Chapter 90: Hephaestus' Incarnation

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The entire meeting went on for three hours, during which they discussed strategies and the like. I didn't have any authority there, and I didn't really want to get attention either, so I let them build their own thing. I will support everyone on the sidelines, where I feel much more comfortable than taking the spotlight and then getting into trouble for bringing too much attention.

I evaded a bullet right now by smartly saying I barely did anything against those three demons in one package, but I doubt I'll be able to get away with it so easily as I continue showing off my power and accomplishing great feats. Not like I'm getting cocky or something either, but still.

For now, remaining lowkey while growing my strength is my ideal goal; the less attention I get to myself, the fewer creeps I'll attract, and so on, which will be much better for me while I'm still developing.

The strategy was quite basic; they just divided our group into two: one would watch through the entire city's walls and streets, while the other group would be the protection group, which would protect the major and other important government people tomorrow.

Among that group were my brother, Henrietta, me and my friends, and Lee. Ugh, I am beginning to think that bastard's planning something devious. Should I tell my brother he's a Demonic Human yet? I doubt he wouldn't believe me, but he seems to want to cooperate for now while fighting against the Dawn of a New World.

So for now, it would be beneficial to just make my brother cooperate with him while having his guard high at his side and using his strength to deal with Dawn by forcing him to cooperate. And the best way to do that is by shoving him in the middle of many civilians.

If he wants to keep his image, he'll have to cooperate without a question. This is probably why the chairman chose him to participate in this group instead of the protection group, which he desperately wanted to join. Obviously, because he's a lazy bastard.

As we walked outside of the building with my brother, Henrietta, and my friends, we were discussing what had happened in detail.

"You guys didn't say a single word through the entire meeting! Did you really not want to express our opinions? You could have helped shape the strategy if you wanted." Henrietta sighed.

"E-Err, well, I just didn't feel like it…" Her brother sighed. "Sorry…"

"Honestly, it was scary…" Annabelle sighed. "Everyone was glaring at me angrily because of my brother too…"

"The new hunters were quite rude; I couldn't find a moment to talk at all, and well, I'm just a new hunter, so... I didn't think it would matter." Dan Baihe sighed.

"I just didn't want to bring attention to myself." I shrugged.

"Well, leave them be; they're just starting as hunters." My brother said, "How about we go eat something in a restaurant?"

"Hot chicken wings!" I said.

"Alright!" My brother quickly changed his attitude, becoming much more cheerful.

As we made our way there, we all sensed someone following us. They were doing a terrible job at that too, because they couldn't even hide their enormous aura of Mana, and their body was quite huge, to be honest…

No, it wasn't the asshole of Heckert nor Dimitri, it was the nicest of the three, Hilda, the beautiful, muscular blacksmith girl.

"Hilda, I know you're following us." I sighed as we stopped walking and glanced behind me.

"Ah, I thought we were going to just ignore her." Dan Baihe said.

"Hey, creep! That you're an A+ Rank Hunter doesn't mean you can just chase us around!" Kevin answered angrily.

"I was thinking you were a decent person, but if you want to do something to my sister, I'll have to get rough." My brother said menacingly.

"A-Ah… Eep! Please don't get the wrong idea!" Hilda showed up from the other side of the alleyway. "I'm sorry! Okay? My sponsor has been telling me since I set eyes on Anna that I should get along with her. Because she has tons of rare materials!"

"Rare Materials…?" My brother and everyone else were left speechless. "Wait! So you want to steal them?!" My brother went back to his menacing glare.

"N-No, not that either! In fact, I gain favors and divine power from my sponsor by crafting items; the stronger they are, the stronger my skills and stats become too." Hilda sighed. "S-So I was thinking if it would be alright if I worked for you guys?"

"Work for us?!" I asked. "Isn't this too good?! Eh?! I have terrible luck, so how is this possible-"

I quickly glanced at everyone around me. And even my pet, Shiro, who was hiding beneath my coat. Right, everyone has a lot of luck except me. Did my luck get canceled or something? Well, whatever, I'll take this opportunity while I can.

"W-Well, I can't really detect any lies; she doesn't have evil intentions either." Henrietta analyzed her with her powers. "She's saying the truth, mostly. Hephaestus, the God of Blacksmiths, also wants to see what we've got."

[The Cosmic Throne {Divine Forger of Olympus} knows really well you've got a bunch of valuable and amazing materials!]

[He offers one of his sponsors to work for you by crafting incredible items using those materials. He also seems to know that a few other Olympus Gods are watching over you, so he thinks you're quite interesting…]

[The Cosmic Throne {Warrior That Seeks Calamity} glares angrily at {Divine Forger of Olympus}, saying that he better not think about taking you as his sponsor…]

[The Cosmic Throne {Drama Loving King of Wine} smiles, sipping some rich wine while watching the wacky events unfold. He wonders if he should go pick up some snacks next.]

"Alright, fine." I sighed. "Though, Hilda, did you have to act creepily? You could have just gotten closer to us normally by just talking."

"But you seemed all so absorbed in your conversation; it made me feel bad for trying to get in the way... Hahaha! Sorry about that! Sometimes I'm a bit awkward!" Hilda laughed.

Remembering the novel, this character actually never shows up; it is completely original to this iteration of the story, where Stronghold called new hunters to help us out. Though I do remember the other sponsors of Hephaestus, which one of them would ultimately end up becoming his Incarnation?

However, I guess having such a proficient blacksmith at my side wouldn't be so bad, especially because what I can get through crafting is only the roughest results of mixing materials into shapes. If I want something much more refined, with higher durability, specialized abilities, and more, a proper blacksmith is needed.

Though not many have the crafting power I have, I could also be considered something like a weird, special type of blacksmith that can just mix items together instantly. Others seem to do it the other, old-fashioned way. Though, with magic and skills added, it is still quite fantastical.

"Well… If Anna says so.", Jack sighed, calming down. "We'll test your trustworthiness now; come with us." He said.

"E-Eh? Sure?" Hilda walked right behind us.

Once we arrived at the restaurant, a huge plate of hot buffalo wings arrived, steaming hot, with several cups of icy coke with ice, because I didn't really like drinking alcohol myself.

"T-These are hot wings…" Hilda said, swallowing saliva. "A-Ah… I'm not so good with spicy stuff!"

"Well, this is your challenge." My brother smiled maliciously, biting one and then eating it in just a couple of seconds, without even faltering.

I did the same almost gracefully; our favorite fast food to celebrate occasions was hot buffalo wings, with some cold beer for him and a cold Coke for me.

"Yep, there you go, hehehe…" I laughed evilly. "If you want these pretty materials I have, you have to prove to us you're worthy of using them!" I quickly put twenty wings on her plate.

After all, she could gain a lot more favor from Hephaestus thanks to me, changing this world's fate once more and making HER his incarnation instead of another person.

This would be extremely beneficial, as that other person became someone who monopolized items and equipment in the third awakening, when not all things were as accessible.

If we can get someone as amazing on our team, then that's for the better!

"Gulp… Okay! Fine!" She nodded; at least there was a huge cold beer chug at her side. "Let's do this… If that's what it takes! Nom- UAAAGH! SO HOT!"

She immediately started rather terribly, chugging down half the beer and still looking all tired; her lips were all red and seemed to be burning horribly.

"Ouch! Ugh… Nom, nom- Aarrgghh! This is horrible! Why do people like eating this?!" She started crying a bit while eating more and more.

"I-Is this really fair?" Dan Baihe sighed, eating non-spicy wings with some rice at the side and French fries.

"Poor Hilda!" Annabelle sighed.

"Hahaha, she's making a lot of funny noises." Kevin laughed.

"Jack, aren't you being a bit too excessive with this "trial" or whatever?!" Henrietta asked.

"I know, but this is necessary so she can prove herself to us." Jack was dead set on this; he was extremely serious, despite the stupid situation.

"We'll see how that goes~" I giggled, eating my wings calmly while drinking some soda.

"Bwaaaaggh!"Suddenly, at her sixth wing, Hilda let out a huge flame breath, probably part of her own fire-wielding powers!

"Phew… Hahh... You two are AWFUL!" She glared at us angrily. "B-But I ain't giving up yet! Hephaestus is cheering me up!!!"

FLASH!

Suddenly, a powerful aura of flames surged from her body, causing an even bigger commotion. The rest of the people around the restaurant glanced at her in shock and surprise.

Her muscles grew even stronger, her pink hair became completely red, blazing as if it were made of flames, her eyes became orange, and her skin gained several red runes.

"Nom! Nom! Nom!"

Using this buff, she started eating the wings at an even higher pace while drinking beer. She was actually almost finishing them off!

"Did she have to use a buff to just eat spicy wings?!" Henrietta was shocked.

"D-Did she just call the strength of her sponsor just for this?" Dan Baihe was taken aback.

"I-I guess we should never underestimate blacksmiths from now on." Kevin was flabbergasted.

"Hah! Did you think that would be enough?!" Jack said. "Bring more hot wings!" He quickly gave her twelve more. "Eat up! If you use such a power, it's only fair the challenge gets to your level, no?"

"Y-You monster of a man…" Hilda cried. "B-But fine… Bring it in!!!" She continued eating more and more wings.

After almost thirty-five wings, I told my brother to stop. He was almost obsessive about this; he really just wanted to chase her away.

"O-Okay, that's enough! Hilda don't eat more! You passed! Hilda!!!" I cried as she suddenly hit the table and passed out.

BAAAM…!

"Geehhhh…"

Her mouth was letting out… fire?!

"Dan Baihe?" I asked.

"Fine…" She sighed, using her icy magic to cool down Hilda's mouth before she set the entire restaurant on fire.

In the end, we enjoyed our meal, but we were chased out by the restaurant owner because we made too much of a fuss.

Hahaha… W-Well, that's family tradition for ya.

…

"Uggh… Huh? Where am I?!"

When Hilda finally woke up, she was inside my room, sleeping over my bed.

"Sorry about what happened before; we had to bring you here because you passed out."

I had to apologize on behalf of everyone.

"Oh! I see, so I passed?!"

She was really just thinking about that, huh? Not even a single grudge?!

This woman might be softer than I thought.

"Of course you did! Alright, let's first make a proper cooperation contract." I said, bringing out a contract I bought in the Hunter Market, which worked through a magical seal, it made it so both parties would agree to it. If one of them stepped out of their boundaries or did something stated that was prohibited, they would get a terrible curse that might even kill them.

This thing cost around two or three million dollars, but I had spare millions after having sold a lot of materials I got, including some demon materials of lower ranks.

"Alright!" She quickly agreed to everything without even hesitating.

Hehehe, good!

[You have established a special [Cooperation and Exclusivity Contract] with [Character: Hilda Hamelin]!]

"Nice to be working for ya, Anna!" She shook my hand very strongly, almost lifting me off the ground. Gosh, she was strong.

"Likewise!" I giggled. "Now, it is getting pretty late, so maybe you should just go back home or wherever you're staying."

"A-About that, I have my own bag where I store my things, but... I have yet to rent a room in some hotel... Would it be okay if I stayed? Hahaha…" She giggled while nervously asking.

"Ugh… Well, if you'll become my exclusive blacksmith, that's the least I could do for you…" I sighed.

"Wait, exclusive!?" She suddenly got scared.

"Didn't you read the contract?" I smiled.

"Wait? Huh?!" She started reading the entire contract in detail. "Eeeh?! This is not damn fair! Ugh… I've been tricked…"

"Don't worry, nobody said you can't sell items you make or buy materials from others." I sighed. "And it's not like you'll need any other exclusive customers either." I gave her a wink. "Now, take a look at these."

I quickly placed over the table a few S-Rank materials...

Hilda's face instantly went from grumpy to completely drooling, her eyes growing bigger and shining like twinkle stars.

"Ohhh~?!"

Ladies and gentlemen, we got her.

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