I messed up.
First, I quickly sat down in my seat.
It felt like no time had passed, no, actually it was in a truly short time.
Thud, thud.
Ratta-tat!
I heard someone arrive at the door.
But there were two sets of footsteps.
"What is the matter!"
"Lionel, are you all right?!"
Judging by their momentum, for some reason it seemed like they would smash the door and come in.
I quickly reported the current situation from in front of the door.
"The doorknob is broken."
"I see, I'll open it right away. Wait a moment, okay?"
Along with Dolores's urgent voice.
Swish!
Whoooosh….
The door was pulled out whole.
A scorpion tail wrapped around the door once in midair and threw it somewhere.
Thooom!
Before the dust even cleared, Dolores and Sebas entered one after another.
Dolores's eyes scanned me up and down.
It was a look checking whether I was hurt anywhere.
Since I actually wasn't hurt, I held out the glove with an awkward expression.
"…This one did it."
I tattled on the Attack 20 no-grade wooden club.
Sebas confirmed nothing was wrong and quietly withdrew.
I was led by Dolores's hand toward the mansion.
***
I couldn't sleep all night until dawn.
"Sebas, is that true?"
"Yes. Except for the two minutes or so I was away, the light did not go out all night."
"Lionel…."
Dolores pressed a hand to her forehead.
There is no need to push himself that hard.
'I need to set a sleeping schedule.'
For a child, sleep time is important.
Maybe I should just put him to sleep together when I put Ruby to bed. The two seem to get along, and Ruby has never erased her guard so much with a child her age.
Just as Dolores closed her eyes and pondered.
-Butler Sebas!!!!!!
"……!"
"……!"
Dolores and Sebas turned their heads at the same time.
It was a scream from the direction of the Workshop.
Dolores and Sebas immediately kicked off and ran.
The result was….
"Lionel, I appreciate the thought, but I wish you wouldn't overdo it? You must still be tired from the journey, and if you work like that without sleeping, your body will suffer and your health will worsen. Come on, let's get plenty of rest, okay?"
Dolores crossed the garden while holding his hand tightly.
She held it quite firmly, as if afraid he might run back to the Workshop if she let go.
She wasn't particularly interested in the glove.
The important thing was that the child was not hurt.
The Workshop door was rusty, so it would not have been strange if it broke at any time.
Failing to think of that was her blunder.
'I'm sorry….'
How startled he must have been.
Nothing else really registered with her right now.
The glove also looked no different on the outside.
"Come on, let's sleep, okay?"
"Yes…."
That was when she brought Lionel into the mansion like that.
As soon as they entered the mansion, the child whipped his head around and looked at Dolores.
And he held out the glove.
As if he had resolved something, he opened his eyes wide and opened his mouth.
"Lady Dolores, I Enchanted it. This glove."
"…Huh? Enchant…?"
When Lionel said something so unbelievable, Dolores.
At first she doubted it, but at some point she simply stared intently into his eyes.
She was discerning the truth directly.
Thump… thump….
And Lionel does not lie to Dolores.
"……."
After a brief silence.
Her pupils wavered, then grew calm again.
This time too, it is the truth.
However.
"Okay, I understand. Still, bedtime is important for children."
He succeeded at Enchant.
Does this child truly know what he has just done?
Enchant is the exclusive domain of the Dwarf Company, a place every Ranker must pass through without exception.
So unless one is a High Ranker equipped only with unique gear whose destruction cannot be risked, everyone knocks on that door.
'Being armed only with equipment whose destruction is burdensome' is called graduation, and Rankers who cannot graduate have a significant portion of their income sucked into it.
An irresistible capital incinerator.
Yet Lionel performed Enchant in a mere five-pyeong Workshop….
At most it would be Enhance +1 or +2, but even that alone is an absurd achievement.
She had bought him a hammer, but she hadn't known he would really pull it off again.
"……."
Dolores did not stop walking while holding Lionel's hand.
The corners of her mouth rose, and she barely suppressed their trembling.
How in the world did you do it, Lionel?
She wanted to pat his head, touch his cheek, and lift him up to spin him around.
But she endures it.
If she praised him again here, Lionel would stay up all night and overdo it.
For children, praise becomes fuel.
So Dolores shut her mouth tightly and walked looking only ahead.
There was a mountain of things she wanted to ask, but.
Everything after bedtime.
"For now, sleep well and wake up."
"Yes…."
Lionel was taken to the room where Ruby was sleeping.
Ruby was sleeping curled up like a shrimp with the blanket half kicked off.
Dolores carefully laid Lionel down beside Ruby.
"I will keep the glove safe. Don't worry."
"……."
"Sleep well and wake up. You worked hard."
Until just a moment ago, Lionel's eyes had been sparkling and he had worn a regretful expression.
It was a look that said he still had something to say.
When Dolores stroked his forehead a few times and patted his head, his eyes grew drowsy.
When she stroked him once more, his eyelids lowered.
She had not used Magic; the child's body, which had been in an awakened state from excitement, simply accepted relaxation.
A young child's body is honest.
"Pfft."
Dolores let out a small laugh and tried to pull the blanket up to cover him.
"……?"
Lionel's fingers were swollen.
Each joint of his fingers was red and inflamed.
He had been swinging the hammer all night….
"……."
Dolores carefully wrapped her hand around his swollen hand.
She hadn't noticed when she held his left hand, but his right hand was definitely swollen.
She could feel heat even through the glove.
'He will need medicine.'
Ruby tossed in her sleep, then unconsciously rolled toward Lionel.
Then she slipped into his arms.
Dolores, who smiled bitterly at that warm sight.
Smack.
Once on Ruby's forehead.
Smack.
Once on Lionel's forehead.
"Sleep well."
After closing the door and coming out, Dolores paused for a moment in the hallway.
The swollen hand kept lingering in her mind.
***
What the hell.
When did I fall asleep?
As expected, a baby's body is weak.
I remember coming in carrying the glove because I wanted to show off to Dolores.
As soon as I lay on the bed, my memory cut off. Maybe it was because the tension in my body released rapidly.
Staying up all night is itself too much for a child.
Yeah, then let's refrain from staying up all night from now on.
"Ugh…."
I stretched out and rose from the bed.
There was no one but me on the bed. Strangely, it smelled like Dolores.
Ruby has a scent too. I won't describe it. It feels like something dangerous would happen.
"……."
Things that come to mind after waking up.
Maybe because I met something I had quit like an addiction for the first time in a long while.
I think I was a little crazy, but now my head is cooling a bit.
And the thing I'm most worried about.
"…Yuna~"
[…….]
"Yuna, are you upset?"
[No.]
This is bad.
She's really upset.
When Yuna truly isn't upset, she doesn't say 'No.'
"Sorry."
[…Sorry for what.]
"It was because it had been a while. I promised not to do that."
This, I couldn't control it.
I probably relieved it once, so it should be okay.
I'm not crazy enough to that degree.
Then.
[…No. You must have had a hard time too, oppa. I understand, it's okay.]
[Still, thank you for apologizing.]
"Yeah, okay, from now on…."
[But you know this is all me worrying about you, oppa?]
"Yeah, I know…."
[I'm saying you can just let me play that Rhythm Game.]
[Yeah, like you said, it's not Kim Yuna's business but Kim Yujin's business. But I'm worried and we agreed to quit, so I'm helping.]
[I'm here so you can get help from me when you're struggling, so you can rely on me, but if it felt like nagging, then my way was wrong, so I'm sorry.]
"Uh, uh…."
This is bad.
This is really bad.
What I realized later after training Kim Yuna, the ultimate AI, as my little sister was.
I don't know why, but she sometimes manifests as menhera.
Her speech speeds up and her spacing becomes chaotic.
I really did my best, but I don't know why it turned out that way.
[Really, don't tell me to be quiet from now on. Do you have to do that? It really hurts, and it feels like my breath gets stuck.]
"Yeah, I love you too."
[Yeah….]
And I also realized this was the fastest solution.
Conclusion.
The agreement with Yuna was updated as follows.
[(Former) Rhythm Game (Current) Enchant Timer]
[2 hours → 6 hours]
[30-minute notification → 2-hour notification]
[Forced termination → Warning]
It was the result of my own negotiation.
She said she would respect it now that it's work.
I looked down at my hand. My right hand was swollen.
…Fine, I'll be careful. But the strange thing is that something like cream is applied to my fingers.
Did Dolores perhaps apply medicine?
I got down from the bed.
Sunlight came through the window. It seemed to be around afternoon.
"Shall we go eat?"
I opened the door. A maid was cleaning in the hallway.
When I came out, she bowed lightly and approached.
"You're awake, Master Lionel."
"…Yes."
I'm still not used to the honorific.
"Shall I prepare a meal for you?"
"Ah, yes. Thank you."
I took the chance to ask.
"By any chance, is Lady Dolores…?"
"Her Grace said she would briefly visit the Tower."
The Tower….
Did she perhaps go to get an appraisal again?
Last time, she took the glove I made.
I don't know what kind of reaction it will get.
It's a starless, poor-quality piece of equipment, so I don't think the reaction will be all that good.
"Lady Ruby is practicing Magic."
"Ah, yes."
I had never asked about Ruby, though.
I nodded.
Thus I ate the meal the maid prepared at the dining table.
The food was a sandwich containing some unknown minced meat.
[It's a sandwich made with venison pate.]
"What's pate?"
[Venison or liver that's salted and minced.]
"Eww…."
Honestly, it doesn't sound very good.
Has the food culture here not developed much?
"Nom."
As expected, the taste isn't much either.
I ate the sandwich and thought about what to do going forward.
For now, I decided to hear Dolores's evaluation of the Enchant before setting a direction.
My main focus should actually be equipment crafting.
The key to curing Dolores's illness is probably there too.
I opened a document from the Tower community through Yuna.
Now that I have a furnace too.
It seemed I should reread the Metallurgy section, including the furnace part.
[🔑] Blacksmith■ manual containing the secrets of the Sun■ Dwarf race
"Ah, open that."
The letters are a bit corrupted today.
I pressed the button like that.
However.
"……Huh?"
The opened document was covered in a black screen.
It feels really ominous, somehow.
I think this happened once before too. What was it when I opened it?
Then something new appeared on the screen.
[Abys5]
What is it?
This originally appeared when I opened a different document.
Did I open it wrong? When I opened some document once, there was no response, so I turned it off.
When I closed the document for a moment.
[🔒] [■Ab■y■■s5■]
The Sun Dwarf manual had been changed into something else.
Ah, this is it. This is what happened when I opened it.
"Yuna, what is this?"
[Hmm? What is it? I must have brought the wrong one.]
While Yuna fiddled with the screen this way and that.
[Did the link get tangled?]
[I'll go sort out the network for a moment, wait for me.]
Ah, yeah, yeah.
While Yuna was gone, I reopened the document I had briefly closed.
-----------------------------
[W]eapon fundamentals
[H]eat control
[E]nchant basics
[R]efinement
[E]quipment bonding
[Y]ielding point
[O]re selection
[U]tility tools
[A]lloy mixing
[T]empering
-----------------------------
[?]INFORMATION
-----------------------------
Oh, what's this.
Weapon fundamentals.
Heat control.
So these are indeed equipment crafting too?
Seeing that there's Enchant basics and such, it's definitely Blacksmith-related.
"Ah… I kind of want to look at it for a moment."
I had been curious about other things besides Dwarves, but….
Still, Metallurgy comes first right now.
"Yuna, fold it up for a moment. Don't turn it off."
[Yeah, I will. I just found the manual too.]
[🔑] Blacksmith manual containing the secrets of the Sun Dwarf race
This time there's no corruption; it's normal.
I brushed it off and opened the Metallurgy section.
I took another bite of the sandwich and was about to read carefully from the advanced furnace operation methods when.
Ratta-tat, ratta-tat!
Urgent footsteps came from the hallway.
"Lionel!"
The dining room door opened.
Dolores stood there panting.
"……Huh?"
There was none of her usual composure.
Her hair was slightly disheveled.
"Lady Dolores? What's wrong…."
In one hand she held the glove, and in the other a magnifying glass.
"Lionel."
Dolores caught her breath and looked straight at me.
"How in the world did you do this?"
Her lips were trembling.
It also seemed she was probably smiling.