"Today, we gather here to offer our finest works to Lady Goddess!"
At the opening ceremony of the Molten Festival, Tsubaki, as captain of the Hephaestus Familia, naturally took on the duty of giving the opening remarks.
As her voice fell, flas erupted within the colosseum like flowing magma, celebrating the festival's beginning.
"They say she's half dwarf… seriously?"
Looking at the Familia captain's tall, curvy figure, Drake couldn't help clicking his tongue.
Normally, a half-blood ought to show fairly obvious racial traits.
Eina, for example, had the pointed ears and green eyes characteristic of elves.
A half-dwarf, no matter what, ought to be sowhat shorter than an ordinary human…
And yet this captain of his own Familia was nearly the sa height as the goddess herself.
Among dwarves, she absolutely counted as giant-class.
Just as Drake was puzzling over that, Tsubaki in the distance suddenly turned her head at an angle, her gaze sweeping over him.
"Did she notice ?"
Drake raised an eyebrow and gave a slight nod of greeting to Tsubaki, whom he had t a few tis before.
He was just about to go submit the work he planned to display when Tsubaki started walking toward him instead.
"Drake. I hope I'm rembering your na right."
Tsubaki boldly stuck out a hand toward him, utterly casual and familiar.
Her arrival drew even more heated looks to Drake, who was already attracting attention from walking in together with the Sword Princess.
"Your mory's excellent, Captain Tsubaki."
"That's a relief… so that's the piece you're entering for display today?"
Tsubaki's gaze settled on the object wrapped in cloth in Drake's hands.
Judging from its shape and length, it seed to be a weapon about the size of a two-handed sword.
"That's right." Drake nodded.
In a public place like this, it wasn't convenient for him to use the Inventory ability, so he had taken the equipnt out beforehand.
"I was just about to go submit the display application."
"Haha… why make it that troubleso?"
Hearing that, Tsubaki's interest was imdiately piqued, and her voice grew noticeably more excited.
"I can take you straight to the testing grounds myself—and the one acting as tester is the Sword Princess beside you, right?"
Ais, who had been standing there in silent standby mode since earlier, finally ca back to herself and nodded lightly.
She had so vague impression of Tsubaki, but not much more than that.
During the expedition, Tsubaki had indeed traveled with the Loki Familia's party, but she was attached to the logistics unit and didn't interact much with Ais, who served in the front-line assault group.
"Then I'll take you up on that, Captain."
Drake did not refuse the goodwill. Skipping those troubleso procedures was certainly welco.
The testing grounds were located inside the colosseum and had been divided into many separate areas by simple fences.
From ti to ti, the screams of monsters could be heard from within, and the air was thick with the sll of blood.
Unlike Monsterphilia, the participants in this festival were not ordinary civilians, but Familias and adventurers.
So even if things were a little more violent, there was no real problem.
"As expected, that guy's still the most popular one this year."
As they passed one area crowded with spectators, Tsubaki glanced over and comnted casually.
"What a pity. His work this year still isn't a magic sword."
"A magic sword?"
Hearing those words, Drake raised an eyebrow, already guessing the identity of the person in that arena.
Welf Crozzo, a smith with Crozzo blood.
Because his ancestor had once saved the spirit race, his bloodline had been blessed by the spirits, allowing him to forge weapons imbued with powerful magic—in other words, magic swords.
And the Crozzo Magic Swords were even stronger than ordinary magic swords, making them objects of endless desire.
However, for certain reasons, Welf was deeply conflicted about his lineage and strongly rejected the idea of forging magic swords.
Even so, plenty of adventurers still ca running at the ntion of a Crozzo Magic Sword, hoping to witness the power of that legendary weapon.
"To have that kind of talent and just waste it…"
Tsubaki let out a deeply regretful sigh, sounding like she was lanting wasted potential.
"It's practically a cri against heaven!"
It was obvious that the matter of magic swords still bothered her.
After all, to a smith, a magic sword represented the pinnacle of forging.
It was a realm countless craftsn could only dream of reaching.
Yet Welf had been born standing right at the finish line, only to deliberately stay where he was.
To others, that was nothing short of a genius's arrogance.
"Enough about that. We're here."
Arriving at an empty testing area, Tsubaki glanced at Ais beside Drake and teased,
"So, what kind of monster do you want to test it against?"
"With the Sword Princess's strength, at least a Level 3 enemy would make things interesting."
"That won't be necessary." Drake coughed lightly.
If Ais really cut loose, this entire colosseum probably wouldn't survive intact.
By then, her debt probably wouldn't stop at forty million valis.
"A low-level goblin will do."
"That's enough to show all the characteristics of this sword."
"Oh?"
Under the gaze of the two won, Drake slowly unwrapped the cloth around the weapon.
A broad sword that looked as though it had been carved from erald appeared before Tsubaki and Ais.
The blade was completely translucent, with the solid weight of jade, yet its edge was as thin as a cicada's wing.
At the hilt, decorative vines intertwined naturally, making the entire weapon seem as though it had grown that way.
"You're sure this sword can actually be used in battle?"
Tsubaki was the first to react, instinctively judging it from the perspective of a smith.
"You'd have an easier ti convincing it was so kind of elven art piece."
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