Chapter 38 - Ch.38 Meeting

It's a but late, had some personal things to do and family to visit due to an unfortunate event... Here's your chapter, enjoy. PS: it hasn't been edited, not had the time sorry.

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"Hephaestus, this is Aidan. Aidan, this is Hephaestus." Said Loki as the three were seated in the garden behind the manor.

"Nice to meet you." Nodded Aidan as he stretched out his hand as a greeting.

"Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you from Tsubaki." Smiled the goddess as she immediately brought her attention to the sword Aidan left on the table.

As the goddess of forging was about to take it to start examining it properly, Loki smirked as she knew that she had a significant advantage in this meeting. Taking the sword before the goddess could begin studying it, Loki showed an innocent smile as the other goddess looked irritated.

Having the object of her obsession in front of her eyes and not exploring its mysteries was great torture due to her divinity which enforced a compulsion constantly to improve herself in the art of blacksmithing.

"Before you start examining the sword, we need to talk about the conditions and the benefits we can get." Said the trickster goddess as she lost her playful attitude and her smile as she turned severe with a severe look on her face. "So, what can you offer in exchange for the chance of studying a sword which surpasses even your capabilities as a blacksmith?" Asked the goddess as she offered the chance to Hephaestus to give her terms.

With a detailed look on her face, which she didn't bother to hide, the unnerved goddess started giving her terms. "In exchange for lending me the sword for two weeks so that I can study it, I can give you money or a set of equipment for free." Offered the goddess with a helpless look on her face. She was aware that at his level, the equipment he used was relatively cheap. As such, she offered money in addition to a set of equipment.

Hearing the terms requested and offered stunned Loki. She had never thought that the goddess who closed herself in her forge for dozens of years at a time in heaven was such a lousy businessman.

"Well, before you get your hopes up, there's no way I can accept you are taking advantage of my children like that." Said Loki as she shook her head in disbelief. "You are probably aware of the card business. Do you truly think Aidan requires any money? And if he wanted a set of equipment at his level, it wouldn't cost anything more than one hundred thousand Valis. You'll have to offer better." Continued the goddess as a smile slowly appeared on her face as she loved to haggle with other goddesses as such.

"Then what is your request? I don't have much, and I obviously can't make a better sword than this by a large margin." Continued Hephaestus as she was aware that except for her strength as a blacksmith and the money she owned, she didn't have much value in anything else.

"With this sword, you would be able to up your craft by at least another level, right?" Asked the tomboyish red-hair as she held the sword in her hands.

"Yes." Admitted the eye-patch-wearing goddess.

"Well, in that case, this sword is truly invaluable, and you would do anything to research it, right?" Continued the minor goddess as a dangerous smile appeared on her face.

"Hum." Nodded the second party.

"In that case, how about you become the exclusive blacksmith of Aidan and Ais? You will forge the best equipment for the two of them whenever they need a new set for free." Finalized Loki as she grinned dangerously at the other goddess as if she was eyeing a piece of meat.

"Who is this, Ais, and while it is much if it can allow me to strengthen my technique, it is a good deal." Nodded the blacksmith as she was aware that while she took advantage of her, at least she would become better. "However, I can't give the best. My best work would take dozens of years to complete. I can get at most guarantee that the equipment will be as good as the best equipment on the market for their respective rank." Explained to the goddess as she didn't want to spend years making equipment for a few adventurers who could die at any time.

"Ais is Aidan's teammate in the dungeon, and it is good enough. Just sign this contract, and we are good." Said the more petite goddess as she showed a contract with the terms already written.

"I was dancing in your palm the entire time, huh." She sighed the taller goddess as she signed the contract offered.

"Finally, there was a gift I had Aidan prepare for you as an incentive to accept the terms. However, it seems that it isn't necessary anymore. Such a pity; Aidan worked a lot last night on it." She sighed the goddess fakely as she dried an imaginative tear.

"Gift?" Asked the other goddess, visibly interested. She wasn't a random nobody. She was the goddess of blacksmithing, she was the goddess of one of the wealthiest familia in Orario, she could craft the best gear, and she had no other visible interest other than this. As such, a gift was prepared by Aidan, the owner of the magical cards, and at the demand of Loki, she couldn't help being interested. It was evident that the only thing worthy of a gift at her level which the boy could only prepare had to be a magical card.

"Yes, a gift. We prepared it to have you accept the terms, but since it's not needed anymore, I guess there's no point in giving it to you. However, it would be a waste to throw it away. I guess we could still give it to her. Right, Aidan?" Asked the prankster goddess as she turned to Aidan.

She wanted to help Aidan create a good relationship with the forging goddess since she would be the one taking care of their gear in the future.

"Yes. It's not as if I can make use of it somewhere else anyway." Answered Aidan as he had created the card according to his goddess's instruction without understanding the reason. However, he could now understand as he saw the eye patch the goddess was wearing.

'It's obvious that Hephaestus should be missing an eye. If not, Loki wouldn't have asked me to create an illusion card to simulate an eye. Even more when the eye colour she wanted is the same as her eye.' Thought Aidan to himself as he felt smug to understand the big secret behind the eyepatch. She was missing an eye.

"Alright, then give it to her and explain the functions." Said the prankster goddess as she motioned towards the other one.

"Well, here it is." Said Aidan as he gave the card with the word 'Illusion' written on it. "This specific card has the effect to create an illusion of an eye. You don't have to wear your eye patch anymore, and people will see a normal eye with the card. You have to keep the card on yourself, and it will automatically work. With this, you don't have to worry about being seen with only a single eye." Nodded Aidan as he once again felt proud of himself for having discovered the truth behind the eyepatch.

At the same time, Loki, on the side, had a great smile on her face at the beginning of the explanation but couldn't help but bang her head on the table at the end of the description. She hadn't told him the reason for creating the illusion, thinking he would figure it out himself. However, now that she thought about it, how could an average person think she had a cursed eye instead of simply missing one. As such, seeing that Aidan was entirely off track, she continued for him.

"Your eye's curse only activates when other's look directly at your eye. They would be drawn in by the curse, and they would instinctively feel fear due to the curse. As such, I figured, if people don't look directly at your eye but at an illusion of your eye, wouldn't the curse be ineffective since they don't see the curse but only an illusion? In the end, as long as you have the card, even you won't see your curse and only see a perfectly normal eye." Explained the goddess of trickery as Aidan immediately understood that he was going in a completely random direction in his explanation. "Well, try it." Continued the goddess as she was interested in seeing whether the card magic was strong enough to hide the curse or not.

With a face full of hope, the goddess took the card and held it in her hand as she gave a quick look at Aidan, who was interestingly staring at her face and took off her eyepatch.

Giving a quick look at Aidan, who didn't show any reactions, she looked hopefully at Loki, who gave her a mirror as she looked at the reflection of her entire face, something she hadn't done since forever.

With tears overflowing in her eyes as her happiness overtook her, she quickly got up and went to hug Aidan, who was stunned by the development but hugged back the crying goddess.

However, unknowingly to Aidan, who the blacksmithing goddess was hugging, Ais, who had been searching for him, had just arrived at the garden and saw the scene from afar. She stayed silent for a moment before retreating a few steps and leaving the park with tears flowing from her eyes, not aware of the reason.