"Haaaaa… finally…" Calvin said, stretching his legs after 2 weeks of being bedridden.
Not much happened last week, Learner had continued to heal him while Hestia took care of him, bringing him food, and fulfilling his every need, well… almost every need.
His 'other' needs were fulfilled by Learner, but that was a story for another time.
He wasn't slacking though, he trained all of the skills that didn't need any movement to perform.
[Bent Manipulation lvl17 -> lvl18]
[Dupdomancy lvl18 -> lvl19]
[Sense Grafting lvl7 -> lvl8]
[Meditation lvl12 -> lvl14]
Now, he was on his way to Babel with Learner and Wiene by his side and a scabbard with 2 metal rods.
After reaching Babel he went directly to Hephaestus's room and knocked on the door.
A few moments later, a voice came from the other side. "Come in"
Calvin pushed the door open and went inside, Learner and Wiene following right behind.
Hephaestus was behind her desk like usual and sighed deeply after setting her gaze on Calvin. "Hestia sure likes to spread her bad habits"
Calvin raised an eyebrow at her statement "Why do you say that?"
Hephaestus gave him a blank look. "Did you even think about getting an appointment with me beforehand?"
He raised his eyebrows in realization. "Oh… sorry, it's just that I had a bit of a problem on my hands"
Hephaestus waved her hand. "It doesn't matter, it's not busy today so I'll let it pass. Anyways, what is your problem?
Calvin awkwardly reached to his scabbard with his left hand and took out 2 metal rods, one white and the other red, putting them on the desk
Hephaestus looked at the rods weirdly "This is…?" she grabbed the white rod and brought it closer to her face, making her widen her eye. "Gram?!"
She gaped at Calvin, utterly shocked at Gram's current state "This- how- what?"
As the goddess looked at him in shock, Calvin stated the purpose of his visit "So… can you fix it?"
Hephaestus shook her head and chuckled lightly "Haha… the point it's not if I can fix it" she pointed the white rod at Calvin "the point is where even is the rest of the blade? This rod is too small for it to be all that was left of Gram"
Calvin grabbed that red rod and handed it to Hephaestus "This is the rest, it kind of broke before so I tried fixing it"
Hephaestus took the red rod and examined it "This is!" she then threw the rod to the other side of the room "Get out." Her voice several degrees below zero.
Calvin was taken aback by Hephaestus's sudden change of attitude and tried using the only skill that would be useful in this kind of situation.
[Talking to girls]
[Like a book]
When he looked at her face, he was surprised by what he saw. Resentment, disappointment, sadness, and a bit of anger and… shame? 'What the hell… happened with you and curses?'
Calvin raised his hand trying to calm her a little "Wow! let's calm down alright?"
She didn't respond and just glared at him, urging him to get out.
Calvin, however, wasn't going anywhere until he got what he wanted "Look, I don't know what happened to you-" he paused, wanting to get a reaction out of her.
Hephaestus's face softened a little. 'Ahh… what am I doing…' She glanced at Calvin, which expressions went from confused to weirded out to simply surprised. 'He probably doesn't even know. At this point, I'm just embarrassing myself'
And a reaction was what he got, Hephaestus turned her head to the side, hiding her eyepatch from him. 'Oh… that's where the shame was coming from'
She had some sort of backstory with curses, or even has one right now… could that be why she wears an eyepatch? And if not, why wear an eyepatch? That is surely the reason.
Calvin decided to go with that possibility "-But I didn't mean to offend you in any way. So, if we could just talk this out…"
Hephaestus closed her eyes and sighed deeply "Ah…. Alright, sorry about my little outburst"
Calvin was stumped at her response 'Wha-? Why are you apologizing now?'
Hephaestus noticed his confused look "You probably don't know right? Curses are looked down upon by gods, they are, in essence, the complete opposite of magic, dark magic of sorts"
Calvin finally realized why Hephaestus acted the way she did, but there was still something missing. "Why are cursed looked down upon?"
Upon Calvin's question, Hephaestus's face became melancholic "They are created through negative emotions that can reach one's very soul, turning them into their most twisted desires" She then placed her hand on her eyepatch "Worst of all, if the desire its strong enough…"
Hephaestus lifted her eyepatch, revealing a cut that went over her left eye which had a black sclera with many red veins around it and a red sclera just like her other eye.
Wiene, that up until that point was busy admiring every little trinket and tool in the room, widened her eyes at the sight and pointed at Hephaestus. "Miss goddess what happened to you?!"
Hephaestus smiled warmly at the Xenos before turning to Calvin "I got cursed, by a weapon of my making no less, my creations corrupted by 'their' desires"
Calvin was surprised by her statement "But who-"
"Humans." Hephaestus cut him off. "There will always be those who reject what's better for them, in this case, they rejected gods, but as you can see, their goal was unaccomplished" She pointed at the big window behind her desk which had a great view of Orario.
Calvin looked outside the window and realized that none of this would have been possible without the god's intervention.
Hephaestus then rested her elbows on the desk and stared at Calvin. "As for your request… I hope you understand that Curses are not something that I'm willing to make nor can I fulfill any request's done by Humans when it comes to weapons"
Calvin understood that he wasn't going to get any cool curses out of Hephaestus, but he still wanted Gram fixed. "Hephaestus… what if I could heal your curse?"
She widened her eyes but frowned a moment later "I know you are skilled but you shouldn't overstep, Calvin."
Calvin smiled, and put his arm around Learner's shoulder "I'm serious! My friend here may have the ability to do so"
Hephaestus looked at Learner skeptically 'As if, the great mages of the past nor the gods could heal my eye'
Using [Like a Book] Calvin was able to see her doubt as if it was written on her face. "Come on, it wouldn't hurt to try, and I'm very confident in the abilities of my companion"
Wiene also jumped into the conversation. "Please Miss Goddess! Big sister can heal anything!"
Hephaestus ran through her options and decided to give it a go, who knows if she could get a chance like this in the future. "…Alright" she took off her eyepatch and left it on the desk "Impress me then"
Learner went to the other side of the desk and put her hand over Hephaestus's left eye. "Relax and don't resist"
Hephaestus felt even more doubtful after those words but decided to let her doubt go and relaxed in her seat.
Learner's hands began to glow white "Purify."
…
Nothing happened, other than the white light blinding Hephaestus 'Ah… I knew it' she felt quite disappointed.
"Not yet" suddenly, Learner's hand began 'glowing' black "Curse Removal"
Suddenly, a small cloud of black miasma left Hephaestus's eye and accumulated on Learner's hand, which she closed.
A few moments later Learner opened her hand, revealing a black small crystal that emanated hideous energy.
Hephaestus looked at the small crystal with wide eyes, she then stood up in fast motion and turned around to look at the big window.
She saw her reflection on the glass and slowly put her hand on the side of her face "It… worked…"
Her eye was completely devoid of the curse but the cut stayed, giving her a cool-looking scar over her eye.
But suddenly, the curse came back tainting her eye in black "What?"
Learner stood beside her, looking at Hephaestus's reflection. "The curse is deedly rooted within you, I'll have to Purify it multiple times before its completely gone"
Learner then showed her the small crystal. "Do you mind giving it to me? It's for research purposes"
Hephaestus looked at the crystal before nodding "Yeah, take it as far as you want" she then sat on her chair and put on her eyepatch once again.
Calvin smiled mischievously "So? Are you willing to fix Gram now?"
Hephaestus chuckled before showing a smile of her own "Hahaha! Yes, I'll fix it but…" Her genuine smile turned into a 'Business' smile "it'll cost you"
Calvin gave her a blank look "Ha?! Fine! How much are we talking about"
Hephaestus's smile grew bigger "Let's see" she grabbed the white rod "This metal stick is too little for me to do anything"
She then grabbed a pen and paper "So we'll need to add a few extra materials, a few of this, and some of that… plus forging fee… Here" she gave the paper to Calvin.
He widened his eyes and looked at the paper once again making sure his eye wasn't playing tricks "500 million valis?! That's unreasonable! Bell's knife was only 200 million!"
Hephaestus lifted a finger and smiled "A knife is smaller than a sword you know? It's all right you can pay when I finish it"