Lily comes back with a great finish to the Wolfman.

'We won!　Takt!

Lily innocently tries to jump on me, but Ion guards her.

'Why are you stopping me!　Aeonchan.

That was a close one, wasn't it? No cuddling.

I agree with Mr. Aeon.

Moo!

Lily's cheeks puffed out at Aeon and Setia's statement. He patted Lily's head.

''Ah...''

"No cuddling allowed, but this is good, right?　Well done. Lilly.

"Heh-heh-heh.

Lily gives me a big smile. And I look over at everyone.

'Good job everyone. You did a really good job. Thank you.

Everyone responds to my words with a shout. Then Ion and Setia answer on their behalf.

'No need to thank me. We are Tact-san's summoned beasts.

''Sister Aeon is right. It's our pleasure to fight alongside Takuto-sama. Take care of yourself.

They're really good together.

'Um... thanks for the help.

Oh, I forgot the boy.

Are you okay?

Thanks to you, I'm unharmed. Thank you.

That's good. So what are you?

'Oh, you didn't introduce yourself yet!　My name is Hephaistos. I'm a blacksmith.

Wait a minute. We just got a great name!

Oh, relax. In the meantime, we dismantle Wolfman and get Wolfman's claws and Wolfman's skin. I treat the boy, who calls himself Hephaistos, to a meal. It seems that he hadn't had a satisfying meal for days, and he thanks me many times.

I don't think this boy is Hephaistos.

Hephaistos is one of the twelve Olympian gods in Greek mythology. Hephaistos is one of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology, the god of thunder, volcanoes, fire and blacksmithing. I think it is usually called Hephaistos in Japan. He is one of the twelve Olympian gods, so his anecdotes are tremendous. First of all, the tripod of Zeus. He is famous for creating numerous divine weapons, including Apollo, Artemis' arrows, Hermes' weapon Halper, Achilles' set of weapons, and Hercules' bronze gong. In case you were wondering, he must have also created the beauty Pandora and the bronze giant Talos.

Do you see how monstrous they are? He can make a beautiful woman, you know? God! God.

Anyway, let's hear a lot of questions.

"Uh, so what brings a boy like you into the woods?

"I was born in the mining country of Vaneleaf, but I didn't have any blacksmithing skills, so I found it difficult to make a living. So I left the country to improve my blacksmithing skills.

Ah, you've heard. That story. I mean, isn't that a bad idea with the God of Blacksmithing or something? That country. Well, he's a boy, so maybe it's no wonder.

''Originally I had no money and couldn't fight, so I traveled and came to this forest while running away from monsters.

"So it's a coincidence that you came to these woods?

'No, I heard there are a lot of requests for early weapons in the town down the road. Then I could do some business with them.

Is that what you're saying, that you were going to do business with us players?

'I was hoping to become someone's resident blacksmith.

"The resident blacksmith?

That's a word I don't know. I thought it was the next evolution of blacksmithing, but I was wrong.

'Don't you know?　Sometimes an adventurer hires a resident blacksmith. And the hired blacksmith is called the exclusive blacksmith. If the adventurers are high level adventurers, they may hire more than one exclusive blacksmith.

Heh, I guess hiring them means paying them? That's very different from your relationship with Mr. Crowe.

'If you're exclusive, can you only do business with your employer?

'Exactly. It's just that there's steady money available, so weak blacksmiths like me aim for it. And trouble only happens with my employer.

I see. Or rather, this flow, the flow of making an exclusive blacksmith... Well, it seems like you're getting along well with Crow-san, so I'll make a suggestion.

Then why don't you become my personal blacksmith?

What?

You'd be surprised. Are you really that surprised? That's the way it went, wasn't it?

'Are you sure?　No, you're so powerful, but you have your own personal blacksmith, don't you?

'I'm not hiring you. I have a blacksmith I'm familiar with, but I wanted a new one since I'm heading to Freetia the day after tomorrow.

Yeah, right. But why do you need me?

I guess it's weird because he's a blacksmith god.

'Is it a hunch?　I have a feeling you're going to be an awesome blacksmith.

After all, it's the same name as the Greek god of blacksmithing in Greek mythology.

''I don't know why for the life of me, but if it's okay with me, I'd love to sign up for it!

All right. You have a good day ahead of you. Hephaistos.

'Yes!　Mr. Takt!

So I escort the boy back to town. First, I sign a contract at the Blacksmith's Guild. Then, an info is played.

'I have signed an exclusive blacksmith contract with the blacksmith NPC [Hephaistos].

Now, Hephaistos is officially my resident blacksmith. I thought I would need to register with the blacksmithing guild, but apparently Hephaistos is a member and that's not a problem. So I paid Hephaistos a contract fee and asked for a room at Mochi's inn for two nights, as there was just an empty room available.

But when I asked him why there was an empty room, he said it was because I had set the lodging fee too high for my food. That's where Mochi-san made a mistake in setting it up. It couldn't have been my fault. We got to the inn and that's it for today.