Chapter 189: SFDI: Chapter 189
Drake returned to his workshop, under the watchful eyes of everyone. Before Drake could even begin to organize his things, the workshop door
Drake returned to his workshop, under the watchful eyes of everyone.
Before Drake could even begin to organize his things, the workshop door—which had been replaced countless tis—was destroyed yet again.
Unsurprisingly, it was Tsubaki. Drake decided then and there that he would absolutely have to reinforce the door with Orichalcum.
Tsubaki strode over to Drake, unceremoniously throwing an arm around his shoulders. "Hey, Drake! I heard you and Ottar had a fight! So, did you beat that big lug?"
Drake sighed. "What’s the point of winning? I’d rather forge a great piece of equipnt and feel happy about that!"
Tsubaki patted Drake on the shoulder. "Well said! You’re a truly excellent blacksmith, worthy of our Familia!
But I’m really curious, who actually won between you and that Ottar guy?"
Drake shoved Tsubaki’s arm off his shoulder. "If you’re so curious, go ask Ottar yourself! I’m busy, I don’t have ti for your childish gas."
Tsubaki said, "Don’t be so cold! I wanted to tell you sothing about Welf."
Drake looked at Tsubaki. "Welf? What happened to Welf?"
Tsubaki spoke mysteriously. "If you want to know, tell
everything about your fight with Ottar first!"
Drake let out a dismissive chuckle. Tsubaki really thought he could manipulate him? If Drake wanted to know about Welf, he could just ask Welf himself.
Drake left Tsubaki speechless, walking out of the workshop and towards Welf’s workshop.
He knocked on the door and pushed it open, seeing Welf forging a weapon.
But upon closer inspection, Drake realized that what was on Welf’s anvil wasn’t an ordinary short sword; it was clearly a magic sword.
Welf looked up, seeing Drake. "Drake, you’re back from your expedition!"
Drake said, "We’ll talk about that later. What you’re forging there... that’s a magic sword, isn’t it? Did you change your mind about your previous plans?"
Welf glanced down at the half-finished magic sword, then slid it into the forge, waiting for it to heat up to the proper temperature for forging.
"Ah... well, Drake, quite a few things happened after you left on your expedition. After you left, Bell and I made a contract. As blacksmiths, and as teammates."
Blacksmiths generally follow one of two career paths. One is the standard path of crafting equipnt to sell in shops, occasionally taking custom orders from adventurers.
The other path involves blacksmiths making contracts with adventurers, creating custom-made equipnt for them.
Both paths have their own advantages and disadvantages, but it’s rare for a blacksmith to successfully contract with an adventurer.
That’s because such a contract requires a high degree of mutual trust between the blacksmith and the adventurer. The blacksmith has to believe that the adventurer will use their equipnt to forge new legends, and the adventurer has to believe the blacksmith can create the perfect equipnt for them.
The contract between Welf and Bell wasn’t entirely unexpected; Drake was just curious about the circumstances surrounding it.
Drake said, "You have such high hopes for Bell, huh?"
Welf nodded, answering without hesitation. "Bell is truly unlike anyone else. He makes you want to follow him."
Drake said, "Is that why you changed your mind about forging magic swords?"
Welf replied, "We were tricked by that little dwarf; we almost died on Level 12.
But Bell still risked his life to save that dwarf. Sounds pretty stupid, right? But that’s Bell. He makes you believe heroes really do exist.
And he’ll probably keep doing stupid things like that in the future. I don’t want to live with any regrets about not being able to help him."
Drake nodded, understanding what had transpired. It seed the Rabbit had already encountered and saved his own little strategist, Liliruca Arde.
Lili was quite the talent, possessing the rare magic "Cinder Ella," allowing her to transform into anyone, changing her race and even gender.
However, Drake quickly recalled the events from the original story; after encountering Lili, Bell encountered the Minotaur that Ottar had been training, leading to his first adventure.
Drake looked at Welf. "Regardless, finding a trustworthy companion is a good thing. It’s a sign of growth.
But be careful when you two go into the Dungeon lately. Things are likely to get a bit complicated in the near future."
Drake’s warning wasn’t unfounded; aside from Freya’s tests, the Dungeon itself was in a state of considerable flux.
The evil god Enyo, in league with the Fallen Sprite in the Dungeon’s depths, was plotting to destroy all of Orario. Remnants of the Dark Faction were stirring. And there were the rational monsters, the Heretics.
The Dungeon was a volatile place right now, to say the least.
And Bell... his protagonist aura was frankly unnerving.
Bell’s rare growth ability, [Luck], felt almost ironic to Drake.
The effect of [Luck] was to allow Bell to escape from even the most hopeless situations, but the fact that soone could be so lucky as to encounter danger eight tis out of ten Dungeon runs seed almost absurd.
As a novice, he’d encountered the Minotaur stampede. Once he’d gained so experience, he’d been frad by Lili.
His first trip to the middle levels had involved a "gift" from the Takemikazuchi Familia’s monsters, escaping to Level 18 only to encounter a strengthened Goliath.
His first lower-level expedition had involved a strengthened Moss Giant; after defeating it, he’d gotten caught up in Syr’s incident, falling directly into the deep levels.
While he’d managed to escape unscathed each ti, his experiences were certainly... eventful, to say the least.
Bell’s treatnt was clearly that of a destined hero; not only was Freya testing him, but the Dungeon itself seed determined to put him through the wringer.
Drake had rushed over when he heard about Welf’s trouble, fearing that Welf and Bell had encountered so kind of danger together.
But seeing that Welf was unhard, Drake felt relieved and returned to his own workshop.
However, fate seed determined to prevent Drake from peacefully researching his newly acquired ability. Tsubaki had left, but another unexpected visitor had arrived.
Drake saw Finn standing at his workshop door!
Drake walked over and opened the door that Tsubaki had (temporarily) repaired. "I didn’t expect you to co so soon. Co in and let’s talk."
Finn nodded and followed Drake inside.
Finn found a chair and sat down. "I apologize for the abruptness, but I wanted to ask if you went on a Dungeon expedition recently?"
Drake answered without hesitation. "That’s right. I just returned from the deep levels."
Finn looked at Drake. "And to what floor, specifically?"
Drake t Finn’s gaze, sighing. "The fifty-ninth."
Finn’s expression indicated he wasn’t surprised. "I figured as much. So, I wonder about the situation on the fifty-ninth floor..."
Drake said, "Information about the deep levels doesn’t co for free. And I suspect the information about the fifty-ninth floor is quite important to you."
Finn chuckled wryly. "We in the Loki Familia are preparing for an expedition ourselves. Let’s hope you aren’t planning on charging us an exorbitant price, Drake!"
"We’ll see, we’ll see!"
Finn looked at Drake, whose sudden enthusiasm felt rather suspicious. That "we’ll see" sounded far less reassuring than it was intended to.
__________________
for more advance Chapters visit patreon/bars45.
For 10$- All advance Chapters.
Reviews
All reviews (0)