Part Twenty-four
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After experiencing for myself the last three floors that made up the Upper Levels, I understood why the Takemikazuchi Familia only went down there every few days. The density of the monsters, combined with their strength, and especially the Hard Armored, together they did a real number on everyone's gear. Especially their weapons.
Everyone's weapons were noticeably dulled at best, outright chipped at worst after an encounter with a group of the heavily armored beasts. Even my spear, whose blade was crafted with the War Shadows' drop item, was slightly dulled. Welf had guaranteed it down this far, and it had certainly held up as well as the best of Takemikazuchi Familia's weapons had.
The party had taken a lot more minor injuries down there than I had expected, given how smoothly things had gone above the Tenth. By the time we called things for the day, my Mind was running dangerously low, even despite how much my magic had grown.
On the higher floors, my presence may not have made a huge amount of difference in terms of savings from not needing to use Healing Potions, but down here, where the monsters were an actual threat to them and me, I had undoubtedly saved tens of thousands of valis worth of potions. At least that day, not a single healing potion was used by anyone, even though dozens had been brought down with us.
After we were safely back on the surface, we had discussed setting up a regular schedule. With me taking on Lili as my supporter, I did need my own time in the dungeon to spend with her. Perhaps if Lili weren't who she is, I would have considered suggesting that they let her come along, and take my place as a second supporter on the team while I moved into a more active role, but I couldn't in good conscience suggest that, given Lili's current state.
So while Takemikazuchi Familia would still be taking trips to the less dangerous floors regularly, I found myself having to decline joining them for those trips. As an additional reason, I'd be more limited in my ability to complete my Familia Exploration quests, or focusing on specific monster-slaying quests.
I took a large portion of my cut of our profits in the form of Drop Items again, in particular, I wound up with the drop item from one of the Hard Armored. Which seemed perfect to ask Welf to make me a shield or breastplate with.
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"Get out of my workshop!" Welf yelled. "Get out. And don't come back!"
They were all the same. Magic sword this, magic sword that. Like the ability to forge magic swords was the only thing that gave his life value.
"There's no need to be so hostile," Aaron, a fellow Hephaestus Familia smith snapped at him. "You're perfectly capable of doing it, so why not?"
"Fuck off! I'm not making a magic sword for you. Certainly not in order to join your party."
"Forget him," the other Hephaestus adventurer in his shop said. "If he doesn't want to join us, it's his loss."
"You're too much, Crozzo," Aaron sneered. "Your blood is wasted on you. This is why no one wants you in their party."
Welf glared right back. "No magic swords. Now leave before I make you."
"Fine, wallow in mediocrity forever, you…"
Creak.
Eyes turned to the door to Welf's workshop as it swung open.
"Is something wrong Welf?" Blair, his sole regular client asked from the doorway. His posture was tense, and had a firm grip on his spear. "I heard yelling."
"They're just leaving," Welf replied. Blair relaxed.
"Who's this," Aaron asked.
"No one that concerns you," Welf snapped. "Now if you don't want me to make you something normal, get out so I can speak with my paying customer."
Aaron huffed, but made to leave, followed by his friend. But he just had to get a parting jab out. "If you ever get tired of this prickly bastard," he said to Blair, "there are other smiths who'll have you."
Blair said nothing, just watched them leave and shut the door behind them.
"Rough day?" He asked.
Welf sat heavily in a chair and sighed. "Could be better. What have you got for me?"
"Repairs. The Hard Armored blunted the spear a bit, and my armor took a couple of scratches." He showed off one of the javelins, bent near in half and gave him an apologetic grin. "An orc stepped on it."
"Also this," he continued, and laid out a Hard Armored Shell on his workbench. "I was thinking about a shield?"
Yeah. Welf could work with this. A shield would definitely work. He had the proper ores to work with to make the best use of it, but he would be basically out after making the shield.
He really did need a party to join. He barely made enough profit as it was to keep his work going. If he had to buy all of his ores and Drop Items from the Familia, he'd drop into the red for sure.
"A shield," he agreed. "I can have it ready in two days. Your repairs will be ready by tomorrow."
It was nice having a customer who didn't ask too many questions. Who told Welf what he wanted and let Welf decide how best to achieve it. And one who didn't question his prices. Lucky for him, Welf disdained the idea of overcharging for his equipment.
Together they agreed on a design, and Blair sat on one of the chairs and watched Welf work for a while. Ordinarily, Welf would have asked him to leave, but Blair was his only consistent customer. So he felt it was fine.
"Those two," Blair asked while Welf was between jobs, "they wanted a magic sword from you, right?"
Welf froze. He didn't want to hear that word out of Blair's mouth. It had to be coming, the thing he knew every person inevitably said. He nodded without looking at Blair.
"Yeah," he grunted.
But Blair never said anything. Just sat and watched.
"You knew?" Welf asked finally, unable to stand the tension he felt.
"I did." Blair agreed.
"Don't you want one?" Welf asked, each word burning on his tongue. "A Magic Sword?"
"Of course." Blair laughed, and Welf's heart sank in his chest. "But you clearly don't want to make them, so I won't ask."
"Why?"
"Even if you were willing, I couldn't afford it." Blair said. "And since you're stuck in this little workshop, it's obvious you won't sell them. If you did, you'd be living like a king."
He wasn't wrong.
"And you make excellent weapons and armor," Blair continued. "Should I throw away having basically exclusive access to your talent and time because everyone else can't see past the legend of Crozzo's Magic Swords?"
"It doesn't bother you?"
"You have your own reasons, I'm sure. And I don't know that we even count as friends yet, that I should insert myself into something that's obviously a personal decision."
"Thanks," Welf said, staring at his hammer. "So you still want me to be your smith?"
"Absolutely," Blair said.
Welf grinned. Maybe they weren't friends yet, still just professional acquaintances. But he'd like to be.
"Want to go out for a drink?" Welf asked, setting down his hammer. His work could wait.
Blair smiled. "Let's."
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As it happens, Welf gets chatty when he has some drinks in him. As for me, I don't drink. Not more than a single cup anyway. So I just let Welf vent to me.
"Bastards. Just because I don't want to make them magic swords." Welf nursed his beer, taking another sip every now and then. "My work gets shoved into the darkest corners of the shops, no one will let me join their party. And if they do, it's only a matter of time before they decide that just because we know each other now, they can get a Crozzo sword from me."
"I'll never make them again." he promised, glaring into his now empty stein. "Barkeep, another!"
"You don't have to," I said.
"Damn right I don't." Welf lit up at the next stein being slid across the bar to him. "They're not reliable anyway. They break when you need them most. Who wants a weapon that may just not work when you need it."
He pantomimed swinging a sword. "Crack. Shattered. No magic. And then the monsters tear you limb from limb. Because you relied on a magic sword to save you."
It didn't matter whether I agreed or not. Welf was going to have to work through this himself. Me trying to convince him otherwise would do no good. I knew he could learn to let go of this pride, once he realised that a magic sword could protect things he cared about.
I didn't know if he was supposed to manage to fix this flaw in magic swords, but I suspected that was where his character was going in the original series. It seemed like the sort of thing that would let him achieve Hephaestus' challenge, if Welf wanted her to accept him romantically. To forge a weapon she whole-heartedly approved of.
But I wasn't certain. It only seemed likely to me. Even without that, once Welf got over his hatred of magic swords, he'd be a huge asset to have onside. If the cost of that was putting up with a bit of pettiness over magic swords from him for a while, well I could live with that.
"Thanks for listening to me," Welf's words slurred just a bit as we left the bar.
"You drank too much," I replied. "Do you need me to walk you home?"
"I'll be fine," he said, waving me off. "I've done this before."
"You really shouldn't."
"Say, can I ask you for something?" Welf asked as we walked side-by-side through down the street.
"Go for it."
"When you're going to start going down to the Tenth Floor and below. Not with that other Familia, but for yourself, would you let me join you? I could use a party."
I chuckled to myself. Step one, achieved. "Sure. I'll let you know."
"Thanks," Welf said. We came to a stop at the crossroad where I'd be leaving to head back to the church. "I wish I'd met you earlier."
Unfortunately, he couldn't have met me earlier, since I wasn't in Orario.
"I'll see you around, Welf."
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Liliruca Arde was uneasy as she waited for Blair to show up outside the Guild for their trip into the Dungeon. All day yesterday she had been desperate to distract herself from the fact that her golden ticket was going into the Dungeon with another party who may figure out just how much money he was worth and potentially convince him to give up going into the Dungeon on his own and just work with them.
So when Blair showed up in front of the Guild with nothing apparently amiss, Lili let out a sigh of relief.
"Good morning, Mister Blair!" Lili chirped.
"Good morning, Lili," Blair replied. "Are you ready to go down to the Eighth and Ninth?"
"Lili is ready for whatever Mister Blair wants to do," she agreed.
"Then let's go."
"Yes!" Lili followed her adventurer, with visions of valis dancing in her eyes. Just a few weeks, maybe a month with him. That's all she needed to hold out for. She needed him to remain a secret for that long.