Rise of the Living Forge

Even though Arwin had known that there would be a time where Lillia’s identity would have to come out, his stomach still tightened into a knot. This was about as controlled of an environment as they were ever going to get — but that did nothing to change who they were. Who she was.

Even the most ignorant adventurer knew of the Demon Queen. It was their greatest order to put a stop to her. There was no greater foe. The Guild had managed to twist the truth so utterly thoroughly that it was impossible to tell if someone would instantly lunge in attempt to strike down their supposed foe.

Even though Arwin knew that, logically, nobody in this room had a chance of posing Lillia a threat, he still couldn’t stop the worry from welling within him. Even if they were in her domain, it would hurt her in ways more than physical if anybody just turned on her purely because they learned of her identity.

But Vix didn’t move. Her eyes widened as she stared at Lillia for a long second. She processed the information that Kien and Art had revealed.

Across from her, Monica did the same. Human and monster alike stared in disbelief at the Demon Queen.

It was the orc who broke the silence.

“Well I’ll be stuck like a pig,” Monica breathed. “I knew you were a demon, but you’re the gods damned Queen?”

“Hold on,” Vix muttered. She looked from Lillia to Arwin, then lifted a hand to cover her mouth. “Godspit. There’s no way. You couldn’t make this up. Are you serious?”

“Dead,” Arwin said.

“I can’t tell if I’m impressed, horrified, or jealous,” Vix said. She leaned forward. Out of every emotion that could have been present in her features, Arwin was stunned to find that it was interest that made itself known. She was like a giddy child that had just gotten a juicy piece of gossip. “Talk about switching teams. What the fuck happened? How in the world did you even get to this point? We’re on your side now, so you have to say, right?”

“Hold on,” Art said hurriedly. “We are not on any sides, Vix. This is a business deal. A temporary alliance. We aren’t—”

“Oh, come on. We both know that isn’t true,” Vix said. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Now that we know this much, are we really just going to go back to how things were when the Proving Grounds finish? If Arwin manages to find a way to fix me and we save our family name… what then? Are you telling me that you, of all people, would burn a connection like this?”

“Well, no. But…”

Vix arched an eyebrow.

Art sighed. “Okay. I will admit that, against my better judgement, that I am interested to see just what is going on with the Menagerie. I hate not understanding things.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Rodrick said, hiding a smirk. “The more you learn, the more you’re going to realize how little you really knew.”

“You don’t need to encourage me. I am already admitting that I am interested in pursuing further partnership, so long as our resultant goals end up benefiting both of us,” Art said. He crossed his arms and leveled a flat stare at Rodrick. “And I am more than aware of what my and Vix’s talents are worth.”

“We can bargain later,” Vix said. “Come on. You’ll tell us, right?”

“Tell us what?” Monica asked. She looked from Vix to Arwin. “This is a more common tale than you’d think. I’m sure it’s just like how I met Raen, my husband.”

“How did an orc meet a human?” Vix asked, momentarily distracted from her prior line of questioning.

“I happened upon his tent at night while I was out hunting. I thought there was some delicious smelling food in there, so I took a peek. Turned out it was just Raen.” Monica’s cheeks reddened as her memories drifted. “It was love at first sight. We’ve been together ever since. Just because I’m a monster doesn’t mean we had to meet in some horrible way. You don’t have to assume that they had some crazy story just because Lillia is a monster. People just fall in love sometimes, you know.”

Arwin coughed into a fist.

Vix did not miss it. Her gaze sharpened. “Come on. Please?”

“It is a long story,” Arwin said, the corner of his lip twitching in amusement. “And not a particularly happy one.”

“Don’t be shy,” Monica said. “We’re all in this together, right?”

“I will not breathe a word of what I hear. The Guild would hate unions between monsters and humans,” Kien said with a shrug. “Thus, I support it with the entirety of my being.”

“Kien, you have a second shot at life. Don’t waste it on hatred,” Arwin said. “Righting past wrongs is important, but don’t burn who you are now to do it.”

“Just get out with it,” Vix insisted. “Please? We won’t tell a soul.”

Arwin let out a sigh. Everyone in the room already had the majority of the truth. And, if he was honest, he already knew that they needed allies if they were going to bring down the Adventurer’s Guild.

The most important information was already out. There was no reason for him to conceal the rest of the story. If anything, giving the others the full picture would let them understand just how serious the situation really was.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Lillia and I knew each other for a long time before we ever got… involved,” Arwin said slowly. “We were not the best of friends.”

“Oh, enemies to lovers. I love it when bards tell these stories. Did she raid your town?” Monica asked, her eyes lighting up in delight. Then she paused. A frown crossed her lips. “Wait. You knew the Demon Queen? Before you shacked up?”

“He more than knew me,” Lillia said. She sent a playful look at Arwin. “A few weeks before we started dating, he ran me through the chest with his sword.”

“In my defense, she did the same thing to me.”

“Ran you through? What adventurer could possibly be strong enough to…” Monica trailed off. She was silent for a single beat of the heart as her eyes went wide. “Oh. Oh. Godspit. You’re a fucking hero. Holy shit. Not just a hero. The Hero.”

“I was,” Arwin corrected. “Now, I am Arwin. Or Ifrit. Depends how close we are. I’m just a smith.”

Kien’s smile evaporated as he stared at Arwin, shock crossing his features. He took a step backward and the wall met him. “You’re the Hero that died fighting the Demon Queen?”

“Wait, you didn’t make that connection already?” Art asked. “I thought you’d figured it out.”

“I figured out Lillia was the Demon Queen!” Kien exclaimed. He thrust a finger at Arwin. “How could I have guessed that you were the greatest warrior in the entire kingdom?”

“Hardly. There were a lot of lies around the war,” Arwin said grimly. “But I suppose now is the best time to bring everyone here up to speed with the full truth, isn’t it?”

“I’d just like to make it abundantly clear that I am not looking for a fight with the Menagerie,” Vix said. She gave him a salute. “Looking forward to working with you, Hero.”

“Don’t call me that,” Arwin said, a sharp edge entering his voice. “That title is not the compliment you think it is.”

“You can say that again,” Kien said grimly. “Heroes are nothing but disposable trash.”

“Sorry,” Vix said. “I’ll remain silent until I’ve got the full story. But I don’t think there’s anything you could say that could possibly surprise us at this point.”

“Then the story would start about fifteen years ago,” Arwin said, heaving a long sigh. “When I was kidnapped from my home on another world and summoned to this one by the Adventurer’s Guild.”

“Okay,” Vix said meekly. “I was wrong.”

***

The story took Arwin several hours. He no longer had anything to hide, and he didn’t bother concealing anything other than his direct conversations with the Mesh. For some reason, those felt a little too personal to spill with anybody but Lillia.

He had to pause more times than he could count to answer numerous questions from Art, Vix, Monica, and Kien, but they steadily made their way through the war that had been Arwin’s life and what had come after it.

Arwin did his best to avoid lingering too much on the actual war. He gave them enough context to ensure that they all understood exactly how serious the crimes of the Guild had been, but the memories still hurt too much to recall for long.

The story got marginally easier once he got to recent times. Arwin told them all the discoveries he and Lillia had made about the Guild and how both the Monster Horde and the Kingdom had been manipulated into a war that had no purpose.

He told them about the dwarves — many of whom knew of this truth and did nothing about it — and of the Menagerie. Of their enemies and friends, and their goal to grow strong enough to bring the Guild to its knees and end the war for good.

The only other thing Arwin didn’t go into detail about was Phoenix Circle’s secrets. Those were theirs to share, and they weren’t relevant to the immediate conversation.

When he finished, the room was completely silent. Nobody said anything for nearly a minute as everybody tried to process the magnitude of the revelation he’d just dropped on their shoulders.

Even Esmerelda didn’t make any wisecrack remarks. The old woman stared at Arwin, unspeaking, from the corner of the room. The corners of her eyes were damp and her grip had tightened around the potion vial that Arwin suspected she’d been about to try to sell.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

“I had no idea as to the extent of things,” Monica whispered, finally cutting through the darkness with her words. “The Menagerie have such a burden on their shoulders.”

“It’s one that we have to carry,” Lillia said. “Nobody else knows the truth, and we can’t go spreading it yet. We aren’t strong enough to face against the Guild. That’s why we have to keep clawing our way forward.”

“Raen will support you,” Monica said without a second of hesitation. “I can promise that. Our funds—”

“Don’t bankrupt yourselves,” Arwin said. “We will gratefully accept your support, but if it is too overt, then people will take notice. Right now, the Menagerie is building a reputation. We need that reputation. It’s what will bring people to our doorstep. Step by step, we will build up trust and ready the hands to pull the rug out from the Guild itself. But if things start moving too above-ground, then the Guild will take notice. A talented upstart guild is nothing new. But multiple merchant guilds suddenly throwing their full weight behind us seemingly out of nowhere… we can’t afford that. Not yet.”

“Multiple? The Montibeau family?” Monica guessed.

Arwin nodded. “We interfered in a plot to kill their heiress. We’ll be bringing her up to speed on the truth as well in due time… but until then, everything I shared has to remain in this room. Aside from Raen. You can tell him. He’s intelligent.”

“I am impressed you’re able to restrain yourself this well,” Art said. “If what had happened to you happened to me…”

“It’s not a competition and I have a lot to lose.”

“Then we will not lose,” Kien said. His fists clenched at his sides. “The extent of the Guild’s corruption goes so much deeper than I thought. I will stand by you. Once the sins of my family have been dealt with, should I still draw breath, my blade will turn against all in your path.”

“Focus on getting you class first,” Arwin said with a grim smile. “What we need the most right now is to get stronger.”

“Is that the purpose of the Proving Grounds?” Vix asked.

“Not directly, but it will aid our goals. It will make our name grow and draw people to us,” Arwin said. “We are supporting Phoenix Circle in this because they need a question answered by the Secret Eye.”

“One that even I don’t have the solution to,” Rodrick added.

Art’s eyebrows rose. A flicker of competitive spirit passed through them. “Truly? What’s the question?”

“We can discuss that later,” Rodrick said with a chuckle. “If you’re fully on-board, I would be more than interested in seeing just what you’re capable of. Maybe you can do what I can’t.”

“I must ask, why is it that you aren’t participating in the tournament yourself?” Kien asked. “Even if your class is changed, you should be able to win this easily. Could you not attend under a disguise?”

“I’d much rather be working. I’ve got a lot of stuff on my plate,” Arwin said. “And fortunately, I won’t need to. Olive and her team are going to be a lot more capable than anyone is expecting.”

“Then I will look forward to facing them and honing my talents,” Kien said. “I am eager to set out and earn a class once more. I cannot sit around doing nothing after what I have heard.”

“We need to prepare,” Vix agreed. “Who knows when—”

Footsteps echoed through the room, cutting her off. They all turned as Anna hurried into the basement.

“Anna?” Rodrick asked. “Is everything okay?”

Lillia’s eyes narrowed a moment later. She’d felt somebody enter the Tavern.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Anna said grimly. “But it’s time. The Secret Eye are here.”