“Wow…”
While Tene and Felix were gone, Rosaria, who had followed Louis back into the fortress, was so overwhelmed by the scene before her that her mouth dropped open.
Even when it wasn’t functioning and had lost its light, the Breath of the Dragon still displayed its grandeur, and now, as the lava was charged, its mighty presence began to show.
The steam rising from the dragon’s head, which was covered entirely in lava and glowing red, made it look like a real dragon had been brought to life.
“How is it? The real one is definitely cool, but this one’s not bad either, right?”
“Well… it is a real dragon, but… it kind of feels a little off. But yeah, it’s definitely cool.”
Tene’s real form is also amazing, but the Breath of the Dragon, which looks even more majestic than Tene’s kind and innocent face, was truly awe-inspiring.
“Now, all we need to do is pour in what’s in here.”
“Here?”
Louis, who had introduced Rosaria to the true form of the Breath of the Dragon, pointed to the bag hanging behind her.
“So, we just dump everything in here?”
“Exactly.”
“Okay.”
Crash—
At Louis’s command, Rosaria immediately untied the straps of the bag hanging on her back and, following his instructions, began stuffing all of Tene’s scales into the gaping mouth of the Breath of the Dragon.
“Now what do we do?”
Just as Rosaria finished stuffing all the scales inside, she turned back to Louis and asked.
“Wait a second… Now! Run!!”
“What? What, what?!”
Louis, who had pressed a button-like object on the Breath of the Dragon, suddenly signaled and immediately began running away, with Rosaria hurriedly following him in confusion.
“What is happening—”
Boom—
“Whoa!!”
At the moment Rosaria managed to catch up to Louis, the Breath of the Dragon began to move.
Grrrrr—
The area around the dragon’s eyes began to glow red, and shortly after, a fierce flame erupted from its mouth.
At that moment, Rosaria finally understood why it was called the [Breath of the Dragon].
Fwoooosh—
A scorching flame, just like a dragon’s breath, erupted and started emitting an incredible amount of heat.
“My god…”
“Most ores that even a normal furnace can’t melt are melted by this, so the heat is insane. If you’re within a 3-meter radius, you’ll just melt away. Pretty impressive, right?”
“Why didn’t you warn me about that?!”
“Yikes!?”
Seeing the scene, Rosaria, who was frozen in shock, slumped down, while Louis, grinning nonchalantly, was clearly enjoying the moment.
Annoyed, Rosaria finally couldn’t hold back and punched him. Â
“Ouch! Ahh! My head’s gonna explode! Ugh!!”
“Stop whining and get up, I didn’t hit you that hard.”
“I’m really in pain! I don’t have any magic, so I can’t reinforce my body like you!”
“I considered that when I hit you. If I really hit you, I could’ve made your head and butt meet.”
At the same time, Louis, his eyes spinning, collapsed on the spot, clutching his head and starting to make a fuss.
Still, compared to the sparring sessions (which were called “training”) with the other combat students, he was hitting much more gently.
“Still, it’s impressive. It feels even more real than a movie, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah…! It was really cool when I saw it for the first time, too.”
“So, how long does this take?”
“About… 30 minutes? Something like that.”
“Hmm… Even just watching it, I’m not getting tired of it. Is this what they call ‘fire-gazing’?”
“Something like that.”
Even so, the beautiful yet violent flames spewing from the Breath of the Dragon didn’t get tiring to look at, even from a distance.
Rosaria just sat there, watching as Tene’s scales melted away. Â
And time passed.
“So, this is the result.”
“It’s melted like liquid metal.”
Finally, the operation ended, and the flames ceased. The inside of the Breath of the Dragon was now a liquid form, with Tene’s scales fully melted down.
“So, what do we do now?”
“Since it’s harder to process than regular ore, we have to first place it in a more detailed mold, and then melt it further to refine it.”
“Most quenching processes are meant to increase the hardness of ores, but since this already has incredible hardness, we don’t need that. We’ll heat it just like usual, but instead of cooling it, we shape it right away.”
“Oh…”
“I’ve already prepared the molds yesterday. Pour it in here, and step two will be done.”
Louis then took out the molds he had prepared and placed them in front of the Breath of the Dragon.
“One looks like a gun… and one looks like the axe Mom asked for… but what’s this one?”
However, even though the goal was originally to create a gun and an axe for Dariann, a third mold appeared, making Rosaria tilt her head in confusion.
“This? It’s for Tene. I promised to make a weapon for her.”
“Oh… for Tene.”
“…Does she really need a weapon?”
Hearing Louis’s answer, Rosaria finally remembered Tene.
On the way here, she had promised to make a weapon for Tene as well.
But no matter how she thought about it, she wondered if Tene really needed a weapon.
“Sure… being a dragon, she probably doesn’t need a weapon… but she said she wanted one.”
“Normally, weapons are designed based on the person who’s going to use them, but since the user is a dragon, I’m going to focus less on practicality and more on making it stylish.”
“I see.”
And since Louis was also focused on making a weapon, he decided to make Tene’s personal sword with style in mind, rather than practicality, since he thought a sword was the epitome of coolness.
“Is there anything I can help with?”
“Not really. It’s my job now, so you can go rest if you want.”
Rosaria, still looking for something to do, stood next to Louis as he skillfully poured the melted scales into the mold, but Louis told her there was nothing left for her to do.
“…I may not help, but it’s fine to just watch, right?”
Rosaria, wanting to see more, moved closer to Louis.
“Of course.”
Louis glanced at her briefly, then turned his head back, but there was a faint smile at the corner of his lips.
Clang—clang—
Before long, the sound of a hammer striking echoed through the forge where the Breath of the Dragon was.
“Here it is, all finished.”
Three days later.
While the Breath of the Dragon was operational and the weapons were being crafted, Louis gathered Rosaria and the others who had been staying in the fortress, and showed them the items he had made.
“First, this.”
“This is my sniper rifle!?”
The first thing Rosaria saw was her new sniper rifle.
“Wow… it looks amazing!”
The body of the rifle, which had once been crooked and almost like a sculpture because it was carved out of wood, had now been transformed into a sleek, blackened steel-like form.
“I shaved down the wood’s outer surface to adjust the angles, then added a layer to the surface to make it.”
“It may not have any difference in performance, but the durability is outstanding!”
“Huh…? It’s surprisingly light for how it looks.”
Rosaria, holding the rifle made with Louis’s method that addressed the durability issues of the World Tree branches, seemed puzzled as the weight was different than what she had expected.
“It’s because the scales themselves are tough yet light, the perfect material.”
Mithril had high magical conductivity but was weak in strength, and adamantium was strong and hard but too heavy.
But dragon scales were both lightweight and had excellent hardness, showing the kind of durability that could withstand the Breath of the Dragon for a short time.
“And the most important thing is this.”
Clink—
“Huh? What’s this?”
Louis handed Rosaria a small box as she admired her new rifle.
“Open it.”
“Hmm… okay.”
Rosaria, unsure about the box, hesitated as Louis just smiled mysteriously, but she opened it anyway.
Inside…
“This, this is… ammunition?!”
The box was filled with ammunition.
“While making the rifle, I had a lot of leftover scales, so I made a few.”
“I coated the warheads with dragon scales to increase penetration and destructive power, and there are also some special rounds with additional effects.”
“For example, this one is an incendiary round. It has the power to ignite the target.”
“This one is an electric round. It shocks the target when hit… and there’s also a freezing round to freeze them. You can experiment with them yourself and have fun with the combinations.”
“Oh, ohh…! This is no joke!!”
Louis, thinking of making bullets while making the rifle, couldn’t stop his creative ideas and ended up crafting every type of bullet he had imagined.
Rosaria couldn’t help but be amazed by the skill Louis displayed, creating attribute bullets that felt like something straight out of a game. Her hands itched to try them out.
“Then, this… is it from… your father? Is it your father?”
“‘For now,’ it’s probably still your father, right?”
“Well… anyway, this is the axe that he asked for. I think it’s better to show it back home…”
“…………”
“I wasn’t planning to show it yet, but now I will.”
Louis, having shown off Rosaria’s weapon, turned his head to glance at the intense gaze coming from the side, and saw Tene, staring at him while letting out an exasperated sigh.
“Here. This is yours.”
“Yay!!”
As soon as Tené was handed the large box containing his weapon, he excitedly opened it like he had just received a Christmas present.
“…Wow.”
Szzz—
He opened the box with anticipation, his eyes widening as he lifted the contents.
“Is this a sword?”
“How about it? Isn’t it cool?”
What Tené was holding was a large longsword that would come to mind when thinking of fantasy.
“It’s rough yet simple. And even so, it doesn’t lose its beauty. It’s my masterpiece!”
“Re-really. It’s soooo coooool!!!! Wow! Wow, wow!!”
“Hey, are you crazy? Don’t wave it around like that! A regular person would cut through it like tofu!”
“Ah. Sorry…”
Although Tené had made a request and had high expectations, upon receiving something beyond those expectations, he was bouncing with excitement, which Louis, shocked, tried to stop.
“…Huh? But what’s this?”
After barely calming down, Tené suddenly turned his gaze back to the box and asked.
Inside the box, in addition to the sword, there was also a pair of blackened metal bracelets.
“Oh, that? That’s a little extra gift from me.”
“An extra gift?”
“Hold on, come closer.”
“Yes…”
Whisper—whisper—
“Hmm… Aha… Huh? Huh??”
“Got it? This is a secret.”
“Uh, yes… But… really? Is this…?”
“Of course. It’s for real.”
As Louis whispered something to Tené, who eagerly brought his ear close, Tené’s expression changed in real-time.
“What’s that?”
“We should be told too.”
“It’s still a secret. Things like this should always be kept hidden until the right moment.”
Nods Nods
Curious, the two others leaned in, but Tené tightly closed his mouth, and Louis gave an amused smile.
“Well then, is our business finished?”
“Yep. I’ve already accomplished my goal… I just want to leave now. I recognize the skill, but… that damn yard pound drives me crazy…”
With that, the group, who had achieved their purpose at the fortress, especially Louis, seemed desperate to leave.
Although they had spent a fun time in their homeland after a long while, it seemed they were still having trouble adjusting to the units of measurement here.
“Then, should we leave tomorrow?”
“Sounds good.”
—Are we leaving now?
“Are we leaving tomorrow?”
“We’re going home now.”
And so, the group, having decided to depart for Evergarden territory tomorrow, slowly got up to end their day—
“Wait. Something’s weird.”
Felix, who had been looking around, suddenly turned his head as he felt something was off.
“What’s weird?”
—Weird?
“Brother. Above your head.”
“Above my head? Well, obviously, Ariel—”
—Mom. I’m here.
“…..Huh?”
Rosaria, who had assumed it was Ariel, felt a familiar sensation by her side, but when she looked, the actual source of the sensation was flying near her shoulder.
Then…
What was sitting on her head?
—Hello. Mom?
“….Mom?”
At that moment, the sensation above her head vanished, and a red figure appeared right in front of Rosaria’s eyes.
A salamander was staring at her, grinning.