Dungeon Prowler : One Man Army

Reina and Lili moved forward from their position in the back with the rest and offered their greetings, seeing that the others did not approach they were left alone by Yunan. If they did not have the manners to personally greet the man on their own volition there was no way that Hephaestus would accept such forced response.

"It has grown tastier in your care lad, how do you make it?" Hephaestus took a sip from his wine cup and commented on its agreeable taste, since the lava wine was not alcoholic nor did it cloud the brain, its taste was what mattered to someone like Hephaestus. "I drop in all freshly killed monsters, i don"t clean them not do i take from the pool more than I consume, so it always had the taste of all the monsters i feed it, you should try the fruits the tastes compliment each other perfectly".

Hephaestus nodded his head in appreciation, he seemed to enjoy having contact with people so Yunan invited him to join them for a meal. "Old man, how about you come by my place and we can have some lunch, we have an a.s.sortment of exotic snakes kept for a day like this one". There was a look of excitement on Reina and Lili who seemed eager to be able to talk casually to the old man so Yunan told them through his communication ring to just be nice and honest.

Hephaestus looked at the youngster with studying gaze for a moment before bursting into laughter "inviting me to the house i built for the food i reared and the drink i fermented, that is a first, everyone else just provides food from the outside, i like you kid, but not today, next time i will come by unannounced and just walk in on whatever you are eating yourselves, i hate being treated like an exception". Yunan laughed as well "if i try to lock you out i fear my own house will reject me, fair enough, come by whenever you have time, here keep these in a place with time, they get better with age".

Yunan pa.s.sed 5 caskets of lava wine to Hephaestus for personal consumption, and then stood up to leave. he looked at the Lamia as she danced on those overworked finger of Hephaestus "if she ever feels like roaming the dungeon, send her to me, she is much smarter than i expected, oh and if you see my wife, tell her i miss her and that i got a few more concubines" with that Yunan turned around and headed for his party, however he was stopped by a sudden request "introduce me".

Hephaestus walked to Yunan"s side and together with Reina and Lili walked to the back of the room and met the rest of the party. Yunan started with Leol "this here is Leol, a good friend and a founder of our adventuring party, behind him is his protector and paramour, Muscles, this here is Kitty, a stray cat that seems to like the way i smell and want me to be her owner, behind her is lady Sarah a fallen royalty with good personality, you would get along with her nicely, and finally this here is Ophelia the 5th and most recent addition to our adventuring party, oh our party is named the Valyrians". Yunan then motioned towards Hephaestus "this here is Hephaestus, a talented artisan, and a good friend".

Dropping the name Hephaestus out of the blue was enough to cause Sarah to feel like the world has crumbled, Leol and Muscles have both heard enough talk about Fortuna and Hephaestus so they could handle the shock as for Kitty she was mostly sniffing around Hephaestus while Ophelia just clutched her staff in a nervous grip.

Hephaestus scanned the group before him as if appraising their worth, he did not forget to pat Kitty on the head and take a second look at Ophelia"s twin snake staff. Yunan however was busy contacting Debauchery and Anne asking them if they wanted to meet Hephaestus. Showing a faint smile Hephaestus waved his hands and everyone found themselves in the villa number 5, Debauchery and Anne were also brought in mere moments later.

By the time it sank in for the big party that they were in a new location, Yunan setup the door to his portable home, while Reina and Lili got hold of an elbow each and led Hephaestus into the house he built but never stepped inside, Lina and Nina were there to greet the old man before rushing to make enough exquisite food for the upcoming feast.

Yunan clapped his hands at the bloodied Debauchery "clean up before meeting the old man, everyone else, get inside we have a feast to attend". He then entered before getting trampled by the eager Debauchery, who were racing towards the bathroom. Sarah was still in a daze as she followed the crowd not sure what to do or think.

An hour later one could see Hephaestus being the cool kid in the room, answering patiently the questions asked by the starstruck fangirls, chief among them Balin who was squealing from delight, just because Hephaestus had acknowledged his request for a forging session. Hephaestus ate the food provided to him, even allowing Fae to hand feed him, he would joke around with Sarah and Muscles while petting Kitty, every now and then he would cast a grateful look at Yunan who simply was sitting further away from the rest, he was grateful, because most of the people who get into contact with him are those who wish for this thing or that.

What struck Hephaestus as the oddest about the bunch was that they cared about him more than about what he could do, even Balin the self proclaimed biggest fangirl of Hephaestus was asking questions to improve his own smithing rather than seek the divine smithing others sought after, as for the rest of the extended Debauchery family, they were just happy to have a celebrity for lunch, since Fortuna was as evasive as air, they had poured all their emotions into him, even the girl who belonged to another G.o.d did not seem to be as afraid as before and was as warm as the rest if not a bit reserved.

This was something Hephaestus missed, meeting people who were interested in him rather than his ability, it was something he almost forgot how it felt.