"Waah!"
Inside the small dark room.
The toddler Spirit, Yuufi, was scared to tears by the fairy tales Isagi was telling.
Ryuu, sitting to the side, was also dumbfounded listening to them. She thought to herself, What on earth is this story about an [Undead Grimm who arrived in an inexplicable world, met a cute blonde girl, and after completing his class selection under her guidance, the girl suddenly exploded and died?!]
And also.
[Grimm, waking up from a prison, was saved by a beautiful blonde female knight who claimed to be Jeanne. She was investigating why the residents of the Royal Capital had suddenly turned into monsters and vowed to save the world. Just as Grimm agreed to become a partner of justice with her, a Great Dragon descended from the sky and burned the female knight to ash with a single breath?]
And then there was.
[In a beautiful and tranquil forest, a green Elf girl cheerfully told Grimm that they could go on adventures together as partners. At the same time, seeing a cute girl meant one could violate her anytime and anywhere. Hearing this, Grimm chose to kill the Elf girl...]
"???"
What kind of fairy tales are these!
And as little Yuufi was reduced to tears, the [Spirit Tear], resembling a glittering gemstone, was taken into the young man's hand just like that.
"..."
Use your head! Supposedly, one should obtain acknowledgment, so what the hell is this intimidation and threatening?!
Is this really a Justice Familia!!
Ryuu almost blacked out from the sight. However, after the little Spirit wailed for a while, she realized that neither she nor Isagi was paying attention to her. Consequently, she ran over again, clinging to the boy and demanding he continue telling stories.
"Come play, Isagi, come play!"
Compared to scary fairy tales, Yuufi seemed more afraid of boredom.
"..."
Inexplicably, Ryuu felt that the Spirit before her seemed to be on the same wavelength as the boy. What the hell is this?!
Or perhaps, just as the boy said, this guy is simply in need of a beating!
Thus.
Isagi could only take out the mysterious item he used to deal with her before—[The Other Half of the Left Bow]—which could also be called a "Power Bank"!
He sucked this guy's Magic dry, then let the toddler Spirit pant "Hah, hah" in exhaustion, lying motionless on the sofa.
Now, the world was completely quiet...
Late at night.
Ryuu looked at the workshop's long table, which was filled with all sorts of forging materials. Among them, there was no lack of considerably expensive and rare items. She fell into deep contemplation.
Compared to when they first arrived in Solingen.
These forging materials had not only increased in quantity but also included many more rare curiosities.
Because just a moment ago.
Ryuu, along with her two juniors, went to Cecil's home for dinner.
She had initially felt a bit embarrassed; after all, as Cecil's senior, she wasn't very familiar with her family.
On the contrary, Isagi acted as if it were nothing, appearing to go there often. He even colluded with the girl, deciding they absolutely had to go!
The result was.
During the meal, Ryuu watched as Cecil's old father, while constantly pulling the boy to drink, held his hand heavily at the moment of parting and said in a deep voice.
"I entrust Cecil to you from now on."
"Mn!"
What are you "Mn"-ing about?!
Ryuu was dumbfounded watching this, but seeing that both Isagi and Cecil looked completely normal, she couldn't help but wonder: Is it my problem?
Am I overthinking it?
Did the girl's old father actually not mean that?
Or perhaps I really missed a few episodes, and Isagi and Cecil are actually already in a default engaged relationship?!
In the end.
Before leaving, they brought over a lot more forging materials. Including the girl's seven or eight older brothers—every single one of them came to see them off with some reluctance, while also preparing exquisite gift boxes filled with various rare forging materials.
"Big harvest, big harvest! I said we should go back for a visit!!"
"Isagi, you're so smart!"
"If we don't use them, keeping them is fine too. At least we can sell them for money."
"Mhm, mhm, mhm!"
Looking at the two people before her with faces full of "we struck it rich" joy.
Ryuu suddenly felt like speaking but stopped.
She thought to herself, It's fine if Cecil is an idiot, but how come Isagi also completely failed to realize there was something wrong with this situation?!
So tired.
Ryuu couldn't help but wonder if Goddess Astrea had once faced such scenes and felt exhausted and headache-induced too...
But in short.
Now everything was ready. The [Spirit Tear] was in hand, and they had obtained the consent of Cecil's old father—a certain Spirit Furnace in Solingen was located right next to the girl's home, and in a sense, it was the private property of their Blackliza family.
Tomorrow, they could fire up the furnace and forge the First-Class Armaments.
At this moment, Cecil.
She was very seriously conducting the final confirmation with Ryuu-senpai.
Entering her professional field, the girl completely shed her usual silly appearance, revealing an incomparably reliable expression instead.
"Ryuu-senpai is a Magic Swordsman who is agile, proficient in Chanting, and skilled in high-speed combat."
"Because the weapon must balance the dual attributes of [Staff] and [Sword], in that case, the Spirit Clan's Great Holy Tree Branch is a necessity..."
Cecil had two concepts.
Initially, it was the same as now: casting a wooden sword, using the [Sacred Spring of Star Cave] and powder from [Magic Gemstones] to reinforce it, and then stabilizing it with the power of a Spirit. This would certainly result in a weapon with excellent [Magic] compatibility.
In the girl's initial concept, this would be a holy wooden sword housing "Stardust".
But after going to the city, not only did she forge so much equipment for Isagi, but she also came into contact with Fels and the method of forging weapons and equipment using "Mystery"...
Cecil had a brand new concept!
"Disassembly".
Just as Isagi could view a weapon as "Hilt" and "Blade" and combine them with each other.
Combining [Staff] and [Sword] to allow the weapon to transform, undertaking different tasks at different stages—
This was an extremely bold hypothesis!
Even unprecedented, with no one before or after!!
And now, Cecil decided to attempt it and asked for Ryuu's opinion.
"I need Senior to hand over your weapons to me."
Not only the wooden sword [Elf Flowing Light] that Ryuu was currently using, but also her friend's memento, those two kodachis, [Futaba].
It was almost an all-or-nothing gamble!
For adventurers, weapons and equipment were no different from life itself.
And First-Class Armaments were even more so for adventurers of Lv.5 and above. They were not only a symbol of status but also a key essential for deep-level expeditions and fighting powerful Monsters.
Therefore, almost all high-level adventurers would pour everything they had into creating their own First-Class Armament.
Hundreds of millions of Valis;
Seeking out the God of Blacksmithing or renowned high-level blacksmiths to personally take charge;
Personally participating in the design and customizing it according to combat habits;
Unlike other weapons and equipment, a First-Class Armament is "exclusive." It is a weapon and equipment belonging solely to oneself, where no one other than oneself can bring out its true power.
And contrary to the girl's expectations.
Her Familia senior handed over the weapons directly to her, without even blinking an eye.
"I believe in Cecil."
Ryuu said so.
Although her junior usually looked silly and completely unreliable, having prepared so meticulously for her for so long, and willing to consume so many expensive, rare forging materials whose value was simply incalculable to create a First-Class Armament—
Even without the Goddess saying a word, Ryuu trusted the other party absolutely.
"Cecil will definitely be able to create the perfect weapon of your imagination."
"Mn!"
Trust, bonds.
The other world is just like this; the better the relationship between the blacksmith and the weapon user, the more powerful the weapons and equipment they can forge.
So...
"What about Isagi's equipment?"
"Just wait and see! I'll make you all gasp in surprise when the time comes!!"
That was a great idea that absolutely no one could imagine!
A super invincible armament combining [Mystery] and the special power of the Dungeon!!
Cecil had a confident look of "wait and see," needing no confirmation from the boy, because Isagi had only one requirement—"Two-handed Greatsword"!
Regarding this.
The girl had long since had an idea. She was only waiting for tomorrow morning to head to the Spirit Furnace and begin striking iron. This would probably take another day or two.
And during the time waiting for Cecil to forge the equipment, Isagi and Ryuu were not without things to do.
Aside from continuing to "tame" the toddler Spirit so they could eventually take her back to the city to become a "weapon"...
[The Grand Operation to Poach from the Goddess of Beauty Freya Familia]!
The preliminary preparations were complete.
Now, they could execute the first step of the plan...
Recently, Heith Velvet was very distressed.
Receiving instructions from her Goddess, she came to Solingen to purchase [Spirit Cloth]. Because this time it was an unprecedented Great Expedition gathering the entire Familia's strength, the quantity required was also extremely large.
This was a mission that absolutely had to be completed!
Publicly, as a warrior of the Freya Familia, no matter what, she could not let the Goddess of Beauty down!!
And.
Privately, the Familia was finally going to quiet down for a long time. Those guys with problems in their brains would finally stop fighting each other daily at the Familia base, or hindering each other in the Dungeon, coming back covered in injuries and leaving her no time to rest. She was simply busy to the extreme.
But now, because the Goddess personally spoke, ordering the Familia to unite and start the expedition, it finally somewhat alleviated her physical and mental exhaustion.
So!
The expedition was mandatory. There absolutely could not be any mistakes due to her purchase of [Spirit Cloth]. If the expedition were canceled, Heith felt she might really cry!!
But the problem was...
Since yesterday, there was absolutely no [Spirit Cloth] for sale on the market. Not a single bit. Even if she offered a higher price, there was none.
How could this happen?!
[Spirit Cloth] was a considerably rare item. Even in Orario, it was an extremely precious material because only Spirits could bless and produce this object.
Nowadays.
Aside from Solingen, she simply didn't know of any other place where she could buy so much [Spirit Cloth] all at once.
And the instigator who caused all this was, of course—
Isagi!
This was the heavy hand of the Blackliza family!
Cecil came from a family of blacksmiths in the City of Swordsmiths. Her old dad was one of the very few guys who had obtained the acknowledgment of Spirits, could use the Spirit Furnace, and go to "trade" with Spirits to obtain [Spirit Cloth].
Therefore.
Although the Freya Familia had a reputation abroad, they were ultimately just outsiders.
With the help of the girl's old dad, Isagi effortlessly bought up all the [Spirit Cloth] circulating in the market of the City of Swordsmiths.
And under these circumstances, Miss Heith obviously had only one choice, and that was...
...
Under the blue-grey sun of late autumn.
The pink-haired big sister passed through the city gate, following the gravel path toward the forest in the distance.
Before long.
She could see a wooden house located at the edge of the woodland.
Here... is the base of the Astrea Familia?
As a senior adventurer of the city, she had naturally heard of the past events: the Astrea Familia was once annihilated, with only [Gale] surviving to return from the Dungeon to the city, followed by the Goddess of Justice leaving Orario, and so on...
Heith had certainly heard of all these things.
It was just that she didn't expect that Goddess Astrea, having left the city, had actually come to Solingen and built a new Familia base here.
"And now they've returned to the city?"
Heith remembered.
Not long ago, following the conclusion of [Gale]'s revenge, two Dark Gods were devoured by the Dungeon, and the Astrea Familia had returned to Orario quite high-profiledly.
Then why were they in Solingen now?
And what were they buying so much [Spirit Cloth] for?
The woman, who was always busy on normal days, didn't know much about the major events happening in the city, and naturally, she didn't recognize the new members of the Astrea Familia at all.
She had asked around in the town and found out that the [Spirit Cloth] had been bought out by the Blackliza family. As for the reason—the youngest child of this forging family was actually a dependent of the Goddess of Justice.
At this moment, the other party's other partners were living by the forest outside the town.
Completely unaware of the reason why.
Heith could only bite the bullet and come over to check the situation, thinking about whether the other party could resell the [Spirit Cloth] to her or something, so she could complete the Goddess's mission.
"No problem!"
Facing the arrival of the pink-haired big sister.
Isagi received the other party and agreed to her request in one breath. But before Heith could be happy, she heard the boy's tone change.
"However..."
All joy requires a price to be paid.
"Today, I helped Miss Heith; then, afterwards, Miss Heith should also help me, right?"
"Eh?!"
"The Astrea Familia is the most [Fair]."
"..."
Finding the boy staring straight at her, Heith was dumbfounded. What is the situation? How did it turn out like this?!
Isn't this the Familia of the Goddess of Justice?!
Subconsciously, she even wanted to hug herself tightly.
Heith evidently misunderstood Isagi's meaning. However, when the boy took out a "contract" with clear terms and asked the woman to sign and seal it.
Her head became even dizzier.
What does it mean: [Use physical labor as remuneration to pay for the losses caused to the Astrea Familia due to the loss of Spirit Cloth?]
What are you trying to do!
But she couldn't refuse, because—
"Miss Heith, you also don't want to fail the Goddess's mission and let Lady Freya down, right?"
____
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