Chapter Sixty-One - Pact With the Devil(‘s Maid)

This whole thing is literally just here for Cricket's squeaky hammer time.

***

Rosario watched as Hailey psyched herself up, her little hands balling into fists before she glanced at her and Lucky. “Forgive me, a moment,” she said with the most customer service of smiles.

She watched the gnome stomp across the room, hesitate next to a rack of heavy, blunt implements, then continue on to the doorway. 

Hailey opened it, then slipped outside. “What?” she hissed.

One of the men on the other side (Rosario counted for of them, though she couldn’t see any and had to rely on the sounds of shuffling feet) chuckled as Hailey stood her ground. “Copperfidget. You’re late.”

“No I’m not. I have until tonight.”

“Tsk, come on. Today is today. Not so late that it’s tomorrow.”

“You’re hardly being generous,” Hailey snapped.

“Generous is for the clients that pay on time, girlie,” the man replied. “And you’re late.”

“And you’re interrupting business,” Hailey said. “I was just showing some of my inventions--” The men laughed, cutting her off for a moment, but after recentering herself, she continued. “I was just showing some of my inventions to an investor.”

“You have an investor?” the man asked. “Tch, sure you do, and I have an eighteen inch minotaur cock.”

More laughter came, and Rosario found herself... not entirely sure of what to do. She could intervene, but it did sound as if Hailey had dug her own hole. She didn’t strike Rosario as someone with very much financial sense, and while Rosario did see some potential in her inventions, there was a world of difference between inventing a nifty gadget and having the facilities to produce and sell those same things. Was patent law even a thing in Aerie? 

The best Haliey could probably hope for was to be hired by someone who appreciated her creativity and who would put her to work solving minor issues in like, a factory setting. Someone had to create the jigs and tools for others. 

But someone looking for that kind of person would probably approach the Engineer’s Guild first, and Hailey wasn’t a member.

So... it wasn’t to be. 

Like a million others, Hailey’s dreams would die an ignoble death to the slow push of necessity.

Lucky stared at her.

“What?” Rosario asked.

“You’re not going to help her, Swordmaster Thorn?”

“She will live,” Rosario said. She could hear Hailey arguing with the men, still. It hadn’t turned violent or anything. They were being rude, and making fun of her, but... that was wrong, but on the scale of wrongs that needed to be righted, it was low, wasn’t it?

Lucky continued to stare at her. “But... are we not to help those in need? Is that not part of what being a swordsmaster is about?”

“No, being a swordsmaster is about swinging a hunk of metal well,” Rosario said.

Lucky looked away at least, but she, for a brief moment, looked disappointed. “Right, I suppose.”

Rosario worked her jaw for a moment, then she heard as someone shoved Hailey back. The gnome stumbled into the door and tripped into the workshop. 

In an instant, Rosario was there, catching her by the back of the neck and preventing a fall. “Careful. This is hardly a place to fall in.”

“T-thank you,” Hailey said. She stood up and brushed herself off. “Jonas, you fish bastard! You could have hurt me!”

The men started to file into the workshop, and she noticed a few of them eyeing her and Lucky up. The one that had to be Jonas the fishy bastard... rather fit the description. He was tall enough to meet Rosario eye-to-eye, with sleek, greyish skin covered in fine scales and a bald head that had a slight ridge to it.

He was built, as a cruder person might put it, like a brick shithouse.

“Well, well, looks like you did have company,” the man said. He grinned, showing off some rather sharp teeth. “Forgive me, miss Copperfidget. Didn’t think you were telling the truth. Ladies, I’m afraid your business with the little gnome here--”

“I’m actually above average in height, I’ll have you know!” Hailey snapped.

He didn’t deign to look down and simply continued. “--is at an end. You don’t want your money going to the likes of her anyway. She’s not the sort that’s keen on paying back debts, you see?”

“I’m not letting you take my stuff,” Hailey said.

“Oh, little miss, it ain’t your stuff we’re after.”

Rosario glanced to the side. Part of her wanted to leave. But Lucky... Lucky was looking up to her. 

So instead, she stepped up and placed herself between Hailey and the men. “How much does she owe you?” she asked.

“Tsk. No,” he said.

“No?” she repeated.

“We’re not in the business of selling debt,” he growled. “We’re in the business of collecting it. Don’t get in our way, and we won’t get in yours.”

Rosario felt something thrum through the air as the man growled. It tasted like fear. Not her own, however, it was pushing up against her, trying to worm its way into her own emotions. Behind her, Lucky gasped, and started to tremble. Hailey squeaked. It was as if they were being pushed back by a powerful gust of wind.

To Rosario, it had all of the strength of someone was breathing in her face, and she didn’t approve of their hygiene. 

Rosario reached over and flicked the man on the chin, aiming upwards.

His feet, briefly, left the ground, and his pretty sharp-ended teeth cracked as his jaw shut with sudden force. “Please don’t try that kind of thing around me,” she said. “It’s rude.”

The man stumbled back, grasping at his jaw, and Rosario realized taht she hadn’t used [Inspect] on him yet.

Jonas Blackwater

[Loan Shark] - Level 41

So, an upper second tier? His gaggle of allies were a mix of first and second tiers as well. Bodyguards and Toughs and Workers. Not exactly an army.

“Bitch!” Jonas said. “Guys, take her out. Hailey, you’re fucked.”

“What crude language,” Rosario said. She half-turned towards Lucky. “You have your practice sword?” she asked.

“Yes, I-- watch out!” Lucky said.

One of the men pulled a club from his inventory and smashed the back of her head with it. He bounced back, stumbling at the recoil of his hit. 

“Let’s put what you used to the test,” Rosario said. “Take these four out, would you? Miss Hailey, please pay attention. I might be asking you to create something for Lucky soon, and it might help if you had first hand experience witnessing her at work.”

Lucky didn’t need to be told twice. She grabbed her enchanted sword from her inventory and unsheathed it. Then she met the first of the men with a rapid strike that he only barely dodged. 

Compared to someone like Cricket, this lot were... unimpressive. 

Still, they had levels on Lucky, and that proved to be enough to turn the fight into a challenge for her. 

Unfortunately, Lucky didn't have the speed, power, or experience to take out four men one after the other, especially with a non-lethal weapon. So, she had to fight by backing up slowly, making space, and occasionally taking a page from Cricket’s playbook and throwing something at someone. 

Rosario stood by Hailey’s side and watched as her workshop was... rather quickly ruined. 

“I’m so screwed,” Hailey whispered.

Rosario was... inclined to agree. That [Loan Shark] probably worked for someone. That’s how that sort of thing went... in the stories she’d read and shows she watched. In any case, just beating someone you owed money to didn’t absolve you of that debt. “How much do you owe?” she asked.

Hailey winced. “About thirty-two gold?”

That was... maybe three year’s wages? More or less. At least, for a middling adventurer, a job that Rosario suspected paid relatively well as it was one where a person risked life and limb. 

So, a lot of money for someone in Hailey’s position, basically. 

“Would you be open to taking a commission or two?” Rosario asked.

“With what shop?” Hailey asked. She gave a full-body wince as a shelving unit crashed down at the back.

“Hmm. Fair point. I suppose... ah... what am I doing?” Rosario pinched the bridge of her nose. She was very close to dropping this whole thing, but then Lucky’s pitiful look flashed in her mind. “Fine. We’re travelling to Dawntown. Can you work on the move?”

“Like, without a workshop?” Hailey asked.

“Yes. At night, in camps. You may be required to travel on foot. You might be required to fight monsters and the like as well.”

Maybe her mistress would appreciate an inventor in her retinue? Hailey did seem like someone with potential. 

“I can’t fight!” Hailey said.

“I need... call it five special weapons. I’ll pay five gold apiece. And I’ll cover the material costs.”

“I can fight! I can kill!” Hailey said. “I swear, I’ll murder stuff so well, like you’ve never seen things murdered before!”

***