Chapter 26: Astraea's Blade (Part II) (Patreon)

Without the slightest warning, Astraea drew the broadsword across her own palm.

A flood of crimson blood, shimmering with a pale golden light, welled from the wound and soon soaked into the blade she was gripping.

Renan: "!!!"

He opened his mouth to say something.

But Astraea raised her uninjured right hand and laid her index finger lightly against her lips.

"Shh."

Renan: "..."

He was no fool. His talent might not be remarkable, but he shared the knowledge and memories of his selves from three different worlds.

With that much experience behind him, most things were obvious at a glance.

This was one of them.

Renan had already worked out what the brown-haired goddess was doing.

If the monsters in the Dungeon would count as a kind of magical creature in the Harry Potter world, then the gods, the embodiment and personification of the laws of the DanMachi world, were no different. Their blood, their shed hair and nails, would naturally rank among the finest magical materials there were.

And so it proved.

About six seconds later, the broadsword in Astraea's palm bloomed with a bright blue radiance, purer than anything Renan's first two magic items had produced.

In the glow, the Goddess of Justice, a faint smile at the corner of her lips, looked all the more sacred and beautiful.

Another three seconds passed.

The strange phenomena gradually faded.

"There. Done."

Astraea loosened her five fingers and held out the broadsword, its surface now steeped in divine blood.

Renan thanked her and took it, then looked down.

The blade looked nothing like it had when he'd bought it a few days ago.

Dense, vine-like dark red patterns now spread across the silver-white blade.

Among them lay the runes Renan had engraved earlier. Looking closely, he saw that a layer of golden-gray gel seemed to have settled in the recessed grooves of each character.

"Want to try it?" Astraea's voice came softly by his ear.

Renan nodded and didn't refuse.

He stood up again and poured his magic power into the weapon in his hands.

What followed was a repeat of the scene from more than half an hour earlier.

Orange-red flames surged up, but denser and more restrained now, the scorching heat perfectly sealed inside them.

Along the blade, silver and white light flickered back and forth, lending the edge a keen, cutting aura.

And countless runes lit up, blooming into blue starlight...

One minute, two minutes, three minutes...

Five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes...

The time slipped away second by second.

To keep from running out of magic power, Renan gulped down two Mind recovery potions along the way.

Even so, after more than an hour, the flames and the keen edge on the broadsword still burned steadily, showing no sign of fading.

Another ten-odd seconds passed.

Renan let out a long breath and cut off the flow of magic power.

He turned to the brown-haired goddess, who had at some point come to stand beside him. He opened his mouth to thank her, but felt that words were far too meager.

Astraea saw exactly what he was thinking.

The curve of her lips deepened.

"Do you like it? A magic weapon made by you and me together?" As she asked, she took another step forward, leaving less than a fist's width between them.

When they breathed, their warm breath brushed each other's faces.

Renan didn't step back. He nodded frankly.

"I'll remember this debt. If the Justice Familia ever has a use for me, please don't hesitate to ask, Lady Astraea."

A playful glint crossed Astraea's eyes. "Then if I asked you to transfer to the Astraea Familia right now, you'd be willing?"

Before the boy could answer, she burst into laughter herself. "Relax. Stay in the Soma Familia as long as you like. I really don't like forcing people, you know."

Renan lowered his eyes.

In truth, he was seriously considering whether to take the invitation and join the Astraea Familia.

Setting everyone else aside, his relationship with Astraea had certainly become very close.

Then again, since the goddess hadn't chosen to lay everything out in the open, keeping things as they were for a while longer didn't seem unreasonable either.

"Oh, right." Astraea spoke up again. She pointed at the broadsword in Renan's hands, her eyes crinkling with a smile. "As payment for helping you, may I name this first magic weapon you've made?"

Renan had always been indifferent to trivial matters like this.

So naturally he didn't refuse.

As for the brown-haired goddess, seeing him nod, she tapped her cheek lightly with her index finger and put on a show of thinking it over.

About two seconds later.

"I've got it!" Astraea clapped her hands together and announced the name she'd had ready all along. "Let's call it [Astraea's Blade]."

Renan: "Astraea's Blade?"

Astraea nodded lightly. "That's right. Astraea's Blade." Though her eyes were smiling, the pressure and presence radiating from her felt quite heavy. "I won't allow you to refuse on this one, you know~"

Who was it that said just now they didn't like forcing people?

Renan grumbled to himself, but on the outside he chose to accept.

"Fine, [Astraea's Blade] it is. But I'd like to add [Type One] after the name. Maybe someday I'll trouble you to make [Type Two] or even [Type Three] of [Astraea's Blade] with me."

If other adventurers had heard the boy's words, they would undoubtedly have counted them, in a sense, as presumption toward the gods.

But Astraea only laughed.

She laughed with pure delight.

"All right, then let me look forward to it. I'll be waiting for the day you speak of to arrive."

...

After all, Astraea had done him a great favor.

The naming rights to a single magic weapon were nowhere near enough to repay that kindness.

What's more, besides [Astraea's Blade], Renan also meant to convert his plate armor into a magic item.

So he simply framed it as a trade: he would ask the goddess to lend her hand once more, and afterward he'd craft one magic weapon or piece of armor each for the members of the Astraea Familia, such as Alize and Kaguya Gojouno.

It was a win-win arrangement, and Astraea naturally had no reason to decline.

However, since coming down to the lower world she had sealed away her divine power, and her body was now no different from an ordinary person's.

Spending a little divine blood on a weapon was something she could just about manage. But a full set of armor was another matter. Even a goddess would need several days of rest after every one or two pieces she finished.