Chapter 38: Louise sees through her master
Two weeks passed after Leon and Louise's short adventure.
Because they didn't leave the village, their schedule went through some changes.
Leon and Louise had a new friend that was experienced in close combat. In fact, Celes' experience greatly outclassed them since her memories had never been touched. Thus, she became a good training partner that Leon and Louise heavily leveraged.
Louise felt Celes could bring out more of her body's sealed potential, so she was most excited. Her master also learned a lot from the vampiress, so he shared the same feelings.
Leon even offered to pay Celes for her wisdom.
However, with her tracking skills, Celes worked with the village's hunters, helping them to find prey. She easily found and even trapped them by guiding monsters through her vampire summons. She could summon bats.
Thus, Celes didn't lack income. She also took a different approach and just requested Leon to be her drinking partner since the villagers were too weak to resist her allure.
That was something Louise couldn't understand since she was beautiful, too. But rather than wondering about that subject, Louise had a more important matter weighing her heart.
Her master.
'Master is working with his new hammer. And soon, he'll try tailoring again.' Louise's blue eyes reflected Leon's working form as he struck the heated metal with his new item.
[Hephaestus's Hammer(Sealed)(World)(Durability: Infinite) - A divine weapon that brought fire to mortal worlds and taught them the art of blacksmithing. It hoards knowledge of its master and mortal worlds' blacksmiths, which is currently sealed because of the world's limitations.]
[An user receives 300% fire resistance while holding the hammer.]
[An user's blacksmith class's grade turns (World) while holding the hammer.]
[An user will become a mortal enemy of dwarves if they see him holding the hammer.]
The hammer looked plain and ordinary, but it increased Leon's blacksmith class proficiency tenfold. It was also sealed, so Leon could only unseal it through learning more about this arduous crafting class.
For now, the hammer lowered Leon's stamina usage, heightened his working speed, and allowed him to work with any kind of metal. It shrank the level requirements to craft more demanding items, allowing Leon to level up his blacksmith class faster than others.
But since Leon was in a low-level village, he couldn't really utilize this feature.
Louise was also right. After today's work in the smithy, Leon would work with threads to craft some shirts.
During those two weeks, he tried many crafting classes and quickly found the ones compatible with his class — blacksmithing, and tailoring. Even with his great comprehension skills and understanding, it'd take Leon way more time to learn other crafting classes.
After deciding it was best to focus on two crafting classes, Leon fixed his schedule to his needs.
Louise's cooking skills became much better, too. She made high-quality meals with the tough meat of monster bears and blue crocodiles. She'd polished her basics to perfection.
And now, with her understanding of fire elements and confidence, Louise just needed to follow a recipe to create a meal with buffs.
'Master can't progress fast here…' Louise whispered, then ran to the inn.
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A month passed.
Leon returned to the inn and went upstairs to his room. He didn't see Louise or Celes, for even the latter mostly spent her time in his room instead of hers.
Knowing that these two had their own lives, Leon didn't dwell on their plans. He headed to the bathroom and enjoyed the hot water.
'I don't have any idea what I should do with that black skeleton's skull. Should I really turn it into a cup? Maybe it'd cool off some hot drinks…' Leon thought under the shower.
The skull had been bothering him for some time now because he didn't know any use for it. This item itself didn't have any usage or stats. However, Leon knew it was sturdy and blessed with high physical strength.
Many people had died for the black skeleton to become so strong, so it'd be a waste to keep it in his inventory as a trophy.
Leon could try melting it and turning it into something else with a proper blueprint. But other than finding and buying a blueprint for such an item, Leon also would need to find a source of stronger flames.
He thought that perhaps Louise would be able to help him, but he didn't want to ask without fulfilling other requirements first.
Upon leaving the bathroom, Leon suddenly received a system message.
[Louise: Come to the forest, Master. It's very important! Ah, the forest where we have met!]
Since she was on his friend list, Louise could message him as long as she was in the range. Leon heard that the guild system had much more options and a wider range for chat and other features.
But Louise's sudden message intrigued him.
Leon adorned himself in fresh clothes, then left for the forest, walking beneath the starry sky. In less than fifteen minutes, Leon saw a small source of light on the horizon. In five minutes, Leon had a perfect view of Louise waiting for him while leaning on a tree.
Louise wore her usual stuff — black, short pants and a shirt. Her leather boots reached up to her knees.
She appeared nervous but also happy.
"You brought me far away from the village, Louise." Leon smiled at the fox girl.
Louise faintly reciprocated his smile, then looked deeply into his eyes. "Master has seen through me on the first day. I disliked how easily you did that. I really did. It felt so unfair…" Louise's expression brightened then. "But I think I did the same! I feel like I can help master, too.
"Are you scared of leaving the village, Master?"
Leon parted his lips, but no word bypassed his lips. He promptly shut them and gazed at Louise, clothing right words deep inside his heart.
Louise felt warmer as that told her she was right, at least partially. "We've learned a lot in this village. We found what we liked and became closer to each other. We even saved someone else enslaved by The Human Emperor and gave her a new future, right? I'm close friends with Celes, Master.
"We met the undead on our first day… And then, we became involved in the black skeleton's ritual. He was here to silently take over Celes and learn about her past and Her Highness' information. A month later, and we still haven't seen any other undead. So it's not like they'll come here again to find out about the truth — Master doesn't wait for them.
"Master also perfected all basics of his crafting classes. Hehe, me too!" Louise grinned so much that her white teeth flashed similarly to William's. "We won't progress here… It'd be better to move on. Master hasn't even talked about his business plans, probably because we have to leave the village to start them. Master, are you scared that you'll face an insurmountable wall or death?"
Leon silently smiled and leaned down on a tree, only to slide down and listen more.
Louise caught the hint and carried on. "We will always face some obstacles. But since we're together, we'll overcome them! Celes is also with us, and she doesn't seem to have plans to leave you. Master hates being alone, but with the two of us, you'll never complain about a lack of company. Master also-"
"Thank you." Leon chimed in and gestured for Louise to sit down, too. "I fear that I'll lose those that I treasure again once I reach the top. It's not that I'm blind and don't understand how blessed I am. I have a peak humanity's body — the same very type that The Human Emperor had. You are a legendary fox, and Celes is also an epic vampiress." Leon arched his head back, hitting the trunk of the tree. "But that shit is rooted deeply within my heart."
Louise took Leon's hand and tightly clenched it. "Master, do you want to share your past with me? I'll share what I remember, too."
"Sure…" Leon flatly replied, his mind already returning to his childhood days when his peers laughed at him for wearing the same cheap clothes every day. "I was born in a poor family."