NOVPUBArwin didn’t have to wait long to find out exactly what Melissa meant. He saw no reason to turn her down on meeting his charge for the day now — at the very least, it would let him know what to prepare for in the dungeon.
A quick chat should give me an idea of what I’m working with, and then I’ll have the rest of the day to work before we head out. Melissa said the kid was odd, but there are a lot of different ways that could go.
But Arwin was pretty sure he already knew what was coming. Melissa’s story had been pretty telling. It didn’t take much creativity to finish painting the picture that she had outlined for him.
A noble who grew up with a silver spoon lodged permanently in his mouth and with parents that will insist on him getting the best class possible — which isn’t a thing — by sending him into an Expert Tier dungeon with adventurers that they think are famous enough to protect him but not strong enough to clear out the whole dungeon…
Yeah. He’s going to be a huge brat.
If it was only for a day, Arwin could deal with that. If the worst came to the worst, then he could just stuff a rag into the kid’s mouth the moment after they went into the dungeon. No part of the deal that Melissa had outlined included the kid being able to speak.
All they had to do was make sure he managed to participate in one fight and got a chance to get his class from the Mesh. And if he didn’t — well, Arwin couldn’t do anything about that. Nobody could control the Mesh.
Anyone normal would have just sent their kid out with a few guards and let them fight a random monster. If he really wants to be an adventurer, then that’ll be enough to awaken his class. It would actually be better than this.
Being able to actually fight back against the monster is what shows the Mesh the kind of person you are and the abilities you want. If the monster is so strong that the only part you can participate is dealing the finishing blow, you aren’t going to get much of a good class at all. Ironic. In trying to literally buy their kid’s class from the Mesh, these nobles going to ruin it instead.
That, fortunately, was not Arwin’s concern. Melissa had made it clear just how important this business deal was… and he wanted access to the Expert Tier dungeon. This was a win-win situation for everyone. Hell, even the Blacktongue family won. They got to claim that the Menagerie had worked for them. That would probably go over great at whatever fancy parties they went to.
It was great for every party involved.
Well, everyone other than the kid.
“We’re here,” Melissa said, pulling Arwin from his thoughts.
The two of them had already made it across town and headed into a nondescript inn near the city center. They stood in a hallway at the top of a stairwell, before a heavy-looking wooden door.
A polished metal plaque on the front that bore the room number spoke to the inn’s cost. Even though there wasn’t anything particularly fancy about any of the materials the building had been made with, there was clear quality in its make and upkeep. The wooden hall was equally well taken care of and had been dusted recently.
This place isn’t cheap.
“Let’s get this on with, then,” Arwin said in a low tone. He gathered himself and put on his best poker face. Political posturing had never been his strong suit. While he had absolutely no plans of bowing and scraping to some noble brat, he figured it was probably a good idea to at least pretend to be professional.
Melissa nodded. She rapped her knuckles against the door several times in a pattern, then repeated it. Arwin didn’t miss the fact that the spacing in her knocks was clearly measured. It wasn’t just a random knock she was doing.
Practiced. That’s to show it’s her, then. I’d assume this is preventative measures for assassins and the like. Suppose that’s just part of life for nobles.
I do wonder what kind he’ll be. The prim and proper prick that thinks he’s better than everyone else? I’ve met more than enough of those in the Adventurer’s Guild. Always had positions higher than what they deserved.
Or maybe he’ll be the kind that tries to curry favor by being an insufferable cling-on and fawning over everything I do until he gets what he wants and abandons my guild by the roadside. The Guild had that kind too… but they always ended up dying.
A flicker of dark humor prickled at the back of Arwin’s mind and the corner of his lips twitched.
Then again, pretty much everyone did. Suppose that was more of a feature than a bug.
Melissa knocked a third time. She was starting to look worried. It was definitely taking the boy a whole lot longer than it should have for him to open—
The door flew open with a loud bang that echoed through the inn like rolling thunder. Arwin nearly jumped into a fighting position at the abrupt movement, expecting someone to come flying out to attack them.
But no assassin burst forth. Instead, Arwin and Melissa found themselves standing across from a brown-haired teenager with bright blue eyes. He looked to be a few years shy of 20 and wore polished leather armor with a faint purple tint to it. A pair of short swords hung from his waist, rubies embedded in their pommels.
That equipment is expensive. Very expensive. It looks more like a collection of art than something I’d see someone use in battle, though.
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“You’re back! Does that mean he accepted?” the boy exclaimed, his voice cracking in excitement. Then his eyes landed on Arwin. Somehow, he’d completely managed to miss the large smith standing in the doorway right in front of him. The boy’s cheeks instantly flushed and he hurriedly took a step back as he coughed into a fist. “Oh. I — oh.”
Arwin sniffed the air subtly. He could pick up faint hints of caramel and fresh grass, along with a few other scents that he couldn’t quite place at this distance. There was magic within the room. The boy’s equipment was enchanted. But there was more than that. The scent came from more than just him. There was—
“Not here,” Melissa said, grabbing Arwin by the arm and pulling him into the room while pushing the boy out of the way in the same motion. She closed the door behind them and locked it. “I’d like to introduce you to Ifrit, guild master of the Menagerie.”
Arwin barely even paid Melissa’s words any mind. His eyes had landed on the bed in the corner of the room he’d now stepped into, where an average-looking man with long, black hair stood in wait. A wooden staff leaned against his side and his expression was unreadable. There were several rings on his fingers that instantly caught Arwin’s eyes.
That’s the mage. He’s got some powerful shit. I can smell it from all the way over here.
The mage noticed Arwin’s attention instantly. Their gazes bore into each other for a second. Then the other man inclined his head in recognition.
Arwin blinked, then returned the gesture.
Melissa’s elbow dug gently into Arwin’s side and she cleared her throat.
“Sorry, what was that?” Arwin asked as he looked back to her. “I was distracted.”
“I was saying, this is Thane Blacktongue,” Melissa said. “The boy I told you about. And Thane, this is Ifrit. Guild leader of the Menagerie.”
Right. Can’t let myself get distracted.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Arwin said.
Thane’s eyes bored into him. There were several long seconds of uncomfortable silence as the boy said nothing at all. It was like he was trying to look straight through Arwin’s head. Then he grabbed Arwin’s hand and shook furiously.
“I can’t believe you’re actually here!” Thane exclaimed. “You’re Ifrit! I saw you at the Proving Grounds! You — your team — they were awesome! And when you jumped down from the stands to threaten the guy from the Adventurer’s Guild… that was so fucking badass. Can you do it again? Can I see Caldera? Wait. No, don’t show me yet. I want to see it in action. Oh, does Caldera have a gender? Can anyone use it? Can I? Or do you have to prove yourself worthy first? How do I do that?”
The questions came so fast that Arwin barely had time to process one before the next hit him. Melissa sent him a sympathetic glance as she slowly edged toward the corner of her room. She’d known this was coming.
And, in that moment, it struck Arwin that he’d been set up.
“Whoa there,” Arwin said, raising his hands before him defensively. “Relax, bud. I only have one mouth. Can’t answer everything at once. You’ll see Caldera when we go into the dungeon. And no, you can’t use it. The only reason Olive could was because I created special armor for her… and Caldera is very picky.”
“Oh. Okay,” Thane said without missing a beat. “Sounds good. Don’t worry. I have other things I want to know.”
Oh, boy.
“I don’t have too long,” Arwin warned. “I’ve got to get ready for…”
He trailed off as Thane reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll of parchment. The boy hurriedly unfurled it. The scroll slipped from his fingers in his haste and it fell to the ground, rolling out to reveal line after line of questions.
“Don’t worry! I’ve trimmed my questions down already to save on time,” Thane said, entirely unbothered. “I want to know about Olive. I’m really interested in her, actually. Will she be one of the ones coming on the trip?”
Alarm bells went off in Arwin’s head.
“I’m—”
“Her arm is awesome,” Thane continued, not even giving Arwin a chance to respond. “The magic that must have gone into that is incredible! I was doing some researching into it. You made it, right? Is it cursed? I think it’s cursed. I went through our records on magical weaponry, and it was definitely acting with intelligence. It tugged her around a few times during the fight, and I think it was intentionally going for killing blows.”
He's sharp. A lot sharper than I expected.
“I wouldn’t want to go around spilling Olive’s secrets without her permission,” Arwin said. “The arm is hers. Information on it belongs to her as well.”
“Oh yeah, makes sense.” Thane nodded, then started to roll his scroll up. “I’ll save these for her, then. It’s no problem. I’ve got more enough for you. Like my equipment!”
“Your equipment?” Arwin asked against his better judgement. He found himself surprisingly off guard. Thane was nothing like what he’d been expecting.
“Yeah,” Thane said. He poked at the leather covering him. “It’s not very good, is it?”
I’m far from in touch with the value of money, but I would be willing to bet that your equipment costs more than the average adventurer makes in a year. I can smell the magic from here.
“I’m far from an expert on leather equipment,” Arwin said diplomatically. “But the quality—”
“Oh, no. Not that.” Thane shook his head. “I meant for me. Leather armor is great for people going for stealthy tactics or someone who is really fast. But I’ve got no real experience fighting. I interviewed every Classed guard on our estate and all the adventurers that would speak to me on the way over here, and I compiled the results here.”
Thane reached down to his pocket, then frowned. He glanced around the room in search of something. The mage at the bedside hooked his staff into the loop of a leather bag and moved it over to the boy’s side.
“It’s here.”
“Thank you!” Thane’s eyes lit up and he took the bag from the mage before rifling through its contents. Arwin caught a glimpse within it. The bag was completely stuffed full of scrolls. Thane grabbed one of the scrolls and pulled it out of the bag, unfurling it. “Here it is. So I found that the average adventurer using specialized gear was actually worse off unless they knew exactly what they wanted to be. It can influence your class a bit and make you get something that doesn’t quite fit you, and I don’t know if I want to be a stealth or speed focused adventurer. So don’t you think it might be a bad idea for me to use this?”
“I’m sorry, I’m still caught up on the first thing you said,” Arwin said slowly. “You interviewed all the people with classes you met on the way over here?”
“Well, I tried to,” Thane said with a nod. “I also recorded the percentage of them that actually spoke to me. It was less than twenty. I think that might make some of my data a little unreliable, but gotta work with what you have.”
“Maybe I should turn the question around, then,” Arwin said. “This is your class, not mine. What do you think would be right?”
“Ah. Yeah. That’s the thing,” Thane said. He chewed his lip as if in deep thought. “I tried a lot of hypothetical scenarios for how this can play out depending on who I go into the dungeon with and what equipment I bring.”
“And?” Arwin asked. He was actually interested now. Thane had clearly put a whole lot more thought into this than his parents had, and that was a good sign. He didn’t seem belligerent or idiotic. There was a good chance the kid would actually listen to what he had to say in the dungeon… assuming he didn’t talk them all to death on the way over. “Which path did you decide was the best?”
“Well, they all kind of end the same way,” Thane said with a furrowed brow. “No matter how I prepare or what I bring with me to the dungeon, I’m completely confident that I don’t live to see tomorrow.”
