Emiya's fingers brushed over the cold collar.
"The goddess Ishtar will agree," He said
———
"So, what kind of person was that Haruhime-san when she was in the Far East?", Lunoire asked.
In the tavern [Hostess of Fertility], Yamato Mikoto, who had returned here again, was feeling somewhat uneasy. Beside her was a strong man.
It was not Takemikazuchi, but the leader of the Takemikazuchi Familia, Kashima Ouka, a recently promoted upper-class adventurer of Lv.2, a man with the bold title of [Martial God's Son].
Regardless of what the Familia's chief god Takemikazuchi thought, Kashima Ouka was very proud of his title. Now, he was also somewhat famous in Orario due to his unusually tall stature among humans and the "cool" title of [Martial God's Son].
In the eyes of humans in the lower world, this is a particularly cool title. It's just that for a mere Lv.2 to use such a title seems a bit too arrogant.
However, considering that there was an even more arrogant [Sword King] at the same time, in comparison, titles like [Martial God's Son], [Holy Dragon Knight of Dawn], and [White & Black Knight] were not so envied.
"Haruhime-sama... she is dignified and elegant, but a bit out of touch with the world. The smallest things can surprise her, as if she finds them very novel," Yamato Mikoto lowered her head, bit by bit recounting the information she knew.
Kashima Ouka also spoke up, he said, "Moreover, Haruhime-sama is very kind. Before we even knew each other, Haruhime-sama had heard about the shrine behind our mansion... so she went to ask her father to share food with us."
For Haruhime, who lived a monotonous life in the mansion with no lack of food or clothing. The fact that there were a group of children and gods dressed shabbily, picking wild vegetables in the deep mountains to barely make a living, seemed to have shocked her greatly.
Kashima Ouka recounted their brief but beautiful past with Haruhime.
He was 1.90 meters tall, a height that was like a giant in the Far East country.
However, in front of Lunoire, who was wearing a waitress uniform, both Yamato Mikoto and the upper-class adventurer Kashima Ouka were very reserved.
These days, they had gathered some information, and had some fragmentary understanding of the tavern [Hostess of Fertility], especially, they happened to know some news about [Black Fist].
That legendary bounty hunter had just retired a few days ago, and her stories were still everywhere in the martial world, among which there was also a rumor that [Black Fist] had switched careers to become a waitress.
"My name is Lunoire, I used to have the title of [Black Fist], recently Shirou-kun and the idiot Ryuu have been very busy, so I'm here to receive you," This was Lunoire's opening line when she met Yamato Mikoto and the others, this sentence alone was enough to make the two feel terrified, and then Lunoire mentioned Haruhime, which made them even more uneasy.
However, amidst the tension, suddenly hearing news of an old friend, they couldn't help but feel anticipation.
Yamato Mikoto spoke about the beginning and end of their encounter with Haruhime, "Someone sent food to the shrine, which made us ecstatic, and then we became curious about the person who shared the food with us. Hearing that the food was sent from the mansion at the foot of the mountain, we later sneaked down the mountain, climbed over the wall to peek inside the mansion..."
The story that followed, Lunoire already knew, Miss Mikoto and the others became Haruhime's playmates, and then not long after, Haruhime was abandoned by her family, and then came to Orario after many twists and turns.
Lunoire recorded the information with pen and paper, she thought in her heart, 'From this perspective, the character of that 'Sanjouno Haruhime' is trustworthy, and her relationship with the Takemikazuchi Familia is deep enough.'
'As the goddess Astrea said, that upright god Takemikazuchi, his Familia, can help us in our actions, although not at the level of combat power...'
Yamato Mikoto mustered her courage and asked, "Excuse me, do you know any news about Haruhime?"
Lunoire replied, "Yes, I do."
Yamato Mikoto, "Sorry, I was impulsive... wait, what did you say?"
"Sanjouno Haruhime, there is a fox-person prostitute in the Ishtar Familia, that's her name."
Lunoire said: "I happen to know about this girl, she is a 'valuable commodity' that the Ishtar Familia's pleasure district bought at a high price from a thief organization."
"Bought? Commodity?", Yamato Mikoto stood up, her tone shocked, "Does Orario allow such things as 'human trafficking'?"
Even in the [Far East Country], "human trafficking" is not allowed, at least that's the rule on the surface.
"The city's laws, of course, do not allow 'human trafficking'," Lunoire said calmly, "But, if the other party is that Ishtar Familia, what does it matter if they break the rules, are you going to make an enemy of the Ishtar Familia over this?"
"Does the Takemikazuchi Familia have the courage to do so?"
———
"—Grow bigger," The fox-person girl knelt on the bedding, chanting as if in prayer, "Its power, its actions, countless treasures, countless wishes. When the bell rings, pray for glory and fantasy."
Her hands were clasped together in front of her, her voice was soft, and because of the fear in her heart, her tone was a bit shaky.
But, the chant did not stop.
"—Grow bigger."
"This body that swallows the divine feast, bestows the golden light of the gods. Bestow the hammer back to the earth, bestow the blessing."
Haruhime's voice paused for a moment, at the last moment, she instead became firm.
"——Grow bigger."
Haruhime's magic [Uchide no Kozuchi], activated.
A brilliant light hammer fell, enveloping Emiya's entire body.
The rushing light brought him invigorating vitality, as well as pure strength.
The flash of light sped by, a large number of light particles attached to his body.
Within the time limit, the target's level is increased by one, greatly enhancing all abilities. This is the goddess Ishtar's long-hidden trump card—[Level Boost]
After all the light particles dissipated, Emiya pulled open the tightly closed curtains, "Thank you, Haruhime, I will use this power well."
"You, you promised, master, you only want to borrow the power of [Level Boost] to forge swords," Haruhime said nervously, "Please, don't do anything foolish."
Haruhime knew that Emiya was strong, but the leader of the Ishtar Familia [Man Killer] Phryne Jamil was a first-class adventurer of Lv.5.
She thought, even if Emiya was temporarily boosted to Lv.3 by [Uchide no Kozuchi], he would not be Phryne's match.
"Don't worry, today I just plan to finish the forging," Emiya said, "Tomorrow I will come to see you again, Haruhime."
He stood by the window, lightly poked Haruhime's forehead.
.
.
.
The next morning, Emiya arrived at the tavern [Hostess of Fertility].
As usual, Ryuu woke up early and started her morning training in the courtyard, even though she had already leveled up to Lv.5, her habits had not changed.
And unlike before, Lunoire was also in a corner of the courtyard, punching and kicking a metal training dummy.
Anya and Chloe were still sleeping in, after all, they were naturally lazy cat-people, expecting cat-person girls to wake up early was really too much.
However, this did not mean that they were really slacking off, now Anya and Chloe were staying up at least an hour and a half later than before, they would do high-intensity training late at night. Because of their racial nature, cat-people are often more energetic late at night.
In short, because of Ryuu's leveling up, the girls in the tavern were no longer as leisurely as before, they were stimulated by the "catfish effect" and became active, or rather, they started to compete with each other.
And last night, Ryuu had another sparring match with [Sword Princess] Ais Wallenstein, and won, which once again shocked Anya and the others.
"First-class adventurer", no matter which one of them, they all had a shadow in their hearts about the peak of adventurers in this city, Lunoire had almost been killed by [Elephant God's Staff] Shakti, Chloe had once been in a life-threatening situation surrounded by [Four Warriors of Burning God], Anya also had an unknown past.
But now, Ryuu, who had been at the same level as them not long ago, suddenly became a first-class adventurer, and even defeated [Sword Princess] who had leveled up to Lv.5 earlier, this fact shook their worldview violently.
Especially Lunoire, not long ago she was evenly matched with Ryuu, even if she lost it was only by a slight margin, but a few days later, suddenly there was a world of difference between them, such a gap was really too big.
And seeing that "useless elf" could level up to Lv.5, they suddenly
Moreover, seeing that even the Alicia could level up to Lv.5, they suddenly felt that being a first-level adventurer wasn't such a big deal after all?
"If I go, it seems like I can do it too?"
As for the source of this change, [Gale], she wasn't yet clear about all this, she was just happy that someone had finally joined her in early morning training.
When Emiya entered the courtyard, he saw Lunoire violently "Ora Ora Ora" a metal dummy until it was completely destroyed.
"The dummy still can't take a beating…", Lunoire muttered to herself, and upon seeing Emiya arrive, she waved her hand.
"I'm going to take a bath first, you guys chat," Lunoire said, then turned and left, leaving the courtyard space to Emiya and Ryuu.
The elf girl, somewhat embarrassed, lowered her head and whispered, "Shirou, you're here."
"Ryuu, I brought this for you," On Emiya's back was a heavy black sword case.
He took off the sword case and placed it in front of Ryuu.
"This is the weapon I forged for you," Emiya said.
Ryuu was visibly stunned for a moment, "…For me? So, it was for me?"
She knew that Emiya had been busy in the workshop recently, but she never expected that he was actually forging a weapon for her.
"This was a commission from Goddess Astrea," Emiya said, "Fortunately, I didn't disgrace the mission, it's finally completed."
"Wait, Goddess Astrea… Could it be that taking [Futaba] before was also for…", Ryuu was shocked.
She remembered that on the first day she reunited with Goddess Astrea, the goddess had taken away [Kodachi Futaba], the relic of Gojouno Kaguya that she had kept.
[Kodachi Futaba] was a pair of small swords, among the second-tier armaments, they were particularly outstanding blades.
However, second-tier armaments were ultimately only suitable for second-tier adventurers of Lv.3 and Lv.4. After Ryuu leveled up to Lv.5, [Kodachi Futaba] was no longer of much help to her.
Moreover, Ryuu thought that Goddess Astrea was reminiscing about the past through the object, so she didn't think much of it and handed [Kodachi Futaba] over to her.
"That's right, following the goddess's request, I integrated [Futaba] into the new weapon, and the other materials were also provided by the goddess."
Goddess Astrea had been planning to forge a suitable new weapon for Ryuu for a long time, for this purpose she had specially gone to the Sword City, but now, the goddess had found a more suitable swordsmith.
She had prepared many high-value materials in advance, and the missing parts were purchased through the channels of the Hephaestus Familia, then given to Emiya, this was a gift from Goddess Astrea to Ryuu, so the goddess insisted on covering all the costs herself.
And with the enhancement of [Treasure Hammer], Emiya completed the final forging of the weapon ahead of schedule, the level sublimation of [Treasure Hammer] couldn't improve his swordsmithing skills, but the Lv.3 physical strength and magic power greatly accelerated Emiya's forging progress.
Ryuu gently stroked the sword case, she asked, "What is the name of this weapon."
"This is a pair of twin swords, their names are [Higanbana] and [Tsubame Gaeshi]"
Emiya opened the sword case, and a cold light caught Ryuu's eyes.
The pure black sword case, engraved with the emblem of a volcano and a forging hammer, slowly opened, accompanied by the crisp sound of mechanisms, and a sheathed long sword emerged from each side.
The back of the sword case bore the emblem of the Hephaestus Familia, while the front displayed the emblem of the Astrea Familia's wings of justice.
The fully opened sword case had ten slots, but now only two swords were placed inside, with eight slots still empty.
Ryuu was astonished: "Shirou, did you forge this…"
"The sword case is the work of Lady Hephaestus," Emiya said, "The long swords inside were forged by me."
There was a long sword on each side of the sword case, the left sheath was red, while the right was pure black.
One black and one red, the long swords intercepted the dawn, casting long shadows on the ground, the two swords gave the impression of two hidden dragons, currently slumbering within the sword case.
"This is… first-tier armament, no, it seems more than that…", A blacksmith's forging skills are not related to their level, theoretically, as long as one possesses the [Forging] development ability, there is a possibility of forging first-tier armaments.
Most of the dwarf blacksmiths of the Goibniu Familia are upper-tier adventurers of Lv.2, and they have forged nearly half of the first-tier armaments in the labyrinth city.
Emiya, who had leveled up to Lv.2, would one day become a top-tier blacksmith capable of forging first-tier armaments, Ryuu never doubted this, but she never expected that day to come so soon.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y