Rise of the Living Forge
Chapter 448: The Wait

“Go back to sleep,” Esmerelda snapped, glaring at Eleven. “You’re making me sound like one of your stuffy little guild buddies. Don’t count me among your number. If you keep at this, then these idiots are going to start getting the wrong idea?”

“What would happen if you didn’t distribute the curses?” Arwin asked, his eyes narrowing.

Esmerleda sighed. “They would leave. I get the items in my possession into the hands of someone that suits them. Someone who isn’t going to bend and shatter under the force of their power. In turn, they reward me for locating the right person to suit them. I am not a jailor. If I didn’t do my job, they would leave and find their way into people’s hands the normal way.”

“Does that mean you’re doing this to help the world?” Arwin asked, blinking. “Because powerful cursed items just rolling up constantly and causing a ton of damage before moving on to their next wielder would be chaos.”

“Damn it,” Esmerelda snapped. “This is exactly what I was talking about. I am most certainly not doing this to help people. I am parting idiots from their coin and depositing some magical trash in their care. That’s it. I do not have some noble purpose. My shop decides who I sell to more than I do.”

“You’re a matchmaker,” Lillia said, holding a hand over her mouth to cover a laugh. “Why would you try to hide that? I think everyone here understands necessary evil far more than most. Did you think we’d have been mad?”

“No!” Esmerelda snapped. “Are you all deaf? I was worried you’d start thinking I had a bleeding heart — which the lot of you all seem to be in the process of doing. Stop that. Stop it now. I do not like the way you’re looking at me.”

“That’s cute,” Art said. “You know, I was wondering why the number of cursed weaponry in the world was so limited. I looked into them while searching for a way to rebuild House Thornhelm. There are records of their existence… but the items always vanished shortly after their wielders died. You’ve probably averted more wars than anyone else in this room.”

“I’m going to have to kick a puppy after this,” Esmerelda said in disgust. “Actually, I’m going to kick Eleven. That was my secret, you seaweed haired freak.”

Eleven yawned. Then she laid her head back on her plate, right in the center of her unfinished mashed potatoes, and fell back asleep.

“Do you try to sell people that come into your shop stuff because you’re trying to get a read on what kind of item might fit them?” Arwin asked, tilting his head to the side. “I was wondering why you offered me so much trash.”

“I’m done answering questions,” Esmerelda grumbled. “My reputation is already ruined. I’ve lived longer than the vast majority of you idiots combined. I will not have you going around thinking that I’m some wrinkled up prune of a saint that weathers the unbearable weight of her sins that were necessary for the greater good by masking it behind a bitter words.”

“Nobody said that,” Kien said, clearing his throat. “That was you.”

“I’m going to relocate a cursed sword right up your ass and let it find its way out to locate a new owner,” Esmerelda informed him. “I’m sure there are a number of evil weapons who would settle for a former hero’s backside, even if you’re such a little do-gooder that you’d probably make them sick on the way out.”

Arwin and Lillia exchanged a glance.

If he was totally honest with himself, he’d been prepared to a hear a hell of a lot worse about Esmerelda. He didn’t have any delusions about the old woman.

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She definitely wasn’t a moral pillar. Something told him he didn’t want to know what manner of activities she’d been involved in during her past. But that same sentiment went for many of their allies. Koyu’s history certainly wasn’t any better — and neither was his or Lillia’s.

What mattered was what they were now. Shining morals wouldn’t take the Adventurer’s Guild down. Sometimes, the only way to win a fight like theirs was to be play dirty. But that didn’t mean he was going to throw his lot in with someone actively trying to bring hell to innocents.

“Just one question,” Arwin said, raising a hand. “And then we’ll drop the topic. I need to know, Esmerelda. After I told you the rules of the Menagerie… have you sold a truly malicious item to anyone who didn’t deserve it? And I mean that by the standards of a normal person. Someone who wasn’t truly heinous or planning to use the item to cause great hurt or destruction to others.”

Esmerelda’s eyes bore into his for a long second. Then the old woman sighed.

“No. I have not.”

“Then we have no issue here,” Arwin said.

“But I do have questions of my own,” Art said, his eyes glinting. “Does your shop move around on its own? Is it intelligent?”

“You heard the guild leader,” Esmerelda said, her lips curling up into a smile as she rose to her feet and strode for the stairs. “We’re done here. You want answers? Show up to the shop and help dust shit off. You can join Thane in working for his questions.”

“Wait. Thane is working for you?” Olive paused with her fork halfway to her mouth. Her stomach must have been completely endless for her to be able to still shovel food into her mouth. Somehow more impressive was the fact that Reya was still doing the very same thing.

“He wanted to keep asking me insufferable questions,” Esmerelda grumbled. “I had no other way to get the brat out of my shop. The damn thing seems to like him.”

And with that, she strode up the stairs and was gone.

Everyone was silent for several long seconds. Then Lillia let out a small laugh.

“Well, that’s a relief. It was always a bit hard to get a good read on her. I’m glad she isn’t evil. At least, not completely evil. A little evil is just some spice on an otherwise bland meal.”

“Exactly what I say,” Reya mumbled through a full mouth. She was still somehow stuffing her face with the dwindling remains of food on the table. “Though nobody ever seemed to agree when they caught me lifting from their pockets.”

“And it seems the Menagerie has yet another Sunsetted class within it,” Kien said, sending a look at Eleven as the woman snored away on the table. “That’s quite a number of them. I wonder… does my class count as well?”

“Interesting question,” Arwin said. “We’ll have to ask Eleven when she wakes up. She’s going to owe us a detailed explanation of just how to Sunset a class and what it means pretty soon. That was part of our agreement.”

“Speaking of which — we should get ready for tomorrow,” Lilia said, rising from the table and clapping her hands. Shadowy imps sprung up, rapidly grabbing the plates with food while the others all floated into the air and filed into the kitchen in an orderly fashion. Lillia nodded to them. “Everyone should get some rest. Ridley’s expansions have gone enough that I’ve got a room for everyone to stay tonight. They might need a bit more work, but it’ll let us jump right back to work tomorrow. I believe there’s still more to discuss.”

“There always is,” Rodrick said. “Your suggestion sounds good to me.”

“And me,” Arwin agreed with a nod, though he may have admittedly been motivated by something else entirely. Ending the dinner now meant more time alone with Lillia. There was only so much time in a day, after all — and as important as this was, time with her won out over just about everything else.

“Then tomorrow morning, merchants, convene back in the common room,” Rodrick said. “We may as well optimize for this. More than one goal can be accomplished at the Blacktongue’s party, and Arwin will likely need a distraction while he looks into the Adventurer’s Guild’s goals. That seems like a perfect opportunity to see if we can expand our networks.”

Arwin grinned as he exchanged a glance with Lillia. They were in good hands. There wasn’t any one better than Rodrick to handle making a distraction. If they weren’t careful, they’d all end up at the party only to find out that the former paladin had somehow dressed up as the matriarch of the Blacktongue family.

This worked just fine for him. Something told him the Blacktongue family wouldn’t be too keen on working with the Menagerie after the ridiculous amount of wealth he’d lifted from under their nose… but there was going to be more than one noble family attending their little coming of age celebration.

And, while Rodrick and the others figured out their angle to make money tomorrow…

Arwin had a prototype for the most powerful suit of armor he’d ever dared to create that was waiting for him to bring it into existence.