Chapter 45: DanMachi 15
The moment Hestia enters the house, she starts frantically looking for someone or something, and the second she spots me she starts shouting.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!" Hestia screams at me. I just look at her in confusion, then look at Olive. She shrugs and I look back at the goddess.
"What did I do?" I ask, totally confused about what I actually did.
"WHERE IS THAT SWORD?!" she continues her screaming.
Realizing what this is about I point toward Olive. "Olive has it, it's her birthday gift, after all." Throwing her under the bus, the petite goddess now turns towards her.
"BRING IT OUT, NOW!" Olive not wanting to argue, just removes it from her inventory. As the sword appears in her hands, the goddess takes a few steps back, clearly frightened by it.
"How?" she says with a barely auditable whisper. Her head slowly turns towards me and asks with a raised voice again. "How?!"
"How, what?" I ask still confused about this whole situation.
"How did you make a sword that could hurt even gods!?" She says and starts to uncontrollably shake.
I rise my eyebrow and say. "Couldn't I do that before? Not like your mortal bodies are so tough."
"No, you don't understand, this sword can damage souls. It can actually kill a god! It goes against the laws of the mortal world! You shouldn't use it!" She says, reaching for it.
"Yeah, not happening." I say grabbing onto Hestia's hand. "I made this sword for Olive, as a birthday gift, it doesn't matter to me what its full capacities are. I even wanted to enchant it further, so I'm planning on learning it in the following days." Take a breath. "And I don't care if the gods get scared about it, the only reason I made it is to keep Olive safe, we plan to conquer the dungeon after all, and the lower floors will need all the firepower we can muster."
I let Hestia's hand go, and she pulls it back, looking at me and the sword alternately. She repeatedly takes deep breaths and exhales, calming herself down in the process.
"Okay." She finally says, then turns towards Olive. "Never, under any circumstance, use it outside of the dungeon. If any other god sees the sword, they will hunt you down. I'll have to talk to Hephaistos again." At that moment both of us realize that our goddess wasn't worried about the blade, but our safety. A smile blossoms on both of our faces. I crouch down and pull the petite little goddess into a tight hug.
"Don't worry little loli, I would never let anything happen to us." Then I plant a chaste kiss on her cheeks, making her blush hard, then hit me on my chest while pouting. "Who are you calling a loli..."
Olive, meanwhile, stashed the sword, and moved to my side, then started patting the goddess's head.
"Everything will be alright Hesti, I promise not to use it if not necessary." She says while smiling.
My smart girl didn't promise her not to use it on the surface, but to only use it if it's necessary. I smile and then let go of the goddess.
"Come on let's go eat, we prepared dinner." I grab the still-shaky goddess and pull her to the dining room.
At dinner, Hestia starts explaining how she found out about the sword, and how Hephaistos freaked the fuck out and ran home. Only to send Tsubaki, the captain of her familia, to pick up Hestia and bring her to Hephaistos's house.
I might have made a bit of a blunder with my crafting and scared the poor goddess to death. But the blade's secret was still safe, only Tsubaki, Hestia and Hephaistos know about it, well, if you don't count the animals, but Hestia doesn't need to know about the new clearing in the nearby forest.
The gods talked about the damage done to the workshop, and I was told, that I won't be needing to pay for it. The other good news was that I was now considered a master blacksmith, the youngest one, ever. It's funny how I already had that system title. With the title came a few perks from the Hephaistos familia, I could change familias and join them any time I wanted, which I had to promise Hestia I won't do. I could get resources, otherwise, unavailable to the public, my orders towards her blacksmiths were on priority and I had a few other smaller perks.
With the dinner done, Hestia went off to her room and I joined Olive in ours.
"Not sure how long we're staying here if the gods freak out about that sword." I say laying on the bed holding Olive tightly.
"Doesn't matter, I would miss Hestia, but we can exit the world any time. I'm starting to miss some modern everyday appliances. What I would do for a good old TV to kill some time." She says sighing.
"Next world we're going will be a modern one. I even have a perfect candidate!" I say and I start laughing at her confused expression. "Oh, you're going to love it there." She rises her eyebrows and asks.
"Oh, tell me about it." She says while snuggling closer.
"It's a world with superheroes and villains. Although, it's really biased. Villains kill people all the time, but heroes are scrutinized if they accidentally kill a villain while defending the everyday folk."
A grimace forms on her face. "Why would I like that world?" She asks confused.
"It's a future world compared to yours, about 140 years into the future." She nods and I continue "Have you heard the term vigilante?" She nods again. "Well, what would you say if we put on some masks and played heroes or villains? Taking out the good or bad guys, while escaping the law. It could be fun!" I say with a smile. "Plus, I get to see your pretty ass in spandex." My smile widens at that thought.
"Please, tell me those heroes don't run around in goofy costumes?!" She whines.
"Oh, you bet they do! Not just the heroes, but the villains too!" she facepalms and I just laugh at her. She sighs and looks at me with pleading eyes. "Please, not that world, anything but that."
I sigh then nod. "Okay, when we finish this world, we'll buy a few books, novels, and other literature in the Library shop and maybe even get a TV so we can watch shows. We'll look through stuff and you'll be the one to choose our next world. Alright?"
She moves up and plants a kiss on my lips. "Thanks." She says with a smile.
"But first we finish this world, get to the bottom of the dungeon, and reach level ten."
"Okay..." she says a bit dejected.
"I understand you're bored." I sigh "I am too, but we need to accumulate experience and excelia. And the dungeon is the best place for that. If you want we can start rushing through it, but that might be a bit dangerous."
"No, let's continue doing it smartly, and the relatively safe way." She says with a shake of her head.
She snuggles up to me even closer and places her head on my shoulder while hugging my right hand. With our talks concluded, her breathing slows down and she drifts off to sleep. I watch her cute sleeping face for a moment and brush off some of her locks covering it. After giving her a good night kiss, I let myself fall asleep.
The next day was a bit hectic, I went over to Hephaistos's shop to apologize to her. I told her I would pay for the repairs, but she adamantly refused it. After getting refused for the third time, I gave up. She can be so stubborn sometimes. Before leaving her place, I asked her to suggest me someone who could teach me enchanting and someone from who I could make new armor.
"Why don't you make your own armor?" she asks looking confused.
"Yeah, I don't have time to experiment with armor crafting right now. So any suggestions?"
"Hmm... I have a guy in my familia who is experienced with enchanting." She picks up a bell and rigs it. A moment later the cute assistant lady I saw the first time I came over, opened the office door and bowed.
"Did you call?" She asks.
"Yes, Sofia. Could you introduce Andrew to Mateo and to your dad?" She turns towards me. "Tyler, her father, is one of my best armor smiths, and Mateo is a pretty good enchanter. You'll have to convince him to teach you thought." She says.
"Thanks, Hephaistos. That helps a lot. Have a nice day!" I say as I follow Sofia out of the office.
"Mind if I pick up someone? I'm not the only one who needs new armor." Sofia looks at me and nods.
"Okay, I'll be back in a second don't go anywhere." I say to her and cast [Celestial Eyes] to locate Olive and [Void Step] to her location.
"Hey, are you free?" I ask her sword-swinging beauty.
"Sure, why?" she asks tilting her head to the side.
"I'm heading out to get new armor, Hephaistos's recommended a good armor smith." She nods places her sword into her inventory and cast a clean on herself, removing all the sweat and dust.
"I'm ready, let's go." She says extending her hand and I grab onto it. I recast [Celestial Eyes] and locate Sofia and we both disappear from our backyard, and appear right next to her.
"AAAhh!" screams the poor girl pulling the attention of the whole street.
"Sorry." I say to the startled girl. "Olivia this is Sofia, Hephaistos's assistant, Sofia this is Olivia, my girlfriend.
"Hi" they say to each other and I nod.
"Now that you know each other, let's go meet the armor smith." I say to Sofia after she collects herself.
Our walk was not a long one, but surprisingly we didn't go to the tower. We arrived at a smaller wooden workshop with a large stone chimney a few streets away from Hephaistos's shop. It had a well-lived-in look, with a ragged front veranda. Sofia walks up to the door and knocks. No answer comes, and she repeats it. On her tenth knock a clearly annoyed older guy opens the door with a yell.
"WHO THE FU-" but then he notices the girl and his demeanor changes swiftly. "Oh hi, Sofi. What brings you here?"
"Hi dad, Hephaistos told me to introduce you to them." She points towards us. He looks in our direction I nod and Olivia waves toward him.
He grunts, then opens the door wide and calls us in. "Come in." Sofia goes in first and we follow.
"Okay," Says Tyler "What brings you to my shop?"
"I think you might have guessed it, we both need new armor." I said tilting my head towards Olive.
"Hmm, for what level ranges?" He says while looking at both of our bodies.
"We're currently Level 3's but want one that could be used up to level 5 or more. How long would you need to create two sets?"
"Depends on materials and your fighting styles." He says.
"I would say mine is an agility and strength-based close-range fighter." Says Olivia and I nod in agreement.
"Mine would be something of a close-range agility mage." I say scratching the side of my head.
"Close-range mage? Never heard anyone describe themselves as that. What do you do, enchant yourself or something?"
"That too, but I mostly summon swords." He nods in understanding.
"Okay, so the full plate is out of the question for both of you, what are you using right now, I presume some kind of leather?"
"We're still using our level 2 equipment, that's why I want to get us something new. I'm using leather, she's using some kind of spider silk dress."
"Yea that won't give you any protection on lower levels." He says shaking his head. Then he turns around and goes towards a table. He searches the drawer for a second and picks up two measuring tapes, then he comes back and turns towards our guide. "Sofi sweetie, can you take the girl into the backroom and measure her?"
"Sure dad." She takes one of the tapes and ushers Olivia to follow her.
"That one is a good catch lad." He says while smiling and tapping me on the side with his elbows. "If I was thirty years younger you'd have some competition."
"Nah, there wouldn't be any. She's mine, body, mind, and soul." I say with a wide smile.
"Ha! I like how confident you are!" He barks out a laugh. "Okay now make a T pose and let me measure you."
He starts measuring my legs and arm lengths and thickness, moves on to the size of my chest, and takes notes on the paper. The whole process took about fifteen minutes, and before we finished Olivia and Sofia got back into the room.
"Okay. What kind of materials would you like it made out of?" he asks after writing down the last measurements.
I look in Olive's direction and she just shrugs. Turning back towards the guy I say. "I'll leave the materials up to you, our only requests are to make it durable enough to survive a few hits from a level 6, while at the same time, light and not movement-restricting."
"That would be tough. I could inlay the armor with some metal at weak points." He starts mumbling. "Do you need headgear?"
I shake my head. "Limits our visibility, and is annoying."
"What's your price range?"
"Hmm... Is it doable out of, let's say, 200 million for both armors?"
"More than enough, I can make you an armor you can wear till level 6 out of that kind of money."
"Sure then do just that. How do we pay?"
"50% now, and 50% after it's done." He says.
"How long will you need to finish them, and where should I put the money?" He looks at me confused for a second then points towards the tabletop. I move there and extract 100 million from our wallet. His and his daughter's eyes widen, not expecting the money to appear out of nowhere.
"Told you, I'm a mage, one of my spells allows me to store stuff." I say with a silly smile.
"Damn, lad! I taught she was the big catch, not the other way around! You can make a fortune with that spell alone!" Says the now overly excited Tyler.
"I can confirm. He is my lucky catch." Says Olivia, with a bright smile, then comes up to me and presses up against my arm. Placing my arms between her breasts then looks up at me with dreamy eyes.
"Let's just agree that were each other's lucky catches." I say looking deep into her eyes, but an awkward cough from Sofia interrupts the pink atmosphere. I look at her and her gloomy expression explains a lot. "Right..." I say turning towards Tyler and asking "How long would it take you to make the armor?"
Tyler starts scratching the bottom of his jaw and thinks. "I can have them ready by the end of the week."
"So five days? Okay, we can work with that." I turn around and move towards the door. "Sofia, let's go to the next place. Thanks, Tyler. See you on Sunday."
"See you guys on Saturday." He nods and sees us off.
"We'll be heading to an enchanter, you wanna come?" I ask Olivia after we exit the shop.
"Nah, I'll just get back to training. See you later." She leans in, plants a kiss on my lips, and then takes a step and disappears.
"How are you two doing that?" Asks Sofia.
"Doing what?" I ask.
"The disappearing thingy, you did it when we exited my boss's shop, and just now, Olivia did it."
"Oh that, it's a spell I made, then thought her. We mostly use it for quick travel or combat."
"What would I need to do for you to teach me that spell." She asks twirling her hair around her finger and giving me a seductive look.
"Not happening." I say adamantly crossing my arms in front of myself. "If my girlfriend ever found out, she would castrate me, and definitively torture and kill you. She's the real jealous type." Her flirty look quickly changes into that of fear.
"Please don't mention it to her." She pleads.
"Sure, but let's head to the enchanter." I agree and after a quick nod, she starts walking a bit faster.
Three streets later Sofia and I arrive at a two-story house with a shopfront, after her flirting attempt, our walk there was a quiet one. Sofia enters the stop first and the bell chimes as she opens the door. I walk in next and inspect my surroundings, the first thing I noticed was that there was no bell attached to the door, the sound came from an iron plate, sitting on the doorframe. On closer inspection, there was a runic script inscribed onto it. The script was actually a circuit that triggered a sound after it detected motion on one of its sides. Quite the ingenious design.
The shop had a large counter and a few shelves displaying various items, but otherwise, the place was practically barren. On the side of the room, a door covered in curtains stood, and an older gentleman walked out of it.
As he exited the room and created a gap in the curtains, I could feel a massive amount of mana radiating from the room. The man had short graying hair and large thick glasses, he was wearing a blue overall and a white t-shirt.
"Good morning Mr. Rodriguez." Sofia greets the old gentleman with a bright smile.
"Sofi how many times did I tell you to call me Mateo." Sighs the old man. He turns towards me and asks. "And who might you be?"
"Good morning Mr. Rodriguez, I'm Andrew Thompson, and Hephaistos told me you're her best enchanter. If possible, I would like to ask for a few lessons in enchanting. Of course, I'm willing to pay."
"If Hephaistos sent you to me, she probably saw something in you. I don't really have anything else to do right now, I'll teach you the basics and everything else will be up to you. No money needed."
"Thank you." I say to him and bow.
"Well, that's all from me then." Says Sofia before turning and quickly exiting the shop. "Goodbye Mr. Rodriguez, bye Andrew!"
Weekly Power Status
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