She slid a hand beneath my head and placed it on her lap.
She was wearing pajamas. Her clothes would get completely soaked from the wet grass.
I could throw mine away, but Mom’s clothes were expensive.
"...Hehe."
She didn’t seem to care at all.
"You stayed up all night, didn’t you, Lionel?"
"Looks like it."
"And you didn’t eat either."
I had been bracing myself to get scolded.
Brush.
Dolores gently brushed back my bangs.
"You worked hard."
Kiss.
Her lips touched my forehead.
Tap, tap.
She tapped the hammer a couple of times with her fingers...
"You finally did it. You really worked so hard."
This time...
Kiss...
She kissed my cheek.
"?!"
It was my first cheek kiss.
W-What was this?! I was so deeply moved.
So becoming a Master Craftsman meant I could get a kiss on the cheek from Dolores?
No, that was insane. I should’ve become a Master Craftsman sooner.
Rustle.
Dolores’s cool arm slid beneath my calves.
She lifted me up with ease.
"Whoa."
My body rose into the air.
This was a full-on princess carry...
It was a little embarrassing. I was about to ask her to put me down, but...
The warmth against the nape of my neck was so cool and pleasant.
When I opened my eyes again, I was on the bed.
Rustle... kiss.
"Sleep well."
I fell asleep just like that.
2.
Princess Justina.
From early that morning, she had summoned the imperial palace’s finest appraisers.
Lately, her skin had regained its vitality.
Her cheeks had filled out, and beyond merely looking healthier, she radiated the freshness and beauty fitting for a girl her age.
The same was true of her brother.
Riding lessons and swordsmanship lessons had now become the prince’s morning routine.
Thus, though these days she had no cause for concern whatsoever...
"...Please, is something wrong?"
The item that could be called the source of all those happy changes.
The reason she had regained her vitality and health.
[The Cradle of Earth.]
The earrings Lionel had made had changed overnight.
They had always been beautiful, immaculate, and lovely.
But today, the Green Jade set in their center had become richer in color. The tree engraving within appeared to have grown fuller, sprouting more branches, and though no one had touched them, the golden trim was shining.
"..."
The appraiser had noticed the change as well.
Without a word, he immediately activated the appraisal device.
Then came the appraisal report it printed.
─────────────────
[The Cradle of Earth][★★★✦☆][+0.5]
[Unique Equipment] [Divine Artifact]
─────────────────
I tilled the earth and laid its sprout to rest within.
Hands that thought only of one person throughout its making.
A tribute to that warm, gentle earth—
Which speaks not when trampled and opens its embrace even when dug into.
─────────────────
『I’ll make you something so good that you won’t even think of any other lousy accessories.』
- Master Craftsman L -
─────────────────
"..."
"What is it? Is there a problem?"
Justina urgently asked, but instead of answering, the appraiser took out the old appraisal report he had carefully stored away and laid it beside the new one.
─────────────────
[The Cradle of Earth][★★★☆☆]
[Unique Equipment] [Divine Artifact]
─────────────────
I tilled the earth and laid its sprout to rest within.
Hands that thought only of one person throughout its making.
A tribute to that warm, gentle earth—
Which speaks not when trampled and opens its embrace even when dug into.
─────────────────
『I’ll make you something so good that you won’t even think of any other lousy accessories.』
- Formal Blacksmith L -
─────────────────
The two reports lay on the table. Justina looked at them as well.
There were two changes, first of all.
The number of stars had subtly changed.
The first three were the same, but a tiny half-star had been added beside them.
And most decisively...
The Formal Blacksmith in the Origin Script had changed... to Master Craftsman.
"..."
The appraiser’s fingertips trembled.
He had been doing this work for forty years now.
And he had served in the imperial palace for twenty-five.
During that time, he had run countless items through an appraisal device.
But not once.
Not truly once, never.
"...How?"
Had he ever seen equipment that was already completed and finished grow by itself.
An item’s grade was decided the instant it was made.
After that, the only thing one could do to an item was enchant it, a concept that had appeared after the Tower emerged, and enchantment could not raise its grade.
Three-star equipment stayed three-star until it broke.
That was common sense, yet...
"...Your Highness."
That changed Origin Script, the words Master Craftsman.
It meant that this equipment’s creator... this man named Lionel, had grown.
Then wasn’t this...
‘Something like retroactive application...?’
"The equipment has grown."
"...What?"
"My apologies."
The appraiser bowed his head.
"I have nothing further I can tell you from here."
"..."
"From here on, this is beyond what I know."
Rustle... tap... tap...
He carefully gathered and organized the two reports.
"First, I shall swiftly search for precedents. I will go through the records as well. However..."
"..."
"I believe there is only one person in this world who can answer questions about this item..."
In truth, even searching the records would surely not yield a clear answer.
So... if she truly wished to know.
"Why not ask its maker directly?"
Justina pondered the appraiser’s words for a moment...
Actually.
She had wanted to contact him all along.
But as a princess, she could not privately contact a ducal house.
And she had been agonizing because she had no excuse to reach out to him.
Then she realized this was an opportunity to contact him.
"I’ll do that!"
She sprang to her feet.
"I’ll write a letter right away... No, it would be more accurate to contact him directly through a communication crystal rather than send a letter. He will need to see the item. Yes, that would be better."
The appraiser quietly organized the reports.
"Thank you!"
And so the princess...
Hurried out while carrying the earrings.
"Hehe."
Only a month ago.
No one would have believed...
That they would see such a bright smile on her face.
3.
I slept well.
Really well.
When I woke up, I had been sleeping while tightly hugging my hammer.
Honestly, I still wanted to hug it now.
And the moment I woke up...
"You’re awake?"
I turned my head and saw Dolores sitting in a chair beside my bed.
"..."
She had a book open on her lap.
Hey, wait, no way.
"Have you been sitting beside me?"
"Yes."
I had no idea how many hours I had slept.
Thump.
Dolores closed her book and slowly rose from her seat.
"You should have breakfast, Lionel."
Kiss.
Before leaving, she gave me one on the forehead.
She kissed my forehead.
But.
I had a routine I did after waking up in the morning.
Namely, carefully inspecting Dolores’s thighs.
Well, it wasn’t for some perverted reason... Um...
Anyway, if I spotted a run in her stockings or any other problem during the inspection, I needed to fix it at once.
You could consider it a regular after-sales service checkup.
But today...
Today...
‘Her thighs are especially beautiful today.’
Dolores’s thighs were beautiful to begin with.
That much was true.
The problem was that, even taking that into account, they suited the stockings exceptionally well today.
The softly reddish fabric clung much more snugly than before, wrapping around her legs.
What was this?
I trusted my senses.
I looked at those thighs more than ten times a day.
There was no way I could fail to notice a change.
"...Dolores!"
"Yes?"
She must have noticed me staring intently at something.
She had been waiting by the door for a moment.
"Could you come over here?"
When I patted the spot beside the bed, Dolores obediently came over.
"What is it, Lionel?"
"...There’s something I need to check..."
I inspected her stockings once more.
They were different. Something was definitely different now.
"Could you take your stockings off?"
"...Mm?"
Dolores flinched at my request for a moment.
Then her face reddened.
She slid her hand beneath the clothing covering her lower stomach.
And then.
Click, click.
Along with the sound of her garter belt coming undone.
Rustle...
Swish.
Dolores handed me the stockings she had removed.
...They were nice and warm. I didn’t think it was Dolores’s body heat, but...
Just thinking of it as her warmth made me feel good. I’d think of it that way.
Then.
I held up the stockings and examined them.
The texture had definitely improved somehow...
The weave was denser, and they were more elastic.
They smelled better too.
I immediately opened the interface...
─────────────────
[Frostless Spring][★★✦☆☆][+0.5]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility][70/70]
─────────────────
[The grade of this unique equipment has retroactively increased in accordance with its creator’s growth.]
─────────────────
I saw something astonishing.
"...Huh?"
Frostless Spring.
The stockings had gained another star.
No, wait a second.
Was that even a star?
Rather than a star, it was a slightly pathetic little cross-shaped symbol.
Since it said +0.5, then judging from the circumstances, this was...
‘Two and a half stars.’
That had to be it.
Even its Compatibility had risen by ten. Sixty had been the maximum before, but now it went all the way to seventy.
This was ridiculous.
There was a function like retroactive growth?
In other words, because I had become a Master Craftsman...
The equipment I had made before had risen in grade.
Wait, then...
I glanced sideways at the gloves Dolores was wearing.
Actually, that was right.
There had been no need to take off her stockings or undo her garter belt.
I could have checked an equipment interface just fine.
─────────────────
[Apprentice Blacksmith’s Warming Gloves][★✦☆☆☆][+0.5]
[Compatibility][39/50]
─────────────────
『Because I made them dearly while thinking of Dolores...』
- Apprentice Blacksmith L -
─────────────────
[The grade of this unique equipment has retroactively increased in accordance with its creator’s growth.]
─────────────────
This one had increased too.
And considering its original Compatibility had been 33/40...
It had gone up by around six.
"...L-Lionel."
Squeeze, squeeze.
"Yes."
"How long do you intend to touch them? It’s a little cold... If it will take much longer, I was thinking I should get under the blankets."
"Ah, I’m just about finished."
Squeeze, squeeze.
"...Lionel?"
Only then did I stop my hands and return her stockings to her.
"Didn’t your equipment feel somewhat different when you woke up this morning?"
"...It did. I did feel like I was in better condition."
"It wasn’t your imagination."
Dolores blinked.
"The grades of your equipment have all risen somewhat just now."
I explained to her that their grades—and the inherent quality of the equipment itself—had risen.
"It seems that if I grow..."
"Yes."
"The equipment grows along with me too."
That was the conclusion I reached.
"...That is truly astonishing. It’s the first time I’ve heard of such a thing."
"I was surprised too."
It wasn’t just new to Dolores. It was the first time I’d heard of it too.
I glanced sideways at the hammer beside me.
I was happy about the hammer I’d made yesterday, of course.
But I had been a little disappointed that it was three-star equipment, just three-star.
Harngar and the other appraisers had repeatedly told me that my stars had a different value from everyone else’s.
Still, there was what you could see, wasn’t there?
But I didn’t need to worry.
Because...
‘You’ll grow alongside me too.’
A growing ego hammer.
That thought made me feel even better.
I had only roughly made the handle so far, which meant it still had room to grow.
"Anyway, so I think you should put these back on now."
"Yes, I will. Thank you, Lionel."
As its maker, I had to check how they fit once they were worn again.
I adjusted my position on the bed so I wouldn’t miss Dolores putting the stockings back on.
I blinked a few times, focusing my eyes.
And this time, Ruby wasn’t here to cover my eyes.
A truly perfect opportunity...
[...Pervert.]
Still sitting on the edge of the bed, Dolores spread open the stocking with both hands and slipped it over the tips of her toes.
Just as she was about to slowly pull it up.
That was the very moment.
Knock, knock, knock.
Ah.
Wait a second.
"My Lord Duke."
Sebas’s voice came from beyond the door.
"A communication has arrived through a communication crystal."
"..."
"I believe it is from Her Highness the Princess."
Dolores’s hands stopped.
She removed the stocking from her toes.
Then she looked at me for a moment.
And with a faint smile on her lips...
"...Next time?"
After saying something extremely, extremely, extremely suggestive...
She went outside with the stocking in her hand.
Click.
The door closed.
I stared at the shut door for quite a while.
Well, the communication.
The communication... There had probably been a change to the earrings, The Cradle of Earth.
That had grown too, then.
"Whew..."
Right... after-sales service was important.
Of course it was important.
I tried hard to compose myself, but...
In the end.
"Damn it, Justina!!!"
Unable to endure it.
I cried out in resentment at the princess, who had contacted me at the worst possible time.
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