Ch 169.2
I returned to Prolea after completing my testing of the Colored Servant spell, where I met Silverie.
She appeared to be tired. She had most likely just finished assisting Yera.
「… Oh Zeph, it’s you.」
「What a coincidence meeting you here. Are you going home?」
「Yes. Were you out training for the Title Match? Looking at your face I presume it went quite well.」
「That’s right. I’ve got some new tricks up my sleeve now. What were you up to?」
「… I’m completely beat because of that hag. She’s been working me to the bone from morning till night. I’m so hungry that I’m going to pass out.」 Silverie said, lightly rubbing her belly as it began to rumble.
The absurd timing made us both burst out laughing.
「How about stopping by somewhere before going back? After all, Shirushu is in charge of dinner today. And as you know her food is quite plain and not that much. You’ll probably be able to fill yourself up when we get home if we eat something little while we’re still out.」
「I guess you’re right.」
「I just happen to know the perfect place. I found it not too long ago… It’s this way.」 I remarked this as I grabbed Silverie’s arm and walked down one of the back alleys to the store.
Silverie didn’t say anything as she lightly squeezed her hand.
The place we arrived at was the cafe that Milly had shown to me some time back. The donut that the waiter had recommended to me back then had been quite delicious.
After Silverie and I finished ordering, the aroma of donuts and coffee filled the air almost immediately.
We ate for a bit after which Silverie began to talk.
「And then that hag suddenly proposed a new event at the last moment… She’s saying that she’s doing it because of the Soul Heavenly Mage, but to me it just looks like she is trying to show off. She should think about what she’s putting me through, for god’s sake…」
「Hahaha…」
I’m not sure if it was because of her stress, but Silverie demolished her donut in no time while whining.
While listening to her I would nod from time to time while sipping on my coffee.
Her talking continued for quite a while, and before we knew it we ended up overeating.
And there’s also dinner left… Well, I guess I still have some room left.
「Welcome home, Silverie-san, Zeph-san. You’re both quite late today.」
As soon as we came home, Shirushu welcomed us with her head bowed down.
Seeing her like that suddenly made me feel somewhat guilty.
「You must be hungry. Today I went out of my way and cooked up a lot of things!」 Shirushu said, spreading her arms out.
「……」
After looking at her, Silverie and I looked at each other.
Shirushu seemed to be quite happy, which could also be seen from her ears and tail moving up and down.
Why did it have to be today…? I slightly glanced at Silverie, however, she immediately dodged my eyes.
《You see, I’m quite the small eater. I don’t think I can eat anymore.》
《Year right. Says the one who devoured donut after donut just now…》
I glared at her as we discussed with Telepathy. Suddenly Silverie clapped her hands and turned around.
「I just remembered! I left something at the hag’s place.」
「Y-You!」
After making up a sloppy excuse, Silverie quickly disappeared into the darkness of the night.
She sure runs fast.
「Oh my… Well, I guess it can’t be helped. Well, it doesn’t matter if it’s just you Zeph-san.」
「…Yea.」
Good grief. Let’s get to work then.
Shirushu brought me to the table with a broken expression on my face.
「…Thank you for the meal.」
Urgh. I somehow managed to eat all of it, but my stomach feels like it’s about to burst.
Because Shirushu looked at me the whole time I had to force myself to eat everything.
「Fufu♪ I’m glad you liked it.」
「I’m glad… I feel like taking a walk. I’ll go see how Lydia’s doing.」
「Have a safe trip.」 Shirushu said, seeing me off.
Lydia’s workshop was close to our house. These past few days she had closed herself there while fixing my arm.
Since it was my arm she was fixing I felt that I needed to help at least a bit.
「I’m coming in.」 I said, going inside the workshop.
Lydia was just putting off her goggles as I walked in as if she had just finished her work.
「Oh, Zeph-chi. Welcome.」
「I see you’ve been hard at work.」
The inside of the workshop was as hot as usual.
Lydia’s sweat had drenched her clothes, and they were stuck to her body. As she removed her goggles I could even see some sweat gathering around her eyes.
「I thought I’d come help with my arm’s repairs.」
「Thank you♪ Then can I have you look over the fire. I’ll go take a bath real quick.」 Lydia said, waving her arm as she opened the workshop’s door and went outside.
「Take your time.」
As I sat in front of the furnace, the intense flames cracked frequently.
When I looked around, I noticed some metal parts that appeared to be part of my arm laying around.
She’s probably about to assemble it. It won’t be long it seems.
I lost track of time as I began to play around with my arm’s parts. It was then that I suddenly heard the door opening.
「Phew. That was a nice bath. Thank you for looking over it, Zeph-chi.」
The aroma of soap lingered in the air, mingling with the heat and the stench of something burning.
It appeared as Lydia had just gotten out of the bath.
「You’re planning to continue aren’t you?」
「Ahaha, you got me. It’s almost finished, so I thought that I might as well get the quenching over with」
Quenching was a process where one would cool off the heated metal in order to make it stronger.
However, if the cooling wasn’t done equally the metal would crack, making it useless.
The process was quite hard to pull off, and it was one of the blacksmiths’ secret techniques.
「Can I watch for a bit?」
「Of course!」
Even though she replied in a carefree manner, her eyes looked serious.
She began to put the parts in the furnace one by one, raising their temperature.
The side of Lydia’s face was illuminated by the fire, making it appear golden.
「Okay…」 she muttered, taking out one of the parts out of the furnace and dipping it in water.
A sizzling sound could be heard as a tremendous amount of steam filled the air, turning the area white.
And then she once again put the metal part back in the furnace.
Apparently, by putting an already quenched part back in the furnace you could make it even stronger.
I was entranced by Lydia as she took out the parts from the furnace and then put them back. Suddenly I heard a cracking sound and a metal part exploded.
「BE CAREFUL!」
I immediately jumped forward, pushing Lydia down.
My back ached with searing pain… The stench of charred meat floated from my back shortly after that.
A piece of heated metal had stuck itself in my back.
「Zeph-chi! Your back!」
「I-It’s f-fine…!」 I said, casting Blue Ball on my back.
As the ball collided with my back I felt the heat subsiding.
Lydia stood up and embraced me, gently stroking my wound.
「I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Zeph-chi…」 she said, tears welling up in her eyes.
She’s overreacting way too much.
「Don’t worry… I’m just glad that you didn’t get hurt. I’d be in quite the pinch if the person taking care of my arm suddenly disappeared. I did this because of myself.」
「Good grief… If you say it like that then I have no choice but to work even harder…」
「Kuku. That was the plan all along.」
「Ahahaha…」
I used my finger to wipe off the tears welling up under her eyes.
◆ ◆ ◆
As I assisted Lydia, the night went on. The date had already changed and a couple of hours had passed by the time we finished.
I could feel the weariness rush over me as soon as I lay down on my bed.
Just as I was about to let myself be washed away my door suddenly opened.
「Morning Zeph!」
「COUGH?!」
Something suddenly jumped on top of me.
It was Milly. She was joyfully jumping up and down on top of me.
「Ehehe. I woke up earlier than you today♪」
In an attempt to get back at me for the last time, she began to pinch my cheeks so that I could wake up.
Come to think of it, I did tell her that we’d be having special training early in the morning until the Title Match ended. But even so, this is way too early. It’s still way too early for our appointment. Good grief. I guess I can’t help it when she’s so pumped up. It seems like I’ll need to get up.
「…Urgh. It is surprising to see you up so early.」
「That’s because if I don’t wake up you’ll just barge into my bedroom and try to wake me up. Assaulting a maiden in her sleep is as low as you can go!」
Urgh, I don’t get what she’s implying. First and foremost, I would never assault Milly, of all people, while she is sleeping.
「It’s your fault for not being awake. … And I’ll have you know that I did knock first.」
「That’s not the problem! I even went to the trouble of sleeping during the day so that I could wake up early!!」
I see. That explains why I didn’t see her at all. She was sleeping.
Sleeping throughout the day and staying awake at night is not beneficial for her development. Well it’s Milly we’re talking about so I can’t see her growing any more than this.
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