DanMachi Vol.15

INTERLUDE : THAT NEVER-COOLING IRON

Welf Crozzo

Level 2

Strength: H118 -> 177 

Defense: H123 -> 191 

Dexterity: H143 -> G 233 

Agility: I71 -> H138 

Magic: I72 -> 98 

Blacksmith: I

Magic

Will-o-Wisp

• Anti-magic fire

• Chant: "Blasphemous burn!"

Skills

Blood of Crozzo

• Ability to produce magic swords

• Can increase potency of magic swords during creation

Veritas Burn

• Grants resistance to flame

• Amplifies power of fire-element attacks

The same day Lilly leveled up, Welf received a Status update.

In addition to the growth of his abilities, he developed a new skill. Having only recently reached Level 2, there was no way he was going to hit Level 3 yet—he wasn't Bell, after all—but the combat experience he had gained during the expedition had still borne fruit.

Possibly as a by-product of being "tempered" in such extreme conditions, he had developed a skill that enhanced his proficiency with the element of fire, which meant that any of his magic swords of the same element would become even more potent. Unsurprisingly, Hestia, being inexperienced in battle, was very pleased with these easily understood results.

For Welf, though, these were trivial issues. He had a far higher priority to be happy about.

"My latest magic sword. Please, have a look at it."

In the third-floor office of the northwest main street branch of Hephaistos Familia , Welf was unable to conceal his pride as he presented the weapon to the goddess before him.

It was Shikou-Kazuki, and it had been forged in the Dungeon.

"........."

The goddess who was inspecting it, Hephaistos, narrowed her left eye (her right being covered by an eye patch) and ran her gaze carefully over the length of the blade.

There was no more nerve-racking moment for a smith than this one. It was harrowing.A literal deity of the forge was evaluating his work from a position of utter mastery.

As a matter of course, any artisan would hang on every word of a goddess like Hephaistos, or a god like Goibniu. It was enough that some who were dangled out over the cliff like this never wanted to pick up a hammer again. To smiths, the evaluations these deities gave were the literal word of god.

However, this one time, such anxiety was far from Welf's mind.

This wasn't because he expected a favorable response, though. It was because he felt a deep satisfaction in what he had created. Even if it were judged badly, it simply meant that he would have to be prepared to redouble his efforts to reach new heights.

Welf felt only an intense commitment to surpassing himself, having poured his whole being into the magic blade in front of him.

"Goddess, as you now know, Welf forged this magic sword while he was in the Dungeon. The idiot created it in a place of death where he lacked the proper tools and preparation. I ask that you take these trying circumstances into account when you hand down the judgment of your unclouded eye."