Arwin had expected Rodrick’s list to be full of absolutely ridiculous requests. After all the attention they’d garnered during the Proving Grounds, he’d figured that a bunch of people with far more money than sense would have co knocking with unrealistic expectations.
Armor that could block the blows of giants without so much as a scratch. A sword that could carve through the soul of its enemy. That manner of magical item — or, worse, ones that he was actually capable of creating but had absolutely no desire to make.
He definitely could have made a sword that drank the blood out of whoever he stabbed. It would have been a vile weapon and probably rather difficult, but it just wasn’t sothing he had any interest in learning to create. His current equipnt already had slightly psychopathic tendencies. Arwin had no dreams of bringing even more evil gear into this world.
But to his stark surprise, the requests that Rodrick had gathered couldn’t have possibly been farther from what he’d been expecting. The vast majority of them were plain and direct enough that they may as well have co from an adventurer standing outside the door.
A sword that held its edge and looked perfectly clean and beautiful regardless of what it had been used to do — or how much dust had collected upon its surface while it sat on a mantle place. A breastplate whose front had been embossed with a beautiful shining sun silhouetting an eagle, except the sun was actually shining. The most ridiculous request was of a shield with a rather scandalous engraving of a man and a woman both struck by a stark lack of clothes.
Those were the manner of requests that Rodrick had actually brought him… and there were a lot of them. The list was nearly five pages long.
But the rewards were anything but unimpressive. Arwin had never heard of half the materials he saw on the page before him. Perhaps that wasn’t saying much. He hadn’t heard of pretty much most tals and crafting materials back when he’d been the Hero. That didn’t an everything was rare. But these certainly sounded rare.
“What is this?” Arwin asked as he finally looked up from the page, his brow furrowed in confusion. The two of them stood in the main room of the Infernal Armory, still sheltered from the crowd outside. “Why am I getting requests for stuff like this? It’s hardly even armor.”
Rodrick let out a chuckle. “Well, Reya and I took the liberty of filtering a few things out. What we’ve got here is, of the people that contacted us, pretty much the cross-section of the richest and least competent people. In summary… collectors. People who want to own a piece you’ve made, but ones who would never actually use it in a fight.”
“What the hell is the point of that?” Arwin scratched the back of his neck. “They just want to show it off?”
Rodrick nodded. “You’ve gotten yourself into a very good spot, Arwin. Nobody yaps like so idiot noble who got a shiny new piece of art. He’ll spread tales of it far and wide, making shit up like his life depends on it. And the other nobles will then all decide they want the sa fancy thing. They’ll show up on your doorstep and make an even bigger commission. And the best part? None of them will ever swing the damn things. You won’t have to worry about soone getting hurt.”
Arwin blinked. “That’s genius.”
“I know.” There wasn’t a hint of sha in Rodrick’s voice as he accepted the complent.
Though… it feels a little deaning. Only creating equipnt for people that will never use it. I don’t mind abusing our new fa for just long enough to get access to more rare materials, but I don’t want to make stuff for useless people while adventurers who are fighting for their lives never get a chance to arm themselves.
Red smoke twisted irritably behind Arwin to rise over his shoulder and peer down at the list before them.
“These items are worthless,” the Armory said. “Who cares about this trash? We can make so much more than art. Everything we make is art. Why stop there? Where are the requests for a blade that can sunder the very earth? That is what I wish to create!”
“I don’t disagree with you. But can we even create that?” Arwin asked.
“No,” the Armory replied. “But we will never be able to if we don’t try.”
“What was that?” Rodrick asked, glancing up from the paper.
It seed the Armory had hidden its words and presence from him. He didn’t even glance in the direction of the smoke rising over Arwin.
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“Just talking to my building,” Arwin said with a shake of his head. “We’re a bit displeased that we aren’t making equipnt that would actually be used. I do have to say I’d prefer the idea of making sothing for soone that needed it. Unfortunately, that has a low cross section with people that both deserve the equipnt and can actually afford it.”
“Hm. I see where you’re both coming from,” Rodrick said, chewing his lower lip. “There’s sothing deeply demoralizing about turning yourself into a show horse, isn’t there? I do have so requests from considerably less wealthy clients. They’ve been vetted and should be worth arming. They just don’t have access to anything particularly interesting. Perhaps a mix of them with the noble requests would be most apt?”
Arwin nodded. “That seems good, actually. A balance that I can more than accept. We need the access to those rarer materials until we get our own supply lines moving, but there’s no reason to lock ourselves into only doing fancier commissions.”
The smoke shifted back. “I approve. Wrap your business here and then return to the inner room. We should already have the materials to create so of the objects on this list. I will only stomach three before I feel myself drawn to create sothing worthy of my ti.”
Then it was gone, and Arwin and Rodrick stood alone.
“Thanks for the hard work,” Arwin said. He knew just how much ti Rodrick had spent picking through the list to make sure they didn’t accidentally work with anyone they didn’t want to be supporting. “I appreciate it. The Infernal Armory does too, even if it won’t admit that.”
Rodrick just chuckled. “No problem. It’s been a good way to give my brain a break from its normal duties while staying active. Madiv can act as a go-between once the items are finished to keep you from dealing with the insufferable idiots. Just because they’re reasonable doesn’t an they’re the kind you want to waste ti dealing with.”
Arwin grinned and clapped the other man on the shoulder. “Just what I love to hear. I’ll get to it, then. This list is great. And definitely keep an eye out for so people that we’d like to ally ourselves with in the future but may not be able to afford our services, would you? Don’t forget our goals are a whole lot larger than making money.”
Rodrick gave him a firm nod. “Oh, I won’t. Don’t you worry. I’ve never once forgotten that.”
With that, the two of them turned and strode back to their respective tasks.
They both had a lot of work to do.
***
The day slipped by. Arwin didn’t waste any ti in getting to work on the commissions that promised the most interesting materials as a reward. If he’d been working on his own, it probably would have taken him quite so ti to determine what to start with and get it made.
But with Wallace and Koyu showing up a short while later to resu their work on the Infernal Armory’s special project, the three of them were able to rapidly streamline the process. All Arwin had to do was promise Wallace a small portion of the materials they earned. Koyu didn’t even need to be bribed — the Lich was more than aware that the armor for the Infernal Armory would eventually serve as the blueprints for his own new body.
This was no longer a one man operation. Wallace and Koyu backing Arwin up, continuing to provide suggestions on Soulmancy and smithing, accelerated the process imnsely.
By the ti evening fell, five of the commissions had been completed. Not a single one of them was of any particular interest to them. They were all largely costic. Pieces better ant for the mantle place than battle. But every single one of them was beautiful.
The materials within them were satisfied. Arwin hadn’t just been banging projects out. He was growing better and better. Gone was the smith that had been flying by the seat of his pants. With the odd mishmash of abilities he employed as well as tutelage from a dwarf and a Lich, Arwin wasn’t really sure he could be considered a smith at all.
But as the three of them looked upon the day’s work, Wallace clapped Arwin on the shoulder.
“Well done, boy,” Wallace said, voice gruff. “This is so quality work. Made it through the damndest mix of techniques I’ve ever seen. Don’t fully get how. You’d make a few eyes pop out of skulls back in the Council as they tried to figure out what your technique was. But this is good. Real good. Clean. Purposeful. No wasted magic.”
“A far cry from just a short while ago,” Koyu agreed with a nod. “I cannot speak to smithing quality, but I do not sense any discord from the souls within these weapons. They are keen. You have done them well, which is sothing I would not have thought possible through the use of Soulmancy.”
“Couldn’t have co this far without a whole lot of help,” Arwin said. “Not that I would have ever guessed you’d be my teachers.”
“You have a problem with ? Don’t break into my house next ti,” Wallace grumbled.
Arwin chuckled. The day’s efforts had netted him a level up, pushing him to Adept 3, but there hadn’t been another advancent in his skills yet. It was impossible to tell when the sh would give a new skill or improvent, but he was fairly certain the next major boost would probably be around Adept 5.
“I’ll keep that in mind. But if the two of you have energy left, I’m not quite done. The Infernal Armory and I have had so thoughts on the armor, and—”
“Right!” Wallace exclaid. “You haven’t gone into detail about how it perford! Spill!”
Arwin grinned. “With pleasure. We’ve actually got an idea—”
“Which may be best postponed to tomorrow,” the Infernal Armory said abruptly. Red mist twisted to being beside Arwin. “That idiot smith that has been camping outside this past week is about to damage my walls.”
“What?” Arwin’s eyes narrowed in anger. He turned on his heel and strode for the door without wasting another word.
Perhaps he’d let things simr a little too long. He didn’t care who the smith was or what they wanted from him.
Nobody damaged his street.
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