Under Tsubaki’s dissatisfaction and persistent pestering, Riezel ultimately gave in to her wishes.
He took Fool down from his waist and handed it over to her.
"Nice... It’s been kept in really good condition."
As soon as Tsubaki received Fool, she immediately began polishing it up and down as if she were stroking her own child, her face filled with satisfaction and joy.
It was clear that she truly regarded Fool as her greatest masterpiece and felt genuine pride and accomplishment in its creation.
"Alright, Tsubaki, it’s time to talk about serious matters."
Hephaestus seemed unable to keep watching Tsubaki like this any longer as she quickly interrupted her and pulled her over in front of Finn and Loki.
"There are a few things about the next expedition that I want to confirm with the two of you."
Finn immediately got to the point as well, and together with Loki, he began discussing matters with Hephaestus and Tsubaki.
Specifically, they confirmed the expedition date, the number of participants, the strength of those participating, and how the final gains from the cooperation would be distributed, among other details.
Loki appeared to have already confirmed things with Hephaestus beforehand, and the two major familias had decided to cooperate.
In the end, the Hephaestus Familia decided to send around twenty members to join the Loki Familia on the expedition. Every one of them was at least a Level 3 blacksmith, and this group even included Tsubaki herself.
In return, the Loki Familia promised that all drop items obtained during this expedition would be handed over to the Hephaestus Familia as compensation for their assistance.
After both sides had settled on the departure date and the meeting location, the matter was considered concluded, and afterward, Hephaestus went together with Riezel to a corner of the workshop.
"Right here will do," Hephaestus said calmly, staring at Riezel with one fiery red eye. "What did you want to find me for?"
Hearing this, Riezel did not hesitate.
"I want to ask you to forge a weapon for me," Riezel stated his purpose directly.
"A weapon?" Hephaestus narrowed her eyes calmly. "Didn’t you just receive Tsubaki’s greatest masterpiece?"
"I did," Riezel nodded with a faint smile, meeting Hephaestus’s red eyes, which seemed capable of seeing through one’s soul. "But I also want a weapon personally made by the Goddess of Smithing."
Indeed, whether it was Fool or Hermit, both could be called First-Class Equipment.
However, for Riezel, who had already advanced to Level 7 and could even unleash combat power beyond his level, these two weapons could only be described as barely usable, as they were gradually failing to keep up with his rapid growth and were becoming little more than ordinary weapons.
It could be said that if the two did not possess the Durandal attribute and if Riezel were not still able to use high-tier magic to restore them to optimal condition each time, they would have been scrapped long ago.
Fool in particular was something he had rarely used even before.
Hermit at least possessed the traits of a Nichirin Sword, allowing it to deal extra damage to light-averse, darkness-aligned creatures, as well as a high-temperature enhancement that boosted the power of slashes and could easily melt through ordinary weapons.
Fool, on the other hand, had nothing besides the Durandal attribute, with its only real advantage being its light weight, which was somewhat useful to him, who possessed the Lightweight development ability, as it could slightly increase his DEX.
However, after he successively obtained magic items such as the Giant’s Glove and the Wyvern Amulet, even that advantage had gradually become insignificant.
Whether he used Fool or Hermit, he no longer felt the same sensation he once did, the feeling of holding a powerful, treasured blade.
Ottar actually showed a similar tendency.
As Orario’s only Level 7, he did not continuously use a single weapon as his main armament like other First-Class Adventurers. Instead, no matter where he went, he carried a large number of weapons with him, all of which were high-quality first-grade items.
Yet not a single one of those weapons could withstand his true power, and they were quickly worn out and discarded.
If Riezel had not been using Durandal-attribute weapons from the very beginning, he would have ended up in the same situation as Ottar long ago. Under these circumstances, he truly lacked a divine weapon capable of decisive victory, one that would allow him to defeat even stronger enemies head-on.
Such a thought became even stronger after he had seen Ice Maiden’s national artifact and witnessed the true form of Lizbeth’s Moslow after its seal was lifted.
He truly felt left behind when it came to weapons.
’Even someone like Ainz has a World Item in hand, yet I’ve been using weapons that are only equivalent to artifact-class?’
When he thought about this, Riezel’s desire to obtain a powerful weapon never left his mind.
Now, he wanted Hephaestus, the Goddess of Smithing, to forge a weapon for him—a weapon no weaker than a World Item, no weaker than Ice Maiden’s national artifact, and perhaps not even inferior to Lizbeth’s Moslow.
Needless to say, this was the true reason Riezel had come to see Hephaestus.
Unfortunately—
"I’m sorry, but right now I’m just an ordinary person. If you want a more powerful weapon, you should go to the children in my familia."
Hephaestus shook her head in clear refusal, causing Riezel to stare straight into her eyes.
"Even as an ordinary person, you’re still a divine master craftsman in the field of forging."
Riezel reasoned with absolute certainty.
Yes, after descending to the Lower World, all gods without exception sealed their Arcanum (divine power), becoming omniscient yet powerless beings with zero energy.
In the Lower World, gods were no different from ordinary people, possessing no strength at all, but having their Arcanum sealed did not mean that gods lost everything.
For example, their experience, their knowledge, and their accumulated wisdom were not part of Arcanum, but rather abilities that belonged directly to them.
Why were the gods able to tell whether the children of the Lower World were lying?
It was not something mysterious that couldn’t be explained.
With their transcendent perspective, keen insight, and life experience measured in hundreds of millions of years, it was easy for the gods to see through the lies told by those of the Lower World.
The same applied to Goddesses of Beauty like Freya and Ishtar, whose ’Beauty’ was both an authority and an inherent external condition that did not fall under Arcanum. Even if they bewitched their children into losing all reason, leaving only them in their eyes, it was not considered a violation.
Freya, in particular, possessed an ability like Discerning Eye, which could naturally see through people’s souls. Just as humans naturally perceive the external world, this goddess naturally perceived people’s inner souls—and this was her innate trait, a form of vision, and likewise did not belong to the realm of Arcanum.
For this reason, thinking that gods became ordinary people with no abilities whatsoever after descending to the Lower World was a grave misunderstanding.
A God of Harvest would still know how to produce good crops even without Arcanum.
A God of War would still know how to deploy troops and win battles even without Arcanum.
A God of Wine could still brew liquor so fine that even gods would be drunk after a single cup.
A God of Weaving could still produce high-quality fabrics and craft beautiful garments.
All these were not Arcanum, but knowledge and skill.
As such, even with their Arcanum sealed, some gods could still create miracles within the domains they governed.
Through techniques refined to absolute purity and perfection, using only abilities equivalent to those of ordinary people, they could reach the divine realm that the people of the Lower World yearned for.
It was what was known as divine technique, divine craftsmanship, the true domain of supremacy spoken of by mortals.
For mortals, touching the divine realm with a mortal body was nearly impossible, but for gods, they were born within that realm.
As the Goddess of Smithing, Hephaestus could achieve divine craftsmanship with a mortal body, transforming decay into wonder through the purest and simplest techniques, forging divine armaments that mortals could never create, even if they devoted their entire lives.
And this was exactly what Riezel had his eyes on—he wanted Hephaestus to forge a weapon for him.
"It seems you know quite a bit about me..." Hephaestus paused slightly, but ultimately still shook her head. "I’ll say it again. Go find my children. Weapons made by gods are still too early for you people of the Lower World."
With that, she turned as if to leave.
In response, Riezel did only one thing.
"Please take a look at this."
Riezel spread his hand out in front of Hephaestus, and the next moment, a stone radiating scorching heat, as if flames were burning within it, appeared in his hand.
"What... is this..."
Hephaestus, who had only glanced over casually at first, changed expression the instant she saw the fiery red stone. Almost reflexively, she took it, examined it closely for a moment, then looked at Riezel in astonishment.
"Where did you get something like this?"
Riezel did not answer that question but merely continued to smile faintly and said one sentence.
"It’s called Caloric Stone. It’s the material I prepared for forging my weapon."
Yes, the fiery red stone Riezel had taken out was the World Item he had obtained from the world of Overlord—Caloric Stone.
"Incredible... Something like this actually exists in the Lower World?" Hephaestus caressed the Caloric Stone in her hand, unable to put it down. "Judging by the quality of this material, it would rank quite high even in Heaven."
"I’m glad you like it," Riezel said with a nod. "Then, may I ask if you’re willing to accept my request?"
Hearing this, Hephaestus finally hesitated.
It had been a very long time since she had handled such high-grade material—or more accurately, she had not touched material of this quality for as long as she had been in the Lower World.
In Heaven, it might have been one thing, but in the Lower World, material of this quality simply could not exist.
Even if she wanted it, she would not know where to find it.
Because of this, she truly wavered.
Riezel did not urge her, simply looking straight at her wavering eyes, waiting for her decision.
In YGGDRASIL, Caloric Stones were World Items that allowed one to submit a request to the GM (Game Master) and have them create a desired object.
After arriving in reality, this effect became the ability to transform Caloric Stones into any desired items through imagination alone.
However, aside from that, the holder of Caloric Stones could also treat them as materials, embedding them into weapons, armor, and the like, or even using them as the core of golems.
Using Caloric Stones in this manner was more efficient than letting them transform on their own, and the resulting items would be somewhat more powerful than those created purely through transformation.
Even so, Caloric Stones were still just ordinary World Items, so items made from them would at best be comparable to World Items, but still fall short of rivaling the Twenty.
For this reason, Riezel had never dared to use this precious World Item.
Now, he wanted to hand this World Item over to Hephaestus and have her use it as material to create a weapon of overwhelming power, one not much inferior even when compared to those in the Twenty.
With divine craftsmanship applied and personally forged by the Goddess of Smithing, this Caloric Stone would surely be far more effective than either of the previously mentioned methods of use.
Of course, if Hephaestus truly refused, Riezel would not force the issue, given that there was more than one God of Smithing. It was just that the most famous, most powerful, and most capable one was undoubtedly the goddess standing before him.
Even if Hephaestus declined, he would spend some time searching elsewhere for another God of Smithing, one who could apply divine craftsmanship and use his Caloric Stone as material to forge the strongest possible weapon for him.
He preferred quality over compromise.
Even if it meant leaving the Caloric Stone unused, he would rather do that than waste this one-of-a-kind World Item.
Fortunately, Hephaestus finally relented.
"Alright, but... I have one condition..."
Hephaestus lifted her gaze to Riezel.
"Please say it."
Riezel remained calm and invited her to continue.
"I can use it to forge the best weapon for you," Hephaestus said seriously. "But I want you to leave some of the leftover fragments of this material to me."
Clearly, she found it difficult to part with such excellent material and had been tempted by it, which was why she did not mind making an exception to forge Riezel’s weapon personally.
That said, not long ago, she had already made an exception once for an old freeloader.
Thinking of that troublesome freeloader friend, Hephaestus smiled wryly.
Back then, that friend had once eaten and lived at her place as a parasitic good-for-nothing. Now, she had finally gotten her life on track, taken in a child, and established a familia.
Although it was still a pitifully weak little familia, seeing how that friend had been willing to kneel and beg for the sake of that one and only child, she had forged a suitable weapon for the child.
And that had happened less than a month ago.
Hence, Hephaestus had not expected that she would so soon be personally forging another weapon for a child of the Lower World using her divine craftsmanship.
"Of course, I’ll still charge you," Hephaestus continued as she held the Caloric Stone and looked at Riezel. "Don’t think the Goddess of Smithing’s craftsmanship comes cheap. I won’t hesitate to make you pay a hefty price."
Rather than being intimidated by these words, Riezel smiled and nodded.
"I’ll look forward to it."
Just like that, Riezel handed the Caloric Stone over to Hephaestus.
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[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]