Rise of the Living Forge

Three days passed in a blur. Arwin spent all his time in the smithy, burning through the rest of his scales. He focused on making gear that he already knew how to do – namely, chest pieces and greaves.

By the dawn of the fourth day, Arwin’s efforts had been rewarded with five normal sets of armor and one set of magically enhanced armor. Everything else had been detrimental and had promptly gotten consumed so as to avoid letting it damage anything.

The one decent magical set he created was far from the strongest magical item he’d made, with both the chest piece and the greaves possessing heat resistance and increased durability, but it didn’t have any negative drawbacks either.

It’s not Unique, so that’s probably for the best. The enchantment on this is pretty weak, so it shouldn’t be completely unrealistic for Rodrick to have this. It’ll serve him well until we can get him some more powerful armor that he can conceal the properties of.

In addition to Arwin’s work on armor, he spent some time making one more magical item – a bracelet. It took him a few hours and several tries before he managed to get something that fit his needs.

Metal Bracelet: Average Quality

[Resilient]: This item was forged by a man who felt like a strong bracelet was more important than a pair of greaves. hit it a few too many times, making it. It is considerably more difficult to damage or bend by any means.

Arwin grinned to himself and slipped the bracelet onto his wrist. He pulled his sleeve down over his wrist to hide it from any prying eyes. The bracelet was far too thin to actually use defensively, but it would make a good snack if The Hungering Maw suddenly started acting up when he wasn’t ready for it.

All his work had netted him some magical energy and progress toward his next Tier advancement, but no movements in Titles or Achievements. That wasn’t much of a surprise to him, though.

Arwin peeled his attention away from the hearth and turned to head out of the smithy.But, as he walked toward the door, something gave him pause. He couldn’t place what it was at first, but the smithy felt different. It took him a few moments to realize what it was. The floor had been swept.

All the debris that had been scattered about was gone, and his piles of material had been organized slightly. Arwin’s brow furrowed.

When did that happen?

He stepped outside, locking the door behind him before making his way across the street to the tavern. To Arwin’s surprise, he heard voices coming from within it – voices that didn’t belong to Reya or Lillia.

He ducked through the dark doorway. Sitting at the counter, illuminated faintly by the light of the lantern beside them, were Rodrick and Anna. Arwin nearly choked as an imp strutted out of the kitchen and hopped up onto the counter, setting down a handful of berries on each of their plates.

The hideous misshapen creature, fangs jutting out of its mouth and a permanent snarl on its face, was wearing a dirty black dress with lacy white frills. It was in a maid’s outfit. As Arwin watched, the imp gave them a sharp salute and hopped back to the ground, heading into the kitchen.

“That’s great,” Rodrick said through a laugh, slapping the counter and shaking his head. “Have you ever seen anything like that before? Best damn costume I’ve ever seen.”

Arwin tried to study the imp, but the Mesh rolled off it as if it wasn’t even there.

How is she hiding their information from Rodrick and Anna? Actually, that might be a dumb question. I’m sure she’s chosen a few skills by now, and as a demon in a human city, I bet one of them was a form of concealment skill for herself and her demons.

“I wonder how long it takes them to do that,” Anna mused. “It must cost a fortune. I wonder why they chose such an odd place to set up shop.”

“It adds to the ambiance,” Rodrick said. “I love it. Do you think they’ll have an orc at some point? That would be hilarious.”

Arwin fought to keep the disbelief from his features as he walked up to join the two adventurers. They were completely convinced that the imp was fake. Sure, he’d told Lillia to lean into things as hard as she could, but he hadn’t meant this hard.

Then again, nobody in their right mind would ever assume a real imp would be strolling around in a maid costume. Where did they get that?

“Oh, Arwin is here!” Rodrick said, catching a glimpse of him out of the corner of his eye. He turned to face Arwin and raised a hand in greeting. “Pleasure seeing you again, mate. We came looking for you like we said we would. Reya found us a few streets over and brought us here. You should have said how damn good the food here is. Cheap, too.”

“She recently joined the guild,” Arwin said. “What do you think of the tavern?”

“The theme is hilarious. Never seen anything like it. I feel like this would be a hit if more people knew about it,” Rodrick replied, pausing to pop some berries into his mouth. “Wait, did you say the innkeeper was part of the guild?”

“Yeah. As of a few days ago.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“You work fast,” Anna said with a soft smile. “Rodrick is right. This is quite the spot. I didn’t think I’d like it much, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. How have the last few days been treating you?”

“Quite well. I’ve been mostly focused on work,” Arwin admitted, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “Where’s Reya, by the way?”

“Out in town looking for something. She said she’d be back soon,” Rodrick said. He let some of the amusement fade out of his tone as his expression grew serious. “Anna and I tried to look into what might have happened with the Wyrm, but we didn’t have much luck.”

“I think I may have figured it out,” Arwin said. “Or rather, Lillia did. She knows even more about monsters than I do, considering her… well, appreciation of them.”

Rodrick snorted and looked around the tavern. “Appreciation is an understatement, but I love it. Nothing better than someone that’s really invested in their passion. I hope she doesn’t object to hunting, though.”

You know, I never considered that. I should probably ask her. It’s not like we can stop hunting monsters to get stronger unless there’s an alternative I don’t know of, but it would probably be right to at least chat with her about it.

“What’s that about hunting?” Lillia asked, stepping out of the kitchen and wiping her hands off on her apron.

“We were talking about if you’d be okay with it, considering how much you like monsters,” Anna said.

“Oh, I don’t care,” Lillia said with a shrug. “The monsters you’re talking about hunting aren’t the same as the ones I care about. There are a lot of different species, and monsters is honestly a bit of a misnomer.”

“Is that so?” Rodrick asked, tilting his head to the side. “What do you mean? Is it just that you find some cuter than others or something?”

Lillia snorted and shook her head. “No. Well, yes, but that’s not why. The difference is sapience. People generally refer to everything that isn’t a normal animal or human as a monster, but there are actually two categories beyond that. There are monsters that don’t have any intelligence beyond a desire to grow stronger by killing, and there are monsters that are just as intelligent as a human.”

“You’re kidding me,” Rodrick said. “You’re not exaggerating?”

“Identical,” Lillia confirmed. “I’ve seen some of them myself in my… uh, studies.”

“You’re a monster researcher, then? Just like Arwin?”

“Something like that,” Lillia said, sending a glance at Arwin.

“How do we know if we’re fighting a smart one?” Anna asked, chewing her lower lip with a frown. “I don’t want to mistakenly attack something that doesn’t deserve it.”

“You’ll know,” Lillia said. “It would be like attacking a random human. It would be really obvious.”

“Oh.” Anna let out a relieved sigh. “Good. So you don’t mind us talking about hunting in here, then?”

“Not at all. Feel free.”

“Great. Back to the Wyrm, then,” Rodrick said. “What was it the two of you figured out?”

“Oh, right.” Arwin shook his head, having temporarily lost his train of thought, before continuing. “It might be about to have a litter. You recall how the forest seemed like it was… ah, in the mood, right?”

Anna and Rodrick nodded.

“Well, it’s possible the Wyrm is no different. And, if that’s the case, there could be a bunch of Wyrmlings running around everywhere really soon. And, if I recall correctly, Wyrmlings are typically born around high Apprentice tier.”

Rodrick and Anna both paled.

“That could be really bad,” Rodrick said, tapping a finger on the counter absentmindedly. “Depending on the number, the guards could get overwhelmed. If the Wyrms go hunting with their spawn… that’s a lot of monsters, and at least two really powerful ones. Milten could get overrun.”

“Not to mention the Adventurer’s Guild might send people,” Anna added, biting her inner cheek and furrowing her brow. “The town would be insufferable for weeks, even if the horde was fought off.”

“Having the Adventurer’s Guild show up would be… less than opportune,” Arwin agreed. “Which is why I think we should try to act before anyone figures out what’s going on.”

“You want us to try and take out two Wyrms when we barely managed to escape one?” Rodrick asked doubtfully. “That kind of seems like a suicide mission.”

“It would be, if we were actually trying to kill both of them,” Arwin said. “There’s no way we’d be able to take them out. Not on our own, at least. But, if we could somehow get them to fight or otherwise distract them, maybe we could either get the upper hand or make them run away.”

“That seems a bit optimistic,” Rodrick said. “I’d be willing to hear you out if you had a plan, though.”

“Well, I think we’re going to need to get stronger before we even think about trying anything,” Arwin amended. “As it stands, we’d be slaughtered no matter what we went for. Luckily, we’ve got time. Wyrmlings don’t just pop out in a day."

“It should be about two months before they’re born.” Lillia put in. “But it could be less. I wouldn’t use that number as a hard deadline, but it’s a rough one.”

“Two months isn’t much time,” Rodrick hedged. “Especially if we don’t have a good place to hunt anymore. The forest is too dangerous as it is right now.”

“We do have a spot, though,” Arwin said, a grin pulling across his lips.

“We do?” Anna asked. “Where? Do you know of another location that’s close to town?”

“I do. It’s not the safest area, but we’re the only ones with access to it. Consider it a perk of being in the guild.”

“Stop dangling it over me and say what it is already!” Rodrick exclaimed.

“Are you sure? I was thinking about showing you the armor I made first,” Arwin said, grinning at the hungry look that flashed across Rodrick’s face.

“Wait, you made me armor? I can’t afford anything yet!”

“It’s an investment. Don’t expect anything too great.”

“Are you kidding? Anything would be – wait. You distracted me. This is bullying,” Rodrick complained. “Just tell us what you’ve got already!”

Arwin laughed and held his hands up in surrender as both Lillia and Anna nodded in agreement, joining Rodrick in glaring at him.

“We’ve got access to a Journeyman dungeon,” Arwin said. “One with only one key. It’s going to be a tough one for our current abilities, but if we’re all doing it together, I think we can handle it. The monsters probably won’t be at the level of the Wyrm, so I think we could slowly make our way through it. They’ll still be Journeyman level, but as long as we don’t get too deep, I strongly believe we should be able to handle it.”

“Holy shit,” Anna breathed, jumping to her feet. “We have an exclusive dungeon? How is that possible? The guild isn’t even official. Who are you?”

“Technically, I think we stole an exclusive dungeon,” Arwin amended. “There might be a thieves’ guild that’s still pretty miffed about that – but who cares? It’s the best option I can think of. What do you say?”

“I say you give me that armor and we get to it,” Rodrick replied, rubbing his hands together. “This is either going to end in glory or a really, really pathetic death.”

“Way to spoil the mood,” Anna said, flicking Rodrick in the shoulder.

“Bah. At least I’m going to leave a beautiful corpse. Let me see that armor you made,” Rodrick said eagerly. “This is going to be glorious.”