Floor 88, Climbing Zone.
After a long struggle, the climbers who had set foot on the floor sat down catching their ragged breath.
"You've all worked hard."
An old dwarf who appeared to be the floor's administrator clapped his hands and stood before them.
"I sincerely congratulate you on reaching Floor 88. As is customary, I will briefly explain this floor."
"Hah... we did it..."
"Did we make it? Did we really make it?"
The old dwarf nodded slowly.
A congratulations for passing the previous floor's trial.
And a consideration telling them to catch their breath before challenging this floor again.
It was a kind of customary greeting to the climbers containing both.
"Now, everyone look up."
The climbers' eyes all turned upward at once.
And then.
"...What is that?"
Someone muttered, dazed.
In the sky, a massive grid stretched to the end of the horizon.
On the ceiling and sky, various patterns were engraved.
"That is the record of glory carved by the Descendants of Fire."
"Ah... the Descendant of Fire!"
The old dwarf nodded. The Descendant of Fire was a proud history of the race that even the climbers knew.
He looked up at the grid and lowered his voice.
"The Descendant of Fire refers to the very few among the Sun Dwarves chosen by fire alone. But even that great fire cannot stand before time. A new Descendant of Fire has not appeared for a long time already..."
"Oh dear, let's stop such stale old stories now."
At that moment.
Someone cut off the administrator's words.
A dwarf wearing a suit, the corners of his mouth pulled up high.
He was a Company employee.
"Everyone? Rather than such pie-in-the-sky legends... isn't becoming stronger right now more important?"
He slipped among the climbers and rubbed his hands together.
"Now, how about trying our Company's Enchant service, the specialty of Floor 88? We guarantee the best Enchant experience and a guaranteed boost."
"Ooh..."
In fact, those who could not climb to Floor 88 themselves were not unable to receive Enchant.
Unlike the Climbing Zone, the Residential Zone where Enchant facilities are located can be entered if one has a companion or receives certification for that floor.
However, the latter was realistically troublesome, so most had no choice but to rely on the former.
And decisively, there was a clear difference in Enchant cost between those who set foot on Floor 88 themselves and those who did not.
This was a price set by the Company.
In short, the climbers who had been forced to buy expensive Enchant equipment.
It meant that now that they had reached Floor 88, starting Enchant from here was the cheapest.
The climbers' eyes slowly wavered.
The Company employee's mouth corners rose even higher.
Just then.
Rumble...
Above their heads, the sky trembled.
"...?"
Boom!
Crackle...
Along with the sound of something ringing.
A new pattern began to be engraved in one empty square.
The Company employee who had been talking about Enchant, and the climbers alike, all looked up at the sky with their mouths wide open.
"Um... Mr. Dwarf, what is that...?"
In that silence, one climber asked.
The old dwarf with a thick beard slowly stepped forward.
On his face, bitter until a moment ago, he wore a smile so large all his white teeth showed.
Tears had already pooled at his wrinkled eyes.
Looking up at the sky, he spread both arms wide toward that distant, unseen place.
"...Proclaim what you have seen, proclaim what you have heard."
Those words he had thought he would never say again.
They were not words for the climbers alone.
To the dwarf wearing a stiffly ironed suit instead of an oil-stained leather apron.
To those holding a single contract instead of a hammer.
"Proclaim it to everyone...!"
The old dwarf shouted at the top of his lungs.
"That you are to welcome the new Descendant of Fire!"
Tears streamed down his wrinkled face.
***
Today too, God of the Workshop.
Yesterday, for the first time in a while, I rested deeply in Dolores's arms.
So I had no intention of resting. I was forced to rest.
What was truly unexpected was that I never thought I would receive thanks from Ruby.
"Thank you."
Even after crying her eyes out, she formally left those words and scurried away.
Since yesterday, the way she looked at me had changed again.
"...Phew."
Meanwhile, Dolores seemed to judge that she had roughly entered the beginning stages of treatment.
This morning, she left the mansion to meet her attending physician.
And I.
Right now, there was something I was personally very curious about.
About three things, roughly.
First.
If I Enchant the equipment I made for her and raise its level, would the degree of treatment improve?
So I caught Dolores as she was about to step forward and asked her to at least take off her gloves.
"Mmm... I don't want to..."
Dolores clutched her gloved hands tightly to her chest, blushed, and shook her head.
If I had asked for her stockings, she might have cried.
Anyway, her expression was a little cute, so I almost let her go, but...
When I spoke firmly, she eventually handed over the gloves with a sullen face.
The first curiosity, I was about to check right now with these gloves.
The second curiosity.
Just what, exactly, was 'Unique Equipment'?
I planned to confirm this through various documents.
The Wiki, and various Communities.
Anywhere there was information.
And finally, the third curiosity.
"...I ignored what Isabella said?"
'Am I insane?'
[Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally]
Yuna played the video recorded that day.
Isabella, beside me, flushed red, pointed her finger.
[You! Become my disciple!]
But in the video, I.
'I want to die.'
'My nose won't clear up, I want to rip it all off.'
'Ah...'
I wasn't even looking at her and was just knitting a stocking.
[Li, Lionel...? Um...?]
[...Lionel?]
Finally, Isabella in the video, tears in her eyes, whined and went outside.
"...What have I done."
What was really surprising was that Isabella was quite moderate and kind this time.
Anyone would have heard it as ignoring her.
Instead of getting angry, she chose to quietly withdraw, shrinking back.
I should apologize later.
I'd be grateful if she accepted...
It seemed right to get her contact information through Dolores.
I didn't know when she had entered the mansion, but I had been too rude.
"Then now..."
It was time to resolve my curiosity.
I wanted to hammer away with Enchant right away, but.
I knew what was more important. There was something to check first.
Namely, the 'Apprentice Blacksmith's Warm Gloves'.
The concept of [Unique Equipment] attached to this equipment.
What was Unique Equipment?
I began searching the Community.
The Wiki, forums, guide posts, anywhere likely to have information, indiscriminately... was a lie.
"Yuna."
[Hm?]
"Summarize the big data for me."
[Sigh]
Yuna let out a sigh.
Hundreds of documents flashed quickly before my eyes.
[Want a three-line summary?]
[One. Unique Equipment is equipment that is the only one of its kind in the world.]
"Okay."
[Two. But it's not Unique Equipment simply because there is only one; even at the same star rating, it must display performance on a completely different level from other equipment to receive the 'Unique' title.]
[You can't measure it numerically, but its class is different.]
[Three. So when you obtain Unique Equipment around 4-star or 5-star, it is so strong that people give up Enchant entirely because of the destruction risk and just use the original at Enhance 0.]
It was more than three lines, but I nodded because I thought Yuna would get angry if I pointed that out.
So the concept of Unique Equipment was excellent enough to make one give up Enchant?
It had been only once, but.
I had once raised 0-star equipment to Enhance 20 without a single destruction.
In fact, unless I failed, there was no destruction probability at all.
"...Then if I Enchant Unique Equipment?"
So, to be honest about my feelings.
The very idea of giving up Enchant because of destruction risk was someone else's problem.
You could gain fun, dopamine, and Enchant at the same time, so why be scared of it?
[Hmm...]
Yuna searched for a moment.
[Well, there are no research results]
[Basically, the higher the grade of Unique Equipment, the more the destruction probability spikes even at a low Enchant level]
[Even the Dwarf Company avoids accepting Enchant requests for Unique Equipment because the destruction risk is too high]
"...I don't understand."
Was the difficulty of Enchant levels for high-star Unique Equipment that much?
I can't hold back when I'm curious.
Soon I would probably have to try Enchanting the Gorgonue's White Gloves that Dolores threw in the trash.
It made my mouth water, but it was unknown whether she would give it to me.
"Hey."
[Apprentice Blacksmith's Warm Gloves]
"I was curious, and you're just what I needed."
All this talk of Enchant, Enchant had made my hands itch.
[Lionel... how many hours should I set the timer for?]
[2 hours...? 3 hours...?]
"This..."
[2 hours?]
"Twenty hours."
[......]
I rested too long.
Now.
It was time to return as the Rhythm Game master.
***
At the same time.
Dolores was sitting in a Tea House inside the Imperial City near the Imperial Palace.
She had just been on her way back from meeting her attending physician.
She wrapped her hands around the teacup and reviewed what had just happened.
-...How, exactly, how could this happen.
The physician, having finished taking her pulse, shook his head several times.
He was the attending physician who had watched over her for decades. The physician who had watched over her family.
He was the one who knew better than anyone that this illness would never improve.
And yet he said that.
-...There is no way to explain it at all. However.
With trembling hands, he checked her pulse again.
-You are definitely improving... and astonishingly so.
What Dolores felt was not merely an illusion created because she wanted to believe so.
Truly, her dying body was coming back to life.
"..."
Chewing over those words, Dolores took a sip of warm tea.
On the outside, she looked as elegant as ever.
The curtain draped around the table hid her legs and below her knees.
And inside that curtain.
Tap tap tap tap.
Two feet wearing red stockings.
Like an excited child, they bounced without pause.
In a place unseen by anyone, she was rejoicing with her whole body.
'Lionel, Lionel, Lionel.'
If it weren't for the promise. She wanted to run to him at once and hold that child in her arms.
Just then.
Step.
The chair across from her was quietly pulled out.
"...Did you wait long?"
Long golden hair flowed softly over her shoulders.
But unlike that elegant hair, the woman wore white armor on her body.
Dolores's sworn sister and the Imperial Sword.
Valkyrie, Seren de Lumière.
Dolores calmed the excitement in her toes and answered elegantly.
"No, I just arrived."
"Is that so?"
The woman sat across from her and let out a deep, tired sigh.
Dark circles sat heavily under her eyes.
Her face looked as if she had not slept properly for days.
"...Haah, I'll just get to the point, Dolores."
She tossed something onto the table.
A small plaque crafted in gold.
"You said you didn't sell it? Those gloves."
A plaque with an extraordinary pattern engraved with a roaring lion.
Seeing that it was decorated entirely in gold, it belonged to the Prince.
"...I'll meet whatever conditions you want. Gold coins... expansion of your territory... or anything else."
She looked at Dolores with tired eyes.
Fatigue clung to every word.
"Those gloves, couldn't you hand them over to His Highness the Prince?"
"..."
Dolores did not answer immediately.
The final winning bid for the gloves Lionel made was 170,000 Gold.
She had guessed that the one who casually offered that amount was the Prince.
However, Lionel had not sold them.
As a result.
Seren, who had been tormented every day by the Prince with his hobby of collecting luxury equipment, had finally come to Dolores herself.
"Can I answer later?"
"Yes, please."
Perhaps even this much of an answer was a relief to Seren, who let out a deep sigh of relief.
"...Haah, honestly, even as a sister I'm curious about how you got it...? But even if I ask, you won't answer anyway, right?"
Dolores merely smiled brightly.
"You should just quit. Really."
It was then that Seren shook her head and grumbled.
Her eyes turned to the empty space on her right.
Soon.
Flash.
Her eyes suddenly widened.
It was a habit that always appeared when she received a message from the Tower.
Her eyes, checking something floating in the air, began to grow wider.
"...Ah, aah. Aaaaaah."
Finally, Seren.
Covered her eyes with both hands and even whined like a child.
"...?"
Dolores looked at her, not knowing why.
Seren silently turned her interface toward Dolores.
What was floating there was.
A news agency's breaking news reporting news from the Tower.
[[Breaking News] The 'Descendant of Fire', thought lost, continues its lineage.]
[[Breaking News] The Sun Dwarf has returned. The Descendant of Fire has returned.]
The breaking news included a single photo capturing the scene.
On the grid, a blazing sun pattern had been engraved.
"Where am I supposed to get Descendant of Fire equipment now... I'm going crazy, seriously..."
Seren, as if sensing the fate about to befall her, slammed her forehead onto the table.
Even one Enhance 20 glove was this much trouble.
Now that equipment of the Descendant of Fire, whose lineage she thought had ended, had caught her eye.
Considering the example of the Genesis Sword from not long ago.
There was no need to imagine the future.
Then.
Commotion spread throughout the Tea House.
"This is..."
"...Probably, then..."
Seren looked around with an anxious expression.
"...I, I think I need to go quickly."
She hurriedly got up with a dying face.
"I have to go negotiate at least..."
"Yes, take care."
Dolores had to hold it in.
Until the moment Seren left the Tea House with slumped shoulders.
Until the sound of chairs being pulled burst chaotically from all sides, and until all of them left.
She had to desperately swallow the laughter rising to her throat.
"Seren... I feel sorry for you, but."
Dolores elegantly brought the teacup to her lips.
The Descendant of Fire she was so desperately seeking... and the owner of those gloves...were in fact the same person.
And right now, he would be hammering in her mansion.
Without even knowing what was happening.
"Hehe."
Peacefully, singing a song.
Such enjoyable days... were truly a long time coming.