Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 187-188 (Patreon)

I think I forgot to post 2 days ago, so I'll be posting another double chapter tomorrow. Sorry, I've been sick and my head is completely nuked.

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Adventurers continued to flow through the Infernal Armory. Many of them were just looking, and a fair number seemed to only be there in hopes of speaking to Ifrit. When it became clear that the smith was busy, the majority of people headed out.

But, with the crowd they’d managed to pull, it didn’t matter. Reya went through every piece of armor on the walls, including the old Brightsteel sets, and sold every single one of them. Madiv had been equally as successful on his side, but that wasn’t the end of it.

Even as they sold the armor, Arwin finished more sets and slid them out the back door. They sold slower as the crowd thinned and the day wore no, but they still sold. The Infernal Armory had mustered enough interest — at least for the day — to sell everything they put out.

Reya barely had a chance to breathe. It was just an endless flow of people. Their names and faces blurred together. She remembered little of what she actually said to them. All her mind could recollect was the gold getting plopped into her hands and the bags she piled in the back corner of the smithy, away from any prying eyes or hands.

If she’d been working alone, it would have been impossible. There were just too many people and too many requests and questions. Her saving grace had been, ironically, Madiv. As new to sales as he was, the vampire was the perfect employee in one exact circumstance.

And that circumstance happened to be the one where he could act like a smug, bloodthirsty vampire working for the demon queen. He’d gotten better at avoiding just straight up threatening to kill everyone that didn’t buy from him, but only by a small degree.

“If you do not return to purchase the armor on the morrow, I will hang you from your entrails,” Madiv informed a woman.

She raised a hand to her mouth and giggled. “Yes, sir. I’ll be there.”

Who giggles at that? You have a severe problem that I don’t think anybody in Milten is equipped to handle.

Madiv spotted Reya looking in his direction and gave her a courteous smile, which was his equivalent of a resounding cheer. Reya resisted the urge to slap her palm into her face. It was going to be impossible to get him to sell things normally now.

Although… is there a reason why we’d have to do that? At this point, our reputation is established. All publicity is good publicity. It might actually be for the best to lean into everything even harder. We just need to make sure Madiv doesn’t actually follow up on any of his threats.

Reya looked at the back of the smithy, where the clang of metal still rang. It had been over a day, but it didn’t look like Arwin had any plans of stopping. When she pulled her gaze back to the room, it struck her that the rushing crowd had finally abated.

There were only a few more adventures milling about the room. Only one set was left on the walls beside Madiv, and it didn’t look like anyone left had any plans to buy it. Over the course of the next few minutes, everyone else drained out of the room.

Reya stuck her head outside. The street was largely empty, but muted conversation rolled out from the Devil’s Den. A fair number of adventurers had definitely headed over to check it out.

She nearly jumped out of her own skin as a breeze brushed against her back. Reya spun to find Madiv standing behind her.

“Don’t do that.”

“My apologies,” Madiv said. “It seems that we have completed our job successfully. Was my performance acceptable?”

“It was… certainly a performance,” Reya allowed, blowing out a weary breath. “It made a mark and you sold a bunch of sets, so I don’t think there’s anything to complain about. There’s always more to learn.”

“So there is,” Madiv agreed. They were silent for several seconds. No new adventurers showed up on the street. “Perhaps we should visit Lillian’s tavern to ensure our services are not needed there.”

I’m pretty sure you just want to sneak a glance at Lillia doing something.

“Someone should stay here in case more adventurers come,” Reya said. She wiped some sweat from her brow. All the people in the smithy had made it a lot hotter than she’d thought it would be. The building could have used a little more ventilation. “Today is too important for us to slack off.”

“No, it’s fine.” Reya and Madiv turned as Arwin stepped out of the back room. He leaned against Verdant Blaze, using it like a walking stick. A weary, satisfied expression was plastered over his face. “You’ve both done wonderfully. I picked up a few bits of conversation from outside while I was working.”

“You look like death,” Madiv informed Arwin. “And I would know.”

“Thank you,” Arwin said dryly. “I think I’ll be closing up for today. Judging by the pile of gold in the back, I think we’ve made all the money we needed to. I’ll hold down the smithy. You two go relax in the tavern and make sure everything is going well.”

“Are you sure?” Reya asked. “It looks like you could use a little rest.”

“I’ll get some rest tonight. I’ve got too many thoughts in my head to sleep right now.” Arwin shook his head and blew out a sigh through pursed lips. “I’ve got some ideas for a new pair of gauntlets that I want to make, and I heard someone talking about a waiting list for commissions. Is that true?”

Reya’s cheeks reddened. “I may have taken a liberty. Sorry.”

“No, that’s perfect.” Arwin shook his head and put a hand on her shoulder. “I was thinking of doing something quite similar. In the end, I’m one person. It’s not sustainable for me to make hundreds of pieces of gear. It’s better to build a name for myself and then focus in on high-paying clients rather than a ton of lower paying ones.”

“So you’re not going to make a bunch of gear anymore?”

“Not every day. I’d never leave the workshop again,” Arwin said through a bark of laughter. “I think every once and a while, it’s a great move to build up excitement. Just… not always. Establishing a waitlist is the first step in doing more custom commissions for higher prices in the future. Feel free to let people in the tavern know about it when you go.”

Reya and Madiv exchanged a look, then nodded their understanding.

“Okay. I will,” Reya said. “Don’t push yourself too hard, though.”

“I won’t,” Arwin promised, but Reya wasn’t so sure she believed his words. It wasn’t like telling him otherwise would change anything. She’d probably need to call Lillia in if she wanted to actually get him to stop working.

Reya headed out onto the street and Madiv trailed after her. Arwin closed the smithy door behind them locking it.

“An interesting man,” Madiv said as they walked. “Nothing like what I expected him to be.”

“Tell me about it,” Reya said with a shake of her head. Her hand instinctively went to the hilt of her dagger. A faint warmth rose up from within it, acknowledging her presence. “And yet, in other ways, he’s exactly like what you think he should be.”

They reached the tavern door and Reya pulled it open. A wall of sound slammed into her like a wave. Loud conversation and the clatter of dishes rolled through the room. A dozen adventurers sat around the tables.

Imps scurried across the floor, ducking and weaving between the adventures as they went to deliver plates and bring the dirty ones back to the kitchen. Reya stepped inside, invited Madiv after her, and closed the door behind them.

Well, that definitely answers one question. The darkness mutes some degree of noise. It wasn’t anywhere near this loud outside.

“It is quite loud,” Madiv observed, a flicker of distaste passing over his features. “Too loud.”

“A bit,” Reya agreed, raising her voice to be heard over the crowd. She spotted Rodrick beside the bar counter with a large stack of papers piled next to him and headed over.

Rodrick nodded in greeting. “It looks like things went well. I didn’t realize we had plans to start a waiting list.”

Reya cleared her throat. “Sorry. It was a spur of the moment thing.”

“Figured.” Rodrick snorted. “Well, it definitely worked. We’ve got a dozen adventurers signed up. I figure only half of them will actually show, but it’s a good start. Today was a huge success. And Lillia—”

He trailed off as Lillia swept out of the kitchen, a plate of fried Wyrmling meat in her hands. An enormous grin stretched her lips from one end of her face to the other. She deposited the plate on a table before two adventurers.

“She’s having fun,” Rodrick finished with a smile of his own. “The Ardent guild are going to shit themselves when they find out how well this went for us. With the number of people excited about Ar— uh, Ifrit’s armor, the blacklist isn’t even going to matter. You two did a great job selling to everyone. I thought more people would be pissed about there not being enough pieces to go around, but it looks like they’re more excited instead.”

“Limited resources are exciting,” Madiv mused. “Just like life. The less you have, the more you value it.”

Sometimes, it’s hard to tell if he’s insane or insightful.

“Very true,” Rodrick said. He clapped Madiv on the shoulder. “You sure know how to put the spooky bugger show on.”

Madiv’s lips thinned. “And you are a very standard issue adventurer.”

“Thanks. I—” 

A loud crash split their conversation. All three of them spun to see two adventurers squaring off against each other, their hands on their weapons. They were both huge. Reya didn’t recognize one of them, but the other one was Wanda, the wall of muscle and Reya’s first customer.

  “Say that again,” Wanda snarled, her sword halfway out of its sheath. “I’ll take your head off your neck and shove it so far up your ass it reappears on your shoulders.”

“I didn’t say anything wrong,” the other adventurer replied with a snort. He glanced over his shoulder to a group of adventurers behind him, then back to Wanda. “You ain’t scare me. Lumbering around doesn’t make you strong. Having a hill giant for a momma isn’t an achievement.”

“One more word about my mother,” Wanda growled. “Try it.”

The man’s hand slipped onto the hilt of his own sword. By the slight sway in his step, it was clear that he was just drunk enough to act like an idiot — but not enough to make him a nonthreat.

A man rose from the table beside Wanda. “She’s right. You’re being a skidmark. Apologize and step down.”

The drunk adventurer’s group stood behind him, their hands going to their weapons.

Everyone started to fall quiet as the tension in the tavern rose. One of the men on the drunkard’s side picked up a stool and reared back, preparing to throw it. Madiv tensed, but before he could move, a shadow snaked through the air and snapped around his wrist, yanking the man into the air.

Another shadow caught the chair and set it down on the ground as Lillia stepped out from the darkness, shadows gathering around her back to form into large, batlike wings.

“Correct me if I’m mistaken,” Lillia said, her quiet, furious voice cutting through the air like a knife, “But it almost looked like you were about to start a fight in my tavern.”

Chapter 188

“What’s it to you?” the drunk man asked. That was a rather odd question, given it was Lillia’s chair he’d been about to throw.

“Put him down,” one of the man’s companions said, putting a hand on the hilt of his sword. “One warning. We protect our own.”

“You should have protected your own by keeping him from running his drunk mouth,” Wanda spat. “Try to start a fight and I’ll make cymbals out of your heads. You’re a lot of babies that haven’t wet their swords in a real fight — or woman.”

A few people let out amused snorts at that, which only served to anger the group even further. Lillia’s expression tightened even further. She clapped her hands together and the shadow holding the man in the air released him, dropping the drunkard to the ground with a thunk.”

“Get out of my tavern. Now.”

The group of adventurers stiffened, as if strings had been attached to the tops of their heads and jerked taut. Fear washed over their features as, to everyone’s disbelief, they marched straight out of the tavern and onto the street.

Rodrick recovered the fastest, striding out the open door before any of them could even turn around.

“If you come back here without a written apology, I’ll throw you out on your ass,” the warrior said. “And don’t even think about trying shit, or Ifrit will bend you into a pretzel and blacklist you from buying anything from him.”

Reya walked up alongside him.

“Like we give a shit about some random braggard smith,” one of the drunkard’s friends said as they scrambled to their feet, desperately trying and failing to maintain what little dignity they still had. “What kind of witch is—”

“I’d watch your words carefully,” Reya said, her voice soft. Her hand ran over the hilt of Wyrmhunger and the blade purred in response, sending her a plea through their bond. It wanted nothing more than to drink from the men, to rip the life from their bodies and feed. “Don’t say something you’ll regret in the future. You aren’t past the point of no return yet, but if you say one more thing about Lillian or the Devil’s Den, don’t expect to ever be allowed back.”

That gave them pause. It was one thing to try to act cool, but completely blowing a chance to purchase from the only new smith that the town had gotten in recent times — one who already had quite a bit of attention around him — was a big ask.

The drunkard opened his mouth, but one of his friends clapped his jaw back closed. Without another word, the group turned and stormed off down the street. Reya and Rodrick exchanged a nod, and the warrior closed the tavern door.

“Show’s over,” Rodrick said with a dismissive wave. “Stop staring at me like that. I’ve got a wife. Go back to eating or being idiots.”

A wave of chuckles passed through the room and cut the tension. The silence faded away and people started talking again, quietly at first, but it soon returned to the atmosphere from before.

The shadows swirling around Lillia slipped away and her wings vanished. A momentary look of weariness passed over her features before she shook her head and plastered a smile across her mouth once more.

“That was something else,” Wanda said. “You some kind of control mage? I haven’t seen anyone forced to march like that since I served in a big guild.” Before Lillia could figure out a response, Wanda shook her head and scooped her empty mug off a table. “Actually, I don’t really care as long as you keep serving the good shit. Top me up!”

An imp scurried out of the darkness and hopped up, snagging the mug from her hands. It brought it over to the counter, where a second imp hoisted a large bottle and started filling the mug back up.

The casual air completely returned to the tavern as everyone relaxed once again. Reya nudged Rodrick with her elbow and lowered her voice, speaking just loud enough to be heard over the commotion.

“Did you know Lillia could do that?”

“No,” Rodrick replied in the same tone. “She’s kind of scary when she wants to be.”

“She is the Queen,” Madiv said, a twinkle in his eyes. “Now I understand.”

“I think she told you not to call her that,” Rodrick said. “But now I’m curious. You understand what?”

Madiv cleared his throat. “This is no mere tavern. Lillian is creating a new kingdom, and she does it from within the deepest reaches of her old enemy. Like a parasite, she will grow and feast upon their resources until all the power is within her capable hands.”

Reya blew out a sigh. Evidently, Madiv still had a few things to work through. “I think you might have gotten a few things twisted, but I’m sure you’ll get there eventually. Just don’t go sharing that around if you don’t want to cause Lillia trouble.”

“I will not breath a word,” Madiv swore, pressing a hand to his chest. “For the time being, I will keep an eye on the ruffians that the Q — Lillian dismissed from her presence to ensure that they do not attempt anything ill advised.”

With that, the vampire swept out of the room and slipped through the door like a shadow in the night. Reya watched him leave, then shook her head and looked back out at the crowded tavern.

“It’s pretty incredible, isn’t it?” Rodrick asked. “I won’t admit this to anyone else, but I was starting to wonder if we’d ever actually get things moving. I’m happy for Lillia and Arwin.”

“Not just them. We’ve got a ridiculous amount of money now. Most of that will probably go into fixing up the street and getting some support.”

Rodrick nodded in agreement. “Momentum is important. We can’t let up now that people have learned about us in proper. But… keep an extra eye on Arwin, would you? We can’t have him working himself to death.”

“We all will,” Reya said. Something nudged her leg and she looked down to see an imp in a maid outfit holding out a mug to her. She smiled and took it from the small monster. “Thank you.”

The imp nodded and scurried off. Rodrick’s nose scrunched. “Where’s mine?”

“Over here,” Anna said, emerging from the darkness carrying two mugs. She handed one to Rodrick, then nodded to Reya. “Lillia said we should take a moment to breath. It’s been one hectic day.”

Reya sipped from her mug. It tasted like apples. She smiled. “It damn well has.”

***

It was nighttime by the time Arwin finished in the smithy. Despite his promise, after resting for around an hour and making sure nobody else had plans of showing up unannounced, he returned to the back room and made several more sets of Wyrmling scale armor.

There was still a lot of work to do, but he was satisfied — and exhausted. He emerged from the smithy, locking the door behind him to make sure nobody got any ideas about all the gold they had in its back.

As he turned, he spotted Madiv sitting on the top of a rooftop, watching over the street. The two men exchanged a nod before Arwin walked over to the Devil’s Den and headed inside. There were only a few people still there, but he could tell from the messy tables and imps scurrying around, wiping everything down with rags, that it had been quite busy.

Reya, Rodrick, and Anna had gathered at one table and were happily chattering away, all clearly drunk. A smile passed over his lips. They deserved it after the hard work they’d put in. There was no sign of Lillia, which meant she was probably doing something in the kitchen.

Arwin started toward it, but he paused just a few steps into the tavern as he spotted a familiar face. Jake sat at one of the tables, sitting at a mug of ale, a plate of beautifully charred meat on the table before him.

“Well, if it isn’t Ifrit,” Jake said, sending Arwin a smile. “You’ve been a busy man.”

“I try,” Arwin said. He nodded to the food. “How are you liking it?”

“Incredible. This was a genius move. I didn’t expect myself to have nearly as much fun as I am. Having fake imps in dresses serve food, the whole demon theme… it works well. Really well. That tavern keep knows what she’s doing.”

“You came by just to check on things, then?” Arwin knew the words were false hope before they even left his mouth. Jake didn’t seem like the type of man to show up when there wasn’t business to handle.

“That would have been nice.” Jake’s smile faltered and he shook his head, confirming Arwin’s suspicions and sending his heart sinking deep into his stomach. “But no, I didn’t. I’m here on business, and I’m afraid I don’t bear good news.”

“What happened?” Arwin asked. His hands tightened and he felt Verdant Blaze’s hum in his mind, hungry for slaughter.  

“I came by to let you know that you were a lot more perceptive than I thought,” Jake said. He set the tankard down on the table and wrung his hands together. Between last night and now, there were three requests to buy the land your street is on from the guild.”