"Master?" Elwen looked worried. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Just remembering that I have to fix something." Greg starts panicking.
"See ya later." Greg got up quickly.
"Why don't you try making a butter knife? Easy, clear, and not too many changes."
While he was running away to check on nothing important, he saw Marina sitting outside his workshop, eating what looked like a pastry from Lylia's restaurant.
"What's with the rush?"
"It's Elwen, we need to talk about her."
With a smile, Marina said, "Ahh~ I get you, your elf student is so cute and also completely in love."
Greg knew that she was about to say that, "She is not in love with me. She acts like that probably because she is eager to learn!"
"She looks at you like you hung the moon and stars. I saw her drawing you while you were working earlier. It was a very detailed drawing, tell me that's not love." Marina took another bite of her pastry.
Greg was so out of words that he couldn't say anything except for, "Fuck me..."
"This is getting even more interesting."
Greg said, "More like complicated. I already have Lylia and Seraphine acting strange. I don't need a third woman to look at me like I'm some kind of legendary figure."
"But you are a famous person. You create legendary things. It's literally in your name." Marina looked far too happy about this.
"Also, Elwen is not like the others. She really gets what you're trying to do because she's had to do the opposite her whole life. That's a pretty strong link."
"I would rather not be connected with anyone other than peace itself!"
"Goddammit! How many times do I have to say the same thing over and over again?
"Too late," Marina said with a smile.
"You're gathering them like you gather SSS-rank item classifications. At this rate, you'll have a whole harem by the end of summer."
"Thanks for nothing." Greg had enough speaking with Marina, who always teases him.
Greg thought it would be beneficial to talk to someone who was smart. He found Lylia at her restaurant, where she was always busy. As soon as he walked in, she looked up, and her face lit up.
"Greg! Right on time. I just made a new dish with your pots and pans. Wanna give it a try?"
Greg sat at the counter and said, "I really need advice about my new student."
Lylia's smile stopped for a moment. "The elf?"
"Yeah, Elwen. She's a good kid and very talented, but Marina thinks she has feelings for me, and I don't know what to do about that—"
"Wait... how do you know she's an Elf...?"
Lylia was caught off guard, but she's trying to keep her composure. "Ohh! Marina said it to me when she wanted the pastry."
"So... about what Marina said earlier." Lylia's voice was carefully neutral as she put a plate in front of him. "What do you think?"
"I think I'm terrible at reading people, so I might be getting everything wrong." Greg's eyes got big when he bit into the food. "Mmm~ This is incredible. What is it?"
"Fish with lemon butter sauce and herbs on top. And you aren't getting it wrong." Lylia turned away to help another customer, but Greg noticed that her shoulders were tense.
"Young girls often have crushes on their teachers. It's normal. Once she knows you're just a normal person, she should be able to get over it."
"I'm not normal. I make legendary cookware by accident."
"You know what I mean." Lylia's voice sounded a little sharper than normal. "She sees you as the perfect example of what she wants to be. The fantasy will go away when she knows you better.
Greg had a strong feeling that this talk wasn't really about Elwen anymore, but before he could ask, Seraphine walked into the restaurant. She looked straight at Greg, then at Lylia, and her face became blank.
"Master Greg. I was trying to find you. We need to talk about the king's messenger."
"Bloody hell, what is the king's problem now?"
"The messenger. They got here this morning. While you were teaching your apprentice, I was dealing with them." The way Seraphine said "apprentice" made it sound like a mild insult.
"They're demanding a meeting tomorrow."
"Can't you just say I'm busy?"
"I tried, but they won't leave until they've talked to you in person." Seraphine saw the plate in front of Greg.
"You're eating Lylia's food again. You shouldn't rely too much on one person's cooking."
Lylia said, "My cooking is perfectly healthy."
"I never said it wasn't good for you. I meant that it's important to have various foods."
It seemed like the restaurant's temperature dropped a few degrees. Greg looked between the two women, both of whom were smiling but with eyes that suggested underlying tension.
"Okay," Greg said slowly. "I should probably go back to teaching Elwen."
"Thanks for the food, Lylia. And thanks for the heads-up, Seraphine."
He got away before things could get worse, but Elwen was waiting for him outside his workshop. She had cleaned up and put on new clothes that somehow made her look even more elegant than before.
"Master! I finally made a real butter knife!" She proudly held it up.
"No magic, no singing, no floating. It's just a normal knife!"
Greg looked at it and had to agree that it was just like any other. "Nice job. How did you do it?"
"I stopped thinking about enchantment theory and started thinking about what you said. About hope and intent." Elwen's face turned shy.
"And I thought about you. I thought about how you perform your job with such care and confidence. It helped me stay on track."
"Okay." Greg said, "Good technique," trying not to think about what Marina had said.
"Keep it up. Tomorrow we'll work on things that are harder."
"Yes, Master!" Elwen smiled at him. "Thank you so much for teaching me."
"Everyone back home said I was wasting my talent by not making weapons. But you get it. You're the only one who really gets it."
She touched his arm for a second, which probably didn't mean anything in elf culture, but it made Greg very aware of how close she was. Then she went inside to keep practicing, leaving Greg outside his workshop feeling like his quiet life was getting harder in ways he never expected.
[Quest Update: Take Care of Your Growing Legend]
[New Problem: An Apprentice with Feelings]
[Current Status: Three women are interested, and one blacksmith has no idea what is going on]
[The gods have started a betting pool to see who will confess first]
Greg muttered, "I really fucking hate this system," but he went back inside to teach anyway.
Because Elwen needed to learn, no matter what. Even if those problems were getting worse faster than his legendary items.