11 Picking a Shop
Alvar had donned his full disguise, while Hephaestus did the same with her eye patch.
"I still don't understand why you're so keen on having that thing on," Alvar said as he walked through the corridors of the manor with Hephaestus.
"It's because it's ugly," she muttered despondently.
"I disagree. People simply don't understand how cool that eye looks," he smiled under the mask.
"Cool?" She looked at Alvar with a confused expression.
With a nod, Alvar answered, "Mhm, it reminds me of my younger days when I started out my journey. I was quite keen on the 'If it looks cool, then I'll use it' mentality. It was how I usually made my weapons and armor too."
"My friends back then used to call it the 'Rule of cool' as a joke." He and Hephaestus laughed together as they walked past everyone staring at them, curious about who the masked man was talking to their goddess.
Hephaestus wasn't sure what to say at that, so she didn't say anything and let her mind wander. Thoughts gathered in her mind as she started to smile.
"Rule of cool?" She chuckled.
"It was my motto. I kinda want to relive those days," he scratched the back of his head and laughed.
"What's stopping you from doing so?"
"...My past... Things I have to figure out and move on from," he sighed, but a small smile formed under his mask.
"But after I deal with those, then there won't be anything stopping me."
"Hope you move on too, Hephaestus. You're better than you give yourself credit for."
They talked for a while and changed the conversation to some harmless banter, the topics jumping around from daily routines to funny things that happened in the past.
Alvar changed back into his usual attire as he made his way back to the Hostess of Fertility. The usual lively hostess always put a genuine smile on Alvar's face.
"Not sure if I'll be moving out of here or not... But for now, I'll stay," he walked inside, every waitress giving him a curious look mainly because he returned a lot later than usual.
Syr was there too; she wanted to sneak to Alvar's side when he managed to expertly dodge her and walk into the back of the hostess to the kitchen.
"Sorry May, I'm a bit late," he said as he easily started mixing himself into the cooking process with her.
"It's fine, I'm used to doing this myself, Nya~. I'm still thankful you showed up, though-Nya~," she said with a smile.
As they worked, Alvar slowly incorporated some of his cooking style into the process, requiring May to follow his pace. It began with a few small adjustments until she became accustomed to it, and then additional changes were introduced. Initially, this surprised May, until she realized that Alvar's new approach was easier and felt more natural, the way he transitioned from starting the cooking process to preparing a different dish.
It all suited her current predicament of cooking multiple dishes simultaneously. She was shocked that he was able to teach her something without stopping the cycle and thankful as well.
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Alvar stood in front of the excited May as she drank some water.
"You're a fast learner," he smiled.
"And you're an amazing teacher, Nya~. I think I can take on more food orders with that style, Nyaa~," she was pumped.
"I'm also not as tired as I was last time, Nya~," she grinned before her legs gave in and she fell on her butt.
"The adrenaline you felt from learning on the fly made your body temporarily forget its exhaustion. Besides, you only used this style tonight while working the entire day with the previous one. No way it would suddenly cure your exhaustion," Alvar laughed at her pout.
He kneeled in front of her and patted her head.
"But you did well; next time you won't collapse from exhaustion so you don't have to worry." After seeing her smile, Alvar returned it with his own as he stood up and walked away.
'Is this what it feels like to be a father? This is the second time we interacted, and I can't help but teach her...' But the smile never left his face.
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"Nyaaa!~ We missed him," Chloe growled as she slumped at a table.
"I wanted to ask him some questions, Nyaa~," she mumbled.
"Same, he seemed a lot happier when he came back, so I was curious if he met a girl~," Syr sat next to Chloe.
The rest of the waitresses simply shook their heads at their antics.
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Alvar made simple sketches and blueprints for multiple weapons and armor that used techniques from his world for Hephaestus to try out. These were very easy to make weapons, except for the multiple different ores being mixed into them... So very easy indeed.
After having all the notes ready, and the sun started rising, he exited the shop without alerting the other waitresses and made his way back to the Hephaestus Familia in his Cyrus disguise.
The guards knew about his arrival and did a light bow before letting him in. Alvar made his way inside and was greeted by a grinning Tsubaki.
"You must be the lucky god; Hephaestus is waiting for you inside," she led the way while asking some... 'interesting' questions.
The only reason she was being so casual is that she felt Alvar was a more down-to-earth deity than others.
"Here we are, please treat Hephaestus with care~," she winked and walked away.
Alvar simply chuckled at her antics and knocked on the door while saying, "It's Cyrus."
After a few seconds of waiting, he heard a "You can come in,". So he did. As he opened the door, he was met with a well-rested and cheerful Hephaestus, although her hair was a bit of a mess.
"...Did you just wake up?" He asked bewildered and to Hephaestus' dismay.
"...It was the first time I could sleep this late, alright? Let me be," she sighed and stretched her arms above her head.
"I got all the workshops ready for you with those requirements you mentioned. You can look over all of them here if you want," she placed all of the documents of the workshops on the desk as Alvar sat down.
She fully ignored the line tracings over his clothes; she saw his armor once and didn't feel like reliving that feeling again, even though the calming potion made her somewhat forget the feeling.
'Now then, let's see what we have here...' Alvar looked over all the workshops, and a few caught his eye.
"...Why is this one all pink?" He asked, bewildered. He had no problem with the color but with the excessive use of it.
'...who would color their anvil and forge pink too? The color would be chipped or burnt off after making one weapon??? This person alone should have kept the color industry afloat if there even is something like that.'
Seeing Alvar nearly having a mental breakdown made Hephaestus.
"Everyone has their kinks; I left that in there simply to see your reaction," he shook his head and moved on to the next couple of workshops.
'Too small... too big... WAY too big... Ah, here it is.' He picked up the document and handed it to Hephaestus.
"This one would do, what are your thoughts?"
"Not too bad at all, I'll take you there if you'd like to see it in person," Alvar nodded and stood up while taking out his blueprints and sketches.
"Some equipment blueprints that use the techniques of my home. It should help you out more since your 'all-knowing' craftsman divinity is sealed," he said as he placed them on the desk.
"Now then, ladies first," he did a light bow as he showed the way to the door. They both laughed afterward as he walked next to her.
"I heard Hephaestus started interacting with a masked god, I didn't think it was true," some whispers flew around the surroundings as Alvar and Hephaestus started talking about smithing and crafting, but they made sure not to mention anything that shouldn't exist.
"Seeing her smiling like that does make me happy," another blacksmith commented with boisterous laughter.
"Rumors about us are going to spread, aye?" Alvar commented as they continued.
"They can spread, I already promised to be your shield if the need arises," she said confidently, oblivious about what Alvar meant, leaving him to shake his head with a chuckle.
"So this is the place... I already like the outside," Alvar smiled.
Although the outer interior looks slightly withered from neglect, it can still be easily fixed. And far enough from the road for Alvar to put out a small stall outside the shop so that adventurers on their way to the Hostess can see all the wares without being a nuisance to the civilians.
"Want me to show you the interior?" Hephaestus asked from the side.
"Yes, please." Alvar nodded and followed her inside the shop.
The main sales area is big enough to fit about 10 to 20 people comfortably and has the necessary space to hang up the weapons and equipment. Although most of the racks need to be replaced and some of the furniture and tables are missing.
The writing and documenting room is open enough to be well decorated and to fit a table for meetings if the need arises. With spaces for cabinets to store blueprints and documents.
The final and most important is the smithing room. It is big enough for all the projects Alvar wanted to do with an already built-in smithy. Although the smithy is old, he is already planning on replacing it with a better one.
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Sitting in the not-so-sturdy chairs left inside the now-called office room, Alvar, without his mask, and Hephaestus, without her eye patch, sat and drank some tea.
"I have to ask... why do you have tea inside that storage thing of yours?" Alvar looked confused at the question.
"For the off chance that I need tea, like right now," Alvar shrugged.
"Also, I'd like to keep this workshop," he smiled at Hephaestus.
"Alright, I brought its documents with me, so just sign those and the transfer is complete. You just have to remember to place my symbol in the front of the shop and on your weapons as well. Before you start selling anything, I would like to look at the products and then talk about the selling price," Alvar nodded.
"I'm fine with that, just remember that the selling price of my items will always be lower than everything else. I'm not going to overprice items that I find aren't worth that pricing. Even if it is of higher quality than the normal ones," Alvar smiled as Hephaestus suddenly got a headache.
"...You really are going to abuse the fact that I'm going to be your shield... right?" She pretended to be annoyed and held her forehead.
"You were so proud of that fact earlier though? I have to test that confidence a bit," Alvar smirked.
"No need to worry though, I won't be selling anything special at all. Just simple swords and armor... no need to look at me with those eyes, I won't add any projectiles to swords either... yet... maybe... we'll see," Alvar stared into Hephaestus' eyes and then looked away with a wry smile.
"...You are going to cause me a migraine..." She groaned.
"And I have potions to cure that so everything is fine." Alvar took out another calming potion and pushed it over the small table towards her side.
"I'll send a prayer to the deities at the next Denatus." She clasped her hands together into a prayer.
"Don't do that, what if they hear those prayers?" He looked annoyed.
"Seriously?" She deadpanned.
"100%," They both broke and started laughing.
"Jokes aside, do keep a limit to those ranged melee weapons, at least until your business is stable enough to stand on its own too."
"You don't have to worry, I won't cause unnecessary trouble for you either, and if I am unsure of the pricing then I'll simply ask you for the market value and decrease it by like 50%."
"...I can't tell if you are joking or not with that comment."
"Only half joking."
"...Which half?"
"Well then, I'll be fixing my workshop now, want me to walk you home?"
"...You didn't tell me which half... and yes."
