Slayin’ With a Strap

Now walking out of the shop with nothing in their arms, he walked with Ais towards the tower again, as they got closer Ais gave him a side eye, the hand she was holding squeezing it a little tighter.

''Don't worry... We're heading up, I got to drop the next blueprint off with Hephaestus and drop the payment and such for things that I... Liberated last time.'' Dale chuckled softly as she just nodded.

''Alright, they've been warned that you are back, as has the guild been updated.'' Ais stated as they finally made it into the tower, heading up to the Hephaestus family workshop, entering into the backdoor into the office itself, and skipping the shop side.

Tsubaki looked up, first meeting Ais' eyes before she caught sight of the broad chest, her eyes following up until she was looking at Dale, her eyes widening a bit when she noticed him, dropping the pen she had and standing from her desk. Her soft brown lips grew into a grin before she walked around the desk and up to him, sliding her arms beneath his arms she brought him into a tight hug, her large breast swelling up against his abdomen as he hugged her back.

''Good to see you Tsubaki.'' Dale said softly and she pulled away, grinning up at him as she raised a hand to squeeze his shoulder.

''It's good to see you too Dale... We missed you around here. What brings you around? I thought you'd be staying in Riveria's arms a little longer.'' Tsubaki chuckled softly and Dale raised a brow.

''I swore she put up a sound barrier?'' Dale asked, only to hear Ais giggle.

''Yeah, it lasted about 4 hours. No one reapplied it, so as people came to see if you were alive or not, all they had as proof was.''

''The fact only someone like you could get a strict woman like Riveria to scream.'' Tsubaki chuckled, the life of an adventurer was difficult, and those difficulties made it so much easier to talk about these things.

Though Riveria would definitely be blushing by now.

''Well, we have no idea when a hero event might happen again now that I have been marked, so I decided to get things I need done out of the way as soon as possible. Which, includes dropping off a blueprint, and paying for the press I stole.'' Dale said, holding up another sac of valis.

''Hephaestus would kill me if she knew I took the payment for that press, I heard about what you created with it, how many lives you saved with it, how are your .... Revolvers holding up?''

Moving to draw them, they appeared in his hands, the holster appearing on him as he drew them from under his arm, spinning them around to show the grips to Tsubaki as he handed them off.

She took them, examining them. ''They feel brand new... Fighting for years... I can only imagine.'' Tsubaki sighed softly, handing them back to Dale.

Holstering them, both the revolvers and holster vanished.

''Honestly... It blurred, and after so long you stop counting, stop caring. Just keep going, honestly, it felt like... A few months at most, felt like shit when I realized what happened.'' Dale chuckled softly and he felt the grip on his pocket tighten, noticing that no matter what he did, Ais made sure she was always touching a part of him. She was doing her best to hide it, but suddenly losing him without being able to do anything must've hurt deeply, especially for her.

''Well, head on in, Hephaestus won't care if it's you who interrupts her.'' She jerked her head to the door behind the desk. Dale walked over, setting the bag of Valis down on the desk.

''For future purchases.'' Dale said before he entered the door, the moment he did he felt the heat hit his face. Even when Hephaestus wasn't making anything, the force within her private domain still roared.

'The Everforge.' a Forge that always burned ready to begin smithing whenever.

Hephaestus was sitting behind her large desk, sitting in her chair she was facing the large window that looked over the city while she was reading over a few papers.

''Tsubaki, can you get me the budget so far? I might want to swing for a material piece on the market right now.''

''Wow, how many years has it been and all you want is my money? That's fine, I'll give you a billion right now if you kiss me.'' Dale joked and his deep voice sent the Goddess jumping from her seat and spinning around, her papers scattering as she gripped at her heart. 

Dale chose to ignore the scream she did, but Ais was turned away, one hand gripping Dale's hand tightly and the other covering her mouth.

''DON'T DO THAT!'' She yelled out, before she stopped and then really took him in, her eye darting as she looked at him.

''Yeah... It's different only hearing me, and not being able to see me... How are you Hephy?'' Dale's sudden caring tone struck her and she quickly moved around her desk and hugged him.

Dale wasn't one of hers, but she had grown to care about him, his talents and abilities in smithing making her wish she could've grabbed him first.

She tightened her arms around him, burying her face into his abdomen, her being shorter than Tsubaki as she was a whole foot and then some shorter than Dale.

He hugged her back, his arms resting around her slender frame as he rubbed a hand along her right shoulder blade, Hephy ran a tight outfit, but she was a big teddy bear once you got past the hard-working God of Blacksmithing.

''Thank you for coming back to us Dale...A small part of me never gave up hope.'' She sighed softly, turning her head a bit so she could speak better.

''I don't think any of us did really...It would come in waves, you know?'' She said as she pulled back to lean onto her desk, sitting back onto it as Dale took a seat as well, Ais moved to sit on his lap, not caring as she curled up her legs, putting her knees into his side as she tucked her feet into the corner of the chair and rested herself against Dale, her head over his heart just like Loki had did earlier that morning.

''I was made aware that it wasn't your fault, that you didn't even know you were gone for that long when you got back. But for us... It's been years, the first months were hard, the year harder... When it got to the anniversary of your disappearance, we tried to celebrate 'Another year of Dale fighting' but, we all knew it was just to share our grief with those who understood.''

''I can only imagine... That's why I've been going around, showing my face to those who've seen it before... Thank you for looking after the Familia.'' Dale said softly and it caused her to shake her from side to side.

''Don't thank me for doing what I should've been doing from the start... Getting further in the dungeon is good for everyone.''

''That's not what I meant.'' Dale said a bit sternly and Hephaestus' face twisted up a bit. Her lip quivered a little as suppressed grief raised before she stuffed it down, this is why she enjoyed her Familia not being directly linked to combat even if she did have quite a few combat-focused members... 

She got too attached too easily and it hurt... Especially when the weapon you crafted for them is returned to you.

She turned to look at the wall of weapons she kept, her eyes focusing on the bow resting on the wall. It was a beautiful curved long bow, a weapon she had made for Belle, watching it a moment before she turned back to Dale.

''They fought the hardest, they hadn't known you for long, but they understood the quality you brought.''

Dale turned to look at the bow as well, he remembered his first official party, Belle being the ranger of the group.

After Dale had disappeared, they fought hard to try and catch up with everyone, but one bad situation, and they ended up losing Belle, the first person he technically flirted with seriously.

The others of the party had retired and moved out of Orario, he would need to send letters out to them.

It might hurt them to realize Belle died for nothing since he was alive now, but they deserved to know what happened.

---

Like it? Add to library!
Looking to support me?
paypal.me/BeaulenSmith
https://www.patreon.com/BeauSmith
Check out my Webnovel
https://www.webnovel.com/profile/4313773437?appId=10