Chapter 306 - The Adamantite Blade

The reforge process proved to be rather slow, it basically consisted of melting down the ingot and then pouring it into an ingot mold and leaving it to settle over the night, then there would be a 50% chance that its grade was raised, the magic lay in the molds which were something called a magic tool, besides being rather expensive it was a one-use item, when Mercury heard this he hesitated in using it, but Marie said that it was fine

"Besides that, I haven't paid you for the work you have done yet, so take this as a form of payment, plus I have about 30 or so reforge ingot molds laying around from my dad's time"

"I… Okay, if you say so"

Marie nodded looking pleased with herself before she patted her modest chest

"It's fine to rely on me sometimes… I am your woman after all"

Mercury nodded before he asked

"So… What now? We have already purred the ingot, all there's left is to wait for it to settle overnight right?"

Marie blushed a little before she declared

"Yeah… So we should hurry up and sleep…Together..."

"Yes ma'am"

Mercury picked up Marie in a bridal carry and carried her upstairs…

The next morning Mercury woke up, someone was poking his cheek, he opened his eyes and saw Marie was the culprit, she was wearing her polka-dotted pajamas laying next to him

"Moring~"

Mercury blinked a few times before he showed a smile

"Yeah morning Marie"

Marie jumped out of bed and reached her hand out to Mercury

"Come on, get up!"

"Sure…"

Mercury got out of bed and followed after her downstairs and all the way into the workshop where she looked at the ingot of adamantite that had been left overnight to solidify before she spoke out happily

"It's grade 1 now!"

Marie raised her hand high, Mercury smiled and gave her a high-five

"Then let's melt it down again and re-pour it"

"Hold on Marie"

"Yes?"

"Let's get dressed first… And get some food"

Marie looked down at herself and saw she was still wearing her pajamas and nodded as a blush spread over her face

The days passed like this, over time Mercury got used to forging different kinds of things, from nails to lethal weapons, he also picked up the [Blacksmith] skill and even leveled it to level 2, speaking of levels Mercury reminded himself to visit the temple soon and chat a little with Party, he needed to ask her about the whole skill level thing, among other things

"Mercury, focus!"

"Yep, sorry"

Mercury focused on the tasks in front of him, he and Marie were currently forging his sword, over the past month they had managed to raise the grade of the adamantite ingot to grade 8, unfortunately, they had run out of reforging molds so this was the best they could get Mercury had even spent some time to talk down Marie that wanted to order more molds from a merchant

"Let's go!"

"Got it!"

Mercury took the ingot out of the furnace, they had been heating it for the past half hour, so it was understandable that Mercury would drift off, after all, his job was to assist this time, so the two of them worked about 10 hours before they dunked the finished product into an oil bath to cool, Mercury and Marie both walked out of the workshop without saying a word and outback where both of them sat down on the grass

"I'm tired~"

"Yeah so am I mercury… What do you say we sleep in tomorrow?"

"Sure… But first"

Mercury rolled around the cold grass to cool down a bit while Marie looked at him with an amused smile…

The next day Mercury and Marie woke up early and Mercury fixed a steel grip on the adamantite blade using his [Lesser metal weaving] and a grade 5 ingot, this lowered the grade of the grip down to 4, but that wasn't so important since it was only the grip, the two of them walked to the back of the workshop where Mercury turned his cane into a cast around his injured leg before he stood straight and held the sword with both hands, the blade had a dull red-brownish color and was double-bladed and straight, it was around half a meter long, the grip was a dull black with enough space for Mercury to grip it with both hands, besides that there was also a cross guard made of steel

"Well then, let's try…"

Mercury swung the sword down once, then he lifted the blade again and swung it down again, then Marie asked

"How is it?"

"It's surprisingly light… But it has a certain heaviness to it"

"How is it heavy?"

"Well… It's a weapon made to kill right? When you hold a weapon made to kill you inadvertently prepare yourself to kill… In that sense, it's the heaviest thing I have ever held"

"A commendable attitude!"

Mercury turned to the entrance of the workshop where Evelin suddenly had appeared, he smiled a greeted her

"Morning Evelin"

Evelin showed a smile before she opened her arms and walked over to Marie that lifted her up and hugged her

"Evelin~"

"Marie~"

Mercury looked at them rubbing their faces against each other with a smile on his face, soon they were done with their little greeting ritual and Evelin turned to Mercury before she asked

"Are you ready to learn how to use that sword?"

Mercury nodded firmly before he spoke

"Yes"

"Very good… Then let's go to the castle, I'll introduce you to your new teacher there"

"Got it… Sorry, Marie, it looks like you'll have to do without me for today"

Marie showed an understanding smile and nodded before she walked up to Mercury and kissed him, when she broke the kiss her face was flushed but she still managed to speak clearly

"Have a good day"

Mercury showed a smile and reached up and patted her on the top of the head

"Yeah you too"

This only made Marie blush, even more, that is until Evelin coughed then Marie quickly took a step back before she ran back inside while muttering an excuse

"I have to get the forge started!"

Evelin laughed out loud for a bit before she turned to Mercury without any trace of a smile on her face as she spoke quite seriously

"If you hurt her I'll kill you, you know that right?"

"...Yes ma'am!"

"Very good, now let's go… Or do you have anything you need to do before we leave?"

"Nah I am good"

"Okay then let's go"

Mercury walked out of the back yard and turned back and waved to Marie that stood in the doorway, Marie's face lit up before she waved back, then Mercury boarded the carriage before it began moving, soon they were out of sight of Marie that looked a little sad before she cheered herself up

"I have to do my best too"

In the carriage Mercury looked out the window as it slowly moved along, then he suddenly asked Evelin

"Is it okay if we stop by a place first?"

"Sure, where do you want to go, Mercury?"

"The temple"

At the temple, Mercury walked into a prayer room which Evelin had gotten him, it was luxuriously decorated, and in the middle of the room stood a pedestal with a clear crystal ball on it, behind that on the opposite side from where he came in was an altar where some sort of doll or figure lay, it was dressed in a priest outfit

"Almost like a mascot…"

Mercury decided to ignore the doll and walked over and put his hand onto the crystal ball like Evelin had said he should, then a robotic voice sounded out inside the room

[SUBJECT NUMBER #5  CONFIRMED, REQUEST DESCEND Y/N?]

"...Yes?"

[REQUEST CONFIRMED, SENDING REQUEST TO ARCHANGEL #26… REQUEST CONFIRMED, POWERING UP ISOLATION BARRIER…]

Mercury suddenly felt the room being isolated from the outside world, almost like space itself was sealed by an overbearing force, then he looked towards the doll that laid on the altar, an overwhelming presence descended doll that then opened its eyes and sat upon the altar and looked over at Mercury before showing a cheeky grin

[Mercury, you finally called me~]

Mercury showed a smile before he greeted her back

"Hi Party"

The doll floated off the altar and over towards Mercury where it stopped a few meters ahead of him before it waved its hand and a table and two chairs made of marble appeared out of thin air, then the doll floated down and sat on the chair opposite of Mercury before it gestured for him to take a seat and leaned forwards on the chair

[So, what do you want to ask about Mercury?~]

"Well there are a few things, but first I want to know how much time you have?"

[Me? I have plenty of time~ About 2560 years until it's my turn~]

"Your turn to do what?"

[Uphold the fabric of your reality~]

"Oh… Well then… You must have it hard"

The doll tilted its head before it showed a smile

[Thanks for your concern Mercury, you really are a good child~]