[3rd POV]
Watching Hephaestus look through the books, Wanda knew just from the rate of which she was looking and reading through them all, that the Goddess was going to be back the next day. There was no way that she was going to be able to look through the nearly 150 books in an hour and a half.
Mostly because forging was one of those arts that you had to be very precise about, and as such, she had to carefully read through every single book, making sure that there was nothing inside that was a mistake that could cause harm to someone, or destroy whatever they are trying to make. There was thousands of pages that would need to be read, and would just take too long for her.
If she had two or three familia members with her, then it wouldn't have been a problem. But she was by herself, probably because she had been out and about doing some of her own personal business that didn't need a familia member with her.
Probably taking a break from forging or something. Wanda knew that bathhouses were damn popular in Orario, and that was probably where she had been, or another place that was somewhat similar in nature.
Wanda contemplated the idea of offering to get rid of the curse from Hephaestus, but decided against it. She would just do it in the next morning, when Hephaestus was likely to return with familia members.
Wanda had a feeling that she was not going to be the only one. She expected to see more Loki members enter once they hear of the shop and what it has inside. She'd have to put some limiters on the door so she would not get too many customers at the same time.
She'd limit it to around 10 at one time. Making a line outside could work fine for her. Sort of like having a line for food, where once you get your books and are finished, you leave and then it's the turn of the next customer. But instead of waiting for you to finish ordering or eating, they'd be waiting for them to finish with buying books and eating at the tables.
She'd have to put a limit on how long they can stay after they finish their order, as well. Which she didn't really want to do, but mattering on the amount of customers, she would have to.
She would have to wait and see before making any decisions like that. She could be blowing things out of proportion and getting all worked up for no reason.
It had taken Hephaestus around an hour to shop around, and during that hour, Wanda found herself pretty interested in her picks.
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[Hephaestus POV]
'...Incredible' Hephaestus thought, as she read through what had to have been the fiftieth book so far. Each and every single one of them had been just like Wanda had said, helpful for her familia.
They were all incredible in a multitude of ways. From new methods of developing an actual "Spirit Fire" something that was sentient in ways that Hephaestus had never seen before. A fire that would imbue the metals smelted inside with a small fragment of sentience, sentience that could grow and turn into a true genuine Spirit Sword.
That was incredible.
Then there was new techniques for forging in general. New ways to make swords she had already seen countless times, small changes that make them superior to what she knew. New temperatures to forge at, new ways to hit them, so many new ways to make a simple blade.
And all of them were easily usable by her familia.
There was even books on magic swords, which while not the same as the Crozzo magic swords, they were still superior to a normal sword my a long shot. And once again, they were simple to make, and easily something her familia members could do with a bit of training.
Hephaestus herself could already imagine all the ways to use the new techniques. All the way to improve her own craft.
And she hadn't even gotten to the divine stuff yet. She wondered just what the "Divine Forging" techniques were like, to be superior to these mortal ones.
But upon glancing at one of the books that was glowing a brilliant silver, she stopped.
It said "Stars and how to forge them" . It was an in depth guide on how to use stars, actual genuine stars, to make weapons and armor.
Weapons made of actual stars.
Hephaestus felt the desire to grab the book grow, but held back. Something like that...was well beyond her, far far beyond her. But, she decided she would come back in the next morning like suggested, and would buy every single book that Wand had suggested.
They were all priceless books.
And were being sold for next to nothing.
All because Wanda didn't care about the money, and priced them at what she believed they were worth. Regardless of whether or not their actual price back in their home universe would be more.
It was all based on her own personal opinion.
It wasn't like the money did anything for her.
Although she was planning on doing something about it. Maybe converting from money for special customers, to something else. Like points derived from completing tasks or missions.
She was contemplating the idea of making a full blown "Chat System" for all of her special customers, to make things a little more interesting. It would also let her give them missions to bring her new books and stuff.
She'd have to contemplate it later.
And Hephaestus knew not of her plans.
All Hephaestus cared about in that moment was the large stack of books she was walking with, openly showing her excitement at what this would mean for her peerage, and forging as a whole.
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[Wanda POV]
Watching Hephaestus grow closer, Wanda chuckled as the woman walked slowly and carefully with the large stack of books that she was barely able to hold. But upon seeing her about to drop them, Wanda snapped her finger as the books all floated over.
"I see you've got your familia covered. You sure you don't want to buy yourself some books?" Wanda asked, as Hephaestus shook her head.
"No. I'll come back tomorrow with more of my familia members to buy the rest that you suggested. I also imagine that they'll be interested in some other books, so it'll be better to wait until then and not stay in late" Hephaestus replied, not wanting to make problems for Wanda.
Wanda looked grateful upon hearing this.
"Thank you, Hephaestus. Is that all?"
"It is" Hephaestus replied, as Wanda smiled and tallied her total, which Hephaestus promptly paid without fuss. She was going to say something about paying more since the price was not fair, but one look from Wanda stopped that thought process.
She had a feeling Wanda would not be happy to see her trying to pay more than she wants.
"Ah, and since you have bought so many books, and have been a good customer, you can have this complementary book bag. Which can be used to hold as many books as you want, but only works with books" Wanda said, reaching down and handing the small bag over to the woman.
She looked down at it with wide eyes, realizing that the bag was a storage device, using dimensions. It was incredible. Advanced, and well beyond anything they had in their world.
And it was a god damn book bag.
Hephaestus could only shake her head in exasperation, as she put her new books into her bag, deciding not to comment on how incredibly insane the woman before her was. To casually warp dimensions into a literal book bag.
She wondered how strong Wanda truly was, but decided against asking.
Instead she just spoke "Thank you, Miss Maximoff. I'll be back tomorrow. Oh, and have a good rest of your evening!" Hephaestus said, as she gave the primordial a nod and walked off, leaving the shop moments later.
Wanda watched her go, before glancing at the time and smiling, as she flipped the sign to close. The doors glow dimming as she got up and stretched, before heading upstairs, her workday over.
All the while, Wanda wondered once again what Death was up to. And what their date was going to be.
She was very interested to find out.
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That's the end of the chapter!
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