Chapter 7 - We have a monopoly.

I continued to observe Ais’s group for a while, and eventually they noticed my presence. The first to look at me was Ais, her gaze sharp and penetrating, and then the other members of the group became aware of me as well.

Honestly, I could only keep my eyes on Bete. How could he have turned into such a beautiful woman? Those slightly animalistic traits only made her even more attractive. That’s unfair—there’s no way I can control myself. My heart is racing because of a man…

A man who is now a woman, but even so…

“It’s the god Eryk. What are you doing here? What a miracle to see you alone—you’re always accompanied by the goddess Hephaestus.” The only one who approached me to talk was Tiona. She doesn’t treat me like a “monster.”

In fact, she seems quite relaxed.

“Hephaestus is taking care of some things at the Tower. I just came out for a walk, that’s all. I wanted to try the food here,” I said.

“Is it good? It’s just bread and tea.”

“It’s not the best thing I’ve ever eaten, but it’s acceptable,” I said quietly so the waitress wouldn’t hear me.

“Come on, Tiona. Leave the god Eryk alone,” Tione called out to her sister.

“Don’t worry, she’s not bothering me.” I smiled at Tione, and she smiled back.

“I’ll be going now. Ah, later I want you to take a look at my weapon for me again, okay?” After saying that, Tiona turned around and walked away.

She waved one last time before disappearing into the distance along with Ais, Tione, and Bete.

‘Take a look at her weapon again?’

I searched my memories for any time I might have helped Tiona. In fact, the double-bladed sword she currently uses, called Urge, was created by me a long time ago.

I know that weapon. In the original story, it was created by the Goibniu Familia. Not only Tiona’s weapon, but Ais’s weapon as well was made by the same Familia. Normally, they are the ones who maintain their equipment.

In this world, the Goibniu Familia still exists, but it is very small, and the items they produce don’t even come close to those made by our Familia. If I remember correctly, in the original story, they had the ability to create weapons just as good as those produced by the Hephaestus Familia…

But here, in this “version” of the Danmachi world, they are just a weak Familia.

‘Interesting. We practically have a monopoly. We make weapons for basically all the powerful adventurers in Orario. In fact, my abilities are used specifically to forge weapons for those adventurers.’

That’s why I’m so respected by adventurers.

However, all the weapons I’ve created so far are high-level, but nothing exceptional.

That’s a limit I placed on myself.

If I make a weapon that’s too powerful, the world could become unbalanced.

The moment I create a weapon using my full capabilities and hand it over to a Familia, that Familia would automatically become the strongest in Orario. That’s the level of my abilities.

At the same time that sounds cool, it’s terrifying. The power I hold in my hands is immense.

“Excuse me, may I clear this away?”

While I was drifting through my thoughts and memories, the waitress approached me. She noticed that I hadn’t eaten almost any of the toast and seemed quite worried. However, I smiled and reassured her.

“It’s fine, I’ll eat it. It’s delicious,” I said.

The waitress let out a sigh of relief and said, “Would you like more tea? This one’s on the house!” Her eyes were sparkling.

When I heard her words, I remembered something…

‘I don’t have any money on me… How am I going to pay?’

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After the woman brought the second tea, I thought about what I should do. Should I just tell her I don’t have any money and need to go get some? Well, I’m famous and she trusts me, so I guess it’ll be fine.

That’s what I did.

I told her I didn’t have any money and that I would go get it. Her response was:

“It’s alright, you don’t need to pay. Just don’t forget to bring money next time, okay?”

“Alright, I’m sorry.”

I left the bakery with my hands in my pockets. I walked slowly through the city, greeting people on the street. I’ve never felt this good in my entire life. My body feels amazing—nothing like my previous body, which was fat and unpleasant.

When I approached the tower, I decided to stay outside for a while, just observing the adventurers entering and leaving the dungeon. I evaluated each one of them. There are many strong adventurers.

Many of them are probably members of the Loki Familia or the Freya Familia, the two most powerful Familias after the Hephaestus Familia.

Well, our Familia is only considered the strongest because I’m part of it.

‘I’d better head back now… How long has it been? Two hours?’

I managed to have some fun and met a few interesting characters. I also studied my memories to get a better sense of what this world is like.

Aside from the hierarchy of the Familias changing because of my presence and the genders of some characters changing, the only other difference is that the overall level of weapons is higher than in the original Danmachi world. The weapons I create are extremely good.

Attack power, durability, magic conduction—every fundamental aspect of any weapon I make is far above average, and all strong adventurers wield weapons made by me. Or almost all of them. In other words, this world is considerably stronger than the original.

Because of that, the dungeon has been explored much more deeply than in the original world. Moreover, level two or three adventurers can go deeper than they could in the original Danmachi. This is the power of the weapons I create.

‘It’s kind of nice to be the person who can destroy the balance of the world at any moment.’

Smiling and humming a cheerful song from my old world in my head, I headed toward the tower to meet Hephaestus.