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Chapter 70: Location

“What do you mean? You’re insanely good at making stuff!”

“I don’t think I am, actually.” Arwin headed over to the warped metal on the ground that had once been a suit of armor and picked it up, placing it in the hearth to heat. “My class is guiding me.”

“Isn’t that basically the same thing?”

“No,” Arwin said. “It means I’m good at following directions, and that I’m learning what to do. But, the more I work, the more I realize that actually understanding what I’m doing and working with a purpose are the real keys to actually creating something powerful.”

“So you’re not going to teach me?”

Arwin chuckled and put his hand on the metal, rotating it to try to get it to heat faster and wishing he had a bellows to intensify the [Soul Flame] faster. “If you decide you want to know more when I get better at it, then I’d be willing to share. But, until then, I’m going to be focusing on creating rather than teaching. See, I learned something when I was working with the helmet that Zeke… left me.”

Reya’s hands tightened at her sides. “What was it?”

“When I just blindly follow the guidance I get from my materials, I can make Unique objects,” Arwin said. “But Unique isn’t on the rarity scale. It’s on the side – neither a failure nor success, but an anomaly.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?”

“It can be,” Arwin allowed. A thought struck him and he almost laughed as he realized that his theory was even more accurate than he’d initially thought. Just talking about it to Reya had already revealed another aspect that proved his point. He lifted a hand to his head and his helmet manifested itself. He took it off and handed it to Reya so she could get a closer look.

“A Rare set item?” Reya asked after a second, her eyes going wide. “Godspit. That’s incredible.”

“It is,” Arwin said with a nod. “But the thing is, I’ve made a piece of armor that has a matching name.”

“So you’ve got two matching pieces of a set already?” Reya handed the helmet back and Arwin returned it to his head before allowing it to disappear.

“No,” Arwin said. “That’s the problem. Unique items can turn out shit. They can turn out great – but no matter what, they’re Unique. You can’t have a set from them, because they’re one of a kind and bordering on random. Even though it should be a set item, it isn’t.”

“Because you didn’t fully understand what you were doing when you made it?”

“That’s part of it,” Arwin said with a nod. “It’s not to say that the armor is bad – it’s actually incredibly strong for our tier. It’s a tradeoff, just like everything else in life. But, if I want to make a set of armor for someone I want to keep alive…”

“A set might be a lot stronger than a collection of Unique items,” Reya finished. “I suppose it would be more manageable as well.”

“Most likely. You never know what you’re getting with a Unique item, and surprises aren’t exactly what I need right now. Getting items that I know can be trusted to work the same way in every situation is more important than one that’s technically stronger but has a chance to chew up all your energy because someone winked in your direction.”

A smile flickered across Reya’s face and she almost laughed, but neither of their spirits were quite high enough for that. Not yet.

Arwin nodded to the hearth, where his [Soul Flame] had finally gotten the piece of metal to a deep orange.

“We’ll start by beating the impurities out of this until it’s a workable piece of metal again.”

“Okay,” Reya said. “How do I help?”

If Arwin was entirely honest with himself, he hadn’t fully figured that out himself yet. He was pretty sure he could have forged everything on his own, but with the amount he was excluding Reya from the rest of the plan, it felt right to give her the opportunity to do at least something.

“I’ll let you temporarily take over whenever I need to step back and think,” Arwin replied. “For now, just watch what I’m doing.”

Reya nodded and Arwin picked the chunk of heated metal up, bringing it over to the forge. He beckoned for her to back up, then held his hands out and summoned Verdant Blaze into his grip.

“On second thought,” Arwin said, glancing over to Reya’s clothes. “You might want to go find something heavy to wear so the sparks don’t burn you.”

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Reya followed Arwin’s eyes, then grimaced. “Okay. I’ll be right back. You don’t have to wait for me, though. It won’t take long.”

He nodded in response and Reya hurried out of the building while Arwin got to work. [Soul Flame] pulsed through his hammer as it rang against metal, flattening the chunk out strike by strike.

It didn’t take long for Arwin to slip into the flow. He was vaguely aware of Reya’s return some time later, but he didn’t stop immediately. She still needed to see what he was doing before she could do anything herself.

He worked for another several minutes, brushing flakes of black away from the metal before delivering another round of ringing blows to it. Eventually, the metal started to cool and Arwin returned it to the hearth.

“Pretty straightforward, right?” Arwin asked, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. He wasn’t trying to actually make anything yet, so he didn’t need to listen to the metal. All he had to do was prepare it.

Reya nodded hesitantly. “I’m not sure I’m going to be able to swing that big hammer, though.”

Arwin hefted Verdant Blaze, glancing down at it. Now that Reya had mentioned it, he wasn’t so sure that the weapon would even allow her to swing it. When he’d worked with Zeke, the boy had used his old hammer.

“I’ll help you,” Arwin said. “You’ll need to learn how to swing the hammer anyway. It’s not as easy as it looks.”

“I never thought it looked easy.”

Arwin took the metal back out of the forge and set it on the anvil. He beckoned Reya over.

“Here. Try to hold onto this, but… not too hard. It’s somewhat bonded to me, so it’s possible it might not like someone else touching it.”

“That doesn’t sound very safe.”

“Only one way to find out,” Arwin said, hoisting the hammer and giving it a pointed look. “Just touch it slowly. I think it should register that I’m letting you use it and you aren’t trying to steal it.”

“Should?” Despite her doubt, Reya walked to stand beside Arwin. She brushed the back of a hand across the shaft of the weapon. When nothing happened, she slowly reached out and wrapped her hands around it.

“See?” Arwin asked, slightly more relieved that she hadn’t gotten burned than he cared to admit. It had still been a possibility, and even if Anna could have healed a burn without too much trouble, it still would have been very unfortunate.

“Right. So what do I do?”

Arwin moved behind Reya, adjusting her grip on the hammer. “Try to lift it. See how it feels.”

Reya raised the weapon, then shifted her stance to better her stability. She let out a surprised grunt. “It’s so much lighter than I thought it would be.”

“Don’t let it get away from you,” Arwin warned. “It still hits like a bull. Start out swinging it a bit less than you think you need to. The hammer is heavy enough to do a lot of the swing for you, and we’re only trying to work the impurities out of the metal right now.”

“Okay. Do I swing now?”

“Go for it,” Arwin said, keeping a light hold on the back of the hammer. Even if it was tolerating her now, he didn’t want it to burn Reya the moment he let go.

Reya raised the hammer, then brought it down on the metal with a resounding clang. She glanced at Arwin over her shoulder and he gave her an encouraging nod.

“One down. A few hundred more to go. Keep at it.”

***

Reya got tired. If anything, she managed to keep at it for longer than Arwin had expected. She was half his size and had considerably less muscle, and swinging a hammer for hours on end was exhausting.

He’d fully thought that he’d have to take over before the metal was ready to start working with, but he’d been incorrect. Reya managed to completely finish working the impurities out of the Brightsteel sheet they’d been preparing, not stopping until Arwin had judged it finished.

“Well done,” Arwin said as Reya returned full control of the hammer to him.

“Thanks,” Reya said with a weary smile. “It… feels good. To be able to do something.”

“You’ll be able to do more in the future,” Arwin promised. “But, for now, this is more than enough. Thank you. It gave me some time to rest.”

“Do you even need rest?”

“Everyone needs rest,” Arwin replied. “Even me.”

Reya’s stomach grumbled and her cheeks reddened.

“Might be time to get some food,” Arwin suggested, nudging her toward the door. “Could you send Rodrick over as well? I’ve got a favor I’d like to ask for him, and I’d imagine he probably wants to do something just as much as you did. Also, if you can get me some leather at some point, that would be really useful as well.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Reya said. She paused at the door and sent a glance back at Arwin. “Thanks. It feels nice to be able to do something. I just wish I could do more.”

With that, she stepped out onto the street and headed off. Arwin picked up the large sheet of metal that she’d hammered out, watching the light reflect off the shimmering steel, and sighed.

I wanted a relaxing retirement, but I don’t think that’s going to be happening anytime soon. If I want peace, I need to be strong. This wasn’t the way I wanted to be reminded that I’m really not the Hero anymore, but I’m not going to be forgetting it anytime soon.

The door creaked and Arwin turned as Rodrick stepped into the building.

“Arwin. Reya said you needed help?” Rodrick asked. “I’m not sure how much I’m going to be able to do with smith stuff, but I’ll do what I can.”

“Oh, I don’t need any help with that right now,” Arwin said. “I need something else.”

Rodrick blinked. “Really? What?”

“The Iron Hounds don’t know you beyond someone who just happened to buy gear from me,” Arwin said. “And I don’t want to spend all this time making armor only to find out I have no idea how to find them.”

“So you want me to sniff ‘em out?”

“Yeah. Starting with Tix,” Arwin said, his features going flat. “She’s involved, but I don’t know who else is.”

“I’ll find out,” Rodrick promised. “That shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Just Tix.” Arwin shook his head. “Anything more is suspicious. Just figure out where Tix is and see if you can find out where she normally spends time. I don’t want you getting gutted in a back alley.”

“Got it,” Rodrick said, giving Arwin a sharp nod. “I’ll find her.”

“Just be careful,” Arwin said. “I don’t want any more of us dying. Oh, while you head out, could you find Lillia and send her over? She wanted to help on the armor. And maybe let Anna know you’re going so she doesn’t rip my head off.”

Rodrick let out a bark of dry laughter. “Oh, don’t worry. I will. I’ll get Lillia as well. And I might not be the best warrior yet, but I’m damn good at bullshitting. I’ll have Tix’s location, hobbies, and favorite food to you in a day.”

Arwin’s hands tightened around Verdant Blaze. “Just her location will be more than enough.”