Chapter 16 - Familia

❲In the last chapter, our protagonist found himself in a slightly different Orario due to railway cars existing as if it was a world in a game called Summon Night 5 played on PSP, or in the phone using a PSP emulator.❳

❲He looked around and found himself in the main building of the Guild called the Pantheon, and entered. There, he saw a crowd of people looking at a board, a poster of a young girl named Aiz Wallenstein of Loki Familia and was recognized as the fastest to level up to level 2. Amidst all that, his 'eyes' through high-level Mana Sense 'saw' the one he hates the most, a tall Boaz known for being the only level 7.❳

❲Determined and have strong will, he decided to become an Adventurer. Of course, you can't be one unless you have joined a Familia. Thus, we will now witness it right now.❳

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Silver picked up a paper and showed it to Rose and said, "I choose this..."

"Hephaestus Familia?" Rose only stared at Silver, waiting for a reason.

Silver thought of a stupid reason and said, "It's because that my soon-to-be dungeon advisor is a redhead and Hephaestus is also a redhead."

Rose only stared at him as if she saw an insect instead of a person.

"I'm only joking. I'm not that kind of person to make decisions with trashy reason." Silver let out a small smirk.

Rose sighed in relief.

"But I'm expecting you to be my dungeon advisor." He added.

Rose sighed in annoyance. I mean, she met this handso- young man in front of her and doesn't want him to die since he mentioned about her being his dungeon advisor which means that he will be going into the dungeon rather than try to make armors and weapons. But, she does hope that he won't be like some of those who she advised and then died when they got ċȯċky.

She doesn't want to witness another dead young Adventurer. But she's still hoping that the soon-to-be Adventurers in the future would not be as reckless as they are right now.

"Um... Hello? Rose Fannett to Eden!" Silver called her out as he waved his hand in front of her.

"Hm?! Oh, uh! Who's Eden?" Rose faked a cough to bring forth her professionalism and spoke once again, "Come back to me when you've successfully joined Hephaestus Familia or not."

"I will tell you one thing, Fannet-san. I don't disappoint." Silver stood up and exited the room.

Rose quickly followed, but when she opened the door, she didn't see him as she didn't hear any sounds of footsteps running, but only walking with her sharp wolf ears.

"..."

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Upon entering an alley with no people coming through, he transformed himself back into a height that children of his age should have.

After doing so, he quickly left and walked to southwest part of Orario since he sensed that Kane was there.

As he neared, he got tired of having his eyes blindfolded, he removed it. When he finally removed it, his cold blue eyes met sky blue eyes.

"Um... Excuse me." Silver finally broke the awkward staring contest and walked past her.

He decided to escape quickly as he's not yet ready to talk to her in person and quickly disappeared using the maximum output he could with Total Concentration.

Once the elf turned around after the boy in front of her just walked past her, she saw that he disappeared and she didn't even felt him move and only felt gentle wind.

Sounds of footsteps in running pattern came and a group of three females appeared. A prum and 2 humans arrived to where the elf girl was and saw her shocked faced that quickly disappeared once they arrived.

The red haired young woman called out to the elf, "Lion, why did you suddenly run off?"

"It's nothing." She said.

But the prum girl said otherwise, "There's probably something when she said 'nothing'."

The Far Eastern girl spoke, "We should go back now, Astraea-sama told us to be back earlier since she want us to meet someone."

The redhead nodded, "Let's go!"

And thus, the band of girls walked back to their Familia's home known as Stardust Garden.

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"Why am I here again?" Silver asked with his original height back to 170.6 centimeters.

Kane replied, "I thought you have photographic memory?"

"I do. It was just I tend to not listen in what you say." Silver replied with both eyes closed, without any blindfold.

He managed to figure out how to deactivate his eyes to be able to see in normal way. However, it didn't mean that his ice cold blue ice didn't scared some people due to how cold his gaze was. Other than that, he also has an air of something that of a royalty even though he's not.

"Well, we are here because we will be staying in this place for awhile, and we'll depart once again once we're done." Kane said with clear-cut instruction.

Muffled voices can be heard behind the door.

"I told you! We need to save everyone!"

"How can we save everyone with our current strength? We can only save by sacrificing the few!"

"Girls, stop arguing! We're here!" The two girls stopped arguing.

Green eyes met blue eyes. The redhead Adventurer saw two men, a white haired tall young man and a black haired 6 foot tall man.

"Um..." The redhead looked at her goddess who was in the room as this was the office, "Who are they, Astraea-sama?"

"They are our guest. The white haired young man is Silver Sterling, and the black haired man is Kane." The walnut brown haired goddess.

"Un..." Silver nodded at them.

"Silver, don't be like that! Be more extrovert if you want girlfriends!" Kane said with a happy-go-lucky tone.

The room temperature dropped and the feet of Kane were slowing being covered in ice.

"I prefer being introvert. Also, what's with that 'girlfriends' comment?" Silver said with his eyes close while the ice slowly creeps up from Kane's feet.

"Whoa, wait! I'm just kidding!"

The ice broke and the temperature returned. No reply came from Silver, but he sent a strong and piercing cold glare at him. He didn't send any killing intent as he would be in trouble since you can only get one if you have experience in killing before.

"I'm leaving." Silver opened the window and said something before jumping, "I'm going to join a Familia..."

"Hm... Oh well, let's start what we need to do."

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• Silver's POV •

"So? I heard you want to join my Familia?"

In front of me is a redheaded goddess with an eyepatch that covered almost half of her face, mainly her right eye. I am in my original height so I looked like 15 or so right now based on ❲Disabled World❳ website the last time I checked it. Still in blindfold, mind you. I am also carrying a bag for forging and some materials as well.

The male version in mythology, Hephaestus is crippled, and thus what Fujino Omori did to her was much better than crippled. Anyway, I can feel something dark in her right eye, but I'm not sure if it is either a curse or a side effect of being the greatest smithing god in general.

I replied to her, "Yes."

She asked, "Why?"

I answered, "Because, I plan to craft my own weapon while getting stronger. After all, I don't want to make weapons to those who are not worthy to wield them." I added in my mind, 'They will be sealed and cannot be drawn by those with darkness or evil intentions in their hearts. Almost like Caliburn, but chooses a kind person instead of a worthy King.'

I also think that I can try to learn Hieroglyphs in order to be able to get some idea for making Runes as Hestia Knife became a growth type weapon because of those hieroglyphs.

"Is that so? Then, make me something." She said.

I can see her eyes shine in interest.

"Where should I work?" I asked, knowing that she have hidden forge behind her bookshelf.

She stood up and pulled a book, and the secret door to the secret forge where I will forge a weapon is in front of me.

She entered and I followed.

She have some ores here, but mostly are basic materials. Most of those better ores are store in another secret room inside this secret room. I can sense them, it was easy for someone like me who have unorthodox way of sending Mana and instead uses it for seeing things without using my eyes.

"You can now start." She said and I bowed at her.

I opened my bag and pulled out a cheap and low-quality hammer.

I pulled out a Tamahagane, which is mostly used by Far Eastern due to their forging style. Mahogany for the scabbard and handle. Small copper for habaki, the one that is placed between the blade and the handle on order for the weapon to fit perfectly in the scabbard and also to lessen the stress on the blade, making it more tougher. Battle Boar's tough horn for the scabbard's parts known as fuchi and koiguchi. Lastly, a satin finish.

He have all the materials needed and I only have a hammer, so I need to borrow the tongs and clamps here. With all things ready, I put my gloves on made of Salamander wool and wrapped around an Undine cloth that was turned into a scarf around my neck and started forging.

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[Vault of Information]

Silver can't use Mystic Eyes....