Danmachi: Hephaestus is my Wife

*Eryk's POV*

I woke up the next day to Hephaestus calling me. When I opened my eyes, she climbed onto the bed and kissed my lips.

"Good morning. Tsubaki is already waiting for you."

"Huh? Good morning." I kept lying down, staring at the ceiling, and Hephaestus smiled. Then, she playfully tapped my forehead.

"Come on, get up."

"Do I have to start training now? I wanted to forge something before training."

"You'll only be training for about two hours at most. After that, you can head to the forge. Speaking of which, Tsubaki mentioned a new sword you've been using."

"It's stored in the training room's inventory. It's nothing special. It's the highest-level sword I've forged, but I made it using iron, not mithril. Its abilities are decent."

I got up to go to the bathroom, and Hephaestus followed me. As I washed my face, she stood behind me, watching.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Nothing. I just wanted to look at your face before heading to work. Alright, I'm off now. Have fun with your training."

"Not sure if it'll be fun. Tsubaki can be annoying when she wants to be."

"Don't get mad at her. She ikes to tease people."

"I'm not mad."

"Of course, sure you're not." Hephaestus kissed me again before leaving the bathroom.

I placed my hands on the sink, staring at the mirror for a few seconds, trying to gather the motivation to head out.

Training will help me a lot, but I'm feeling so lazy.

"Alright, let's do this."

I left the bathroom and changed clothes. Then, I went to the training room to grab my sword. While I was cleaning it, Tsubaki entered the room.

"Ready? Let's head to the training grounds. Today, I'm going to teach you properly. Of course, we can spar again if you want. Yesterday was fun."

"No, thanks. I'd rather save some energy for later. I still need to train my forging skills."

"You're overdoing it. You don't have to forge weapons and armor every single day. Anyway, let's go. You haven't eaten anything yet, right? I'll get something for you."

"That would be great. I'm starving."

I followed Tsubaki to the training grounds. When we arrived, someone was already there, waiting for us with bags full of food.

"I haven't had breakfast either," Tsubaki said as she devoured a meat sandwich.

####

After more than an hour of training, I was already feeling exhausted, but Tsubaki still wasn't satisfied. All I had done during this time was swing my sword according to her instructions.

I have to admit, it's helping a lot, but it's also pretty tiring.

"What's wrong? Already tired?"

"Yeah. Can I take a short break? At least to drink some water?"

"Sure, but we need to get back to training soon. How long has it been? An hour? I said we should train for at least two hours, so we still have time."

I grabbed some water and took a drink, taking the opportunity to rest. Luckily, there was a faucet right next to the training grounds.

'This place is really nice. I didn't even know it existed.'

The training grounds were near the house where I lived with Hephaestus and some other Familia members.

It was an open field filled with the same training dummies I used to test my swords.

I think the field is about the size of a volleyball court. I'm not entirely sure since I've only been to a volleyball court once in my life.

After finishing my drink, I returned to the training grounds. Tsubaki was standing in the center, surrounded by a few training dummies.

I stood at a distance, watching her.

Tsubaki closed her eyes and then spun her body at high speed. It all happened in a single second. I couldn't follow her movements at all. She returned to her original stance in just a second, but every single dummy had been cut.

Their heads had been sliced off.

It was similar to what I did when I tested my new sword.

But her movements were flawless, unlike mine.

"What are you looking at? Jealous?"

"Of course not. I can do that too, it's easy."

"You're right, it is pretty easy. I was just bored while waiting for you."

"And just because you were bored, you wasted a bunch of training dummies. Great." I teased, but Tsubaki didn't seem to care.

"Alright, since you're so confident, let's have another match." Tsubaki began moving the dummies aside.

"What? We're sparring again?"

"We need to put what I taught you into practice. I showed you plenty of moves, didn't I? Use them."

"Your training method doesn't seem quite right."

"Why not? I teach you, and now you need to apply what I taught you. That's literally how training works. After that, you just need to refine your skills."

"Fine, fine. But I'm using my sword."

"I don't mind. Use whatever sword you want. Alright, we can start whenever you're ready."

Tsubaki stood in the center of the training grounds, holding her sword in one hand and resting her other hand on her hip. She was completely calm and composed, as if none of this was a big deal.

Well, and she was right in the end.

I attacked just like I did inside the dungeon, but this time, I noticed a significant improvement in my fighting style.

Even so, it still wasn't enough to make Tsubaki uncomfortable.

After an hour, I wasn't satisfied and kept attacking.

We fought until I was completely exhausted.

When I finally stopped, I sat on the ground, sweating profusely and struggling to catch my breath.

"That was great. You're already much better than yesterday. Just like the goddess said, you learn really fast."

"..."

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Next chapters: Chapter 47 - Do you have a lot of ores? / Chapter 48 - Leveling up. / Chapter 49 - Freya's curiosity. / Chapter 50 - What are you two doing? (Hephaestus's POV) / Chapter 51 - Ex-girlfriend. / Chapter 52 - Hephaestus is so cute. / Chapter 53 - The darkness consumed my entire body.