In DanMachi, I Was Targeted by Freya from the Start! Chapter 48

As he spoke, Cao Ye took out the other two rings and handed them directly to Tsubaki, leaving her somewhat stunned.

She had never met someone so straightforward before. Did he really trust her that much?

"You really trust me, huh?"

"What's not to trust?"

"You brat!"

With that, she threw an arm around Cao Ye's shoulders. Though she was a dwarf, she stood a full 170 centimeters tall—a giant among dwarves.

And thanks to Tsubaki's action, Cao Ye caught sight of a "deep valley."

As a smith, Tsubaki was among the very best. Likewise, as a woman, she had an absolutely explosive figure, especially those "mountains" of hers, enough to make countless women jealous.

Especially now, since she was in her own forge, she was dressed very casually. Her upper body was completely exposed, with only a few wrappings around it. Combined with the sweat dampening her skin, she looked scorching hot no matter how he looked at her.

Chapter 81: Straightforward Woman Tsubaki, Cao Ye's Social Death!

Under Tsubaki's enthusiasm, Cao Ye suffered greatly.

Faced with such "scenery," he neither knew whether he should look nor whether he should not.

If he looked, then he would be taking advantage of someone who had let down her guard around him, which was rather hard to justify. But if he did not look, his heart itched, desperately wanting to "explore further."

Although Cao Ye had a thing for legs and feet, that did not mean he did not also like big ones.

Men, after all, had their particular tastes, but they were also lecherous. And that lechery was never limited to one type—it extended to all beautiful women.

"Hm?"

At that moment, Tsubaki noticed that something was off about Cao Ye.

But after taking a closer look, she immediately burst into amusement. Seeing him wanting to look but not daring to, only sneaking a glance when he could not hold back anymore, was simply too funny.

She had grown up in a forge. Though she was already thirty-seven, she had never considered finding a partner. Mainly because she spent every day buried in the workshop, with neither the time nor the inclination.

For Tsubaki, improving her smithing skills was her greatest goal, and forging equipment was her pleasure. As for everything else, she truly did not care.

But now, a man had entered her life. He was decent-looking, had good character, and most importantly, she did not dislike him.

Especially that "conflicted" little expression on his face—it filled Tsubaki with delight.

"If you want to look, then look openly. It's not like I said you weren't allowed to."

"Huh?"

Tsubaki's sudden words left Cao Ye dumbfounded.

His first reaction was that he had been caught. Yet she did not seem to mind—in fact, she was even being rather "generous."

"To be honest, I really don't understand why you men like these two lumps of flesh on women so much. They're really in the way when forging."

"Uh, Miss Tsubaki, you'd better not say that to other women."

"Why?"

"You might get beaten up~"

Cao Ye rolled his eyes. Those words were just begging for resentment. It was one thing for her to be so well-endowed, but she even looked especially troubled by it. Seriously...

As she spoke, Tsubaki "troublingly" lifted her pair of "treasures," and Cao Ye could not help supplying sound effects in his head.

Duang~ Duang~ Duang~

Back when he had faced those Amazon women, Cao Ye had thought dark-skinned girls were really nothing special and that there were no beautiful ones.

But now, Cao Ye had to apologize. Even among dark-skinned women, there were beautiful ones—especially those with such fiery figures, who possessed a different kind of "beauty."

"You're at the age where you're curious about women's bodies. It's nothing much here with me, but if you act like this outside, you'll easily offend people."

"Miss Tsubaki!!!"

Cao Ye's face flushed bright red. He had thought the matter had passed, but who would have expected her to bring it up again?

It was bad enough that he had peeked at someone, but he had even been caught red-handed. This was practically social death.

For a moment, Cao Ye could not help thinking of Tsubaki Hime. She had nearly suffered social death in front of him before, but now the tables had turned, and it was his turn.

"Alright, alright, I won't say any more~"

Tsubaki knew she had gone a little too far, but something this amusing was hard to resist.

Over the years, she had seen quite a few couples, and she had once imagined what her future partner might be like. But in the end, nothing ever came of it. She had spent all these decades in the forge.

Now that she was no longer young, if the opportunity arose, she would not mind finding a partner.

As for whether it would last until the end, she had not thought that far ahead. She simply wanted to "try" it and see what feelings between a man and a woman actually felt like.

"Um..."

After a long while, neither of them spoke, and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward.

Cao Ye could not take it anymore and opened his mouth to ease the tension, only to realize he did not know what to say.

"If you don't know what to say, then don't say anything. Weren't you pretty impressive at the banquet before? Why are you such a coward now?"

"How can you even say that? What girl would talk like this, Miss Tsubaki?"

"Stop calling me 'Miss Tsubaki.' It sounds weird. Just call me Tsubaki."

"Tsubaki?"

"What?"

"Nothing~"

Cao Ye had thought he understood this tomboyish older sister a little, but apparently that was only what he thought.

"I'll help you sell those three rings. But for cooperation with our Familia, I'll need to ask Lady Hephaestus first. Don't get your hopes up too high."

"It's fine. It'd be best if it works out, but it doesn't matter if it doesn't."

"Then can I just reject you right now?"

"You haven't even asked yet. What if it works out?"

"So you do care."

"Of course I care. That's all Valis."

"Then don't say such 'cool' things here."

"I—"

Looking at Tsubaki, Cao Ye truly did not know what to say.

Why did she always leave him so choked up? Was this what they called a "straightforward woman"?

"Um, it's getting late, so I'll head back first. I'll wait for your good news."

Since the atmosphere had once again reached a deadlock, Cao Ye could not bear it any longer and decided to leave.

He could go back and spend some time cultivating his relationship with that blond fox. Maybe they could even take things a step further. Getting constantly shut down here was honestly torturous.

"Hm? You're leaving already?"

"Yeah. Do you still have something to do, Tsubaki?"

"Not really."

"Then I'll be going. If you need anything, you can come find me anytime."

"Okay~"

Watching Cao Ye turn to leave, Tsubaki could not help laughing. At the banquet, he had been so decisive and ruthless, yet in this regard, the little fellow was so thin-skinned.

It made Tsubaki feel as though she had encountered someone interesting, someone she could not help wanting to tease.

Shaking her head, Tsubaki found herself a little puzzled. Why did she find Cao Ye so interesting? Still, she did not dislike the feeling.

If the two of them really developed into something deeper in the future, she would not mind. After all, she did not dislike him.

After leaving Tsubaki's workshop, Cao Ye prepared to return to Babel Tower.

"Wait, I think I forgot something important."

Only then did Cao Ye remember that besides discussing cooperation with Tsubaki, he had also come to collect the money from selling "Goliath's hide."

After all, he did not have a single Valis left on him. Yet somehow, he had completely forgotten about it.

He looked back at the workshop at the edge of his sight, but in the end, Cao Ye was too embarrassed to return. Asking her for money was simply too awkward. He would bring it up next time.

Chapter 82: Freya's Condition!

Bang—

After closing the door, Cao Ye took off his shirt and tossed it aside.

The temperature in Tsubaki's workshop had been so high that he had worked up a sweat. He felt uncomfortable now, so naturally he wanted to take a good bath and relax.

"Mm-hm~"

But when a voice rang out, Cao Ye first jumped, then froze.

Freya was sitting not far away, openly appraising the bare-chested Cao Ye after he had taken off his shirt.

"L-Lady Freya~?"

Cao Ye was greatly surprised. Why was she in his room?

"You're back?"

"I-I'm back~"

Looking at Freya, Cao Ye replied awkwardly. He did not know why, but whenever he faced Freya, he always felt at a disadvantage.

"The ring you gave Tsubaki Hime today was a magical item, right?"

"Yes. It's a spatial ring. It contains a tiny Imaginary Space. Tsubaki Hime's ring has a space measuring ten centimeters by ten centimeters by ten centimeters."

"A spatial ring? Imaginary Space... that's your skill, isn't it?"

"Mm!"

Freya was also completely at a loss regarding Cao Ye's skill, especially [Imaginary Space].

"Imaginary Space"

· Inner Side of the World

· Unobservable

· Incomprehensible

· Untouchable

The description was simply too strange. She could not understand it, and had always merely considered it a "special space," especially since Cao Ye could connect to it through "Imaginary Magic."

She had not expected that Cao Ye's skill could actually create spatial magical items.

"You're quite impressive. You even managed to research something like this. The twenty million Valis you borrowed from me before was for researching this, right?"

"Uh, yes~"

Cao Ye answered against his conscience. He had not borrowed the money to research this at all, but to make cursed corpses.

It was only because his grasp of the formula for Puppet Manipulation was still limited that he had temporarily set it aside. After gaining [Class Skill: Item Creation] and [Development Ability: Mystery], he had turned instead to researching spatial rings.

Still, since Freya had misunderstood, he was happy to let her think so. After all, the previous twenty million had not produced anything.

"What's your production efficiency for these 'spatial rings'?"

"This morning, I successfully made three in total. Tsubaki Hime's was the first finished product from yesterday. This afternoon, I also went to see Tsubaki from the Hephaestus Familia and asked her to help me sell them."

"Tsubaki? The 'One-Eyed Master Craftsman,' the captain of the Hephaestus Familia?"

"That's her. According to Tsubaki's estimate, each ring can sell for around five million Valis."

"And the cost?"

"Less than ten thousand Valis~"