Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 462 (Patreon)

“It would be wise to avoid overplaying our hand at the party,” Rodrick said. He and Arwin were still gathered around the wooden table bearing Vanessa’s unconscious body. “Making a point is good — but we don’t want to give them too much of an insight into us.”

“I don’t disagree, but I also suspect we’re going to find it somewhat difficult to get away with holding back during something like this. There will be members of the Adventurer’s Guild present at the party. Real ones. Not just their tools or puppets, but the guys that made Hein.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong.” Rodrick lifted his hands before himself. “It’s not you that needs to hold back. You should be using any tools at your disposal to accomplish what needs to be done. After all, you’re the distraction.”

Arwin raised his eyebrows. “Meaning—”

“Something is inevitably going to go wrong,” Rodrick said with a shrug. “And if it doesn’t — you’ll make it go wrong. Should be easy enough given the company we’ll be keeping. That distraction will be what we use to get the information we’re at the party for. War is not won with a blade. It’s won with knowledge. If you know where your enemy will be and what they can do… they’re dead before they ever get a chance to realize they’re fighting.”

“So you want to make sure the Guild doesn’t know how good our information gathering is,” Arwin surmised. “Do you have a plan of some sort yet?”

Rodrick nodded. “Yes. It’ll have a few more moving parts than I would like, but the confusion will hurt the Guild just as much as it’ll hurt us. And all you have to do is be yourself. Your mere presence should be enough to cause significant levels of trouble.”

Arwin started to nod. Then he paused. His eyes thinned. “That feels like an insult.”

“It’s a fact,” Rodrick corrected. He clapped Arwin on the shoulder. “No point beating around the bush when the truth is laying on the ground in front of you.”

“And you’re one of the few people suited to deal with trouble like that,” Anna piped up from beside Vanessa. “Getting into trouble is easy. Getting out of it is where the real challenge lays.”

Arwin let out a grunt and jerked his chin to Vanessa. The woman was still unconscious, but from the way she’d started to stir, it probably wouldn’t be long before she woke up again. “Any thoughts on what we should do with her?”

“I’ve been keeping an eye on her for a while,” Rodrick said. A moment of weariness seemed to pass over him and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “She’s… well, I’m pretty sure she’s exactly what she appears to be. Even the most competent liar couldn’t pull that off. I watched her get lost about four times in the same alleyway.”

“Ah,” Arwin said. “Well, some of them can be quite confusing.”

“It was a dead end.”

“Ah,” Arwin said again. “Well… killing her feels wrong. She hasn’t actually done anything worthy of death. She’s kind of just doing her thing. No worse than half the other people that live in Milten.”

“I’m not quite so lost that I’d suggest ending her,” Rodrick said with a shake of his head. “She hasn’t seen anything that we can’t afford to share, either. The only thing I’d be careful of is making sure she doesn’t just start going after other people. We can’t have that. Even though she was no threat to you, Vanessa still carries herself like a competent warrior. Idiocy and strength are not mutually exclusive.”

“Right,” Arwin said. They were both silent for a few moments. Then a thought struck Arwin. The corner of his lip twitched in amusement. “You reckon we could hire her for a job?”

“Something tells me a thug isn’t the most dedicated to her current client. From the sounds of things, she’s probably more like a warrior for hire. Part of a small group or guild. I highly doubt anyone with the pull to be attending a party like that of the Blacktongues’ would keep someone like her around.”

“Then I might have an idea,” Arwin said. “She seems like she’d be a pretty effective distraction. We’ve got quite a bit of coin at this point. Gold is hardly an issue for the Menagerie anymore. I’d be willing to bet we can find a spot where she can be bought out for a day.”

“You’re going to bring her into the party?” Anna asked. Her eyes flicked from Vanessa back to Arwin. “Are you certain? That seems… bold. She might not be evil, but that doesn’t mean she’s reliable. Even an idiot hitting you with a well-timed swing while your attention is elsewhere could be a problem.”

“Hmm.” Rodrick rubbed at his chin. “You know, if it’s possible, that wouldn’t be a bad idea at all. Somebody sent Vanessa after us to send a message. If we show up to the party along with her, that sends a pretty strong counter-message — and it might make it easier to figure out who directed her toward us in the first place.”

“Can’t we just ask her when she wakes up?” Arwin asked. Vanessa stirred again. It didn’t look like it would be long, now. “Wait. Let me guess. She probably never even spoke to the real guy. Just some intermediatory for an intermediary, so any information she might have is going to be completely useless.”

Rodrick chuckled. “Maybe you’re spending too much time around me. But yes, that’s almost certainly the case. Noble houses have been doing this kind of game for longer than either of us have been alive. They might not be geniuses, but they know how to take basic steps to cover their tracks. Still, it can’t hurt to ask her what she knows. Anna, can you wake her up?”

“Sure,” Anna said.

“You’ve got a way to wake up unconscious people?” Arwin asked, blinking in surprise. “Is that a new skill?”

Anna gave him a sidelong glance.

Then she slapped Vanessa across the face.

The larger woman drew in a sharp breath and jerked upright, her hand shooting up to her cheek as her dazed eyes darted around the room.

Anna shook her hand off. She reached into her bag and pulled out a handkerchief, wiping it off before folding the cloth back and returning it to its former position.

“In a manner of speaking,” Anna said.

“Wha — huh? Where am I?” Vanessa asked, her words drowsy. “Am I dead? Did you kill me?”

“No,” Arwin said, coughing into his fist to hide his reddening cheeks. “If I killed you, wouldn’t I not be here?”

“Maybe you slipped and died right after I did. It can happen, you know,” Vanessa said. She rubbed at her cheek. Then she paused. Her eyes locked with Arwin’s as she swallowed. “You — what are you?”

“Do you make a habit of asking people questions after they’ve captured you?” Rodrick asked. “Generally, the position tends to be reversed.”

“I don’t make a habit of getting captured. This is a first for me. I — oh shit!” Vanessa’s face went pale as a ghost. “How long has it been? When did we fight?”

“A few minutes ago,” Arwin said. He wasn’t sure if he was impressed or exasperated that Vanessa didn’t seem to care in the slightest about her current situation.

“Oh, thank the gods.” Vanessa blew out a relieved breath. “I’ve got time to make it to my plans tonight. I’ve got to be out of here by nightfall. Thugs are always punctual. We make a point not to miss appointments.”

“What manner of appointment?” Rodrick asked before Arwin could stop him.

“I’m going to bone the brains out of some little adventurer,” Vanessa replied. “Want to join?”

“I’m taken, I’m afraid,” Rodirck said.

“Ah,” Vanessa said. She rubbed at her cheek. “Who slapped me? This stings.”

“That would be me,” Anna said.

“Nice. You busy later tonight?”

Anna just pointed at Rodrick.

“Damn,” Vanessa said. “This is awkward. I normally have much better luck than this. Oh well. So… can we wrap this up quickly?”

“What makes you think we’re going to be letting you go?” Arwin asked, tilting his head to the side. “You attacked me. In the middle of my dinner.”

“Dinner that’s getting colder the longer you spend talking to me,” Vanessa pointed out. “And it was nothing personal. Just business. I even went outside with you to make sure we didn’t break anything.”

Arwin paused. She had done that.

“And you think that lets you just attack whoever you want?” Arwin asked.

Vanessa shrugged. “Someone’s gonna do it. Would you have preferred I jump at you across the room and cause a bunch of damage in the process? There’s always a market for thumping people. Besides — if you were going to kill me, you’d have done it already. You want something.”

She’s actually a lot sharper than I thought she was.

“Who hired you?” Rodrick asked.

Vanessa clicked her tongue. “Now, I can’t say that. Professional courtesy. Ratting out clients is a great way to make sure nobody ever—”

Rodrick tossed a small leather bag over to the woman. She snatched it out of the air with a jingling clink. Her eyebrows crept up as she pulled the drawstring of the bag open and glanced inside. Vanessa paused for a moment. Then she looked back up to him.

 “Short guy. Blonde hair. Bit fat, shaped like a pear. Face like that of a pig and a bulldog had a baby. Walks around with his nose stuck so far up into the air that it’s a miracle he can see the street. He wore dark clothes, but he had a purple silk underwear that stuck out from his pants. They were stained. Not on my list.”

“Your… list?” Anna asked hesitantly. “When you say list…”

Vanessa grinned. “You know it, girl.”

“Name?” Rodrick asked.

“Didn’t get one,” Vanessa said. “He hired my team to thump Ifrit. Oh — speaking of which, I’d appreciate if you at least tell people I hit you. That or kill a whole bunch of people. Passing out after one swing is going to ruin my reputation otherwise.”

“How would you like to earn another one of those?” Rodrick asked, ignoring Vanessa as he pointed to the bag in her hands. “Because we’ve got a job for you. One considerably easier than trying to fight our guild leader.”

“I’m still technically on a job, you know. Taking another one is a conflict of interest.” Vanessa tilted her head to the side. “But keep talking. Just in case.”

“We want you to come with us to a party,” Arwin said. “I—”

“Well, shit!” A huge grin split Vanessa’s face. “Why didn’t you open with that? I’m in.”

 Arwin couldn’t keep a grin from pulling across his lips. He could already picture it. A group of stuffy nobles, all preening about how great they were — and smack dab in the mix, Vanessa. Mixing her with a group of pompous bastards…

Oh, this is going to be good.