Inside Palermo's cathedral, after everyone else has left.
The interior is already bathed in the light of the setting sun, stained red.
In the middle of it all, a middle-aged man sits in silence, staring at a crucifix.
"It's unbelievable."
He stroked the ring on his finger, rembering what had just happened.
"Hey."
"Yes. Don dici."
The answer ca back to him as he spoke into thin air.
Sure enough, there was another man sitting where only dici had been a mont ago.
"The boy from a mont ago. What do you think of Corleone Junior?"
The man in the suit, who had appeared out of nowhere, listened to dici's question, was silent for a mont, and then spoke.
"He's a monster."
"Ho-ho. A monster?"
He knew that was a tough assessnt to get out of his mouth, so he smiled and tilted his head in amusent.
"Is that what you thought, too?"
"I thought it didn't make sense for him to be acting and judging like that at his age in the first place."
With that, the man thought back to what had just happened.
The audacity to walk into the middle of enemy territory, albeit in a cathedral, the sophistication of bringing a "Midsumr pass" so that he could always get out of harm's way and the initiative to take action in the face of it.
"He looks just like his father, doesn't he?"
"Yes, which is why I'm even more wary."
dici nods at the man's assessnt.
"How does he know about the fire giants.?"
The dici family's targeting of the fire giants is a top-secret matter known only to a few.
They tried to hide the information as much as possible, even giving plausible reasons for it, for the sake of complete security, but Eugene Han Corleone seed to know everything already.
Cackle
Don dici clenched his fist and opened his mouth.
"How much do you think he knows?"
"Judging fromhis deanor and behavior I think he probably knows everything."
"Yeahthat's rightcreepy bastard."
The kid replied that apparently Corleones intelligence didn't know about this.
That is, he has his own personal intelligence service, not within Corleone.
"You an he already created an organization that would make the Corleone Intelligence Departnt blush!"
And at that age?
Don dici rubbed his hands together, feeling a cold sweat break out.
"That's ridiculous."
Thinking of an organization that doesn't even exist yet, he orders the man.
"I want you to focus more on security from now on. If you see anyone acting suspiciously or failing to secure anything, you may punish them imdiately."
"I will obey Don's orders."
As the man replies to Don dici's words, he slowly loses his form as he fades into the shadows.
Looking out at the cathedral, now completely bathed in red, Don dici stood up and gazed at the statue of the saint before him.
"Forgive us our sins from the blood we are about to shed, and grant us peace"
* * *
After amicable negotiations with Don dici, I walked back to Maestros hut with light steps and saw the two of them sitting at the table with serious expressions.
"Uh..Im back?"
I spoke first, with an indescribably heavy atmosphere, and they turned their gaze in my direction and jumped to their feet.
"Oh, you're back?!"
"How are you, are you okay?"
Apparently, they had been waiting for all this ti, and their reactions were pretty intense.
"The job went well, just calm down."
I cald them down and sat them down in an empty chair.
"So what did the dici say, did they offer to reduce the debt?"
"You said it worked outis that right?"
Still, the matter was too important for them, and it wasn't easy to calm down.
I smiled at the look on their faces and started talking about my deal with Don dici.
"I'm going to be involved in a project the dici family is working on. I've agreed to join them as a rcenary to help the dici family, and in return, they will forgive Maestros debt and I will receive a small reward."
I left out the part about the fire giant, of course.
It was still classified information within the dici, so there was no need for them to know.
In fact, it was better that they didn't know, given the retribution they might face if they did.
Curiosity killed the cat, as they say.
"You an they actually accepted that offer? Giving up astronomical amounts of money?"
But he was still in disbelief.
It was a natural reaction.
The thing that had been bothering him all this ti had simply disappeared.
But
"It's not anyone else, it's , and I'm a little embarrassed to say it, but I'm not the kind of rcenary you can get for a lot of money."
"Huh."
Well, technically, it's made a pretty lucrative business.
I'm going on a raid with the dici.
In other words, I'm doing sothing I was going to do anyway, but with the backing of the dici family.
"I don't know what to say about thiswhat happens next?"
"Well, for now, they won't co looking for you because of your debt situation, and you'll be able to use your workshop in the village again, though you won't be completely free yet, as the point at which your debt will be gone is when I've completed my commission."
They were not fools.
Now the Maestro's debt was no longer a ans to their benefit, but a leash to ensure that I kept my promise, that's how important the Fire Giant is to them.
However they don't know yet that the leash will be turned against them.
Ludvio was a man who understood the laws of this world.
Favors in this world beco debts, and those debts beco fate that he must one day repay.
That was why he smiled a smile that was both odd and bittersweet.
"About that, Maestro."
I decided to lighten his burden a little.
"For this raid, I would appreciate it if you could freshen up these shoes."
With that, I placed Black Mist on the table, the sa one I had placed in the cube before coming here.
The shoe is placed gently on the table, scattering a faint black mist.
"Thisthing. Is it an artifact?"
His voice changes as he looks at the black shoes with a clearer gaze than before.
"Yes. The na of this shoe is Black Mist. It's the shoe I'm currently using."
"May I take a look at it for a mont?"
"Of course."
With my permission, he slowly reached toward Black Mist and lifted the shoe.
He examined them with a delicate, gentle touch, as if he were examining a newborn baby.
It was the most serious I'd ever seen Ludwig look.
"Beautiful."
The first words out of his mouth were praise.
"The workmanship and materials used are of the finest quality. Considering it's an artifact, I wonder whoever made this thing wanted to tell a story."
He set the Black Mist down again, his breathing slow and heated with excitent, and looked at .
"So how do you want to touch this child?"
He asked, indicating that he would do a favor.
I smiled and began to pull out the ingredients from the cube and place them next to the Black Mist.
[Na: Superior Dark Spirit Essence]
[Rank: Unique]
[Type: Material]
[Description: Originally immortal, it is the essence of a Dark Spirit that has returned to nothingness. Just looking at it, one can feel the endless darkness.]
[Na: Thunder God's Stone]
[Rank: Unique]
[Type: Material]
[Description: A stone imbued with the power of the Thunder God. It emits a powerful current of its own, increasing your affinity with the thunder elent.]
[Na: Scale of the Evil Dragon]
[Rank: Unique]
[Type: Material]
[Description: These scales are the armor of a dragon. Currently, they are tainted with a dark aura of endless darkness due to the influence of an evil dragon. It seems to have a strong resistance to magic.]
"Well, I've prepared this much material for the strengthening, but what do you think?"
I looked at him as I took out all the materials I had prepared for this strengthening.
"!"
His mouth hanging open, he has the most surprised expression I've ever seen on his face.
"Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh."
I can't even begin to tell you how surprised he is.
"Ha, Grandpa, Grandpa, what's wrong?"
As if she doesn't understand the reaction, Elena grabs Ludvio's body and shakes him.
He squeezes his eyes shut and opens them once, as if he's finally coming to his senses.
"Where the hell did you get these?! I've been a Maestro for decades, but I've never seen these kinds materials in one place!"
Well, it wasn't that I didn't understand his reaction.
The High Grade Dark Spirit Essence alone has never even appeared on the market at this ti, as far as I know, and the Thunder God's Stone is a rare commodity that doesn't even make it to the market.
The Evil Dragon Scale is freshly caught, so it's probably a world first.
"Grandpa, what is this, why are you so surprised?"
In response, she stares at the scale in front of her and slowly reaches for it.
"Those are the scales of the evil dragon Fafnir."
"What, what?! Fafnir is the dragon that nearly destroyed an entire island once upon a ti!"
"Yes. I had heard that the Vatican had recently succeeded in subduing Fafnir, but who would have thought that the byproduct would be here."
Apparently, the news of the Fafnir's defeat had already spread from the Jeju diocese.
The Vatican had apparently used the news for its own propaganda.
"I was part of that raid, so don't worry about the source, it's a byproduct of that, sois it possible?"
He is currently the most accomplished shoe-related craftsman I know.
There was no one else who could work with these materials right now.
"I'd love for you to use your maestro's creativity to the fullest."
"Huh."
At my words, he sighed and stood up from his seat, grabbed the bottle of wine from the corner of the table, and began to gulp it down.
The ever-moving throat and the dwindling wine.
He finished the bottle in a flash, wiped the corner of his mouth, and looked at .
"I've long since laid down my hamr and leather, bemoaning the reality that now befalls , and I thought my aspirations as a craftsman were already gone."
He sets the wine bottle down with a clang and thumps his chest.
"But that's not true, listening to you, and seeing the things you've laid out here, that desire has begun to stir, and it's burning hot in my chest like a fire, and no amount of wine can quench it, like I want to pick up a hamr and needle right now."
"grandfather."
The corners of Elena's eyes begin to moisten at the sight of Ludvio.
"I'll try it. You're the one who lit the fire in this dying man's heart, so how could I refuse your request?"
With that, Ludwig rose to his feet, grabbed his coat from the chair, and stood up.
"First, I must go down to the village and clean up the workshop. Elena, can you help with that?"
"YesGrandfather!"
He looks so enthusiastic, unlike how he appeared before.
I smiled and stood up from my seat.
"I'll help you as well."
He's making my babies, so of course I'm going to have a hand in it, right?
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