"My bad, my bad! I wasn't testing weapons inside the familia this time. I just accidentally blew up the forge while crafting a magic sword."
The one apologizing was Tsubaki Collbrande, a beautiful woman with features reminiscent of the Far Eastern race. She was a **half-dwarf**, born from the union of a Far Eastern human and a dwarven parent. Unlike most dwarves who are short and stocky, Tsubaki had inherited her human ancestry's slender build, standing at an impressive 170 cm. Her long limbs often made other dwarves jealous, as they typically had much shorter limbs.
Tsubaki wore traditional Far Eastern attire, passed down from her mother's homeland. Her lower half was clad in vivid red hakama pants, while her upper body was wrapped with a simple cloth band around her chest. She had black hair and red eyes, and, most notably, she wore a black eyepatch similar to her goddess, Hephaestus. While Hephaestus' eyepatch covered her right eye, Tsubaki's covered her left.
The valiant woman standing before them was none other than the renowned Level 5 adventurer, **Tsubaki Collbrande**, also known as **Cyclops**. She was the captain of the Hephaestus Familia, standing at the pinnacle of one of the most prestigious forging factions in Orario, she was without a doubt, one of the best if not the best blacksmith in the entire world.
Tsubaki had a bit of a reputation for causing massive collateral damage during her weapon testing. There was even an infamous incident where she blew up the entire familia's building, which earned her a severe scolding from Hephaestus.
"A magic sword, then that can't be help..." Hephaestus sighed with a touch of resignation. "Any casualties?"
"It's not a big deal, don't worry! Only half of the workshop gone." Tsubaki said nonchalantly.
Magic swords, as their name suggests, are blades that can cast magic without the need for incantations. However, in exchange, they have a limited number of use—typically only being able to be used a few times before they break.
Despite tanking the explosion of a failed magic sword head on, the woman in front of him, Tsubaki was completely unharmed. The endurance of a Level 5 adventurer was truly astonishing.
Speaking of which,, Shirou couldn't help but notice that the first two dwarves he'd met in this world—whether it was Mia the tavern owner or the half-dwarf Tsubaki—didn't really fit the stereotypical image of a dwarf. If he hadn't seen normal dwarves in the city, he might've developed a completely wrong impression of the dwarven race.
"So, is this our familia's new member? Quite the adorable little guy~"
Tsubaki gave Shirou a big hugged, pushing his head deep into her bosom.
"Be careful, he's the future star of our familia, one with endless potential." Hephaestus said as she introduced Shirou's magic, **Unlimited Blade Works**, to Tsubaki.
Given that projection magic is difficult to conceal once used, and that Tsubaki, was a trustworthy captain of the familia, having no reason to keep it a secret, Hephaestus felt it was appropriate to share this information.
"What an incredible magic!" Tsubaki exclaimed. "Wait, can this magic project magic swords too?"
"I haven't tried, but... theoretically, it should be possible," Shirou responded after giving it some thoughts.
"So, that means you could have an infinite supply of magic swords? Aren't you practically invincible then?"
"No, not quite. Aside from the fact that projected magic swords might be weaker, mana is also an issue," Shirou explained. "For example, to project a sword that can cast fire magic, I'd need to consume at least the same amount of magic as casting the spell directly."
"Even so, that's still incredible. You basically have an endless arsenal of instant cast magic at your disposal, to deal with what ever situation you encounter." Tsubaki praised, ruffling Shirou's hair.
Shirou, felt slightly awkward, probably due to his height and age, women in this world seemed to love patting his head. It made him wish he could grow up soon.
"Shirou, starting today, you'll be learning the basics of blacksmithing under Tsubaki." Hephaestus instructed.
"Leave it to me. You'll be my little assistant from now on. Oh, by the way, we seem to share some Far Eastern ancestry," Tsubaki remarked with a grin.
Shirou nodded. "Yes, I'll be in your care from now on, Captain."
"Umm, not bad, quite commendable that you didn't head straight to the dungeon right after receiving your blessing."Tsubaki nodded. "But there is no need to be so formal with me. You can call me Tsubaki from now on.
Tsubaki raised her hand high and exclaimed, "Shirou, off we go! Working with an adorable boy by my side, I'm getting so fired up! Yahoo!"
"Wait, we're starting already? Yahoo!" Shirou couldn't help but join in on the blacksmith's enthusiastic cheers.
---
"Waiter! This isn't what I ordered!" A male adventurer shouted, banging on his table.
"What... seems... to….be... the... problem... sir?"
The waitress, Ryuu, robotically turned toward the adventurer, her innate elven pride and icy demeanor exuded an oppressive aura.
"Eiii, N-no it's nothing! I-I'll eat it straight away! No, I'll scram off!"
The man, intimidated by the elf, with boots shaking, immediately fled the scene.
It was simply too much to ask for a Lv 1 adventure to not immediately coward before Ryuu's pressure.
"Ugh, I screwed up again."
Due to her stern expression, and heavy heart, Ryuu unconsciously let her intimidating aura slip once more, scaring away another customer. She had failed once again.
The entire day had been a string of failures for the elven girl. Her prideful nature of the elven kind, had become a her burden. She couldn't simply ignore the care and kindness Syr and the others had shown her. If she were to run away, it would tarnish the noble reputation of her forest-dwelling kin. However, if she stayed, she would be unable to resist Mia's strict authority, leaving her no choice but to accept this unreasonable job.
First, she had been tasked with peeling vegetables. Anya had kindly tried to teach her, but when she accidentally touched Ryuu's hand, the elf, unable to control her innate nature, sent Anya flying, causing her to crash into a pile of fruits, ruining them.
Then, during a shopping trip, Ryuu's emotionless request for a discount scared the shopkeeper so much that he almost had a heart attack, mistaking her for someone collecting protection fees.
A series of similar failures followed, resulting in—
"You're even more useless than I imagined," Mia sighed in exasperation.
"Ugh..."
Faced with such an "insult," Ryuu could only grit her teeth and accept it.
Similar things had happened before. Her former companions had once called her "a useless elf outside of battle," though Ryuu had always refused to accept such label.
"At this rate, not only will you not pay off your debt, you'll add even more to it."
"Ugh..."
It seemed like Ryuu had lost her ability to form a coherent words, only managing to utter unintelligible sounds in response.
"Oh, by the way, Shirou probably won't be back tonight."
"Shirou?" Ryuu looked up. "Where did he go?"
"He went to join the Hephaestus Familia, don't worry, he got this in the bag."
Ryuu's mouth opened slightly in surprise, feeling a bit lost.
So, that boy had become an adventurer too…
The Hephaestus Familia was a good choice. Becoming a blacksmith wouldn't put him in much danger.
But, for whatever reason, she felt... a bit lonely.
As her heart wrestled with these mixed emotions, Ryuu's trials continued.
Later that night, as Ryuu was scrubbing the floor, stained with sauce from the plates she had dropped—
"Ryuu?"
"Shirou?! Y-you're back!"
"Umm, I explained the situation to the goddess, after learning my circumstances, Lady Hephaestus said that I could stay here for now." Shirou answered, scratching his head.
Syr, standing nearby, laughed and said, "He he, Ryuu, the way you just talk, almost sounded like you're his newlywed wife."
W-wife...?
Steam seemed to rise from Ryu's head, and she instinctively tried to flee.
"Ryuu!"
Shirou suddenly grabbed her hand. Her delicate, cold hand felt like a soft flake of snow, enveloped in his warm palm.
Once again, she didn't reflexively fight back, her body still didn't resist Shirou's touch.
"Ryuu, please assist me with my training!"
—————-
TN: The last line "please assist me with my training" can have the dual meaning please have love with me in Chinese. I'm not 100% sure of its origin, but I think it's from dual cultivation techniques in novel, after all if you want to get stronger with dual cultivation, you'll have to——. The are many Chinese novel whose novel name is (blank) please assist me with my training/cultivation. The blank can be female master, succubus, female senpai/senior, female monsters, and even female ghost.
From now on I'm going to use hopeless/useless elf on Ryuu interchangeably, as some time I feel like one just sound better and fits better than the other, but in the original they're the same word 废柴.
On another note, my brother taught me this, if you want to copy sentences from an app or website that doesn't let you do that on your phone. You can screenshot that page, then go to image and copy that sentence from your image. I'm a visual reader, I love imagining the story in my head, so I always search for a ton image and information about the original anime while reading Chinese fan fiction. Saved me countless time reading Chinese novels, since most of the time I got no clue how to type Chinese words in a pinyin keyboard and the handwriting keyboard can be dog shit sometimes, and you have to remember how to write that word making it doubly painful.
Tsubaki
https://danmachi.fandom.com/wiki/Tsubaki_Collbrande/Image_Gallery?file=Tsubaki_Collbrande.png
https://danmachi.fandom.com/wiki/Tsubaki_Collbrande/Image_Gallery?file=Tsubaki_Collbrande_Character_Art.png
Ryuu Waitress
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/112227108#big_2
https://danmachi.fandom.com/wiki/Ryuu_Lion/Image_Gallery?file=Ryuu_Lion.png
https://danmachi.fandom.com/wiki/Ryuu_Lion/Image_Gallery?file=4koma_Stamp_Ryuu.png
Ryuu intimidating
https://danmachi.fandom.com/wiki/Ryuu_Lion/Image_Gallery?file=Ryuu_vs_Mord_2.png