Chapter 141: New Masks

"Aiso, wake up. Wake up," I say, lightly slapping Aiso's cheek. 

"AHHHHH! HUFF HUFF HUFF… Y-your highness, what happened?" Aiso says in between heaving breaths. 

"Nothing much… but look at your weapon," I say, picking up my newly evolved scythe.

I should keep quiet about what happened, so Aiso doesn't feel any unnecessary paranoia or stress. Maybe consulting with Paimon would be good first; he might know what just happened. 

"W-whoa. I made that?" 

"Indeed, but some spirits blessed it, so it evolved. But I highly doubt this would've been possible if you hadn't created such a high-quality weapon in the first place. You are the best blacksmith in my kingdom," I say, admiring my new soul equipment. 

"It is an honor to receive your praise… also, did you get your limbs back? I can tell from just glancing at you that your stats are extremely high, maybe even higher than before, but you also have your leg and arm back… so," Aiso says as I help him up. 

What a sharp fellow… I guess he's not as much of a muscle head as I thought. Well, maybe this is obvious information. 

"So you heard about my [Evolution Switch] skill?" 

"Of course, Mia couldn't stop talking about it, HAHAHAHA!" Aiso laughs out loud. 

"Seems you're all getting along…" 

I would feel bad if this guy got nothing in return for making such a high-quality weapon. Raiu doesn't even compare in the slightest towards this scythe. It almost embodies death but also has ice and golden properties… A pretty weird but powerful combo. 

"Want a reward?" I ask the still laughing Aiso. 

"It's fine. A compliment is more than enough for a reward," Aiso says. 

"Nah, what reward do you want? Money?"

"I-I told you it's fine," 

"Are you rejecting my offer of kindness?" 

"I-I was only joking! Please forgive me for that, and if you insist, may I have… some high-quality metal and materials to forge with?" 

"I can get you some high-quality materials such as dragon scales and the wolf mountain guardians canines. I heard the canines are the best material to use for any type of dagger, sword, or spear," 

"Oooooooh, okay. Thank you very much, your highness," 

"The metal, on the other hand… I don't have any high-quality metals in my treasury. I've never really bothered collecting metals, but can't you ask Akio?" 

"Urk… Uh, about Akio. I've already asked him for some metals before, but he always shoots me down and tells me to pay for them. Like come on, man, we've been friends for all our lives, why can't he just give me a nugget at least," Aiso complains. 

"Do you have something I can petrify?" 

"U-Uh yes… please wait for a second," 

Aiso walks over to the corner of the room where hundreds- no thousands of scrap metal were stacked. I had only seen this just now, but I can see how much effort he has put into smithing when I look at it. 

Each piece of scrap metal was a mistake that he learned from instead of feeling discouraged and giving up. 

He soon came back with a random piece of curled-up metal and handed it to me. I gripped the amount of metal tight within my hand before activating [Forbidden Magic: Medusa]. The metal slowly started to turn grey, and cracks quickly appeared all over it. 

Before it began to break or shatter, I deactivated Medusa, leaving the scrap metal in a petrified state. 

"Give this to Akio and tell him you can choose two ingots of any metal you wanted. If he still has doubts after this, tell him he can come to the throne room," I say, handing the metal to Aiso.

"Thank you very much, my queen," 

"I have another request for some masks. Make about 15 more Oni masks, and I need you to make two more types of masks. Give me a sheet of leather so I can draw it," 

"As you wish," Aiso says, heading to the back room. 

Once he comes back out, he places two leather pieces on a steel table right next to me. Before he gave me the pen-like object, he first put out the raging fire that had continued to burn inside his forge.

"Okay, let's see… for my Water corps, make it look like this. Do you know what monster this is?" 

"Tree Toad? I don't know much about the monsters since I have rarely gone hunting after evolving," Aiso says, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. 

"Well, you got it right," 

It was a mask similar to a toad from Earth. The Tree toads in the [Forest of Poison] are green, but these will be dark green with a hint of grey. 

I gave them beady black eyes, two small holes for a nose, and protruding fat lips. I gave the mask two stubby grey horns that poke out the top of the mask for just an extra touch. In addition, I gave them two grey tusks that came from the fat lips of the toad.

"Okay, this is the Water Corps mask… now I just need the Air Corps mask," 

After pondering for a bit, I lifted the pen and started to draw the next design. 

It was a grey bird with a white beak. Black eyes that seemed to stare back at me even though it was just a drawing. A few designs mimicked feathers that were purely for aesthetic. And finally, black horns protruding from the top of the mask, but I added no tusks since there would be no place to put them. 

"That's all. Use the strongest but lightest material you have. I'll be taking my leave now," I say before inspecting Aiso.

『Status』

[Name: Aiso]

[Race: Metal Elf]

[Status: Direct Subordinate]

[Level: 2/100]

[HP: 295/800  MP: 176/300  SP: 390/800]

[Strength: 200]

[Defense: 200]

[Magic: 120]

[Speed: 110]

[Luck: 1]

[Charisma: 50]

[Skills: [Body Enhancement] [Wind Magic] [Concentration] [Grand Fire Magic] [Blacksmiths Strengthen Arms] [Metal Muscle Enhancement] [Enhanced Senses] [Enhanced Regeneration] [Art of Blacksmithing: 3] [Metal Manipulation] [Blacksmithing Hammer Slam]

[Equipment: [God of Blacksmiths Gauntlets] [Blacksmiths Twin Hammers]

[Titles: [Direct Subordinate] [Master Blacksmith] [Grand Idea Creator] 

…

Seeing his low health, I use Ichimei on him before leaving the room and not looking back.

… 

I didn't realize how late it got so I was surprised when I saw the moon and night sky. But I quickly remembered what I would have to suffer through if I was late to dinner, so I quickly dashed back to my castle and ran into the throne room. 

"Shit…" I mutter, seeing my wives angered faces. 

"So, what's your excuse?" Aika asks.

"I didn't realize so much time had passed. But, I have some good news, I got new soul equipment!" I shout in excitement. 

My wives all dropped their jaws in awe and immediately dashed towards me after putting down their utensils. They kept asking me to show it, which I had no reason to refuse, so I immediately summoned my new scythe. 

"Holy shit, that is badass," Kumo says, sliding her finger along with the handle. 

"Yeah, so you got this today? How did you acquire it?" Aika asks. 

"You know the scythe that I asked Aiso to make? He finished it, and when I inspected it, it was soul equipment that anybody could claim. You just needed to drop some of your blood onto it, and it will recognize you as the owner," I respond. 

"Then can we have one?" Homura asks. 

"You have to ask Aiso to make you one," 

"Okay, well, that's pretty cool. Let's eat dinner and go to bed. There are some things I want to try out," Aika says. 

"NO! We are not doing anything like last night. We can do it normally or not at all, and I won't back down," I say, firmly planting my foot on the ground. 

"Hmph, fine…" Aika says, storming back to her seat. 

Why the hell is she getting so agitated? 

I look at my other wives, who shrug it off. I let out a sigh of relief before deactivating my scythe and sitting down at the dinner table. 

The rest of the dinner went smoothly since the food was delicious. Homura, Aika, and I seemed to be the ones with manners, but Kumo… didn't care. 

After dinner, we immediately went to the bath, where I ordered some maids to give me and my wives a massage. 

"Arpious, I've been wondering, but how are we going to be able to tell that Ina is still alive? What if she's already dead? We're just wasting our time waiting for her to come back," Kumo asks. 

"I would know. First of all, Yin's my pet, so we have a connection through the system. If I lose a pet, it would either be Yin or Ava, but most likely Yin since she's out on a dangerous mission. Also, there's her collar. I have a connection with the collar that allows me to know the physical condition of the wearer," I explain. 

"Can I borrow a collar? There is somebody who's been bugging me for a while, and I want to turn her into a pet. She's an alchemist, and she's been annoying, but her skills could be useful," Kumo says. 

"You can't just turn somebody who annoys you into a pet," Homura says.

"Okay, well, let me tell you this. I've seen her trying to fuse living beings and guess what those living beings are," Kumo says, her eyes narrowing at Homura. 

She stays silent. Everybody stays silent. 

"Children. She has been trying to fuse children,"