Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem-Chapter 628: Battle Monks
It was another continent, and the city of a god, but it was still just a city. People were people, no matter where one went. The artistic styles of the buildings and paved roads were different from what Zach and the others were used to in the Empire. But the hustle and bustle of people going about their business, running errands, or staring at them was something they were more than used to.
Still, they looked around with wide and curious eyes as Vera led them to the center of the city. A little before they arrived, they passed an invisible line in the city that separated the public space from the innermost holy area of the Order of Friebel.
It was a large, round area milling with people wearing Friebel’s colors, just more stained by soot and ash than Vera’s entourage. Like ants, they worked diligently, lugging supplies, materials, tools, armors, and weapons. Hammers hitting metal rang constantly. Bellows and furnaces filled the air with the smell of smoke and fire.
It was a community solely dedicated to worshipping the Goddess of Smithing through practice of the craft.
The only reason for them to stop was the walking piece of divine authority, Vera. They bowed toward her.
Vera nodded in return as usual. But she felt strange. This was who she was.
She was one of the two highest-ranking members of the Order of Friebel. She commanded respect wherever she went, even if Friebel wasn’t among the upper echelons of the gods of Kuros. After all, few on the continent lived their lives without using tools or weapons.
Even followers of other gods and goddesses showed her the respect she deserved.
Zach and his friends...
They weren’t rude, per se. They just didn’t seem to care about her status.
Vera couldn’t blame them. She had lost miserably to Zach. Zach had then made use of her vow to turn her into a personal informant. He had made her, a powerful believer and one of the continent’s greatest craftsmen, into a private guide to Kuros.
Suddenly returning to Emberise, where she was treated with respect, gave Vera mixed feelings, and she was distracted when guiding Zach’s group around the forges until they arrived at hers.
"I said, can I learn your techniques?" Zach repeated.
"Huh?" Vera looked up, startled out of her daze.
"What do you mean?" She asked, not having heard a word of what Zach had been talking about.
Zach sighed.
"The way you use your hammer...It’s not an offensive technique, at least not originally. I felt it when you hit me. Your destructive swings are tools of creation. Your hammer is made to strengthen, not break. It’s just that if things or people can’t handle the strengthening, they end up breaking, right?"
"That’s..." Vera blinked.
"...An incredibly crude way to put it," She said with a slight frown.
"However, it’s not entirely wrong. I’m a smith. Of course, my hammer is made to make powerful tools and weapons. Humans, though, aren’t really good materials. So, they break." Vera’s eyes narrowed as she remembered Zach’s first question.
"Wait...Why do you want to learn my techniques?" She asked suspiciously. Zach did not feel like a smith or someone who used hammers at all. She did not understand why he could possibly want her techniques unless, of course, it was to sell them or take them back to his continent.
"My techniques don’t count as information, so forget about forcing it with the vow I made," She said sternly before Zach could answer.
Zach smiled.
"Of course." He nodded.
"Since I can kind of tell what you’re thinking, let me explain. It is out of personal greed, but not for the reason you suspect. I want your techniques to learn from. You must have felt it too, right, that I am not like most humans."
Vera’s eyes narrowed again but in disbelief this time.
"You want to temper your body like it’s a hunk of metal?" She asked.
Zach nodded excitedly. Her quick realization meant it was possible.
Vera didn’t return his enthusiasm.
"Body tempering isn’t exactly unheard of. But you’ll have better luck finding what you want with the battle monks of Targata. They know how to make the human body stronger in a way meant for the human body, not metal."
Zach’s eyebrows rose.
"The battle monks of Targata..." He echoed in a thoughtful murmur before looking straight at Vera with a clear gaze.
"There’s no reason I can’t go find those monks after I get your help, right? Why do I need to choose?"
Vera blinked.
"Because what you’re trying to do with my techniques is stupid and might not work alongside the Targata monks’ techniques?" She said like she was asking him if he was stupid.
"I’ll make it work. So, if there’s nothing else, please teach me, Vera," Zach pleaded.
The less Vera wanted to teach him, the more Zach wanted her help.
In direct combat, she wasn’t stronger than him or his maids. But she specialized in forging. It was unreasonable to expect her to beat him when he was as good as he was.
However, no matter what Zach did, he would never best Vera in the art of metalwork. It was something that required using tools.
He was doomed from the start. His lack of talent meant he would have to spend a century just mastering the basics.
Without the direct help of a craftsman of Vera’s level, he would struggle to take his world essence energy techniques in this direction.
Vera looked into Zach’s clear eyes. It was as he said. He was greedy, but not in the way she thought.
He wasn’t interested in money or the ’value’ of her techniques. He didn’t even want the techniques themselves. He wanted to learn from them or her and use what he learned to become stronger.
Having fought with him once, Vera knew that Zach had worked hard to reach his current strength.
Having talked with him since then, Vera also knew that saying no would be useless. He wouldn’t give up.
Vera sighed.
"Fine. I’ll help you. But—"
"Yes! Thank you, Vera!" Zach celebrated with a cheer, a wide smile, and an energetic handshake.
Vera looked at him with a heavy expression.
Was talking to people supposed to be more tiring than working a week straight at the forge?
