Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

Whenever his father's fist hit his face, Welf would swing his arm and punch him back.

Everyone around, including Bell, twitched and remained speechless.

The father and son forgot about the situation, dignity, and everything else, and started fighting violently.

"Weapons are all about power!! Stop with the sweet talk!?"

The two, with their brown and red hair all tossed about, engaged in a fight.

They left several bruises on each other's faces, with drops of blood spurting from the torn skin.

Welf, seemingly unaffected by Will's punch to the temple, retaliated with a vicious blow.

"Gah...!?"

Seeing him being knocked away, Welf roughly wiped his blood-covered cheek with his arm.

"Right now, I'm no different from those bastards who wield the 'Demon Sword' and bully others!" "...!?"

"Can this really be called power!? Is this the kind of thing we blacksmiths are meant to produce!?"

One is a level 2 high-level blacksmith, and the other is a level 1 blacksmith from a fallen family.

Welf, along with his fists, unleashed his most ruthless and unreasonable power upon his father, venting his inner turmoil.

"That can't be right, can it!?"

He punched his stunned father again.

"A weapon is the user's alter ego!! A second soul that shares joys and sorrows with its master and paves the way!!"

"Where would you find... such a thing...!"

"We blacksmiths must maintain our integrity and deliver the weapons into the hands of their users!"

Welf caught a glimpse of Bell standing there dumbfounded out of the corner of his eye, and continued to beat him again and again.

At the same time, he poured his will into his blood-stained fist.

"...Once we're driven out of the Kingdom of Lachia, we'll be homeless!? Once we lose our noble honor, the Crozo family will be left with nothing! We won't be able to survive...! Why don't you understand this!?"

Families that have relied on bloodlines for generations will find no way to survive once they lose their aristocratic pride and are banished to the wilderness; they will be destroyed and their families will perish.

He said that he needed the "magic sword" to avoid this fate.

With his fists, which could no longer muster any strength, Will told Welf that there was no other way to save his people except with the "magic sword" forged from blood.

Welf, who had been punched in the cheek, glared and stretched out his hands.

"You have other powers, don't you!? You still have hands that can wield hammers, hands that can grab blocks of iron!" "...!?"

Welf grabbed the other man's shirt and pulled him in front of him.

Welf stared intently into Will's eyes, his throat trembling as he spoke:

"As long as you have a hammer, iron, and a burning passion, you can forge weapons anywhere! Nobles, kingdoms like Lachia—they're all bullshit!!"

He yelled at his father, who was stunned, telling him to wake up.

Under the gaze of Hephaestus, the goddess of forging, Welf spoke in the rusty voice of remembrance.

"—Listen to the sound of the iron, hear the clang of the iron, and pour your heart into the hammer!! Isn't that what you all told me!?"

In the dilapidated workshop filled with coal dust.

My grandfather, father, and I spent our childhood together, honestly and single-mindedly forging iron.

The story revolves around three generations of a family forging iron to revive their declining family and discover the talent in their child's blood, all in the hope of finding a weapon to replace the "Demon Sword."

Indeed, there was a period when I worked as a blacksmith.

The child's cries brought back memories of what had happened, causing Will's eyes to tremble.

Welf tightened his grip on his shirt, and with an almost tearful expression, roared at him:

"Where has the blacksmith's pride gone!?"

Shouts echoed continuously around the warehouse.

The kingdom's soldiers, blacksmiths, and even Bell's ears were stunned, and they stood frozen in place, forgetting to move.

Welf, panting heavily, clutched his father's collar and bowed his head, face down.

With his face covered in wounds and his eyes wide open, Will gradually lost strength, his arms hanging limply at his sides.

Silence visits them, under the watchful eyes of many.

That's enough.

A moment later, an old man broke the silence.

The man stepped out from among the soldiers, approached Welf and his men, and took off his hooded jacket.

Upon seeing the man's stern appearance with white hair and a white beard, Welf was startled and his shoulders swayed.

"grandfather……!?"

"Father……!"

Welf and Will turned their heads together, staring intently at their grandfather.

Galon Crozier.

Even in his old age, his physique remained strong, his back straight, and his height, like Welf's, exceeded 170 cm. He was the former head of the Crozo family, and it was he who taught Welf and himself the foundation of their forging.

It's no exaggeration to say that Welf learned the true essence of blacksmithing from the silent, unwavering figure of the blacksmith.

He came to Orario with his father? Welf concealed his unease.

"...Grandpa, you're giving the same reason as Dad..."

"That's right, I've also accepted the mission to persuade you."

Welf moved a few steps away from Will, preparing to receive the attack.

When his father knelt down, the grandfather squinted his eyes.

"But forget it."

"...!"

"Your will is too hard, like a block of iron."

Seeing Galon's faint smile, Welf was extremely surprised.

Because Welf has never seen him smile.

"It troubled me a lot to force you, who was so young, to forge the 'Demon Sword' back then... But seeing you now, I truly regret it."

The low, somber tone conveyed remorse.

Seven years ago, when Wel and his family forced Welf to make "Krozo's Demon Sword", Welf looked at Galon with pleading eyes, but Galon ordered Welf to "forge the Demon Sword" with a Noh mask-like expression.

For young Welf, the blacksmith was Galon, but the fact that Galon gave him such an order was a huge blow to Welf, leaving him utterly disappointed, and this became the direct reason for his departure from his family and the kingdom.

Welf was surprised to hear his grandfather speak his mind when Galon revealed a sharp expression.

"However, the blood flowing in your veins will stay with you for life. The destiny of the Crozo family will drag you down the path of the 'Demon Sword'."

Galon, with a shrewd and vigorous look in his eyes, asked him:

Even so, you still don't distort your beliefs?

Coincidentally, this sentence was exactly the same as what Chun was asking herself.

The qualities of a demon swordsmith. Should he use the power inextricably linked to his bloodline?

He was unable to refute Chun's words, overwhelmed by his own powerlessness, and his will began to waver.

But things are different now.

His confrontation with his father and grandfather, "Crozzo," reminded him of his unyielding beliefs.

"no way!!"

Without a second thought, Welf yelled back at Galon.

That was also a way for Chun to express her answer and realization to those present at the scene.

"I will definitely forge a weapon that surpasses the 'Demon Sword'!! A weapon that will make bloodlines pale in comparison!! I am not 'Krozo'—I am who I am!!"

What I'm going to forge is not "Krozo's Demon Sword," but "my weapon, Welf's weapon."

He loudly proclaimed the inevitable path to achieving the highest goal, revealing his own ambition.

"...You arrogant brat."

Welf's answer made Galon narrow his eyes.

Just like feeling gratified by the growth of one's grandson.

"We will no longer interfere with you."

"Father, if that's the case...! We have nowhere to go in the kingdom anymore...!"

Upon hearing Galon's decision, Will, who was kneeling on his hands and knees, spoke.

Seeing his blood-stained face contorted in pain, the old man calmly told him:

"Let's start over, not as a blacksmith noble, but as a 'blacksmith'."

Will didn't retort, but simply lowered his head, his trembling hands clenching into fists.

Galon then stared intently at his grandson's face.

"As long as you have a hammer, iron, and a burning passion, you can forge weapons anywhere...right? Absolutely right."

Galon stopped looking at Welf and turned his gaze to the goddess, presumably because this was how she taught her grandson.

He squinted as if looking at something precious and bowed to the goddess.

"God, I surrender. I, this old man, will take the blame. Please have mercy on the others."

"...Okay, I accept."

Hephaestus nodded slowly after hearing the de facto surrender statement.

No one among the soldiers protested. The outcome was decided the moment Will's "Demon Sword" was shattered. Surrounded by a master blacksmith, the soldiers were stripped of even the will to resist. Their knees buckled, and they knelt on the ground, dropping their weapons one after another. The members of the Hephaestus Familia began to arrest them.

"Fool."

"..."

As the soldiers were being arrested one by one, Chun passed by Welf without even looking at his face, and only said this one sentence.

Seeing her walk away in disappointment, Welf had nothing to say.

He stood silently in the middle of the warehouse, his face covered in wounds. Soon after, the soldiers were escorted to the guild by the blacksmiths themselves.

Will's hands were bound with rope, and his head was hanging down, with Galon following behind.

As his grandfather's figure was about to disappear at the warehouse exit, he turned his head to Welf and smiled slightly, a smile that was imprinted in Welf's eyes.

Even after he could no longer see his grandfather and the others, he remained standing still, continuing to gaze in that direction.

"Welf..."

Bell and Hephaestus, who remained at the scene, watched him.

Welf stood in the moonlit warehouse.

*

As midnight passed, the streetlights gradually disappeared, the moonlight faded, and the atmosphere of dawn approached the eastern mountains.

As night turned to dawn, Welf sat cross-legged under the pale sky.

High on the roof of the warehouse, far from the ground, he sat motionless and silent like a stone statue.

"..."

Bell was alone, watching his retreating figure.

After severing his ties with "Krozo," Welf climbed onto the warehouse to avoid being seen. He did nothing but stay motionless in a corner of the roof, just as Bell, who was watching him from a distance, did the same.

Enveloped in the night air all night, his body grew cold, yet the boy couldn't abandon the young man and go back alone.

I didn't know what to say to him, so I just stood there staring at his back.