Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

Hephaestus froze.

Chun froze.

Welf was all smiles.

That's right.

Welf understood perfectly well what Hephaestus was trying to say.

What she meant was that having created such a great work, we absolutely cannot stagnate, we cannot be satisfied with the status quo, and we must move towards the next peak as soon as possible!

In order to reach the "highest" and to fulfill the grand "promise" of achieving enlightenment, he must strive for perfection.

Excuse me!

After Welf finished speaking frankly, he turned around.

He opened the door and walked out without looking back.

They exuded an aura of wanting to rush to the workshop right now and unleash a ton of new swords.

Hephaestus and Tsubaki were left standing there dumbfounded, and then they disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"……Hate!"

After Welf left.

Hephaestus, who had been stunned, became angry like a young girl.

Her cheeks were even redder than before.

It was a complex expression of anger, shame, and unbearable anxiety.

She glared resentfully at the doorway where the young man had left, and then made a cute stomping motion.

If her best friend, the goddess, were here, she would probably be dumbfounded.

Chun watched as the main god rarely lost his temper, covered his forehead with one hand, and sighed deeply.

"How could you be so clueless... treating your weapon like a lover just because you barely reached the 'ultimate' level?"

The master smith put aside his own business and muttered complaints:

"That blacksmithing fanatic is really..."

*

"here you go!"

Welf is running.

Running on the streets of Orario.

A demonic sword wrapped in white cloth hung on his shoulder.

A bright smile spread across Welf's face. He roared a cheer that startled the demi-humans passing by, and strode wildly down the road, taking the opportunity to vent the "joy" he had been holding back in front of Hephaestus and the others for half a day.

He looked just like a child.

He, who usually acts like an older brother within the Hestia Familia, would never behave like this. To be honest, it's Bell who would do something like this.

If someone asked Welf, "Are you that happy?", he would answer like this:

(Of course I'm happy!)

Because she said it.

That Hephaestus!

That supreme god of forging!

Say "It's not bad!"

Welf and his fellow blacksmiths all knew how valuable that assessment was.

The weight of the words "not bad" spoken by the forging god standing at the highest peak is an irreplaceable honor for them.

Although it was just a few words, it can be said that it has already received praise.

The encounter was purely accidental, yet it instantly captivated Welf and caused him great anxiety. Now, Welf has finally given her a taste of her own medicine.

"OK!"

Another round of cheers.

He kept running, feeling an urge to jump high into the air by pushing off with his right foot.

Reason barely managed to stop the impulse, but it couldn't suppress the emotions surging within him.

—He once hated the "Demon Sword".

He has hated me ever since the day he became able to forge the "Demon Sword".

However, from now on, perhaps slightly...

He felt that perhaps he could try to love it a little.

"I think I can finally accept the Demon Sword (you guys)."

Running aimlessly until he finally arrived at Central Park.

Under the warm sunshine, Welf slowly stopped walking.

He let the crowd of adventurers walk away to the left and right, and looked up at the sky.

"Fops...did you see that?"

He gazed at the clear, cloudless sky and murmured to himself.

Thinking of all the circumstances that shaped who I am today, I murmured to myself, overwhelmed with emotion.

"I'm doing a good job."

Soon after, he raised the corners of his lips to the sky like a mischievous child.

He felt as if he could see the same smiling goddess's profile through the gaps in the clouds above.

Volume 15, Chapter 5: Azure Flame

"Hey, 'good-for-nothing Crozo'."

That's what makes a dinner party so annoying.

Welf turned his head away, feeling utterly annoyed.

The walls and pillars were adorned with dazzlingly luxurious gold and silver ornaments. To the accompaniment of the playing string music, nobles dressed in gold and silver danced gracefully in the central dance floor. A huge chandelier made of magic stone from the labyrinth city glittered overhead.

This is a luxurious and magnificent hall.

Located in a corner of the castle, which features a huge balcony, garden, and fountain.

At this moment, a banquet was being held in the royal city.

"They've all fallen on hard times, yet they still dare to show their faces at events like this. What a bunch of parasites clinging to their past wealth and luxury. Are you here to scavenge for scraps?"

Several sons of powerful nobles grinned maliciously.

I remember this boy, about ten years old, with two silly-looking followers, was probably my (Welf's) generation. The boy, dressed in finely tailored clothes, came over and mocked me with disdain.

Welf hated the atmosphere at the dinner party.

The banquet was adorned with dazzling gowns and flowing, magnificent music, but the nobles and royal retainers in attendance were all cunning old foxes, playing a game of deceit and intrigue. Behind the strings of flowery words, everyone greedily licked their lips—even though Welf was just a child, this was how the banquet appeared to him.

It's all just superficial stuff.

None of them are genuine.

Everyone was busy flattering and currying favor, trying to oust anyone but themselves from power. Those who lost in the political struggle, like Welf at this point, became objects of ridicule and scorn.

Welf was forcibly brought here by his family, who now fawn over the powerful and wealthy. He couldn't stand it and would have preferred to stay in the dirty workshop scrubbing hammers.

Welf felt this deeply as he watched the group mock the son of the already impoverished blacksmith nobleman (Crozzo)—that is, himself.

"Are you all ganging up on one person, Son of Fron? That's incredibly disrespectful."

"Lord Marius...!?"

Just as Welf's face contorted in a way that completely robbed him of his aristocratic composure, a young boy walked toward them.

Upon seeing the young man named Marius—the nation's first prince—not only these spoiled brats, but even Welf couldn't help but be surprised.

This man had honey-colored blond hair, a knightly upright back, and the looks that destined him to become a handsome young man, making him a perfect candidate to be described as a "noble young master."

It is said that in addition to his natural good looks, he also possesses martial arts skills based on his [ability value], and can handle difficult problems that kings or gods can't solve. He has already shown his talent at the young age of twelve, and it is said that one noble after another wants to recruit him into their camp.

It's less accurate to say that Marius protected him (Welf) and more accurate to say that it was just a spur-of-the-moment thing.

Seeing how annoyed the First Prince was by all the big and small matters concerning his royal family, Welf could understand his feelings with incredible empathy.

He also empathized with the prince, feeling that the prince might have had enough of the banquet.

"No, no, it's... it's like this, it's this man's fault."

The spoiled brats were so flustered that they forgot the proper etiquette between royalty and their subjects. As they spoke, they suddenly seemed to have a flash of inspiration, and despite being children, they revealed ugly smiles.

"It's all his fault, that blacksmith who's long since turned to dust and ashes, not knowing his place and coming to talk back to us. He should have just gone and enjoyed his 'playing with iron blocks'—"

What followed was interrupted by a swung fist.

With eyes blazing with rage, Welf started hitting someone.

"Say it again!"

"Ouch!?" The boy screamed as he was punched in the cheek, blood streaming from his nose. He grabbed the other boy's shirt and roared.

Just as the screams of the ladies around them erupted, Marius, standing nearby, was startled but made no move to stop Welf. He covered his mouth, desperately trying to suppress his laughter.

The other two noblemen were also caught in the crossfire, and in the blink of an eye, the situation escalated into a brawl. But the boy with the disheveled red hair was still fuming. He used every kind of punch and kick he could muster, beating the three of them until they were all howling in pain.

The Kingdom of Lachia, ruled and dominated by the god of war Ares.

The banquet held in the royal capital of Balya immediately turned upside down.

*

"—Haha ...

Under a gloomy sky, the lewd laughter of the gods echoed all around.

With abrasions on his cheeks, Welf put on a sour face in front of the goddess who was laughing heartily.

The location is the backyard of the Crozzo family mansion, which has become deserted and dilapidated after the family's fortunes declined.

The disturbance at the dinner party continued the following day.

"I've never heard of a brawl turning into a fight at a nobleman's kid's banquet before! Waaaaaah!"

"You're so annoying... What can we do? They're the ones who come looking for trouble."

From the mansion came the mother's high-pitched voice: "Welf, Welf! Where are you!?"

Welf fled to this backyard to escape his mother's hysterical... correct, lecturing, tirade. Little did he know that the goddess before him seemed to have already guessed his thoughts and was waiting for him with a smile.

The goddess asked him what good deed he had done this time, and when he reluctantly told her, he ended up looking like this.

"Stop talking, Forbes. If you keep making a fuss, Mom and the others will find out. Stop laughing."

"Ah—sorry, sorry. But you're a really interesting kid, Welf—unlike the other guys in your family (Krozo)~"

Her glossy black hair reached her waist.

Welf looked up at the goddess's naturally beautiful face; even disregarding the fact that he was still a child, the goddess's slender figure was still considered tall for a woman, nearly 170C. The strange clothes made of sashes that were the same black as her hair looked very good on her.

I don't know if using the word "young and beautiful" is appropriate to describe her, but in any case, she is a beautiful and charming goddess.

However, as was the case, the gods' characteristic vulgarity and laughter ruined it all.

"If only there were more people like you in the family, I wouldn't be so bored being forced to take care of a fallen noble family~"

Her name is Forbes.

She is a genuine goddess, and also the chief god responsible for taking care of the forging family (Crozo).

At the same time, he was also a puppet who went his own way and was absorbed by the kingdom (Lachia) from his own faction.

To put it simply, she was defeated in a war launched by the Kingdom's army (Ares's Familia). So, like a loser in a war game, she accepted the winner's demands and became a vassal of the war god Ares—a "subordinate god."

The Kingdom of Lachia, with its vast population, distinguished between non-combatants and combatants based on the presence or absence of "divine favor." While the former, comprising the majority of the populace, included soldiers and knights, the latter numbered at least nearly one hundred thousand. It must be said that the processes of bestowing favors and updating [ability stats] were far beyond the scope of Ares alone.