WeTried Translations
Translator: [IncomeElastic]
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈
Chapter 101
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Frigid Isabella
* * *
Dolores demolished the 146th floor.
I was lying on the beanbag in the parlor, watching the community's reactions.
Naturally, the place with the most chatter was the Climbers' Gallery.
Countless threads were popping up, but as always, the center of it all was Maman.
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- fuck, I go watch an ad and it's already over
- where the hell did the arrow go
- so like can someone explain what the opponent even did wrong
- upvote if you think the High Rankers should start washing their necks ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
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Mm-hm, yeah, yeah, keep praising away.
Not me, Dolores.
Since the users here actually climb themselves, their analysis skills seemed pretty sharp.
Sometimes on other forums you get a bunch of "non-players"... trolls who stir up trouble without even playing the game, but that wasn't going to happen here.
I clicked on one of the posts that had gotten enough upvotes to make it to the best-of board.
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[Title: A rundown of the weird stuff Dolores did today]
[Author: Anonymous]
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So Duchess Dolores is Formula School, and pretty much everything she's shown so far has been earth-type magic, but wtf, today she suddenly used fire?
Actually, any of you mage nerds already know switching elements out of nowhere is basically impossible, so just like the Flash Incident last time, I'm betting this is gear too.
The way she blocked the arrow is weird for magic too; if it was one of Dolores's defensive spells, sand should've been the thing blocking it.
Seems like she's got some absolutely busted defensive gear too?
Safe bet she keeps pulling weird gear from somewhere.
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To sum it up roughly, since Dolores has only ever used earth-type magic until now, the fire magic she suddenly used was probably gear.
For reference, "mage nerds" here is what they call climbers who are deeply into magic.
"Ohh."
They'd gotten pretty close to the right answer.
The corner of my mouth curled up as I scrolled down to the comments.
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Anonymous: seriously where does she keep getting this fucked-up gear from
└ Anonymous1: real
└ Anonymous3: am I the only one shopping at a different auction house? goddammit
Terrace: everyone was arguing about keeping up with gear inflation and then something pops out that we can't even analyze
Anonymous2: no item info? like from an auction house?
Anonymous4: what second's the replay of her blocking the arrow
└ Anonymous5: just watch it from the start, the whole thing's only 10 seconds
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Lots of praise for the gear.
Made me proud.
Whenever gear like this shows up, there's always something that follows, naturally, and that's speculation about who the blacksmith is.
Of course, the speculation never got far, since there was simply no firewood to burn.
Still, seeing this made me feel like even ordinary community users had pretty sharp analytical skills.
...So then, what would a High Ranker like Yeomhwa's detailed analysis look like?
She was supposedly the best active mage around, after all.
I slowly started looking forward to her explanation.
I figured she'd point out the parts I'd missed, those kinds of details.
According to the community, Dolores had headed straight for the next floor.
I figured she'd push straight through until the 150th floor.
While I was thinking about that though... one problem came up.
Namely, that the beanbag here was pretty soft.
Sinking into it while I waited, sleep started creeping up on me.
I didn't bother fighting it and just let it happen, and dozed off for a moment, or so I thought.
Creak....
I opened my eyes at the sound of the door opening.
"Baby~... oh, you were asleep. Sorry."
Yeomhwa lowered her voice mid-step through the door.
I blinked a few times and sat up.
"Ah... no, I was just about to get up."
"Yeah?"
Swish.
Yeomhwa grinned and shook a round orb in front of my eyes.
Looked like the footage had arrived.
Yeomhwa hopped over, light and bouncy, her steps swaying.
Her skirt swayed with every bounce.
Hmm... her outfit looked especially pretty today.
My eyes kept drifting to it.
"Sit here."
I scooted off the beanbag to make room.
Yeomhwa looked at the space I'd cleared, huffed a laugh, and plopped down...
"Oop."
Whoosh.
"Oh."
She pulled me straight down onto her lap and wrapped both arms around me.
"There we go."
She opened her hand and the orb floated up, bobbing gently.
Whirrr....
Light burst from inside the orb and a screen unfolded in midair.
It was the same arena I'd seen that morning.
"Can you see okay?"
"Yep, yep."
Yeomhwa leaned back into the beanbag, pulling me down along with her.
"Uh, uh...."
...This felt even softer than the beanbag....
The footage started playing....
So, what would Yeomhwa's commentary be like?
"I'll walk you through every little detail. But tell me if there's anything you don't get, baby."
"Okay. Please do."
"Mm."
Both doors opened and people walked out.
"Normally you need two wins to pass, but Elysia only needs one. Her seed's high because she did so well on the previous floor, so it's like she's got one extra life even if she loses... think of it that way."
"Ah, really?"
I hadn't known that.
I'd wondered why she passed after just one win, turns out her seed was high.
Her explanation really was detailed.
But the way she was laying groundwork like this from the start, it felt like she wanted a particular reaction from me....
I'm quick on the uptake, after all.
"...Did Dolores maybe lose...?"
This is it, right?
"Hmmmm~~ who knows~~ did Elysia win or lose~?"
"Ah...."
On the outside, I was putting on a very worried face.
On the inside, I was thinking how cute Yeomhwa was.
She seemed to be building the groundwork just right, to properly maximize the drop in my joy.
After all, if you're worried and then it turns out fine, the dopamine hits twice as hard.
Meanwhile, in the footage, the fight began.
Dolores stood still while her opponent's archer drew back the bowstring.
And then.
"Okay, here's where the arrow goes fwoooosh!"
"?"
Startled me.
Yeomhwa pointed a finger at the arrow, then...
"And the mage next to them goes whip-whip-whip-whip and it's like fwoosh!"
"......?"
The now-enlarged arrow went flying toward Dolores.
"But then Dolores does this, bam bam!"
"...Bam bam."
"So they're all shocked too, right? Like 'what was that just now?' and they try to do the fwoosh, whip-whip-whip thing again!"
Her opponents scrambling.
But Dolores raising her hand was faster, and the result was exactly what you'd expect....
"Kaboooosh!"
Yeomhwa clenched her fist and swung it through the air, whoosh whoosh.
"And that's it! I heard her opponent got treated up just fine!"
"......."
Yeomhwa looked down at me, her face full of pride.
"Amazing, right?"
"...Amazing."
In more ways than one.
A description of Yeomhwa from public opinion suddenly came to mind.
'The Intuition School.'
For Yeomhwa, magic seemed to be something felt with a hot-blooded heart.
Expecting an explanation out of her had been my own miscalculation.
"And Dolores took that first hit on purpose too."
"Ah......."
"I think she wanted to show her baby just how good the gear is."
So that was it.
"Lionel... you made something really amazing for Elysia, huh?"
Yeomhwa smiled brightly and tightened her arms slightly...
leaning down from behind to press a light kiss to the back of my neck.
...Smooch.
I could feel the warmth of her lips.
It left a strangely refreshing feeling.
"......."
"Hmhm."
Hearing the praise felt good.
Warm all over... my body melting under Yeomhwa's little hums and touches, and I was just lying there taking it easy, when...
Slam.
The parlor door flew open.
"......Eep."
A short shriek, almost bird-like, came from behind me.
I turned my head...
and there stood Dolores, who was supposed to be in the Tower.
Smiling brightly.
* * *
Isabella had recently stopped climbing to focus on research.
Not because she lacked the ability, it was just that the world had plenty of things more interesting than climbing.
She'd said she wanted a bit of a break, too.
And then.
"Hm?"
Ding.
A message came in on the group chat of the sworn sisters she'd once climbed the Tower with.
A chat that almost, almost never went off....
Yeomhwa had posted a video there.
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Yeomhwa: (Dolores_totally_smitten_with_her_baby.avi)
Yeomhwa: Elysia's climbing up nice and fast~
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"She's doing well."
Isabella played the video without much thought.
...Though, why was the file name like that?
On one side stood five people; on the other, Dolores.
She'd heard Dolores was back.
Since Isabella was such a homebody, word had taken a while to reach her, but...
she'd heard Dolores's health had improved a lot too, so getting her form back wouldn't take too long.
"...So when's she going to call me over...?"
It had already been over eight months....
At this rate, Isabella worried Lionel might forget her face entirely.
She was thinking that while watching the video, when...
Bang!
"......?"
Dolores made a gesture, and the ground beneath the five opponents' feet burst open, flames surging up.
The video ended right there.
"......Huh?"
Isabella was staring blankly at the screen when...
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Praying to Retire, Day 1819: what the fuck was that??
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along with a reaction from her former teammate Seren, who at this point Isabella suspected didn't actually intend to retire at all.
"......Wow."
Isabella replayed the video.
Scrrr, click.
Scrrr, click.
Same thing, even on a second watch....
There was no separate fire formula deployed.
Isabella analyzed at a glance that not the slightest magical element had been involved in the flames Dolores had produced.
"This is gear?"
She tilted her head and stared intently at the screen.
She'd been curious about the +20 chore gloves before, but that was purely out of interest in how it made the impossible possible.
She'd never intended to wear it herself, it was strictly for research.
Most climbers wanted good gear, but people were all different, of course.
Not everyone went crazy over equipment.
There were climbers who normally had no real interest in gear at all, who'd put something on or handle it once just because everyone else was making a fuss over it, and never even feel its effects.
'What's so great about it, anyway.'
A Ranker who'd take off even gear rumored to be amazing with total indifference.
Isabella was exactly that kind of "frigid" climber.
"That's amazing."
The fingers propping up her chin trembled faintly.
For the first time in her life, she felt genuinely interested in a piece of gear.
The first piece of equipment that made her want to try it out for herself.
Of course, Isabella knew by now that if she whined and threw a tantrum at Dolores demanding she hand it over just because it was interesting, she'd get an earful for it.
She pursed her lips slightly and tapped a pen against the blank space of her notebook...
"...Say hello first, compliment her on being so cool lately... then get to the point simply, ask if she could maybe introduce the maker or where to farm it."
That seemed pretty solid.
Isabella scribbled away in her notebook, running a simulation for how the conversation with Dolores would go.
"...Mm, good."
She managed to come out ahead, with only about three shouts, two sighs, and one spanking.
Back in the day, whenever Isabella did something wrong, Dolores used to spank her for it.
Her hand packed quite a sting.
...This much, she could go ahead and contact her.
Isabella placed a call to Dolores.
* * *
"Are you sure it's fine not to climb right away?"
"Mm. The 150th floor's the important one anyway... no need to rush before that."
The community's claim that Dolores had gone straight to the next floor had been false.
Argh.
The moment the trial ended and everything was wrapped up, she'd come rushing straight back.
"Lionel... did you see the video?"
"Yeah."
"........."
Dolores was lying on the beanbag in the exact same position Yeomhwa had just been in, holding me close.
For the record, Yeomhwa had fled, claiming her stomach hurt.
"......It's the kind of gear that makes you shake your head more, the more you use it."
"Glad to hear it."
"For one, the biggest advantage is that there's no telegraph, so the opponent can't catch on. The second advantage is that it never eats into your cost... and also...."
I knew it was good, but hearing it explained directly by someone who'd actually used it hit different.
"...Above all, it respects magic itself..."
Dolores was slowly explaining the gear's effects to me, when she suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
"...I'm just, so grateful, Lionel...!"
"Oomph!"
Squeeze....
Some sudden surge of emotion seemed to hit her, and she wrapped me up in a tight hug.
Startled me.
I gently patted the back of her hand.
Well... when she liked it this much, it made all the effort worth it for the person who made it.
But... as I listened, one thing kept nagging at me.
Hah....
It was this good....
Such good gear....
I waited for Maman to calm down, then opened my mouth.
"By the way, Duchess Dolores."
"Maman."
"By the way, Maman."
"Mm...."
Dolores's hand gently stroked my back.
"Is there some rule against enchanting a divine implement?"
Flinch.
Actually, I'd been thinking about it for a while.
It already performed this well as it was, but what would happen if I enchanted it?
"To +20 or higher, even."
Just like there's no rule against putting fish cake in your food, there's no rule that says you can't enchant a divine implement just because it's a divine implement.
I didn't actually know if it was even possible to enchant, either. Of course, if it broke, Gaia's and Dolores's mental states would probably shatter too, but....
At my words, Dolores's hand went still.
"......."
Slip....
Squeeze....
She started clutching the emblem tight.
Shiver, shiver.
She seemed to be trembling a little, too.
"Th-that's right... enchanting... +20... that sounds wonderful...."
"Right?"
"Ah... ah... yes... well, I trust Lionel...."
Dolores's eyes drifted toward the emblem.
"But... if it happens to break...."
"......Well, that'd be a shame, I guess."
"Ah.........."
"You trust me, right?"
Dolores kept the emblem clutched tight in one hand while the other continued stroking my back.
Something about her posture had gotten a little strange.
"I trust... trust...."
"Hmm...."
"Shouldn't we do a little groundwork first...?"
"Groundwork?"
Maman smiled and pointed toward the door.
"Why don't we try it on Yeomhwa's first...?"
"Ah-ha."
She'd made me a new proposal.
The traditional enhancement method.
Offering up a sacrifice.
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