Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 475-476 (Patreon)

Adan didn’t hide anything. If he was honest — and he was — there just wasn’t much to hide. The Blacktongues had reached out through the norm

Adan didn’t hide anything. If he was honest — and he was — there just wasn’t much to hide. The Blacktongues had reached out through the normal channels. They’d given pretty direct orders, including the ones to avoid getting spotted or into a fight.

The former part of that request was obviously no longer possible. But, if there was any possible way he could achieve it, Adan fully planned to stick to that second part of that request. There wasn’t any amount of money that was enough to buy his team’s lives.

“That’s it?” Olive asked. “They just wanted you to come here to investigate about an item that we supposedly stole? But they couldn’t give you any information on the item at all? So you were supposed to… what, just scout every magical item we had so they could determine which one was theirs?”

“Correct,” Adan said through a wince. His team wasn’t exactly one that operated above the law. They weren’t very picky with the tasks they took on. But when Olive phrased it that way, it really sounded bad.

Kien let out a scoff. “What a joke. Even if we had such an item, how would the Blacktonuges know? They can’t even describe it. It sounds more like you were just scoping us out for them to steal from.”

Adan didn’t respond to that. There was nothing he could say that wouldn’t dig his hole any deeper. At this point, he was pretty sure the Menagerie had already come to their decision. All he could do was wait.

Things didn’t look good. Adan wouldn’t have bought a word he’d said if he’d been in Olive’s spot. Only a fool would believe this story, no matter how true it was. There was only a single smart move the Menagerie could take in this position.

Adan’s jaw clenched. That move was killing all four of them to make sure no word of what had happened today ever got out. He was more than aware that they stood no chance against the Menagerie’s team.

But he couldn’t accept death just like that. If anyone took a single move toward killing his men — then he’d do everything in his power to take as many members as possible of the Menagerie with him to the grave. Betsy tensed beside him, her breathing stopping as she readied herself.

The tree creaked.

Adan’s stomach dropped — as did Pete and Niles.

The two men dropped to the ground, coughing, at the base of the tree.

Confusion cut through Adan’s mind, but his training took over. He snapped his fingers. Both Niles and Pete raced over to stand by his side, not even stopping to grab their weapons. It wasn’t like they would have done anyone much good.

“What?” Becky muttered, the strain in her voice marred by surprise. “What are they doing?”

“Not much reason for us to keep you wrapped up here, is there?” Olive asked. “Your stories match up. Nobody got hurt. You know shit all — and I already know you didn’t see anything important. Besides, we have nothing to hide from the Blacktongues. They invited us to a dungeon. We cleared it. That’s the end of the story. No theft has happened.”

“Even if we did find something they wanted, we wouldn’t be reporting it,” Adan said. “They fed us false information. Any semblance of a contract between us is concluded. We’ll never work for them again. They’ll never even hear from us.”

“Probably a good choice career-wise,” Olive said with a nod. “But that’s actually a bit contrary to what I’m going to need from you.”

“What do you mean?” Betsy asked. “We can go?”

“Yes and no,” Olive said. “Unless any of you give me a reason to believe that you’re a threat to the safety of anyone in my guild, we’re not going to hold you here. We don’t kill for no reason… but we can’t let people come strolling into our tavern and snooping around without some kind of repercussions.”

“What do you want?” Adan asked. “Any price to be paid is mine alone. This is my team. I will bear it in their place.”

“That’s hardly fair,” Pete said. “We were the ones that broke in. He was waiting outside. Don’t—”

“Stop with that, would you?” Olive snapped. “I’m not killing anyone. Do I really look like that much of a bloodthirsty villain?”

There was a moment of silence. Betsy sent a glance in Kien’s direction before looking back to Olive.

“…no?”

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Kien asked.

“Sorry,” Betsy said, flinching back.

“If you don’t plan to kill us, what is it you want?” Adan asked. “I won’t lie and say we can attack the Blacktongues for you. That would doom my team to death just as much as fighting you. They have a number of capable hired guards. Enough to make an attack nothing more than suicide.”

“We don’t need anything like that. Frankly, it’s not your fight,” Olive said with a shake of her head. “I just want you to do exactly what you were paid to do… with a small tweak.”

Adan’s brow creased. “What do you mean? You want us to report back to the Blacktongues? And what? Say we found nothing and that there’s nothing to investigate you about any further?”

“Not exactly,” Olive said, a small grin pulling across her lips. “I want you to say that you found an artifact. A key. One that opens the way to an Expert Ranked dungeon near the edges of the kingdom — and I want you to let them know you overheard us talking about our plans to head out for it in a week, departing from Thornhelm.”

They want to feed the Blacktongue family misinformation? But why would they say they had an artifact at all? That will just bring more attention to them. Not that it’s my concern. I’d tell them whatever the hell she wants us to if we all get out of here alive.

“We can do that,” Adan said without a second of hesitation.

Olive nodded. “Good. Then do that. And not a word more.”

The threat in her words was as clear as it was pointless. Double crossing the Menagerie didn’t serve a single purpose. All it did was invite even more danger upon them, and they already had too damn much of that.

“Consider it done,” Adan said. He paused as an uneasy silence lingered in the air. His eyes flicked over his shoulder to the way out of the tavern at his back. “Can… we leave?”

“Yes,” Olive said. “I believe that would be required if you were going to report anything to the Blacktongues. Would be a bit difficult to do it if you were dead.”

“But not impossible,” Kien drawled. “As evidenced by a certain individual.”

An image of the blue-eyed man flashed through Adan’s thoughts as a chill ran down his back. The rumors that the Menagerie’s street was haunted were starting to make a little more sense.

“Go,” Adan hissed out of the corner of his mouth. His team started to back up. Then they turned, hurrying for the stairs as fast as they dared to move. He took up the back, making sure the others made it up the stairs first.

“Hold on,” Olive said.

Adan froze in place, his stomach twisting. He reluctantly sent a glance over his shoulder, only to find Olive walking toward him with the pile of weapons that had been left on the floor cradled in her arms. She arched an eyebrow.

Mutely, Adan held his arms out. Olive dumped the pile into his grasp, then brushed her hands off and nodded to the stairs.

Adan didn’t say another word. He turned on his heel and darted up the stairs, leaving the cellar as quickly as his feet would take him. Adan made a point not to think too hard about what had just happened. If he paused for even a second, the confusion would have probably been too much — and that would have meant overstaying his welcome even further.

Not a word was said until all four of them had put at least five streets between themselves and the Devil’s Den. Only then did Betsy glance back for the first time and realize that Adan was carrying their gear.

“You actually stopped to pick everything up?” Pete asked as Betty let out a noise of surprise. “Cap, you’re insane.”

“No. She handed it to me,” Adan said. His voice felt stiff and distant. Even though not a single one of them had been hurt, he could practically feel death breathing on his neck. He couldn’t remember the last time a mission had gone this badly awry.

“I think this job might have been a mistake,” Niles said. “I didn’t even stop to pinch anything. Mostly on account of not seeing anything to pinch, but…”

Adan shook his head. “You’re lucky. You realize who that was, right? Olive is a monster. She killed more people during the Proving Grounds than anyone else, and for good reason. If she’d taken the fight against you even slightly seriously, I’d be down two good men right now.”

Pete let out a snort. “Hardly.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Betsy said, smacking Pete over the back of the head. “They could still be listening! I’m sure you could have taken Olive on your own, but that’s irrelevant. The outcome of a fight is all that matters.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Pete said. “I never fought Olive.”

“What?” Adan blinked. “Kien was the one that beat both of you?”

“No,” Niles said. He swallowed, then sent a nervous glance over his shoulder before looking back to Adan. “I got nabbed the moment I walked into the basement. Never had a chance to fight back. Neither did Pete.”

“What are you saying?” Adan asked. “How did you get captured without a fight?”

“I didn’t say there wasn’t a fight,” Pete said. His eyes flicked to the side. “Just that it wasn’t against either Olive or Kien. I’ve got no way to say how we would have done… but something tells me it would have been pretty bad.”

“What makes you say that?” Betty asked. “Who did you lose to? One of the other members of the Menagerie in hiding?”

“No,” Niles said, his voice distant. “We didn’t get a chance to fight another person at all. We both got done in by a gods damned tree.”

Chapter 476

It was surprisingly easy to slip away from the Blacktongues’ party. None of the nobles that had watched Arwin’s fight wanted to get too close to him. No matter what their believes or gaps in understanding said about how strong a smith could be — they’d just watched him kill an adventurer.

At least, they all thought they had.

That was enough to make sure none of them got too close. They parted around Arwin and he quickly banished Gehenna before slipping into the mess of people. Fortunately, the Blacktongues had invited quite a few people. Getting lost within a crowd this big wasn’t too difficult. It wasn’t long before Arwin vanished within the sea of bodies.

He didn’t waste time idling around. More than enough time had passed since they’d arrived at the party. Rodrick would be wrapping up his work soon. With any luck, Reya would be doing the same. All that remained was to secure Thane and get out of here before anyone figured out just what had happened.

The only part of that plan that he was mildly concerned about was the last one. Vanessa was an excellent distraction. He didn’t need to see her working to know that she would be effective. It was getting her and Thane out of the spotlight that he was less confident in.

I hope she hasn’t brutalized anyone too important. Not that anyone of any real relevance is going to be here… but I digress. I want to get back to the Armory as soon as I can.

Arwin slipped free from the crowds and made his way across the courtyard to their designated meeting point. When he arrived, he was pleased to find that Reya and Lillia were already there waiting for him. Esmerelda, Rodrick, Vanessa, and Thane were still nowhere to be seen.

“Any trouble?” Lillia asked.

“No.” Arwin shook his head. “Gehenna worked perfectly. Mask’s dagger couldn’t break through it. It doesn’t seem like he used the dagger himself, though. He was a trained fighter, but he didn’t have the same level of power that Hein seemed to.”

“Interesting,” Lillia said with a frown. “So does that mean the higher up members of the Adventurer’s Guild aren’t actually utilizing their own weapons?”

“Maybe there are some big drawbacks,” Reya said.

Arwin just shook his head. “I don’t know. The dagger is secure, I trust?”

Lillia nodded. “And hidden away. Nothing to worry about.”

“Good,” Arwin said. “Then the rest will be determined in short order. We just need to get everyone out of here. Something tells me Thane isn’t going to want to stick around for this party.”

“It’s still half his,” Reya said, sending a sad glance in the direction of the distant nobles. Even with everything that had happened, sounds of merriment and celebration filled the air. They all knew equally well that none of it was meant for Thane.

“Technically speaking, his birthday is tomorrow,” Arwin said. “We can celebrate it then. There’s nothing to be gained for anyone by standing around and watching everyone suck up to Drake.”

A large woman with curled, golden locks of hair that swayed around her face in a mesmerizing pattern stepped out from the crowd. A big sunhat rested atop her head and cast her eyes in shadow. She made her way in their direction at a leisurely pace, cooling her face with a large fan.

“Shit,” Lillia muttered. “What now?”

“Just don’t make eye contact,” Reya said, looking away. “They can’t see you if you don’t make eye contact.”

“It’s a woman, not a mythical creature,” Arwin said, studying the dirt intently just in case Reya’s suggestion worked.

“Same thing,” Reya said. “Trust me. I’d know. Been trying to figure out how Olive works for ages.”

“You are a woman,” Arwin said.

“Doesn’t help,” Reya said. “Olive is unique.”

“She’s not the only one,” Lillia muttered under her breath. “The lady is still coming. She might want to commission you, Arwin. You should have hidden farther away.”

 “Hiding is suspicious. Standing is not,” Arwin muttered under his breath. He turned toward the approaching noble, hiding the grimace on his lips as he inclined his head in greeting. She was only a few feet away from them now. “Hello. Can I help you?”

I really don’t want to deal with this right now. Where the hell is Rodrick?

“Really? Are you blind?” The woman asked in a voice that was most certainly not female. She reached up, wiping a thick layer of makeup from her face — and Arwin choked on his own saliva as he found Rodrick staring at him.

“Godspit,” Lillia breathed, her eyes going wide. “You’re a woman?”

“Talk about mythical creatures,” Reya exclaimed. Her eyes drifted down to Rodrick’s rather ample chest. “How did you get those so—”

“Practice,” Rodrick said.

Reya stared at him. “What? You trained your—”

“Some questions are best left unanswered,” Arwin said, clapping Reya on the shoulder. He stared at Rodrick a moment longer, then shook his head. “I trust you wrapped your business with the Blacktongue’s manor?”

“I have,” Rodrick said. “It would be wise if we departed soon. I may have had to wipe the evidence of my passing a bit more zealously than I had originally planned.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Lillia asked suspiciously.

Before Rodrick could respond, Esmerelda stepped out from the crowd. She ambled over to them, cheerfully rolling a gold coin across her knuckles as the potions within her bag clinked against her shoulder with every step.

She came to a stop alongside the group, then paused as she saw all the gazes directed at her.

“What?” Esmerelda asked. “Gods forbid a woman parts a few idiots from their coin. It’s my right, you know. Some people are too stupid to own money. Don’t act like Reya was doing anything better.”

“Hey!” Reya protested. “I was setting up trading paths for Melissa and Raen! That’s not scamming!”

“And I’m certain you cut them an excellent deal,” Esmerelda drawled. “And you definitely aren’t fleecing them for every coin they’re worth by slightly overestimating just how many sales we currently have on things that are not Arwin-related.”

Reya coughed into her fist. “They may have drawn a few connections that didn’t exist. Not my fault, though.”

“That’s exactly right,” Esmerelda said with a nod. “You could do a bit more denying first, though. Don’t give in too easily. Spew some bullshit first. The more confused people are, the harder it is for them to remember what they were calling you out for in the first place.”

“Noted,” Reya said.

“What exactly did you sell?” Arwin asked. “Nothing that will get us into trouble, I hope. People know you were with us. We don’t need negative attention. Not more of it, at least.”

“A new formula. Mostly anti-contraceptives for men,” Esmerelda said with a wave of her hand. “One hundred percent effective ones.”

“Whoa. I didn’t know that existed,” Reya said. “Potions can do stuff like that too?”

“Oh, these weren’t potions,” Esmerelda said. She gave Reya a crooked grin. “They’re one hundred percent natural plants, no magic whatsoever.”

“What kind of plant does that?” Rodrick asked.

“Chili peppers,” Esmerelda replied. “Pasted ones, mixed with some sap to conceal the color and make it stick longer. Very effective.”

“Chili peppers stop you from getting pregnant?” Lillia asked with a frown. “I never knew that.”

“Sure they do,” Esmerelda said. “Can’t get pregnant if your lower bits are burning like the sun. Very effective. Not a single lie was said.”

“Hm,” Rodrick said. “I now regret asking. Where’s Thane? Now we have even more reason to get out of here quickly. I don’t want some idiot noble sprinting after us with his pants down because you scorched his manhood.”

“Wouldn’t be the first—”

“I do not want to know,” Rodrick said, holding his hands up. “Some things are best kept to yourself.”

Esmerelda grinned, then sent a pointed glance at Reya. “See? That’s how it’s done.”

Arwin was halfway to something between a laugh and a sigh when he caught sight of a rather poorly dressed warrior hurrying along the edges of the party in their direction. Even though the shifting crowd blocked out most of his view, he caught a glimpse of Thane in her wake.

It seemed that Vanessa had managed her escape. But, judging by the speed she was moving at, something told Arwin that it hadn’t exactly been smooth.

“Esmerelda?” Arwin asked. “Might be time to get that doorway back open.”

“Already on it,” Esmerelda said. “The shop is in a good mood after all the sales I made today. Pretty sure a few people are about to become repeat customers. You never know what someone’s into, you know. But I digress. The door will be open soon. Just give it a — hold on. Does anyone else smell that?”

Arwin paused. His nose twitched. He blinked, then sniffed the air.

“Is that… smoke?”

Rodrick coughed into his fist.

Lillia’s eyes widened. Arwin turned to follow her gaze. He found his own eyes mirroring hers as he spotted a thick plume of black smoke rising into the air over the Blacktongue mansion.

“What did you do?” Arwin hissed.

“Times up,” Rodrick said. “We need to get out of here.”

Vanessa and Thane broke away from the crowd and started toward them. A few yells rang out as other people started to notice the fire. Thane turned in its direction. Vanessa did the same.

Her eyes snapped back to Arwin’s group. Then she grabbed Thane by the wrist and accelerated, striding toward them at a brisk pace as he stumbled over his feet to keep up.

“Looks like someone might have had more fun than I did,” Vanessa said as she drew up to them.  

“What’s going on? Why is—” Thane started.

“I’ll explain later,” Rodrick said tersely. “Esmerelda?”

“Ready,” the old woman replied, rapping her fist against the wall beside them. Brick rippled, then shifted into the form of a rickety old door. She shoved it open without another word. “In you go!”

All of them rushed in. Arwin turned to look over his shoulder, catching one final glance at the fire that was now racing to swallow the Blacktongue’s estate. Flame didn’t spread that fast. Not on its own.

The flame had already risen high into the air, crackling as it consumed huge swathes of the mansion.

Then the door slammed shut, and all the sound coming from the party vanished.

They were out. And, no matter how curious Arwin was, he couldn’t forget that they were still on a time limit. Their extraction had been successful… but there was still one last step in their plan.

It wouldn’t be long before Mask woke up from the potion that Arwin had poured on him. And, when he did, they had an interrogation to carry out.

He was done guessing at what the Adventurer’s Guild was doing. The stakes were too high to keep playing around.

It was time to get some actual answers… no matter what they had to do to get them.