"Owww! Ow ow ow!!"
Loki clutched her behind with both hands for dear life, her entire face scrunching up in an instant, all five features squashed together into one big mess.
"You jerk! Don't you know what it means to be a gentleman to a delicate lady?!"
"I just spent the whole night doing grunt labor for you, and you won't even give me a hug?! That's just cold-blooded!"
Loki jabbed a finger at Haimer, then plopped herself down on the ground and refused to get up.
Haimer stood where he was, casually grabbing a coarse cloth towel from a rack beside him to wipe the iron filings off his fingers. "I already told you—you were here as the grunt labor. Naturally, I'm going to treat you the same as everyone else."
"Besides, if you hadn't rubbed up against me those extra couple of times just now, I might have considered carrying you over to that lounge chair."
Haimer lowered his head slightly and pointed to the chest area of his white shirt. Right there.
On the originally pristine white fabric, there was now a large, glaringly obvious black smudge, its edges still clearly marked with several pitch-black handprints—Loki's.
"Heh heh..."
Seeing that black stain, Loki's previously sky-high yelps of pain instantly transformed into a few sheepish, guilty laughs as she quickly retracted the finger she'd been pointing at Haimer.
Haimer tossed the used towel onto an iron workbench off to the side.
"Creeeak—"
At that moment, the workshop's heavy metal door was suddenly shoved open from the outside.
The morning sunlight spilled through the gradually widening gap.
A figure slowly walked forward from within the backlit halo.
——A head of slightly disheveled deep-red short hair.
The work coat she always kept buttoned up tightly was now open at the collar.
Fine beads of sweat clung to skin that looked a little pale from lack of rest, sliding down the elegant lines of her neck and disappearing into the hollow of her collarbone.
The single red eye not covered by her eyepatch was bloodshot with prominent red veins, and beneath it hung a faint, dark circle.
——The patron deity of the Hephaestus Familia.
——The God of Smithing, Hephaestus.
Even though she carried an obvious air of fatigue, the mature feminine charm born from long years at the pinnacle of her craft was, if anything, only amplified by this rare disarray—lending her a stunning quality that made it difficult for Haimer to tear his eyes away.
Hephaestus walked into the workshop.
Her gaze swept across the chaotic scene of the workshop.
It swept over Loki, who was playing dead on the floor, and Tsubaki, who was curled up in a corner clutching a notebook.
Finally, her gaze settled on Haimer.
"Can't you give me a break for once..."
Hephaestus raised her right hand and pressed her thumb and middle finger hard against her brow, letting out a low sigh.
Seeing this, Haimer walked to a corner of the workshop, took out a sealed bottle of water, then turned and walked over to hold it out in front of Hephaestus.
"Drink some water."
"Who set you off? Coming back this early in the morning with a temper like that."
Hephaestus took the water bottle without ceremony, twisted off the cap one-handed, and tilted her head straight back.
"Glug, glug."
In one go, she downed more than half the bottle.
A few glistening droplets of water slid down her chin, traced across the fair skin of her neck, and disappeared straight into the slightly-open collar of her coat.
Hephaestus carelessly wiped the water from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, then slammed the half-empty bottle down onto the iron table beside her with a thud.
"Don't even get me started! This is all your fault!"
Hephaestus walked over to a nearby wooden chair and threw herself into it with zero regard for her image, letting out a long, drawn-out sigh.
"Last night, in the middle of the night, Royman from the Guild personally sent someone to my residence and dragged me out of bed in a complete panic."
"When I got there, I realized it wasn't just me—every single patron deity of every smithing faction worth mentioning in Orario had been summoned to the conference room on the top floor of the Pantheon."
Hephaestus leaned back in her chair, tilting her head up to look at the soot-blackened ceiling.
"In the name of Ouranos, Royman has decided that on the abandoned ruins of the old Shulim city in the Outer District, a super-sized residence capable of housing at least three thousand people is to be built—for the Haimer Familia."
"And he demanded it use the highest grade of defensive specifications, and that it be completed in the shortest possible time frame."
"The Guild really bled themselves dry on this one. Royman declared on the spot that the Guild would cover all material and labor costs in full—they just want us to push the timeline forward."
"And the result?"
Hephaestus turned her head, fixing her one visible red eye on Haimer.
"For the sake of those damn blueprints, the material logistics, and the zoning divisions, all of us gods had to sit in that stuffy, suffocating conference room and bicker the entire night away."
"I listened to them argue all night long, and my head is still buzzing."
To build a fortress-class stronghold of that scale in Orario's Outer District—where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold—the amount of Valis the Guild was forking over had to be an astronomical figure that would make any major familia green with envy.
Hephaestus couldn't help but ask:
"Just what in the world did you do to Ouranos, that he'd be willing to spend such a fortune on you?"
"It's nothing. I simply made Ouranos understand a few facts that he had to see clearly for himself."
With that said.
Haimer pinched a very small object between two fingers.
He flicked the thing directly toward Hephaestus where she sat in the chair.
Hephaestus saw it coming, raised her hand, and caught it neatly.
She opened her palm.
Resting quietly in her palm was an extremely small, dark-red metal earring.
The design of the earring wasn't flashy—a red gem motif, with what looked like a small inverted feather as an ornament, its edges polished to an exceptionally smooth, rounded finish.
But.
As the deity standing at the very pinnacle of Orario's smithing world, the moment Hephaestus's gaze touched the surface of the earring—
The dark-red metal was unmistakably the purest essence of deep-strata ore, refined under extreme temperatures until only the most concentrated core remained.
And not only that.
On the surface of this earring—a piece smaller than half a pinky finger—were densely packed, intricately engraved Holy Letters, layer upon layer.
These ancient characters interwove and overlapped with one another, forming an extraordinarily complex closed-loop magical circuit within the earring.
Outsiders see the spectacle; insiders see the craft.
In all of Orario—even counting the veteran smithing gods up in the Heavens—you could scarcely find a handful capable of achieving such flawless perfection.
And this was simply what Haimer had whipped up last night, on the side, after completing the main forging task.
He'd noticed that during the night, Loki had lost control of the temperature while pumping the bellows, leaving behind a bit of scrap material no longer usable for forging large weapons.
Using nothing but Holy Letters and the leftover scraps of deep-strata ore, he'd casually thrown together this little trinket.
Haimer's idea when crafting it had been very simple.
He'd recreated the communication orb he'd seen that day in the Dungeon, the one Fels had carried.
As long as the wearer channeled a thread of magic into it, they could engage in real-time voice communication regardless of distance.
"Made out of leftover scraps."
Haimer pulled out another iron high-stool nearby and sat down, naturally crossing his legs.
"Since I had nothing better to do last night, I tinkered together a little gadget for long-distance voice transmission."
"Consider it a token of thanks for letting me borrow this private luxury workshop, and an apology for the Guild putting you through hell all night."
Hephaestus pinched the dark-red feather earring between two fingers.
"I have no interest in this kind of girly accessory."
With that said.
Hephaestus looked away, glancing off to the side, her tone sounding stiff and unyielding.
But—even as she said this—
The slight upward curl at the corner of Hephaestus's mouth completely betrayed her true feelings in that moment.
She carefully tucked the earring away into the zipped inner pocket on the chest of her work coat, even patting the outside of the pocket twice with her finger to make sure it was secure.
"And besides, you don't need to try buttering me up with these little favors."
Having said that, Hephaestus put on an air of indifference, stood up, and stretched out in a great big stretch—producing a series of crisp popping sounds from her joints.
She turned and glanced at the tightly shut door.
"It's pretty lively out there right now."
"That whole bunch of little girls from your familia, plus those troublemakers from Loki's, are all camped out on the open ground outside the workshop right now."
"Since you're done with what you came for, hurry up and take them all with you. Don't disrupt our business hours today."
Hearing this—
Loki, who had still been lying flat on her back on the floor in a spread-eagle, playing dead—
Suddenly sprang up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, kipping up off the floor in one motion.
"Hmm?"
"My Ais-tan is here too?!"
Loki didn't even bother to brush the thick layer of black soot off her clothes.
She bolted straight past Haimer where he sat on the chair, charging for the workshop door.
Right now—
Outside the Hephaestus Familia workshop—
Two groups stood on opposite sides of the passageway, drawing as clear a dividing line between them as oil and water.
On the left—
Were the members of the Haimer Familia.
Onigawara Rin, Inaba Tsukuyo, Amou Kirukiru, the Holy Emperor, Aihara Enju, and the others were lined up in a row.
At the very front of the line stood Hestia, both arms wrapped around a three-tiered wooden bento box that was nearly half the size of her own body.
On the right—
Was the line-up of the Loki Familia.
Ais stood at the very front, holding a few exquisitely wrapped paper bags from various merchant shops.
Behind her stood the Loki Familia's three highest-tier combatants: Finn, Riveria, and Gareth.
Tiona and Tione leaned against the wall with their arms crossed, yawning boredly.
"Ais-taaan~!"
The moment Loki burst out, she immediately threw her arms open wide and—soot-blackened face and all—dove straight at Ais where she stood across the way.
Ais's golden eyes watched the black, unidentifiable object hurtling toward her.
With incredible speed, her feet slid to the side, sidestepping cleanly.
"Splat."
Loki dove right through empty air, and her entire body, propelled by enormous inertia, face-planted directly into the hard stone wall of the corridor with a muffled thud.
"Waaaahhhh!"
"It hurts! How awful! Even Ais-tan is starting to find me gross!"
Loki clutched her flattened nose and turned around to wail loudly.
Then, her gaze landed on the huge three-tiered bento box that Hestia was holding across the way.
Having spent the entire night doing the high-intensity manual labor of pumping bellows, Loki's stomach was now howling earth-shaking protests of hunger.
"Oho! Is that a care package brought specially for me?!"
True to form, Loki completely ignored the wary, mother-hen-protecting-her-chicks glare Hestia was throwing her way and stretched out both of her soot-blackened hands to grab at the bento box.
"Who would give any of this to you?! This is for Haimer—I waited in line forever to buy it!"
Hestia shrieked, clutching the bento box for dear life and yanking her body sharply backwards to dodge Loki's clutches.
Seeing she couldn't snatch the bento box—
Loki's eyes darted, and she immediately changed targets, noticing the paper bags Ais was holding.
One of the unsealed paper bags faintly revealed an oil-paper-wrapped grilled meat wrap inside, emitting a rich, mouthwatering aroma.
This was something Ais had casually bought from a street stall on her way over.
"Ais-tan's still the best—she knew I'd be hungry!"
Loki broke into a wide grin, flashing her pearly white teeth, and stretched out her tiny hand with a look of utter anticipation, reaching for the oil-paper package.
The result.
"Om nom."
Ais expressionlessly raised her hand.
With a speed bordering on superhuman, before Loki's hand could even touch the paper bag, she yanked the grilled meat wrap right out of its oil-paper wrapping and, without a moment's hesitation, stuffed it into her own mouth, taking a massive bite.
Her cheeks instantly puffed out, plump and round, like a golden hamster mid-meal.
Ais chewed quickly a couple of times and swallowed the food in her mouth.
Only then did she seem to notice Loki's hand, still frozen mid-air.
Ais blinked her golden eyes, the picture of innocence.
"Loki, are you hungry?"
"..."
Loki's outstretched hand remained frozen in mid-air, both of her cheeks twitching violently.
In that instant, she could distinctly hear the sound of her own heart shattering into countless pieces.
Standing in the back, Finn watched the whole scene unfold and gave a helpless cough.
"Sorry about that, Loki."
"Everyone was in a bit of a rush leaving this morning, and Ais said she wanted to come straight to the workshop to wait for Lord Haimer, so we all just came over directly."
"Apologies for forgetting to grab breakfast for you."
Gareth, meanwhile, let out a booming, hearty laugh.
"Pumping bellows all night is actually quite good for the body. Loki, you spend too much time being lazy back at the Twilight Manor. Doing a bit of grunt labor is the perfect way to give those bones of yours a workout."
"You bunch of ungrateful, white-eyed wolves!!!"
Hearing this, Loki immediately clutched her head with both hands and screamed at her familia's executives in utter despair.
The commotion in the corridor.
Drew Haimer out from inside the workshop.
The moment Haimer appeared.
"Kami-sama."
Onigawara Rin and the others immediately gathered around him.
Aruru, who had been hiding at the very back of the line, the moment she spotted Haimer, came scurrying right out.
She bounded all the way over and threw her arms around Haimer's leg.
Her fluffy white long ears nuzzled affectionately against the leg of his trousers, accompanied by a soft purring sound.
Seeing this, Haimer smiled and bent down, reaching out to ruffle Aruru's head.
Aruru immediately squinted her eyes in pure delight.
Then, Haimer straightened up and turned to look at Hestia, who was clutching the enormous bento box.
"That's all for me?"
Looking at Hestia's excited expression—she looked like she was about to burst from the desire to be asked—Haimer could only let out a helpless smile.
"Of course it is!"
Hestia immediately puffed out her chest and pushed the bento box forward toward him.
"I got up super early this morning, ran all the way to that really famous breakfast place on East Main Street, and waited in this huge line just to get it!"
"It's definitely not prepared for a certain someone!"
Haimer smiled and reached out, steadily taking the three-tiered wooden bento box.
"Good work."
Upon hearing Haimer's affirmation, the resentment on Hestia's face vanished in an instant, replaced by a huge, radiant smile—and she even shot a smug glance at the dejected Loki.
Just then—
Finn stepped forward.
He stopped two paces away from Haimer, the playfulness fading from his face, replaced by an unusually deferential demeanor.
"Lord Haimer."
Finn gave a slight bow.
"I want to express my deepest gratitude for reforging the Sword of Despair for Ais."
"Riveria has examined it carefully. The quality of that sword now absolutely surpasses every known first-class weapon currently on the market."
"This kindness, the Loki Familia will never forget."
"Regarding the matter of upgrading the rest of our familia executives' weapons last night..."
"If there's any miscellaneous work in the forging process that requires our assistance, or any specific materials you might need to supplement what you have, please don't hesitate to instruct us. We can provide assistance."
The 'Braver' of the Pallum race—Finn.
These words of his were watertight.
Gratitude, paired with an extremely polite offer of help.
In actuality, he was discreetly fishing for an update on the progress.
"No need for assistance."
Having heard Finn's speech.
Haimer set the bento box in his hands down.
"Last night, with Loki and Lady Tsubaki here—"
"All of those weapons have already been completed."
One night?
Even before the sun was fully up?
Already finished?
First-class weapons.
Even if you handed them over to the senior blacksmiths of the Hephaestus Familia or the Goibniu Familia for just the most basic routine maintenance, it would still take several days.
And if you wanted to incorporate top-grade materials from deep-strata monsters to reforge and upgrade them—even if Hephaestus herself personally wielded the hammer, it would take at least half a month, or even longer.
The three pillars of the Loki Familia were stunned.
Haimer, meanwhile, turned his gaze and swept his eyes across Onigawara Rin, Tendou Kisara, Amou Kirukiru, the Holy Emperor, Aihara Enju, Hiruko Kohina, Inaba Tsukuyo, and Hanasaka Warabi.
Plus Hestia.
Someone seemed to be missing.
"Mary didn't come with you all?"
Haimer was a little puzzled.
Onigawara Rin looked slightly awkward.
"Lady Lefiya just gifted Mary something earlier."
"After Mary received the gift, she said she couldn't accept something for nothing, so she dragged Lefiya off to go window-shopping on the streets."
Hearing this—
Riveria also stepped forward and gave Haimer a slight bow.
"Lord Haimer."
"I was the one who asked Lefiya to accompany Lady Mary."
Haimer nodded.
"After all, they're around the same age. It's a good thing for the children to make friends."
"It helps with their emotional growth."
"It's no problem at all."
"Well, in that case."
"Just let them do as they like!"
Hestia had long since grown impatient watching from the sidelines.
"Hurry up and open the breakfast I bought and eat it!"
Hestia put both hands on her hips, the astonishing curves of her chest jiggling up and down with the motion.
"You spent the entire night cooped up in there with that flat-chested girl—you definitely haven't eaten anything!"
"If you wait any longer it's going to get cold!"
"Hurry up and eat!"
Hearing Hestia's urging, Haimer helplessly held the bento box and looked around.
On his left stood a whole group of his own familia. On his right stood the Loki Familia.
From time to time, passersby would even poke their heads around to peek.
Haimer let out a sigh.
"Does it really have to be right here?"
"Of course!"
Hestia stood with her hands on her hips, chin held high.
As for eating outside.
Haimer didn't really mind.
After lifting the wooden lid of the first tier of the bento box—
A rich aroma of meat mingled with the toasted scent of baked flatbread immediately wafted out.
Inside, neatly arranged, were several meat buns wrapped tightly in oil paper.
Haimer casually picked one up and took a bite.
The outer crust was crisp and flaky, while the meat juices inside spilled out from the torn opening.
The taste was indeed excellent.
Haimer was just eating away.
On the other side.
Ais, having seen Aruru at Haimer's feet—and noting that there wasn't even the slightest trace of the lingering, savage aura that Dungeon monsters always carried—
Was inwardly convinced.
If Lord Haimer truly dared to bring them up here, then it meant he genuinely had the means to control them.
In that case—
Ais took a step forward, walking right past Loki and coming to a stop directly in front of Haimer.
The gazes of everyone present instantly converged on Ais.
Tiona and Tione also poked their heads forward curiously.
Ais came to a halt, her back ramrod straight.
She held up the large paper bag bearing a merchant's emblem—the one she'd been carrying this whole time—with both hands and presented it to Haimer.
Haimer swallowed the last bite of his meat bun.
His gaze fell on the large paper bag.
Ais's voice was cool and clear.
"Lord Haimer."
"Thank you for reforging this sword for me."
"This is a token of my gratitude."
"A gift?"
Just as Haimer was about to reach out and take it—
Off to the side, Loki—who hadn't gotten any breakfast and had been sitting on the ground sulking and complaining—saw this scene and instantly blew her top.
"Hold on!!!"
"Ais-tan! Why are you giving him a gift?! Why isn't there one for me?!"
"I'm clearly your patron goddess, you know!"
"Boo hoo hoo!! I can't live like this!!"
Listening to Loki's utterly shameless wailing—
Haimer rolled his eyes.
He simply took the still-steaming meat bun—
And shoved it straight into Loki's chattering open mouth.
"Mmgh—!"
Loki's voice cut off abruptly.
Her mouth was crammed completely full with the meat bun, even her cheeks puffed out.
"That ought to shut you up."
Haimer dusted the crumbs off his hands, his tone casual.
Then, he took the large paper bag from Ais's hands.
"How thoughtful of you."
With the gift accepted, Ais gave a small nod and retreated back to Riveria's side.
"Well, if there's nothing else, we'll be taking our leave."
Haimer turned his head and looked at Onigawara Rin, Tendou Kisara, and the others.
"Let's go. Time to head back."
Hestia also shot a glare at Loki before walking alongside Haimer.
"Take care, Lord Haimer."
Finn gave a slight bow.
After the silhouettes of Haimer, Hestia, and the girls of the Haimer Familia had completely disappeared around the corner at the end of Northeast Main Street—
"Gulp!"
Loki forcibly tilted her head back and, with great effort, swallowed the enormous wad of meat bun crammed in her mouth straight down her throat.
"Cough! Cough cough!"
Having eaten too fast, Loki coughed dryly a couple of times, thumping forcefully on her flat chest.
Riveria, exasperated, handed her a water flask.
Loki snatched it and took two huge gulps, finally managing to catch her breath.
"Loki."
Finn straightened his posture, his gaze settling on Loki's still-soot-stained face.
"Just now, Lord Haimer said our weapons are all finished?"
Riveria stepped forward as well, a hint of inquiry in her gaze.
"In a single night, all of our weapons were dealt with as well?"
Loki raised the back of her hand and casually wiped the water from around her mouth.
"Of course they're finished!"
Loki broke into a grin, baring her two sharp little fangs, and planted her hands on her hips.
"You guys have no idea how terrifying that guy is when he forges!"
"These delicate hands of mine—I pumped those bellows so hard they nearly broke off!"
"But still..."
At this point, Loki deliberately paused, her gaze sweeping across Finn and the others' faces.
"The process was torture, but the result? Heh heh—we hit the jackpot big-time this round!"
Loki suddenly thrust out a finger, pointing it straight at Finn.
"Especially you! Finn!"
"That busted-up spear of yours now has a divine artifact-tier effect that even I was green with envy looking at!"
Hearing Loki refer to his weapon as a 'busted-up spear'—
The corner of Finn's eye twitched slightly.
Riveria and Gareth exchanged a glance.
Tiona and Tione leaned in from behind.
"Really? The Captain's spear was already a first-class weapon to begin with—how much stronger could it possibly get?" Tiona laced her hands behind her head.
Loki was just about to keep up the suspense.
"Creeeak—"
The heavy metal door of the workshop was pushed open.
Tsubaki walked out from inside.
On her shoulder, she carried an enormous, long bundle, wrapped on the outside with a thick layer of flame-resistant cloth.
"Yosh."
Tsubaki walked over to the group and—with a heavy thump—stood the massive bundle upright on the ground.
The flagstone floor gave a dull, heavy thud at the impact.
"All right, everything belonging to you Loki Familia folks is right here."
Tsubaki let out a huge yawn.
"I've been at it all night long—my eyes are about to go blind. I'm going to catch up on some sleep."
With that, Tsubaki gave a lazy wave and turned to head back to the rest area inside the workshop.
"Wait up!"
Loki suddenly called out, stopping her.
"Lend us that weapon testing ground out back of your place for a bit, would ya?"
Tsubaki paused mid-step and glanced back at Loki.
Then she gestured toward a passageway on the right side of the workshop.
"Use it however you want. Just don't tear down any load-bearing walls."
With that said, Tsubaki walked off without even looking back.
Seeing this, Loki broke into a sly chuckle and turned to look at Finn.
"Come on, come on! Grab your gear—let's hit the testing grounds!"
The group hefted the heavy bundle and made their way through the passageway, arriving at the Hephaestus Familia's exclusive open-air weapons testing ground.
This was an open plot of land enclosed by tall surrounding walls.
The ground was paved with thick slabs of obsidian, marked everywhere by the traces of blade strikes and axe blows.
In the center of the grounds stood several dozen rows of test dummies made from ultra-hard metal.
Gareth set the bundle down on the ground and untied the flame-resistant cloth wrapped around it.
Inside, a handful of weapons were revealed.
Finn's gaze was instantly drawn to his own spear.
The original Spear of Sovereignty had once had a golden-yellow spearhead and a sturdy wooden grip.
But now—the entire texture of the spear had undergone an earth-shaking transformation.
The spear's shaft had turned a deep, abyssal dark-gold.
The curvature of the spearhead had become even sharper, its edges even seeming to shimmer with a faint, blood-red gleam.
And along the grip, ring after ring of intricate Holy Letters now wound their way along the metal surface.
Finn stretched out his hand and gripped the shaft.
"Hum——!"
Just by holding it, Finn could clearly sense that the power of his weapon had absolutely been elevated by several tiers compared to before.
"How does it feel..."
Riveria looked at the spear in Finn's hand.
"It feels like it's already gone beyond the category of ordinary first-class weapons."
Finn's eyes were glued to the spear in his hand, unable to look away.
Ais stood off to one side, looking at the dark-gold spear—and unconsciously, her right hand came to rest on the hilt of the Sword of Despair at her waist.
Just as Finn was carefully gauging the spear's weight and preparing to walk over to a dummy to give it a few practice swings—
Loki suddenly took two steps forward, stopping at a position less than three meters from Finn.
"Finn~"
Loki broke into a wide grin, giving Finn a mischievous smirk.
Then, she casually raised her still-soot-blackened right hand and gave a beckoning wave toward the spear in Finn's grip.
The next second—
A flash of gold light.
Finn's right hand suddenly clenched empty.
The dark-gold Spear of Sovereignty had vanished from his palm in an instant.
"What?!"
A look of shock crossed Finn's face.
His hand was still frozen in the position of an empty grip.
It wasn't just Finn.
Riveria, Gareth, Tiona, and Tione, standing behind him, all simultaneously widened their eyes.
Following everyone's line of sight—
Finn's Spear of Sovereignty was already gripped firmly in Loki's hand.
"Heh heh~"
Loki held the spear in one hand and lightly tapped the butt-end against the ground.
She then hoisted the spear up onto her bony shoulder, her face plastered with the look of an insufferable little victor.
"How about it? Scared ya, didn't I?"
Loki reached out with her left hand and patted the Holy Letters engraved along the shaft.
"Haimer set a Loyalty Formula into Finn's spear. As long as it's within a certain range, all it takes is a single thought, and this spear will instantly return to its master's hand, ignoring everything in between."
As a battle-hardened commander, Finn looked at the spear in Loki's hand.
He knew all too well what it meant on a battlefield, where the situation could change in an instant, to be able to instantly recall a weapon that had been knocked from your grasp or thrown.
But—
Now there was a problem.
"Loki."
Finn lowered his hand and looked at his patron goddess.
"Since this is a weapon that belongs to me, why are you able to recall it?"
"Hah!"
This was exactly the question Loki had been waiting for.
She puffed out her chest and pointed her thumb at her own nose.
"Great question!"
"That's all thanks to me yapping my mouth raw last night to negotiate it."
"I had Haimer set it so the spear will only obey the commands of three people."
Loki held up three fingers.
"First, the master who reforged it—that is, Haimer."
"Second, the master who wields it—that is, Finn."
"And as for the third one..."
Loki deliberately drew out her tone, wagging her finger.
"Naturally, it's the one who supplied the materials AND the physical labor AND the wisdom... in other words, ME! The great and mighty Lord Loki!"
As long as Loki wanted to—
At any moment, whether Finn was in the middle of combat or just walking around in his daily life, she could snatch this first-class weapon right out of thin air.
As soon as she said this—
The expressions on Finn's and the others' faces instantly turned helpless.
"So you see..."
Loki walked up to Finn.
She bent down, bringing her soot-blackened face right up to Finn's, and pulled the corners of her mouth into an extraordinarily wicked grin.
"Finn, from now on, you'd better be a good boy and listen to what I say."
"If one day you tick me off, or you don't buy me snacks to go with my drinks—"
"I might just secretly confiscate this little spear of yours behind your back!"
Looking at Loki's smarmy, half-meter-from-his-face grin—
And then looking at his own spear—
Even as the 'Braver' Finn, who never changed his expression even when staring down certain doom—
At this moment—
His eyebrow twitched three times in succession.
Finn helplessly raised his hand and rubbed his throbbing temples.
"Loki, this awful sense of humor of yours... really hasn't changed one bit."
Off to the side, Riveria shook her head and let out a long sigh.
"This kind of pointless nonsense—only you could come up with it."
"What do you mean 'pointless nonsense'?!"
"I clearly contributed my fair share of effort too!"
Loki straightened up and protested loudly.
Finn, meanwhile, lowered his hand.
Looking at the spear—while his own patron goddess had reduced it to a piece of leverage to threaten him with—he couldn't deny one thing.
"With this recall ability, retrieving my weapon on the battlefield from now on will indeed be much more convenient."
Finn nodded.
"Hmph hmph, see? Now you understand my painstaking efforts on your behalf!"
"I told you, giving Haimer those useless deep-strata materials we had lying around was the right call."
With that said.
Loki handed the spear back to Finn.
Finn reached out and took it.
The moment his fingers touched the shaft—
"Oh, and by the way."
The smile on Loki's face suddenly took on a mysterious quality.
"There's more besides that."
"There are other effects too."
"Other effects too?"
Finn's hand froze mid-motion.
Riveria and Gareth once again focused their gazes on him.
"Of course."
Loki pointed toward the obsidian test dummies on the distant grounds.
"Beyond the base damage boost from the material upgrade, and the recall ability I just demonstrated—"
"This spear also had a power engraved into it by Haimer—one that even gods would crave."
"What is it?"
Finn was curious.
"Certain Hit."
——Gungnir.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
DanMachi: Memoria Freese
Finn Deimne — Voice: Tamura Mutsumi
He is called the strongest man in the city, the captain of his faction, and a First-Tier Adventurer.
From his young and seemingly frail appearance, it's hard to imagine that he possesses such formidable strength.
Ofuino Omod-SB Creative Corp / DanMachi Movie Project WFs
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👻🔥Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Homelander: Founding the Hero Association
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone