God of What? 29 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Kejmur

God of What?

Chapter 29

-VB-

When the duo returned the next day, they brought with them the item they said they had. And seeing it move from their hands and onto her worktable, she saw that, yes, they did indeed have minotaur horns on hand.

Hephaestus didn’t like this idea. In fact, she knew for a fact that this was going to cause problems in the future. The question was whether that problem would hit her or her … “clients.”

Because, really, if this worked, then it was more likely for her friends to become her suppliers.

The deities of the joint familia of Hestia-Marris - her friend Hestia and her lover - offered to do some non-arcana divine act on monster loot that they themselves would provide. If the divine act resulted in a blacksmith-worthy material, then they would provide it and she would make weapons for their children. Any leftovers would be hers to keep.

Since Hestia was requesting a pair of short swords made from minotaur horns for her first and only child, she would have a lot of leftovers.

“Are you sure your child will be alright with this?” she asked the newest god in Orario.

“Oh, I’m sure,” he grinned. “Considering that he’s very interested in Hestia’s kid.”

Hephaestus grinned as she got the situation a little better. “Oh, so it’s mutual?”

“The two are pussyfooting,” he sighed, and Hestia slapped him on the shoulder.

“Language!” she hushed but had a smile brighter than any she showed before. “Yes, we are sure.”

“Alright then,” Hephaestus said with a grimace. “Let’s see this arcana-less divinity of yours.”

And she watched as Marris put each hand on the minotaur horns he’d brought with him. The moment he touched the horns, she sensed that something odd was happening. She felt … like she was being watched? Observed? Whatever it was, it passed by quickly, and she found herself distracted by the sight of the minotaur horns jiggling like blobs of pudding. Then they grew smaller like they were being compressed.

Finally, they glistened in the light of the room by the time he pulled his hands away.

“Phew,” he grinned and she saw that he’d been sweating a little. “Alright, I did the best I could with the material on hand, but … I think that thing right there is pretty spicy.”

Hephaestus turned her focus away from Marris and to the changed minotaur horns. The horns had shrunk by half in thickness and a good third in length. She picked it up and her eye -.

“This is almost a lower middle floor loot in quality,” she remarked with amazement.

“Yeah, well, don’t expect me to do this too often,” Marris hummed. “It’s a bit out of me, though I’m sure I’ll be able to do more in the future.”

Yes, just like she thought, this was going to cause trouble in the future. Once the other crafting guilds and exploration guilds found out, they’d want their gears and consumables made from Marris’s altered monster ingredients.

Because this pair of horns in her hands can be used to make weapons that Level 4’s wouldn’t reject out of hand. Sure, it wouldn’t be the best weapons Level 4’s might be able to use but it would still be very good weapons.

Especially since she could tell that a weapon made from these horns would be able to fix itself by either absorbing mana or blood.

She turned to Marris.

“How open are you to a business deal?” she asked him.

Marris grinned. It was a slimy shopkeeper’s grin.

‘I suppose I have the same grin on my face right now.’

Because she did. The potential profits aside, the idea that she could work with new and alien materials? It enticed her blacksmith soul.

-VB-

Bell Cranel

She dove into the dungeon regularly with Yor these days, and she liked how well they worked together.

It felt … nice, not just because he was a good teammate.

She hummed happily as they entered home again after another profitable and fun dungeon dive, but found her goddess and Marris waiting at the couch in the living room. They noticed her and Yor, and gestured for them to come over.

“So,” Hestia began, slightly nervously. Why was she nervous? “So you know how you’ve been saving up to get a new weapon for yourself?”

“Yes…?” she replied warily, not liking how Hestia was nervous while specifically asking about her money.

“Well, here you go! We got you a new pair of daggers!”

She hadn’t noticed before, but there was a wrapped bundle on the living room table in front of the two deities. She quickly rushed over, sat down on the open couch across from them, and unwrapped the bundle.

As two daggers came out from under the leather wraps, she found eyes glistening up at the sight of quality weapons. They weren’t like any of the weapons she was familiar with, but she also saw the quality make of the blades. Both blades curved out and had thicker blades at the upper half of the blades.

“W-What are they?” she asked as she gingerly picked them up.

“They’re called kukri,” God Marris spoke up. “Being an adventurer is more than just about killing things. Kukris aren’t just combat blades; they can be used for generally any task that requires a blade, like cutting into animals or chopping up vegetables for cooking.”

Eh?! These blades looked too expensive to be used as cooking knives!

As she turned to her goddess, she got a thumbs-up from her.

“Yor, I need to talk to you about something,” God Marris suddenly said as he stood up and gestured for Yor to follow.