Familia

A few days later, I was fiddling with the magic stone in my hand, walking in the city. With a new tattoo on my back, I pushed the door to Tsubaki's Workshop open.

The renovation project would officially start once I got enough money to pay for the materials, but from now on, Hestia would come live with me at the Hostess of Fertility.

With the weight of expectation off of my chest, I moved with a more assured stride.

It stumped me at first. I didn't know what to think. The last straw was my conversation with Tsubaki. She didn't know what qi was. At all.

I slipped in the term into my words, just to see her reaction. Since I was new to Orario and still did not know about the specific cultural norms ruling the city, I decided to not take the bold approach and ask her directly, even though I felt like Tsubaki, with what I've seen of her so far, wouldn't mind at all.

And what did I get? An answer. Or rather, a lack of answers which confirmed the thoughts coming to the top of my mind ever since I stepped into the city. This wasn't a xianxia; this was a regular fantasy world.

The qi of this world was untouched because nobody knew how to tap into the unlimited potential hidden around them, not because it was naturally abundant. In fact, this world was quite deprived of qi, considering nobody ever used any of it to further themselves.

This world followed a natural cycle of life. No excess or dearth was allowed. And the qi present in the environment reflected that fact.

The elation at the realization I possessed much more than just a leg-up on the competition was quickly dashed by the understanding there were no resources in the world to aid me in this journey. The art of alchemy was something only I knew, and therefore, I would have to discover anything beyond the basics by myself. Cultivation? I was stuck with my simple technique of absorbing the qi from the environment and transforming it into my own.

Extremely inefficient, inelegant, and even dangerous.

But since that meant no young masters and the other ridiculousness which came with the concept of xianxia sects, I ended up being rather happy with the news. Just at the cost of having to placate an extremely curious Tsubaki. I ended up not having to reveal anything, but she didn't exactly believe me when I told her qi was a term for vitality where I was born—which wasn't exactly a lie.

It didn't matter—the missing pieces of the puzzle had finally been found.

Alchemy would have to be on the back burner for a while, since I didn't possess the money to create the equipment I would need for this activity and renovate the church at the same time. I was given free access to another path to power through Tsubaki, who saw some sort of talent in me: blacksmithing.

Though, today would be the day where I stop holding back from refining those goddamn ingots.

"You are here early," greeted Jane, not bothering to lift her eyes from her newspaper. I didn't even know Orario had a newspaper until now, but I guessed every city worthy of the name had some way to distribute news. The element which attracted my attention to it was the relation between printing newspapers and the small purple stone in my hands.

I looked at it again; the colored pulse, filled with life—with qi, was something I couldn't get enough of. I recognized this artifact for what it was: a core. One of the staple elements of cultivation, and one which I first gave up all hopes to find in this world. There were just two intriguing points. First was the presence of another energy inside of the gem. One which was both filled with something and devoid of anything. One I assumed was magic.

Second was the intractability of the qi inside of the magic stone. It felt like… it didn't belong here. It wasn't stable, and thus couldn't be predicted either. It was fascinating because nothing in the memories imprinted inside of me when I arrived in this world prepared me for this. So, when I learned these magic stones were what adventurers exchanged for money at what they called the Guild here, my perspective of this city changed.

And the fact the most stable supply of these was the dungeon. A quick trip to the building the Guild owned, a confirmation with Tsubaki she didn't know what qi was, and my feet found themselves pointing towards Hestia.

"What are you doing, wasting time staring at that useless stone all the time? Also, where's your damned snake?" My eyes flickered to the receptionist. Her voice was filled with venom at the mention of Tiamat. I learned she had tried to attack Tiamat with a sword, thinking it was some sort of wild beast who somehow snuck her ways into the shop. Tiamat was alive, and Jane froze every time she saw her, so the conclusion was self-evident.

I scoffed. Must be great to be able to put up a front behind the being you're talking about, and then being scared when in front of them.

I could tell she was looking for entertainment, even through her eternally half-lidded eyes. She was slouched in her chair, like she was melting, and barely looked bothered to even be here. Being at the counter all day when there weren't that many customers must have been pretty boring. Judging by how she just talked to me and the way her eyes shone, drama was a good way to fight this boredom in her head.

Then again, she was always searching for some sort of entertainment. I just had the misfortune to enter the building at that moment.

Too bad I wasn't willing to deal with her shit.

"I'm staring at it because it's the most interesting thing in this room," I said, my tone curter than I would have liked it to be, but fulfilling its purpose either way. Not bothering to answer the second question, I walked up to the backdoor only giving her a quick side-eye.

What an annoying bitch. Learning she had tried to harm Tiamat when I left her in her care may have been a bad way to make first impressions, but so far everything she had done afterward only confirmed them.

Her eyebrows twitched. "Oh, the boy-toy of the boss isn't happy today?" I didn't react to her mocking words. Not because they didn't irritate me, but because I knew them to be somewhat true. So I just shrugged.

"What, jealous? Too bad your face does not qualify you for that sort of relationship. Or even worse, imagine they realize how much of a bitch you are after the fact." I said, faking a gasp before I snorted and left the room. It wasn't the first time I flipped her off like this, but considering she came back each time, it wouldn't be the last.

She was cute, sure… But a couple of days spent inside this city had taught me she was barely average. The women in Orario were just that beautiful. The way she clamped down her expression and kept her poisonous glare at me until the last moment was almost perfect.

I stepped inside the maze which was the back of the shop. Right, right, then left… Take the stairs, 3rd door to the right, left, and left again… it took me a couple of days to learn the correct path. I didn't know who to blame: the architects who designed this convoluted mess, or Tsubaki who declared she enjoyed it.

Finally arriving at the biggest room in this establishment, the one leading to the smithy, I let out a small sigh of exasperation. "Tsubaki, are you there?" I called when I didn't see her immediately, but I felt waves of heat smother me the moment I opened the metal door. The fire was on, but she wasn't there.

There was only one other place where she could be.

"Hey, Tian, don't you know that it's an unpleasant habit to be late when your boss calls you?" I heard her say from the room on my right. My guess was correct. She was in the other part of the smithy, where she detailed her new weapons and took care of the maintenance of the others.

"First, I am not late," I said playfully. Turns out Tsubaki enjoyed this dynamic in a much more sexual way than I thought was healthy. However, I wouldn't be one to decline her advances. Two can play this game, and I would win in the end either way. "Second, you'll have to find another way to call me if you want me to come."

"Another way?" Her head peeked around the corner. I could see a glinting edge in her hand. It was an ax, small by most standards, but its width was something to look out for. It had a curved handle, separated into two parts, which made me realize it was a two-hander, despite the somewhat short overall length.

Black paint covered the eye, while golden engravings bloomed across the body, not quite reaching the edge. It was a beautiful weapon. And judging by the way Tsubaki gripped the weapon with both hands and her feet lagged slightly when walking towards me, it was very heavy.

If Tsubaki found it heavy, then I wouldn't even be able to lift it off the ground.

"Yeah," I said, my eyes stuck on the weapon. "I'm sorry, but ever since I learned of Jane's true character, I automatically ignore what she says to me most of the time. The chance of her saying something dumb every time she opens her mouth is too high for me to take the risk to listen."

Tsubaki laughed, knowing what my feelings towards her receptionists were. She didn't care. The past few days at her side, helping her business, being her errand boy, and learning blacksmithing from her—even if it was just the basics—taught me a lot about her character. She was so honest—to the point of being brash—that it was easy to know what was allowed in her presence and what wasn't.

I wouldn't have talked like this to just anyone, especially if they could impact my livelihood otherwise.

"Despite her bitchy attitude," said Tsubaki, stressing the adjective, "she is good at her job. You wouldn't believe how many adventurers she lured with her facade. Throw a little bit of cleavage and an innocent but eager personality, and you'll have most adventurers ready to get to talkin' money."

"Doe-eyes? She always has that resting bitch face on her. How- Where does that come from?"

"In her own words, it was because you didn't look like much when you came in and didn't have anyone else with you."

My lips twitched, and I didn't bother answering.

"If you want my opinion, I prefer when you don't have much on you. Jane doesn't know what she's missin'," she cooed, undressing me with her eyes. The air in front of the forge was so hot I took to removing my T-shirt when I cleaned metals of their impurities—because that's all Tsubaki would allow me to do. Of course, it didn't matter to Tsubaki, who just kept trying to tease me with the same smirk on her face every time.

"Come to think of it," I changed subjects, without forgetting to grin at her remark. "I thought blacksmiths were supposed to forge weapons, not waste time taking care of them. How come I find you polishing and maintaining them more than creating new ones?"

At my words, she let out a long sigh, tired just thinking about it. She rubbed her forehead with the tip of her fingers, closing her eyes at the same time. "Maintenance has always been a standard in any smithy, so I don't know where you get your information from. We provide somethin' other than sellin' new equipment to adventurers because the market is there, as simple as that." She shrugged. "Most of them don't have a single clue on how to take care of the weapons and armors they pay their hard-earned money for, anyway. So blacksmiths like us are forced to do the maintenance for them."

"And in short?"

"This aspect is way more beneficial than actually sellin' things. The rates I can charge to repair weapons, especially the great ones, are no jokes."

"You know, if it sells for that much, you can teach me the ropes for the basic weaponry so I can take that load off of you. Of course, my pay might have to reflect the change in my work…" She caught the meaning in my sentence. I was paid well for what I did, but she still used the ingot I refined for her work, for free. The only reason I let it go was I probably didn't have another way to earn money before and because I was learning a lot from her.

Learning from a High Smith, from what I've heard, was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. However, as much as I found myself enjoying the work, it wasn't necessary, not with the recent changes I've made in my life. I could earn money in other ways, and blacksmithing isn't the only profession I could experience the same feeling of learning. Alchemy was a side-project for now, but if something happened with this job, I could easily bump that up in my priorities.

But in the end, the main reason was I wanted more money, and was ready to take on more responsibility to achieve that. The church of my Familia would not repair itself, and both the manpower and the materials were expensive.

"I think I have another way to pay you for your… hard work," she said, sending me a suggestive glance. She tucked the ax on the wall and drifted in the air towards me. My thought of how strong the anchors on the wall must be to support the weight of the weapon was interrupted when she put her forearms around my neck.

In one move, she reminded me of how thirsty she was. She looked up at me with an amused grin. Her long tongue soon visited her pink lips, with a lick from left to right. My reaction must have been obvious, because she deepened the embrace, her bust spilling out of her sarashi and squashing against my chest.

I looked past the beautiful globes to catch a glance from the top of her figure. And damn, what a woman she was. Long legs, thick thighs, big ass, wide hips, narrow waist, large breasts. She was the complete package. The figure most women dreamt of having. Seeing it all from a woman staring at me with lust would never get old.

"So?" Her voice was deeper than what I was used to when dealing with women. It was as smoky as the smithy we were in, and I would lie if I said my body didn't display the same reaction as the coal in the forge. "I don't think I have to ask if you like what you see, if what I feel between my thighs is any indication."

She tip-toed to reach my ears, whispering in them, "You've proven me to have the potential to be a great blacksmith… and with that, I can't help but feel like we should… deepen this relationship. What do you think?" Her voice was both breathy and amused, with just enough lust in it to make her point get across.

I put my palms under her arms, close enough to her chest I could start to feel the ridiculous curve her flesh took to make every man's dream a reality, and slowly lowered them. The sensation elicited a slight shiver from her, but she made no move to stop me. No, she even encouraged it, pushing her chest even further into me.

Her skin was smooth and slightly sticky from her sweat. Not that I cared. Her chocolate skin felt like an expensive drape, something I wasn't expecting from a battle-hardened blacksmith—if the rumors were true. The barest hint of muscle, exuding an amount of femininity I had rarely laid my eyes upon in the past. It was beyond taking care of one's body or going to the gym. Each inch of her frame looked like it had a purpose. And that purpose right now was to make me lose my mind.

When I reached her wide hips, I stopped; the comfortable spot her curves created allowing me to squeeze a bit harder. She giggled, and her pants—a hakama, she called it—as loose as she wore it, lowered a bit, the red v-line of her panties appearing. I… I did not expect someone like Tsubaki to wear something like this. I glanced at it for just a moment and realized it cut quite deep as well.

I could feel her body heat up due to the close contact and the lack of cloth on her form, and it wasn't because of the forge lit up behind us. Her insufferable grin widened, and her uncovered eye was narrowed, filled with want. I approached her lips with mine…

"What do I think?" I repeated, my voice nearly a whisper. "I think we should talk about that potential promotion…"

Just like that, the sexual tension was broken. She jerked her head back and deadpanned. "Really? Really?" Her lips twitched. "You should loosen up a bit, Tian…"

Even though she could have made another suggestive comment, she stopped, realizing I cared more about something else. She sighed again but kept her arms around my neck, and her body stayed stuck to mine. "What do you need the money for?" She asked, her voice returning to normal.

"I'm… I'm moving to a new place, but it needs a bit of a revamp. It's for my Familia."

"Familia? So you lied earlier when you said you were unblessed?" Tsubaki's eyes widened, asking this question.

"No, I just joined one."

Her mouth opened and closed multiple times, before she spoke again. "W-What? You're in a Familia now?"

I nodded at her words, and she released my neck. Her arms fell to her side, her bust jiggling with the movement, and she let out the longest and most depressed sigh I had ever heard. It resonated with lost opportunities and shattered dreams.

If Hestia's words were to be trusted, then Tsubaki planned to invite me to her Familia. And since I trusted Hestia's words, I sent a silent 'sorry' to Hephaestus. A Familia which wasn't established yet was a better bet for me.

#####

"H-How?" Tsubaki asked me, narrowing her eyes on the purified ingot in her hands. I smirked, holding the hammer she forged for me in one hand, and another ingot in the other. "You went from making very good progress in refinin' metals, to… this!"

She raised the ingot I just finished working on in the air, completely clean, spotless, and ready to be used for forging.

"What can I say? I'm a talent," I said, prepping the work for the second ingot, my sweat-covered body glistening under the bright sun. I was getting used to the fire of the forge, the high temperature, and a full day of hard work over the days.

"There's bein' talented… and there's this!" She repeated the same pattern, once more gesturing to the ingot in her hand. "In what, a couple of days?!"

Her uncovered eye went to me, in confusion. "Were you hidin' your true potential until now?" I could hear her gulp. "Because I know a rookie when I see one. You didn't know anything about blacksmithin' when you first arrived here. So... what happened?"

"Nothing. Just call it… an enlightenment," I said, smiling as my hammer struck the piece of metal in front of me, the familiar sound of metal against metal echoing in my ears.

"Don't think you can brush this under the carpet, Tian!" Her tone, half-irritated and half-aroused only made me chuckle.

The burden of secrecy gone from my shoulders, the future was looking as bright as the embers of this forge.

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