1.
"Take it all... every last bit!"
Did that perhaps include Yeomhwa, too?
...I was in favor.
Anyway, precious ores and gemstones filled my view.
Even at a glance, none of them looked ordinary.
Let’s take a closer look...
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[Afterglow Stone] [★★★★☆]
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『After the sun vanishes beyond the horizon, its light remains.』
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A beautifully colored orange gemstone.
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[Firevein Iron] [★★★☆☆]
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『Iron ore that grew by feeding on fire.』
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There were even ores I had never seen before.
They looked like minerals that could only be obtained inside the Tower.
If they could be obtained outside the Tower, most of them should have been among the materials the Imperial Family had given me.
There were huge quantities of gemstones and minerals packed into bags.
And beside them was even a pile of gold bars...?
"...Aren’t you going to go bankrupt?"
"Huh?"
Yeomhwa blinked as though she had no idea what I was talking about.
"Mmm... pfft, um... Lionel."
"Yes."
"Your big sister is a high ranker."
"Gasp."
"And even if I don’t look it, I’m the daughter of a very wealthy family, you know?"
"That... does seem believable."
Yeomhwa had the kind of style that screamed money the moment you saw her.
Like someone who had obviously been cherished while growing up in a well-off household?
There was nothing strange about it.
"...Really? It’s my first time hearing that."
"...?"
From her clothes to her style, she looked rich at a glance.
And if that really was the first time she had heard it... I hoped she would reflect on how she normally behaved.
Anyway, I quietly edged toward the minerals laid out before me.
I had no personal interest in the gold bars. This was what interested me.
"Are you really giving me all of this?"
"Yep! Honestly, it’s still not enough... I just raided my family’s warehouse and brought what I could in a hurry."
It was more than enough.
Ideas for what I could make were already spinning through my mind.
"Hup."
After pondering for a moment, I slung a bag of minerals over one shoulder and a bag of gemstones over the other, straining a little under their weight.
Mm. It wasn’t polite for the recipient to keep refusing, either.
"Thank you."
I gave Yeomhwa a deep bow.
"I’ll put them to very good use."
"Okay!"
Yeomhwa smiled in satisfaction.
"But you’re not taking the gold?"
"I don’t have a hobby of collecting gold."
"Hmm... Then should I exchange this for more of those things, too?"
Yeomhwa asked, pointing to the bags I was carrying.
...
That would be great.
Even if I took the gold, my goal would be to use it to buy materials anyway.
But it felt shameless to immediately say yes, so I kept my mouth shut.
As though she had read my expression, Yeomhwa nodded.
"Got it! I totally get it."
"Haha..."
"Want me to carry them to the workshop? You won’t grow if you carry heavy things, you know?"
"...I’d appreciate that."
Growth plates were fucking precious, after all.
Yeomhwa took the bags from me and put them in the workshop’s storage room.
...
As she stored them away, Yeomhwa chattered nonstop.
The most important thing she told me concerned Ruby.
"I never knew she was from the Intuition School like me!"
Yeomhwa, Dolores, and I had all concluded that Ruby was clearly a battle mage... so we had decided to let her stay at the estate for the time being and keep an eye on her.
She would start attending the Academy next week, so she would be running a two-track program: Academy classes and Yeomhwa’s lessons here.
It was basically an experience-point duplication event.
I wished her luck.
From what I heard, [Totality] had also become quite the rumor in high society.
Apprentice Blacksmith L’s brand reputation was gradually rising...
"But, Lionelnelnel."
"Yes?"
"You know..."
Yeomhwa fidgeted with her fingers and cautiously watched my reaction.
"When are you making your next piece of equipment?"
The next equipment-making schedule...
There was no set schedule, so if I wanted to, I could start immediately.
But according to the rules, I had pushed myself too hard these past few days, so it would be after I rested for a while.
"Hmm... maybe in about two weeks?"
"...Do you take reservations? Like, can someone apply separately...?"
"No, there isn’t anything like that."
It was strictly based on personal connections.
Though starting with Yeomhwa, I was preparing to gradually take on a commission or two.
Of course, Dolores’s equipment would be my top priority.
If I made good use of the materials I had accumulated... I felt like I could make some pretty decent weapon, sub-weapon, and insignia sets.
"Oh, right."
Mentioning insignias reminded me of Yeomhwa’s godawful insignia.
"You know that insignia you’re wearing?"
"Yeah, the beetle?"
"Yes, that one."
A black beetle-shaped insignia.
It had bothered me since the first time I saw it, but I hadn’t been able to bring myself to say anything.
Now, though, we knew each other well enough for me to be honest...
"...It’s kind of lame."
"What?"
Yeomhwa looked shocked.
2.
Yeomhwa was devastated after hearing what I had said about her insignia.
She looked so dejected that I gave her a little lip service.
"It might be okay because you sing well."
"Right?"
Cheered up a little, she took the gold bars and entered the Tower, saying she would exchange them for minerals again.
I told her there was no need to hurry... but she said she would be right back.
With a rose clamped between her lips... well.
I was glad she seemed healthier.
I headed straight into the estate’s reception room.
Creak.
"My sister?"
"...Hoo."
Ruby, who had been hustling away inside the room, exhaled a warm breath.
Normally, she did not care at all who came in while she was exercising... but after I made [Totality] for her, she would jump to her feet whenever I entered, no matter what she was doing.
What a difference in treatment.
"So, how has it been in actual use, Ruby?"
I had been making equipment for two weeks straight and hadn’t gotten any feedback.
As its creator, that was simply intolerable.
Wiggle.
Instead of answering, Ruby slowly approached me.
"I like it."
Squeeze.
She simply hugged me once and ran away.
At this point, that was...
"High praise indeed."
I left the reception room, leaving the embarrassed Ruby behind.
She was an adolescent girl, after all.
Everything was fine.
Yeomhwa’s treatment had proceeded smoothly, and I had neatly handled the after-service.
Ruby was also happily using [Totality], so that was okay.
But...
"...Ha, what is this boredom?"
Yeomhwa’s materials were distracting me so much that I could not do anything.
Just sitting still and resting was torment.
Mom had suddenly entered the Tower for a while after talking with a colleague named Camilla.
Ruby was exercising, and Yeomhwa was in the Tower too.
...
Then should I give it some thought?
About what I should make going forward.
Just coming up with designs was not difficult.
First of all, what I needed to aim for when making equipment from now on was set effects.
Whether it was Yeomhwa’s [Fiancée], Ruby’s [Totality], or the equipment I would make for Dolores, it would be best to design all of them with set effects.
Then I needed to take another look at Dolores’s weapon, sub-weapon, and insignia...
"...Not great..."
From what I had seen before... I remembered that everything except her weapon was not very good.
Even that weapon was in a completely different league compared to Tmir’s Grimoire, so it made sense to replace everything gradually.
The direction was decided.
For now, I would leave the pieces with relatively high completion alone and replace her sub-weapon and insignia first.
"I’ll need to think about this for a while."
How should I make Dolores’s insignia and sub-weapon?
First, matching them to the magic she used would be the first step.
Mom’s magic basically used the energy of earth, but she also used the cold that flowed from her severed meridians.
"That’s the problem..."
But the cold was not power she had wanted. It came from the Nine Yin Severed Meridians... so wasn’t it something that should eventually disappear?
It felt a little ambiguous to preserve it.
In the end, something related to the earth element should be at the center of it.
"For earth... I could use [Earth Crystal] to give it light, and use vein iron as its foundation..."
There were many ways.
Even with the materials I had now, several combinations came to mind.
But those were only designs from inside my head...
The conclusion was that I should talk to Mom about this sometime soon as well.
That was when it happened.
[Or isn’t the cooldown almost up?]
"Cooldown?"
[Divine Implements.]
"...Wow, you’re right?"
Why had I not thought of that?
I sprang up from where I had been lying in the garden.
I could make a Divine Implement once a year.
The reason there was a limit on the number of times was...
According to the textbook, the act of using a divine seed as a medium to contact a god placed a considerable burden on the existence of a mortal, or something like that...
Anyway, last year I had filled the slot by making [The Cradle of Earth].
I had not made anything yet this year.
"Lady Gaia..."
Come to think of it, Lady Gaia was the Goddess of Earth, too, wasn’t she?
Couldn’t I make a Divine Implement to offer Lady Gaia in the form of a sub-weapon or insignia?
Or... even if I did not tie it directly to Dolores’s equipment, surely I could get some sense of what earth energy felt like during the process of making a Divine Implement.
I could even use it like a totem.
My future schedule was falling into place.
"I’ll make the Divine Implement first."
It would probably be a Divine Implement for Lady Gaia.
I got to my feet and casually headed for the workshop.
[This breaks our promise!]
[We agreed you’d rest as much as you overworked yourself!]
"I’ll rest on credit~"
I could sleep when I was dead.
Besides, Doctor Camilla had said so herself. She had taken care of my fatigue, so I should do what I needed to do.
Once I decided to do something, I could not feel satisfied until I did it immediately.
[Ugh...]
Since Yuna was not stopping me either, that must mean Camilla’s treatment had really been exceptional.
For the first time in a while, I opened the Sun Dwarves’ textbook.
"Where had I read up to...?"
The section I had read last time because of Divine Implements.
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[Chapter 5. Divine Implements, Divine Seats—How to Enshrine Divine Energy]
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Ah, this was it.
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『Remember, descendant. Keep this in mind, descendant. Take pride.
Before your furnace, even gods shall stand in line.』
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That had actually happened, too.
But the problem was that this section was from a textbook written for Formal Blacksmiths.
"Sorry, but I’m Skilled now."
I did not think I needed to read this textbook anymore.
I turned the book over... and this time opened the Skilled Blacksmith’s textbook.
It probably had a Divine Implements section, too... Ah, found it.
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[Chapter 7. Divine Implements, Divine Seats—How Not to Be Swayed by a God’s Beauty, How Not to Be Led Around by the Nose by a God.]
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"...?"
Why was the title like this from the start?
Frowning, I turned the page.
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『When you were a Formal Blacksmith, the expectations gods held for you would have extended only as far as the skill of a mortal.』
『Therefore, rather than lowering themselves in every way, they would have maintained a proud and lofty attitude.』
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Yeah, I thought it had been like that.
The ones who contacted me after a long time to say sorry all started rattling off excuses about how they had been busy or had their circumstances.
To the point where I had no idea what they were trying to say.
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『However, from the moment you reach the realm of a Skilled Blacksmith, the story changes.』
『You who strive to surpass the skill of mortals.』
『From now on, gods will stop at nothing to possess you.』
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"...?"
The mood suddenly turned into a thriller.
What exactly would they do?
Below that, lines of writing continued as though this were some kind of ideological training...
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『Why are gods gods? They are beautiful. And they know better than anyone that they are beautiful.』
『They know how to make mortals melt... what voice will make them bow their heads, and at what moment they will willingly fall into their embrace.』
『They will whisper of sexual pleasure, of vast quantities of gold and treasure... of every grace they can offer.』
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...Gods?
Every god I had seen and heard of so far... had been arrogant bastards.
They did not seem like the sort to whisper anything into someone’s ear.
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『Therefore, there are two principles a Skilled Blacksmith must carve into their mind before facing a god.』
『First Principle: Never be swayed.』
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Never be swayed.
Got it.
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『Second Principle: Observe the First Principle.』
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...
Just as I tilted my head, the following text gave examples of past Skilled Blacksmiths who had failed to uphold the two principles.
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[Case 1. Vargan, Heir of Fire]
『Vargan, an Heir of Fire and a Skilled Blacksmith, offered seven Divine Implements to Mersea, Goddess of Pleasure.』
『Mersea answered his divine seed every year, appearing in a different beautiful form each time to praise his craftsmanship.』
『On the day the seventh Divine Implement was completed, the goddess took Vargan’s hand and whispered that they should remain together forever in her sanctuary.』
『That day, Vargan departed for Mersea’s sanctuary carrying only his hammer, and never returned to the Kargon Mountains.』
『According to later records, Vargan maintained until just before his departure that he had never been swayed.』
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"...Fuck."
The First Principle.
Never be swayed.
I will absolutely remember it!!
...Wait a minute.
"Is Lady Gaia different...?"
In the vase before me was a white lily-of-the-valley flower Lady Gaia had personally given me.
...
I was beginning to feel confused.
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