Lying down on soft grass, Cassie looked at the drifting clouds with envy.
He kinda wished he was a cloud… but that would make Hestia sad so he thinks better of it.
Cassie, a young boy from Earth who found himself reborn into this world after an untimely death. He was raised in an orphanage in this world so he doesn't have anyone he would classify as family.
And the orphanage didn't really care about any of the children, sometimes he wonder why they were even running it in the first place, it wasn't like the matron was getting paid right?
Well anyway, once a child gets to a certain age, the matron not so subtly tells them to go become an adventurer and that was the reason why Cassie came to Orario in the first place, he also wanted to see what the big deal was.
Well, he did see it though and he wouldn't like to see it again. To him, the dungeon is a suffocating place, a place where you are surrounded with bloodlust every passing moment. For someone like Cassie who has experienced death before, he didn't like it.
Cassie should have left the orphanage when he was 15 but since he is an unmotivated person, he decided to ignore the subtle approach of the matron, to be honest he was wondering how far she would remain passive aggressive and it wasn't until 2 years later she got fed up and chased him away.
Hmmm, perhaps the reason she takes in orphans in the first place is to make them indebted to her and send her monies once they start making bank?
While the matron was many things, he doesn't want to believe she was that petty.
Anyway, it was on his first day in Orario that he met Hestia, his goddess.
Hestia was… in one word: Homey.
Cassie has always had a sort of detachment to the world until he met Hestia…
Hestia didn't push him to do things he did not like, even when he had stopped going to the dungeon, he had expected her to snap but she didn't seem to mind. Hestia was understanding and playful and he likes how she is always touchy-feely and how she always wears her heart on her sleeve.
Hestia was warm, the words that she seemed to say so casually were things that Cassie wouldn't trade for anything, even as a God who's arcanum is sealed, Hestia was someone who was always ready to trade blows if someone talked down on him.
That's why Hestia reminded him of home, not home as in the orphanage or home from Earth. Just home in general.
And Cassie, Cassie liked home.
As Cassie continues to watch the drifting clouds, the sounds of footsteps starts to approach him but he doesn't pay any mind to it.
"Oi! What are you doing lying here, are you dead or something?" A feminine voice calls out.
"Hmm? Oh, it's you Tsucchi."
"Oh, if it isn't Cassie… why are you here looking depressed?"
The one who arrived before Cassie is called Tsubaki Collbrande. An half dwarf lady who looks to be in her 20s even though she's probably older than that. She has brown skin, long black hair and red eyes but with a black eye patch over her left one.
"What are talking about? I'm being introspective, I'm not depressed." He replies.
"Yeah, yeah…" She starts to say before something distracts her. "Cassie, this sword."
On Tsubaki's hand is the sword that Cassie had brought along with him.
"Ah, I came here to give it to Hephy to appraise, somehow I found myself lying on the grass instead."
Right now, Cassie is lying on the grass inside the compound of the Hephaestus familia, the one located in the north-west area.
"Hmm, this is enchantment, and it's unlike anything I've seen before, what are these strange symbols." Tsubaki appraises the sword with masterful insight.
Sitting up, Cassie responds to her who has her whole attention on the blade. "The words there means "Durable" and "Sharp""
"Oh? How do you know that?" She asks, still inspecting the blade. "Although it is indeed sharp and durable… a cheap blade should not have this kind of sharpness nor durability."
"Well, that is because I wrote those words myself." As Cassie says that, Tsubaki's one eye snapped to him.
"You made this sword? Since when were you a blacksmith?"
"No, no, I didn't make the sword, I only did the enchantment… that is a sword I picked the last time I was here." Cassie responds and Tsubaki looks at him intently.
Without any words, Tsubaki draws the head of Cassie to her chest as she laughs out loud.
"An enchantment that could make a cheap sword look like this… what could you do with a sword crafted by a master smith then?" She says peering straight into his eyes with a big grin on her face.
"Alright, you are spending the day with me Cassie."
"Wait a minute, Tsucchi. I'm here to meet Hephy, you know? I just said that right?" Cassie replies as Tsubaki holds him by the neck to her chest, leading him away.
"Don't worry, you can meet her when we finish." She says while Cassie just accepts his fate.
From a window pane, Hephaestus watches as Tsubaki leads Cassie to the forge, a chuckle on her lips.
•••
"Wait, that's it? You don't need anything except a quill and ink?" Tsubaki asks flabbergasted by his words.
"Yes, give me any weapon along with a quill and ink." Cassie replies easily.
"You are not joking with me right?" Tsubaki narrows her eyes.
"He is not lying." A new voice cuts into the conversation.
"Goddess." "Hephy."
Entering into the forge area is Hephaestus, the resident God. She has neck long crimson hair and red eyes with a black eye patch covering her right eye. She is wearing a white button up long sleeve with the sleeves rolled up partially, black pants and leather boots. Hephaestus is also a very close friend of Hestia.
"Goddess, are you saying all he needs to make an enchantment is a quill and ink? That does not make sense at all."
"Well, it is not impossible. It might also be a skill, but it does sound ridiculous I guess." Hephaestus says, curiosity on her voice.
"Tsucchi, just give me what I requested and I'll show you…" Cassie says as Tsubaki walks out of the room muttering then looks to Hephaestus. "Anyway, I specifically came here for you Hephy…"
"Do you have any business with me?" Hephaestus replies, crossing her arms under her bosoms.
"Yeah… I want you to buy this, please." Cassie replies as he passes the sword he came with to her.
Taking hold of the sword, Hephaestus started to inspect it. While the sword was utterly mundane, the enchantment was a thing to marvel at, it had made the value of the sword skyrocket. The use of quill and ink to draw the strange symbols also reminded her of runic transcriptions.
She narrowed her eyes on the sword.
"Cassie, how long did it take you to enchant this?" Hephaestus asked.
"Hmmm? Probably around three minutes? I can't really remember, I wasn't keeping track." Cassie responded.
"How peculiar."
"So, you will buy it, right?" Cassie presses, looking at Hephaestus with doe eyes.
She chuckled. "Why do you want to sell a weapon all of a sudden." She asks.
Due to Hestia, Hephaestus is aware of Cassie's circumstances and that he doesn't go to the dungeon, and she is also aware that he is not the type of person to usually take initiative like that.
"Ah, well you see, Hesty got us a new Familia member…"
As Cassie starts to explain, Hephaestus expression turned to one of "oh, I see."
"A young boy, from what I have learnt about him, he seems like a reckless fellow and the type who charges head on into danger, that's not a good trait to have… but he seemed very determined to become an adventurer… He wants to become a hero, it's such a silly goal isn't it? But somehow I found it endearing. Even though I think they are weird, I don't hate people who have such aspirations." Cassie rests his chin on the back of palm as he sighed. "That's why, even though I can't venture into the dungeon with him, I want to at least do something for him so that he can protect himself better… Hesty was really excited when she brought him home, you know? If anything happened to him, Hesty would be sad… and I don't want that."
Hephaestus blinked as Cassie finished talking, she didn't expect him to have such a complex character, he always seemed laidback and carefree that seeing this side of him was a bit surprising.
She reached a hand and tousled his black hair, smiling. "I'm glad Hestia has a child like you."
"Hephy…"
"What's with the mushy atmosphere here?" Tsubaki says as she walks in.
"Tsucchi, did you bring it?" Cassie replies, looking at her.
"I've got your ink and quill right here!" She says, presenting the item on her hand.
"Oho, merci, merci." Cassie says as he receives it.
"Mercy?" Tsubaki asks.
"I don't really understand it but I think he meant 'thank you.'" Hephaestus says, furrowing her brows.
Cassie looks at her with wide eyes. "Hephy, you can speak French?!" He asks.
"I don't know what this 'French' is but I vaguely understood the meaning behind the words." She says.
"Oh, since you're a God, I guess that kinda makes sense… by the way, what weapon am I enchanting?"
Tsubaki walks to a nearby table as she retrieved a sword from it. "This one. I forged it yesterday, it already has some enchantment but I want to see how far you can take it."
The sword presented to Cassie was a silver bladed katana with a black hilt.
"Alright then…" Standing up from where he had been sitting on a workbench, he set the sword on the cleared table beside it.
With Hephaestus and Tsubaki standing on each side of him, Cassie dipped the quill into the ink and then he started writing on the sword.
As the ink completes a word, it sticks onto the blade as if engraved.
It doesn't take long and Cassie was finished.
After that, the moment passed in a blur, Hephaestus agreed to purchase the blade he brought along even though she didn't really need it, Cassie promised to make it up to her while Tsubaki made him promise to come help her out when he had time.
Saying goodbye at the gate, Hephaestus and Tsubaki watched the back of Cassie as he made his way home.
"Goddess." Tsubaki started.
"What is it, Tsubaki?" She asked.
Tsubaki inhaled then looked at her. "What the hell was that?"
To Tsubaki, that question held a lot more questions to it. She had been utterly baffled by the way Cassie had enchanted the sword still in her hand. It didn't take him up to five minutes to add the enchantments. He made the sword unbreakable, a sword that wasn't made using Oricalculm, he made it so that it would always stay sharp, and he made it practically weightless as well.
For Tsubaki who is a mastersmith, even with mystery, it seemed too far fetched… and that is not even including the fact that he had made it all possible using a normal quill and ink.
So it begged the question.
What the hell was that?
"Listen Tsubaki." Hephaestus started, watching as Cassie went out of view. "What Cassie just performed is something I can do but only when my arcanum is unsealed… you understand what I'm trying to say right?"
"That..." Tsubaki was at a loss for words.
"He is not divine… but that power might as well be… and I have a feeling that was only the tip of an iceberg."
It seems like she would need to have a talk with Hestia.
Tsubaki sweat drops with a grin on her face as she continues to inspect the blade.
"Well, he is an interesting fellow. I wonder how many enchantment is his limit. I'm really fired up, so I look forward to him visiting again." Tsubaki laughs.
•••
Cassie walks with peppy steps, a pouch on his hands that seems to produce a clinking sound as he walked.
"I should be able to get some decent equipment for Bell with this." He mutters, he of course plans to enchant the gear as well.
He hums as he made his way home, easily ignoring some looks sent his way, it's bothersome to acknowledge them after all.
As he was approaching the location of the guild, he saw a boy covered from head to toe in red which was obviously blood.
See, this is what he means, the boy probably just narrowly escaped death, even after almost dying, he would still enter the dungeon as if nothing happened.
Adventurers, such a weird bunch, Cassie thinks as he was about to cut a corner in order to get to the church quicker.
"Eh, Captain!" The boy who was dripping red from head to toe suddenly called out to Cassie.
Cassie's head snapped immediately to look at him with wide eyes.
"B-bell?"