Chapter 76: Zashiki Warashi Muscle Form
Aragawa Ghost Village had become even more desolate.
Shangshan Che walked down the empty streets, howling loudly several times but seeing no sign of any minibosses, even after releasing Hundred-Eyed Demon’s eyeball to scout around.
This ruined his plan to abuse weak enemies and burst out soul ash.
It was unknown what mishap had occurred, making these minibosses that were once everywhere vanish without a trace.
Shangshan Che guessed that perhaps something had gone wrong at the factory—because since he entered, he hadn’t heard the rumbling machine sounds that he used to hear every time.
He only hoped the little fellow hadn’t vanished along with them.
Following the route in his memory to the front of the blacksmith shop, Shangshan Che faintly heard waves of blacksmithing sounds from the townhouse backyard—sometimes crisp, sometimes dull.
Ding! Dong! Dong! Ding!
There was no one in the shop, so he figured the blacksmithing sounds from behind must have been made by the little fellow.
After knocking on the threshold and saying “I’m coming in,” Shangshan Che considered himself greeted.
He entered the nearly empty shop and searched for a while before spotting the wooden door half-hidden in the dark corner.
Pushing open the wooden door, a narrow passageway came into view, with some plants Shangshan Che had never seen planted along both sides.
Clear dew drops continuously fell from the top of each plant, and he didn’t know what wondrous spell had achieved this.
Shangshan Che touched a plant leaf with his hand, and a prompt immediately popped up before his eyes—
【Spirit Grass】
【Quality: Excellent】
【Effect: Serves as a substitute meal for certain demons and monsters that consume the qi of heaven and earth, providing a significant sense of fullness.】
【—Blacksmith-improved hybrid Spirit Grass 2.018 version, easier to raise and grow.】
At a rough glance, just these two patches along the passageway had at least a hundred stalks of spirit grass planted—is this the little fellow’s daily food?
And this soil isn’t even fertile.
Without touching someone else’s crops, Shangshan Che followed the clearer blacksmithing sounds and continued walking inward.
In no time, after walking dozens of steps, he felt the view suddenly open up.
Then, Shangshan Che froze at the backyard entrance.
“Ah?”
In the spacious backyard, a petite girl with rippling muscles was standing on a high stool.
She wore a simple tank top, had half a stalk of spirit grass in her mouth, and held a blacksmith’s sledgehammer, smashing down hammer after hammer on the fiery red golden ball on the anvil.
The anvil seemed to have its foundation driven deep into the ground long ago, so no matter from which angle or with what force the girl struck, it remained completely unmoved.
Neatly folded beside the girl was a black-red kimono, and the coal-burning furnace behind the kimono made the entire backyard feel like it was in a sweltering summer.
On the other side were three large vats lined up, seemingly corresponding to water quenching, oil quenching, and some quenching liquid Shangshan Che didn’t recognize.
It seemed blacksmithing had reached the most critical moment, as the girl focused intently on hammering the golden ball clamped in the tongs, completely unaware of Shangshan Che’s arrival and gaze.
This bizarre scene was truly beyond Shangshan Che’s expectations.
Shangshan Che had never imagined that the little fellow, who was timid when talking to him, would reveal such a fierce womanly appearance after dropping her disguise.
Moreover, she was Zashiki Warashi, right?
Shangshan Che shifted his gaze to the black-red kimono.
This clothing, plus the two golden ball bells he saw at the ends of her hair tips last time, already said a lot about her identity.
Even he, a half-baked guy who could only recognize common demons, had heard of the famous name of Zashiki Warashi.
But according to legend, wasn’t Zashiki Warashi a yokai that brings good luck to people?
Yet this scene before him… what was going on?
The coal firelight illuminated the girl’s face bright red, and shiny sweat sprayed and splashed with each hammer blow, making Shangshan Che almost unable to resist shouting “forty, forty”!
Having the Little God of Fortune, who can bring good luck, learn blacksmithing—and she really developed a decent set of muscles; the blacksmith sure thought of this.
However—
Shangshan Che thought for a moment: since Zashiki Warashi can bring good luck to others, then the success rate during blacksmithing and the perfection of weapons after quenching must be much higher than for others.
Thinking of it this way, Zashiki Warashi is simply a natural-born blacksmith!
After this realization, Shangshan Che became full of confidence in the upcoming enhancement of Kaga Kiyomitsu.
“Phew— that should count as done!”
After water quenching, Zashiki, with her hair tied in a topknot, wiped the sweat from her forehead and contentedly examined her new bell—or more accurately, her new golden ball.
Because she disliked how the original bell was too light, jingling with sound but lacking attack power, she had forged it into this solid golden ball in the shape of a bell.
This way, she had one more unexpected weapon from now on.
Though it strained her hair, there was no helping it.
Master often taught her to prepare more self-defense measures; in this world nowadays, preparing a bit more than others sometimes meant one more life.
Zashiki believed this was absolutely correct, not just Master’s teaching.
Not to mention anything else, just those Sengoku daimyo and black-hearted factory owners—if you looked easy to bully, those people would drag you to the battlefield or factory to be used as consumables without a word.
After reattaching the cooled golden ball to her hair tip, she looked up and froze upon seeing Zashiki Warashi at the backyard doorway.
She instinctively moved to follow muscle memory and draw the hand cannon hidden in her kimono.
But the next moment, she suddenly reacted, let out a startled “wah,” and fell off the high stool.
Shangshan Che was quick-eyed and handy; he immediately channeled ki-gong technique, leaped forward in a diving save, and caught Zashiki Warashi.
—This was the esteemed blacksmith adult who would enhance his weapon soon; how could he let her hands get injured?
“Wah!”
Zashiki let out a cry, and after carefully opening her eyes, she timidly said: “Long time no see… Mr. Hannya, you seem even more dignified.”
Shangshan Che thought to himself that this felt so damn weird; just now Zashiki was boldly blacksmithing with full vigor, but the moment she saw an outsider, she couldn’t speak?
Could it be that the socially anxious symptoms common in the mortal realm were spreading to the Eternal World?
Whatever, these were minor issues.
Carefully setting Zashiki Warashi down, Shangshan Che held Kaga Kiyomitsu in his right hand and took out two spirit cores from his storage bag with his left,
“I’m here this time with a request—see if you can forge these two spirit cores into it.”
When it came to blacksmithing, Zashiki’s round little face immediately turned serious, and her timid tone vanished: “Spirit cores? Weapon enhancement? The one Master forged for you, Mr. Hannya?”
She unabashedly reached out her small hand: “Can I see them all?”
“Of course.” Shangshan Che handed everything to Zashiki. “If the enhancement succeeds, feel free to make any demands of me, as long as I can do it.”
At this point, Shangshan Che paused. “Right, what’s your name?”
“Just call me Zashiki.”
The girl somewhat laboriously drew Kaga Kiyomitsu and carefully examined the blade and edge: “Master said that before I graduate as an apprentice, I don’t deserve a unique name.”
After a while, she sheathed the blade and said to Shangshan Che: “Mr. Hannya, I have two vague enhancement plans; I wonder which one you’d like to choose later.”
