Chapter 64: Dropped cksmith and exclusive cksmith<hr>


    Lily returns, who has sessfully killed Wolfman.


    "I won! Takuto!"


    Lilly innocently tries to jump on me, but Ion guards.


    "Why are you stopping me? Ion-chan"


    "That was a close one. Cuddling is prohibited"


    "I agree with you, Ion-san"


    "Muu!"


    Lily''s cheeks puffed up at Ion and Setia''sments. I stroked Lily''s head.


    "Ah..."


    "I''m not allowed to hug you, but this is okay, right? You''ve done well. Lily"


    "Ehehe~"


    Lily shows a big smile. Then I look around at everyone.


    "Good job, everyone. You did a great job. Thank you"


    Everyone shouts in reply to my words. Ion and Setia answered as if representing them.


    "There''s no need to say thank you. We are Takuto-san''s summoned beasts"


    "Ion-oneesama is right. It is our pleasure to be able to fight alongside Takuto-sama. Please don''t worry about us"


    You two are really good at this.


    "Emm...thank you for your help"


    Oh, I forgot the boy.


    "Are you all right?"


    "I''m fine, thanks to you. Thank you very much"


    "That''s good to know. And who are you?"


    "Ah, I didn''t introduce myself! My name is Hephaestus. I''m a cksmith"


    Wait a minute. Now there''s a great name!


    Oh, calm down. At any rate, I dismantled the Wolfman and got the Wolfman''s ws and the Wolfman''s skin. I treat the boy who calls himself Hephaestus to a meal. It seems that he hadn''t eaten for days and he thanked me repeatedly.


    I don''t think this boy is Hephaestus.


    Hephaestus is one of the twelve Olympian gods in Greek mythology. He is the god of thunder, volcanoes, fire and smithing. In Japan, I think he is usually called Hephaestus. As he is one of the twelve Olympian gods, his anecdotes are tremendous. First of all, he is the tripod vessel of Zeus. He is famous for creating numerous weapons for the gods, including the arrows of Apollo and Artemis, the halberd of Hermes, the set of weapons of Achilles and the bronze gong of Hercules. In case you''re wondering, he must have also created the beautiful woman Pandora and the bronze giant Talos.


    Do you know how much of a monster he is? He can make beautiful women? A god! A god.


    Anyway, let''s ask some questions.


    "Ah, so how did a boy like you end up in this forest?"


    "I was originally born in Vainreef thend of mines, but my cksmithing skills were not up to par and it became difficult for me to make a living. So I left the country to improve my cksmithing skills"


    Ah, I''ve heard that story. Isn''t that a bad thing for the god of cksmithing? That country. Well, it may be because he is a boy.


    "Originally, I had no money and couldn''t fight, so I traveled while running away from monsters and came to this forest"


    "So it''s just a coincidence that you ended up in this forest?"


    "No, I heard that there are many requests for early weapons in the town ahead. I could do business there"


    So you''re saying that you were nning to do business with us yers?


    "I was hoping to be someone''s exclusive cksmith"


    "Exclusive cksmith?"


    I don''t know that term. I thought it was the next evolution of cksmithing, but it wasn''t.


    "Don''t you know? Adventurers sometimes hire their own cksmiths. And the hired cksmith is called an exclusive cksmith. A high level adventurer may hire more than one cksmith"


    Hee, I wonder if hiring a cksmith means paying them? It''s very different from the rtionship with Crow-san.


    "Can only the employer do business to be exclusive?"


    "That''s right. But since I can get a steady flow of money, weak cksmiths like me aim for it. You can only get into trouble with your employer"


    I see. I mean, this is the flow of working as an exclusive cksmith...well, it seems that it''s good to have a rtionship with Crow-san, so shall I like to make a suggestion?


    "If so, why don''t you be my exclusive cksmith?"


    "Eh!?"


    He was surprised. Is he that surprised? That''s how it went, right?


    "Are you sure!? No, if you''re so strong, don''t you have your own cksmith?"


    "No, I don''t. I do have a cksmith that I have a rtionship with, but I''m heading to Freetia the day after tomorrow and I need a new cksmith"


    "I, I see. But why me"


    Because you''re the god of cksmithing.


    "A hunch? I have a feeling you''ll make a great cksmith"


    After all, it''s the same name as the god of cksmithing in Greek mythology.


    "I don''t really understand why, but if youre okay with me, please let me sign the contract!"


    "It''s settled. Nice to meet you. Hephaestus"


    "Yes! Takuto-san!"


    So, I escorted the boy back to town. First, I signed a contract at the cksmith Guild. Then, I''ll get the information.


    You have signed an exclusive cksmith contract with the cksmith NPC Hephaestus


    With this, Hephaestus has officially be my exclusive cksmith. I thought I would need to register with the cksmithing guild, but Hephaestus has joined and it seems to be no problem. So I paid Hephaestus the contract fee and since there was an empty room at Mhi-san''s inn, I asked for two nights.


    But when I asked her why there was a vacant room, she said it was because she had set the lodging fee too high with my cooking. That''s where Mhi-san set it wrong. It can''t be my fault. I got to the inn, so that''s it for today.


    -------------------------------------


    Author note:


    This was the episode where Hephaestus appeared. This Hephaestus is a young boy, so he doesn''t have incredible strength or cksmithing skills. He is a character who creates weapons for Takuto and his friends and grows stronger along with them. In other words, it''s a game where you can develop NPCs as well. Naturally, how the NPCs grow will depend on the yer.


    Here''s an additional point. This type of NPC can be joined by other yers and it is possible to have multiple NPCs. So if you want to have a harem of NPCs, you''ll have to get five different people.


    Next time, Takuto will say goodbye to the people who have helped him. Finally, there are only four chapters left in Episode 1, including the bulletin board. I hope you enjoy it until the end.