Chapter Twenty-Eight: Forging Bonds (R-18 Illustrations!)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Forging Bonds (R-18 Illustrations!)

“Alright! Now, we’re going to be making something simple to start. It’s an iron dagger, and it just needs an iron ingot. If you want to add a grip, pommel, and cross-guard to make a nice hilt for it, or maybe you want a sheath, then you’d obviously need some more material,” Irisa said. “But let’s start from step one, and we’ll move forward from there.”

When we returned from the dungeon, Iris and I stopped by Smithy’s Corner to start my training. Sekh remained silent and chose to walk home. Tilde followed and said she would talk some sense to her. I wasn’t mad or anything. Sekh was not required to always remain by my side because she had free will. She was her own person, not a slave obligated to follow my whims without regard for her well-being.

If she wanted some time to herself, that was perfectly fine. Perhaps she’d calm down once I explained why we couldn’t kill Max and his siblings. I wanted to end their lives and take their SP, but I was thinking about the broad future and wanted to play it safe.

There would be a time when it would be apt for me to make any risky moves, but I required the strength to defend myself from harm. Until Sekh and I had that power, we had to be cautious. In my defense, I had thousands of years of historical data to follow. I knew what happened to those who were too hasty or failed to consider that something could go wrong because everything had been progressing without fault. False confidence would not be my undoing, and unlike so many leaders throughout history, I would not be hoisted by my own petard.

Knowledge was my primary strength, and I had plenty of examples to follow and not follow. I just hoped Sekh would hear me out. I was sure she would but giving her the time to cool down wouldn’t hurt anything.

Irisa’s assigned spot was at the back right corner, and as she pulled a key to unlock the small shed that contained her tools, I used my map to investigate those around us. I didn’t find anything surprising, but nearly everyone had [Blacksmith] and either [Weapon Creation] or [Armor Creation]. I had the SP available, so I joined the club.

New Skill: [Blacksmith]

“Where do we start?” I asked Irisa. I stood outside the shed while she went in and came out with a rectangular-shaped mold, two hammers, two tongs, a smelting pot, and two blacksmithing aprons. She tied one around her neck and threw the other to me.

“We have to convert the ore into something we can use,” Irisa said. I sat my backpack down and used it as a proxy to hand her the ore, then she placed some in the pot, then sat that inside the brick furnace, which looked a little bit like a pizza oven. “It’s going to melt the ore down, and then we pour that inside the molds. But you see those bellows over there? You grab one, and I’ll get the other, and we gotta pump air inside to increase its temperature.” Nodding, I stood behind one and started to pump.

“Mila?” Irisa said my name when she started to pump the second bellow.

“Yeah?”

“If it isn’t too personal, where did you come from? Like, how did you get to Ria? Or even Dirge? Because of your circumstances, I’m not quite sure how to ask this...”

I can’t tell her the truth, but...

“There’s a continent to the far, far north. Not many people know about it, and I found myself in Dirge because I stowed away after I became sentient because I was abused, harassed, and tortured simply for existing. I wanted to get a second chance, but even that was denied to me when I was thrown overboard and left for dead... But I'm here... I’m alive, and as hard as it’s going to be for someone like me, I have no intention of ever letting this opportunity go to waste.”

“Woah... I guess I never realized how hard it could be for you people... If you don’t mind me asking, what was that continent like?"

“Well, it was very secluded. Its culture wasn’t anything like what you have here. Do you want to hear about it?” Irisa nodded and smiled, relishing the chance to learn. I felt comfortable telling the history of my world. Even though it was masked by a lie. I could tell she was really interested in what I had to say. We had to wait for the ore to get hot enough to melt, so I started from the beginning of recorded history for my ‘continent’ and skipped around.

“There probably were blacksmiths before 4,500 B.C.E, but we wouldn’t know about them since we hadn’t found any information about them.”

“B.C.E?” Irisa questioningly asked. She was confused, but I managed to carefully pick my words because everything had to apply in a way that related to this world.

“Before Common Era denotes the years before the Common Era. If you’re a Christian, it’s B.C, which means Before Christ.” Irisa had no idea what Christianity was, so I gave her a summary of it and A.D. to Irisa before continuing with my little lecture on the history of blacksmithing in my ‘continent.’ “It took another three thousand years or so for the Hittites to start messing around with iron. Scholars debated if it was first developed by them since there were iron tools believed to be made around 3,000 B.C.E. Once the knowledge of iron forging spread around, it practically took the world by storm wherever it went. In fact, the people of Ancient Greece had a god named Hephaestus, the god of metalworking and blacksmithing.”

“Woah, that’s a religion I’ve never heard of.” Irisa’s excitement was palpable. Everyone else was too busy hammering and shaping their metal to pay attention to me.

The pain I had endured over my 20-ish years left me in a broken and battered state. Sure, I had only known Sekh for less than a month, but we shared a common background. We found solace in each other’s arms, something I didn’t think I could replicate if I ended up sharing a bed with Irisa. Yes, she and her mother were nice to us, but there was still an inkling of doubt in mind that this could all turn for the worse.

Because it did in my world. My mind would sometimes go back to when my mother acted much like Ichiha. The fun and joy of going to the park after a week of beatings did wonders for my little heart, yet when she threw me to the ground and ran back to the car to speed off crushed any remaining hope.

But I wanted to remove that doubt from my mind. Because I knew it wouldn’t happen here. It just wouldn’t, and I couldn’t keep looking at the world from that angle. I knew it, Sekh knew it, and Tilde knew it.

The problem was actually doing it, but I wasn’t alone. I had help.

“Mom, we’re home!” Irisa said when we walked through the door. I followed right behind to see Ichiha wiping down the counter.

“Welcome home, girls,” she said with a smile. We chatted for a few minutes while I recanted the day’s event. Ichiha wasn’t ‘happy,’ I suppose, of the events that happened in the dungeon, nor was she pleased to hear that Sekh wanted to kill Max and his siblings. “Is that why she’s asleep? It’s rare to see you two separated, so I was worried.”

“She’s very protective over me,” I replied. Sekh can’t see it, but we did get our revenge on them... And it’s not over. It’s only just the beginning.

It only made sense for Ichiha to be conflicted, but she didn’t know that Sekh had only known death. She had no choice but to fall through life with violence and tyranny acting as her guiding hand. Or rather, all her lives. I couldn’t forget that curse that kept reincarnating and driving her to insanity and barbarity.

If Sekh wants to tell them, it’s up to her, not me.

Until then, as far as Irisa and Ichiha were concerned, Sekh was a Lionfolk I had found that didn’t turn her nose up at finding out I was a chimera. I couldn’t help but hope Sekh would trust them enough to tell them soon, though I understood her hesitancy and even shared it.

To change the subject lightly, I spoke a little bit about the ‘continent’ I came from, mainly repeating what I told Irisa while we were forging. Somehow, that segued into alchemy. While I didn’t have the skill, Ichiha had a mortar and pestle and a few crimson amita—the red mushrooms used to make potions—in stock. I bought and stored them away in my storage because potions would definitely be useful.

I’ll have to buy [Alchemist] eventually. I can still make potions without the skill. I’ll try it tonight.

But that didn’t last long because Tilde flew down the stairs and lightly waved at me. “Master, come with me. We need to have a little talk,” she demanded.

I nodded, following Tilde up the stairs. She didn’t speak until we emerged into the kitchen. Something delicious filled the air, and I was looking forward to dinner.

“I did what I could,” reported the fairy. “But there’s something you got to understand. The world of 1,000 years ago is nothing like it is today. She’s full of insecurity stemming from living in a reality where she was constantly tortured by the curse. I’m not lying by saying this, but death is really all she’s ever known, and I mean that literally. She’s of the mind that everything can be solved with violence because that’s what she had no choice but to practice. For her, if there’s a problem, the only solution is death.”

“I’m not mad at her, Tilde.”

“Well, you better not be!” the fairy exclaimed as we stopped in front of the door to my room.

“Yeah... I just said I’m not.”

“Good! Oh, here’s something you might not know. Or maybe you do. Without the curse affecting her, your little Lionfolk’s able to experience all range of emotions. But she doesn’t know how to process them, and they manifest as submissive tendencies. If I were you, I’d take advantage of it... If you know what I'm saying, that is. Hehehe...” Tilde greedily rubbed her hands together and licked her lips. “Be sure to make it sexy, okay? I need something exciting if I’m going to get off.”

“You’re so perverted it isn’t even funny...” I sighed and knocked on the door. With no one didn’t answer, I used my map’s satellite mode to peek inside and realized she was still asleep.

“Eh, that’s part of my charm. Either take it or leave it. Oh, wait, you gotta take it.” She stuck out her tongue at me. “Anyway, go on and talk to her. I’m going to find the big titty onis and see what’s for dinner,” Tilde said, flying back downstairs.