If you ask who I am.
I plan to confidently lift this stocking and show it to him.
A Descendant of Fire, a full-fledged Blacksmith, a 2-Star Equipment Crafter, and someone with a fair amount of skill in Enchant as well.
And decisively.
"Owner of Frostless Spring."
Of course, the transfer of ownership to Dolores is scheduled to happen soon, but still.
My hands are still trembling.
The entire time I was cleaning up after the work, my hands shook badly.
Part of it is the dopamine rush, but I also feel like I pushed my body to its limit.
I have one goal. To deliver this to Dolores as quickly as possible.
Actually, if things had gone as usual, I would have equipped it through her equipment window first and checked its performance.
What the stats are when equipped, and whether the Compatibility is really okay.
There is no need to rush the delivery before checking.
However.
"It's fine."
This time, I will just go.
It felt like that kind of procedure was unnecessary.
Even without checking beforehand, this will work.
I felt an oddly strong conviction.
I wanted to put it in something like a gift box and give it to her.
But since I did not have anything like that.
I gripped Frostless Spring (the stocking) tightly in my hand and left the Workshop.
Dolores was on the second floor, in her bedroom.
A voice leaked through the gap in the door.
"...So, spirits, you see, must be treated with care and warmth..."
She had Ruby seated on her lap and was reading a book aloud.
Ruby's eyes sparkled as she was completely absorbed in the story.
"..."
I stopped my hand as it reached for the doorknob.
Lately, I had been wondering if Ruby might feel like her share of Dolores's love was being taken away.
I did not want to interrupt such a happy moment.
I sat down beside the door, still holding the stocking.
Squeeze...
I closed my eyes for a moment.
Thump...
Calming my pounding heart.
How long did I sit like that?
Thud.
The sound of a book closing came.
"Shall we go eat now?"
"Yes."
Now is the time.
Slam!
I threw the door open.
"I have arrived."
"Lionel...?"
Dolores's eyes went round.
Ruby spotted me from her lap and waved her small hand gently.
It must mean she is happy to see me.
I have not been able to see Ruby's face much lately.
I let out a small laugh and walked over.
"Today I finished early..."
Dolores, who had been about to say something, looked toward my fingertips.
There, a pair of overshoes giving off a faint red glow was held in my hand.
And I did too.
My gaze naturally went to her feet.
Clumsy, stiff, and anyway, those insulated shoes I had wanted to throw away.
She had been wearing those shoes I considered a failure all this time.
"...Ah, that is a little embarrassing. It was a failure."
"No, it is not. It is warm enough."
I shook my head... and slowly knelt on one knee.
The stocking in my hand.
I held it up before her with both hands.
"...Please take them off."
"...!"
Dolores's face turned red.
"And."
I lifted it a little higher.
"Please. Wear this."
"..."
For a while, Dolores said nothing.
She bit her lip with a small sound.
The corners of her eyes had already grown moist.
"...Of course."
Her voice was trembling.
Ruby curled up the corners of her mouth slightly, then hopped up from her arms and stood beside me.
As always, she is a quick-witted child.
Dolores took the stocking from me.
Rustle...
She took off the leather shoes she had been wearing.
Carefully, she unfolded the stocking.
"...Oh my."
Dolores's gaze paused for a moment at the end of the thigh section of the stocking.
A small fastening ring was attached there.
"...This will need that, I see."
She seemed to have noticed.
Yes, for stockings of this length, a garter belt is needed so they do not slip down.
It was the part I had intended.
To pull them up above the knee, after all, something to hold them in place is necessary.
Dolores thought of something for a moment, then stood up.
She took a thin strap from a drawer in the bedroom.
Then she sat down again and slowly.
Began putting on the stocking.
Rustle...
The silk caught on her toes, passed over the top of her foot, and wrapped around her ankle.
The folded part smoothed out and was gently pulled up along her calf.
I watched the process without missing a single moment.
It was not ulterior motives, just me trying to see if she was putting it on properly.
"...Just a moment."
The moment Dolores blushed and lifted the abdominal part of her top.
Her white skin came into my view...
Rustle.
"No."
A small palm covered my eyes.
Ruby. I cannot see. I really cannot see.
Rustle.
Click.
Click.
Along with sounds that stirred the imagination in the darkness.
When Ruby removed her hand, before my eyes...
Dolores sat there with a shy face, fully wearing the stockings.
-----------------------------
[Frostless Spring][2-Star]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility][60/60]
Folded, it becomes the warmth of midwinter.
Pulled up, it becomes the shimmering heat of midsummer.
Two seasons are contained in one piece.
-----------------------------
[The warming effect of the Sun Engraving and the heat-generating effect of the Flame Ore offset the wearer's amplified Yin Energy]
[When worn for a long time, alleviates Severed Meridians symptoms and allows permanent opening of 2 of the 9 meridians.]
[Along with alleviation of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, opens the possibility of treatment]
-----------------------------
Compatibility, full marks.
When worn for a long time, permanent opening of 2 meridians.
And decisively... along with alleviation of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, even the possibility of treatment has opened.
I knew the function would be good. But I did not know it would be to this extent.
I made it thinking only of her, and I made it for her.
I did not know the Compatibility would be this high either.
Then.
"...?!"
Dolores's expression began to change slowly.
At first, surprise.
The second was a bewildered face, as if she could not understand at all.
And the third was...
"Hic...?"
It was tears.
With a trembling hand covering her mouth.
She was swallowing something and looking at her own feet.
Then.
Hiss...
From Dolores's toes wrapped inside the overshoes.
A bluish energy... began to rise like a heat haze.
The blue energy crept up over the top of her foot.
Sizzle...
It touched the bright red silk and evaporated.
The blue energy rises, the red silk swallows it, and it becomes steam and disappears into the air.
Frostless Spring.
Dolores's frozen frost melted under the spring sun.
Embrace!
Dolores hugged me tightly.
"Lionel... Lionel, how on earth..."
Her trembling voice seeped into my ears.
"The Severed Meridians... how on earth...?"
Rather than me seeing a hundred lines of text.
Dolores is probably already feeling it with her whole body.
She must be feeling the word 'alleviation' written in the stat window through her skin.
The pain and despair she experienced in the past...
I cannot even dare imagine it, but.
"Because this is just the beginning."
I hugged her back.
"It will all be okay."
Now, feelings like that.
At least making sure she never feels them again.
...I might be able to do it.
This life, it is you, Dolores, no one else.
Probably.
Sniff.
Over my shoulder, tears also welled in Ruby's eyes.
As I always say, she is a quick-witted child.
I wiggled my hand and called Ruby over.
"Hiii... Master..."
"Yes, Ruby..."
Her small body burrowed between us.
Like that, the three of us held each other for a long while.
"Lionel... thank you so much..."
"Thank youuuu..."
Dolores's gratitude and Ruby's mumbling.
In that slowly settling air.
...I.
Suddenly opened my eyes.
[★★☆☆☆]
[The Compatibility of 2-Star Equipment, reaching its end.]
[Target: Dolores]
[Title Acquired - 'One Who Announced the End of Winter']
And.
[Elysia von Dolores]
[Remaining Lifespan]
[3Y : 11M : 9D : 4H : 13M]
A somewhat shocking number appears before my eyes.
The moment I understood what those numbers meant, my heart dropped and nausea rose to my throat.
Crackle...
The numbers suddenly shake.
[Remaining Lifespan]
[3Y : 11M : 9D...]
[Recalculating...]
[Factor - Potential opening of 2 meridians. Opening of treatment possibility for Nine Yin Severed Meridians.]
Bang!
[Remaining Lifespan]
[8Y : 2M : 14D : 1H : 13M]
[+4Y : 3M]
If what appeared before my eyes is true.
Because she is wearing this equipment now.
Dolores's remaining lifespan increased by four years.
"..."
No words come out.
I silently hugged Dolores tighter.
Her lifespan increased.
Eight years, still a woefully insufficient number.
I cannot let her live only that long and then leave.
'...Four years with 2-Star Equipment.'
My mind begins to race.
What is before me is the reward of a title for reaching the end of 2-Star Compatibility.
The maximum for 2-Star Compatibility is 60.
If that is the case.
If it were 3-Star, or 4-Star.
And even further, if it were 5-Star Equipment?
No, it does not end there.
The highest-grade equipment I can reach.
If I can reach the end of those equipment's Compatibility and place them in her hands.
Just how far can I turn her lifespan back?
Thump.
My heart pounds.
Mine too. Ruby's in my arms. And even Dolores's.
Heartbeats pounding together in the same warmth.
'So.'
I will hold this warmth, this heartbeat.
For as long as possible.
***
The sky stretches endlessly.
Famous for its floor height that puts even clouds beneath one's feet,
The 89th floor, also called the roof of the world.
In the middle of the vast blue sky.
A giant volcano stands alone.
However, what looks like a volcano is actually a giant furnace.
A sacred place where Descendants of Fire have handled fire for generations.
The sacred peak, Kargon.
And on the throne carved directly from the crater at its summit.
A single Dwarf sits motionless.
Ricardo.
The master of this mountain.
The leader of the Sun Dwarves.
His red blazing eyes look down at the ground of the 89th floor below.
Where his gaze is directed, on the land of the 89th floor.
A giant grid was engraved all the way to the end of the horizon.
Hundreds and thousands of empty spaces, each one of that giant grid engraved with its own mark.
Each one of them.
Is a place of glory that only those chosen by fire can engrave.
And only those who have surpassed the wall of apprenticeship... can dare to place their name there.
However.
For an unthinkably long time.
No new light was engraved anywhere on that grid.
The time of the race called Sun Dwarves had stopped.
Nevertheless.
Ricardo was endlessly gazing at that still-unfilled empty space.
As if believing something would be engraved even today.
"...Lord Ricardo."
The tribal chief standing beside him cautiously spoke.
"Even if a new Descendant of Fire truly appeared, to be promoted from apprentice to full-fledged would take at least ten years."
"Then."
But Ricardo did not even withdraw his gaze.
"Those ten years. I simply need to wait here."
"..."
The secretary shut his mouth.
Because he knew all too well that this stubborn leader would truly guard this spot for years.
"...Please, now."
The tribal chief was about to open his mouth one last time.
That was exactly when.
Rumble...
The sky begins to clear.
"...?"
Ricardo curled up the corners of his mouth.
The tribal chief felt doubt at the suddenly clear sky and looked around.
The great chief looked at the tribal chief and let out a small laugh.
"...Have you never seen it, tribal chief?"
"...What do you mean?"
"Well, so much time has passed, after all."
And he raised his hand and pointed at the sky.
"It is the sky."
The sun slowly adds to its light.
The moment the tribal chief looked up at the sky with a bewildered face.
Bang!
A single ray of sunlight.
Shot down like a spear toward the empty grid.
"...That is?!"
In the space the light touched.
Crackle.
The mark began to draw itself.
First a round sun, and around it eight branches of flame.
"The Apprentice's Mark...!"
"No."
Ricardo stroked his chin and shook his head.
Crackle...
Below the Sun Emblem... a bent golden stroke, as if someone's fingertip had passed through.
It supports the Apprentice's Mark.
"...The full-fledged... mark."
The tribal chief's mouth slowly opens.
Someone.
As a Descendant of Fire, became a full-fledged Blacksmith.
Engraved a mark on the Sun Dwarves' record.
Ricardo slowly rose from the throne.
"...You have come."
His red eyes blaze.
Hotter than ever before.
"The Descendant of Fire has finally come."
And.
Ricardo raised his arm.
Rustle.
His right arm, hidden deep in his sleeve, below the wrist...
There was nothing.
Only the trace of something cut off long ago remained.
Ricardo's gaze turned to the grid where the new mark had just been engraved.
To be exact, just to its left.
A skilled mark of two strokes, already faded...
It was a mark engraved in the distant past, when Ricardo's two hands were intact.
Ricardo, the Descendant of Fire.
The man who once bore the fire of his race alone.
"The old man's furnace went out long ago and has long since cooled."
His shoulders trembled faintly.
"...Only now has the fire found its next master."
The future of his race, thought to have burned out and left only ashes.
Hotter than ever before.
Began to blaze again.