At first light, when the sky was still a pale gray, the adventurers in the great treehouse were already stirring from blissfully complete sleep. Eating well, sleeping well, and not worrying about monsters prowling at night—everyone had fully recovered their strength.
Everyone except the craftsmen.
To repair weapons, armor, and arrows, most of the smiths who could grab the chance hadn't slept at all. They spent the night restoring every adventurer's gear and then used the remaining hours to reforge and hone arrowheads.
"Ha—!"
Early that morning, Tsubaki stepped into the workshop. The steady ding-ding-dang-dang of hammers brightened her mood. The faces around her were drawn with fatigue, and yet her own was all smiles.
"How's it feel marching with the party? Kind of like living at the deadline for a big order, huh? A whole night of nonstop repairs—and you still have to guarantee the quality of every single piece. Pretty torturous moving with the main force, right?"
"Very torturous," one idle craftsman groaned, lifting his head. It was his first time joining a large-scale, party-wide dungeon expedition, and his first time learning how punishing weapon repair could be.
"You can't ever finish," he went on. "Every sword, every shield wears down fighting monsters. Restoring them properly takes real time. I realize now my skills aren't at that level yet."
Worse, while he was still working on one piece, the seniors had already finished two or three—and even at that speed, the quality of his work didn't surpass theirs. Only now did he understand the gap.
"Exactly," Tsubaki nodded. "Tagging along on a 'Joint Expedition' is rough for smiths. The moment the advance halts and the party rests, our work begins. It used to be even worse. If we didn't have this space now, where do you think we'd be doing all these repairs?"
She sketched the old days with a crooked grin. Watching the newbie's face pale, Tsubaki figured that one run like this would be enough for him to grasp how hard things used to be.
"But this is how a craft gets tempered—under pressure. Look at the others around you. They all walked this same road."
The newcomer glanced at the veterans. Despite the sleepless night, more than a few were still smiling, even throwing him a thumbs-up with restless energy.
"Moving with the party is a trial by fire for our craft," Tsubaki continued. "If you're a little lacking, this kind of expedition won't earn you a name—it might even crush your confidence. We love heads-down practice, sure, but sometimes only these extreme conditions push us to level up.
"No time to overthink. The pressure forces focus. Repeat a task a hundred, a thousand times, and your technique climbs, bit by bit. When this 'Joint Expedition' ends, feel the before-and-after yourself—you'll get it."
The newbie tucked her words away. After the expedition, he planned to return to his familia's forge and try crafting a brand-new weapon, just to measure the difference in himself.
"Captain, you didn't come by the workshop last night," one veteran called.
"Yeah! Where'd you disappear to, Captain?" another chimed in.
The old hands knew Tsubaki. Even during a campaign she preferred the workshop to her room; if there were repairs to do, she'd be right here swinging a hammer. But she hadn't shown last night. The old-timers had their suspicions. The youngsters, not so much.
Hearing their teasing, Tsubaki didn't bother to act coy—least of all about her own love life.
"Where else would I go?" she said breezily. "I went to rendezvous with my 'little bro.'"
"Eh!?"
The veterans exchanged a "knew it" look. The younger smiths, though, gaped in disbelief.
"Captain… you have someone you like?" the newbie blurted.
"Is it really so hard to believe I like a boy?" Tsubaki snorted.
"N-no! It's just… we never heard anything like that. Back home you put everything into forging. There were never rumors about you liking anyone…"
That kind of comment only comes from someone who'd done their homework, and Tsubaki heard it loud and clear.
She wasn't about to name names, but she was perfectly open about the fact that she had someone she liked—better that than letting rookies set their sights on her.
"Anyway, I'm a woman too. Liking a man is normal," she said, matter-of-fact. "Even if I aim to push my forging to the peak, once I get there, I'll need to pass it on."
At that, plenty of the younger smiths looked crestfallen. The veterans just nodded knowingly.
Aside from passion, being a smith was their gift—and they all hoped that gift wouldn't end in their own hands. Of course, none of them in their prime were rushing to find a spouse; that could wait.
"Alright, enough gossip," Tsubaki clapped her hands. "Today's push is about to start, which means your shift is ending. Once Finn and the others head for the Deep Floors, get to your rooms and sleep until nightfall. Our work window's nights for a while—take extra care of yourselves."
"Understood!"
They steadied themselves. No matter how tough you are, a night's labor saps your spirit. If they didn't catch solid sleep now, they'd never make it through another graveyard-shift of repairs.
With that settled, Tsubaki rubbed her side and headed out of the workshop.
(End of Chapter)
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