For the next 3 days, Cirrus has been extremely busy, much to his dismay, but a sword to appease Amaterasu and Hephaestus could only be made with extreme levels of hard work and preparation.

Cirrus had gone to all the bookstores in Orario and bought everything they had on metallurgy, smithing techniques, temperatures, pressures—everything he could get his hands on to further improve his craft. Of course, he couldn’t read it all, but Hecton could.

"Thank you, sir," Hecton said as he was reading several books.

"No problem. We are going to be busy the next few days."

Cirrus also spent a chunk of the days before the forge was ready to be used in the Dungeon. He delved deep into the dungeon, far deeper than even the Loki Familia had gone.

"Fuck… I think love really made me go fucking insane." Cirrus stares down the Dragon’s Urn, the last region the Zeus and Hera Familia are supposed to have explored. Having made a beeline to this floor, Cirrus went as fast as he possibly could to save time.

Several Valgang Dragons litter the floors from the 52nd to the 58th floor, with their breath attacks easily melting and blasting their way to the 52nd all the way down from the 58th. If there was a hell, it would be this region of the Dungeon.

"Sir, I am ready to assist you," Hecton said, as his arms were ready to punch the dragons.

"Thank you, Hecton. Watch my back!!" He jumped down the hole. Falling into the hole, Cirrus couldn't help but smile. The experience was like skydiving, but more fun. "Hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!! Let’s fucking go!! I’m on a time crunch!" He puts down his bird mask and swoops down. "(Sword of Damocles, sing your vespers.) [Dia Dikastí̱s]!!!"

With electricity covering his body, Cirrus shoots out metal feathers like miniature railguns, shooting each one with extreme precision.

"Artemis!! I could give you a kiss for how good your teachings were!!!"

Cirrus indulges himself a bit as he hunts down monster after monster. While he cuts them down, Hecton grabs their drops and stores them in his shadow.

Cirrus lands on the 58th floor, and he cleans the house, wiping the Valgang Dragons from the floor so he can begin to mine the metals on the floor. Using his experience on the island, he was able to easily make a pickaxe using Adamantite mixed with Mithril.

"Thank you, Evilus, for being on leave! Of course, that just means they're preparing for something big and not looking forward to that."

"Adamantite melts at 3,471 °C," Hecton said as he told Cirrus various knowledge from the books he gave him. "Then you would dunk it in Ash Oil or Magic Sap Oil."

"Say…" Cirrus looks over at the stairway to the 59th floor. "You are good with the cold, right?"

"I am."

"Hmm, dammit, if only I knew what material it has and if I wasn’t on a time crunch."

Cirrus returned to mining what he already knew well enough to gather reliably.

 

Two days later, Cirrus would return from the dungeon completely haggard. Many who saw him would say he was fighting for days, and that would be true. Since he started to get the material and read several books, he has overworked himself, even for a level 7. The sole reason he’s still up and kicking after going through hell and back was simply for Ai to see her homeland again.

"Yo, Cirrus!" said Lyra. "You look like shit!"

"Still better than you and your chances to get with Finn."

"Why you—!"

Ryuu held her back.

"You have been busy, Cirrus," Ryuu said.

"I have, due to Susanoo’s request."

At first, Cirrus and Ryuu were simply people in the same Familia. Their views on justice are still something they do not see eye to eye on. But since the War Games, they are more amicable with one another and occasionally patrol together.

"Hm, do not tire yourself too much. Even if Evilus has shown no activity, one needs to be prepared."

Somewhat amicable.

"Yeah, yeah, if anything happens, I’ll know about it. See ya." Cirrus waves goodbye as he heads to Eupheme’s workshop.

 

Arriving at Eupheme’s workshop, he met Eupheme and Hephaestus waiting outside.

"Geez, you look like shit," Eupheme said in her monotone voice.

"Yes, you look terrible. Just three days ago, you had such a confident look on your face," Hephaestus said.

"I was gathering the materials for the weapon," Cirrus said, carrying a rather large supporter's bag filled with material.

"I’ll lead the way. Eupheme, could you help him?"

"Hm."

Eupheme came over and tried to help, but.

"W-what’s with this load?" she said, struggling to lift it. "No wonder you're so damn tired; this bag must weigh a ton!"

"The faster we get to the forge, the faster this can get off my back."

"I’ll do my best to help."

They walked a bit north on the edges of her Familia’s workplaces. They came up to a 2-story building that looked freshly renovated.

"This is your place, or, well, your rental, Eupheme. That’s your place." She says, pointing at the building next to Cirrus.

"Eh?" Eupheme said.

"What? You proved your skill as a blacksmith, and seeing as you're this one’s smith, I wouldn’t want you to get targeted by Evilus or anything."

Hephaestus turned and gave Eupheme a proud smile.

"L-lady Hephaestus!" She hugged her goddess.

"What a good smile, enough to charm any child!" Cirrus said.

"Don’t let your lover hear that. She may get jealous, Cirrus," Hephaestus said as Eupheme let go and walked away. "I can’t wait to see your masterpiece!"

As Hephaestus leaves, Eupheme walks towards her new workshop.

"S-sorry, but can I check and see!" she said excitedly.

"Go on."

She quickly leaves and checks out her new space. Cirrus walks to his place and uses his skill to open it.

The supporter's bag quickly shrinks as he enters the building and closes the door. He walks forward to see a new forge and equipment.

"Damn. Now I really can’t fuck this up."

Cirrus puts down the bag and looks around the building to find it’s built similarly to Eupheme’s old workshop, but with what he can assume is the latest and finest of smithing equipment. The workshop functions to serve as their workplace and home, with a kitchen to the side of the building, a second floor to serve as a room to sleep, and a basement to store material.

Putting everything in order, Cirrus first stores all of his materials in the basement and organizes them.

"This should be good, (Circe)."

His magic circle appears, and Circe pops out with a bag filled with stuff.

"Oh~ so this is the workshop you’re going to be using, huh? But no forge?"

She started to look around the place, looking at all the materials.

"The forge is on top. I’ll be taking a nap on the second floor. I haven’t slept in days."

"Alright, I'll set up all my stuff so you can get started whenever you’re ready!"

"Thanks."

Cirrus walks up the stairs as Circe begins to put all of her stuff together to help with the forging.

"Hey Nox, I’m at the place."

‘And Cirrus?’

"He’s going to sleep for a while. He hasn’t slept in days."

‘Hm! Hm! Once you’re done setting everything up, come out, and I’ll find you!’

"Got it!"

 

Somewhere in Orario, out on patrol.

"What’s wrong, Nox?" said Ai, looking at Nox.

Nox waves her wing at an alley, and Ai goes down it.

She then turns back into her human form.

"Circe is at Cirrus’s new workplace, so I should know where it is soon so you can spend some time with him."

"W-what!? really! I thought he would be too busy to see me for a while?"

"Well, he needs food, right? And some company!" she said in a loving and teasing tone.

"Not you too!" she said, covering her face.

"Fufu, don’t worry, it’s nice he has someone he loves wholeheartedly; now shall we resume patrol?"

"Please, for the love of Susanoo, yes."

 

Later at night.

"Hmm, so this is the place he’s renting, huh?" said Nox, looking around the place.

"It’s fairly nice. I spent most of the time cleaning it up a bit!" Circe said, slightly dirty from cleaning.

"Sniff! Sniff! It has the smell of several metals and monsters?" Ai sniffed around the forge.

"Ah, that, due to all the monsters Cirrus had hunted down in the dungeon, he is really dirty from 2 days of hunting. Oh, now that I have you, Ai here,"

Circe rummages through her bag a bit, pulls out a bottle of pills, and hands them to Ai.

"These are..." she said, looking at them.

"These are um..." Circe’s face began to redden when Nox came in, resting her arm on Circe’s head.

"These are better versions of those pills used in the red-light district."

"What—"

"Shhh!" Circe said, getting Nox’s off of her and stopping Ai from yelling. "Look. Me, Cirrus, and Lenoa made this to sell at the Red-Light District, and Cirrus kind of said you took one before... So, um, these are far better versions of those sold commercially."

"Yeah, their Amazoness Grade. As much as I would like to see a little fox-eared kid with green eyes running around calling me aunty, raising a kid in this environment is not very optimal." Nox said. "Oh, that, and you two are rather young for it as well."

"So make sure you take one before o-or even after! It works just fine! I made sure of it after several tests! No, wait, it’s not what it sounds like! I mean, um, we have some who test—"

"Okay, that’s enough!" Nox closes Circe’s mouth. "I’m going to leave first, okay! Let’s go, Circe. Have fun, Ai-chan!" Nox turned into her owl form and left out the window.

"Right! Bye-bye!"

Circe quickly turned into a bird and left through an open window.

"Umm…." She looked at the bottle of pills and found it filled to the brim. "I think I reached my limit of how embarrassed I could possibly be."

She first put all the food she bought into the kitchen and found it had basic utensils. After that was done, she went to check on Cirrus.

Coming upstairs, the room was really spacious, with a fairly large bed in the corner where Cirrus was sleeping.

She cleaned the room a bit before covering Cirrus in a blanket.

"Sniff! Sniff!"

‘He does smell of sweat, monsters, metal, and blood. I wonder what you’re going to make? If it’s from Lord Susanoo, it must be—!!’ There was only one possible thing he could have asked for, and Cirrus was possibly the best choice to do it. ‘No, are you really going to try? And…very well, I’ll help you as best as I can!’