No one spoke to me, and everyone fell silent after I arrived. After a few minutes, everyo the table disappeared.

  Then, Hephaestus appeared.

  "Hey, what are you doing here?" she asked.

  "Hm? What do you mean?"

  "Why did you e to eat with the others? You should have e to eat with me! They didn't say anything unnecessary about you, did they? I try to ge that, but I 't!" Hephaestus seemed irritated.

  Even as a Goddess, she couldn't ge the minds of her Familia members about me.

  So many plot holes in this 'story.'

  "Don't worry, I don't care what they say."

  "Hm? What's gotten into you? Are you sure you're yourself?" Hephaestus pced her hand on my forehead to check my temperature. "You're not running a fever."

  "What? Is it that strahat I don't care about what they say?"

  "...It's just that you used to get really upset… Never mind. It's good that you're starting to care less about what others think." Hephaestus gave me a big smile that lit up my soul.

  I stood up from the chair without much thought.

  I grabbed her fad kissed her on the lips.

  When our lips touched, Hephaestus widened her eyes in surprise.

  Our kiss sted a few seds, and when our lips parted, Hephaestus's face was flushed. "That's the first time you've been so bold. I hought you'd do something like that."

  What oh happened before I took over this body?

  Was I someohout any initiative, letting Hephaestus dominate me?

  This 't be real.

  'This backstory is worse than I thought.'

  "But I was sad, you know? It's been so long since I've eaten alone. e on, I'll take you to the training room. After that, I'll have to leave you alone since I have things to do."

  "That's fine."

  I had eaten enough already.

  I got up and followed Hephaestus until we arrived at a room. It was a straraining room, given that it was in the same area as the bedrooms. It made no sense.

  Ihe room, I could already hear some sounds.

  k!

  k!

  k!

  Someone was hammering something. As I entered, scorg heat hit my skin. The room had three furnaces emitting a frighteni, and there were two men.

  Both were muscur and shirtless. They stopped hammering and turo look at us.

  When they saw me, one looked at me with disgust, while the other had a smile on his face.

  "Eryk, you're finally here! You're te today, you know? Oh, good m, Goddess," the smiling man said. He was tall but shorter than me. He had blond hair and dark brown eyes. He was someone I had never seen before.

  An unimportant character.

  The other one was unimportant, too.

  He was bald and had bck eyes. He was short—maybe 173 cm tall?

  He clicked his tongue and said, "Good m, Goddess. And you're te." He looked at me sternly, judging me.

  "Good m," I said.

  I didn't remember their names, but Hephaestus helped me out.

  "Good m, Balnan and Luck. Please go easy on him. Eryk is very tired since he didn't sleep well st night."

  Balnan, who showed no pt for me, uood and ughed. "Hahaha, I see. Don't worry, I always go easy on him."

  "Don't woddess," Luck said.

  "All right. Train hard; I have high expectations," Hephaestus said with a smile as she pced her hand on my shoulder.

  I gave a bitter smile.

  It's clear she's only saying that because she likes me.

  None of them have any hope. They don't believe I bee a quality bcksmith. They think I'll keep training forever without achieving anything.

  But I'll prove them wrong.

  "See you ter, Goddess. I'll work hard," I said fidently.

  Hephaestus widened her eyes in surprise. "I've never seen you so fident. I'm looking forward to the results. I'll leave now. Good work, everyone." She waved ahe room smiling, leaving just the three of us.

  Balnan was the first to approach me as soon as the Goddess left.

  "You idiot. Don't just stand there unless you wao break your hand. Tsk!" He gred at me with pt. It was an even worse look than Luck's.

  I uand what is happening.

  He was ag friendly because of Hephaestus. He hates me.

  Huff~~

  I sighed long and grabbed the rge hammer Balnan handed me.

  "You're not leavioday until you fe a sword. Last time, you spent the whole day and couldn't do anything. You just 't learn. I don't know why the Goddess lets you keep wasting resources."

  "Exactly. Make a sword, or we'll the floor with your face like st time. Hahaha," Luck ughed loudly.

  "Don't worry; I'm fident I make something today."

  I sat down and looked at the heated, red, glowial.

  Gripping the hammer tightly, sweat dripping all over me, I began hammering.

  k!

  k!

  k!

  k!

  k!

  After hammering the heated metal a few times and slowly shaping it, a system message appeared.

  [ +1 ]

  [ 1/100 ]

  "Huh?"

  "What is it? Why did you stop?" Balnan asked.

  "It's nothing." I smiled and tiriking the red-hot metal with my hammer.

  After five more hammer strikes:

  [ +1 ]

  [ 2/100 ]

  I don't know what it means, but the number is increasing.

  ParodyGirl