Danmachi: Hephaestus is my Wife

When I arrived home with Tsubaki, some Familia members saw us and greeted us both. Surprisingly, they didn't look at me with disdain or anything like that.

I noticed that something was starting to change.

Could it be because of my sudden evolution? Or maybe the Goddess is doing something?

'Should I ask her about this?'

"What are you thinking about?" Tsubaki asked as we walked side by side toward my room so I could grab one of the swords.

"I was thinking about the other Familia members. They suddenly started treating me better. Do you remember those two women who greeted us when we came in?"

"What about them?"

"I met them once before. They didn't say anything, didn't greet me, and even looked at me with a bit of disdain."

"They did that? Hmm…"

"Do you know what's going on?"

"No, I don't." Tsubaki was straightforward. So straightforward that it felt like a lie. I looked her in the eyes, and she smiled at me. "Aren't you going to keep walking?"

"…"

I continued toward the room.

"Wait here; I'll be back soon."

"All right."

I entered the room and went to the corner where I kept the three swords. "Which sword should I show her? Should I show one of these two or the rare-ranked sword?"

The rare-ranked sword is, of course, the strongest of them. If I want to impress her, I should show that one.

But there's no reason to impress her.

I picked up the refined-ranked sword, the one with the "Quick Slash LV1" ability. It's a strong ability—it should be enough. Plus, the sword is beautiful, which should suffice to please her.

As soon as I left the room holding the sword, Tsubaki narrowed her eyes.

"Is this the sword? Are you sure?" She took the sword from my hand and analyzed it. "There's nothing special about this sword. It's a common sword with excellent quality, but nothing surprising."

She carefully examined the blade and swung it a few times.

"You're keeping this sword in your room? You could at least put it in a sheath."

Tsubaki handed the sword back to me.

"This sword might look ordinary, but it has an ability."

"An ability? What do you mean?" Tsubaki raised an eyebrow. "Show me."

"Follow me. I think it's better to test it somewhere else. It's not ideal to do this in a hallway."

"What is it? Does the ability cause an explosion or something?"

"Of course not. It's just better to test it on a training dummy. The only place with training dummies here is in my training room."

"Ah, I see. Let's go quickly—I'm getting more and more curious!"

Suddenly, Tsubaki started getting excited.

####

We arrived at the training room.

"So this is the room you use for forging? What are all these swords?" Tsubaki looked at the swords I had forgotten to store in my inventory.

"They're low-quality swords I forged during my training."

"You forge this many swords every day?"

"Yes. And I plan to forge even more."

"Don't you think you're overdoing it?"

"I made a promise to the Goddess, and I intend to keep it." Besides, it's fun leveling up and creating better swords. It feels like [New World]. I still remember when I forged my first SSS-rank sword in that game.

I even bought several bottles of beer to celebrate.

I really was addicted.

"What promise?"

"It's nothing. Here, let me show you. First, I'll swing the sword without using its ability." I did my best to use the same stance Hephaestus taught me. It worked. I managed to swing the sword powerfully.

However, it stopped halfway.

"Pfft…" Tsubaki almost laughed. "Your stance is so funny. And how is it possible you can't cut the dummy in half?"

"I'm not as strong as you. I may look muscular, but I'm weak. My stats are low."

"That's true. The Goddess mentioned that. Why don't you start exploring dungeons to level up? You've changed a lot—I think it's a good idea. I can help you if you need."

"No, thanks. Now, watch this."

I completely ignored her and used the "Quick Slash LV1" ability to cut the dummy. Unlike the "Perfect Cut LV2" ability, which allowed me to slice the dummy effortlessly, this ability simply increased the speed of my attack.

But doubling the attack speed was enough to cut the dummy.

It was a clean, beautiful cut.

Tsubaki, who was watching, opened her mouth in admiration. "Ooooh, that was amazing." She clapped. "What was that? Even I couldn't follow the sword's movement. And the cut was perfect."

"It's the sword's ability. Quick Slash."

"Quick Slash? What a funny name."

"Try it."

"Hmmm…" Tsubaki took the sword and used it to strike the same dummy I had cut in half. She easily cut the dummy's legs off without using the ability.

"That was really easy, but I didn't notice much difference," she said, looking at the fallen dummy.

"You have to say 'Quick Slash' before attacking."

"Oh, I forgot. All right." Tsubaki moved to the next dummy and, this time activated the ability.

Like the attacks of Hephaestus and Mikari, her speed was frightening, making me feel a bit envious.

'I need to explore the dungeon. I can't keep being the weakest here. It's frustrating.'

I know the system's goal is for me to become a legendary blacksmith… But a legendary blacksmith needs to be strong.

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Read more chapters on my patr eon: patr eon.com/parodygirl

Next chapters: Chapter 24 - Rank G. New probabilities. / Chapter 25 - Excited to explore the dungeon. / Chapter 26 - A mission? / Chapter 27 - Forging with Mithril. / Chapter 28 - Bell? / Chapter 29 - You should get a boyfriend. / Chapter 30 - Forging an armor. / Chapter 31 - Hephaestus' help.