WeTried Translations
Translator: [IncomeElastic]
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈
Chapter 90
──────
Take It All!
* * *
So this is why everyone goes on about matching sets.
For reference, a matching set means your weapon, secondary weapon, and emblem.
Even though I'd only gotten one piece properly matched, the effect it produced was ridiculous.
I'd even been wondering how she'd manage to carry the rose around and keep it safe, but I didn't need to worry about that at all.
It floated up on its own and stayed hovering right behind Yeomhwa.
- Drag, drag, drag....
Yeomhwa, scruffed by the neck and dragged off by Dolores.
"Lionel! I'm opening my wallet! What do you want?!"
"Just get dragged off for now."
- Billowing....
The moment Dolores threw open the force field, the smoke trapped inside came pouring out.
"Ugh."
- Flap, flap.
I waved my hand and cleared the smoke away.
Honestly, the full salvo Yeomhwa had just unleashed was a fair bit removed from what I'd actually intended when I made the Rose Bloom Finale.
All I'd wanted was a way to reload without using mana.
I hadn't meant to end up inducing a five-second-interval barrage like this, but...
So this is what game developers always meant in their patch notes when they griped about players using things in unintended ways.
"...... Good."
Of course, I had no intention of nerfing it.
Well, if the wearer liked it this much... why bother?
"... Ah."
Wait a second.
A sudden wave of exhaustion hit me.
This, it's here.
I'd kept myself tense the whole time, and now that everything was resolved and that thread of tension had finally slackened, all the fatigue I'd been forcing down started rushing back in.
This feeling of the fatigue debt I'd racked up, finally rebounding on me.
It's coming, right now.
- Flop.
I sank down onto the bench.
I'd only meant to catch my breath for a moment, but my snot-nosed fourteen-year-old body ignored my will entirely and slowly tipped sideways.
My shoulder met the bench.
Ah, let's just sleep a little.
[Big brother, you did great.]
Yeah, thanks, Yuna.
"Lionel...?"
"Lionel!"
The last thing I saw through my closing eyelids was Dolores and Yeomhwa running toward me.
I closed my eyes, satisfied.
* * *
- Tap, tap.
Ignia's fingers tapped against the flame.
The fifteenth time this season she'd sat down to sort out her thoughts.
She had something on her mind.
... It had been a long time since she'd last granted a gift to the Sun Dwarves.
But before granting that gift, there was one thing she needed to make clear...
Ignia had never "abandoned" the Sun Dwarves.
From the very beginning, what she'd loved was a will that burned hot, a diligence that rose again no matter how exhausted or beaten down.
The effort and tenacity a mere mortal poured into surpassing their own limits...
The Sun Dwarves of the past, or rather, the few among them called the Heirs of Flame, had all of that.
So Ignia had gladly supported and sponsored them.
Except.
If the Sun Dwarves thought that was the goddess showering favor on their whole race out of fondness, that was a huge misunderstanding.
From the start, what Ignia had sponsored wasn't the Sun Dwarves, but the Heirs of Flame.
She might have helped out of pity for their wish to lift up their race, but that never changed who the actual recipient was.
'... Well, look at this.'
She'd realized that the moment the Heirs of Flame disappeared.
The Sun Dwarves had started taking the goddess's gifts and their prosperity, all of it, for granted at some point.
Without ever knowing what blood, sweat, and tears lay behind it.
Fat, complacent pigs...
That was how they looked to Ignia.
Nothing in the world was ever simply given for free...
So Ignia had cut off all her support.
She'd thought that once they lost it, they'd realize just what they'd been taking for granted...
Then, just as she'd lain down to sleep, news suddenly reached her.
"They say the new Heir of Flame has chosen Lady Gaia as the target for their divine implement...."
"Eh...?"
It felt like she'd been struck hard on the back of the head.
The newly appeared Heir of Flame had gone and fallen asleep in the earth's embrace.
And on top of that, had even offered up his divine implement.
"I-is it because I didn't cherish your pathetic race... because I didn't look after them, that you're this upset with me...?"
This isn't fair...
- Slip....
The flame flowing from Ignia's hand drooped, limp.
B-but I liked the Heir of Flame from the very start....
And so the newly appeared Heir of Flame offered his divine implement to Gaia, and even made stunningly beautiful underwear for Gaia's child.
Watching him keep effortlessly whipping up one beautiful item after another, Ignia had no choice but to sit off to the side, sucking her thumb.
Could he really have fallen for Gaia?
Had he shut his heart to her completely?
"At this rate, even Gaia's underwear...."
He might make that first, mightn't he...?
Do you know what underwear means to a god?
To begin with, a being like a god has no need for clothing whatsoever.
They can simply will anything into being to wrap around their body.
For a god like that to accept and wear underwear made by a mortal carries an outrageous meaning.
Something a mortal's hands measured and cut for a place no one else is ever permitted to touch, wrapping around the god's bare skin day and night.
Underwear is a token of intimacy a god can grant a mortal....
To begin with, no mortal capable of making garments a god would go mad over had ever existed in history....
Even the rumor that Gaia had already had her measurements taken and was mentally preparing herself was enough to drive Ignia insane.
She hadn't shown up to the gods' regular gathering in months already.
If she ran into Gaia there, that innocent-looking face would surely start rattling on about waists and hips and whatever else, turning her stomach.
She'd been quietly wasting away over thoughts like these, but...
Then one day, out of nowhere, word came that the Heir of Flame had made contact with her own daughter too.
"A rose... beautiful...."
Ignia spent an entire day just staring at that piece of gear, grinning like a fool.
Not only had he devised a whole combat style for her daughter, the design itself...
was packed with details so precise they'd make even the gods shiver, every pinpoint touch chosen with care.
"To care for Yeomhwa this much... hehn...."
The corners of Ignia's mouth slowly crept upward.
At this rate, she could afford to boast a little at the next regular gathering.
The Heir of Flame had shown her sincerity first, in a sense. So she'd have to return the gesture.
"If you cherish that pathetic race of yours...."
Looking after them again wouldn't be hard at all.
Thoughts, sorted.
- Whooosh!
Flames split off from Ignia's fingertips and fell down toward the Tower.
For the Sun Dwarves, it would be a gift like the first rain after a long drought.
And one more thing.
"Tell Yeomhwa that when she enters the Tower, she's to come find me first."
There was something she needed to pass along.
That bitch Gaia gave the Heir of Flame a flower, did she?
"Sinister, sultry, salacious, scheming bitch."
What giving a flower actually meant was so embarrassing she couldn't even bring herself to put it into words.
Didn't matter, though.
If Gaia had tried to buy the Heir of Flame's heart with a flower, all Ignia had to do was hand over something that would make his eyes roll back the instant he saw it.
"...So let's make up. I'm sorry...."
I'll treat you well from now on....
That, honestly, was her real feelings.
* * *
"Ugh."
I sat up.
My whole body's stiff as hell.
I'd gotten thoroughly chewed out again by Hareungar in the mindscape.
He'd been going on about how I'd been doing so well lately, so why did I suddenly pull something like that.
I got it.
But once I showed him the Rose Bloom Finale, his eyes went wide and he actually clapped.
So this time, I got some leniency, at least.
Phew.
"......?"
When I sat up, Dolores was lying right next to me.
Her body was pressed flush against mine, close enough that I could feel her breath right in front of my face.
Her cool skin was pressed snugly against mine.
"You're awake, Lionel...?"
Her closed blue eyes opened, and Maman smiled softly.
"Yeah."
Our eyes met, and Dolores smiled.
- ... Smooch.
She pressed her lips to my cheek, just like Yeomhwa had done.
- ... Smooch.
Then pressed her lips to the other cheek.
- Flinch.
For the third, she hesitated.
'Twice is more than enough, isn't it.'
Hmm....
She was probably remembering something she'd said herself.
"More than twice is fine too."
"......."
The instant I gave her permission, Dolores's lips touched my cheek.
"Camilla says it was overwork. She said the only other time she's seen a child collapse from overwork was at a labor camp...."
"Ha ha."
Honestly, this might have been harder than actual forced labor.
But wait a second.
"... Camilla?"
If that person had examined me, then....
- Trickle....
Only then did I notice the damp feeling on my forehead.
I looked at the mirror beside me... and saw something glowing faintly green resting on my forehead.
This is that seaweed thing Yeomhwa had stuck on herself.
"......."
- Creak....
I turned my eyes toward the door.
A woman with blue hair stood in the doorframe, arms crossed, looking down at me.
A woman in a white coat, unmistakably a doctor's gown....
"Hey there. Cute little runt."
"......."
Beside me, Dolores told me who she was.
"This is Camilla."
So this was the doctor I'd only heard about.
But just then.
- Slip....
Dolores suddenly began sliding away from me.
"......."
Watching this, Camilla shook her head.
"It was overwork, but your body should feel lighter now. Eat well and go do whatever you need to."
"Ah... thank you...."
That was an incredibly sensible, pleasant prescription.
Usually all you get is "rest up" or something like that. This was the first doctor I'd met who actually said something nice to hear.
Just then.
- Lioneeeeeel!!
A tremendous voice suddenly rang out from the mansion's entrance.
"... Go on."
"Thank you for the treatment...."
"Don't mention it."
Camilla stepped aside from the door, and through the gap I got up and headed toward Yeomhwa.
"Let's go together, Lionel...."
Dolores got up too, but-
- Click.
the door suddenly shut behind me.
- What did you just do.
- .......
- You said you'd look out for him, s-
The voice suddenly cut off.
"......?"
I had no idea what they were talking about, but-
- Lionel!!!!!
someone downstairs was calling for me so urgently that I had no choice but to go down.
- Thud-thud-thud-thud....
I went down the stairs, and there, in the middle of the mansion...
"Wh-what is this?!"
Gold bars were piled up, and beside them were minerals, and beside those, gemstones.
Even at a glance, these were clearly rare, high-quality pieces.
These were way better quality than the minerals the imperial family gave me...?
Even those gemstones were rare enough that I'd never seen their like at the auction house.
I slowly lifted my head and looked at the woman standing before me.
What in the world is all this.
"Lionel!"
Yeomhwa stood in the middle of it all, throwing both arms wide open.
"Take... it all!"
Lionel is rich now.
My eyes about bugged out of my skull.
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