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Chapter 83: Hephaestus
"Let me see."
Just as Tsubaki was completely lost in the unfathomable techniques woven into the White Tassel, a pale hand reached out from behind her and unceremoniously snatched the spear away.
Hearing that familiar, steady voice, Tsubaki snapped out of her trance. She spun around and gasped. "Lady Hephaestus!"
"Lady Hephaestus," Ais and Lefiya immediately bowed, recognizing the red-haired goddess.
None of them expected Aiden's spear to draw out the God of Forging herself.
Standing before them was the patron deity of the Hephaestus Familia, the goddess who held authority over fire and the forge. She possessed fiery, radiant red hair and wore a dark eyepatch identical to Tsubaki's over her right eye. Tall and imposing, she wore practical men's clothing that perfectly complemented her fierce, striking beauty.
"Hmm." Hephaestus gave a curt nod, her gaze already glued to the spear in her hands.
With just a few casual glances, she unraveled far more information than Tsubaki ever could.
"This looks like the standard-issue equipment for an army. The forging method is incredibly fascinating. The blacksmith behind this is exceptionally skilled. To achieve mass production, they deliberately lowered the forging standards on the non-essential components, compressing the cost and labor to the absolute limit, all while preserving the superior performance of the core structure. Truly fascinating… I certainly wasn't aware of any army in the lower world capable of mass-deploying weapons of this caliber."
In a matter of seconds, Hephaestus had analyzed the White Tassel with terrifying precision, instantly deducing that it was a mass-produced military weapon.
Aiden was internally floored. As expected of the God of Forging. The White Tassel was indeed the standard-issue polearm of the Millelith. It was designed from the ground up for widespread, cost-effective military distribution.
"Who is the blacksmith who forged this spear? Would you be willing to introduce me?"
Hephaestus finally looked up. Her uncovered crimson eye fixed onto Aiden, swirling with intense curiosity and a desperate need for answers.
She could tell at a glance that the boy in front of her wasn't a smith. But as the God of Forging, she possessed an instinctual, ravenous interest in anyone who had mastered a brand-new metallurgical technique.
It was the exact same primal hunger Freya felt when she saw a shining soul.
"I apologize, Lady Hephaestus," Aiden met the goddess's gaze and calmly shook his head. "I don't know the blacksmith who made this spear. I acquired this weapon purely by chance."
He wasn't lying. He really didn't know who forged the White Tassel.
"Don't be like that, Aiden!"
Seeing an opportunity, Tsubaki practically lunged forward. She threw a massive, heavily muscled arm around Aiden's shoulders and pulled him into a crushing side-hug. "We don't mean any harm! We just want to swap notes with the smith! Technology only advances through communication, right? You can't just build a cart behind closed doors!"
Tsubaki clearly didn't buy his story. Aiden had brought the White Tassel in, and it was the first time Orario had ever seen a weapon forged with these techniques. There was no way he had zero connection to the creator.
An immense, inescapable pressure locked Aiden in place.
He felt like he had just been bear-hugged by an actual grizzly. Sure, there was a distinct, soft pressure pressing against his arm—a so-called 'lucky perk' considering Tsubaki was a gorgeous woman with a fiery figure. The proud peaks wrapped tightly in bandages were even slightly deformed as they pressed against his arm.
But Aiden couldn't enjoy it at all. Tsubaki's grip was so terrifyingly strong that he just felt suffocated and entirely helpless.
She's a Level 5 First-Class Adventurer who specializes in smithing. Her strength stat is probably maxed out. As a mere Level 2, Aiden didn't even have the luxury of struggling.
"M-Miss Tsubaki! What are you doing?! Let him go!"
Lefiya panicked, rushing forward to pry Tsubaki off. But her feeble mage strength was utterly useless against the half-dwarf.
"Miss Ais, help me!" Lefiya pleaded, her face burning red as she failed to rescue him.
Tsubaki clearly found the situation hilarious and flashed a wicked grin, deliberately teasing the frantic elf.
Meanwhile, Aiden, still trapped in the chokehold, looked like he had lost the will to live.
Ais simply tilted her head, a hint of confusion in her golden eyes. She looked at the trapped Aiden, then at the mischievous Tsubaki, and finally at the frantic Lefiya. Like a broken automaton, she stood perfectly still, completely unsure of what she was supposed to do.
"Enough, Tsubaki. You're being rude."
A tired, steady voice cut through the embarrassing little farce.
"The boy isn't lying. He really doesn't know the blacksmith."
Gods could inherently sense when a mortal was lying. It wasn't a logical deduction; it was a fundamental instinct born from eons of existence. And just now, Hephaestus's divine instinct had clearly told her that the boy named Aiden was speaking the absolute truth.
Since her goddess had spoken, Tsubaki reluctantly released her iron grip on Aiden, clicking her tongue in disappointment.
"Ugh… fine."
The moment he was free, Lefiya darted forward like a protective mother hen. She grabbed Aiden by the arm and pulled him behind her, glaring suspiciously at Tsubaki to ensure the smith didn't try anything else.
Tsubaki watched Lefiya cling to Aiden's arm with deep amusement, a distinctly gossipy glint shining in her singular eye.
While Lefiya wasn't the type of traditional elf who threw a fit if someone breathed on her, she still had natural elven boundaries and usually kept a polite distance from men. But looking at them now, her relationship with Aiden had clearly blown past 'casual acquaintances.'
A romance between two different Familias? Now that's prime entertainment. The fires of Tsubaki's curiosity were fully stoked.
Aiden finally let out a long breath of air. He absolutely hated the feeling of being completely overpowered and unable to fight back.
Thankfully, he hadn't lied.
Even though his [Descender] skill theoretically allowed him to lie to gods without triggering their lie-detection, he preferred not to risk it unless absolutely necessary.
His encounter with Loki at the pub had been a harsh lesson. Anyone with eyes could see he was lying, yet Loki's divine instinct couldn't pick up on it. That massive disconnect between common sense and divine intuition was exactly what tipped the Trickster Goddess off to his abnormal nature.
After analyzing the encounter, Aiden had made it a rule to avoid lying to gods whenever possible. If a lie was so obvious that even a mortal could see through it, a god's inability to detect it would instantly expose his immunity.
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