Despite the loud plitter platter of rain, a soft voice containing hints of excitement could be heard in the cafeteria, which was devoid of people.

"Theodore! Over here!"

Having just arrived, I turned towards the source of the sound.

As expected, the voice belonged to Sylvia.

She was wearing a shirt as white as her hair, along with a long, light-blue skirt that reached over her knees. Her cloak, which was of the same color as her skirt, obscured her face. Though, it did nothing to hide her tail, which was wagging happily.

'I'm even more convinced that dragons are related to dogs now...'

Putting my thoughts asides, I made my way towards Sylvia.

"Why do you look like that?", she asked as soon as I approached her.

Confused, I took out my phone to look at myself.

Wearing a gray jacket over a white shirt, I looked, at the very least, presentable.

'At least presentable for someone who was about to meet a sweaty blacksmith anyways...'

Just as I was about to question Sylvia on what she was talking about, I suddenly remembered something.

'Oh...'

Thanks to Sylvia having been able to instantly recognize me and call me over, I completely forgot the fact that I now looked like a certain Celestial that really liked to snore while she sleeps.

Pausing my thoughts there, I turned my gaze towards Sylvia again. "It's just a disguise"

Sylvia tilted her head in confusion for a split second before nodding in understanding. "Oh, I get it! You want to hide from that girl, don't you?"

"Yes, I do"

'No I don't'

Although I didn't know who Sylvia was talking about, I knew for a fact that she was wrong. After all, the girl I wanted to hide from the most right now was Sylvia herself.

Unaware of my thoughts, Sylvia grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the Gate station. "Let's go!"

Staring at my hand, which was interlocked with Sylvia's, my breathing suddenly became ragged.

It wasn't because I was embarrassed, but because—

'W- Why... Why would you treat the one who would watch you go through hell without doing anything so affectionately!'

—Guilt was building up inside me.

As such, I immediately stood in my place and removed my hand from hers.

"I don't need you to lead me there", I spoke with a cold tone.

Seemingly unconcerned, Sylvia nodded her head and continued walking towards the Gate station.

Though, I couldn't help but to notice her shoulders trembling from time to time.

...

As soon as we arrived at the Capital, we walked out into the rain without using an umbrella or wearing a raincoat.

Not that we needed to though. After all, Sylvia was very skillfully controlling the raindrops so that they wouldn't fall onto us.

And thanks to her presumably using most of her mental power on keeping us from getting wet, the trip to meet the Grandmaster blacksmith was devoid of any conversations.

'Just how I like it...'

Eventually, we reached a certain shabby building in the commoner district.

"We're here!", Sylvia suddenly shouted.

"A- Are you sure?", I eyed her skeptically as I look at the... tavern right in front of me.

"No, that's not it", she pulled the hems of my sleeve as she pointed towards the right.

My gaze followed the direction of her finger until it landed on a smithy that was... adjacent to the tavern.

Putting asides the weird choice in design, I muttered. "Oh... I didn't notice that"

Smiling, Sylvia slowly moved towards the smithy. "It's okay! Now let's go in!"

CLANK—!

"Are you sure a Grandmaster blacksmith live here?", I asked Sylvia as I looked around the dark smithy.

It's common for Grandmaster blacksmiths to work all day without rest. In fact, it's considered extremely strange if a Grandmaster blacksmith stopped, you know, smithing to have a break, let alone putting the fire of their forge out like this.

As such, I couldn't help but to look at Sylvia suspiciously.

Seemingly understanding what I was getting at, Sylvia smiled at me before shouting. "Master Semier! I'm here!"

What followed her shout was a series of clanking and clunking noises coming from deeper inside the smithy.

In contrast to my confused self, Sylvia just patiently looked towards where the sound was coming from, as if she was already used to it.

Before long, a figure emerged before us.

"Little lizard, it's a bit early to be visiting me, don't you think?"

"It's already noon, master", Sylvia crossed her arms. "Most people don't consider this time of the day as 'early' "

"How many times have I told you this already? Stop calling me 'master', I'm your grandfather!", the figure scowled with annoyance.

"Sure...", Sylvia waved her hand dismissively. "Anyways, can you make some light? It's dark in here"

"I will if you call me 'grandpa' again like yesterday"

"No."

"Tch! It was worth a shot anyways"

Snap—!

With a snap of the figure's fingers, the forge was relit with a white flame.

Although the White fire - the symbol of a blacksmith who had reached the peak of his profession - being here was extremely surprising, I was more surprised by the physical appearance of the supposed Grandmaster blacksmith.

He looked like an old man, but his white feathery wings proved that he an angel. However—

"A- A halo!?"

—The appearance of a golden halo floating above his head was what made my jaws drop in awe.

As soon as he heard me, the man, whose name was Semier, looked me with surprise before lazily gazing at his halo. "Oh, I forgot to hide it"

Ting—!

With a flick of his finger, the halo disappeared.

He then turned his gaze towards me, as if gazing into my very soul with his light blue eyes. "Oh well, as you can see, I'm an archangel"

Archangels are considered a sub-race of the Angel race, and any angels can become an archangel if they reach rank.

Thanks to this ridiculous requirement, the Empire only had 2 archangels at the moment.

One was Angelica Salvant, the current Empress. The other was her father—

"Archangel Semier Salvant..."

—Who happens to be an ranked powerhouse of the Empire that went into recluse dozens of years ago.

'H- How am I meeting Semier, who even Arthur had never managed to meet!? No, more importantly, Sylvia's his granddaughter?'

Well, Semier being Sylvia's grandfather was certainly plausible, as in the novel, not much was known about Sylvia's past aside from the fact that she killed her mother with her own hands.

'But does that mean Sylvia is related to Eleanor?'

Before I could think about the absurdity of this situation any further, Semier's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Yes yes, that's my name and title...", he sighed. "...It would be quite unfortunate if rumors of my whereabouts is spread throughout the whole Empire, wouldn't it, little girl?"

This was unmistakably a threat. As such, I nodded my head fervently, not wanting to offend the existence that could kill me with a single breath. "I- I won't tell anyone about this"

Before Semier could express his satisfaction to my display of compliance, Sylvia walked up to him and elbowed his sides.

"Ouch! What are you doing, little lizard?"

"Stop scaring him!"

Hearing this, the Semier scratched the back of his head. "I'm just messing with... him...?"

He then snapped his head towards me.

Looking intensely at me for a few seconds, he then turned back to Sylvia and whispered. Though, his whispers were still loud enough for me to hear.

"Hey, are you sure that it's a 'he'?"

"Yes", Sylvia nodded. "He's just under disguise"

Hearing this, Semier walked towards me and grabbed the plump mounds that were protruding out of my chest. However, his hands just phazed through them.

"What a powerful illusion!", his eyes sparkled as he scrutinized the mana around me even closer.

Though, his expression turned into that of disappointment as he alternated his gaze between the mounds on my chest and his hands.

Seeing this, I shuddered and cancelled the illusion magic.

After receiving yet another blow to his side from Sylvia, Semier focused on me again. "Say, are you related to that brat Elysia?"

He was probably talking about grandmaster Elysia, who wielded extremely powerful illusion magic.

After thinking for a while, I answered. "Maybe...?"

That wasn't exactly a lie, as Alicia was presumably her granddaughter or great granddaughter, and I was Alicia's adoptive father.

Staring at me for a few seconds, Semier nodded his head. "Being mysterious huh? I like it"

After that, he looked at both Sylvia and me. "So, why are you here today?"

"I kind of forgot to tell you this, but... I'm supposed to introduce him to you"

"And who's he?", Semier narrowed his eyes.

"He's the guy I told you about yesterday"

Now staring at me with widened eyes, Semier stuttered. "I- Is he really!?"

"Yes.", Sylvia spoke with utmost certainty.

As soon as he heard this, Semier wobbled towards me and grasped my hands.

"N- Nice to meet you, Theodris Grey! I- I'm your biggest fan!"

I froze on the spot.

After processing what he had just said for a few seconds, I gave him a strained smile. "W- What did you just say?"

Still staring at me with sparkling eyes, Semier spoke. "I- I can't believe I'm meeting the real-life inspiration of Theodris Grey! KYAHHHHH! TELL ME THIS IS NOT A DREAM!"

Watching this old archangel screaming like a little girl and acting disturbingly similar to Lyn Blitz, my face couldn't help but to crunch up in disgust and fear.

Sylvia, seemingly sharing my emotions, slapped the back of his head. "Stop! You're being creepy, even for your standards!"

After getting hit multiple more times by Sylvia, Semier calmed down. Though, his eyes were still filled with reverence whenever he looked at me.

"Keum! Anyways, what do you need me for? As long as it's not too absurd, I'll d—"

GULP—!

He then paused to gulp a mouthful of saliva as he felt Sylvia's piercing gaze on him.

"I- I mean I'll do anything you asks of me!"

Seeing that Sylvia was nodding in satisfaction, Semier sighed in relief.

Although I could see their little interaction, I really didn't have enough energy to care, as I was busy erasing the imagine of the archangel fanboying over me from my mind.

After a while, I spoke up. "I need you to make me something"

"Of course you do", Semier snorted. "What else do you need a blacksmith for? D- Don't tell me that you, Theodris Grey, want to... have se—"

"NO!", I screamed.

Sighing in frustration, I accessed [Alternate storage] and handed him the Mythasium.

As I had expected, Semier's eyes shone with excitement as soon as he saw the ore.

Scrutinizing the ore for a few minutes, he turned his gaze back to me. "You want me to make you a scabbard, correct?"

"Huh?", I was confused. "How did you know?"

He laughed at my question. "I'm acquainted with that youngling Ander. He was drinking with me the other day and told me of the ore"

"I see..."

"Anyways, this amount of... whatever ore this is will be sufficient to make a scabbard. In fact, there will be some left over after I finish it"

"..."

"So, let me propose a deal. I will make the scabbard for you free of charge if you give me the leftovers. No, scratch that, I will even pay you!"

Seeing no reason to refuse this amazing deal, I nodded my head. "I accept the deal, but... what are you going to do with the leftovers?"

"I'm giving them to Ander of course"

I raised my eyebrows in confusion at this. "Why would you do that?"

"I'm sure Ander told you about his dreams"

"It's... making the best weapon anyone has ever seen?"

"Correct. And this ore will help him do so"

After saying that, however, Semier paused for a moment before sighing. "Technically, he won't ever be able to do it since I'm still alive, but... having the delusion of achieving his life-long dream is enough, I guess"

"I see..."

"Besides", he then turned his gaze towards me. "I'm doing you a big favor by giving Ander this"

"Huh? How so?"

"He blabbered about how stupid you were to not hide your face in the black market the other day and he said he was going to hire assassins to steal the ore"

GULP—!

I had just dodged a bullet by meeting Semier, I guess.

Chuckling at my reaction, Semier turned around to his forge. "Well, I'd better start working n—"

"Wait!", I interrupted him.

In response to my rude interruption, he merely gestured for me to continue.

"I also need you to make me something else"

I then pulled out a blueprint from [Alternate storage].

"You interrupted me for... a gun...?", Semier looked at me as if I had just insulted him.

After all, who in their right mind would ask a Grandmaster blacksmith to make a mere gun?

Grinning, I explained my design, which was made to optimize [Railgun], to him.

"You see, the barrel of this gun is made of Mithril-steel alloy, along with a mix of..."

...

After I was done explaining the blueprints to him, Semier became less adverse to the idea of making the guns.

"I understand now... this would certainly be worth my time"

He then closed his eyes in thoughts for a few seconds before opening them again. "It'll take me 8... no, 5 hours to make all of this"

"Even the scabbard?", I was surprised.

"Yes, even the scabbard"

Seeing that I was looking at him in disbelief, Semier snorted. "I'm the best blacksmith in the Empire! Making things like these is child play to me!"

"Although...", he gulped as he took out a piece of paper containing the illustration of Theodris Grey. "I can make them in 3 if you sign me an autograph"

Cringing in disgust, I refused. "N- No... I can wait"

Seemingly disappointed, Semier put the illustration away and pointed towards a door. "You should rest in their while I make you your scabbard. It's raining pretty heavily after all"

'Now that I think about it...'

I looked out to the window.

It was raining even heavier than before. So much so that I wasn't sure if Sylvia could stop the raindrops like she did before.

Speaking of Sylvia.... her existence had completely slipped out of my mind for the past few minutes.

'I guess I was too absorbed into explaining the blueprints to Semier...'

And with that thought, I turned towards Sylvia, who was standing behind me.

Her cheeks were flushed red, and her eyes were both hazy and dreamy at the same time... somehow.

'How is that even physically possible?'

Eventually, she noticed my gaze and turned hear head away to look at... the dusty wall?

Seeing this weird behavior of hers, I looked at Semier with a questioning gaze.

In response, however, he just merely smirked and shrugged his shoulders at me.

Sighing, I decided to follow his advice and rest inside the room.

CLANK—!

"..."

A couch and a bed came into view as I entered the room. I wanted to rest as soon as possible while I wait for Semier to finish my scabbard, but—

CLUNK—!

"Why are you here?"

—Upon hearing a weird noise, I quickly turned around, only to see Sylvia, who had just followed me into the room.

"I- I'm here to rest too!", she said with a smile.

I instantly lost any interest upon hearing this.

Thus, I walked towards the couch and plopped down on it.

'Now that I think about it... I'm more comfortable sleeping in a couch than I do a bed...'

As I was about to curse Alicia for making me develop this strange preference, however, I heard a loud sound.

POOF—!

I turned towards the source of the noise, only to see that it was just Sylvia plunging into the bed, hugging her knees and staring at me with her beautiful sky-blue eyes which looked like they were glowing.

Although the room was dark, I could still tell that her face was red as a tomato as she was doing this.

'Weird...'

But I eventually put such thoughts asides and started to drift asleep.

***

GULP—!

'C- Cute!', Sylvia thought as she watched Theodore explain his blueprints to her grandfather.

After all, this was the first time she had seen Theodore been so enthusiastic about something.

'I- I have no idea he had this side to him... I guess I was a bad friend until now'

Since Sylvia was too busy admiring the enthusiastic part-dragon, she failed to notice the smirk her grandfather was giving her when he noticed her staring at Theodore with her cheeks flushed red.

Only when Theodore finally turned around and looked at her did she averted her gaze away, pretending to look around the dusty smithy.

Despite her outward appearance of scrutinizing each and every corners of the room, however, Sylvia's mind was in turmoil.

'W- What? I- It's happening again!'

She was feeling a peculiar sensation in her chest, one that only manifested itself when she looked at Theodore. And worst of all, she didn't even know if it was a good or bad emotion.

'If only grandpa had just told me what it is already!'

However, she was soon snapped out of her own thoughts by a mischievous whisper in her ears.

"So the little lizard have troubles controlling her emotions, huh?"

Startled, Sylvia lets out a sound that Theodore would have identified as a cute squeal. "Ah!"

Chuckling, Semier continued. "You want to figure out what that weird emotion is, correct?"

Sylvia nodded almost immediately.

Seeing this, Semier smirked. "Then... you'll be able to figure it out if you—"

He then pointed towards the room Theodore had just gone in. "—Go inside that room"

Unaware of the fact that Theodore had just gotten in the same room since she was busy screaming internally earlier, Sylvia hurriedly opened the door and rushed inside the room.

However, upon seeing Theodore's familiar back, her cheeks flushed red again.

'You tricked me, grandpa!'

Although Sylvia had been in Theodore's dorm room before, she wasn't exactly alone with him, as Alicia was also always there, watching her like a hawk.

As such, she didn't know what to do when placed in a situation like this.

Thus, she turned around to try and exit the room before Theodore could notice her, but—

CLUNK—!

—The door was locked from the outside.

'I've been had...'

Seeing no way out of this situation, she started to panic. And upon—

"Why are you here?"

—Hearing Theodore's familiar voice, Sylvia's face flushed red yet again and she panicked even more.

Gathering her courage, she slowly turned around and gave him a smile.

"I- I'm here to rest too!"

Her lie seemed to have worked, as Theodore looked like he had just lost all interest. He then walked towards the couch and plopped down on it.

Sighing in relief, Sylvia similarly plopped down on the bed.

POOF—!

...

'Hehe... cute...', Sylvia thought as she stared at Theodore, who was trying his hardest to sleep, with half-opened eyes.

Normally, she'd have blushed in embarrassment and confusion at the weird thought she was having. However, as she was already half-asleep, she really didn't have enough self-awareness to do so.

As she was just about to fall asleep, however, she was suddenly jolted awake by a familiar voice.

"Syl..."

Having just had all of the drowsiness knocked out of her, Sylvia closed her eyes shut in embarrassment.

'W- What!? S- Since when did he call me so intimately?'

However, Theodore's next words made her instead open her eyes wide in confusion.

"I'm sorry..."

Not being able to contain her curiosity anymore, Sylvia asked with a shaky voice.

"T- T- Theo! What are you sayin—"

Spurt—!