Legend of the Empyrean Blacksmith

REUNION

Two figures remained in each others’ embrace for nearly ten minutes, doused in complete silence interrupted only occasionally with a faint sob and a gasp . Lino slowly came to and raised his head, his eyes being met by a reddened pair . He couldn’t help but let a faint smile escape his lips as Ella tightened her hold on him . From over her shoulder, he could see another figure slowly leaving the small house .

Eggor was still just as Lino remembered him; tall, broad and old . Though he kept his brows furrowed, it was clear it took quite a magnificent effort to do so . He seemed to take a deep breath before beginning to walk forward, stopping only when he reached the two . He spoke with his arms crossed over his chest .

"Hello kiddo . "

"Hello old man . " Lino replied, smiling .

" . . . you look like shit . "

"Thanks . "

" . . . I’m glad you’re okay . " Eggor said, coughing almost immediately after as if to cover up his embarrassment .

"You know what I’m going to do right now?" Lino asked, pulling Ella up and away .

"What?" Eggor asked, arching his brow .

"I’m gonna give you a bear hug . "

"No you won’t . "

"Sure as hell will . "

"Try and I’ll rip you apart . "

"No you won’t . " Lino said, taking a step closer .

"Hey, back off bastard!"

"Here I come, old man!"

"Fuck off you bastard! I’m warning you!!" Eggor exclaimed, fervently backing up .

"Aww, come on, come here . Gimme that big ol’ hug!"

"I swear I’ll shove a sword up your ass if you don’t stop!"

"Eh? If you’re gonna cheat on your wife man, at least, you know, pick another woman . "

" . . . "

"How about that hug, huh?"

" . . . "

"Ha ha, are you thinking about whether it’s possible to squeeze me to death?" Lino asked, slowly walking over .

"Maybe . "

"Eh, give it a shot . If it works, I won’t haunt you . "

"I’d be quicker to believe stars shit diamonds than that . " Eggor said, grinning for a moment . However, he wasn’t backing up any longer .

"Why diamonds though?" Lino asked as he stopped in front of him . Though Lino had grown quite considerably, over 190 at that, he was still at least a head shorter than the giant before him .

"Why not?"

"Good point . "

" . . . come here . " though he tried desperately, Lino was unable to wrap his arms around the thick-bellied giant . On the other hand, it was leisure for Eggor to do so . Muscle atop a muscle, that was truly the only thing Lino felt .

"Damn man, you’re so fucking fat . . . " Lino mumbled as the two parted .

"Fat? Humph, ’tis all muscle, you braindead kid . All muscle . "

"Yeah, that’s what I said . " Lino said, grinning .

"All the same, I’d rather be a fatso than a stick like you . "

"Oh, please . You should see how women swoon over this stick . "

"Perhaps ’stick’ wasn’t the best choice of words . . . " Eggor mumbled .

" . . . oh . Yeah . Khm, anyway," Lino swiftly turned around and faced Ella who was currently staring at the two curiously with a faint smile . "What are you looking at?"

"Just wondering if I should be worried . "

" . . . oh, please . " Lino rolled his eyes at her . "Unlike you, I’d be crushed if he tried to jump me . " Pa!! Though it hurt, Lino suddenly felt a strange sense of nostalgia surge from within . He then immediately suppressed it from fear of growing to enjoy being slapped at the back of his head .

The trio soon headed back into the house where Ella quickly fashioned a simple meal while Eggor took out the finest ale he could find and poured all three of them a cup . Lino grabbed at the wooden spoon and quickly downed the strange soup . It wasn’t exactly due to hunger, but because he missed Ella’s food quite a bit .

"Did you two wait long?" Lino asked .

"No . " Ella replied, shaking her head .

"Hell yeah . " Eggor replied, frowning .

" . . . so which one is it?"

"Mine . " both replied at the same time .

"Ah, I get it . So you decided to fuck with me for a while . "

"Do you really think I have time to do that?" Eggor asked .

"Well, you had time to wait for me here . "

" . . . "

"How have you been?" Ella asked while caressing Eggor’s back gently, healing the old man’s wounds .

"Honestly?" Lino said, looking at her . "Thinking about whether I should try to kill you when I found you, mostly . It was a very tough decision . "

" . . . that bad, huh?" Ella asked, sighing lowly .

" . . . nah," Lino said, smiling . "Had I been smarter, all of this could have been avoided . "

" . . . I’m truly sorry, Lino . " Ella said . "I . . . I honestly never meant to entangle you into this mess . I had no idea it would happen in this way . . . "

" . . . I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but you didn’t have a choice," Lino shrugged his shoulders . "If the bastard wanted you to give him to someone, you would have given him to someone . The cunt’s cunty like that . "

" . . . are we talking about the same thing? The thing?" Eggor suddenly asked, seeming slightly shocked .

"The Writ? Yeah . " Lino replied casually, nibbling on the bread .

" . . . you really have the balls of steel calling it a cunt . " Eggor said, a shred of respect toward the young bastard across from him appearing in his eyes .

"Oh, that? Pf, cunt’s like a lovely nickname compared to the shit I usually come up with . For an entire year, I used to call him Gaia’s unwanted whore . Even he couldn’t endure it in the end and decided to teach me a brief lesson in pain . "

" . . . "

" . . . khm," Ella coughed awkwardly . "You’re still the same, I see . "

"He he, but of course!"

"Oh, right . " Eggor chimed in . "What happened to the others?" he remembered the band he was briefly a part of before he went to look for Ella . The atmosphere almost immediately dipped into frigid as Lino’s expression darkened . He almost immediately regretted asking, but there was no button to unwind the time and erase regrets .

" . . . dead . " Lino said . "Only Lucky’s alive . . . I suppose . "

" . . . I . . . I’m sorry . . . " Eggor mumbled weakly .

" . . . as am I," Lino said, sighing and leaning back into the chair . "I went my own way for a while before the invasion ’cause I wanted to make some money and buy some resources . . . I was too late in coming back . "

" . . . that’s why the spear’s there . . . " Ella mumbled .

"The spear? Oh, right . Yeah," Lino said . "As you can imagine," he continued, taking a deep breath . "I was a bit angry about the whole ordeal . So I figured it was a good idea to go and challenge two Devil Variants with my sissy-fit . I somehow wound up shoving my Will into the spear . Killed everyone there, though . Well, except the Devil Variants of course . One day, however . . . I will . "

" . . . the Devils killed your friends?" Ella suddenly asked, frowning .

" . . . " Lino glanced at her and smiled oddly for a moment . "What? You think everyone uniformly agreed to help out a wet-behind-ears Empyrean dog without any issues with it whatsoever?"

" . . . "

"As with almost everything, there are splinters," Lino explained . "A group content with invading this dimension, partly because they really like killing humans and partly because they can’t really say no . And then there’s the other group, who would rather not condemn their race to a near-extinction war . "

" . . . how’d you learn this?" Ella asked .

"A Devil told me . "

"Eh?"

"Ay, he was quite a fun guy actually . " Lino said, remembering Linger for a moment . "Didn’t really appreciate me pretty much flipping him, but then again, he didn’t try to kill me either . Good guy altogether . "

" . . . this is making less and less sense," Ella sighed, shaking her head . "Again . . . I’m really sorry Lino . If I had known . . . ah . . . "

" . . . why didn’t you tell me what it actually was, though?" Lino asked .

"Because I figured you wouldn’t need to know," she replied with a bitter smile . "That you would be like Eggor . Train for a while, and then get too tired of it and focus entirely on blacksmithing . "

"Hey!!"

"Clearly, though . . . I was wrong . You really intend to pursue both paths . You always did . "

" . . . it’s not like I really have a choice," Lino shrugged . "It doesn’t matter though . I’ll figure it out eventually . "

"I know you will . " Ella added with a smile . "You’re quite quick in your progression," Ella suddenly added . "Already Early Purity Realm!"

"Pu!!" Eggor suddenly spat out a mouthful of ale, a shocked expression on his face . "W-what the fuck?!! You’re already so strong, you bastard?!"

"Huh? What are you spitting at me for, you weak, old bastard?!" Lino said . "By the way," he then ignored reddened Eggor and focused back onto Ella . "Just how strong have you gotten over the past ten years? You’re at the very least Numinous Realm . That’s even faster than me . "

"Ha ha, well, for me it’s mostly just retracing back my old path . " Ella said with a faint giggle . "But are you sure you want to know just how strong I am? It might shock you quite a bit . "

"Oh, please . Don’t be so vain . "

"Alright . Don’t say I didn’t warn you . " seeing her basic stats, Lino’s world crumbled for a moment as time stopped . He stared in utter disbelief .

" . . . "

"What?" Ella asked, seeing that Lino remained silent for nearly five minutes .

" . . . fuck my mother . " he took in a deep, cold breath, remembering those few brief lines .

[Eleanor Qe’ll - Human - Immortal Sword Maiden]

The Ineffable

Level: 899