Rise of the Living Forge
Chapter 445: Partytime

“Thane,” Esmerelda repeated, squinting at the well-dressed boy standing in the street before her. She dug through her memories. There was a very slight chance that one of the beings she’d worked with in the past was trying to mess with her.

The gods knew she’d screwed enough of them over to justify it… but she’d done pretty well by the vast majority of the powerful ones. Thane didn’t stand out to her senses in any way. He didn’t seem to be immensely powerful, nor was he disguised by any magic that she could recognize.

Is he really just an addled teen that somehow managed to pick up rumors about me and had a sharp enough eye to recognize my appearance? That seems rather unlikely… but my shop wouldn’t have sent me here for no reason. I’d have to be a blind idiot to assume this boy isn’t part of it.

“You want to see my shop?” Esmerelda asked, arching an eyebrow. “It houses items meant for only the greatest adventurers, you know. Not just anyone can look into it. Are you up to the challenge?”

“Yeah!” Thane exclaimed, giving her an energetic nod. “I can do it! I want to see!”

This is… considerably easier than it normally is.

“Right,” Esmerelda said. She coughed into her fist, then turned on her heel and hobbled back into the alley in the direction of her shop. A glance over her shoulder showed that Thane was following her without so much as a flicker of suspicion behind his eyes.

If I’d wanted to spill his guts across the floor, he’d already be dead. How is this little idiot still alive? Who follows somebody into a dark alleyway? Or does he just assume I’m not a threat because I’m old?

Esmerelda’s eyes narrowed. She placed a hand on the handle of her crooked wooden door and pulled it open with a creak, stepping to the side and gesturing grandiosely to the shelves laden with magical items within.

“Okay! Thanks!”

Thane strode right into the store.

This almost felt too easy. It was like going hunting, only for the monster she was after to tie itself up and deliver itself to her doorstep before she’d even had a chance to draw on her magic.

Esmerelda paused for a moment. Then she followed after him, closing the door behind herself. Thane didn’t even seem to notice. He looked around in awe, his jaw hanging askew.

“Feel free to take a look around,” Esmerelda said. “Everything here is for sale, boy. Your future could very well lie within these dusty shelves. What is it that you seek? I will help you find your destiny. A sword that can cut down anyone that dares stand in your path? A cloak that conceals you from even the most inquisitive of gazes? A poison that—”

“Whoa!” Thane exclaimed. He made a beeline right over to a shelf, his eyes going as wide as saucers as he spotted something. “Gods above! Is this a pickled goblin head? I’ve never seen a goblin up close before!”

Esmerelda stared at Thane. Out of everything he could have picked out from her store, that was possibly the least interesting thing he could have gone for. She was pretty sure she’d just accidentally left it out after a particularly intense potion making session.

“That… yes. But perhaps something more interesting could catch your eye?” Esmerelda hedged. “That head isn’t going to—”

“Whoa!” Thane spun, his eye caught by something new on the shelf. “A knife!”

Yes! That’s right. That’s what you need. A good, bloodthirsty blade. Which one did he pick? The Hellhound’s Fang? The Bloodletter?

Esmerelda shifted to try and get a better look at what Thane had picked up. He turned toward her mid-movement, an excited grin on his features as he held out his prize.

It was a butter knife.

“This is incredible!” Thane said, holding the plain silver utensil before him in reverence. “I figured the rumors had exaggerated a bit, but they’re true! You have magical items for sale! What an awesome object! This heats everything it cuts to the perfect room temperature, letting it make the perfect cut of butter every time!”

Esmerelda’s eye twitched.

Why do I have that?

“And it’s Cursed too,” Thane continued in the exact same excited tone. “If you use it to try and cut anything other than butter, it’ll stick to your hand and start melting through your flesh! Awesome!”

Esmerelda froze.

Wait. Thane can see the fact that the item is cursed? That’s impossible. Its status should be completely concealed. It would take an immensely powerful ability to see through the magic shielding the cursed effects. Thane should have only been able to see the benefits of the knife, not the drawbacks.

Esmerelda’s eyes narrowed. Something was going on here. Cursed items were not so easily revealed. Even she struggled to peer past some of the veil on the more powerful items she held.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The fact that the item the boy had chosen was a worthless butter knife didn’t matter. He’d just torn through the Mesh’s concealment to identify it without so much as even realizing what he’d done. There was absolutely no way that a random boy could pull something like that off.

And, worse, if he realized that all the items in her shop were cursed…

I’m going to lose my customer!

“Merely a safety mechanism,” Esmerelda said hurriedly. “I wouldn’t want to sell a butter knife to someone who used it to kill, would I? The knife is perfectly lovely so long as you only cut butter with it.”

Until you go to cut a piece of bread… but that’s on you.

“That makes — whoa!” Thane spun to another shelf, nearly taking Esmerelda’s head off with the butter knife in the process. He raced over to it, his jaw dropping open in awe. “Is this authentic?”

“Everything in this shop is authentic,” Esmerelda said immediately, trying to move so she could get a better look at what had caught Thane’s attention. “Is there something particular you’re looking for? I’m sure I could help you find something just perfect for you.”

“Oh, this is definitely it,” Thane said eagerly. He turned back to Esmerelda, still clutching the butter knife in one hand. And, in his other hand, was the hilt of an ancient sword.

A grin split across Esmerelda’s features. She could feel the age of the weapon in Thane’s hand in an instant. It was old. Carvings wound up the hilt, pitted from years of disuse and covered with a dark sheen that had definitely been blood at some point before it had crystalized.

Now that’s a proper cursed weapon right there. But why isn’t the Mesh telling me what—

And then her gaze lifted slightly higher.

There was no sword.

It was just a hilt.

Not the slightest trace of magical energy resided within it. The item wasn’t even cursed. It was literally just a piece of trash that had somehow found its way into her shop. Perhaps it had even been there before Esmerelda had inherited the rickety old thing all those years ago.

You have to be kidding me.

“This is ancient!” Thane exclaimed, his eyes affixed on the sword hilt. “It might even outdate the kingdom! Isn’t that incredible? A historic artifact like this… it could be a once in a lifetime find! I have to research it! There are carvings beneath all the blood on this, too. They might hold fantastic information about our past.”

“It seems a bit… plain,” Esmerelda hedged.

“Plain?” Thane sent her an affronted stare. “This is incredible! A one of a kind item! Artifacts like this should be preserved somewhere where everyone can study them! After I do, that is. I want it. Uh, the butter knife too. I hate cold butter.”

Esmerelda’s eye twitched — but she could work with this. He wanted to buy from her. That was an improvement over some of her more recent customers, but she wasn’t really sure how much she could actually wring from this odd teen.

None of my truly powerful items would want to be wielded by someone this… whimsical anyways. This is fine. They want people that are either set in their ways or easy to control. The ambitious or fools. Not whatever Thane is.

“Whoa,” Thane breathed, catching sight of something else. Esmerelda felt a flicker of excitement that was promptly quenched the instant he spoke again. “How old is that curtain?”

This kid is going to start peeling the wood off my walls if I don’t get him out of here.

“Perhaps we should get you on your way,” Esmerelda said, making her way over to the counter and snapping her fingers so Thane would follow her. Besides — this was her favorite part. “I trust you’re prepared to pay the price for what you seek?”

Thane blinked. Then his jaw set and he gave her a firm nod. “Yes. I am.”

“Good,” Esmerelda said, a grin pulling across her features. “Then—”

“I have five gold,” Thane proclaimed, plopping a pathetically empty bag down on the table before her.

Esmerelda stared at it.

Thane stared at it.

She didn’t even want gold in the first place. But offering her five gold was practically an insult. Even the shittiest magic weapon in the world would go for more than that.

Godspit. Even a knowingly cursed weapon would sell for two magnitudes more than this! Is he playing me for a fool?

Esmerelda looked back up to Thane. The teen’s features were dead serious. He wasn’t joking. For some reason, he genuinely thought that five gold was somehow worth not one, but two items.

“That’s a one of a kind relic you’ve got there,” Esmerelda said. “Not to mention a magical knife. Do you really think five gold is enough?”

“Oh,” Thane said. He paused. Then he frowned. “Uh… those are all my savings.”

“You’re from a noble family. And your savings amount to five gold?”

Thane’s cheeks reddened. “I spent all of my money on vellum and ink.”

“How broke are your parents?” Esmerelda snapped. “What kind of noble goes broke buying paper? Your weekly allowance should be ten times that!”

“Oh, I don’t have an allowance,” Thane said sheepishly. “I earn my money by working as a scribe.”

“You came into my store expecting to buy magical items with five gold?” Esmerelda pinched the bridge of her nose. “Really?”

“I was kind of just too excited to see another member of the Menagerie right after Arwin took me through a dungeon,” Thane said, clearing his throat. “Sorry.”

Esmerelda tilted her head to the side. “He did what now?”

“Oh, shoot. Was he was keeping it secret?” Thane stiffened. Then he cleared his throat. “You know what? Never mind. It’s okay.”

“Hold on,” Esmerelda said, her eyes sharpening. Things were coming together. She’d known her shop wouldn’t have sent her here for no reason. The boy was tied to Arwin. And that mean the was important. “Maybe I could come to some sort of arrangement for those items.”

“You could?” Thane’s eyes lit up. “Maybe I could help organize some stuff in here? I’m great at that!”

That’s actually rather tempting… but is that what the shop brought me here for? Is there really nothing else?

“Is there anything else you could do?” Esmerelda asked, rubbing her chin in thought. “Surely there might be some other kind of leverage you have. You’re not asking for some random trash, you know. That sword hilt is very rare.”

“I don’t know if I really have that much else that would be useful to you…” Thane’s brow furrowed in thought for several seconds. Then his eyes lit up. “Oh! Do you like parties? My parents are throwing one in two days. I could get you and the Menagerie an invite!”

Parties with a bunch of rich nobles that can be easily scammed into wasting their money? So this is what the shop was after. Thane is just the path to the real prize. Can’t imagine the party will be very interesting… but I could definitely make some good sales.

A slow grin spread across Esmerelda’s lips. “Why, yes. I do like parties. I think we might just have a deal, young Thane.”