Danmachi- Hell’s Forge

Figurine

I am not talking about like if a butcher accidently hit a bone with a cleaver and we only got the shard that came off. No I mean it was clear that these were pristine and solid bones that someone had intentionally busted up. Before I lost my temper though I made sure to ask Hestia what the deal was with them. Thankfully I did too as she explained that the butcher busted them up since he said it would be easier to stew for broth that way. It was a simple misunderstanding on the butchers part rather than any malicious thoughts.-

Taking the bag from her I set it down while we ate dinner before grabbing five shards of bone and activating my cursed technique. The flames covered the bones and I managed to fuse them into a single orb the size of a muscadine grape before my energy ran out. It was rough and had several cracks but it was just a base for me to work with. 

"I'll probably need a few days before I have any amount worth selling so by the time I get my next update then." I said honestly and Hestia nodded.

"Do we need to worry about health issues with these bone pieces?" she asked but I shook my head.

"After refining them with my technique they will not have any flesh or bacteria on them so they can be considered mineral in a way, no different from rocks you might find on the ground." I explained calmly.

"Why? Aren't flesh and bacteria considered from living things as well?" she asked a little confused.

"They are but the way my technique refines things is by simply removing whatever I don't want and perfecting whatever I do want. In this case the flesh and bacteria are unwanted and as such will be burned away. The only real limitation I have is my own understanding of the thing I am working with as well as my imagination." I explained with a smile.

She seemed happy with that answer and we went to bed shortly after that. The next day she left for her job and I went to work refining the orb of bone I made the previous night until I was out of energy. Then I started my physical exercise and pushed it a bit harder than normal as I had noticed that as my endurance stat went up it took less and less time for me to recover from merely sore muscles. Not by a lot mind you but enough that I could go just smidge harder than would be a good idea for a normal person.-

After my workout left my body burning I sat down and went back to working on the orb. One more refinement after that and the bone orb was ready to be shaped. The bone was now flawless and had a dull but eye catching whiteness to it that was nice to look at by itself. Once my energy refilled naturally I began to shape the orb into a small humanoid form but with thin gossamer insectoid wings on it's back outstretched as if to fly. that alone took me nearly four whole amounts of cursed energy to complete simply because of how detailed I made the figurine.-

I made realistic wings, body shape and a pretty little face with short hair tied up in a bun, I made a small figurine of Tinkerbell. It was only about an inch tall but the level of detail alone was enough for me to be confident that at least someone would be interested in it. Just before Hestia would normally be returning I had the brilliant idea to add a small but noticeable symbol on the thigh of the figurine. This was a simple makers mark that I would be putting somewhere on all my works from now on.-

Shortly after I began to fuse some more bone shards together into another orb Hestia returned and saw the figurine.

"So pretty!" she said fawning over the thing in awe.

"I don't want to sell anything sub par so I spent a good bit of effort on that little trinket. You can sell it for however much you'd like after I make three more. If they are not very popular I will switch to something else like jewelry." I said not really caring all that much since with my cursed technique I can always make more.

"How could this not be popular!? Do you even see how pretty it is!?" she exclaimed like the mere idea that the figurine wouldn't be popular was blasphemy of the highest order.

"I mean yeah it's nice to look at but it's not all that useful is it?" I asked confused why she was acting like this.

This was the city of adventurers after all. While I might be wrong I sort of doubted an adventurer would spend a bunch of money on something that serves no purpose beyond looking nice. I certainly wouldn't but then again I could be totally wrong. Hestia didn't try and argue with me about it but said that she'd take it with her tomorrow but not to sell. I didn't see any issue with that and dug into the food she brought before heading to bed. -

Like she said she took the figurine with her in the morning and I repeated the process I went through the previous day to refine an orb of bone before shaping it into a figurine with my makers mark. It was surprisingly easier than before ever so slightly which I was sure was because I had experience this time. I didn't make Tinkerbell this time but took the same body shape and modified the face, clothes and hair so it was another fairy entirely in a different pose as well. I wanted to try and keep from using the same design more than once unless someone asked for it .-

When Hestia returned she had a massive smile and a small bulging sack of coin in her hand that caught me off guard.

"Um, Hestia where did you get that bag of Valis from?" I asked with a sneaking suspicion that I knew the answer already.

"I took the little fairy up to my stall and had it sitting at the front and someone noticed it and asked if i was selling it. I told them I wasn't but they really wanted it and soon there was a whole crowd of people offering a bunch of money for it!" she said all excited about her day.

I deadpanned at her "You sold the figurine didn't you?" i asked calmly and she nodded.

"For twelve thousand Valis! When I said I would have more soon the crowd went nuts!" she said with a wide smile.

I wanted to be mad really I did but twelve thousand Valis is not a small sum for people in such dire straits like us. Valis was the currency in this world and was represented in three different denominations gold, silver and bronze. Bronze coins were worth five Valis, Silver coins were worth twenty bronze coins and Gold coins were worth a hundred silver coins. That sack had one gold coin and a bunch of silver ones in it. To make things clearer a loaf of white bread cost between ten and twenty Valis and a gourmet meal may cost at most six or seven thousand Valis for REALLY high end but normal foods like caviar.