[DanMachi/Percy Jackson] Prytaneum

Chapter 52: Adding part 1

"Welf, can you melt that for me?" I asked, nodding towards the neat bar of steel. Welf glanced my way to check where I was looking and then grabbed it, shifting it into some kind of melting pot thing and setting it above the flame as he continued working on a broadsword. I wasn't sure what he was going to do with it, honestly, because to me he just seemed to be beating it into shape with his hammer, but I'm sure what I was doing probably looked just as bizarre.

After making the Nemean Pelt, I didn't have much in the way of Nectar left—a matter I would need to rectify as soon as possible now that I had some idea of how to use it—so I was using the last of it conservatively. First, I set aside a handful of Batpat Fangs, putting them in a small dish Welf had lying around and adding a bit of Nectar and blood to let them soak in, watching it hiss as my blood was distilled into ichor. With the rest of the vial, I took the closest thing to what I had in mind, Almiraj fur, and then mixed my blood with the Nectar in the bottle, corking it and shaking it thoroughly before soaking the fur. Instead of burning it, I set it aside to dry, placing several spools of thread I'd brought with me near it.

When that was done, I took the bowl of fangs and stirred it for a bit before walking over to the flames. I held the container over the flames for a moment to heat it a bit and then opened the container above it, dumping the teeth, blood, and Nectar into the molten steel before leaving it be. Walking back to the soaked rabbit fur, I began to unwind the thread.

"Did you hear about the party Apollo's throwing?" I asked as I shifted towards the more mindless aspects of my work, causing Welf to pause in the middle of his crafting and look towards me with blank eyes.

"Uh..." He replied, trailing off before tilting his head. "I think I did? He's inviting all the gods, I think."

"And guests," I said. "Each god can bring a member of their Familia, apparently."

"Ah," He said, nodding. "That happens sometimes. Hephaestus will probably bring Tsubaki or one of the High Smiths. For stuff like that, it's important to show a strong front and a lot of negotiations happen. Well, that's what Tsubaki says anyway. But just about everyone there will probably bring their Captains. It's going to be like a who's who of the city's strongest adventurers..."

"Yeah," I said. "That's part of why I'm going."

"What?" Welf asked, blinking. "I thought you were going to lay low?"

"I was," I replied. "Then every god in the city saw us fighting a Floor Boss. We gave it a good try, but I think that ship has sailed."

"Fair enough," Welf conceded. "You just throwing the secrecy out the window, then?"

"Not throwing it out," I said slowly, frowning. "It's more that, I have no intention of telling people I don't trust anything, so who cares. People will whisper and stare, but what else is new?"

"I'm pretty sure they'll do more than just whisper and stare," Welf replied. "But you're right about not being able to go unnoticed. My days of not being annoyed by every asshole who thinks they deserve a magic sword are numbered, too. Just watch your back, alright?"

"I will," I promised. "Hestia's going to be there, too, after all."

Welf nodded, understanding enough to just accept that I wouldn't do anything to endanger her if I could help it.

"Are you looking for something?" He asked, squinting at me. "No offense, but you don't really seem like the type to enjoy kind of thing. I always hated it, back when I was in Rakia."

"Suits and ties aren't really my thing," I admitted. "But...yeah, I'm looking for some stuff—just about anything I can find, really. Any word about the Dungeon, news about who might have brought that monster up here, whatever I can find."

"Besides that, I mean," Welf said, waving my words away before glancing at the pot above the forge. "Do you want me to do anything with that?"

"Can you make some bolts for Lili?" I asked. "I was going to ask if you had anything for that, anyway."

"Sure," He said as he put down the sword he was working on. I took that as a signal to stop my own work and, looking down at the Almiraj fur, I saw that the Undine Silk I'd sown into it had gone a long way in making it seem like it had been sown into cloth. Finished there, I picked it up and dunked it in a tub of water, letting it soak as I squeezed it and wrung it out before willing it dry again and removing it.

What remained of the fur was now colored perfectly, purely gold. Like the Golden Fleece...sort of, kind of, not really. I mean, the idea of it was the same, but I kind of sucked, I think, and the closest substitute I could find for a ram's fleece was some rabbit fur. I'd soaked it in Nectar and Ichor, let it dry in the heat, cleaned it in water, and then dried it again, washing out the worst of the stuff while leaving some of its influence on the cloth, so it didn't make people spontaneously combust or anything like that. I had to be careful where Nectar was concerned, even with its newfound uses; where mortals were concerned, hazardous materials didn't begin to cover it. What I wanted instead was something that could heal people, like the Fleece had done.

Only, if original Golden Fleece was a hospital stocked with cutting-edge equipment and staffed by the best medical minds in the world, this was more like a first aid kit. Helpful, I hoped, but I could tell with a glance that this thing wasn't even worth comparing to the Fleece that had brought Thalia back from the brink of death and turned her human again. I wasn't skilled enough with Mystery and Almiraj Fur might have been the best thing I had on hand, but it wasn't close enough or strong enough to hold any more of the Golden Fleece's myth than this.

"Besides that..." I said at last, considering the question. "Really, I guess I just want a chance to see the other gods and Familias. Or rather, I want to see who's going to stab me in the back."

"You think someone's planning something already?" Welf asked.

"So do you," I said, laying a hand on the bag by my feet, indicating the magic swords within.

"In my case it's more that I think Crozzo's magic swords bring out the worst in already bad people," He replied. "But I see your point. Now that we're so well known, it's pretty inevitable that something will happen, it's just a question of who and when."

"You'll be fine in the Hephaestus Familia though, right?" I asked, making him shrug.

"Probably?" He said with a shrug. "I mean, we're one of the strongest Familia's in Orario, especially with Tsubaki at Level 5. But...that doesn't mean that nobody can challenge us or anything. It doesn't mean nobody's willing to challenge us, either, even with all the things we make. But Hephaestus is on good terms with the strongest Familia in the city, so we'll probably be fine no matter what happens. It's more a question of what might happen when my Familia's not in the picture, like with what Zanis did. I was really afraid for a long time after I first left Rakia, because I kept thinking that someone might recognize me, capture me, and sell me back or something. But now...after everything, I'm more worried about what could happen if someone made me turn against what I have now."

I thought about what Miach said about Ishtar and nodded my head in understanding, even as Welf heaved a long sigh.

"Still...are you sure it's a good idea to go?" He asked. "There's a difference between knowing and seeing, you know. It's a pretty flimsy defense, I know, but there's something to be said for publicity. There's a big difference between being seen through a magic mirror or something and being close enough to actually touch. Even if a lot of people are probably already plotting, meeting them in person might just make things worse."

"Yeah," I agreed, having already figured as much. My experience with gods was that talking to them rarely made things easier. "But...I'd feel better knowing who my enemies are then I would waiting around until one of them decided to do something. Danger or not, I can't do anything if I don't know what's going on, right? If nothing else, this might give me a heads up and time to prepare. Any idea who I should keep an eye out for?"

"Surprisingly enough, I never really went looking for people I thought would screw me over," Welf replied. "So not really. It doesn't help that I'm still just a low-class smith; when important people show up to speak to Hephaestus or something, I might find out in a week or two, maybe. The gods I'm most familiar with are just the ones we do a lot of business with and who are on good terms with Hephaestus. I know a bit about the Goibniu Familia, for instance, because they're the competition."

"...Who?" I asked, lost again.

"The Goibniu Familia," He repeated. "They're another Blacksmithing Familia, but they're smaller and they aren't as well know. Because we own all those floors in Babel and because of Hephaestus' policy to let us little guys get experience, the Hephaestus is the primary supplier to most low-level adventurers and we're the first one's everyone things of. Goibniu Familia only does custom jobs, in comparison, and their prices are really, really high as a result—but a lot of first-class adventurers wobble between us and them. We get into fights sometimes, but we all respect each other as smiths, so it's a...sort of friendly rivalry?"

"I...see," I replied, not sure how that was supposed to help me. "But no one that really stands out to you?"

He shook his head.

"Sorry," He said. "It's really not the kind of crowd I run in."

"No problem," I said, sighing to myself. I guess if every asshole was well known, they'd have a harder time. "I'll figure something out. Anyway, it's almost lunch. Think you can walk all the way over to the Hostess without falling asleep?"

"After one night without sleep?" Welf asked. "Please. This is nothing to me."

He proceeded to yawn, which undercut his point, but I just shook my head.

"If you say so," I said. "I'll treat this time. I want to thank Ryuu again, anyway."

"Cool," He said. "We might as well take this stuff by to have it appraised while we're there."

"Sure," I said. "Wayland, right?"

Welf nodded before frowning.

"Hey, wait, you said trained with Ryuu this morning, right?" He abruptly asked. "As in just the two of you? In the dark? Did anything..."

"You're really slow on the draw today," I said, looking at him worriedly. "It's been a couple hours since I told you about that. You need to sleep, Welf."

"I'm fine," He insisted. "But I think you're missing the—"

"No, I understand the implications," I replied. "It was just a poor effort and I'm ignoring it for your sake. Before you continue, let me just remind you that Ryuu's a Level 4 death machine and you should be polite. You coming?"

"Aw," He said. "You're no fun when I'm dead on my feet."

"Welf, I'm keeping you from dying."