"Whoa! So the other world has weapons like this?!"
Tsubaki stared at the gauntlet on her hand, delight blazing across her face as raw, multiplying strength flooded her body.
"Ten seconds of doubling my power… a weapon like this actually exists? That other world is terrifying."
She'd never even heard of such a thing.
Tsunayoshi agreed. "Yeah. The other world is far more dangerous than it looks."
He pointed at the gauntlet on Tsubaki's wrist and explained its origin. "This is a 'god-slaying gear' forged by the God of the Bible using the soul of a red dragon—a weapon that can kill gods. Dragons aren't really anyone's subordinates to begin with, and this one was… extreme."
"When the other races were at war, it was dragged into the gods-versus-demons battlefield by its battle with another dragon—a white one—and the devastation they caused forced gods and demons to halt their war just to deal with the two of them first."
"Courting death, huh."
Tsubaki drew a long breath and looked down at the gauntlet. She hadn't expected dragons of another world to be so headstrong—charging straight into a divine war and making gods and demons call a truce to take them down. Impressive, in a very suicidal way.
"What were those two dragons fighting over?"
"Interest. Like born rivals. They fought without end—alive or dead."
"Truly courting death…"
Tsubaki's mouth twitched. Now she had a sense of what dragon temperaments were like over there. Two walking disasters crashing a divine battlefield—no wonder gods and demons stopped fighting to put them down.
Her attention returned to the gauntlet.
"Getting my hands on two dragons strong enough to meddle in a god–demon war… that's a bit much for me."
She was, at the end of the day, a very normal Level 5 adventurer. How was she supposed to "get" dragons like that?
"And I'd have to capture their souls, too… I don't have that kind of method."
Headache incoming.
Harvesting a monster's soul for forging was a tempting idea, but step one—actually seizing the soul—was the mountain in the way.
"Tsubaki, maybe don't make that kind of weapon your target," Tsunayoshi said. "If Hephaestus-sama learns you're planning to sacrifice souls to make gear, you're getting a headbutt."
"…Fair point."
Tsubaki shrank her neck. That sounded exactly like the kind of lesson Hephaestus would deliver.
"Okay then, what else does the other world have?" she asked. "Weapons?"
"There are plenty," Tsunayoshi said. "If we mean things we can actually craft—and that have a touch of magic—what sticks most in my mind are the legends."
He pictured a certain golden holy sword—then an identical one appeared in his hand.
"A holy sword. Legend says the Lady of the Lake gifted it to King Arthur. That's the story, anyway. What I remember is that this blade can turn mana into a light that levels fortresses."
He fed magic into the sword. The blade turned golden, mana thickening as though it were condensing into syrup.
"—!"
Tsubaki felt danger slam through her instincts. She couldn't look away from the golden sword. If it were a normal magic blade, even with spells, it wouldn't threaten her much; her fists outclassed most magic swords.
But this one just glowed—and already her whole body screamed caution. That alone told her it far outstripped ordinary enchanted steel.
"What are you two doing?"
Hephaestus's voice cut in, stern. She eyed the sword in Tsunayoshi's hand without a shred of doubt that one wrong move could launch her entire compound into the sky. She'd only stepped out for water; how had a simple chat become this?
"Tsunayoshi, control yourself," she said. "And don't indulge Tsubaki's curiosity at random. The moment weapons are involved, that idiot goes fever-mad and loses reason."
Scolding delivered, Hephaestus came right up, lifted the weapon with Tsunayoshi's hand, and peered along its lines.
"Hm. Very special. Doesn't look like a blade made by normal forging."
"I've never seen the real one either, Hephaestus-sama," Tsunayoshi admitted. He would've loved to produce the genuine holy sword, but he'd never seen the original.
"Never seen it? Then what is this you've made?"
Hephaestus pointed at the blade, puzzled.
"'Monster Creation' lets me supply imagination to shaped matter, which lets me create the corresponding beasts," Tsunayoshi said, emphasizing the nature of his power before explaining the sword. "This holy sword is a materialization of a certain hero's legend. It truly exists in that world, but what I've made isn't the original—just a weapon realized from the story of that hero."
"So that's why it doesn't look like a normal forged blade."
A weapon realized from the legends of heroes…
Hephaestus and Tsubaki both stiffened, then exchanged a look—seeing surprise, shock, and a spark of delight mirrored in each other's eyes.
"Great Deeds!" they blurted at once.
When one speaks of heroic legends here, that naturally points to the Great Deeds that let adventurers level up.
Tsubaki—the strongest smith on the surface—and Hephaestus—the greatest lady of the forge in the heavens—had never tried forging with Great Deeds as the medium.
"Using Great Deeds to forge… that's a fine idea," Hephaestus said after only a brief think.
Feasible.
"Adventurers face powerful monsters; when they defeat them, they gain the corresponding Great Deeds. It's the reward owed to an adventurer," she continued. "Great Deeds are, in their way, the currency of legend. So if we use Great Deeds to forge weapons, we may see effects beyond expectation."
"Whoa!"
With Hephaestus-sama's assent, stars exploded in Tsubaki's eyes.
(End of Chapter)
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