Chapter 304 - Guilt

"Adamantite!"

Marie snatched the sword and slowly touched the blade before she suddenly spoke out in disgust

"Ew! It's a grade 0!"

Mercury felt Maire's words hit him square in the stomach, as she continued

"Who in the name of the 33 would give a chunk of adamantine to such a bad blacksmith!"

Critical hit!

"I mean that's like throwing a bag of jewels into the ocean for good luck!"

Critical hit! Mercury is staggered!

"Who in the holy name of the 33 would waste a piece of goddamn adamantine!"

Critical hit! Mercury's HP is critical!

"I mean… No, I am literally out of words! Wait what's wrong Mercury?"

"Don't mind me… I am… The one that forged that"

"Oh…"

Marie paused before her face lit up with a full blush before she quickly tried to salvage the situation

"I mean… Well done on your first attempt?"

Mercury walked over to a corner and sat down before he began drawing circles with his finger on the ground, after Mercury was done sulking the two of them looked at the sword again, after a while, Maire asked Mercury

"How did you manage to make it a grade 0? I mean with your talent it's a miracle in itself"

"I used a skill"

"...What kind of skill?"

"This one, [Lesser metal weaving]"

Mercury formed the blade of the sword at free will into various forms and shapes while Maire looked on stunned before he eventually returned it to an ingot form and held it in his hand

"Like that"

"...Well that makes zero senes"

"Yeah, but it's neat right?"

"...Yep"

Mercury weighed the adamantine ingot in his hand before he began tapping it with his finger and muttered

"Around grade 1… Hey Marie, have you ever wanted to make something out of adamantite?"

"Of course! It's every smith's dream to forge something out of adamantine!"

Mercury showed a smile and placed the adamantite down on the anvil and showed a smile

"Then here's your change"

Marie looked at the ingot then at Mercury before she looked back at the ingot and hesitated as she spoke

"But I am far from the best smith in the city… Don't you want to take it to a better smith?"

Mercury showed a smile and praised her

"You're the best smith I know"

"But… Fine, I'll do it!"

Maire looked fired up as she looked down on the ingot before she suddenly picked it up and placed it on a nearby table, then she turned to Mercury with a coy smile on her face

"But that's pleasure, first comes business… We still have 50 blades to smith!"

"Roger that"

By the end of the day, the two of them had managed to finish 23 blades, a speed which shocked Marie a lot, though the two of them also put their backs into working and barely stopped for water or food, as a result, the two of them were now tired, hungry, and covered in sot, Mercury however still found the energy to be a gentleman and spoke to Marie

"I'll go get some food, go ahead and wash up first"

"But---"

"No but's! I am technically your apprentice so let me do some of the bothersome work for you"

Marie eventually nodded with a slight blush on her face

"Fine, but I'll still pay for my food"

"Sure, then I'll be right back"

Mercury walked out of the workshop and over to a nearby cafe where he ordered some food to go, after waiting for about 10 minutes he paid for the food and was on the way back with a brown paper bag filled with various kinds of food

'I don't know what Marie like, so I just got some of each'

Mercury returned to the workshop and walked in without knocking, he, however, stopped before he walked out into the backyard and knocked on the door and called out

"Marie! I got some food"

After waiting for a bit Marie walked into the workshop, she had put on a shirt instead of her apron and her face was clear of sot

"What did you get?"

"Some this, some of that"

"I see, go wash up, I'll be right here waiting"

"Okay, go ahead and eat while it's warm"

Marie nodded, Mercury walked out and took off his shirt (which he had only put on to go shopping) and began washing off the sot, while he did he felt a gaze from the workshop and suddenly turned around and spotted Maire in the doorway, seemingly spying on him while he washed, she quickly hid away though and Mercury didn't feel the need to bust her for spying on him so he simply continued washing up after he was done he dried his body and put on his shirt and walked back into the workshop where he found Maire sitting and waiting on him, she had a slight blush on her face which betrayed her spying, she however tired to act indifferent, Mercury, however, wasn't buying that and decided to play with her a bit and walked over to her, when she looked up he poked her small nose and spoke

"There~"

Marie seemed to short circuit as she didn't know what to do, so she just blushed something fierce before she eventually managed to stammer

"W-W-W-What are you doing Mercury!"

Mercury showed a teasing smile and leaned forwards and whispered into her long ear

"Punishment for spying on me~"

Maire's body shivered slightly as her blush went deeper and she looked away while trying to stammer out an excuse

"T-T-T-That was just to see if you were washing up properly!"

Mercury's smile widened slightly before he poked her nose again which only made her blush deeper then he ever so slowly took her chin and raised it before he bent down slightly, but just as he was about to kiss her Julia's face flashed through his head and he was suddenly hit by guilt and paused mid-motion before he took a step back and muttered

"I am the worst kind of man"

Then without waiting for Marie to respond, he walked out of the workshop, he was filled to the brim with guilt and disgust over his own behavior

'I am such a scumbag… Is this really who I am?'

Mercury didn't quite remember how he got home after that, he only knew that he had forgotten his cane at Marie's workshop and that his right leg ached something fierce from all that walking without his cane, Mercury sat down on the bed and began massaging his leg as he thought about Julia, this made his disgust at himself only go deeper and deeper, after all, he didn't know how she was doing only that she had told him to come for her

"...Shit, what am I doing here, wasting my time…"

He laid down and looked into the ceiling for a while until he heard a knock on the door, he ignored it for a bit before he once again got angry at himself for being such a coward and stood up before he walked downstairs and opened the door, there he didn't find Marie as expected but Evelin that seemed to be fuming as she spoke

"Bend down a bit"

Mercury did as she asked and bend down a bit, then she slapped him on the face once before she asked

"What are you doing Mercury? Leaving Maire like that!? Do you know how she feels right now?"

Mercury stood stunned before he sat down on the doorstep and spoke

"I am the worst kind of man…"

Evelin sighed before she asked

"What are you talking about?"

Mercury looked up at her before he confessed

"I already have a girlfriend, she was taken from me… And here I am seducing another woman instead of looking for her…"

Evelin 'looked' at Mercury for a bit before she sighed and asked

"Are you going to get off that self-pity dick you are riding so hard? Or do I have to slap you again?"

"Eh..?"

Evelin sighed before she asked

"Why are you telling this to me and not Marie?"

Mercury looked at her blankly before he nodded and stood up before he began walking in the direction of Maire's workshop, he didn't know when but gradually he began running while ignoring the pain in his leg, when he arrived at the workshop he opened the door and ran in, the first thing he saw was Maire in the back room, she was forging something, for a bit he looked at her back, it looked so small and lonely right now, Mercury felt like a knife was being twisted in his heart so before he realized he was hugging her tightly muttering

"I am sorry"

Maire put down the hammer, she dropped it from her hands as she began speaking in a quiet voice, almost like a whisper

"Why..?"

Mercury tightened his hug and spoke again

"I am so sorry"

Maire slowly began sobbing before she began full-on crying as she yelled

"You jerk! You big Jerk!"

Then Mercury turned her around and lifted her chin before he kissed her, Marie was stunned for a bit before she kissed him back with all her might, muttering his name in between the kisses, from there things got… Shall we say, heated? As Mercury suddenly picked her up and ran upstairs to the bedroom