Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 201-202 (Patreon)

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Arwin watched with trepidation as Madiv and Esmerelda sized each other up. It didn’t look like the elderly woman had been too poorly affected by her sudden fit of unconsciousness, but that didn’t make him any less worried for her.

She’d definitely been taken by a lot more surprise than Arwin had expected. Lillia’s disguise had worked pretty effectively thus far entirely due to how ridiculous the concept of the demon queen sitting around and running a tavern was.

This was the first time her arguments looked like they might not have worked. Fortunately, Esmerelda seemed to have realized her thoughts — correct as they were — were taking her down a path simply too ludicrous to believe.

That result had a chance of changing if she had time to think anything through too thoroughly. Fortunately for all of them, Madiv seemed to have absolutely no plans of letting such a thing happen.

“I find myself in the pressing need of a supplier,” Madiv said as he adjusted the hems of his sleeves and straightened his lapels. “Are you capable of fulfilling that role?”

“Lad, your wildest dreams wouldn’t be so much as scratching the extent of my repertoire. If something exists in this world, I can get it at the right price,” Esmerelda said with a confident smile. “What is it you want?”

“I am currently unaware of what I need,” Madiv said. “The requirement changes depending on demand. As it generally does.”

Esmerelda’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. “Well, yes. But I’m not talking generalities here. You want something from me, do you not? An artifact, perhaps?”

She’s really caught up on the whole artifact stuff, isn’t she? I can’t blame her. Shiny things are pretty cool. But as far as artifacts go… I’ve seen the inside of her shop. I think I’ve got a pretty good guess as to what her idea of an artifact is. Especially given how impressed she expected us to be with that strikingly mediocre magic item… I’ll stick with some metal.

“No,” Madiv said. “I have not received a request from anyone to acquire an artifact. I have no need for something like that.”

Esmerelda’s eye twitched. “Everyone has need for power. That’s the purpose of existence. To grow stronger. Don’t try to deny it to my face. Strength begets strength. Anything you want can be yours with sufficient power… or sacrifice.”

“Is there anything you need right now?” Madiv asked Arwin.

“I could always use some more metal, I suppose.”

“I need metal.” The merchant looked to Esmerelda. Then he glanced back to Arwin. “You did not specify the type of metal. Is there a certain one you want?”

“Brightsteel would probably be best. I go through a lot of it.”

“I’m right here, you know,” Esmerelda said irritably. “I think you lot have all entirely missed the point of a supplier. Why would you even need to involve a merchant if you could just get what you want directly from me?”

Arwin tilted his head to the side. That was a pretty good point. He would have considered it for a little longer if not for the stricken look on Madiv’s face. The idea of becoming useless to his queen was probably more painful than a lightning bolt straight to his heart.  

“I suggest you retract that implication,” Madiv said, his features going flat.

“Deals are best done with the person who seeks them,” Esmerelda continued, interlacing her fingers in front of her stomach. “What metal do you desire, Ifrit? I can get it for you. Ancient magical ingots, long forgotten in this area of the kingdom. Raw ore refined in the blood of great monsters and left to fester.”

Arwin repressed a grimace. Trying to get something that fancy to do what he wanted at his current level… the chances were probably zero. Awaken would turn the damn thing into a bratty child that refused to do anything he wanted. Making Prism’s Reach had already been at the absolute limits of his strength. If he tried to toss some fancy magical metal with evil bloodthirsty urges into the mix, there was absolutely no chance everything didn’t come crashing down on his head.

Maybe when I’m stronger.

“I’d prefer some normal Brightsteel,” Arwin said.

“Brightsteel? Bah. I’ve got blends that makes Brightsteel look worthless. Fragments of old weapons made from the stars themselves. You don’t know what you desire, but I can—”

“We desire Brightsteel,” Madiv said, cutting Esmerelda off and stepping between her and Arwin. He crossed his arms behind his back. “Do you possess it?”

Esmerelda let out a long-suffering sigh. “Yes. I have it. Probably. Brightsteel. Bah. Who comes to me for Brightsteel? No matter. I can get you all the Brightsteel you could possibly use in a lifetime, all for a mere price—”

“Too much. Ten bars will be sufficient,” Madiv said. “We will give you five gold for them.”

The old woman’s composure finally cracked. Her eyes widened and she thrust a finger into Madiv’s chest. “Ten bars? Five gold? Petulant child. I will make no such deal. Do you think me a mere alley broker? Some tart wandering around with scraps? My stock is—”

“Brightsteel,” Madiv finished. “Your stock is Brightsteel. A common metal.”

Esmerelda’s fingers twitched at her sides. She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly to keep herself from blowing a gasket. She and Madiv glared at each other with such intensity that Arwin could have sworn the temperature in the room started to rise.

“Hey, maybe we should cool—” Rodrick started.

“Be silent,” Esmerelda and Madiv snapped in unison.

Rodrick’s teeth clacked as he shut his mouth. He wisely edged toward the door, and the others followed his lead in slowly making an escape. Esmerelda was clearly doing okay. Interfering with her and Madiv again probably wouldn’t be too great for anyone’s prolonged health.

 “The reason my stock is Brightsteel is because you have the taste of a daft river troll with a pile of rocks where its brain should be,” Esmerelda said. “I came to you with gold and you asked me for manure!”

“Then manure you should give me,” Madiv countered. “The purpose of a supplier is not to question my requests. It is to provide me the materials I desire. You have them. Sell them to me.”

“Who would pay anything of worth for ten gods forsaken Brightsteel Bars?” Esmerelda exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air.

“We will pay gold. Five of it per bar, to be precise.”

“I said of worth. And five gold per bar is ludicrous. Even if I had any desire to scrape the dredges of my self-worth and stoop to such a level at which I would put in effort selling you common scrap, five gold wouldn’t even be enough for me to glance in your direction.”

Lillia snagged Arwin by the arm as Esmerelda and Madiv’s argument started to escalate. The rest of the guild had already wisely made their escape, and now it looked like it was their turn. Arwin threw one last glance at the arguing duo before following Lillia back into the kitchen.

“Well, that’s going great,” Lillia said under her breath, raising a hand to cover a laugh. “They’re getting on like an old married couple.”

“Madiv won’t kill her, will he?” Arwin asked as he dismissed his armor and stretched his arms over his head. “Actually, I think I know him well enough to realize he won’t. I can’t say the same for a stress-related heart attack.”

“She’ll be fine. I’ve seen women like her before in the horde.” Lillia waved her hand dismissively. “Old she may be, but there’s no natural force in the world that’s going to take her out. She and Madiv will be fine.”

She headed toward her room, leaving the light of the tavern behind, and Arwin followed after her. It wasn’t long before he completely lost his sight. That wasn’t really a problem. At this point, he knew the layout of Lillia’s room well enough to move around it with any trouble.

But, despite that, Arwin paused at the entrance of the room near the doorway. He waited until Lillia found his arm. A smile crossed his face as he followed her in and the shadows swallowed the rest of the noise coming from the common room.

“Don’t think I can’t see that smug little grin of yours,” Lillia said in a low tone.

“I wasn’t trying to hide it.”

Lillia let out a small laugh and they sat down on her bed. She leaned against his shoulder. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a little while to actually sit and talk. I wanted to take the moment. I’ve missed it.”

“Me too,” Arwin said. He hesitated for a second before moving his arm up and behind Lillia. She leaned into him and he pulled her against himself as they both settled in. “It’s been a busy few days. I managed to make the gauntlets I was working on. I can show you some other time.”

“I’m happy for you. Sounds like you had more success than I did today. I did a lot more of what I was doing before, but no giant leaps.”

“Didn’t you just have a giant one?” Arwin asked, a smile tugging at his lips. “You can’t just get huge advances every day, you know.”

Lillia let out a reluctant grumble. “I know, I know. But the more I learn, the more I want to learn. You know?”

That rang true enough that it took Arwin a few moments to reply. “Yeah. I do. But that can come tomorrow. You helped me last time, so now it’s my turn. Maybe I’ll have some nugget of sage wisdom to share.”

“Tomorrow,” Lillia agreed, her tone growing even softer. Arwin didn’t even remember exactly what time it was outside. He was pretty sure it wasn’t all that late, but in the darkness of Lillia’s room, all time was night time.

Neither of them said anything else. They fell silent, content in each other’s company, and did nothing but enjoy some much-needed rest.

Chapter 202

When Arwin and Lillia headed out into the common room the next morning, Madiv and Esmerelda’s argument had ended. That really shouldn’t have been something of note. Arguments weren’t meant to last more than a few minutes or an hour at the most.

It seemed that nobody had ever bothered telling Madiv and Esmerelda that. Only about an hour before falling asleep, he’d managed to pick up on the sounds of muted curses and irate words in the common room. They’d gotten loud enough that even Lillia’s magic wasn’t completely repressing the noise.

Arwin would have gotten up to do something about it if he hadn’t been so comfortable. That may have been a mistake. The sound hadn’t stopped until he’d fallen asleep, so he’d fully expected to find Esmerelda and Madiv still going at it when they woke up.

Fortunately, the only person in the common room was Anna. She sat at the counter fiddling with a small wooden cube in her hands and glanced up at Arwin and Lillia as they emerged.

“Some night, wasn’t it?” Anna asked with a wry smile.

Arwin winced. He’d forgotten that even though the magical darkness extended upstairs, it wasn’t anywhere near as intense as it was inside Lillia’s room. Everyone else had probably heard a lot more than he had.

“Sorry,” Arwin said. “I really should have stopped them.”

“It’s fine. I’m used to sleeping when it’s loud. Rodrick snores like a runaway cart bouncing down a cobblestone street,” Anna said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Don’t worry about it. At least it sounded like they were having fun.”

“That’s not exactly my idea of fun. It sounded like they were about a second away from ripping each other’s heads off.”

“Nobody does anything they don’t like for that long if they aren’t having fun,” Anna said with a smile. “Don’t worry about it. It sounded like they managed to come to an agreement by the end of it all. I guess we’ve found ourselves a supplier.”

Arwin resisted the urge to let out a whistle. He wasn’t sure who he was more impressed — or disappointed — in. Madiv had basically just bullied an old woman into doing what he’d wanted, but Esmerelda had spent the entire time trying to sell something they really didn’t want.

I just hope they settled on a price that is actually reasonable for everyone involved. I’m not spending fifty gold a bar on Brightsteel, but I don’t want to drive Esmerelda out of the city because she can’t afford rent.

“Oh, stop worrying for a few moments,” Anna said. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You’re going to gray before I do, and I’m older than you.”

“You are?” Arwin asked, blinking. “How old are you?”

“Wow. Not even a second of hesitation.” Anna let out a playful laugh. “Twenty-eight.”

“But she doesn’t look a day over twenty,” Rodrick’s voice came from the top of the stairs. They all glanced over as he started down, hair sticking out in every odd direction. “Wait. Maybe that’s a bit too young. I’m too old for a twenty year old. People aren’t going to give me weird looks, are they? Maybe I’ll have to age you up to a twenty-four-year-old. Sorry, hon.”

“People will look at you weird anyway, Rodrick. That isn’t my fault. I’d suggest you might as well lean into it, but I don’t know if Milten could handle you leaning into your oddities any more than you already do.”

“Hey, I’m not that weird,” Rodrick said defensively. He pulled out a chair by the counter and sat down beside Anna, giving Arwin and Lillia a nod of greeting. “I only dress in other people’s clothes occasionally.”

“You see? This is what I’m talking about,” Anna said. “Did you return them this time? I swear, if I find another woman’s clothes—”

Rodrick hurriedly cleared his throat. “They’re not in the inn.”

Anna’s eyes narrowed. “Where are they, Rodrick?”

“Alleyway.”

“Ah. Good enough.” Anna shrugged, then returned her attention to the wooden block in her hands. It was some sort of puzzle. Arwin and Lillia exchanged a glance. It definitely felt like they’d just overheard something they shouldn’t have.

“So… if Esmerelda and Madiv came to an agreement, does anyone know where they are?” Arwin asked.

“Probably setting up for a wedding,” Rodrick said with a snicker. “Gods above and below, could you imagine what would happen if they were married? If there was a championship for bickering old couples, they’d win it without even showing up.”

“I overheard Esmerelda saying she was heading out to source some supplies. She was not pleased with our requests,” Anna said. She shrugged. “I’m sure she’ll get over it soon enough. All the talk about fancy magical stuff is funny… but I don’t think any of us need it. Especially with how ominous she is about it.”

“I did notice that,” Arwin said. “I think she’s lonely. I met her in an old run-down shop in an alley. It didn’t look like anyone had been there in a long time. Esmerelda is probably trying to make herself valuable and interesting. sourcing normal metal isn’t really glamorous.”

“That could be it,” Lillia said. “She definitely likes talking. That much is obvious.”

“I guess we should humor her a bit,” Rodrick said. He paused for a second, then grinned. “And we should make a house somewhere outside of the inn where all business deals have to be done. Don’t shit where you sleep and all that.”

“Maybe at the other end of the street,” Anna suggested dryly.

“An entirely auspicious spot.” Rodrick gave them a sage nod, then yawned. “Man, yesterday was tiring. I’m out of shape.”

“Did you even do anything other than go out for a walk around town?” Lillia asked.

Rodrick coughed into his fist. “Look, we don’t need to get into semantics. I was gathering information about the Ardent guild. They’re not a threat right now. Probably gearing up for something in the near future. I don’t know exactly what yet.”

“Very specific.” Lillia scrunched her nose.

“Better no information than wrong information.” Rodrick shrugged. “Don’t worry. I’m keeping tabs. That doesn’t mean I know everything they’re doing, but they’re definitely having a little trouble at the moment. Logistical issues. That kind of thing.”

“Don’t bother,” Anna said before Arwin could say anything. She shook her head and sighed. “When Rodrick gets like this, it’s impossible getting anything out of him. Just let him do his thing. It works.”

Arwin nodded. He trusted Anna — and he trusted Rodrick. Something told him that Rodrick was doing a whole lot more than just walking around the city and listening to rumors. But, if Rodrick didn’t want to talk about it, then he wouldn’t press. Arwin was certain the warrior would tell him when the time was right or once he’d gathered enough information.

“In that case, we should probably get on with the day,” Lillia said. She blew out a breath of air as a flicker of frustration crossed her features. It only lasted for an instant before she tilted her head to the side in thought. “Actually, do you mind waiting before you start on your work today, Arwin?”

Arwin blinked. “Huh? Sure. What’s going on?”

“I need to make breakfast for everyone. It looks like Reya and Olive aren’t up yet, but I’m sure they will be soon,” Lillia replied. “But after that, I want to shadow you. Maybe I’ll pick up on something while I’m watching you that’ll help me get over the hump I’m stuck on.”

He nodded. That was as good a reasoning as any. “I’ll wait in the smithy, then. I need to figure out what I’ll be doing today anyway. No point just making a ton of mass-produced armor right now.”

With their plans set, Lillia headed back into the kitchen while Arwin made for the smithy. He unlocked it and headed over to the back. It was dark and cold, the hearth unlit. Arwin tossed some [Soul Flame] into the hearth and leaned against the wall.

What could I work on to help Lillia? Something that she can take inspiration from. Maybe some form of kitchen utensil? I’m not sure if that would actually give her inspiration or just be a gift.

Arwin’s thoughts were hindered by the rhythmic thump of the heart he’d taken from Jalen’s monstrosity still pulsed away in the corner. It had definitely weakened in intensity since the day he’d gotten it. Evidently the heart didn’t have an infinite store of energy.  

That’s probably a good thing. Perhaps that’s what I should work on today. Maybe we can both get some kind of inspiration from the heart. If not, I’m pelting it into a wall and letting her cook it.

Unfortunately, an answer as to the heart’s purpose still hadn’t come to him. It was far too big and squishy to fit into armor or any normal-sized weapon. He let out a low hum and leaned against the wall, tapping his finger to the beat of the heart subconsciously.

He was still doing that when Lillia stepped into the back room of the smithy several minutes later. Arwin, so lost in his own thoughts, nearly jumped out of his own skin in surprise. Lillia let out a snort of laughter.

“Sorry. Is now a good time?”

“You’re meant to ask that before stepping in,” Arwin grumbled. He shook his head. “Yes. Now is good. In pursuit of trying to think of a way to help you, I got caught up on the stupid heart we took from that dungeon. I can’t figure out what to do with it… but it’s unique. Maybe it’ll give us both some inspiration.”

“That’s a good idea!” Lillia nodded empathetically, then waited for a moment. “So what are you going to do with it?”

“No blasted clue.”

They both looked over to the bag with the heart. Several seconds of silence passed.

“Maybe you could use it to power something?” Lillia mused. “Like a heart powers a body. You could make some weird contraption… thing.”

“Contraption… thing?” Arwin mirrored, a smile pulling at his lips, but the idea actually held a little weight to it. The more he thought about it, the more viable it felt. “Maybe I could make bellows. It’s pumping, so that would lend itself to a repetitive motion. That could actually work. I’m just a bit worried that it’s weaker than it was before. It seems like the heart has a limited life. Maybe it would be better if you just cooked it?”

 “Well, it’s organic,” Lillia said. “It probably needs some form of energy source to keep going. Could you just infuse it with magic?”

Arwin started to nod. Then he paused, his eyes widening.

“What is it?” Lillia asked.

“It’s organic. You’re probably right about me being able to put magic into it… but what if you did that instead?”

“Me? I can only imbue food. We aren’t trying to eat the heart.”

 “Don’t do it directly,” Arwin said, a flicker of excitement entering his voice as he gestured over to the corner of the room. “It’s a heart. It needs food. What if I made it a way to consume energy from food that you make?”

Lillia’s eyes widened to match his. “You want to make a bellows that literally eats food?”

“We could make it together,” Arwin said. “You could do more than just watch or help me swing a hammer. It could help both of us. Sure, it’s a bit creepy, but—”

“Say no more,” Lillia said with a delighted grin. “I’m in. Let’s make an abomination of nature.”