Tsubaki

(Hephaestus Familia Workplaces)

"Well, here we are." Gareth said as both he and Finn stepped off their ride in front of the cluster forges of the Hephaestus Familia's central point of conduct. "Tsubaki should be available to see us."

"I do hope so." Finn said as he waved Raul away as the Second Liner pulled the cart back out into the street and headed home. Finn shifted Fleinn'leptr into his spear hand and tightened his grip. Even now he felt the power of the spear flow through him, though he could never figure out what it was exactly or how to access it beyond its physical uses.

"She's probably going to blow her remaining eye out when she sees that thing." Gareth said as he held his enchanted axe over his shoulder. "Everyone's been giving it the looks ever since we came back from the Dungeon. They've been looking at it more than they've been looking at you."

"Let them try." Finn said. "Even if someone managed to take it from me, the magic that Steve has woven into it always allows me to call it back from wherever it's gone. I've tested out the range several times already and so far there has not yet been a distance from where it isn't able to come back to me at my command."

"I pity the damn fool that thinks he'd be able to take it." Gareth chuckled as he waved at the guard to let them through.

Both Finn and Gareth being there already stirred a few people up because they saw two of the most powerful members of the Loki Familia in the workplace. There was also the fact that the city was still buzzing with their recent return from the Dungeon. But what captivated them most was their glowing weapons and the magic that seemed to flow off of them.

But out of the two was Finn's spear that drew their attention the most. Because why wouldn't it?

Every good blacksmith there recognised the spear shaft to be made from Orichalcum. Their eyes knew quality when they saw it. But what they could not understand was the spearhead. What looked so clearly like a blue gemstone that actually glowed with a purple wisps of light, the same light emitting from notches shaped like letters, spiralling down around the shaft.

There was something undoubtedly special about it, and every smith there paused their hammering and looked their way to fixate on Fleinn'leptr with restrained interests as both the Pallum and the dwarf made their way over to Tsubaki's forge. Gareth rapped on her door hard, about three times in his signature way so she knew to expect him.

"Come in Gareth!" The captain of the Hephaestus Familia shouted from inside over her own hammering.

The two entered the forge to come upon a dark skinned woman working over a high-grade right on top of her anvil, sweat running down her skin as she worked in front of a blazing furnace.

She was a bit taller than the average woman and her dark skin would often cause people to mistake her for an Amazon at a distance, because they didn't know she was in fact a half-dwarf. One thing that was very noticeable about her was her sizeable bust that she kept bound by what looked like bandages, which was in fact something called a sarashi. Apart from that, she wore a red hakama and sandals.

Tsubaki perked up as she heard two sets of footsteps enter her forge instead of just one as she was expecting. But she still didn't look back as she continued working away.

"Who did you bring with you Gareth?"

"Finn wanted to come and see you for something." Gareth shifted his axe. "I just thought that I also had the same excuse to come too."

"Finn!" Tsubaki smiled as this time she paused from her work and turned around with her arms spread wide-open revealing her singular eye closed and the eye-patch over her left eye as she welcomed them. "I haven't seen you in a long time! Hugs?"

"No thank you." Finn chuckled as he put his hand up. "Unfortunately, not today Tsubaki."

"Aw. But you haven't even given me so much as a 'hello 'for months!" Tsubaki mock-pouted before she opened her eye. She stayed there for a fraction of a second as she took the time to register what she was seeing before she finally noticed what was in their hands.

Her smile turned upside down as she took in first and foremost the difference in Gareth's axe which SHE had forged, and then Finn's new spear which was just a different treasure altogether. She lifted a finger and pointed at them.

"W-where did you get those?!" She asked shakily as her eye recognised the signs of powerful magic emanating from those weapons.

"Yeaaaaaah...that's why we actually came to see you." Gareth rubbed the back of his head.

"We were wondering if you could appraise these for us." Finn said. "We have full confidence in the one who gave these to us but we just wanted a second opinion from the experts that we know."

Without a second thought, Tsubaki chucked her steaming hammer to a side, not caring as she heard it break something as she came closer to them. For a moment she considered reaching out to the spear before she shook her head and looked at Gareth.

"Nah, forget that." She took the axe from Gareth and held it up. "Who the hell tampered with MY work?! We had a contract Gareth!"

"It's not like that Tsubaki." Gareth reason. "The person who did this just added an enchantment on top. He didn't change the axe itself."

"Oh really? Then why is it lighter than before?" Tsubaki asked as she demonstrated her ease in handling it. "I made this weapon Gareth, I know how heavy it was when you commissioned it from me."

"Because that's part of the enchantment." Gareth said. "He said the axe's weight is not different at all. You're just able to swing it faster when holding it."

"That doesn't make any sense." Tsubaki stated. "If you're supposed to be able to swing it faster, then it can only be accomplished one of two ways. Either the axe is made lighter or you are just stronger. And I doubt whatever magic this is, is supposed to be enchanting your arm Gareth."

"Believe me I've tried to make sense of it too." Gareth shrugged. "But I've put it on scale and the weight is exactly the same. It's only lighter when I pick it up. And I have grown stronger, yes. But not by much and I very much doubt it has anything to do with how I swing this axe faster. Even if I have grown stronger, you haven't and you're handling it better too."

Tsubaki raised her eyebrow at him before looking at her axe. She ran her finger over the blade and then suddenly hissed and drew it, seeing it start to gush blood from her fingertip.

"What the hell?!" She exclaimed. "How is it so sharp? Did they whet it for you too?"

"No." Finn said this time. "Part of the magic he put on Gareth's axe was that is magically increased the sharpness of it as well. By how much again Gareth?"

"I'm pretty sure he said a seventh." Gareth mumbled.

"A 'seventh' more of sharpness did this?" Tsubaki questioned as she sucked her finger tip. "What kind of magic is this? We've had magical weapons in the Familia before but not of this kind. From what you've told me, it seems so...practical."

"Because it is." Finn said. "His magic is quite practical in nature. Only two others in our Familia have any sort of elemental magic tied to their weapons by him, fire magic. And even in that, those weapons only set the target on fire. It's not as destructive as what we've heard of Crozzo weapons."

"Really?" Tsubaki asked before she narrowed her eye. "Who are we talking about here?"

Finn and Gareth looked at each other before looking back at her.

"Heard any hot piece of news lately?" Gareth asked her.

"Nooo." Tsubaki dragged out as she sat on her stool again while still inspecting the axe and noticing how all the blemishes seemed non-existent all of a sudden. "And if I did, what would it matter?"

"You sure? Come on, think."

Tsubaki pursed her lips and looked at the ceiling as she tried to remember anything new and important she might have heard. She couldn't really find anything...well, there was that piece of silly gossip she was hearing everywhere...

"Well, it's not important but I have heard something strange today." Tsubaki said as she began rubbing the axe with her fingers and tapping it to see if any strange noises came back. "I don't know much but the smiths have been talking about a new level 9 in the city that came out of nowhere. Apparently the guild is approving of this info but I haven't gone to verify myself. Why would I anyway? Something like that does not just happen." Tsubaki snorted and laughed. "Apparently this person has got the backing of some big Familia. I didn't bother listening to the rest obviously, because come on! Of all things, a level 9 just coming out of the blue like that. As if! The things people do for attention, right guys?"

She looked from the axe with her jestful smile only to see the very serious gazes of her visitors. There was no hint of joke or amusement but utter stoic seriousness.

"Guys?" She asked, suddenly feeling very unsure of herself. "Finn?"

"It's not a joke Tsubaki." Finn said. "WE are that big Familia who swore on that information. We have seen and FELT irrefutable proof that he's a level 9."

"What? But-but that's-"

"He's absurdly powerful, old friend." Gareth stroked his beard. "His strength is unlike anything we've ever seen. But more than that, he's a master smith. He's the one that made Finn's spear here. See?"

Tsubaki looked at them with disbelief.

"You're joking, right?"

"Nope." Finn shook his head. "More than that, the Loki Familia have collectively agreed to enter into an alliance with him and his Familia. The symbol of that union being this spear here." Finn said as he held it out to the half-dwarf. "And I daresay this weapon is a whole lot more complex and magical than Gareth's improved axe."

Tsubaki's gaze flickered between him and Fleinn'leptr before she took it gingerly from his hands and held it to eye-level. Looking past the misty purple wisps, her eye widened as she looked and saw perfectly cut gemstones embedded into the rune-notches of the spear.

"What happened to Goibniu's Fortia?" She asked Finn.

"It got destroyed in a fight with him. He made this one for me as a form of repayment." Finn answered. "So? What do you think?"

"Finn." Tsubaki breathed. "I can't appraise it."

""What?"" The two men snapped.

"It's too high grade for me to appraise." Tsubaki said. "Forget the densely packed magic in this thing, the only thing that I can tell of this is that this shaft is made of Orichalcum and even then I've never seen a Durandal weapon like this...the quality is off the charts! I couldn't tell you how much it is worth."

"YOU? A master smith renowned for her great pieces, and the captain of the greatest smithing Familia IN THE WORLD can't tell how much this thing is worth?" Finn's brows went so high, they almost disappeared into his hair. As much as he had grown accustomed to Steve's surprises, this was not a piece of news he'd been expecting.

"No I can't..." Tsubaki said honestly before she kissed her teeth in deep-thought. "...but we know someone who can."

"...No, surely it's not that serious." Finn reached for his spear but Tsubaki pulled it back.

"Yes it is." The half-dwarf said sternly. "Finn, you can't expect me to ignore this, and just pretend that this weapon does not exist now that I've seen it. Somewhere out there, you're telling me there is a level 9, who is a SMITH and he's created weapon like THIS...outside of not just our own Familia but Goibniu's as well? And you think I'm not going to bring it to the boss's attention." Tsubaki then looked at Finn pointedly. "Come on Braver. Captain to Captain, you understand what I'm dealing with right? How can I not take this to the boss?"

"...Indeed. And I'd probably do the same if I were in your position." Finn said. "But must we really disturb Goddess Hephaestus?"

"Oh, believe you me. When Hephy sees this thing, disturbances are going to be the farthest issue at the back of her mind..."

---

(Hephaestus' Office)

In the chair of the Head of the Hephaestus Familia, in the main office and forge of them all, sat none other than the goddess herself as she went through her daily paperwork. As perhaps the wealthiest Familia in the Dungeon city due to how dependent so many of the other Familia were on hers for weapons and the like, she found herself swamped with many tax bills, invoices, receipts and the like.

One would describe her as a perfect image of perhaps tomboyish beauty. Unless it was a special occasion, she always wore clothes more befitting of a labourer. Added to her deep red hair and her eyepatch, she was quite a pleasure on the eyes. But little did other people know what lay beneath her eyepatch. 

It was her greatest shame and her greatest curse, and time to time she would reach up there and cup her hand over the eye, wishing that she could find some way of getting rid of her affliction. Everyday she was forced to endure the horror of knowing how she looked beneath this accessories. She didn't even need to see it herself to know how quickly she transformed from something beautiful into something hideous.

The number of people, both mortals and gods, had run away from her at the sight of her deformity was telling enough. She could count on her fingers the amount of people that had seen her eye and not run away from her, instead opting to stay by her side and supporting her the whole way through. Those she could call her real companions, her true friends.

Hephaestus picked up another bundle of papers. Since there was such a small number of them and they were clipped together, she liked to get these small bundles out of the way before she went on to working through the big ones.

Picking this particular one up, she saw an invoice pertaining to a contract she had with a particular god. Hephaestus smiled as she leaned onto one palm and stared at the Ptah's name written across the bottom of the page and the bearing of his signature.

He was another interesting character in her long life. She was not amongst the youngest gods of Olympus. Certainly not as old as Hestia, let alone Ouranos but she would say she was somewhere in between the extremes of both the oldest and the youngest. Still, that was a very long lifetime. When gods 'formed' it didn't really take long for them to realize which concepts they were tied to and which Domains they commanded. And it would be during their 'youth' that they would strive to fulfil the expectations of those Domains, following their nature so to speak.

Such as when a young Loki had only gone and pranked a known Primordial whose power was well known to be far superior than that of even Ouranos who himself was in an entirely different realm altogether. Oh, did Hephaestus remember that day when Ptah's rage shook every realm of every Pantheon in heaven as he screamed his curses at the Norse realm.

Did she remember when they were all made to realise how terrible his wrath could be when he was angered and to what extremes he would rise when pushed far enough. Of course, her younger self didn't allow that to deter her from becoming interested in him. She was a born smith goddess who loved forging and moulding weapons from any material and finding out he had been a god over the same thing for time incomparably longer than her had gotten her so excited, so thirsty for his knowledge which he gladly imparted to her.

It was Ptah who had shown her how to create soul weapons and growth weapons. It was Ptah who had taught her to create god-killer weapons and other sorts of weapons that didn't even have physical forms to begin with. She owed much of her success today to him.

When he had descended and had come to her, looking to sell his wares through her Familia, she was more than happy to give him some of her smiths to jumpstart his Familia as a returning of favour. In her eyes, the precious knowledge he'd given her far outweighed the worth of just a few smiths. 

But oddly enough, he had refused. She could understand and respect his desire to build his own Familia, structure his own foundations by himself. So she had complied. But she couldn't let go of him without giving some small favour as a token of her gratitude. So she had given to him one of her Familia's old and abandoned storage facilities built into the wall of the city around the time Orario was still a new city on the map. Since she had no use of it anymore, what with her multiple warehouses, she gave the place to him and he had turned it into his grotto where he carved those funny statues of his.

Hephaestus was perhaps one of the few people who didn't mind the appearance of his statues. In her opinion, what she saw in the mirror when she took the eye-patch off was far worse. In comparison to her, those statues were beautiful, as she had conveyed to him.

What she didn't realize was that Ptah had misunderstood her and had taken her words to mean that his statues were beautiful and something she enjoyed, when she was actually saying that compared to her real appearance, the statues were beautiful. You can probably guess what happened as a result of this 'praise' for Ptah's statues.

But coming back to the original point, Hephaestus was sad that the diminutive god, who in reality carried so much love in his heart, was still having to live life in the mortal realm purely by means of selling weapons (which were still very good quality) through her children. Ptah deserved so much better. She hoped dearly that one day, he would be able to start a Familia of his own that was befitting of him and would go on to be best. To her, Ptah deserved nothing less, for he had only ever shown her kindness when most others turned her away.

The red-haired goddess was pulled out of her nostalgia when her door was suddenly opened by somebody. Only one person in this building had the clearance and audacity to come in like that without knocking and Hephaestus put her papers down to see what Tsubaki wanted of her. Hephaestus was about to greet the half-dwarf when she saw the awed and faraway look on her Captain's face.

"Tsubaki. What's wrong?" Hephaestus asked in concern.

The half-dwarf looked to her before she sighed and gestured for two others to come in. Instantly she recognised the Captain of the Loki Familia and Gareth, one of his executives. She braced herself for something monumental given the grave expression Tsubaki carried and the appearance of two of the most important people of a Familia greater than her own besides the goddess of that Familia herself.

She was half-way out of her seat to greet them since she had not seen them for ages when she saw them.

One she recognised as Gareth's axe which had been commissioned from Tsubaki, only now that it was covered in magic completely forgein to her. Instantly, her innate abilities that she'd brought down from Tenkai began working up a stir. She saw right into the composition of the axe and the web of magic now smothering and weaving through it. Instantly she recognised the 'reality-warping' magic surrounding the dwarf's axe.

But the other...Gareth's axe had NOTHING on the new spear in Finn's hand. In her eye, the magnificent weapon shone like a beacon. It called out to her, sung to her, begged her to dissect every bit of it, take it apart and study every piece and unveil the secrets behind the composition and techniques used to craft such a fine weapon and the POWERFUL magic sown into the very ATOMS of that weapon.

The unknown magic that definitely did not belong to any mortal, or any ordinary one for that matter. No mortal could cast magic that forced the very Laws themselves to defy common sense and empower that spear. Magic that did not belong in this world at all.

She momentarily froze while getting up from her seat, so she was leaning over her desk as she stared at them while her butt still hovered over the seat. The back of her legs still touched the edge of the seat. She stayed there for a few moments before she sprang up quickly, knocking over her seat as she slammed her palm onto her desk, startling her guests as she pointed a long, gloved finger at them and exclaimed.

"Hey! You reek of foreign magic!"

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