Threat!
An undisguised threat!!
Heith slightly parted her lips, her rose-red eyes, resembling ripe apricots, trembling slightly.
She wasn't afraid.
Rather, she couldn't believe it, nor had she ever imagined it.
Someone actually dared to threaten the Freya Familia, and the other party was a guy from the Astrea Familia to boot.
Hey!
Are you really a child of the Goddess of Justice and not some guy from a Dark Familia?!
If one were to ask which Familia had the best reputation in the city.
Aside from a healing Familia like Dian Cecht's, whom no one wanted to offend, it would be the Ganesha Familia, and the former Astrea Familia.
But of all people—
[Gale] was here too.
Looking at the elf girl standing by the window not far away, Heith wasn't close with Ryuu, but she had seen her and knew of her. She was certain she wasn't seeing things; they were indeed members of the Astrea Familia.
And regarding this.
Ryuu couldn't even be bothered to retort anymore.
Because according to Isagi, this really was a "most fair and just transaction"!
The other party wanted Spirit Cloth. While providing it at market price, they simply required Miss Heith to tag along into the Dungeon.
At most, the matter had to be kept secret from her Goddess.
Wasn't this perfectly normal?!
You don't say, you really don't say!
When Ryuu heard the boy explain it earlier, she blinked and thought about it for a long time, realizing there really wasn't any problem.
After all, teaming up to go to the Dungeon wasn't an excessive request.
Heith felt the same.
Looking at the drafted contract before her, the woman, who had her pink hair tied in twin tails and always wore a weary expression, looked it over and over. Aside from the so-called confidentiality clause of "cannot tell the Goddess," there really wasn't any problem with the rest.
Moreover...
To be honest, it was impossible to tell Lady Goddess Freya anyway!
It wouldn't just be as simple as representing her own uselessness. Signing a contract with a boy, having to use her body... ah no, having to find time to accompany him... that's not right either!
It's getting darker the more I describe it!
I simply don't know how to phrase it, okay?!
In short, after trembling in silent anger for a good while, Heith finally chose to sign.
[Transfer Successful]!
With just a little trick, he got Heith to join his adventure squad first. Naturally, Isagi didn't expect to poach someone directly from the Freya Familia just by relying on these Spirit Cloths and the exchanged contract.
This was merely the first step.
It was just like finding a way to get a housewife who was home alone to open the door for him.
As for how to patronize frequently in the future, getting her to go out with him voluntarily, or even heading to their marital bedroom—
That all had to be done slowly, step by step.
Isagi already had a considerably mature plan in his heart. As for what followed, that would wait until after they returned to Orario...
...
"Transform, hurry up and transform!"
"?"
Unknowingly, two days had passed since Cecil went to the Spirit Furnace to forge the First-Class Armaments.
It was still a late autumn night.
Isagi and Ryuu-senpai began their daily "training" of the little Spirit Yuufi in the courtyard.
It was just that...
The results were very less than ideal.
"What... is a weapon?"
"..."
Looking at the little green-haired loli in the white dress, who tilted her head foolishly and issued a "soul-searching question" at him.
Isagi also fell into a long period of confusion for a moment.
Right, what is a "weapon"?
As envoys of the gods, Spirits are guys who lack "normal thinking." In ancient Hero Tales, they often appeared as beautiful maidens who were innocent of worldly affairs and had jumpy thought processes. They were indifferent to the world, knowing neither joy nor sorrow, neither love nor hate...
Although it sounds a bit cliché.
But it's really like that.
Take Yuufi for example. This guy only knew how to find him to play—using her Wind Magic to blow people into the sky to float around, watching them scream in panic.
This guy probably didn't even know what the Wind Magic she used was.
No.
She probably didn't even know what "Magic" or "Wind" was.
So, wanting her to understand what a "weapon" was, was also a very difficult matter. Isagi had once asked this guy to transform into the shape of a long blade or a greatsword.
Good news: The infant Spirit could actually transform.
Bad news: It was useless after transforming. It merely had the shape. Let alone using it to chop people, one couldn't even hold it—it was just long blades and greatswords made of wisps of breeze.
Completely formless and intangible, only feeling a little cool to the touch.
Ugh!
He never expected such a problem to arise!!
Isagi decided to bring this guy back to the city first, and then ask the Goddess—Spirits are envoys of the gods, so Astrea and Lord Demeter would definitely know more about them.
However, the only thing that gave Isagi some comfort was.
Although the little loli Yuufi couldn't transform into a weapon, this guy could transform into a little mare.
Just like a Unicorn, pure white and flawless, while the mane and tail were horses made of wisps of dark green cyclones. In a certain sense, that was her true form.
She could also be ridden.
And she could run very fast.
I get it, this is Torrent!
Thinking that if worse came to worst, he would just use this guy as a mount. It wasn't completely without gain, right...
...
The night was chilly.
Unknowingly, a pattering cold rain began to fall.
Cecil sent word via her brothers at home that the weapons were nearly finished. They could pack up tonight and set off back to Orario tomorrow morning.
The girl was striking iron in the Spirit Furnace, not in "seclusion" without eating or drinking for days.
It was just that.
Because she needed to concentrate, she ate and slept over there, so he and Ryuu-senpai didn't feel it was right to disturb her.
And since the idiot had said so.
After eating a simple dinner.
Isagi and Ryuu-senpai quickly finished packing their luggage together, and subsequently went out for a stroll as usual.
Amidst the silent light rain, walking along the edge of the pitch-black woodland and treading on the boundless grass, Isagi held an umbrella and walked a bit ahead, while Ryuu held a Magic Stone lantern and walked slightly behind.
The two were a bit close.
For some reason, the elf girl, who should have had a "cleanliness obsession" regarding others, always felt that she didn't have that kind of thought when she was beside the boy.
It was too natural.
Ryuu couldn't say it well. She felt it wasn't just because of familiarity, but also because...
Isagi had a very peculiar quality that could slowly influence the people around him to become better.
Na was always delving into becoming stronger, and she herself—
Ryuu felt she had changed a bit.
If Alise and the others were here, they might turn pale with fright.
Isagi spoke of his future plans. As usual, when the two were together, it was mostly the boy who actively started topics.
This time.
What the boy talked about was that after "graduating from being an adventurer," he planned to open his own burger fast-food joint!
Listening along, Ryuu softly said that when the time came, she would go help her Familia junior, acting as a poster girl or a waitress!
As a result, Isagi's reaction to this was to think seriously for a long, long time.
Subsequently, he was met with the elf girl's indignant little fist!
She was despised!
Her Familia junior actually despised her?!
Amidst such noisy banter, unknowingly, they had walked a large circle along the forest grass and returned to the wooden house of the Familia base.
Queuing for the bath, changing into pajamas, and then returning to rooms to sleep.
In this pitch-black rainy night, Ryuu blinked, looking at the pitch-black ceiling, not knowing why she was imagining what the boy sleeping upstairs looked like at this moment.
What is the meaning of thinking about these things?
Ah...
Thoughts, most of the time, are meaningless, right?
After a long, long time like this.
Drowsiness struck.
Unknowingly, when the elf girl woke up again, she found that Cecil had already returned.
The silly girl had run back all the way from the city in the rain.
"Are you an idiot? What if you catch a cold?"
"Adventurers don't catch colds!"
"For real?"
In the room, the Magic Stone lamp glowed brightly. The girl stood by the door, soaked to the bone, while Isagi, who had already woken up, was drying her hair.
"Go take a shower, look at you right now!"
"It's fine, hurry up and look at the weapons! Look at the weapons I forged for you guys!!"
"Go take a shower!"
Facing Isagi's unquestionable command, Ryuu saw Cecil have no choice but to puff up her chubby little cheeks and run to the bathroom while grunting.
And very quickly—
"Isagi, I forgot to bring a change of clothes!"
From the bathroom came the girl's silly voice.
Only then did Ryuu crawl out of bed, find Cecil's pajamas in the leather suitcase, and deliver them to her.
It was now deep into the night.
Obviously unable to sleep anymore, Isagi and Ryuu simply waited in the room for Cecil to finish her shower.
Subsequently, they lit a piping hot charcoal stove, allowing the dummy girl to sit by the bed. While she roasted her wet long hair dry with the heat of the charcoal fire...
They began to look at the "First-Class Armaments" she brought back.
Those were two considerably large rectangular wooden boxes. There were still traces of rain wetting the surface; it was truly hard to imagine how Cecil managed to run back in the rainy night carrying these two large boxes alone.
"This one is Ryuu-senpai's! This one is Isagi's!!"
Following the girl's chubby finger.
Isagi first opened the weapon box containing the elf girl's weapon.
Amidst layers of thick, soft padding, a pure white long staff lay quietly inside.
Its length was similar to the girl's previous wooden sword. It didn't have overly gorgeous decorations; instead, it looked like a pure white wooden stick that was impossibly straight.
Only in the direction of the grip.
It was embellished with a few gold threads, leaving behind azure silk threads that resembled a sword tassel.
Ryuu picked it up and soon discovered with disbelief that the weapon's feel was exactly the same as her previous weapon, "Elf Flowing Light."
Undoubtedly.
This was a new weapon forged using the previous weapon as the main body.
But.
At this moment, it was no longer as simple as a wooden sword, but rather—
Accompanying Cecil's guidance.
Ryuu tentatively activated the weapon's "Form Switch."
"[Stellar Rotation]."
Accompanying the girl's soft voice, immense Magic suddenly erupted from within the wooden sword. Isagi saw the room, originally illuminated in warm orange by the Magic Stone lantern and charcoal fire...
Momentarily.
Explode into countless bright, resplendent stars.
"Ah..."
So beautiful.
Both the boy and the girl lamented thus.
At this moment, the body of the wooden sword in Ryuu's hand had already "shattered." Originally using the branch of the Great Holy Tree as the main body, fused and tempered with various precious materials containing [Magic] power, and supplemented by the power of a Spirit.
Most importantly.
It was by borrowing the forging techniques of [Mystery] that such an effect could be presented.
The wood chips of the blade body turned into countless brilliant stars, orbiting around the elf girl's body, twinkling and drifting. Yet what was currently in her hand was an incomparably eye-catching deep green long sword.
That extremely slender blade body; rather than calling it a sword, it was better to call it a "sting."
But because of this, it was sharp to the extreme.
Just by gently thrusting it forward, both Ryuu and Isagi heard the tiny, ear-piercing whistling sound produced by the air exploding violently.
"Separating the forms of [Sword] and [Staff], allowing for switching at any time. At the same time, that flowing starlight is also the materialization of Magic. As for how to use it specifically, that depends on how Senior develops it herself..."
Puffing out her soft chest proudly, Cecil introduced it with especial pride at this moment.
"And this is formally named—"
[Star Sword · Elf Astrea]
Adding her own name to the weapon was an idea the Goddess had already settled on when she asked Cecil to forge a First-Class Armament for Ryuu back then.
Regarding this.
Ryuu could also feel the painstaking effort Goddess Astrea had poured into her.
After such a thing happened, the Goddess who left the city still thought of her first.
And in order to help her, she came to Solingen and recruited new Familia juniors...
...
[Ryuu, I hope it can turn into a new power that guides your path forward.]
Ryuu gently stroked the long sword in her hand, feeling Lord Goddess's tenderness through it.
And on the other side.
Cecil, having more or less dried her hair, couldn't wait to open the weapon box belonging to Isagi.
Inside that was the "First-Class Armament" for the boy.
Rubbing hands excitedly.
Isagi thought that inside the huge box should be a two-handed greatsword so heavy it could hardly be called a weapon, or one emitting pure silver moonlight.
However, inside the box was another box.
"..."
Thinking that Cecil shouldn't be in the mood to play this kind of joke with him at a time like this.
Isagi was puzzled.
He watched the girl take the box inside the box out.
It was a considerably bizarre black suitcase that looked just like some "briefcase."
Following his taking it from Cecil's hands.
Then, according to the girl's instructions, Isagi held the suitcase in his hand, mobilized his mental power, and shouted as if releasing magic—
"Transform!"
"You said it wrong! It's [Raise a Glass]!!"
Cecil was anxious to death.
Because Isagi tampered with the "settings" she gave the weapon again, just like how he previously always liked to give the weapons and equipment she forged for him those bizarre names!
Ugh!!
Even though Senior was so obedient and did exactly as she said!!
But in Isagi's view, wasn't this just "Transformation"?!
The pitch-black box instantly turned into a black viscous liquid, wrapping his entire body inside, transforming into an extremely exaggerated set of heavy armor.
Spikes, carapace, and even his limbs and body became more slender.
The boy, who was already very tall, completely turned into a steel beast over two meters tall at this moment. That wolf-like, sharp, and pointed head leaned forward, revealing only an incomparably deep crimson fierce light from within.
[Wolf's Feast].
Using all the materials possessing special magic that Isagi brought from the Dungeon in one go, inexplicably fusing them together, yet resulting in a new change.
Ultimately, it relied on the ability of [Mystery] to transform it into this armament.
Cecil had handled the preliminary work in Fels's workshop, under the guidance of that ancient sage, and subsequently came to Solingen to complete it finally with the help of the Spirit's power.
Aside from possessing amazing physical defense and magic defense (using a considerable amount of Spirit Cloth).
The most important thing was actually—
"Where is my greatsword?!"
Isagi spoke!
Although possessing armor or whatever was indeed cool, a greatsword was indispensable!!
"It's there, it's there, don't rush!"
Following Cecil's words.
Isagi seemed to notice something as well, reaching his hands into the gaping maw of the giant wolf helmet.
Subsequently.
Bit by bit, he pulled out an incomparably heavy, broad greatsword from within.
____
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