WeTried Translations

Translator: [IncomeElastic]

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈

Chapter 031

──────

Hiding It Away Isn't Always the Answer

* * *

I think Isabella's a bit oblivious, doesn't listen to anyone, and can be frustrating to deal with, but,

sure isn't a bad person.

I don't really want to use the word "loser"... but if I had to pin it down, well,

that's probably the closest category.

And as if to prove it....

Beside the door Dolores had opened, a pile of mysterious boxes was stacked high.

It was dark outside so I couldn't make them out clearly, but they looked like they'd been wrapped like gifts.

Had she carried all that here herself? Honestly, getting chewed out even after bringing gifts wasn't an easy thing to manage.

I was shaking my head at her utterly unreadable behavior when,

"...D-Dolores?"

Isabella's arms, which had been wrapped around me, went slack.

Her voice wavered too.

She looked out the window, and at the sight of the darkness that had already fallen outside, her expression shifted to one of "oh no."

Sensing that something wasn't right, she flinched and started pulling off her gloves.

"Y-You're here?"

I studied Dolores's face quietly.

'Wow....'

This was genuinely terrifying.

All that talk about the Abyss a moment ago suddenly felt beside the point.

Taking advantage of her loosened grip, I slipped quickly out of her arms and moved toward the forge.

The two of them clearly had things to talk about. Stepping aside seemed like the right thing to do.

Given the flow of things, since this was grown-up business, there was a good chance they'd tell me to go back to the mansion.

Adults usually didn't want children hearing them argue, after all.

Just as I was about to make myself scarce,

"...Lionel? Come here."

- Flinch.

Dolores turned her head, calling my name.

She wore the gentlest, most benevolent smile in the world and beckoned me over.

"...Yes."

With the survival instinct of a prey animal, I scurried right over to her side,

and reached to obediently take the hand she'd wordlessly extended, when....

"My hand is cold, so hold on to my leg instead."

"......?"

Her bare, gloveless hand was frozen solid.

But still, how exactly was I supposed to hold her leg?

It wasn't unpleasant, but it was a little... much.

In the end I settled for awkwardly grabbing hold of her dress instead.

Only then did Dolores's head slowly turn back toward Isabella.

It seemed she had no intention of sending me away after all.

Isabella, avoiding her gaze, shrank down as if quietly waiting for Dolores's verdict.

If she was going to act like this, why had she been so overbearing earlier?

Maybe she'd meant to bolt before Dolores arrived and simply lost track of time.

"...Isabella."

"Uh, yeah."

"This is the second time you've broken through my boundary spell and shown up without any word."

Her voice was pitched quite low.

"I told you, didn't I, not to approach Lionel."

"I... I'm sorry."

"...No."

Dolores smiled faintly.

"I know you're not actually sorry, so there's no point in either of us pretending with an apology."

"......!"

Isabella's mouth started opening and closing wordlessly.

"El, Elysia...."

Maybe it had struck a nerve, or maybe this was the first time Dolores had ever spoken to her this sharply.

Isabella's eyes went unfocused as she reached out a hand.

The problem was, this was only the beginning.

"Isabella, when we were young, it was fine, fun even, for us to be casual with each other without minding our stations. I have no intention of denying that."

Dolores's eyes drifted, searching for something distant.

"But... a great deal of time has passed since then. This is a time for us to respect each other's positions and standing."

"......"

"The fact that I overlooked it every time you were careless and disrespectful wasn't because there was nothing wrong with what you did...."

"......"

"It was simply that I got tired of saying it over and over with no result, so I let it slide."

Oof.

My grip on her dress tightened without my meaning it to.

It wasn't my place to get involved since it was someone else's business, but I could tell Dolores had a lot pent up too.

"I do care about you, as a friend."

"Dolores...."

"But when the person you're doing this to isn't me, but my child... grabbing and hugging a child who doesn't want it...! Clinging on and putting your own selfish wants first is..."

Dolores paused for a moment, then finally spoke again, quietly, one last time.

I could feel her emotions churning underneath.

"Isabella, please, grow up already... I'm asking you."

Silence settled over the workshop.

Isabella couldn't say a word.

She wore the look of someone who'd been struck by something, visibly shaken.

"I'm really sorry...."

"......"

Dolores shook her head.

Then Isabella suddenly turned to face me too.

"Lionel, I'm... I'm sorry, I really didn't mean it that way."

I'd figured that since she'd been scolded by Dolores, she'd only apologize to her.

But she apologized to me too.

By the book, that was the correct thing to do, I suppose.

"It's fine, don't worry about it."

Hearing her sound so cowed, when she always just laughed things off before, didn't exactly leave me feeling good.

When I nodded,

the tension visibly eased from Dolores's expression beside me.

Isabella carefully folded Dolores's gloves together and held them out to her,

"...I'm sorry, truly."

"...Mm."

As Dolores quietly accepted the apology,

- Step, step.

Isabella turned around, her face downcast.

Just as she started walking toward the door,

"I'll make good use of the gifts."

I didn't know what they were, but since I'd received them regardless, I offered my thanks.

Sending her off looking that dejected just felt wrong.

- Pause.

Isabella's steps halted for a moment,

"...Yeah."

and with a faint, bitter smile she scurried off into the darkness.

...And a few minutes later.

"...Whew."

Dolores let out a long sigh.

The tension that had been holding her body rigid finally drained away.

I looked up at her and asked.

It's true everywhere, but personally I think the person saying harsh words has it harder than the person hearing them.

The military's like that too, or so I think.

So I figured it must have been the same for Dolores.

"Are you all right, Dolores?"

At my question, Dolores bent down to meet my eyes,

- Whoosh.

"...Whoa."

and without a word, scooped me up and wrapped me in her arms.

"Lionel, that's exactly what I want to know."

"What?"

"Were you all right?"

"Yes, I was fine."

"......"

Dolores ruffled my hair over and over, then before long,

- Squeeze.

pulled me tight against her.

"Oh, right."

There was something I'd wanted to tell her.

The gloves, the gloves had gained a Potential Ability.

"Could you try putting the gloves on real quick?"

When I squirmed in her arms, Dolores let out a small laugh and set me down.

She took the gloves I handed her and slid them on slowly.

- Slip.

The moment she did,

"...Huh."

Dolores's eyes widened slightly.

"I can feel... some kind of mysterious energy...."

She tilted her head, gazing quietly down at her gloved hand.

Just then.

the gray engraving etched into the gloves flushed a deep red.

"......"

And,

- Hum.

warmth bloomed from the gloves and wrapped around the two of us, soft and gentle.

"Wow."

I'd been wondering how it was even supposed to be used,

but I guess someone of Dolores's caliber just figures it out on instinct.

"How is it?"

I'm about to get showered with praise again.

I looked up at her face, feeling excited.

But,

"...............What is this?"

Her expression was somewhere between dumbfounded, astonished, and, at the same time, joyful,

all three emotions tangled together into one complicated look,

as her mouth fell open.

* * *

Deep in the night.

Only a single lamp lit Dolores's study.

- Rustle.

She pulled books from the shelf one after another, reading through them all,

turning over the events of the night in her mind.

In front of her, the gloves Lionel had made lay neatly set out.

And these gloves,

had manifested "magic" just hours before.

It wasn't unheard of for a piece of gear to assist in casting magic or accelerate a spell circuit.

But,

for magic to be embedded within the gear itself was never a common thing.

Never. Absolutely never.

5-star grade. And among those, Unique Equipment.

Even among those pinnacle objects known as "artifacts,"

a thing like this almost never happened.

Of course, compared to those, the strength and level of this particular magic was still faint.

"How is this even possible...."

Lionel had said it just happened while he was enchanting.

When she'd first heard he'd enchanted these one-of-a-kind Unique Equipment gloves, she'd nearly fainted.

"This kid, honestly...."

What would he have done if they'd been destroyed....

Thankfully, they hadn't been.

And now she'd learned what could happen when Unique Equipment was enchanted.

- Rustle.

Dolores brushed her fingertips over the gloves.

At first, she'd simply thought

that good fortune had finally, belatedly, found her, cursed body and all.

Her health improving, the cold slowly receding.

Maybe, thanks to this child, she could finally shake off the wearisome family curse.

And beyond that, maybe she could dream of the ordinary life she'd always wanted, the kind of life others took for granted.

But as time went on,

another feeling began to creep into a corner of that overflowing joy.

"...I."

Dolores's blue eyes trembled in the dark.

'What can I do for Lionel?'

Was this really a child she could simply keep in her arms?

He wasn't a child who could be hidden away or sheltered into obscurity.

A lump of gold buried in sand catches the eye eventually, no matter what.

Just as Isabella had recognized Lionel's true worth in an instant,

Lionel would inevitably catch the world's eye someday.

'That countless hands would reach for something that shines....'

was only natural.

And yet.

Dolores turned the question back on herself.

"...Am I, right now,"

using the plausible-sounding name of protection as an excuse,

confining this child, binding him, holding him only in my arms?

Am I shackling his potential, keeping him from taking a single step outside my embrace?

- Rustle.

Just then her gaze

landed on a memo lying on one side of the desk.

It was a list Sebas had written up, cataloguing the contents of the boxes Isabella had brought.

Inside were,

magitech tools perfectly suited for spinning thread,

a spinning wheel, a spinning frame, and various fabrics.

In the end, these too were a gift for Lionel; Isabella, in her own way, had pinpointed exactly what he needed.

Things Dolores herself hadn't even thought of.

Like this.

There would surely be others out there in the world who could hand Lionel things she couldn't even imagine.

"......"

- Clench....

Her hand clenched tight.

The aftertaste was bitter.

But,

this too was a guardian's burden to bear.

- Rustle.

Dolores shifted her gaze to the document in her hand.

A few days from now, the imperial family would hold a birthday banquet for the twin prince and princess.

It was the invitation to that banquet.

As Duchess in name, there was no skipping an event like this.

Originally she'd planned to attend with just Ruby, her heir....

Her gaze landed on the gloves.

Right.

If she couldn't keep this child in her arms forever,

'Then rather....'

at least for the moment he took his first step into the world,

"let it be from within my arms."

At my side, bearing the Dolores name,

letting him take that step somewhere I could watch over him, wasn't that better?

That way, it would be all the more clear to the world whose child he was.

Once her thoughts settled into place, a smile spread across her lips.

"...Lionel."

Come with us too.

Outside the window, the deep darkness of predawn

had, before she knew it, begun to bleed into pale blue.

"He should be waking up soon."

Dolores rose from her seat and made her way to Lionel's bedroom.

- Creak.

When she carefully opened the door,

"...Hm?"

Dolores paused mid-step.

Lionel was asleep with his mouth hanging open, impossibly adorable,

and Ruby was staring intently at his sleeping face.

Chin propped on her hand, just staring.

"...Ruby?"

"......!"

Ruby, apparently caught completely off guard, flushed with panic,

and in her fluster, scrambled to move,

- Thud.

"Ugh!"

Ruby's foot kicked Lionel.

- Thump.

Lionel, sound asleep a moment ago, tumbled off the bed.

"...Wha, what, what was that."

Sprawled on the floor, Lionel opened his eyes.

Dolores carefully approached him and crouched down.

And,

"Lionel?"

"Yes, ah. Yes... good morning...."

- Bow.

Lionel bowed his head.

But even in the middle of his greeting, Lionel's eyes

kept flicking, again and again, toward her legs.

Not that he was staring outright, more like his gaze just kept brushing past that way.

He'd seemed to be especially fond of these footwraps for a while now.

'Well, I suppose he made them with his own hands.'

Was he really that proud of them?

Dolores couldn't help a faint smile,

and crouched down a little lower, so Lionel could see more easily.

"...Ruby, Lionel?"

Dolores called the two children together.

"Yes, Teacher."

"Yep."

"The day after tomorrow, we're leaving for the imperial palace."

"The palace... huh? Me too?"

Lionel's eyes went round.

"...Yes, you're coming with us too, Lionel."

Now that her mind was made up, she wasn't afraid of putting him in front of the world.

Hiding him away wasn't always the answer.

Dolores reached out and pulled Lionel snugly against her chest.

"Uh...."

Bewildered by the sudden hug, Lionel blinked in confusion.

Whatever he thought didn't matter.

'Because he's my child.'

She held him tighter still.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried