It had been nearly ten years since I came to this city. So much had happened before this day arrived.
I had gone through so much, and there had been so much pain.
Many encounters had passed me by. Some bonds had been lost forever, while others had endured to this day.
Over ten years, a young man becomes middle-aged and looks back on the past.
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
"Oh, Tsubaki. What brings you all the way to my shop?"
"Isn't it about time you went on an expedition?"
"What are you talking about? An expedition? I'm only a Level 3 Battle Smith."
"Sure, sure. But usually, anyone above Level 3 joins expeditions sooner or later—and you're right on the verge of becoming Level 4, aren't you?"
"...Once I definitely reach Level 4, I'll join an expedition as a Battle Smith. At the peak of Level 3, I think it'd be a little too risky to tag along on one."
"Urgh... But you've got those Noble Phantasms, so shouldn't you be fine?"
"I'm not the one who'll use them. The people who buy those weapons will. My role is to make them and deliver them to people worthy of those Noble Phantasms."
"While collecting payment for your trouble and a commission on the side?"
"Well, isn't that what everyone does?"
"That's true!"
Smack!
Tsubaki laughed and whacked me across the back... but it hurt like hellllll!
"Aaaagh! If you're going to hit me, please hold back a little!"
"But you're the only one in our Familia who just screams when I hit them like this. Everyone else foams at the mouth and collapses, so it's no fun."
"No, don't hit people if they're going to collapse in the first place!"
"Don't wanna."
"..."
"...Hey, say something."
"No, uh... hang in there?"
"Say your prayers. You're dead today."
"Do you really want to live like that at thirty-eight years old?!"
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Gwaaaaaaaaaah! Somebody save this blacksmith!"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"...So why did you suddenly bring that up?"
I asked Tsubaki as I roughly wiped away the blood running from my nose.
"Come on, you've been our Familia's unofficial vice-captain for quite a while now. You need to build up expedition experience. And if you have expedition experience, there'll be enough grounds to make you vice-captain even if you aren't Level 4 yet."
"So that's what this is about... I keep telling you, don't make me vice-captain."
What that meant was... five years ago, after making Agateram for Kaguya, I had keenly realized my own weakness and practically lived in the Dungeon for a while.
Maybe I had been trying to erase the sensation of killing people by killing monsters. Some days I killed monsters; on others, I received combat training from Ryu or Kaguya.
In the midst of that, the achievement of making Agateram built up my Status, and I naturally became Level 3.
After the incidents back then, the vice-captain position had been left vacant, so Tsubaki had intended to promote me to vice-captain right away. I was strong enough to serve as captain in many other Familias, and my name was fairly well known throughout Orario.
However, it seemed the other senior smiths did not see it that way. Several veteran Level 3 smiths whom Tsubaki had not made vice-captain for various reasons argued that my career was too short and that I was not qualified to serve as the Hephaestus Familia's vice-captain.
They were right. I had reached Level 3 in just five years, but put another way, that meant I had only spent five years as a merchant and adventurer.
That was why the others who had supported my appointment as vice-captain backed down. To be honest, I did not particularly care.
I appreciated that they recommended me because they believed I was suited for the position, and if I did become vice-captain, I intended to live up to their expectations. But I had no particular reason to be angry at people who opposed my appointment for legitimate reasons.
Those senior smiths argued that I needed to be at least Level 4 before I was suited for the vice-captain position, and since the previous vice-captain had also been a Level 4 Battle Smith, that argument had merit too.
As a result, the vice-captain's position in our Familia was officially vacant. But because Tsubaki favored me and often assigned work to me, I naturally came to be treated as the unofficial vice-captain.
Anyway, it seemed that was why Tsubaki wanted to send me on an expedition—a somewhat complicated political issue.
If I got lucky and earned a great achievement on the expedition, I could level up. Even if I did not, she could push the argument that I had gone on an expedition and done all that, so surely I was qualified to be vice-captain.
Hmm... That was more thinking than I would have expected from Tsubaki.
"...Whose idea was it?"
"Eek... What are you talking about?"
"Come on, don't change the subject. The Tsubaki I know has a sharp head for business but knows nothing about politics. Hurry up and tell me."
"...Is that really what you've thought of me all this time?"
"...Don't change the subject. Who told you?"
"Uh, look over there. Can you hear my eyes turning away?"
"It doesn't matter what I've thought of you. Who was it?"
"It was... Finn."
"Huh? Why would that old fox do that?"
"He told me that if you found out and asked that, I should answer like this.
"[If a smith I'm close with becomes vice-captain, it'll be easier for me to approach you, won't it?]"
"...Tsubaki, do you realize that's interference in our internal affairs?"
"He said that if you said that, I should tell you,
"[Think of it not as interference in internal affairs, but as close cooperation through advice between fellow adventurers.]""
"What are you, just doing exactly as he tells you...?"
"I'll be able to use you more conveniently in an official capacity too if you become vice-captain!"
"When's the expedition?"
"There aren't any expeditions we're tied up with right now. The Loki Familia is heading down in two months, and we already said we aren't going with them. If we go, it'll probably be the expedition after that. So, are you going to give it a try this time?"
"If you're that determined to send me on an expedition, I suppose I can try going at least once."
"Okay, future official slave acquired~"
"Who the hell would take this lunatic..."
"And who do you have?"
"..."
"..."
"Let's stop."
"...Yeah."
"No, you're close with those two girls from the Hostess of Fertility, the Astraea Familia girls. Why don't you date either of them?"
"Do you see Gareth as a romantic prospect?"
"Of course not. Not at all. What, then? You don't see those two as women?"
"Yeah. Those two are a little... way too formidable for me to see them that way. Fellow comrades or siblings—that feels just right."
"Good grief... You make life hard for yourself. There's even a rumor that the reason those two are so impossible to approach is because of you."
"Why?"
"They say they can laugh and talk comfortably with you, but when they're serving customers, they are completely expressionless or only wear a service smile. It would be stranger if rumors did not spread."
"What...? Those two are treated as Mia's daughters, and I'm treated as her son, so we're comfortable because it feels like we're siblings. At least, I don't see either of them as a romantic prospect. Then let me ask you. What's your ideal type?"
"You crazy bastard, why are you bringing that up now?!"
"You asked me about dating first, so I can ask you too!"
"An extremely obscene Orario-style curse"
"You started i—"
My sense of justice was weaker than Tsubaki's fist... Damn it...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
After we had finished chatting and returned to the Familia home, there was some white bundle of cloth in front of it...?
As I drew closer, I saw it was some little kid... No, judging by the faint divine presence I could feel, she was a goddess. Who was she?
"A goddess? You'll catch cold if you sleep here. Please wake up."
Shake shake.
Jiggle jiggle.
Every time I pushed her shoulder and shook her... there was tremendous momentum...!
"Hmm... Mnya?"
"Ahem. Are you awake? This is the private property of the Hephaestus Familia, so if there is no urgent matter, please leave at once."
"Mmm! There is an urgent matter!"
"...?"
"No, no, not like that. Ahem. I am Hestia, who was close friends with Hephaestus even in the heavens. After a long wait, I finally descended to the Lower World, but when I tried to find Hephie, I simply could not. So I was waiting here, at Hephie's Familia home!"
"...Y-yes. Please come inside for now. I'll go call Hephaestus."
...Come to think of it, in the original story, Hephaestus had gotten fed up with Hestia loafing around for three months and kicked her out...?
So now, it was three months.