Danmachi: Hephaestus is my Wife

Inside the chest at the center of the dungeon was a hammer. Yes, a hammer. When I saw the hammer with its black handle and shiny silver head, I felt I had received a great reward.

This feeling was confirmed when I held the hammer, and a system message appeared.

[ You have received the "Hammer of Creation" after defeating the first boss! ]

[ Hammer of Creation ]

[ A hammer with a high level of performance ]

[ Increases the quality of forged items and, consequently, the probabilities. ]

I felt a flame ignite in my heart when I saw the system notifications. I want to go back and test this hammer! "It doesn't say how much the probabilities increase, but it's probably a lot."

Feeling excited, I looked inside the chest to see if I had missed anything, but the chest vanished before my eyes.

"So it was just the hammer."

Then, everything around me started to fade away slowly.

The coliseum walls became blurry and were gradually replaced by the dungeon walls. Before I realized it, I was already inside the dungeon, as if nothing had happened.

"Hey, did that guy just appear out of nowhere?"

"Ah, he was hiding somewhere. Please don't talk to him; he's alone. He might be dangerous."

"But he's so handsome, I'd love to talk to him."

"Shut up and let's go."

I saw a group of adventurers talking a few meters away. They disappeared when they noticed I was looking at them, leaving me alone in one of the dungeon's rooms.

The room that should have been the "coliseum."

"It's best to head back now... I'm tired. Not physically, but mentally. I wasn't prepared to fight a boss."

Fortunately, it was very easy.

I wonder when another boss will appear. I'm sure they'll keep showing up so the system can give me new rewards. "In New World, dungeons existed, but bosses only appeared every ten floors. But here, the first boss appeared on the fifth floor."

If a boss appears every five floors, there will be a lot of bosses in this dungeon.

"That makes things even more fun."

I need to become stronger. I want to reach the 10th floor and defeat the boss just as easily as I did today.

####

Fortunately, I could store items given by the system in my inventory. After storing my new hammer, I decided to leave the dungeon. As I expected, as soon as I climbed up, I reached the 4th floor.

I had been on the 5th floor the whole time, but it was some alternate dimension.

"The next time I come to the dungeon, that boss probably won't be there anymore."

How will Hephaestus react to this? That boss shouldn't exist, so she's going to be confused. What will she say?

I quickly climbed up, and I went straight home once I reached the surface. As soon as I entered, I encountered some members of the Familia. A man and a woman—both level two.

That means they're good blacksmiths but not exceptional ones.

"Are you okay?" the woman asked, looking at me with concern. "Is that blood on your arms and legs?"

The boss's blood was red, very similar to human blood. When its head exploded, I got covered in it.

"It's fine. I had some unexpected situations inside the dungeon but wasn't hurt."

"Ah, that's good." The woman glanced at the man out of the corner of her eye.

The man then asked, "Did you kill someone?"

Since the blood was so similar to human blood, they were probably thinking I had killed someone. I smiled bitterly and replied with a short "No."

They didn't seem to believe me, but I didn't care.

'This feels like one of those situations where misunderstandings spiral out of control and rumors start spreading. I hope that cliché doesn't happen.'

####

I went to my room and took a bath. After that, I headed to the training room to clean my armor and sword before storing them in the room's inventory. Then, I took out my new hammer.

I analyzed it again.

"The black handle makes it stand out even more. But what catches the eye is this glow."

The hammer's shine was so strong that it resembled my mithril sword.

I swung the hammer a few times and struck the anvil.

A pleasant sound reached my ears.

"Not even a scratch."

Even after striking the anvil multiple times, the hammer was still in perfect condition.

"Should I try forging something? I have enough time to forge at least one sword."

I removed some mithril ore I had gathered in the dungeon and placed it in the forge to heat up. When it was hot enough, glowing brilliantly, I placed it on the anvil and started hammering.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

Because of the forge's heat and my effort to swing the hammer, sweat began dripping all over my body. I had just taken a bath, but I'd have to take another soon.

As I hammered the mithril, I noticed my efficiency had greatly increased.

It felt like one strike counted as three.

In other words, my point gain had increased.

Before, I gained one point every five hammer strikes, but now I gain a point every two.

The blade quickly took shape, and I smiled in satisfaction as I placed it into an oil-filled basin to cool the metal. When it was finally cooled, it shone brightly. Even without polishing, my reflection was visible on the blade.

Before, my blades always had many imperfections, but now, there are only a few.

Then, a system message arrived.

[ Probabilities have temporarily increased ]

[ Failure 0% / Common 20% / Refined 43% / Rare 30% / Legendary 7% / Ancestral 0% / Mythic 0% ]

"Oh? The probabilities are much better now! This hammer works well."

Feeling the flame in my chest burn, I started to do the heat treatment.

I worked on it carefully, as this might be the best sword I've ever made.

"If I can forge a Legendary-rank sword…"

Euphoric, I finished the entire process.

I polished the blade and sharpened it as best as I could. The edge was perfect. Finally, it was complete.

The sword's handle was wood, but it was good enough.

[ You have forged a Level 1 Rare Sword ]

"Rare rank! It's not Legendary, but it's my second Rare-rank sword!"

[ The skill "Heavy Impact LV2" has been added to the sword ]

[ The skill "Shadow Slash LV2" has been added to the sword ]

Seeing the notifications, I became even more excited.

The sword, already beautiful before, looked even better. It closely resembled the one I currently used, except for the intricate patterns on its handle.

Additionally, the blade has grown a little. It now looked more like a katana, just shorter. The curvature of the blade had also changed.

"This will be great for slicing off heads."

I smiled in satisfaction.

Mikoto would love this sword, I'm sure of it.

It's not exactly like the katana she uses, but I bet she'd still want to have it.

"Should I try to contact her? I think I'll hold on to this sword for now."

I didn't have a sheath prepared for this sword since its blade differed from anything I had forged. So, I stored it in the inventory without a sheath, leaving it exposed.

Anyone who entered the training room's inventory and saw that sword would instantly recognize it as a high-level weapon. It stood out too much.

"It's already pretty late. Hephaestus still hasn't shown up."

I stored my new hammer in the system inventory and left the training room.

As soon as I stepped outside, I ran into Mikari, who was just about to enter the training room.

"What are you doing?"

"I was just curious. I figured you'd be here, so I came to check on your training. Did you forge a new armor?"

"No, I just made a sword today. But it was just a simple one, nothing too special. Do you know where the Goddess is?"

"I haven't seen her for a while. She's probably out handling Familia matters."

"I see. Do you think something serious happened?"

"Nah, this happens all the time. The Goddess will be back soon. Do you want to go out and chat for a bit? We can grab something to eat. My treat."

I stared at Mikari for a few seconds and thought about Hephaestus.

"If I go out to dinner with you, Hephaestus will kill me."

"Is she that jealous?"

"She holds back a lot, so I don't know how far she'd go because of jealousy. But I don't want to risk it. I'd rather keep my relationship intact."

"That's a shame. If you change your mind, I'll be at the bar nearby."

"..."

I watched Mikari walk away, struggling to resist the urge to follow her.

"It's been a while since I last drank and had fun. In my previous relationship, I rarely went out drinking. I only ever went out with my ex-girlfriend, which is pretty depressing..."

Now that I think about it, that relationship was terrible.

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Next chapters: Chapter 37 - I have no memories, but my subconscious loves her. / Chapter 38 - Testing a new sword. / Chapter 39 - Dinner with members of the Loki Familia. / Chapter 40 - Advertising. / Chapter 41 - You're incredible. Legendary sword. / Chapter 42 - Training with Tsubaki. / Chapter 43 - Practical lessons. / Chapter 44 - Much faster.