WeTried Translations
Translator: [IncomeElastic]
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈
Chapter 89
──────
Let's Do It in Secret Next Time
* * *
Lately, Yeomhwa had been spending her days at Dolores's mansion in comfort, ostensibly recuperating.
The air was fresh, there was plenty to eat, and Lionel and Ruby were both adorable.
Of course, the lady of the house got scary every now and then, but...
Waiting for her equipment to be finished had, if anything, turned into an actual vacation for her.
Whenever she rested her chin on the windowsill and gazed out at the garden, she itched to drop by the workshop just once, but between Dolores's thunderous scolding and the fact that respecting Lionel's work was the right thing to do, she behaved herself and held back.
... And today was her first outing in a while.
Today, Yeomhwa was planning to visit the Tower.
It was about time she showed her face there again.
She didn't know about anything else, but staying away from her patron goddess without a word for this long did weigh on her mind, just a little.
Yeomhwa changed into her going-out clothes for the first time in a while and set foot in the Tower.
She headed straight for the temple.
To begin with, her grimoire had been confiscated by Lionel, so she couldn't even fight right now anyway.
"Hehe."
She had no idea just how good the equipment he was making her would turn out to be, but her expectations were in full bloom.
There were many chapels inside the temple, but one room among them only Yeomhwa was allowed to enter.
The moment she stepped inside, the torches lining the wall lit up in a rush.
- Whoosh!
'You got here fast.'
Maybe she'd missed her.
『You're here?』
A familiar voice echoed inside her head.
"Yep, Ignia's darling Yeomhwa is heeere~"
『How's your body?』
"Much better."
『Not "much," be specific. I asked if it still hurts.』
"It doesn't hurt right now. I'm recuperating."
Yeomhwa gave a small laugh and sat down in front of the altar.
Patron goddess or not, Yeomhwa always said what needed saying.
Ignia was famous, notoriously so, for being incredibly rude to anyone who wasn't hers.
But once she accepted someone as hers, the moment she considered them inside her boundary, she'd grumble the whole time while looking after them, really thoroughly.
- Whooosh...!
The flames blazed higher, as if to say that was enough small talk.
『... Still, well done. For once I get to hold my head up in front of Gaia.』
"... Huh?"
Gaia...?
Why would the Earth Goddess suddenly come up...
Yeomhwa tilted her head over and over, and Ignia shook the flames as if exasperated.
『You know, right? The kid attached to you.』
"I have no idea what you mean."
『The one who said he'd make your equipment.』
"... Lionel?"
There was only one kid who'd said he'd make her equipment.
『It looks like it just got finished, ... an elegant, beautiful rose, so full of respect it's almost enough to make me jealous.』
At the goddess's words, Yeomhwa's eyes went wide.
『I especially like the number thirty-six petals. Six is the number that symbolizes the sun... and thirty-six, six squared, is the number that completes the sun's magic square.』
『Making each of those thirty-six a chamber to hold the sun? I can't even imagine how deeply he had to look into you, how much effort he put in to understand you, just to design something like this. It's admirable.』
Wait, wait!!!!
No spoilers!!!!
『With that almost eerie level of care and devotion, if he ever offers me a divine implement, I wonder what it would-』
"Thank you!!"
- Bolt!
Yeomhwa shot straight up out of her seat.
『W-wait, I'm not done talking.』
"I'll hear the rest when I get back!"
『You absolutely, definitely have to grab-!』
Leaving Ignia's voice behind, she bolted out of the chapel like a bullet.
"Hurry!!"
Ten minutes after returning to the Tower... Yeomhwa was already headed back to Dolores's mansion.
* * *
Before heading to see Yeomhwa, I'd gone to Dolores's office to use the appraisal machine, but the news that greeted me was...
"She went out...?"
What kind of anticlimactic development was this.
Apparently Yeomhwa had gone back to the Tower.
Well... it wasn't like I was the one who'd be disappointed. Yeomhwa would be.
"I'll use the appraisal machine, Maman."
I put on an unbothered face and headed for the machine.
"......"
... Honestly, I was a little disappointed too.
The whole point of finishing a piece of equipment was seeing the recipient's face light up.
When would she be back?
- Whirrr....
While I was lost in thought like that, the appraisal certificate had already printed out.
─────────────────
[Fiancée: Rose Bloom Finale][★★★★☆]
[Unique Equipment]
─────────────────
『Hiding's your choice. If you can dodge, that is.』
- ??? -
『Equipment that holds flame within it, all the way to something made for my daughter.』
『Your intent, I understand it precisely.』
『Gaia, you do know what a rose means in the language of flowers, don't you?』
- Ignia, Goddess of Fire -
『.................』
- Gaia, Goddess of the Earth -
─────────────────
『Oh, oh, oh, my love~ here's a single flower for you~』
- Skilled Blacksmith L -
─────────────────
... Ah, seriously, this is a headache too.
For reference, that absolutely vicious Origin Script... was a lyric from a song from the world I used to live in, one that came to mind when I saw a single flower.
I think I'd just been humming it under my breath, and the fact that it latched onto that and burned it in was truly vicious.
I was speechless.
I'd... have to explain this.
On top of that, for some reason I couldn't fathom, the Fire Goddess was needling Gaia.
How dare she, to Gaia of all people...?
What did a rose even mean in the language of flowers, anyway.
[Well, for one, it's red... and it's a single rose, right?]
Right?
[A red rose means passionate love.]
[And a single one means... "You are the only one I love"?]
Seriously?
[Or maybe something like, "Why did you only show up now."]
I couldn't help but laugh.
That wasn't actually what I'd meant.
Well, Yeomhwa was old enough that she'd probably just find it cute anyway.
I was pulling my lips into a grin and heading toward Dolores with the appraisal certificate in hand when it happened.
"......?"
The back of my head had been prickling, and sure enough, Dolores was staring straight at me.
"... That's a pretty flower, Lionel?"
"Oh, would you like to take a look?"
Getting attention from another Ranker, this kind of thing was nice.
Without thinking much of it, I showed her the appraisal certificate.
"......"
Dolores took the certificate and read it slowly.
- Flinch.
- Flinch.
- Flinch, flinch.
What was that.
Her body flinched every time she read a line.
Once at the name Fiancée, once at Gaia, once at the Origin Script.
"Ah, that 'my love' part... it's just a song lyric... I was humming it and somehow it got engraved."
First, I needed to set straight the part Dolores might misunderstand.
I didn't care what anyone else thought, but I didn't want to leave her room for misunderstanding.
When I explained, Dolores's tensed-up shoulders dropped a little.
"... I see."
"Of course."
Dolores kept flicking her gaze back and forth between the certificate and the rose for a while...
then handed the paper back to me.
"You really did make it... so beautifully...."
- Fidget....
Dolores looked at the rose with a strangely wistful expression.
"Lionel, do you happen to know what a red rose means in the language of flowers?"
"... Yes, I know, but it's not actually reflected in the design."
"... I see."
I'd wanted to say I didn't know, but lying in front of Dolores was pointless anyway.
"......"
[That was mean, big brother.]
... Y-yeah, I know.
I hadn't really done anything wrong, but it felt like I'd committed some kind of crime.
"Maman, soon I'll make you an amazing-"
- Tight....
Dolores suddenly pulled me into a hug.
"Thank you, Lionel... for making such wonderful equipment for my comrade."
"... It's nothing."
As expected... Dolores really was kind-hearted.
That was when it happened.
- Liiiiioneeeeel!
"Whoa."
Someone's booming voice suddenly rang out from beyond the hallway.
What, I thought she'd gone to the Tower.
"...... Let's go."
At that, Dolores stood up with an extremely grave expression.
"You're coming too, Maman?"
"Yes... there's no telling what Yeomhwa might do."
I had no idea what she meant, but either way, I grabbed the rose and the appraisal certificate and headed outside.
The moment I opened the door, what greeted me was a red-haired woman gasping for breath.
"Haah... haah... Lionel...!"
"Don't breathe like that..."
Dolores looked at the panting Yeomhwa with open contempt.
"Should we go to the garden?"
"... Let's do that."
Since she'd need to try the equipment out anyway... the three of us headed straight for a bench in the garden.
After waiting for Yeomhwa to calm down a little, I carefully held out the rose I'd wrapped up.
"This is the equipment I told you about."
I undid the wrapping and held the rose out. Yeomhwa's hand reached toward it, then stopped dead.
"......"
What was this reaction, did she not like it?
"...... T-this...."
Yeomhwa stared at the red bud for a long moment...
"Is this... is this really for me...?"
"Who else would it be for."
"C-can I... touch it...?"
"...? Of course?"
- Poke.
Huh.
Yeomhwa suddenly poked my cheek.
Wasn't she talking about the flower?
Not long after, her hand finally moved to the flower too.
As carefully as if handling a baby, truly carefully, she took the rose from me.
She ran her fingers lightly over the bud and stared at it with her eyes too.
She even brought her nose close, though it probably didn't have a scent.
"It smells so sweet...."
... There was no way that was true.
"... It's so pretty...."
In the end, a smile spread across Yeomhwa's face.
She always had a smiling face to begin with, but seeing a smile this free of mischief felt oddly moving all over again.
"It's really so pretty. It's... the prettiest thing I've ever seen. How did you know I love roses?"
"I did some research."
"I'm touched...."
"Should I explain what the rose can do?"
"Just a moment...."
- Tight....
Yeomhwa pulled the rose into her arms.
"Let me look at it a little longer...."
Ah.
Since she was someone whose emotions ran so vividly to the surface, her reactions were great.
This was exactly why it was worth making things.
Seeing her get shocked by the actual performance would probably be fun too.
Yeomhwa stared at the rose like that for a long while.
Then her eyes suddenly began darting around,
"... Thank you, Lionel!"
"Ack."
and out of nowhere, she lunged and hugged me.
At the same time, I heard the sound of Dolores's chair scraping beside us, but...
thankfully, she let go right away, so nothing came of it.
Her face flushed red, Yeomhwa stared straight at me and asked.
"Lioneeel... can you tell me... what it can do too?"
"Here's the appraisal certificate."
I belatedly held out the certificate.
"There should be a set effect with the grimoire you were already using."
The more detailed workings, the parts that weren't written on the certificate, needed a separate explanation.
Just saying it out loud felt awkward, so I'd written up the instructions beneath the appraisal certificate based on Yuna's summary.
─────────────────
[1. When the grimoire generates a single magic bullet, an identical bullet is copied into all thirty-six chambers of the rose and loaded simultaneously.]
[2. As long as fire energy remains in the rose, loading and firing consume none of the wearer's mana.]
[3. As long as sunlight or ambient fire energy is supplied, the chambers reload without limit.]
─────────────────
As Yeomhwa read the certificate, her eyes slowly widened.
This was it, the moment she'd be blinded by overwhelming performance...
"... Fiancée? My love...?"
"...... Ah, that's not it."
I hurried to clear up the misunderstanding first.
No, read the instructions, not that part.
But contrary to what I'd hoped, Yeomhwa's cheeks had gone even redder than before.
- Fan, fan.
She'd apparently gotten warm, fanning her cheeks with her palm to cool them down.
Finally, her eyes moved down to the instructions below.
"... Reload?"
She froze right there.
"No mana cost... and thirty-six at once?"
"I don't think you'll need to use much mana anymore."
Other than conjuring the gun itself, maybe.
Yeomhwa lifted her head, looked at the certificate, then the rose, and her gaze started flicking back and forth between them.
In the end, her eyes landed on me.
"L-Lionel. Just, just a moment."
"Yes."
"There's something I've always dreamed of...?"
What was it.
"It's, firing dozens of rounds at the same, the same time...."
Yeomhwa's words were coming faster and faster.
"But there's a limit to the bullets... and a limit to my mana too... and I'd just collapse from exhaustion right away, so even the Ether Circle can't make it happen...?"
"... Right."
"I, I have a technique I only ever built in theory. One based on a completely impossible, nonsensical premise...."
A technique built on an impossible premise?
So it was one of those "possible in theory" techniques. I had no idea why she'd bothered making one, but from the look of things, the moment there was even a hint of an opening, she'd have tried it immediately.
She really was the type to push herself past reason.
Yeomhwa looked down at the rose... then lifted her head as if she'd made up her mind.
"I want to try it."
Still rambling a little, Yeomhwa tucked the grimoire under her arm, carefully cradled the rose, and rose to her feet.
"D-Dolores? I'll aim it at the sky...."
"... I'll just put up a barrier."
"Okay! Thanks!"
At Dolores's gesture, a gray membrane spread out around us.
"Aim it at the sky."
"Okay!"
Yeomhwa planted her feet apart and turned her body halfway.
... She struck a pose like some Western gunslinger.
And then...
The moment Yeomhwa raised the rose on her palm into the air,
- Rustle...!
the petals, which had been drawn shut, unfurled from the inside out.
The bloomed rose lifted off her hand and floated in the air behind her.
As expected, she just instinctively knew how to use it.
And then... at Yeomhwa's gesture,
- Hmmm... Click.
a red-glowing shotgun materialized out of thin air.
"Come here, Lionel."
Dolores took my hand and moved me behind her.
"Whew...."
Yeomhwa let out a long sigh as she looked at the shotgun hanging in the air...
then raised a finger.
"Fire all rounds."
And then.
- BOOOOOOM!!!!
Holy hell.
Something fired from the shotgun with a massive roar,
and the fired red rounds split apart, two, four, eight, growing in number... before flying through the air and slamming into the barrier.
- BOOM!!!
"Whew... watch your strength a little...."
As the barrier rippled, Dolores let out a low breath.
At the same time, the blooming rose closed back up.
"She just fired thirty-six rounds at once...?"
I murmured quietly.
It really was, literally, firing every round at once, wasn't it.
Just from the rose closing up, I could tell she'd just used up every single round.
Sure, how she used the equipment was up to her, but...
'Damn it, that's not what I made it for.'
Thankfully, since it didn't use mana, it wouldn't put too much strain on her.
The problem was... not long after that...
- Rustle....
the leftover heat still lingering inside the barrier got sucked back into the rose,
- Bloom!
and the rose bloomed wide open all over again.
Reload complete.
Less than five seconds had passed since she'd fired.
"......"
The corners of Yeomhwa's mouth slowly curled up.
- Whip!
Then she suddenly spun around and looked at me.
"......?"
While we were locked in a wordless standoff,
"Lionel!"
- Whirl!
Yeomhwa lunged straight at me...
"Really, thank you!"
"Wait, hold on a moment...."
- Smooch!
Before I could stop her, Yeomhwa's lips touched my cheek and pulled away.
"I really... I made my dream come true... it was the state I'd always dreamed of...."
- Smooch....
It touched down again.
Then pulled away once more...
"Lionel, really, thank you-"
Right as Yeomhwa's damp, hot, pleasant lips, having already ambushed my cheek twice, were about to touch down a third time,
- Snatch.
Dolores, who'd approached without my noticing, snatched Yeomhwa away.
"Twice is more than enough, isn't it."
"... I-is it?"
"... Get off him before I report you to the imperial family for harassment."
"......"
Yeomhwa's body was slowly pulled away from me.
Even then, she covered her mouth with one hand so Maman couldn't see...
and at an angle where only I could see, her lips moved silently.
"......?"
What was that?
[Next time, let's do it in secret?]
Along with Yuna's translation.
- Wink.
Yeomhwa shot me a wink and added something more,
her lips forming a second phrase right after.
'... What, "-cé"?'
Hmm....
[fiancé....]
[Yeah, I really am going to have to report this to the palace.]
That was how Yuna reacted.
Yeomhwa, rose held to her chest, was dragged off with a happy smile on her face.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
