(3rd person PoV)
'Good thing no fanatic of hers's here in this world now. Otherwise, doing this to lady Hestia would've people offer me as a sacrifice at one of her altars' Henryk thought while trying to find Hestia.
Henryk returned early today, leaving the party to continue gathering. He was accompanied by both Fey and Ray.
Fey stuck to him like glue and refused to stay with the others down there. Ray felt herself to be more of his guard than that of the entire party. When he leaves, she follows him. That was what she convinced herself with not to feel guilt leaving the others alone down there.
"Lady Hestia, can we try something before going to look for a dress for you?" Henryk said as he approached her.
"What would that be, Henryk?" Hestia wondered what this child wanted to do.
"I want to make your disproportionate body parts a little more balanced using Fey's skill" He was looking her up and down, evaluating his next actions.
"You want to make me a washboard?! NO!" Hestia rapidly backpedaled, with such speed that left Henryk amazed at how fast she was moving. As she was retreating, she folded her arms around her bust defensively.
"Nah. I wanted to make you taller using Fey's skill" Henryk quickly explained himself while flailing his arms around in a panic.
"But can she really affect me, a goddess, with a mere skill?" Hestia's guard was partially lowered.
"She could almost shrink a minotaur, not to mention the constant shrinking and expanding of her new accessories. Consent could be the only limitation for all we know. Don't you want to laugh in Loki's face? She'd be shorter than you whilst still being a stone-hard flat board" He felt some guilt, but he ignored that for the greater good.
"I would want nothing more!" Hestia jumped at the chance of making fun of Loki after taking away everything Loki made fun of her for, mainly her height.
"My cinnamon roll, try to make our lady look more like the grown-up she is" Henryk said.
"Yeah~ Fey'll do~" Fey, who had her papa pat her gently, said that in a laid-back and relaxed way.
(Line Break)
Attempt#3: Fey could now barely affect Hestia.
Attempt#7: Hestia's left leg remained small.
Attempt#8: Her right leg returned to its original length after the left leg changed.
Attempt#15: Her body kept trying to change back to its original size even without the skill being used.
Attempt#19: They discovered that her chest was the problem. Her divinity refused to accept a more balanced body. Her chest was required to be inexcusably huge for her body.
Attempt#31: Hestia's body and divinity finally gave up resisting.
Final Result: Hestia's body became properly proportioned for someone grown-up, nearly standing at 1.7 meters, and she still had a disproportionally big bust for her size.
(Line Break)
After nearly two hours of failed attempts, Hestia's height has finally been adjusted.
"That... was horrible" Hestia was drained of her colors.
"Nonetheless, we succeeded" Henryk said, keeling over and dry-heaving from the body horror he has just witnessed. "Quickly, might I add"
Hestia was lying face down on her bed. After many failed attempts to reach the right height, and mostly the right proportions, she worried that she may end up as a mass of mangled bones and flesh if they shrunk or expanded the wrong parts.
'Those remained the same' Hestia thought as she looked a bit down, to where her chest is. 'Something familiar stayed, which I'm thankful for' She felt relieved that the process ended well. Her dress has its size changed so she can wear it.
"Wear a cloak and a mask so nobody recognizes you. You should slap lady Loki with this surprise" Henryk said.
"That's a fantastic suggestion!" Hestia got ready to go buy a new dress, just for the sweet moment she witnesses Loki's shocked face. Henryk pushed a bag of Valis on her with the valid excuse that she deserves a cut of their earnings, even if a small one, for giving them falna.
She tried to get up on her feet. She fell back on the bed.
"Ummm....?" She looked at Henryk for help.
"..."
"Don't look at me like that! Help! Me!" Hestia was entering unfamiliar territories. Walking with legs that you are not used to is hard.
"Let's start by walking while Fey's assisting you" Henryk suggested, holding back laughing while a pouty Hestia was glaring holes into him with her eyes.
It took her another hour to start walking normally.
(Line Break)
"Henryk, doesn't this cover too much? It feels almost elven because of how little is exposed" Hestia said, her arms stretched to her sides as she observed the new, more covering dress.
"Well, in my own view, I gave you a dress that covers you to stand in the way of the stares of men. I'd hate to see you being objectified or pestered by horny" Henryk gave his honest opinion.
Someone heard him and started to get interested in applying that philosophy to their life.
"Really? Is that what you want from this? To protect me from others? I mean, you aren't lying~!" Hestia accepted Henryk's goodwill while almost dancing from joy. Her second child cares for her so. It made her happy. Her happiness made her twintails flail around.
The dress in question was an ocean-blue one piece that left her shoulders exposed but covered her from the collarbone down to the ankles, covering most of her back. He chose to pair it with a pair of gloves of a more vibrant shade of blue and dark-brown leather sandals.
"Henryk, are you sure you aren't a woman in disguise? Men aren't normally this fashionable" Hestia liked the combination of colors she saw.
"I'm pretty sure I'm a man, my lady" Henryk gave her an unimpressed look which she did not notice. He sighed. 'I also know that my taste's outdated and out of fashion. Then again, that's for my old world. It could be fashionable here'
"Anyway, now comes Ray's turn" He changed the subject.
"Eh?! Me?" Ray pointed a wing at herself. She did not anticipate this turn of events. They were buying a dress for Hestia when her thoughts wandered a bit. That was when Henryk's words halted her wandering thoughts.
"Yes, you. It wouldn't hurt to make you wear something pretty to go with that necklace" Henryk tried his best to not show any hint of his rising blush.
They ended up commissioning her a custom-made dress that resembled her feathers. Ray's new dress was sleeveless. It was also not a tight fit, so it does not feel stuffy when put on. It was golden-yellow as the sun, with blue and turquoise feathers embroidered, getting progressively thicker the closer they were to the hems of the dress. It felt like a soft boundary where they faded into each other. A hole was made for her tail's feathers to be free.
"I love how comfortable it looks, but why is mine sleeveless?" She was bewildered. 'Why would he say something and defy it moments later?'
"Yours's more practical. It's supposed to leave your wings free. Your tail feathers, the few of them you use in flight at least, were also accounted for. We don't want those beautiful feathers to plummet right after taking flight, now, do we? That's not to mention the fact you didn't wear the type of clothes most common between mortals before. It'd feel stuffy if we chose a dress that covers too much and is a tight fit" Henryk said.
"Henry! Thank you!" Ray loved the way he complimented her, even though he has done that using her feathers as a front. She hugged him. He felt flustered, but days of sleeping on the same bed helped him to not act the wrong way by trying to flee the hug. He hugged her back instead.
"Oh my~!" Hestia was enjoying Henryk's reactions on the side. 'It's a few hours before the start of the party'
(Line Break)
"Are you sure this's fine, Henryk?" Hestia asked him again.
"Yes, I'm sure this's fine. Sir Ganesha didn't forbid the other gods from bringing their own companions/guards with them" 'I remember the creepy goddess brought two of them with her. Going by that, we're fine' (AN: Refer to season one, episode two. Freyja had two guardsmen in black suits heeling her)
"This.... I still wonder why Ganesha built his home this way" Ray commented on how the building is in Ganesha's form, while the entrance happened to be at his crotch.
"A true showboat" Henryk needed to go through that hellish entrance each time he added a member to his family. His blank, dead eyes spoke of his developed resistance against this madness.
The three of them wore white ornate cloaks and masks that left only their mouths and chins uncovered. Even their cheeks were covered for good measure.
Hestia's reason was that she wanted Loki to get the first reveal thrown her way. She wanted to see none other than Loki getting shocked by her new height first.
Henryk wanted to hide himself since the gods, other than Ganesha and Hermes, only know his features, not him. They would not be able to tell that one of the three is Hestia, seeing that one of her familia members is around.
Ray identifies as a tamed monster, according to the guild. Knowing her will lead them to know that Henryk was present, requiring her to hide like Henryk did.
"If you have an invitation, please present it before going in" The guard outside, assuming one of them is a deity, asked them politely. Every guest tonight had an invitation to prove their identity.
"Here. This's our lady's invitation" Henryk handed her the envelope.
"Lady Hestia, we welcome you in. By all means, please enjoy the party" The guard let them in with a respectful bow, a hand stretched at the entrance in a welcoming gesture.
They walked inside, being eyed by others. They were the only party to wear cloaks. Some deities wore masks for fun, some did not, and Ganesha did it out of a need to keep in-style. He genuinely liked his own style, that boastful god.
Nobody saw Fey, as she was hiding under Henryk's cloak. She was lazily sleeping from quite a ways back when they bought dresses.
Murmurs and speculations risen between the gods present. Bets were made on who the new arrival might be. The goddess, the only one exuding a divine aura among the three of them, might be a new visitor to the city, just newly descended.
'But who might that lady be? I don't remember anyone with such massive boobs. The only one with such disproportion is Hestia, but she is short enough to look a pallum in the eyes' Some unfortunate gods guessed right but denied it themselves.
"Who might the beautiful ladies be?" A lecherous god daringly came forward, eyeing Hestia and Ray.
Henryk wanted to slap him, hard. The rational part of him told him to leave that to Hestia.
A divine hitting another across the face in public will come off as funny to some. A mortal doing the same would, normally, count as a crime to all of them.
Hestia did not disappoint him. She caressed the gods cheek affectionately with a smile, until her smile turned wicked before she slapped him on the same cheek she was caressing with all her strength.
The idiot fell on his bottoms and contemplated his life choices for a second before scurrying away.
Hestia hid the numbing sting of pain the hit gave her soft, fair hand and acted as if nothing happened.
"LOOK AT THAT RED CHEEK! BA-HA-HA-HA! SATYR GOT A DRY REJECTION!" The onlookers laughed at his expense. He got rejected without as much as a word.
"We should go eat something till the trickster arrives" Henryk suggested. He and Ray did not eat anything since noon.
"Foooooood!" Fey's words were merely a murmur. Only Henryk heard her. She was right by his ear.
"Not yet, my daughter. I will pass food to you, don't get out" Henryk, under the bewildered gazes of everyone, put a piece of food after the other in his cloak until he finished three plates. Some bets were raised on how many plates he would empty into his cloak so messily. Some dared to bet that his cloak would remain clean even then.
"I AM GANESHA! AND I AM HAPPY TO SEE YOU ALL HERE!" Ganesha could be heard in the distance. He was standing on a fountain's rim and shouting his name.
"The shabby looking guy over there, isn't that Takemikazuchi?" Said random god#1.
"Isn't the one annoying him Hermes? Haha" Commented random god#2 merrily.
'Should I do it? I mean, I respected some of lady Hestia's kin simply for being deities. Hermes is one I don't respect much.... Yeah~ Doing that might be just fine~' Henryk took a very creamy cake from the nearest table and sneaked his way behind Hermes. He moved under the cover of the crowd's noise. He stood behind Hermes as he was poking his fingers at poor Takemikazuchi.
The gods who noticed him were looking forward to his prank. There was only one thing someone would do by taking one of these things and sneaking up on another person.
Henryk took a breath, then his takedown commenced. Holding Hermes by the back of his head with his left hand, "Heh?! Wh-ph?! MMMMMMMMPHPPHPMM?!" he slammed the cake on Hermes's face with his right hand. He held it there. Hermes fell on the ground moments later, twitching a little.
...
Only one, singular moment of silence was collectively given to Hermes's pretty-boy-face, not Hermes himself.
The entire hall exploded in laughter as Takemikazuchi swallowed his food and started coughing and laughing with them.
"I AM GANESHA!" He was laughing too, in his own way.
Asfi came from somewhere, bowed in apology in place of her senseless god and dragged his twitching "corpse" out. Hermes later found Henryk's act a proper one to pull off at such a party. He nodded to himself in acceptance.
"Hey! Look over there! Freya has come!" Some simps amongst the gods ogled Freya as she descended the stairs. "She is beautiful as ever!" They said in unison.
Freya's arrival diverted the attention from Henryk, who was walking away with Ray to a far side of the table, where Freya would be standing with her back to them while conversing with Hestia.
Freya's eyes widened a teeny-tiny bit when they landed on Hestia and returned to normal almost immediately.
She came down a flight of stairs, accompanied by two attendants. She came Hestia's way.
'Crap!... CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!' Hestia was caught early. She just knew it. Freya recognized her.
"Good evening, Hestia" Freya said, standing close to Hestia, who was trying her best to not show signs of recognizing her own name.
"Loli big boobs? Where?" Another random god looked over the table to find a shortage of short goddesses.
Hestia was doing a good job of ignoring Freya, or so she thought. She was mentally shitting bricks into her clothes. Freya of all people zoomed in on her.
'I got away with pranking Hermes because it was Hermes, but pranking Freya would probably be a problem. I will do it anyway' Henryk was one reckless human when it was not a death sentence for him or those around him.
Ray was standing on the side, looking at all the colorful food. She was taunted by it. Her eyes were taunted by the different colors. Her nose was taunted by the mixed smells. Her belly was taunted by the variety of the dishes she stood before. Her tongue wanted to taste them. Her belly wanted to be filled to the brim with delicious food and drink. She was starting to mentally drool. She was tempted to risk exposing her wings to grab a bite, not that her wings could hold onto the food that well.
'Ray, once I give the signal, fly in my direction, grab my raised hand and fly us out of there. I will pack some of the food you were looking at in the meantime' Henryk used {Observe} to tell Ray. Ray was jolted from her fantasy about how well the food would taste, having to wide some drool that started to spill out the corner of her mouth.
Henryk abided his time and waited for the right moment.
Freya was getting amused by what Hestia was doing. "Good evening, Hestia. Am I interrupting something?" She tried opening a conversation with Hestia again.
"Tsk. You party pooper. I wanted to slap Loki's face with this surprise. This is one of the reasons I don't like dealing with you" Hestia grumbled, not directly looking at Freya.
"Fufu. I love this side of yours" Freya liked this breath of fresh air in comparison to the stuffy, honey-coated way everyone else treats her the whole time.
"Well, at least you are better than some flat idiot" Hestia got the feeling said idiot will show up at any moment now.
"FREYAAAAAAA!" The idiot came running down the stairs in a tight dress. She was truly an idiot. Running down a flight of spiraling stairs in such a dress was bound to make her tumble down the rest of the way one day. "CHIBI!"
"Huh?! Who?!" Loki finally recognized what, or rather who, she was looking at. She sensed Hestia's divinity but saw who looked like someone else standing there in a cloak.
"Fill your eyes with the sight of your defeat! Loki no-boobs! I'm taller than you now!" Hestia threw away her cloak in the air dramatically. She was wearing an ocean-blue one-piece dress. A silver pearl necklace complimented her slender neck. Her beautiful black hair was gathered in a low ponytail, covering her ears on its way back. She still kept some fringes to keep that 'Hestia look', though those were swept sideways to compliment the style. Some hair was left at the front to go down the sides of her face. She wore beige sandals as a last touch.
"Bask in my glorious victory! You plateau!" Hestia was exaggerating her laughter in front of a kneeling Loki. Loki was kneeling in shock at her now-eternal loss. She would not be able to overcome Hestia now.
"ORA! TAKE THIS!" As Loki was about to stand up, Hestia slammed her boobs into Loki's face to push the idea even more.
"Something is wrong, though?" Hestia looked around. "Why have they been silent all this time?"
The male gods were admiring her bec-..... Okay, I am coming clean. Most of these idiots with air for brains were looking at Hestia's chest. They were silent, however, because her change should have been impossible. Any bit of arcanum, which is required for such changes, would be sensed by most deities in the lower world. There was not a single sign of it being used for the last dozen years.
"Hestia, you have almost become my equal in their eyes" Freya angled her look at them for a split second.
"I... go contemplate my life choices... what I can of them" Loki lamented not giving her mortal vessel a bigger chest before coming down from heaven.
"You, are you sure you are that same Hestia?" Hephaestus stepped in the conversation.
"Hephaestus! I'm happy that you came! I so wanted to see you!" Hestia cheered. She could make her request.
"That... haah... No matter the height, that's Hestia for you. You still managed to get your body out of proportion" Hephaestus sighed and accepted her friend's new appearance. 'Maybe it is a magic item that changes her appearance temporarily?' Uh, oh, so that was the reason she accepted that nonsensical change easily. The problems of the rich, ladies and gentlemen.
"Wait! You wanted to see me?" Her mind caught up to what Hestia said. "Listen well, I will not lend you another valis again"
"Rude! Do I look to you like the type of person to use her friends as portable wallets?" Hestia wanted to complain.
"No matter what you say, you abused our familia for a while" Hestia's posture was in the process of crumbling from shame. "And when we finally kicked you out, you returned to us crying and saying "I have no money, no house and no job"" Hestia's posture collapsed and was recovered. She was lightly blushing, embarrassed that her dark past was revealed to so many. She was holding both hands over her heart.
"Of course, I will think of you like that!" Hephaestus was pointing her accusing finger at the hurt and downed Hestia. Hestia could not take it and almost fell on the ground.
"True, things were like that in the past... but things changed. I, too, have a familia now!" She struck a pose with a peace sign.
"Oh, right, two of them at that. Bell Cranel, a human with white hair and red eyes, and Henryk Williams, a human with light-brown hair and deep green eyes, right?" Hephaestus was interested to hear about the two of them from Hestia herself.
"Are they the ones that came in with you? Where are they now?" She was looking for him but failed to see him in plain sight. He anticipated this and brought a different set of cloaks for him and Ray. The other gods just remembered that one of Hestia's children was a tamer. Based on the fact that two people entered the room with her, one of them has to be him, right?
"Anyway, it is true that a lot of us change after acquiring their first child, but..." 'Your change is outright impossible. Like I could say that to her face... haah' Hephaestus mentally sighed and took a sip of her wine glass.
"Hephaestus, Hestia, I will take my leave now" Freya was done with the party. She achieved her goal of gathering information on Bell, with the added information on Henryk, should that prove useful.
"Really?" Hestia said, giving the other goddess a side-eye.
"But of course. There was something I wanted to make sure of, and I am done doing that" She cupped her own cheek delicately as her eyes drifted to the crowd. "Besides, I got bored of all those men standing here" Freya said after devouring them with her eyes. The men felt their worst at that moment and skedaddled out of her sights. Hephaestus and Hestia sweat-dropped at that remark.
'Amaaaziiiiin- NO! That's Henryk walking Freya's way! Even under a different cloak, I would recognize that build after updating his falna as many times as I did! What does he want to do with that devious smile of his? No matter what's swirling in your twisted imagination, Henryk, you shouldn't do it! At all costs no!' Hestia panicked as Freya was turning around to leave.
Henryk saw the chance to perform his biggest prank yet. He and Ray already positioned themselves in the right places for their grand escape. The placements of things were as follows: the exit --> the three goddesses --> Henryk --> Ray.
Just as Freya turned around, she was faced with Henryk's opened mouth with his fingers in it.
*INSERT A GIGANTICALLY SHARP WHISTLE HERE* Freya fell on her bum from sheer surprise. She would have never expected this in a thousand years.
Henryk sprinted past her. "Ray! Now!" Ray flew to him and took him away from the scene. "Smell ya later! Bimbo!" Ray disappeared from the scene with Henryk screaming his last words for the banquet.
The crowd looked between the still-opened door and the fallen Freya.
'That soul...' Freya's face flushed a bit as she was standing up. She excused herself before anyone returned their attention to her. The others were all looking where Henryk went.
'Bell's soul was transparent and pure, but this... this soul... Henryk's soul... it is formless. It took no set form to hold onto but was containing itself without outside restraints like all other souls. His soul was portraying the image of self-restraint using its own set of core beliefs, not those of society. Ahhh, that fierce forest-green color having lighter shades that take the shape of growing trees. Not to mention, a touch of brown at the bottom to make it seem like a firm and unwavering earth. It was like his soul contained others' inside with care. The sharp points of the tree branches, they were readied to stab anything unwelcomed inside. It was ready to do just that to me at any moment, looking at how formlessly sharp it felt. A daring soul that does not listen to others needlessly! I want him even more than Bell now! Oh! I know! I will see who among them can be my Odr after testing them a little! Ottar will be able to prepare the tests when they are ready for them! My Odr, are you finally going to be before me?' She is and will remain hopeless, to some extent.
(Line Break)
"Look there! Are all of these magic stones?!" Adventurer #1.
"No way!" Adventurer #2.
"Yes way!" Henryk. 'Huh?! Why do I feel like there's something that's getting repeated a lot?'
"You are here, Henryk? I thought you were accompanying lady goddess to a party tonight?" Bell wondered why Henryk was here and not at the party.
"Let's go to the guild exchange while we're talking, captain" Henryk waved it off, kinda. He still told them the gist of what happened, leaving out what he did to Freya.
Henryk and the rest were going towards the guild to exchange their magic stones. The sheer amount of which garnered the attention of some greedy bunch. Oh, how wrong they will be in assuming they could rob Henryk's group.
"You didn't wait long, bro?" Welf raised an eyebrow. Why would Henryk even be waiting here. Why not wait for Bell at their familia's home?
"Not really. I only came here as you exited the dungeon" Fey dozed off on their way here. Otherwise, she would have done a certain something.
They entered the guild and wandered to the exchange corner.
"You would do better by coughing up all the items you were hiding away while we didn't pay attention to you" Henryk scared Lili out of her skin. Of course, he knew about her habit. Why would he not? Lili did as she was told.
As Henryk implied, it would be more profitable to work in a more honest way with their party. They gathered so many magic stones and drop items that she would be losing big time if she switched to another party. In this party, she was promised to be allowed to fight in a safer environment and get a fair share of the valis they get at the end of the day. Other parties would exploit her because she is a pallum and a supporter, only to then dump her without giving her anything, claiming she was useless.
Henryk presented the items as things he himself told her to hold onto. She really does not know why he cares so much about her safety and her image in the party when he knew of her past doings.
"Just how many did you bring?" The employee at the exchange counter whispered in both amazement and dread. They will have the time of their life counting all of these stones. "Bring them to the next room" There was a room for such things as calculating the worth of large amounts of magic stones, though they were mostly used for expeditions.
The employee calculated the worth of what seemed to be a large mound of mostly thirteenth floor monsters. He had his coworkers in the back to help too. He would work overtime to deal with this veritable mound of magic stones without their help.
"494,619 valis. I personally recommend you store it in the guild's bank" The old guy at the counter nodded at some thirsty adventurers. Those same greedy adventurers would never come to know that there were even more magic stones in Melia's storage, from rare monsters no less.
"Thank you, sir" Henryk said. The idea of a bank completely flew over his head. This world, with a society where a lot of money flowed, surely had the concept of banks, now that he thought about it.
"You are welcome" The old man gave them a business smile and called the next in line. He still has work to be done in his shift.
'Tsk! We could've mugged them!' Thought an adventurer. They saw an opportunity, 'But no~! The old geezer just couldn't shut his trap!'
The reason the old man disregarded them was the guild's protection of its employees. Anyone harming the guild's employees unfairly, or unreasonably, would find themselves and possibly their familia as well in a near-permanent ban from exchanging magic stones with the guild, or entering the dungeon in general.
"Miss Eina, can we store our money here?" After bothering poor Eina who had a jam-packed schedule to help with another thing, the party went on their merry way outside the guild.
"Welf, we should take those drop items of yours to your familia's home" Henryk said.
"Why? Couldn't we.... No, I understand" Welf caught up with Henryk's thoughts.
As he would have a mountain of drop items, no matter what familia he belongs to, someone will bother him. If he left them in his familia's storage, however, nobody would really do it.
'So, we need to do this for around a month more, huh? Maybe we should change tactics to get more. Most of our party's members are level two. We could manage it, especially if they got stronger' Henryk calculated their living expenses, Welf and Lili's shares and the amount they could store. They spent a lot of their money on food, credit to more than one of his children having an appetite.
Olympia got goosebumps.
"Captain, should we try Ouros's skill to gather Valis for the entirety of tomorrow?" Henryk asked Bell.
"Why? Is the amount of money we earn now inefficient?" Bell wondered.
"And are you sure what you said's safe?" Welf was worried.
"Not really. You see, little brothers of mine, the only slightly dangerous part's going to be our negligence, also if we weren't prepared for it. Anything else, the others can handle all on their own. This could also double as a harsher training, to level up faster" Henryk raised a particularly appealing point from an adventurer's perspective.
"Forget the training! I'm regretting the contract right now! What'd I do with all these drop items? Going by today's pace and a suggested increase, I'd have a mountain of them in a few days! I'd not have the time to use them all!" Welf complained to no one's caring ears.
"Deal with it. You reap what you sowed" Henryk was internally gloating at Welf's dismay. 'Suffer from success!'
"Right! What about the weapons we ordered? Are they ready?" Weapons for the girls were also put on order.
Olympia wanted a staff. It was not anything special, just an old plain, thick stick.
Gracie wanted to not participate in combat directly. She chose a whip with a sidearm in the form of a crooked dagger to deter approaching monsters. Scarlet could not talk yet, so she wrote that she wanted dual short swords, which would be disproportionately dagger-sized when compared to her large build.
Gladia's case was a little special. Henryk ordered hers for her, partially. To maximize the use of her skill, a necklace-scaled version of every weapon or tool category to ever be used for combat would be strapped on a belt around her waist. Any new weapon category to exist later would be added to the belt. She herself wanted a tower shield.
"The rest of them should be ready by the end of this week, including your two-handed mace" There were only three days until the weapons are done and ready for combat.
"Good!" Henryk rejoiced. He could not get a mace that has an extendable shaft, but a two-handed mace was his second choice. A small buckler could protect the leading arm just in case he went against a smart and skilled opponent.
"I've been rearing to ask you, why did you order the bow to have a poundage of 300? Normally, any middle floor monster outside of crystal mantises could have the arrow go through them and fly out the other side with only a poundage of around a hundred to a hundred and fifty. Only level two monsters and early level three monsters need that much power to do the same. As for killing them? You only need something around 75 for level 1s and a few arrows of a 100 for the level 2s"
"Really? I didn't know that. But I still want you to make it that way. Killing more than one monster with each arrow's a skill that Noland could use if the bow was that powerful and saves ammunition on him. He wouldn't need to run around to collect them arrows as often like this" Henryk took that extra perk that was completely unaccounted for.
Many tails swished, especially Noland's. His father told him that a legend tells of dragon slayers that used arrows like his.
(Line Break)
"Welfie? Where do you think you're bringing these?" Tsubaki was astonished by the sheer number of lower floor drop items Welf brought with him today.
'It seems that his party members are quite capable' She recognized the middle floors' loot among them.
"This nasty bro of mine threw all of them my way. Now, I'll have to deal with them" Welf sighed as he pointed at Henryk.
"It's all according to the contract HE signed. He gets what he signed up for" Henryk said, slinging an arm over Welf's shoulder. "By the way, he could use all of them to gain more experience as a novice smith"
"YOU GOT A GOOD FRIEND THERE, EH? WELFIE! OUR FAMILIA'S GREENHORN GOT SOME MORE EXPERIENCE IT SEEMS!" Tsubaki slapped Welf's back, knocking the wind out of him.
"*cough**cough* Would you stop that? I almost died there!" 'Doesn't she have anyone else to bother?' Welf internally whined. He did not say it aloud because Tsubaki would bother him more after that. He really wanted to avoid her.