RD 2 Ch 33 (Patreon)

Chapter 33

The Hercules Branch’s island was far busier than Circe’s. Where Circe’s island had open fields with just a touch of tall buildings, here we were suddenly squeezed into narrow streets lined with open-fronted buildings that doubled as shops.

The hammering of anvils and the roaring of stoked flames were a constant backdrop as we walked amid the bustle.

It felt like I’d just walked into a metropolis from after the Rapture.

“It’s a little busier than Circe’s.” Hercules sounded proud. The man was big in every way. People easily recognized him and waved or poked the person next to them, pointing at his heroic figure. “Keep your eyes open. I’d love to find a few.”

“If I already saw one, what would you like me to do?” I asked.

“Give me the details.”

“Wukong Clan, the woman in the first house on the right. When we entered.” I spoke quickly.

“Which woman? I think Gregor has eight,” Hercules said, glancing back that way and spotting the woman in front. “Alright, we’ll deal with it. At times, it’s nice to know where the spies are. Can’t say we don’t have half a dozen spread through the other clans.”

“Never know how much information you are getting is being fed to them purposefully.” I wrinkled my nose. The Heros Clan really needed to take these things more seriously.

Hercules grunted. “What about him?” He nodded at a man walking past.

I used Soul Gaze on him to see nothing wrong. “Nothing.”

“Damnit. Need an excuse to punt him. Tried to steal one of my women a hundred years ago,” Hercules grumbled and for a man his size it was menacing enough that the person he was looking at rushed out of the street.

“The place is very industrious.” Simone decided to pull the conversation away from his grumblings.

“It is. One can only be a hero for so long before they have to settle down and work for the future. My class is a little like yours, Bran. I had to perform heroic deeds to rank up my class.” He puffed himself up.

[Name: Hercules Heros

Level: 439

Class: Legendary Hero SSS

Status: Upset, Cautious

Strength: 8489

Agility: 6058

Vitality: 8864

Intelligence: 4739

Spirit: 5392

Skills:

…]

“Impressive, right?” Hercules could tell I was inspecting him, though I was fairly sure he knew through observations and not sensing the inspect like me. “It started as Hero Candidate B rank, and as I gathered fame and performed deeds, my class ranked up, resetting. Such classes aren’t unheard of, but the owners of those classes tend to have extraordinary futures ahead of them.” Touching his nose, he gave me a meaningful look.

He also completely gave away that the servants were reporting to him.

“Wow. That’s incredible. So the stories of the Great Hercules are true?” Simone played fan girl for him. And I was thankful she saved me from having to come up with something to say.

“Yes, mostly. Some of them are a little embellished I admit.” Hercules nodded. “Also, I would like to thank you for sparing Galen. He is my direct son of my fifty-sixth concubine.”

I had suspected that Galen was closely related to Hercules, but I hadn’t expected him to be that close. Bullet dodged. Knowing Hercules’ temper, if he learned I had killed his son, I would have been crushed the second I left the instance.

“We are the Heros Clan. I detested the infighting. Katie, however, had worn out her first and second chances.” While talking, I had kept Soul Gaze active and paused at a woman who crossed in front of us. “Herc, there’s a demon in the clan.” I kept my voice low.

The big man stiffened. “Not for long.”

I grabbed his arm and dug my feet in to stop myself from being dragged along. Fuck. What did this man eat?

Herc glanced down at my hand, surprised at my strength. “What?”

“I think it’s best if you put a watcher on them. Understand their movements before you turn them into a pancake.” I said. He was clearly more of a crush now and ask questions later sort.

“Happy to do it.” Simone smiled, and her nun outfit rippled into a woman in a toga with a forgettable face and a rather plain body.

I narrowed my eyes at her, not wanting to put her in harm's way.

“If they do anything violent, I will rip my talisman and flee. A demon running around the clan will bring everyone down on them,” Simone reasoned. “Besides, they could change their illusion any second. They are already getting away.”

I let her go with a sigh. “Be safe. Very safe.”

“Mmm.” She hummed. “I’ll come back to you.” She kissed me and slipped into the crowd.

“She had an illusion, too?” Hercules furrowed his Neanderthal of a brow. “I don’t like this.”

“Simone is very good at whatever she puts her mind to. Just let it go,” I said. “So, smiths, let's go see them.” Taking out Simone’s talisman, I held it closer. I wanted to be able to rush to her aid the second she needed me.

“Let me drop you off, and then I need to find the other leaders. This is a breach that must be handled.” Hercules set his jaw in a hard scowl. “Demons are a scourge to be eradicated. It’s been so long since I’ve seen one.”

“Well, it’s hard to find demons when you have one amidst you providing them information,” I said, earning me a hard glare from the man.

“Here.” His tone was short. “Eunice!” he shouted into the building.

“Who the fuck dares disturb me?” a harsh voice that belonged to a woman who sucked in forge fumes all day shouted back, but the hammering stopped, and a woman stormed out.

I had expected a big woman who looked like she ate iron nails for breakfast, but instead, it was a petite woman with an unruly shock of red hair pulled back.

“What are you looking at?” She gave me a glare but no inspect.

“This is Bran, the one who donated all those bronze pieces for a new set of scale mail.” Hercules urged me forward and promptly turned around. Most likely to get a group ready to kill demons.

“Well, hello, Eunice.” I went up to shake her hand that wasn’t holding a hammer.

The second she took my hand, her hammer swung into my gut with enough force that the surprise drove the air from me.

She twisted my arm and hit me a dozen times in quick succession while I resisted cutting her in two. None of the strikes were hard enough to actually do damage. “Soft.” She grunted. “You’re really a new initiate?”

“That’s why I’m here. Need a harder shell if I’m going to keep fighting the way I do.” I glanced her up and down, reassessing her.

Her class was B rank Flame Caller, but her skill list was absolutely massive with smithing-related abilities. I’d seen her type more than a few times. Sometimes crafting and being paid in system gold was a much better way to improve stats than diving into the instances. Especially those that didn’t care to form the kind of relationships that held groups together.

The hammering was treating me like a piece of equipment to understand me. It was far better than her inspect. She probably had a good idea of my stats.

“Come in.” She twirled her hammer and walked back into her shop.

The space was oddly clean for what I expected of the many blacksmiths I’d seen over the years. Some of them tended to be a little eccentric, and their shops were a clear extension of their eccentricities.

“Did you get enough bronze feathers?”  I asked.

“Plenty. You spent a very long time farming those birds,” she replied with a smile. “There was someone from years and years ago that did similarly once. I was absolutely delighted to see you went to so much trouble, though. Most of the time, the groups get too impatient.”

Farming swarm types wasn’t uncommon. Often the length of time farming depended on the amount of food a player had on them.

“Sit.” She brought me back to the room where her forge was located. A giant fire roared in an enclosed pit with only a small window giving access to the view inside. “Arm.” She pulled out a tape measure, notepad, and pencil from a single drawer.

I dutifully held out my arm.

She brought her hammer out, and I didn’t twitch when she slammed it against me. Her brow furrowed, and she hammered all over my body again before winding up and hitting me above the heart like she was ringing a gong. “I refuse to make you armor.”

That made me pause. “Why?”

“Titan Bloodline. No physique.” She grunted. “I’m not making armor you’ll grow out of in a few days.”

“System armor flexes,” I argued. Somehow, the same piece of equipment could fit me and Simone perfectly. It was just a thing. There was no flash or sudden shift but if I tried to put it on it would fit and then if I took it off and handed it to Simone it would cup her chest perfectly.

“If I’m going to make something for you, it will be correct.” She crossed her arms and glared at me.

“In that case. Can your furnace melt system gold? I have the method for my physique but not the means.” I pulled out a system gold coin for her to test.

She took it, and I turned back to the forge with interest. The flames moved almost like they were trying to escape the confines of the forge. “No reason I can’t try. Never thought to waste this.”

“Most don’t, given the value it holds. Wait, is that a fucking fire elemental in your forge?” I could see the form of the elemental occasionally between the flickering tongues of the fire.

She chuckled. “Noticed that? I like it. There’s no smoke or soot. A clean smithy makes clean metals.” Tossing the coin between the slats of the door to the forge, she didn’t even risk opening the forge.

The elemental inside angrily swirled, and its flames dove into the coin with a vengeance, turning it bright red in seconds.

“What rank is the elemental?” I asked.

“Double S. It’s an item: Elemental in a Jar. I put him in every morning and make the furnace nice and toasty before sucking him back into the jar at night.” She peered through the cracks, only for some fire to try and escape to lick at her. “Doesn’t much like me.”

“Na. They are all that angry. Spitefully, fiery bastards.” I hadn’t met any elemental that wasn’t downright pissed off at the world. The system made them all act that way. One time in my last life, a powerful water elemental had gotten out. It continually churned out tsunamis at seaside towns after the Rapture until a group banded together and went out into the ocean, where it was waiting and tried to drown us all.

“Sounds like you have experience.” She didn’t take her eyes off the coin.

Rather than red, it was growing increasingly bright, lighter than the original gold color after a minute. “It’s getting close,” I observed.

“Mmmhmm.” Eunice continued to watch as the coin stopped being quite such a neat circle and melted into the bottom of her forge. “Looks like I can melt one.”

“Pissed off elemental helps.” I had found my forge.

“In you go?” she asked. “Just don’t kill it.”

“Yeah. That’s the second step. First step is something I have to do myself. Don’t suppose you could bake me in that thing for a long while and then pull me out and forge me, maybe in a week?”

She pursed her lips. “Going to cost you. Sounds like you need me.” She grinned like a businesswoman who suddenly knew demand outstripped supply.

“Name your price.” I would rather get that price out of her in the current moment rather than let her think it over.

“Ten thousand gold… a day.” She added the last after a moment. “Don’t know how long you are going to take up my forge. That’s the price for stopping my other projects.”

The price wasn’t as bad as she could gouge me, but then again, there were probably other smiths in the area who could do what I was asking. I had thought about giving up some materials if she gave me an astronomical sum.

Still, it was money well spent.

There was one trump card I had, though. “I happen to be an inscription expert. If you need your shop warded or that forge reinforced, I would be happy to do that for you.”

She grinned. “I can knock it down to five thousand a day if you can make a door that the bastard can’t get through when it opens.” She pointed at the elemental that was still attacking the melted coin.

I squinted and thought for a moment. “Yeah. Best I can do is an S rank inscription, but I have one that should do the trick. I’ll come do it before I use the furnace.”

“Oh. It goes without saying, but if you break anything, you will pay the full price, plus the pain of me having to get an extra anything.” She watched me.

I saluted her. “Understood.”

“Good man. You’re welcome back anytime, but I won’t sell you anything until you’ve gotten that physique and can guarantee you won’t grow out of it all in a week.” She huffed and went back to work.

I was clearly dismissed.

And that was fine. I needed to track down Simone and make sure she was safe.

AN - Think I am going to get this out before deadlines. So I will have to start spoiling... err I mean catching you guys up a little.