Chapter 0169: Hephaestus
Thanks to Hayashi and Erina's "Saviors of the Goddess" achievement—a shiny SSR-tier accomplishment—their group easily earned the friendship of the Astrea Familia and secured permission to stay at their base. The fourteen guardians tagging along were also welcomed.
When they first arrived in this world, Hayashi had sent the fourteen guardians to Orario to support the Astrea Familia. However, contrary to his expectations, Alise and the others weren't under as much pressure as he'd thought. As a result, Kayle and the others couldn't find an opportunity to swoop in as "heroines" and befriend them.
After learning about this through Yunyun's telepathy, Hayashi simply approached Astraea and said, "Lady Goddess, we actually have some companions who came to Orario ahead of us to scout things out. Can they stay here too? Don't worry, we'll pay rent!"
To his request, Astraea replied, "Stay! Of course they can stay! What kind of rent are we talking about? Are you looking down on me?"
And so, the eighteen members of Hayashi's group were officially reunited. What a joyous occasion!
...
...
"I feel like I've become a kindergarten principal," Hayashi muttered, rubbing his temples as he listened to the sounds of over twenty little ones playing outside with Zoe and Neeko. "But I was never a Navy Admiral."
Hisako tilted her head in confusion. "Lady Erina! The young master is saying weird things again!"
Erina, who was doing yoga on the floor, didn't even look up. "Ignore him. He'll snap out of it on his own."
"?"
Hayashi turned to his girlfriend and her attendant, indignant. "How is this 'weird'? Don't you know? Admiral Kizaru's real name is Takakura Bunta! After his nephew Monkey D. Luffy married Imu, he retired to his hometown of Kasukabe and opened Futaba Kindergarten!"
Erina: "?"
Hisako: "Young master, our world has Crayon Shin-chan too."
"Oh." Hayashi turned away. "Never mind, then."
Darn it. Failed to bamboozle them.
Erina glanced at Hayashi, who was lazily sprawled on the sofa eating chips, and reminded him, "Hayashi, weren't you planning to ask Astraea to take us to meet Hephaestus? Shouldn't we get going?"
"Oh, right!"
Hayashi sprang up from the sofa like a carp leaping out of water, suddenly full of energy. "I almost forgot! My equipment still needs forging!"
Erina added, "Mine too."
My dragon-tail sword and dragon-fang kitchen knives.
Hisako chimed in, "And mine."
My dragon-claw daggers and dragon-bone staff.
Yunyun parroted, "And mine."
My dragon-bone staff and dragon-skin robes.
So exciting! x4
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Upon arriving at the goddess's quarters, Hayashi got straight to the point. "Lady Goddess, do you know Hephaestus?"
Astraea, who had been reviewing reports, looked up and nodded. "I do. Why?"
Hayashi's eyes lit up. "Could you take us to meet her? We'd like to commission her to forge some custom equipment for us."
"???"
Astraea's eyes widened in disbelief. "Where on earth did you get that confidence?? I don't have that kind of pull!"
Commissioning Hephaestus to forge custom equipment—multiple sets, no less! Even if Zeus were resurrected and danced the hula in front of her, he wouldn't have that kind of leverage!
"Well, it's related to a tiny little secret of mine." Hayashi pinched his thumb and forefinger together in a gesture that would lose him the Korean market. "If you're curious, you can listen in when we talk to Hephaestus."
"Never mind. I don't make a habit of prying into others' secrets." Astraea waved her hand dismissively and stood up. "Just so we're clear, I'll only take you to her. Convincing her is your job."
"No problem!" Hayashi nodded firmly, then thought to himself, Lady Astraea, it's not that I didn't tell you—you're the one who didn't want to hear it!
Don't blame me!
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As one of Orario's top enforcers, Astraea carried significant weight. Under her guidance, Hayashi's group of four easily gained an audience with the red-haired, red-eyed goddess.
Honestly, upon seeing Hephaestus, Hayashi had to admit she was an incredibly dashing short-haired beauty in masculine attire. Even with her eyepatch, her charm was undeniable—if she were on Earth, her social media would probably be flooded with fans begging, "Step on me, sis!"
Yet, in this world's lore, she was an eternally single goddess with zero romantic prospects—all because "her face beneath the eyepatch was hideously ugly." How ugly could it be? Surely not so bad that removing the eyepatch would reveal a maw full of fangs, writhing tendrils, and grotesque eyeballs?
Even if that were the case, the eldritch enthusiasts would be overjoyed!
As Hayashi internally rambled, Hephaestus leaned against her desk and smirked at Astraea. "You, of all people, taking time off from justice to visit me? How rare."
"Today isn't about me." Astraea chuckled and stepped aside, revealing Hayashi and the others. "My saviors asked me to bring them to you."
Hayashi glanced at Astraea, touched—though she had insisted earlier that she'd only introduce them, she was now deliberately mentioning their role in saving her to curry favor.
Truly, she was too kind. He could cry.
"Saviors?"
Hephaestus's eyebrow rose, and her expression turned serious. "Those bastards targeted you?"
"Yes. I was poisoned. If not for their help, I would have been sent back to heaven." After a brief explanation, Astraea turned to Hayashi. "I've done as promised. Convincing Hephaestus is up to you now."
Hayashi gave her a thumbs-up. "Don't worry, Lady Goddess. I've got this!"
His bold declaration drew Hephaestus's full attention—she wasn't stupid. Hayashi had clearly sought her out for a reason.
It wasn't to propose, was it?
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After Astraea left Hephaestus's office, the red-haired goddess remained perched on her desk, eyeing the four visitors with curiosity. "I'm intrigued. What makes you so confident that you could reassure Astraea like that?"
"Don't worry"? In other words, you're certain you can sway me? Interesting.
"Ahem, I just didn't want Lady Astraea to worry." Hayashi scratched his cheek, then reached into his backpack. "As for my confidence… well… how about you take a look at this first?"
He pulled out a scale from the Platinum Dragon Lord and handed it to Hephaestus.
"This is…"
Hephaestus's visible eye gleamed with interest. Instead of taking the scale immediately, she first removed her glove, then accepted it.
"Extremely high hardness, yet excellent flexibility." She ran her fingers over the scale's surface, murmuring, "I've seen similar materials, but never in the form of a scale."
She looked up, her voice tinged with excitement. "Is this from an undiscovered monster?"
As expected of a blacksmith. She's already hooked. Hayashi smiled inwardly. "This is a drop from a dragon known as the Platinum Dragon Lord."
"Platinum Dragon Lord? Never heard of it—so it is an unknown monster!" Hephaestus's excitement grew. "Do you have more materials like this?"
"Of course! We've processed the Platinum Dragon Lord's fangs, claws, hide, bones, and scales." Hayashi blinked, then dropped another bombshell. "We've also collected materials from the Elder Coffin Dragon Lord, the Dark Dragon Lord, the Rainbow Dragon Lord, the Celestial Dragon Lord, and the Swordmaster Dragon Lord."
"You have that many unknown materials?!" Hephaestus's eye widened in shock. "And monsters capable of dropping such high-quality items—why have I never heard of them?"
Creatures of this caliber should have been reported to Orario long ago—the gods' intelligence network wasn't to be underestimated!
Hayashi chuckled and said, "It's not strange that Lord Hephaestus doesn't know, after all, these Dragon Lords are creatures from another world!"
"Anoth..." Hephaestus froze for a moment, then said with a strange expression, "Little one, deceiving a god with such words won't do."
"Gengar, come out and show the goddess—"
"!"
"This dagger can release a blazing blade with up to three charges. Each charge requires four hours—"
"!!"
"And this, it's called a laptop. This world shouldn't have one, right?"
"!!!"
Shocking Hephaestus for a hundred million years.