Nearly a month had passed since Lady Hestia had moved into our Familia... Ahem, I mean, since she had begun staying with us, and it seemed even Lady Hephaestus was gradually growing uneasy about Hestia's NEET tendencies.
She still had not thrown her out because they were friends, but she would casually say things like—
"How about looking for a job?"
"Having followers is reaaally convenient. Have you considered making some?"
—and various other roundabout remarks.
It was as though she were crying out:
'...How long are you going to keep freeloading? Why don't you earn some money and become independent?'
Lady Hestia, who stood against her, was no pushover either. Perhaps she had practiced beforehand in the heavens for her NEET life in the lower world. Whenever she spoke, she would only agree halfheartedly, then the instant our goddess turned away with a suspicious look on her face, she would immediately scratch her belly and flop back down.
Aside from reading books instead of watching TV or using a phone, she was exactly like a modern-day shut-in and her mother.
Thanks to that, the people around them were the ones being ground down.
Whenever Lady Hephaestus found someone nearby, she would grab them and spend nearly an hour complaining to us that she had no idea how to get Lady Hestia outside and that someone had to do something about her.
Conversely, once Lady Hephaestus left, Lady Hestia would complain to any members nearby that she had only been relaxing for a month, so she had no idea why everyone was making such a fuss, and that we ought to talk to Hephaestus for her... Naturally, only the members nearby suffered, so people gradually stopped visiting the area where Lady Hestia stayed.
Perhaps, being a shut-in, Lady Hestia liked how quiet it had become. Once people stopped coming around, she retreated even further inside, only shuffling out for meals. Apparently, some of the new followers had even started mistaking her for a ghost.
"That's why I'm taking refuge in the shop."
"Meow~"
"There, there. For some reason, it feels like it's been a very long time since I last petted you, but let's ignore that for now. What should I do today?"
"Mrrrow...?"
"Hmm, when there's nothing else to do, weapon maintenance is the perfect choice."
"Mrrrow, mrrrow, mrrrrooow~!"
"What? You hate the smell of oil? Then go find another butler if you don't like it, hahaha."
"Myaaang..."
Anyway, leaving Rex—who was the living embodiment of the theory that cats are liquid, sprawled flat atop the desk—I started dusting off the various weapons I had made. Then I took down the ones that seemed to have lost their sheen and began wiping them with an oil-soaked cloth.
As soon as the smell of oil that Rex hated so much spread through the room, just as expected, he hissed and bolted outside, glaring at me from the doorway.
Staaaaaare.
Ignoring Rex's gaze, which clearly said, When are you going to put down that damned oily rag?!, I took down each weapon that seemed to have lost its shine and wiped it clean.
Only after I had cleaned all five daggers and three longswords and put away the oily rag did Rex cautiously creep back into the shop, shooting wary looks in every direction.
"Good grief, do you really hate the smell of oil that much?"
"Hssssss!"
"Oh, look at you hissing."
Soothing the hissing cat, I opened the shop windows to air out the smell of oil.
As I sat still and watched the sunset settle over Orario's sky, I suddenly remembered the weapon I had made after slaying an Infant Dragon.
That day, six magic-stone fragments and a tailbone roughly one meter long had dropped from the Infant Dragon. I had made a deal with the four members of the Indra Familia.
I had a creation I wanted to make using that tailbone and the magic stones, while the lancer on their side was on the verge of having his weapon completely break. Trading on the name I had been making for myself at the time, I offered them a deal: if they handed over all the magic stones and the tailbone, I would not charge them for materials, only the crafting fee—and even that would be half price.
The lancer, who did not seem to talk much, must have been tempted. He began persuading the other Familia members, saying that he would split half of the money saved on the crafting fee with them. Fortunately, his persuasion worked, and I received the magic stones and drop items.
The first works that came to mind for dragon bone were Dragon's Bane and Dragonspine from Genshin Impact.
After leaving the Dungeon, I met privately with the lancer who would receive the spear—his name was Bharat—and asked which of the two he wanted: Dragonspine, whose bone-like form remained plainly visible, or Dragon's Bane, which had undergone a refining process so thorough that no one could even guess it had been made from bone.
It must have been quite a difficult choice, because he thought for a long time. When he finally asked me to make Dragonspine, I was delighted too. I had wanted to make that weapon myself!
First, I told him the base production cost. Even at half price, it must have been quite high, because his face went pale. Then, after asking for a week, I immediately began work.
I activated Fantasy Forging, cramming the knowledge required to make the spear back into my head, and prepared the magic stones and tailbone.
Before I began, I finely ground the magic stones into powder, dissolved it in water, and used a magic tool to bind the mixture into something close to a whetstone. Of course, as an imitation whetstone, it would not be as effective as a real one. Still, to complete this spear, it had to be made using something imbued with a dragon's energy, which was why I processed the magic stones into whetstones.
Once I had finished making the imitation magic-stone whetstones, I separated the section of the tail that would serve as the spearhead. I heated it only enough that it would not melt and run, then lightly hammered it into the shape of a blade. It was a spear, but because it had an edge only on one side and a reverse-facing barb, it felt closer to a harpoon.
After setting the blade aside, I took the remaining tailbones apart one by one, slowly carving the structures around the spearhead and along the back of the spear with the whetstone I had just made while infusing them with Fantasy Forging. Sure enough, as I infused the Fantasy Forging through the whetstone, I could feel the magic power within the magic-stone whetstone gradually flowing into the bone along with it.
It took five days to carve every ornament and structural piece. Once only two whetstones remained, I brought in moisture-resistant red pine, sanded it down while infusing it with Fantasy Forging, and completed a spear shaft roughly one and a half meters long without a single bump or indentation. By then, the final day of the week had begun.
These bone components were not materials I could obtain again anywhere, so I worked with the utmost care. I slowly fitted them together and carefully applied an adhesive to help bind them. Piece by piece, I assembled them, and by the time I fitted the grotesquely shaped spearhead on last, night was drawing near.
Finally, after putting an edge on the spearhead with the last magic-stone whetstone, the magic power remaining inside the stone seeped into the blade along with the Fantasy Forging. The whetstone crumbled into powder and fell away, and Dragonspine was complete.
In Genshin Impact's original setting, it was a weapon made from a dragon's teeth and imbued with a dragon's energy, so it was the most suitable weapon to make from those drop items.
After sleeping for a while, I checked it one last time for any flaws. It was an excellent weapon with an 85% reproduction rate. Since it had been made by killing a dragon and using its drop items, it might not have reached the level of a true dragon-slaying weapon, but it could at least overwhelm dragons through elemental affinity. Its original ability, an ice shard, had also manifested as freezing. Once I had finished, I handed it over when Bharat came to collect it.
He had been quite startled by the harpoon-shaped spearhead, but after swinging it around a few times, he broke into a broad smile and offered me a handshake, saying that he hoped we would get along well from then on.
That was how I formed a connection with the Indra Familia. We had formed parties and gone into the Dungeon together a few times afterward... I wonder what they are doing these days.
"Well, it's already night."
"Prrrrr..."
While I had been reminiscing, the sunset had faded, and before I knew it, the sky was full of stars. As I stood up to put out the forge and leave, for some reason my eyes were drawn to the final flame still flickering deep within the furnace, revealing itself through the gaps between the ashes.
How long did I stare at it?
Five minutes?
Thirty minutes?
An hour?
I simply watched and watched until that flame consumed itself and went out.
...It reminded me of something that had happened with my father in my original world.
There had been a terrible incident when my father's pride as a blacksmith clashed with my own creative drive as one.
After that incident, I had spent three months in the hospital. Even after I was discharged, the rift between us had grown so deep that I did not speak to my father for an entire year.
The moment I realized I had remembered it, my body was already running toward the Familia home.
If she—if that lady—helped me, I could complete it.
That weapon belonging to the one who awaits all who arrive at the very end, wearing a glorious crown.
That weapon belonging to the one who bears the mission handed down since the beginning and waits for ash to fall upon the firewood that has burned away completely.
I ran toward the Familia home with every bit of my Level 3 physical ability, threw open the door, and ran once more toward where she was.
"Lady Hestia!"
"Eek!? W-what is it?!"
"Would you be willing to work on something with me?"