“Alright! Now, we’re going to be making something simple to start. It’s an iron dagger, and it just needs an iron ingot. If you want to add a grip, pommel, and cross-guard to make a nice hilt for it, or maybe you want a sheath, then you’d obviously need some more material,” Irisa said. “But let’s start from step one, and we’ll move forward from there.”  

When we returned from the dungeon, Iris and I stopped by Smithy’s Corner to start my training. Sekh remained silent and chose to walk home. Tilde followed and said she would talk some sense to her. I wasn’t mad or anything. Sekh was not required to always remain by my side because she had free will. She was her own person, not a slave obligated to follow my whims without regard for her well-being. 

If she wanted some time to herself, that was perfectly fine. Perhaps she’d calm down once I explained why we couldn’t kill Max and his siblings. I wanted to end their lives and take their SP, but I was thinking about the broad future and wanted to play it safe. 

There would be a time when it would be apt for me to make any risky moves, but I required the strength to defend myself from harm. Until Sekh and I had that power, we had to be cautious. In my defense, I had thousands of years of historical data to follow. I knew what happened to those who were too hasty or failed to consider that something could go wrong because everything had been progressing without fault. False confidence would not be my undoing, and unlike so many leaders throughout history, I would not be hoisted by my own petard. 

Knowledge was my primary strength, and I had plenty of examples to follow and not follow. I just hoped Sekh would hear me out. I was sure she would but giving her the time to cool down wouldn’t hurt anything. 

Irisa’s assigned spot was at the back right corner, and as she pulled a key to unlock the small shed that contained her tools, I used my map to investigate those around us. I didn’t find anything surprising, but nearly everyone had [Blacksmith] and either [Weapon Creation] or [Armor Creation]. I had the SP available, so I joined the club. 

New Skill: [Blacksmith] 

“Where do we start?” I asked Irisa. I stood outside the shed while she went in and came out with a rectangular-shaped mold, two hammers, two tongs, a smelting pot, and two blacksmithing aprons. She tied one around her neck and threw the other to me.  

“We have to convert the ore into something we can use,” Irisa said. I sat my backpack down and used it as a proxy to hand her the ore, then she placed some in the pot, then sat that inside the brick furnace, which looked a little bit like a pizza oven. “It’s going to melt the ore down, and then we pour that inside the molds. But you see those bellows over there? You grab one, and I’ll get the other, and we gotta pump air inside to increase its temperature.” Nodding, I stood behind one and started to pump.  

“Mila?” Irisa said my name when she started to pump the second bellow. 

“Yeah?” 

“If it isn’t too personal, where did you come from? Like, how did you get to Ria? Or even Dirge? Because of your circumstances, I’m not quite sure how to ask this...” 

I can’t tell her the truth, but... 

“There’s a continent to the far, far north. Not many people know about it, and I found myself in Dirge because I stowed away after I became sentient because I was abused, harassed, and tortured simply for existing. I wanted to get a second chance, but even that was denied to me when I was thrown overboard and left for dead... But I'm here... I’m alive, and as hard as it’s going to be for someone like me, I have no intention of ever letting this opportunity go to waste.” 

“Woah... I guess I never realized how hard it could be for you people... If you don’t mind me asking, what was that continent like?"

“Well, it was very secluded. Its culture wasn’t anything like what you have here. Do you want to hear about it?” Irisa nodded and smiled, relishing the chance to learn. I felt comfortable telling the history of my world. Even though it was masked by a lie. I could tell she was really interested in what I had to say. We had to wait for the ore to get hot enough to melt, so I started from the beginning of recorded history for my ‘continent’ and skipped around. 

“There probably were blacksmiths before 4,500 B.C.E, but we wouldn’t know about them since we hadn’t found any information about them.” 

“B.C.E?” Irisa questioningly asked. She was confused, but I managed to carefully pick my words because everything had to apply in a way that related to this world.  

“Before Common Era denotes the years before the Common Era. If you’re a Christian, it’s B.C, which means Before Christ.” Irisa had no idea what Christianity was, so I gave her a summary of it and A.D. to Irisa before continuing with my little lecture on the history of blacksmithing in my ‘continent.’ “It took another three thousand years or so for the Hittites to start messing around with iron. Scholars debated if it was first developed by them since there were iron tools believed to be made around 3,000 B.C.E. Once the knowledge of iron forging spread around, it practically took the world by storm wherever it went. In fact, the people of Ancient Greece had a god named Hephaestus, the god of metalworking and blacksmithing.” 

“Woah, that’s a religion I’ve never heard of.” Irisa’s excitement was palpable. Everyone else was too busy hammering and shaping their metal to pay attention to me. 

I continued my little lecture. “Christianity is but one of the thousands of religions from the continent where I was ‘born’, but there was never any actual proof of any gods existing. Quite a few gods and religions ended up spreading and being influenced by the cultures they ended up in, like with Ancient Romans sharing the Greek pantheon but having different names, such as Hephaestus being known as Vulcan.” 

“Doesn’t that get confusing? I really want to visit it now.” 

“I didn’t think you would actually believe me.” 

“Why wouldn’t I? You're not exactly the type to lie to me about something like this.” Irisa gave a friendly smile. “Honestly, it is hard to believe, but the world’s a big place. Along with being the best crafter in the world, I want to explore as well. I think it would be cool to live as a traveling merchant, a young oni on the prowl going from town to city to village to sell her wares.” 

I finished telling Irisa about how the weaponry produced during that time was often poor because of the lack of adequate heating and the inability to remove the impurities from their iron. “Steel wasn’t mass-produced until the 3rd century, but steel was used before when it was made by accident. But like I said, the quality varied until people understood metal and how to actually heat it. It wasn’t until something called the Bessemer process was introduced to inexpensively produce steel for cheap. After that, railroads spread all over the world. But that’s all I know about that. I don’t remember how to actually put the Bessemer process into use, though. I know the name.” 

To explain trains and their importance, I used the United States Civil War as an example. Troops and supplies had to go from place to place, and walking was much too slow. Trains weren’t all-powerful because they were useless if someone took out the rails or damaged them in a way that caused any incoming trains to derail. Even with that said, the railroad won the war for the north. 

Irisa asked nearly a hundred questions while she poured the molten iron into the mold. I was surprised the concept of a train didn’t exist in this world, considering that people were somewhat regularly summoned here. Coal was readily available, but maybe no one with the knowledge to make one was summoned.  

Or was it necessary when magic was readily available? 

 And I thought the same about electricity. Sure, harnessing it was difficult, but Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla figured it out.  

Ugh, Edison was a terrible person... That damn thief stole ideas from others. 

On that same vein, I continued to tell Irisa about various substantial events in my ‘country’s’ history. I only stopped when Irisa put on her gloves, pulled the pot out with her tongs, and poured the molten iron into two molds. She said it would take about six minutes for the ingots to harden and cool. Once that was done, we extracted them with our tongs to place back into the furnace to heat it up because it was easier to work with. “We don’t want the metal to liquify again. We want it hot enough to hammer into shape, but that’s it.  

“Okay,” I replied, continuing the history of my world. Rather, I was planning on doing that, but how could I explain the two World Wars? Nuclear bombs? Drones? I didn’t have to explain it all in grandiose detail as it pertained to my world.  The wars could remain the same, but nuclear bombs could be Divine Armaments. The same with drones, the internet, and really, everything else. 

So, that was what I did. I was just at the second ‘Continental’ War when the ingots were ready and flaming hot. We grabbed them and forged away with the cross-peen hammers, shaping the scorching metal into our desired shape. Sparks flew off with each strike. After a while, I was used to the sharp clangs. 

[Blacksmith] was helping me out because it allowed me to keep a somewhat steady pace with Irisa, whose skill was Lv. 3. Her strikes were more pronounced and defined, whereas mine were shallow and light. When Irisa needed one strike to do something, I needed four or five. Like clockwork, she raised her arm and brought it down. The ingot started off fat and rectangular, but it became closer to the shape of a rude dagger with each strike. Had it been at a higher level, the knowledge to expertly shape my ingot into a weapon would have flowed more freely. Regardless, I focused on my breathing and did my best to keep at it. The next subject to talk about was guns, but since this world had them, I decided to skip past that and speak of something a little bit more ‘happier.’ Mainly, the unique advancements I knew wouldn’t be found on any other ‘continent.’ 

Our daggers were nice and hot, so we took them from the furnace and continued to hammer them into shape while I talked about what many consider to be Man’s greatest invention because of how it revolutionized nearly every aspect of the world.  

“And with something called the internet,” I said while swiping an ocean’s worth of sweat off my brow. “The world’s knowledge was available at your fingertips. The device to access it was called a computer, but some were small enough to fit in your hand. It was through this device that you could control a drone, one of those Divine Armaments I talked about earlier, from thousands of miles away and kill someone ten countries away without ever leaving the comfort of pleasure.” 

“Internet...” she whispered, adjusting her apron as her eyes kind of went wide with surprise. “And you could just learn anything if you used this ‘search engine?’” 

I nodded. “If I had one here, I could find a video on blacksmithing. Oh, videos are moving pictures with sound added to them.” Irisa grinned and said something like that existed here. It used a mix of illusion and projection magic to record a series of events that could be transcribed onto display crystals. “Hehe, we may not be advanced as your continent, but we at least have that.” Irisa smiled and got back to work on her dagger.  

Before I knew it, we’d been here long enough for the sun to set. I canceled my night vision for a moment and watched the vibrant sparks illuminate in the cool darkness as metal struck metal. It was oddly beautiful and surreal, but not a moment later, the furnaces began to shut off as people prepared to clean up their work area. I held my dagger up, and while I wasn’t happy with how it looked, it was still my very first time creating something with [Weapon Creation] and [Blacksmith], so in terms of functionality, it would fare better than the stone mace I had made. Technically, it was usable, but it didn’t have a grip or anything like what you would find in a proper store. But that could come later when I had more experience under my belt. 

“It’s only your first day, Mila,” Irisa said as we left Smithy’s Corner after we put everything away and she locked the shed. “It took me a ton of time to even have [Blacksmith] available to learn, and I had a whole bunch of failures to show for it. Compared to me, you’re doing all right. When you get big and famous, be sure to remember me, okay? Ahaha!” Irisa’s laugh was joyful to hear as she removed the apron from her neck. She had planned on washing it because it was quite dirty. Sweat dripped down from her forehead, giving her gentle face a soft, ethereal glow I hadn’t noticed before.  

She’s pretty... 

The pain I had endured over my 20-ish years left me in a broken and battered state. Sure, I had only known Sekh for less than a month, but we shared a common background. We found solace in each other’s arms, something I didn’t think I could replicate if I ended up sharing a bed with Irisa. Yes, she and her mother were nice to us, but there was still an inkling of doubt in mind that this could all turn for the worse. 

Because it did in my world. My mind would sometimes go back to when my mother acted much like Ichiha. The fun and joy of going to the park after a week of beatings did wonders for my little heart, yet when she threw me to the ground and ran back to the car to speed off crushed any remaining hope. 

But I wanted to remove that doubt from my mind. Because I knew it wouldn’t happen here. It just wouldn’t, and I couldn’t keep looking at the world from that angle. I knew it, Sekh knew it, and Tilde knew it.  

The problem was actually doing it, but I wasn’t alone. I had help. 

---

“Mom, we’re home!” Irisa said when we walked through the door. I followed right behind to see Ichiha wiping down the counter.  

“Welcome home, girls,” she said with a smile. We chatted for a few minutes while I recanted the day’s event. Ichiha wasn’t ‘happy,’ I suppose, of the events that happened in the dungeon, nor was she pleased to hear that Sekh wanted to kill Max and his siblings. “Is that why she’s asleep? It’s rare to see you two separated, so I was worried.” 

“She’s very protective over me,” I replied. Sekh can’t see it, but we did get our revenge on them... And it’s not over. It’s only just the beginning. 

It only made sense for Ichiha to be conflicted, but she didn’t know that Sekh had only known death. She had no choice but to fall through life with violence and tyranny acting as her guiding hand. Or rather, all her lives. I couldn’t forget that curse that kept reincarnating and driving her to insanity and barbarity. 

If Sekh wants to tell them, it’s up to her, not me. 

Until then, as far as Irisa and Ichiha were concerned, Sekh was a Lionfolk I had found that didn’t turn her nose up at finding out I was a chimera. I couldn’t help but hope Sekh would trust them enough to tell them soon, though I understood her hesitancy and even shared it.  

To change the subject lightly, I spoke a little bit about the ‘continent’ I came from, mainly repeating what I told Irisa while we were forging. Somehow, that segued into alchemy. While I didn’t have the skill, Ichiha had a mortar and pestle and a few crimson amita—the red mushrooms used to make potions—in stock. I bought and stored them away in my storage because potions would definitely be useful. 

I’ll have to buy [Alchemist] eventually. I can still make potions without the skill. I’ll try it tonight. 

But that didn’t last long because Tilde flew down the stairs and lightly waved at me. “Master, come with me. We need to have a little talk,” she demanded. 

I nodded, following Tilde up the stairs. She didn’t speak until we emerged into the kitchen. Something delicious filled the air, and I was looking forward to dinner. 

“I did what I could,” reported the fairy. “But there’s something you got to understand. The world of 1,000 years ago is nothing like it is today. She’s full of insecurity stemming from living in a reality where she was constantly tortured by the curse. I’m not lying by saying this, but death is really all she’s ever known, and I mean that literally. She’s of the mind that everything can be solved with violence because that’s what she had no choice but to practice. For her, if there’s a problem, the only solution is death.” 

“I’m not mad at her, Tilde.” 

“Well, you better not be!” the fairy exclaimed as we stopped in front of the door to my room. 

“Yeah... I just said I’m not.” 

“Good! Oh, here’s something you might not know. Or maybe you do. Without the curse affecting her, your little Lionfolk’s able to experience all range of emotions. But she doesn’t know how to process them, and they manifest as submissive tendencies. If I were you, I’d take advantage of it... If you know what I'm saying, that is. Hehehe...” Tilde greedily rubbed her hands together and licked her lips. “Be sure to make it sexy, okay? I need something exciting if I’m going to get off.” 

“You’re so perverted it isn’t even funny...” I sighed and knocked on the door. With no one didn’t answer, I used my map’s satellite mode to peek inside and realized she was still asleep. 

“Eh, that’s part of my charm. Either take it or leave it. Oh, wait, you gotta take it.” She stuck out her tongue at me. “Anyway, go on and talk to her. I’m going to find the big titty onis and see what’s for dinner,” Tilde said, flying back downstairs.