Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 443-444 (Patreon)

They didn’t get any more work done that day. Wallace headed back to his own smithy while Arwin and Koyu headed back to the Devil’s Den after waiting for the last of the crowd to disperse.

Esemerelda and Madiv didn’t show up that night, so Arwin didn’t get a chance to pass the ring he’d gotten from the dungeon onto her. He wasn’t too bothered about that. Arwin got the feeling she’d show up soon enough. The old woman seemed to have a way of knowing when she was needed.

Arwin spent dinner filling the Menagerie in about Ida and the crown they’d gotten from the Blacktongue’s dungeon, adding in the conversation he’d had with Eleven a short while ago.

Fortunately, as Arwin had guessed, Lillia had already overheard it and Rodrick was already on the case. The former paladin wasn’t too happy about anything in the current situation. Even though he hadn’t had any reasonable way to know what Ida was up to, he was still immensely displeased at letting her sip by him.

He’d almost instantly retreated back to his quarters after getting all the information Arwin had. Even though Eleven was already keeping an eye on the dwarf, something told Arwin that she was about to get a number of new eyes on her. She wasn’t going to be doing anything else in the city without Rodrick finding out about it.

With everyone up to date and the topic of the upcoming party to prepare for and find a way into, the rest of the Menagerie retired for the day. 

Even after Arwin and Lillia were alone in their room, they didn’t speak for much longer before letting themselves get some much needed rest. Both of them were exhausted — and they had a whole lot to prepare for. 

The following morning pulled them from their bed well before the rest of the city had properly woken up. Arwin and Lillia both awoke on a mission. They wasted absolutely no time in getting back to work.

After bidding Lillia luck for the day, Arwin strode straight out to make for the Infernal Armory. He was greeted by the sounds of construction the very instant he pushed the door open and stepped out onto the street.  

Standing outside the Devil’s Den, examining his work closely, was Ridley. The mason’s latest modifications of fixing up and connecting a new building to the tavern looked nearly finished. He’d managed to keep the exact vibe of the Devil’s Den, all the way down to the eerie construction that looked just a half-step away from a dungeon growing in the heart of Milten.

The two of them exchanged a nod as Ridley set back to work. The mason really worked fast, and his tasks weren’t any closer to done than anyone else’s. He was to start on the auction house the moment after he was done here. 

Something told Arwin that they were Ridley’s favorite customers. He recalled the mason mentioning struggling immensely to find any real work in recent times since Milten hadn’t been growing much. After the Menagerie had arrived, they’d damn near had him on permanent retainer. 

I wonder how many levels he’s gotten from working on our buildings. He’ll definitely get quite a bit from creating an auction house. That’s going to be a big commission. Probably going to cost a hell of a lot.

Good thing we’re rich.

A grin tugged at Arwin’s lips as he entered the Infernal Armory and made right for the back room. Having a lot of money to throw around was a rather odd feeling. He’d never needed it as the Hero and had always been short of it after becoming a smith. 

It hadn’t been that long ago when his armor had been selling for hundreds of gold rather than trading for tens of thousands. And now, despite all that, even tens of thousands of gold felt like it wasn’t going to be anywhere near enough to accomplish everything they wanted to.

When Arwin stepped into the back room, a pillar of red mist was already waiting for him. He didn’t even have to say a word. The Infernal Armory was eager to get started for the day — and it wasn’t the only one.  

The door to the street swung open behind Arwin. He spun just in time to see Madiv standing in the doorway with a huge wooden crate clutched precariously to his chest. The thin vampire looked positively ridiculous. The wood alone seemed like it weighed twice what he did.

“Mind letting me in?” Madiv asked, his voice slightly taut.

“Sure.” Arwin’s eyes lit up. “Come in. Are my hopes getting ahead of me, or would you happen to have the materials from my commissions in that chest?”

Madiv halted the crate into the room and past Arwin, bringing it over to the back of the Infernal Armory before setting the huge box down on the ground with a grunt. He straightened up and brushed his hands off before adjusting the lapels of his suit.

“An apt guess. You are correct. And they were rather heavy. Reya informed me that delivering the commissions and getting the payment was an urgent matter. I hope she was right. I was running around all night.”

Arwin grinned and clapped the vampire on the shoulder. “You did a great job. Thank you, Madiv. You have no idea how much I needed this. You’ve saved me from wasting a bunch of time twiddling my thumbs.”

 Madiv blinked, then nodded uncomfortably. It was clear he wasn’t particularly used to that much praise. “It was a simple matter. Now, I have much more to handle. If you’ll excuse me…”

The vampire was gone before he could respond. Arwin shook his head and turned back to the crate. A black tendril had already emerged from one of the walls and was in the process of prying the top of the crate clean off instead of using the hinge on the front.

There was a loud, splintering crack. The Infernal Armory peeled the crate open like it was made from paper. A dozen smells hit Arwin all at once and his breath caught in his chest before he’d even gotten a chance to look into the crate. 

Whatever is in that crate… it’s more expensive and powerful than pretty much anything I’ve worked before. The one exception might be the Maristeel… and that metal was incredible. 

Arwin swallowed eagerly. He edged forward and peered down into the wooden box, doing his best to avoid salivating like a starved dog. His attempt failed. 

“Whoa,” he breathed, gripping onto the edges of the crate with enough force to crack it. 

Laying before him was a fortune. Shimmering piles of brilliant bronze and gold metal ingots was joined by sheets of crimson red so bright that it might as well have been aflame. The light rippled through all the materials in different ways, as if each of them were a moving painting. There were several sealed bags scattered through the crate as well.

“Such quality,” the Infernal Armory murmured, sounding just as awed as Arwin felt. “I want to eat it.”

“No,” Arwin said sharply. “You can’t—”

“I am not a fool,” the Armory said. “I would not waste such incredible materials this early on. But the scraps… they are mine. I will consume them. This is the finest meal I have ever seen.”

Arwin couldn’t argue with that. He swallowed and looked back into the crate. Gingerly, he reached into it and pulled free one of the bronze ingots. While its color resembled a normal metal, there was no doubt in his mind that this was anything but plain bronze. Faint ripples passed through the inside of the ingot as if it were containing an ocean of sparkling energy within itself. 

I’m going to have to speak with each of these to figure out what they do best and the best option to start creating the armor for the Infernal Armory. A few of these seem strong enough that I might end up getting a vision in the process. Damn. What a haul.

Arwin sifted through the ingots, then grabbed one of the bags as curiosity got the better of him. It was made of an oiled leather cloth, so slick that it nearly slipped from his fingers as he lifted it. 

“Did they cover this thing in butter?” Arwin grumbled as he fiddled with the bindings, trying to open it for several seconds before he managed to succeed. He pulled its open apart and peered inside. Then he blinked. “Huh. What’s this?”

The inside of the bag was full of a glistening silver moonlight. At least, that was the best way Arwin could think to describe it. It looked metallic, but the metal had no cohesion. It was completely liquid. 

“Curious,” the armory murmured from over his shoulder. A tendril slithered past Arwin to poke into the bag in his hands. Then the armory let out a thoughtful hum. “It seems to be a metal that has no solid form at the temperature of the room.”

Arwin’s eyes sharpened. “Wait. Couldn’t that enable us to make that interior part of our armor flexible? We could use it like makeshift blood—”

“It could be a very useful regent.” The Armory agreed, excitement entering its tone. “There isn’t enough of this metal to use it in the manner we had hoped, but if we can deduce what property makes it like this, perhaps Esmerelda’s services could be used to render some of our other metals into a similar form. What a fascinating material. The possibilities are incredible! We should test it immediately.”

Arwin nodded in agreement. They finally had what they needed to take a very real pass at the next stage of his armor — and several days to get it into fighting shape before the Blacktongue’s party. 

Sure, we still have to get into the party, but something tells me Thane should be more than willing to help us out. 

A grin pulled across Arwin’s lips. He could only imagine the immensity of the rewards he’d get when he managed to make this armor into reality. After quite a bit of crafting, he was long overdue some advances. Big ones. 

I can definitely have the next version of the prototype ready by the time the party rolls around. One that eclipses the previous one completely. 

The Adventurer’s Guild didn’t have the slightest idea what was coming for them. 

Chapter 444

Materials littered the worktable that had risen around Arwin. He leaned over it as he organized the materials, trying to separate them out into general groups. This wasn’t even half of what he had to work with. 

The Infernal Armory was holding onto all the useful monster materials that he’d brought back from the Blacktongue’s dungeon as well. It hadn’t brought them out to avoid completely filling the back room with components while he worked on identifying the first set.

A grin pulled at Arwin’s lips as he worked. The air smelled incredible. He couldn’t even say what the smell was anymore. There were so many different ones overlapping over each other that the only descriptor he had left was good. 

He didn’t even want to think about how much magical potential he had on the table before him. Arwin just hummed to himself as he worked, letting his thoughts brush across the metal and establish communication with them to determine their desires.

It had been an hour since he’d started working, beginning with what seemed to be the weaker materials and working his way up toward the more powerful ones. But even the weakest of the materials on the table was more powerful than almost everything Arwin had worked with before. He was spending a considerable amount of effort just trying to keep his excitement contained. 

Arwin was so focused on his work that he barely even noticed the energy creeping up in the back of his mind as he examined the crimson metal in his hands. He was pretty sure it was one of the more powerful components he’d received, but something about it felt odd.

Only when a wave of dizziness struck Arwin in a wall did he realize why. He swayed, barely managing to flop into a seated position before he found his vision going black as his consciousness was ripped from his body. 

Then the world was gone and all that remained was a vision.

***

Arwin tasted blood. 

His hands were soaked a deep, crimson red. Life dripped from his fingertips and soaked into his clothes with a weight that no other liquid could ever bear. The smell of iron in the air was so intense that even a smithy couldn’t compare to it.

He stood in the center of a massive field that looked to once have been covered with lush grass. Now, any foliage that remained was matted and trampled to the ground. It had been turned into a bloody marsh of a battlefield. 

But it was missing the one thing that battlefields always had in droves.

Bodies.

There wasn’t a single other being on the field with Arwin. Not one soldier or fallen corpse. He couldn’t even spot a weapon. There was nothing here but blood.  

Even for Arwin, who had seen more battlefields than he could count, this was unsettling. He’d never seen this much blood in one place — or without a single body to attribute the crimson liquid staining everything to. It was like the sky had suddenly just decided that it was going to rain blood instead of water.

“Well, this is pleasant,” Arwin said, staring down at his hands with a grimace. “Hardly a very friendly vision. Am I remiss in assuming that you don’t take very kindly to my presence?”

And that this material might not be the friendliest one I’ve met? Seriously, it could let up on the anger problems a bit. Who greets someone by plopping them down in a bloody marsh?

There was no response to his question. Arwin’s eyes narrowed.

“Come on. You can’t pull me to this place and then ignore me. That’s just rude. You wanted to talk, didn’t you? So let’s talk.”

Still, there was no response.

Arwin repressed the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. It looked like the metal was going to make him stand around for a while as it observed him. 

“I’m a smith,” Arwin said. “But I’ve seen my fair share of fighting. More than my fair share, really. I’m making the most powerful suit of armor I’ve ever attempted. Something that can contain the soul of a living building. To do that, I need the most powerful materials I can get my hands on — and I need them on my side. I’m not here to force you into anything. My presence is an offer. You want to be a suit of armor? I’ll do my best to make you into the best damn suit of armor that anyone in this kingdom could. If armor doesn’t suit you, then I can find a different purpose for you as well. And if you don’t want that… I won’t touch you at all. The choice is yours.”

The only response Arwin received was silence. 

He pressed his lips together. This wasn’t something he’d experienced before. The material had pulled him into a vision, only to up and give him the silent treatment. He could fight a monster. But this — there wasn’t much he could do if it didn’t actually show up to confront him.

“What do you want?” Arwin asked, his brow furrowed. “I want to do right by you, but that’s kind of hard if you aren’t giving me something to work with. Can’t you draw a picture in the blood or something like—”

A flash of light tore through Arwin’s mind.

He drew in a sharp breath, suddenly finding himself bolting upright. Cold stone pressed against his backside and his back was covered in clammy sweat. His heart thundered like a stampede of bulls trapped in his chest. 

I’m back in the Infernal Armory?

Arwin blinked. He stared down at the piece of crimson metal in his hands. No thoughts or emotions came from it. It was just as still and silent as its vision had been. Confusion gripped Arwin as he slowly rose to his feet and set the metal back on the table.

What was that all about?

***

Esmerelda pursed her lips. She crossed her arms in front of her chest as she looked out at the street before her. 

Well-swept stones of polished white. Shined boots and fancy fences and frilly dresses. The smell of flowers hung in the air like a gentle whisper and polite conversation danced between passersby

She didn’t like this. Not in the slightest.

Esmerelda threw a glance back at the alley behind her. There wasn’t so much as a single scrap of trash in it. No rotten apple cores or discarded food. She hadn’t even been able to find any signs of sleeping drunkards.

This street reeked of privilege. Of stuffy nobles that wouldn’t step a single foot into her store no matter what she promised to sell them because they didn’t dare get a speck of dirt on their fancy all-too-tight pants.  

Why did my shop bring me here, of all places?

Esmerelda’s nose scrunched in distaste. There wasn’t a single adventurer on the street. Nobody here was going to be willing to take a single risk. They didn’t have to. And that meant there should have been absolutely no reason for her to be here, either.

I may have promised Arwin that I wouldn’t go around hawking evil cursed items anymore, but you can’t stop people’s natures. All I do is bring them to the store. There are some perfectly good items in there. Some magical. Some beneficial. And sure, maybe one or two or a dozen might be cursed. But if they choose to buy something… who am I to stand in their way?

All that was well and good. It also didn’t matter. Her shop never brought her somewhere she didn’t need to be. It was very talented at making sure she arrived at just the right place at the right time.

But Esmerelda didn’t have the faintest idea as to what in the world she was doing here. 

Even trying to walk up to any of the people stumbling around on the street was likely to get the guards called on her. That would be a massive hassle and would probably end up costing her a few potions. Potentially even slightly sore foot if the situation arose in which she had to relocate it up someone’s back end.

“How odd,” Esmerelda said, scratching at the side of her neck. She stood awkwardly at the edge of the alley, glancing around like a lost schoolchild. The old woman honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this at a loss for what to do. 

Maybe the old shop has finally started to go senile. That or it wants me to murder someone. Perhaps it’s just hungry. That could be possible. I’d wager there are a few people wandering around here that absolutely nobody would miss, the pompous round pricks. 

It won’t even be hard to pluck one of them off the street. To them, I may as well be invisible. Nobody cares about a wrinkled up old lady with—

“Whoa!”

Esmerelda blinked. Standing right in front of her, staring with wide eyes, was a young man. He was dressed in the same manner of pompous clothes that every other idiot on the street wore, but his eyes were alight with excitement and interest. 

Interest directed at her.

Well, well. Would you look at that? A customer, perhaps? Or an eager snack?

“Aren’t you an energetic little thing?” Esmerelda asked, her voice little more than a croak. “You look like you might to make something of your life, lad. I might have just the opportunity for you. The chance of a lifetime. How would you like to become—”

“Gods, I can’t believe it!” the teen whispered excitedly. “I really can’t! There’s just no way.”

Esmerelda’s brow furrowed and she trailed off. “Oh, no. This is very real, boy. This chance has chosen you. How do you like the idea of getting a taste of real—”

“You’re Esmerelda!” the teen exclaimed, practically vibrating from excitement. “You are, aren’t you?”

“I — what? How do you know my name?”

“I know way more than your name,” the teen exclaimed. “You one of the hardest members of the Menagerie to find! I didn’t think I’d actually get a chance to meet you! This is so awesome. Did… did you bring your shop with you? I’ve heard rumors that you’ve always got an incredible stock of rare magical items. They say the shop travels with you, and you’ve been spotted all over the kingdom! Is that true? Could I see it? It’s here, right?”

Esmerelda stared at the boy, momentarily overwhelmed by the slew of questions. Then, finally, she ripped herself from her confusion. There was no doubt about it. This boy was the reason her shop had brought her here.

“Who are you?” Esmerelda asked. “How do you know me?”

“Oh, shoot. I’m sorry. I’ve done it again. I just never thought I’d meet you so close to my family’s house.” The teenager’s face reddened and he cleared his throat. Then he extended his hand in greeting. “I’m honored to make your acquaintance. My name is Thane.”