Father-Daughter Crafting Team (7)
Yohan gave a big, firm nod.
"That's right."
"You've taken a lovely elf as your wife! But the child your wife is holding looks just like this one. Twins, by any chance?"
"That's right too."
"Wow! Two daughters this adorable — you really hit the jackpot!"
Not two. Four, actually.
Yohan was about to correct him, but Polapo was faster.
"Elves are famous for rarely marrying outside their own kind. If you don't mind, I'd love to hear the romance! How did you two meet?"
"Our goddess and Evrande's goddess are close. We ran into each other during a practice battle and hit it off."
"Wooow!"
Polapo cheered. Battles — the absolute peak content of the Game of the Gods! Two minions meeting on the field! Love blooming on the spot!
It was the kind of thing that happened all the time in dramas and almost never in real life. Polapo genuinely liked this contestant.
They were going to blow past the scheduled prep time, but he wanted to hear more of Yohan's story. Ice High seemed to feel the same way, waving him on to keep talking.
"Love born from battle! So romantic! Then which of those two ladies over there is your goddess, Yohan?"
"The one with the big chest."
Sophia, who had been listening in a state of pure anxiety, slapped a hand to her forehead. In an instant, every minion and god present locked their eyes on Sophia's chest.
And they understood. That goddess really did have an enormous chest. The difference between her and the goddess beside her only made it look bigger.
Polapo decided to drive the nail in. He turned to the adorable child he'd been eyeing from the start.
"Hi there! What's your name?"
"Evni..."
"Is Evni a minion of the big-chested goddess?"
"Mm..."
Evni found Polapo overwhelming and hid behind Yohan, peeking out with just her head. Several minions and goddesses clutched their hearts at the sight of the half-elf.
"Guh... Evni..."
Ebrote looked ready to pass out entirely. Polapo recognized him too.
That's the druid elf who transferred down from the regular league to the newbie league! This household is an interview goldmine!
He knew the name — a minion who'd put in a stellar performance even in the regular league Ice High belonged to.
"Is that Ebrote, by any chance? Ebrote! While we've got you, tell us why you came down to the newbie league!"
"To see my nieces. And I'm not just saying this because they're mine — Evni and Evril are the cutest things in the entire universe."
"Ah... I see..."
Polapo recoiled. What kind of lunatic demoted himself to a lower league just for his nieces?
That face is genuinely handsome, though...
And the man inside it was a total doting fool.
"And my other nieces are cute too."
"Pardon? Other nieces?"
"Lan-lan-i and Lulu."
Polapo and the camera wandered, searching for the two children. He could figure out which one Lulu was, more or less. The rest all looked like adults, so he couldn't place them.
"Is it the elf next to Lady Evrande, perhaps?"
"What? No! Who are you trying to ruin marriage prospects for?! I'm Evrande's older sister! I'm that brother-in-law's sister-in-law over there!"
Evrande's sister jumped in with a start.
"Naa-a's not Yohaan's daughter eitheer."
"I can tell that much just by looking."
Unless a minion had no eyes at all, they could tell an elf's niece was not a lamia.
But the others didn't look like an elf's nieces either. Two were vampirs. And the child clutching a skull — he couldn't even guess what race that was.
No, seriously, I have no idea.
"What race even is that purple-haired kid?"
"No idea. Wait — why is that kid the elf's niece in the first place?"
Polapo swung the mic back to Yohan for a clear answer.
"Yohan? What exactly does Ebrote mean by that?"
"I've got three women."
Yohan swallowed the words for now.
"Evrande is Evni and Evril's mother. Cheonsol, the vampir, is Lan-lan-i's mother. And there's also Cha-cha, Lulu's mother — she's another god's minion, so she couldn't be here with us."
"Excuse me?"
Polapo's thoughts tangled even worse. What was this insane human spouting right now? Three wives?
Of course, Yohan didn't care in the slightest.
"Lan-lan-i. Cheer for Dad."
"Mad Demon, go get 'em!"
"You too, Lulu."
Do your best, Daddy.
Looking at Lan-lan-i, who appeared fully grown, Polapo's head spun even harder.
"Uh... this Lan-lan-i person looks like an adult..."
"Not like! Lan-lan-i is an adult!"
"Vampirs grow fast."
"Yeah! Lan-lan-i grew up super quick!"
The hall buzzed louder than it had when the chairman mentioned the Sexy Newbie. Polapo tried to pull himself together with the poise of a host who'd emceed for hundreds of years... and then his eyes landed on Ellis, who was staring at Yohan with pure greed.
The words slipped out with zero filter.
"So that's why they call him the Mad Human... How long has the league even been running, and he's already got four kids? With three wives already, maybe he could just accept the Arachne goddess's proposal..."
"What?"
"Huh?"
An awkward silence settled between the two of them. Only when Polapo felt the murderous stares of the elf, the vampir, and the goddess boring into him did he scramble to recover.
"I-Indeed, quite so!"
"Quite so what."
"Right! Let's start the competition!!"
"Quite so what."
And that was how the 366th Leze Festival lurched into a thoroughly messy start.
"Mad Demon! You absolutely must take first place! And even if you don't, you must not lose to the Arachne!"
"That's right! Mad Demon! You have to win!"
Thanks to the host's outrageous slip of the tongue, Cheonsol and Evrande were thoroughly furious.
"Yohan! You have to win! If you win, I'll give you a reward!"
Sophia was furious too.
"Daddy..."
Evni was furious as well. Yeah... let's just say everyone was furious.
I'd originally entered this contest with a light heart. I'd started it just to watch Evni's adorable little hands kneading and crafting items — so how had it come to this?
"Ah! Everyone is hard at work making their items! Is it because of the long prep time? Not a hint of hesitation out there!"
This was all the host's fault. Because of him, I hadn't even thought about what item to make — but Evni was different.
She must have been thinking hard while hiding behind my legs. Evni laid out materials with her little fern-like hands.
"This..."
"You want to weave the tentacle spider's carapace into chain-link armor?"
"And..."
"If the size is fixed, only certain races can wear it, so we borrow the slave spirit's power and build in a size-adjustment function too?"
"Mm..."
"Our Evni is so smart. You could make it all by yourself without Dad."
Evni startled, her hands trembling, then looked up at me with teary eyes on the verge of spilling over.
"Guhhh... Evni...!"
Somewhere, an elf made a dying noise. I ignored it.
"I meant you've grown up that much. But today, want to make it together with Dad?"
"Mm...!"
Evni lit up and summoned Lirota. The host scurried over at once.
"Receiving a spirit's help is against the rules!"
"Evni is a spirit mage. She's drawing on a spirit's power — is that a problem?"
After Polapo's massive trolling earlier, nothing nice was coming out of my mouth. Hit with a sharp glare, Polapo flinched.
"Ah. So your daughter is a spirit mage. If she's using her own ability, that's perfectly fine. Do your best."
Polapo fled at top speed. I'd been ready to file a complaint with Ice High if he'd kept nitpicking — the guy had better instincts than he looked.
No. If his instincts were actually good, he wouldn't have said that garbage in the first place. Let's just say his danger sense alone was excellent.
"Don't like him..."
"Evni doesn't like that host either? We're on the same page. Dad doesn't like him either."
"Hee..."
Evni seemed pleased by the idea that our hearts were in sync. Lirota muttered.
— My power alone isn't enough...
"Krista..."
— I knew this would happen. Lirota, you weak little punk. Evni. Let's make the armor with Auntie.
"Daddy..."
— Of course Daddy's making it with us too.
"Okay..."
We got down to serious armor crafting. Evni poured spirit power into each individual carapace plate while I started the prep work for assembling the armor.
We needed to link a bunch of carapace plates together, so treating it like chain mail construction seemed right. Metal wouldn't suit the material, so I finely sliced the tentacles and braided them as substitute cord.
Spider silk would have made this easy, but tentacle spiders were monsters that didn't drop silk. Live up to your name a little, would you?
It was delicate, difficult work, but my craftsmanship talent made it go smoothly. The experience from working in the dwarf workshop paid off too.
"Done..."
"Finished imbuing all the carapace with spirit power? Then can you punch holes so we can lace them together?"
"Mm..."
We were hard at work when Polapo showed up again.
"Planning to weave the carapace into chain mail? That's time-consuming work. Think you can finish within the time limit?"
"Plenty of time."
How long did he think I'd spent getting ground down in that workshop? If I'd only had one pair of hands, Polapo would have been right — but I had Evni and the spirits.
"Punch..."
"— Rock Awl."
"— Earth Awl."
The two high-ranking spirits drilled holes at a furious pace. The tentacle spider's carapace was tough, but it couldn't withstand the magic of spirits that even I hadn't been able to beat — spirits Sophia herself had subdued.
The hall was rich with mana, so Evni never tired. Prep finished in no time.
"Now let's lace them together."
"Mm...!"
We started weaving the carapace. Normally you'd line it with an underlayer, but we cut that boldly.
One more step and we'd run out of time. It was armor meant to go over clothes anyway — just wear something underneath.
Evni's work speed was faster than mine. Her small hands made the delicate work easy.
"Ten minutes remaining! AlbiGongchil has already finished a laser cannon! And the Arachne contestant has completed a beautiful tunic!"
"I still haven't attached all the ornaments yeeet."
"Ah, I see! An item's options matter, but so does the design!"
With about ten minutes left, we had the armor nearly done.
"Let's hurry."
"Mm...!"
We were short on time, so design went out the window. Finishing came first.
"One minute remaining!!"
Just as the time limit was about to hit, we finally completed the tentacle spider carapace chain mail.
"We made it great thanks to Evni. High five!"
"High..."
Slap!
In the very moment we shared the joy of finishing, light burst from the indigo armor.