Danmachi- Hell’s Forge

"You couldn't have had that magic when you first started crafting right?" I asked and he shook his head.

"On the contrary, it was because of my magic that I became a craftsmen. It's rare but occasionally some people show up with skills or magics at the moment they acquire their falna, I was one of those. My original magic is geared more towards crafting and defense than anything else so I got into crafting to get the most use out of it. Well one thing led to another and now I am one of the most sought after crafters in the entire city." he said with a shrug as I looked at him incredulously.

How could I not when he had basically just shattered my understanding of craftsmen entirely. I always thought that craftsmen worked as normal folks before they got their falna. Yet this man freely admitted that not only did he have no experience with crafting before he became an adventurer but had rose to an extremely high position amongst crafters despite that. It was ridiculous and if anyone else had said it I'd think them a liar but the scary part was he hadn't lied in any way I could actually prove.-

Everything he had said could be proven quite easily by going and investigating even slightly. 

'What sort of insane character is this guy!?' I thought starting to understand I may have underestimated the deepness of this seemingly tiny familia.

"If you think that's crazy you are going to faint when you understand the complete picture." he said with an amused look.

"Stop doing that! It's creepy!" I complained after he seemed to read my mind yet again.

He grinned "Ah but you make it so every easy. You are probably so used to hiding your face that you never practiced controlling your expression so what you are thinking is practically written on your face in big bold print." He said with a chuckle and I was horrified.

It had frankly never occurred to me that I had neglected such an obvious thing but as he said I was so used to covering my face that I had never really needed to control my expressions. I subconsciously reached for my hood but froze as I realized that this wouldn't actually help me here.-

I grimaced as I let go of my hood. I needed to learn how to control my expressions anyways so why not use the opportunity before me?

"Run along now, you no doubt still have other things to look at now that you've seen my workshop." he said waving me off with a playful grin.

I admit I may have stomped my foot in anger as I stormed off at that. Here I was planning to use this guys strange face reading skills to practice hiding my true expressions and he immediately shoos me away before I can even start.-

It was infuriating as it was obvious he had seen through me yet again and had chosen not to indulge me anymore. Still despite that he was right and I wanted to finish investigating this familia thoroughly before making a decision or not. I hadn't even met the god in charge of the familia yet and that was a very important thing as I absolutely wouldn't join some self centered god who would treat me like a tool. As I walked out of the workshop the door creepily shut on it's own behind me. Standing in the church I moved cautiously towards the stairs heading down into the basement.-

Once I came down the stairs I came face to face with an astonishing sight, several odd looking things with magic stones sitting in the center that had the mana being extracted somehow. There was a petite but beautiful woman with huge boobs for her size sitting on a chair reading a book next to these devices. Obviously this was a goddess, Hestia I assumed. The stair creaked slightly as I came down which prompted the goddess to look up from her book curiously. Seeing me she smiled and hopped up from her chair while dropping her book like it didn't matter.-

"You must be the one Alex brought home! I'm Hestia!" the goddess said with a bright smile as she introduced herself.

"Ophelia." I replied quietly.

The goddess seemed to peer up at me seriously for a moment before nodding "Umu! Cassandra healed you up good. That nasty bruise on your face when you were brought in was a real shocker." she said brightly.

"i had a bruise on my face?" I asked surprised as this was the first I heard of it.

She nodded "Yeah Alex said a bad guy kicked you in the face. Left a big bruise on your forehead and nose. Thought your nose might have been broken but it wasn't thankfully." she said seriously.

"Rosco yeah, he kicked me when I tried to stop him from attacking your captain." I said with a funny look as in hindsight I had no reason to do that.

"Wow you really are easy to read! I thought Alex was messing with us when he said that." she said snapping me out of my thoughts.

"He talked about me?" I asked curious to know what was said.

"Umu, said you had it rough and was very distrusting. He also said that deep down you were a good person and really easy to read." she said with a nod.

I could feel my eyebrow twitch in irritation at that as while the majority of it was fine that last part really bothered me. It was just such a ridiculous thing to focus on that I couldn't help but be annoyed he had spread it out. Pushing down my irritation I turned my attention back to the odd devices.-

"And what about these things, what's the deal there?" I asked curiously.

"Magic stone converters. One of the things Alex made. It takes normal magic stones and converts them into something he can use for his own crafting since his type is different than normal." she said and showed me what she meant as she took out a strangely colored magic stone from one of the devices and replaced it with a normal one.

"How different?" I asked to see if the guy had lied to me earlier.

"He uses his magic to do all of his crafting rather than a forge and tools. He actually didn't know anything about crafting at first but chose to pick it up since it was what his magic was most aligned with." she said with a proud look.