Rise of the Living Forge

Everyone followed Arwin back to his smithy, where he very proudly unlocked his door, pausing to make sure everyone saw him push it open.

“Why’s he doing that?” Rodrick whispered as Arwin walked inside.

“He got a door,” Lillia explained.

“That doesn’t explain anything.”

“No, it makes sense.” Lillia looked back at the door and nodded. “It’s a nice door.”

Rodrick didn’t respond. He’d spotted the pile of armor lying on the ground beside the anvil. Sitting on top of the anvil were a pair of scale greaves and a chest piece, both faintly shimmering with the Mesh’s power.

He stood in mute disbelief, staring at the items as if they were a pile of glittering gold. Rodrick swallowed heavily and looked over to Arwin, raising a finger toward the armor.

“That… me? It’s for me?”

Arwin chuckled and nodded. Rodrick looked like someone had just told him he had a long-lost son. Edging toward the magical pieces of equipment, Rodrick drew up to the anvil and let his hands brush over the scale plate.

“This is incredible,” Rodrick muttered. “I never thought – I can’t afford this. No way.”

“I told you it was an investment,” Arwin said with a shrug. “The only rule is you can only keep this as long as you stay in the guild, and you can’t sell it to someone else.”

“Sell it?” Rodrick exclaimed as if the very idea offended him. “I would never. This is incredible. A work of art. Nobody would be able to buy it off me for any amount of money. And damn – talk about a way to get your hooks in. I don’t think I could leave if I wanted to anymore.”

“Try it on, then,” Arwin said, gesturing toward the armor. “Make sure it fits. I made it with you in mind, but sometimes it can be hard to tell.”

Rodrick didn’t need to be told twice. He hurried to start pulling everything on, and Arwin sent Anna an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry I didn’t make anything for you. I didn’t think a healer would benefit much from metal armor. You probably aren’t particularly strong.”

“No offense taken. You’d be correct. I’d probably suffer in just chain mail, much less anything like that,” Anna said with a laugh. “It’s more than enough to see Rodrick this happy. Besides, he’s the one that takes the hits for me, so any armor for him is functionally armor for me.”

Arwin noticed Lillia’s eyes were firmly fixed on the armor. He hadn’t made her anything yet, but she was definitely far stronger than any normal innkeeper.

I should try to make her something. I’ve seen her wear some pretty heavy armor in the past, so as long as I don’t go too crazy with the weight of the material, some armor would do her a lot of use. Then again, I don’t know all the passives or abilities she kept. She might not be able to use heavy armor easily anymore.

“It fits me perfectly!” Rodrick exclaimed in delight, twisting to test out his new range of motion. In some ways, he’d reacted the exact same way that Reya had. Arwin chuckled at his expression.

“I’m glad to hear that. No problems, then?”

“None that I can feel. It’s way lighter than I thought it would be too,” Rodrick said, rapping his chest with his knuckles. “Definitely the best set of armor I’ve ever worn. You’re not going to get me into eternal debt by making me pay for repairs if this gets damaged, are you? I mean, I’d probably take you up on it, but I’m just checking.”

Arwin rolled his eyes. “No, I’m not. Just do your job and keep any monsters off our backline and you’ll have earned it. You might want to find something to cover yourself with, though. I don’t see a lot of people walking around with magic items.”

“Gee, I wonder why. Not everyone just pops them out,” Rodrick said, still looking down at himself in disbelief. “Seriously, how did you get the materials to make this? Do you have a deal with a powerful demon or something? Enchantments are so expensive.”

They are?

“Don’t worry about it. Just try to let me know if you find anything off. I haven’t gotten around to making boots, gloves, or helmets yet – so make sure you don’t get hit there. I’ll try to get to it soon enough.

“Are you seriously apologizing for not making enough magical equipment?” Rodrick asked. “I’d be willing to run out and fight monsters naked wearing nothing but a thong if it was magical.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Arwin grimaced, banishing that mental image from his mind before it could permanently scar him. “Then let’s all thank God that I made armor and not a thong. I’m rather eager to get things started, so if nobody needs anything else, we should look into finding Reya and getting to work. No reason to waste time.”

Anna pulled her cloak off and tossed it to Rodrick. He wrapped it around himself, leaving the hood down. As soon as it covered his armor, the faint tingle of the Mesh faded away.

“Thanks,” Rodrick said. Anna nodded in response.

“What are you doing with the other sets of armor?” Lillia asked, nodding to the pile in the corner.

“Selling them, probably. They’re nothing special. You’re welcome to try some on if you want, but I don’t think it’ll fit you,” Arwin warned. “I made them all pretty generic for broad-shouldered male builds.”

“Oh. No problem,” Lillia said, waving a hand dismissively. “Let’s get on with it, then. I haven’t gone hunting in a long time. Maybe we can pick up some fresh ingredients for me to work with while we’re out.”

“You know, I just realized how efficient of a pair you two make,” Anna observed, hiding a smile behind her hand. “Arwin takes all the inedible parts of the monsters to make armor and weapons with, and you can use the rest for food.”

“Waste not, want not,” Arwin said. “Come on. Let’s go find Reya.”

***

Fortunately, finding Reya was a fairly simple task. By the time they left the smithy and headed toward the tavern, she was on her way out of it in search of them.

“Did I miss something?” Reya asked. “Also, hi Arwin. Haven’t seen you much recently. Did you like what I did with the smithy?”

“Wait, that was you? You swept everything up?”

“Yep! It looks way better, doesn’t it?”

“Much better,” Arwin agreed. “Thank you very much. It’s looking more and more professional with every day. I still have no idea how you managed that while I was working, though.”

“No offense, but you’re basically as dense as a brick while you’re smithing,” Reya said through a snicker. “I was singing to myself the whole time while I cleaned, and you didn’t notice me once.”

Arwin grunted. That was mildly concerning – he’d have to remember to lock the door while he was working in the future so nobody strolled in and robbed him blind.

“Noted.”

“So, what’s everyone up to? You all look excited, and it’s making me feel left out.”

“We decided it’s just about time to use that key of yours,” Arwin said, bringing Reya up to speed on everything that they’d just discussed.

“Are we really going to be able to handle a Journeyman level dungeon, though?” Anna asked once Arwin had finished, biting her inner cheek. “I mean, we barely managed to handle a high Tier Apprentice Lizard.”

“That was some time ago, and there are more of us now,” Arwin said. “Dungeon monsters, especially ones at the start, should be easier to handle. I’ll admit that it’s far from ideal, but the forest is too dangerous with the Wyrm roaming around it. This might be our best shot at a safe training space.”

“Do you think the thieves’ guild will let us in? I bet they’re still guarding it.” Reya warned.

“It’s hard to say. If they want to pick a fight, I think we’re pretty well equipped to handle it,” Arwin said. “They won’t have their whole guild there, and I think we more than made our point the last time we had a disagreement.”

“You had a disagreement with a whole guild? Were they a small one or something?” Anna asked.

Arwin cleared his throat. “Maybe we’ll tell you the story on the road. It’s a bit of a long one, and all that matters in the end is that we’ve got a chance to do something big here. If we can handle the dungeon and get strong enough to fight off the Wyrmlings – not only will we get stronger, but I’ll have a slew of powerful new materials to work with.”

“I’d have new ingredients to cook with as well,” Lillia said, licking her lips. “It’s dangerous, but we’re not getting anywhere by hiding like cowards. I’m in.”

“I was in the moment you gave me this,” Rodrick said, tapping his armor. “If you need a whole guild destroyed, just point me in their direction. I’ll take ‘em out.”

“You’re such an idiot,” Anna said with a laugh. “I’m in, obviously. Journeyman Tier monsters aren’t going to be easy, but I’ve seen almost everyone here fight. We can handle it as long as we can get past that guild, it’s a chance. If we pull this off, we might actually have enough capital to look into becoming a proper guild.”

“I’m obviously in as well.” Reya gave Arwin a confident grin. “I’m not letting you just take my key and waltz off with it. Besides, I’ve got a new class to test out. I want revenge on that stupid Wyrm for eating my dagger. Let’s do this.”

“Hold on. We should wait for Lillia to take off her disguise first,” Rodrick said. “It can’t be comfortable to fight in all that stuff.”

“Actually, it’s semi-permanent,” Lillia said. “It doesn’t really come off easily. I’ll just fight in it.”

“Seriously?” Rodrick let out a whistle. “Wow. You’re dedicated to the cause, aren’t you? I respect it.”

I can’t believe that actually worked. I suppose anything is more believable than her being a literal demon.

“We’re all in agreement, then.” Arwin scooped his blacksmithing hammer off the ground and tested its weight. Even though it was meant for the forge, the thing was one hefty bastard. It would be perfect for bashing in the heads of anything that got in his way – at least until he got the chance to forge his new weapon. “Reya, care to take the lead? We’ve got a dungeon to start clearing, and the only thing that might be standing in our way is a tiny little guild.”

“So they were small after all?” Anna asked. “What, do they have five members or something?”

“No, it was more like thirty,” Arwin replied absently. He ignored the horrified looks that Anna and Rodrick sent him. “Don’t worry about that. We probably won’t even have to fight them again. The last time I confronted their guild I sent a pretty strong message.”

“You confronted them? Alone?” Anna asked.

“Nah, I had a bit of help. It worked out in the end.”

“You can’t leave it at that,” Rodrick protested. “What happened? How’d you handle a whole guild?”

“I told you, it’s a long story. Reya, care to take the lead? I want to get this underway.”

Reya grinned and nodded. “With pleasure. Let’s go.”