I loved the heat of the forge.
My family was a traditional smithing family, something nearly impossible to find in the modern age, and we had hammered iron since the days of our distant ancestors.
Just as my ancestors had, and just as my father did, I made my living hammering iron. I took pride and found happiness in that work.
The heat that burst forth when molten iron melted in the furnace.
The heat that erupted when iron was struck atop the anvil.
The heat that spread from the steam during the final quenching.
I loved all of that heat.
I delighted in the very process of making something with my own hands.
Of course, that did not mean I filled every part of my life with blacksmithing. Even though I had handled iron and stayed close to fire since childhood, I was still a hot-blooded teenager.
Type-Moon, Knight Run, Dark Souls, the Monogatari Series, and so on...
Those were the things I conquered in my spare time while working as a blacksmith.
When I tried to make the Greatsword of the Firelinking Rite from Dark Souls for real, my father caught me, and I honestly thought I was going to die...
"■■■? What the hell are you doing right now?"
"F-Father."
"Well, you see, this is..."
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"...So instead of making a proper sword, you're hammering out some bizarre-looking thing from some weird game, something you can't even use in real life... Is that what you're saying?"
"No, Father. I think that's a pretty serious distortion of what happened..."
"■■■."
"...Yes."
"You know, I never stopped you or got angry when you saw something weird and tried to make it yourself."
"Y-You didn't?"
"...I suppose I spoiled you too much."
"F-Father...?"
"Let's beat some sense into you."
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I was injured badly enough to need three months of recovery. Nearly getting disowned was just a bonus.
The Greatsword of the Firelinking Rite, which I had completed about halfway, was melted down into molten iron and disappeared... Tch.
Because of that, I could not have a normal conversation with my father for almost a year.
And then, at the age of twenty-seven, I died.
It was a predictable enough development.
On my way home after drinking with my middle school classmates for the first time in a while, I saw someone staggering across a crosswalk.
A passenger car came charging toward them. Was the driver drunk?
I shoved that person out of its path, but with my own body full of alcohol, I could not move in time.
Then, crash.
The moment I felt pain, I realized it.
Ah, I'm going to die.
And then...
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Where am I?
This feels like the space where Truth lives in Fullmetal Alchemist.
Everything was completely white. Is this what a psychiatric hospital feels like?
Hmm... I died, and suddenly I am in a white space.
There are three possibilities.
Possibility one: I am in a vegetative state and dreaming.
Possibility two: Everything was my delusion.
Possibility three: This is a waiting room for reincarnation.
Should I test it out?
"Hey, if you're going to bring me back to life, hurry up and do it. I'm bored."
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Did it fail...?
"Ah, sorry, sorry. I forgot that humans have an extremely quick sense of time."
...It's real?
I could only hear a voice and could not see its owner. Was that how it worked? Would a human mind be unable to endure seeing it directly?
"Ah, it's not like that. My human avatar is on Earth right now. If you really want to meet face-to-face and talk, I have an animal avatar too. Want me to send that instead?"
Just as one would expect, it was reading my thoughts and answering them. So it really was a god. And as for an avatar, yes. A voice with no body was a little...
The instant I thought that, a weasel appeared before me with a "Pop" sound effect... You just made that sound with your mouth, didn't you?
"Yeah."
Answering in consonant shorthand... Is this what a god is like...?
"That's right~ I'm your omnipotent transcendent god, everyone!"
So why am I here?
"Because you saved me, and I thought I'd give you a gift."
Me? Save whom? A god?
I had helped people before in my life, but I had never saved anyone...
Huh, the person I pushed?
"Yes, that person! I normally turn off my omnipotence and live a life of amusement in a human body, you see? But the inconvenient part is that once I die, I have to start all over again, so I have to go through infancy and adolescence again, when I can't do anything... Of course, those periods have plenty to enjoy too, but being unable to do anything is boring, you know?
I said earlier that my human avatar couldn't come right now, didn't I? Thanks to you pushing me away, I survived, but I sprained my ankle and am getting simple treatment at a hospital."
So things like this could happen in life... The person I saved right before dying was a god's avatar... No, perhaps that was common in Indian mythology?
"So I decided to give you a gift myself! For the record, revival is impossible. Even for me, breaking laws I made myself would be a bit much, so let's go with reincarnation!"
Could I transmigrate instead?
"Sure, if that's what you want. Your body will be reconstructed to fit that world, but your appearance will remain the same. Is that okay?"
Of course. It is the only thing I inherited from my parents that I can take with me, so I should at least keep this.
"Okay~ Then which world?"
...DanMachi, ten years before the original story. Is that possible?
"Who do you think I am? I'm a god, a god! Messing with the time axis of a lower dimension is as easy as pie."
Well, it did call itself an omnipotent transcendent god earlier.
Then give me the Development Abilities Mystery, Blacksmithing, and Fire Resistance... and make sure that I never forget anything from my life, no matter what.
"Hmm... You really are a blacksmith to the bone. That aspect of humans is so fascinating. To think you can devote everything you have to one single thing. I'll put Blacksmithing in your Development Abilities from the start, and I'll make sure the other two keep appearing whenever you level up. I'll take care of the memories. What about magic? You don't need it?"
Well, it should be fine to leave at least one thing to fate.
"Then I pray that the stars accompany your fate. Goodbye."
Bye.
Then the white space inverted into a black one, and my consciousness was stained black as well.
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My adventure begins now.
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The chapters were removed and published with a higher-quality translation.