Seeing her son like this, Helena's mind was inwardly screaming... 'Ooh, so cute! How on Earth can someone be so cute?! So adorable!' ... 'Calm down, Helena, now is not the time for this.' ... But look how cute he is! How can someone be so heartless as not to respond to her son's cuteness?
While Helena was inwardly screaming and debating, her outward appearance remained calm. Seeing this, Zeun played his last card. He jumped into his mom's bosom and comfortably placed himself on her lap. Then, looking with those same innocent puppy eyes, he gently kissed his mother.
Smoke started rising from Helena's head. 'So adorable!' Whatever minor resistance she had before was all washed away with just a slight kiss from her son.
Her son rarely asked for anything except magic, so Helena, as a doting mother, could not bring herself to refuse him. Her concern stemmed from the fact that assassins are viewed unfavorably in the continent, especially those from demon races using poison and underhanded tactics. If found, they were met with hostility in cities and killed on sight. As a noble herself, Helena shared this disapproval, adding to her worries for her son's safety.
But since her son said that he only wanted to wield the weapon and not become an assassin, she didn't mind giving her only child a toy to play with.
On the other hand, Mr. Ed had a deep frown on his face, trying hard to remember if he ever made an assassin's weapon but couldn't recall any such memory.
Mr. Ed questioned him, his face still frowning, "Zeun, where did you see that weapon?"
"I saw it in that room," I replied, pointing towards the bedroom.
'What the hell? He even visited my bedroom?' A weird look appeared on Mr. Ed's face. 'But more importantly, I don't keep any weapons in my bedroom. So how? Unless he misunderstood those as weapons... Ah, I get it,' he thought to himself, then asked,
"Are you talking about the fishing lines kept on the table?"
"Yes. Those with flying knives attached," I answered.
"Ho ho ho. Little Zeun, that's not an assassin's weapon," said Mr. Ed as he walked towards his bedroom and gestured for Mom and me to follow him.
"But what made you think that it's an an assassin's weapon?" He stopped in his way, holding the doorknob tightly in his hand, as if waiting for my reply.
'Shit, I made a blunder. I don't know what weapons assassins use in this world. I can't tell them that I recognized it from my past memories, can I? Damn it!' I cursed inwardly at my stupidity.
"Umm... oh, a-actually, I'm not sure, but since I r-read somewhere that assassins use short melee weapons. So... umm... seeing the knives floating in air, I j-just assumed it..." I stuttered.
With a raised eyebrow, Mr. Ed placed his chin between his index finger and thumb and looked at me with bug-eyes. Then, he glanced at Mom. "Not bad! You've got quite an interesting child, Helena."
Then he muttered to himself, "But where did he get his intelligence from?"
Both Paul and Helena were brutes; they didn't possess a scheming mind. Hence, they couldn't inherit their family, even though they were geniuses in their own fields. With a sigh, his tone turned serious as he asked,
"Helena, are you sure this is your son and not someone else's?"
"Old man, you are surely thinking bad about me, right? Do you want another beating? As for your answer, yes, he is my only son," retorted Helena with a chilly tone.
Mr. Ed said nothing, simply turning and quickly entering the room, avoiding Mom's gaze. He took the flying knives as if touching his lover, then launched into a long, non-stop lecture for an hour—from how he gained the idea to its completion. His enthusiasm knew no bounds when talking about forging.
In a nutshell, he wanted to catch powerful fish-like monsters but lacked a good fishing net. Later, a wealthy noble gave Mr. Ed a Rank 7 metal and requested he craft a Rank 5 weapon for his child using it.
With the leftover metal, he improvised and created a unique alloy with obsidian iron, resulting in a bizarre combo of shurikens, flying knives, and a fishing net. However, a mistake led to the unintended addition of consciousness, rendering the weapon unusable as its sentience remained dormant.
Since he'd used low-rank void silk to craft the net, its durability was decreasing very fast, as it couldn't contain the power of the six blades. So he was planning to make something different using the six flying knives.
Void silk is a low-rank material, as its name suggests, it's the silk from a Rank 4 monster called a Void Spider. It's transparent in nature, making it highly effective to catch lower-rank prey.
It is generally used by hunters and fishermen to make small traps and fishing nets. But they are ineffective against Rank 4 or higher monsters, so it's not too expensive and considered a low-grade material.
"I think the fate of these six blades is stuck at Rank Five for the rest of its life, as investing expensive material is not worth the price.
"Also, its peculiar nature, that it uses mana instead of aura, is a headache to me. Mages don't use weapons like this, and aura users would be unable to use the blades effectively due to their requirements. Honestly, this is the first time I regret making a weapon," With a deep sigh, Mr. Ed showed his grief.
I looked at Mom. She smiled at me, then said, "Old man, just remove the fishing line from that weapon and pack the six blades."
I smiled brightly at her, but inwardly, I was pleasantly surprised; Mom exactly noticed that I was drooling over the blades. 'Helena has frighteningly sharp senses. I have to be careful in the future,' I thought.
"Helena, there's still some work left in the magic arrays in the blades. It would take some time, as I have other work to do. So at least give me a few months," Mr. Ed requested.
Mom looked at me. "It's okay, Mommy. At first, I have to be a 1st Circle Mage to wield that weapon without harming myself. Time is not an issue."
She shrugged. "As you wish, my dear."
Before we left, the Dwarf asked, "What should be the weapon's name?"
I pondered for a while and said, "Krait — the Silent Serpent."
We moved out of Mr. Ed's place and looked for an inn to spend the night.
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End of Chapter
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