Father-Daughter Crafting Squad (2)

"This lady wishes to consume the inner core."

Cheonsol laid bare a martial artist's greed without shame. I had already been thinking of giving the core to her myself. Among us, the only martial artists were Cheonsol and Lan-lan-i — and the only one whose cultivation was high enough to properly digest an inner core was Cheonsol.

"Mm-hmm. The core should go to Cheonsol, then. What about you, Yohan?"

"I agree. Cheonsol should take the inner core."

"Then the core is Cheonsol's! And everything else ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠goes to Yohan so he can craft us items!"

Sophia beamed. She pulled items from the inventory list, stacked them neatly, and took a deep breath before the baby spider random draw.

"Hooo... Yohan. Cheonsol. Lan-lan-i... Na-a. Wish me luck."

"Masteeer, what is sheee tryyying to dooo?"

"Beats me."

Was the baby spider random draw important enough to need a luck prayer? Don't tell me you could pull a tentacle spider?

"Lady Sophia! Please draw a tentacle spider!"

"What are you talking about. Absolutely not."

Sophia shattered a man's dreams in a single sentence. Even Cheonsol's comfort couldn't mend a wounded heart like that.

I would have to thoroughly knead Sophia before this grudge would ever fade...!

"The baby spiders Yohan fought in the raid were carrying seeds, right? The ones that show up in this draw also have seeds. We need to pull spiders with the rarest seeds possible!"

"Are the seed ranks split into R, SR, and SSR?"

"No? They go from F-rank to B-rank."

A strangely high-yet-low ranking system.

"Why only up to B?"

"If they handed out S-rank seeds in the Newbie League, the balance would completely collapse."

"And Dohoyo's Level 4 minion is fine?"

"That one genuinely makes no sense. Why would anyone take a level-down just to join Dohoyo?"

"Ask her later."

"Yeah. For now, let's draw spiders! If luck's on our side, we might even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠get a World Tree!"

"Ooh...!"

Evni stamped her feet in a tiny show of excitement — the best gesture a shy girl like her could manage. Hearts bloomed in Cheonsol's eyes, utterly captivated by her daughter's cuteness. Lulu clapped as well.

Big sister Evni is so cute.

"Ugh..."

"Lulu, your voice — that actually sounds amazing!"

"Mm. Now that this lady has recovered her realm, she can hear it. It is not a sound art, yet it feels like one."

A sound art?

"Lulu. Thy voice occasionally enchants those who hear it."

"Riiight. Just liiike a Siiiren."

Ah—

Lulu lifted a skull and covered her mouth with it. Evni stroked Lulu's head.

...Lulu had grown a little taller, so Evni had to rise onto her tiptoes.

"Good girl..."

My voice sounds nice, so please don't feel bad about it — you can speak freely, okay?

"Mm..."

"As expected of Lan-lan-i's first little sister! Looking after the youngest so well! Evni's a good girl too. Such a good girl."

Evni patted Lulu, Lan-lan-i patted Evni, and Cheonsol quietly slipped in to pat Lan-lan-i — a nesting doll of head pats was born on the spot.

Sophia stared at the petting matryoshka with open envy, so I casually reached over and groped her chest.

"Lulu! Say something again!"

Huh?

"Yes, exactly like that! Sing us a song!"

A song??

"Master. Suddenly demanding a song will only fluster Lulu. Kindly explain your reasoning."

"Ah!"

Sophia flailed her arms. Sensing she was about to come to her senses, I withdrew my hand. The warmth of her chest still lingered in my palm.

"Lulu's voice has a charm effect, but it doesn't completely bewitch people the way a Siren's does. It just draws a little attention and makes you feel good, you know? It's a trait similar to a fairy's — so if she sings, she might pick up a skill!"

"Is that so. Lulu. Wilt thou try singing?"

Well... I don't actually know any songs.

"This lady shall teach thee a lullaby. O virtuous Vampir. Drink of the blood..."

"Naa-a will daaance!"

Lulu began singing along ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with Cheonsol. Na-a undulated her waist and tail in a slow, rolling wave — the signature move of every sexy-concept girl group.

O virtuous Vampir. Drink of the blood...

The message appeared, but I only glanced at it. Lulu's clear, pure singing had a pull to it that made looking away difficult.

It was the kind of magnetic force a world-class star on Earth might have. Her technique couldn't match a top-tier vocalist, but her tone absolutely demolished technique.

Sleep well, eat well, and grow up big and strong.

"Now's the time! Baby spider draw! Spin them all!"

A spinning wheel painted with spiders of every color appeared before Sophia. It turned on its own, then stopped on its own.

"Dandelion Spider! Thistle Spider! Mint Spider! Pineapple Spider! Flame Spirit Herb Spider!"

— Oh. Flame Spirit Herb is a fairly rare plant. Hand it to a skilled alchemist and you can brew a fire-resistance potion.

— Process it together with spirit blood and it becomes a potion that raises fire affinity.

The spirits chimed in with well-timed commentary.

"Whoa! Budgetdrasil Spider!!"

Budgetdrasil? Not even Yggdrasil.

— Yggdrasil is so expensive they released a mid-to-low-tier cultivar. Perfect staff material. Great for mages and spirit users.

"...Last one! An E-rank World Tree Spider just dropped!!!"

Sophia cheered and broke into a full-body dance. The nine baby spiders that had been riding her chest couldn't hold on through the bouncing and tumbled off one after another.

Sophia hoisted a baby spider high like a scene from The Lion King. Evni stared up at it with a soft waaah.

"World Tree..."

"That's right! The World Tree that elves love most! It helps elves grow, you can use it as a house, and it's fantastic for crafting items!"

"Waaah...!"

Evni danced too, bouncing her little hips in a way that was almost painfully adorable. I wanted to nibble those plump little cheeks, she was that precious.

"Evni! This is wonderful!"

That's right, big sister. This is wonderful.

Lulu and Evni joined hands and spun in a circle. Lan-lan-i was too big to join the hand-hold, so she just whirled around them on the outside.

"Come here, my little cuties! I'll give you kisses! Mwah!"

Smooch smooch smooch.

Sophia smothered Lulu's cheeks in kisses. She mashed her lips all over Evni's and Lan-lan-i's cheeks too, then fixed me with a look that had gone ice-cold.

"Yohan. Why are you standing in line?"

"I'm Lady Sophia's little cutie."

"Mad Demon... thou art this lady's little cutie."

"Ah."

Wrong person to expect a kiss from. Cheonsol pressed her lips to mine. Sophia trembled with indignation, then competitively slathered spit all over my cheek.

"Anyway, this is huge! Let's plant them right away! Where should we plant them? Evni, where do you like? It's only E-rank, so it won't grow that big — we could even plant it indoors!"

"Mm..."

"Evni said she wishes to plant the World Tree beside the stream. She would like to splash in the water, then rest in the shade beneath it."

"Eeevnii knooows a thiiing or twooo. If you're splaashing around, you haaave to rest in the shaaade."

"It'd be even better if we could pick fruit, right? I'll plant the pineapple next to it too!"

"Master..."

Big sister says Master is a genius.

Sophia excitedly hurled the baby spiders. Where each spider died, a tiny sprout lifted its head.

"They're spider seeds, so they'll fully grow in a day! And then, Yohan—"

Sophia handed the remaining materials over to me.

"Craft us some good items!"

"Of course. Let's wallpaper our gear in rare-grade."

"That's the spirit!"

"Come. Let us move these to the workshop together."

"Lan-lan-i will help too!"

"Naa-a toooo."

While we were all hauling materials to the workshop, another message appeared.

"Yohan, you got a letter? Let me see."

"From Kim Dwarf, huh. Hoo. He's inviting you to the dwarf workshop?"

"Hmph. Do you have any idea how much divinity ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I invested in our workshop for your sake? Hmph hmph. So, are you going? The dwarf workshop in the Village of Beginnings is still better for now."

If they were offering to teach various equipment crafting methods, of course I had to go. But the letter was packed with nothing but advantages for me, which made me wary.

There was nothing about occasionally dropping by to help with work, either. My genius brain pieced the situation together.

"Gods who have an outstanding blacksmith are rare, right?"

"Obviously."

"A huge volume of materials just flooded out as raid rewards, so commissions are going to pile up. If I go to the dwarf workshop, I'll be buried under work until I die."

"So you're not going?"

"...I have to go."

No matter how absurd my crafting talent was, creating something from nothing was still hard. Dumping materials freely could force creation, but if the dwarves already had established methods built up over generations, I could skip the trial-and-error entirely.

I was planning to live in the workshop for a while anyway. Raise my proficiency on other people's materials, then craft our own items to perfection.

"I also..."

"Evni wants to come too?"

Evni had inherited my crafting hands, so a workshop tour would teach her a great deal. Lan-lan-i had already watched her dad work in the workshop, so Evni deserved to see it too. Lulu as well.

"Why don't we all just go together?"

"Naa-a is cuuurious about the Viiillage of Begiiinnings."

"Evni, Lulu, and Na-a have never been to the Village of Beginnings, right? Like Yohan said — let's all go together!"