Danmachi- Hell’s Forge

I saw the woman from the day before was carefully tending the flowers with a small smile on her face and how in the distance there was a dirt ring with a white haired boy and a Pallum woman sparring with the woman looking to be literally made of metal some fucking how, magic probably. To be honest it was rather terrifying as the spar was quite intense from my point of view as a normal mortal. The sheer amount of force being thrown around would easily crush me if I had to face it and that was very intimidating.-

While it was obvious that the Pallum woman was much weaker than the white haired boy she was holding her own as all his attacks just slid off her metal form and accomplished nothing. Tearing my attention away from the window I began to investigate the building I was in seriously. It only took me checking three rooms to realize that the building was clearly a sort of housing area as every room was almost entirely identical. The few rooms that differed were clearly occupied by a member of the familia though oddly there appeared to be only a small number of members.-

I only found seven rooms in total out of the dozens I checked that had any sort of personal touches to them. I opened a door towards the end of the building and saw a magnificent hot spring bath that was large enough to almost swim in and had steam rising from it constantly. I could almost imagine the wealth required for such a thing and felt a little bitter about it. Here I was with a large debt hanging over my head like a guillotine and these people just had something like this casually available.-

Moving on I discovered the frankly massive fully stocked kitchen that oddly had a black cat just lazily lounging on the counter of. Said cat spared me a brief glance before yawning and going back to sleep. That brief moment of movement however sent chills down my arms as the cats eyes were solid black with no other colors there. My instincts were also screaming at me that something was very dangerous about the cat so I left the kitchen area in such a hurry I didn't even notice the woman who had walked up and I ran into.-

"So you are the stray Captain Alex picked up? You don't look all that different from any other Daedalus dweller but I suppose if anyone could see talent it would be that man." the red haired woman said clearly unimpressed with me but unwilling to say her captain was wrong for some reason.

I immediately filed this woman under the skeptic list before moving on as she reminded me far too much of the people in Daedalus street who were habitually distrustful of everything. It was unfortunately a necessary personality trait to have there as more often than not trust got you killed or worse.-

Anyways I investigated the rest of the manor and to my surprise discovered that the place had a whole church attached to it, basement and everything. Attached to that however was an odd looking door with no handle to turn but this odd hole instead that was suspiciously sized. I went to reach for it when a voice stopped me.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, well I mean if you want to lose a finger go ahead but otherwise best not." The Captain of the familia said from a wall I was sure I checked when I came in.

"What do you mean "lose a finger"?" I asked confused.

"That door leads to my workshop which is as you can imagine loaded with all sorts of valuable things. I specifically made the doors to the place lockpick proof and only openable by people I give permission to. The doors will eat the fingers of anyone else who attempts to get the door open. I don't mind showing you what's in there before you jump to the conclusion I'm hiding something by the way." he said preempting what I was going to say annoyingly.

"How do you know so much about me?" I demanded since I was getting really fed up with him seeming to predict what I was going to do.

He chuckled and shook his head "I don't know a damn thing about you besides some surface level details but you are really predictable. The whole paranoid girl who grew up in a shitty place and thus has trust issues thing makes you an open book to figure out how you think." he says and I opened my mouth to argue but stopped when I realized he was right.

I was very aware that people in my situation act and think the same way more or less. It's how things end up for the vast majority of those in Daedalus street. Honestly it had never occurred to me that that meant we were also very easy to predict though now that I had it made it easy to understand how the familia's in charge of the place maintained control so easily. Those who defy them either end up a part of them, dead or more or less slaves. All they had to do was watch the patterns and find the ones who stick out somehow.-

"Why me though? There are plenty of talented people more deserving of this chance?" I asked the question that had been burning me up this whole time.

"You are thinking too simply or I suppose you can't see the full picture yet. Come, let me show you my workshop while I explain." he said as he walked over to the door and pushed his thumb into it.

The strange hole tightened around his thumb before he pulled and the door came open before he twisted his thumb and it was freed. He walked into the doorframe casually and I cautiously followed.-

It was surprisingly bland to be honest. There was no burning forge, no tools on shelves and racks of unfinished products. The workshop seemed almost like a big empty room with no ceiling and some chests and shelves of materials and odd little statues. There was a single chair in the center of the room but otherwise that was it.-

"Disappointed? I'm not like most other craftsmen as my craft uses not external tools but my own magic to work. Makes my workshop rather plain to look at as a result." he said as if reading my thoughts again.