Greg woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking, but that's not it because there's a following sound coming from someone doing magic, and then a loud shriek from someone organizing his tools for the third time that week. He wasn't sure if he should be thankful or scared that these events had become his new normal.
Mira floated by his cot, carrying a tray of what appeared to be Greg's hammers scattered around, "Good morning, Master-forger-darling!"
"I changed the order of your work area based on magical resonance frequency instead of size. It's a lot more effective to do so!"
"I put it in order by size because I know where everything is," Greg mumbled as he sat up and then regretted it right away when his back hurt. It was getting to be too much to sleep in the workshop corner.
Lylia had taken over a small kitchen area in his workshop. She had been bringing ingredients for weeks, and somehow the corner of his workshop had turned into a real kitchen.
She had already finished preparing breakfast, and then she shouted. "Your breakfast is ready, Greg!"
Greg came as fast as he could when he heard the word 'breakfast,' and then Lylia showed the breakfast she made today. "I made what you like the best, which is herbed scrambled eggs from the garden!"
Greg grumbled, "The garden I accidentally grew overnight with the holy hoe," but he was grateful for the plate because the food was, as always, outstanding.
"Agh! This is fucking good!" Greg said it with a dramatic face.
"You need to stop swearing every time you eat my food." Lylia sighed.
"It's just that good, I can't fucking stop!"
"Good morning, Master Greg," Seraphine said without looking up from her desk. She had moved an entire research station into his workshop, with books, magical tools, and enough paperwork to fill a small library.
"I've put together the data for this week on how you craft. It's fascinating how your mood affects the quality of the items."
"Please don't think about my feelings before breakfast," Greg said.
"Master!" Elwen burst through the door, her arms full of metal scraps and a big smile on her face. "I finally learned how to make a spoon that doesn't float!"
"See? It just sits there like a regular spoon!" She held up what was a perfectly normal spoon, but Greg saw that it was glowing a little and making a soft humming sound.
"It's humming," he said.
"But it's not floating! I see that as an absolute step forward!" Elwen put the spoon on his workbench, and right away it started to shake and move around on its own.
"Okay, some small changes are needed, but we're still making progress!"
Greg looked around his workshop, which had somehow changed from a quiet place for him to work since the first day he reincarnated into what could only be called organized chaos. Lylia's kitchen took up one corner and had some of his magical pots and pans in it.
In another corner was Seraphine's research station, which had papers and crystals all over the place. Elwen had taken over the area near the forge for her experiments, which were full of failed and semi-successful attempts at peaceful crafting. Mira was everywhere, showing up and disappearing as she "helped" by moving things around in a way that made no sense to anyone else.
"I'm starting to get used to this, and it's scary. I don't want to blame anymore because I had enough to do so 'cause it won't change anything. How did this all even happen that fast without my agreement?" Greg asked the whole world.
"You're too nice," Marina said, showing up in the doorway at just the right time.
She came by every morning, saying she needed to "check on the situation," but she really just seemed to enjoy watching the chaos. "You let Lylia cook here because you felt bad about always going to her restaurant when she's busy there."
"You let Seraphine set up her research because you wanted to help her finish her report."
"You let Elwen practice here because she's your student. And Mira does whatever she wants because she's a spirit made of your love and doesn't know what limits are."
Greg weakly said, "Excuse you, I have my own limits, thank you very much."
"Name one time you were able to succeed in keeping your boundary from them," Marina said. Greg opened his mouth, closed it, and then took another bite of his eggs.
"Screw you." Again, he wanted to say, 'fuck you,' but this time he let her off.
"That's what I thought," Marina said with a smile.
"Greg, you've made a home by accident. A home that is very busy and very devoted." Marina shows a teasing smile, trying to make Greg accept what he has now.
"I just wanted to make tools in peace." Greg answered while munching his egg with his eyes closed to savor every bite.
"That's too late," Seraphine said, finally looking up from her notes. "You've become the heart of a small community. It seems that you have become the heart of a small community in terms of money, social connections, and love."
Greg said quickly, "We don't talk about that last part."
"Why not?" Mira asked, appearing right next to him. "Master-forger-darling, everyone here loves you! Isn't that great?!"
"It isn't great! It's hard!" Greg got up, almost knocking over his plate.
"I accidentally created a spirit like you. I teach Elwen just because I feel bad for her. Seraphine is here to do research, and then Lylia is only being kind to me because I keep making tools for her restaurant."
Everyone in the workshop was quiet. Even the spoon that was humming seemed to quiet down.
"Okay, let me clarify..." Greg realized that his words might stab their heart.
"I didn't mean it in a bad way or whatever... It's just that—"
"Do you really think that?" Lylia asked quietly, putting down the pan she had been cleaning. "That I'm just being nice?"
Greg said, "I mean, you have to be here anyway because of your restaurant." He then realized he really might have said something wrong that could screw him up right now. "And I keep making you things, so it makes sense that you would feel like you had to be nice."
"Makes sense," Lylia said again, her voice flat.
"Master Greg," Seraphine said slowly, "do you really think that the only reason we are here is because we have to be or it's just our convenience?"
"Well, what else could it be? I make strange things as a blacksmith." Greg waved his hands around in his messy workshop.
"You all have better things to do than hang around watching me hammer metal."
It looked like Elwen wanted to say something, but Marina did first. Marina shook her head and said, "You really are clueless."
"Greg, I'm going to say this once, clearly, so even you can't misunderstand a single word of it."
"Everyone here cares about you. Not because you make legendary items, not because you're useful, but because you're kind, dedicated, and genuinely trying to make the world better in your own weird way."