Rise of the Living Forge

Battle after battle unfolded upon the arena. The crowds roared and Kraven barked out more largely meaningless slop to keep them excited — all the while interspersing sponsorships in between every few fights.

Time ground on as the tournament continued, and days turned to nights and back to days. The tournament suspended in the late hours, only to kick right back up the following morning.

At this point, Art was fairly convinced that the Secret Eye were geniuses. They were accomplishing every goal that their organization possibly could have had all at the exact same time… and they were getting paid for it.

Their purpose, and it wasn’t even one that they’d tried to hide, was to evaluate the abilities of the adventuring guilds in the Kingdom of Lian. They had to keep their rankings updated to properly reflect the abilities of the guilds so the more difficult tasks and most dangerous threats could be assigned to the appropriate teams.

Art was confident the Secret Eye had enough members with very advanced covert abilities that they could have just spied on the guilds they were interested in. That would have been what most people have gone with.

The Secret Eye had chosen the exact opposite approach. They’d turned what should have been a mildly suspicious act at best and laid their cards out on the table, letting everyone know they were doing it by throwing a massive tournament.

A tournament they’d sold seats to for exorbitant prices. One where the guilds would all demonstrate their best abilities in all forms. From spying on their opponents to their supply lines and equipment… everything was on display.

And to top all of that off, the Secret Eye were doing sponsorships. Sponsorships. Art nearly burst out laughing at his own thoughts. They were definitely going to make a ridiculous amount of money off this whole thing.

Makes me wonder why. Everyone wants money, but an organization like this should be funded by the Adventurer’s Guild itself. Even with what I know about the Guild… I would have thought they’d want the Secret Eye to remain in the shadows.

“Art?” Vix asked.

He blinked. His thoughts had gotten so loud that he’d completely missed the last fight. The last thing he could recall was a group clad in pitch-black armor taking the stage. Now the arena was empty again.

“Sorry, what was that? I was distracted. I’m off my game,” Art said.

“Nerves still?” Kien asked, tilting his head to the side.

“No,” Art said. “I was thinking about why the Secret Eye needs so much money. It could just be greed, but I always like to evaluate all options.”

“You can’t just use your card things to find out?” Kien raised an eyebrow.

Art was more than aware the former hero was fishing for information, but he didn’t care. The people he wanted to hide his abilities from weren’t in this room. Ever since Arwin had revealed the truth about what had happened to him and Lillia’s identity as the Demon Queen, Art had made up his mind.

The Adventurer’s Guild had tricked the entire kingdom. And, more than anything other than losing, Art hated being tricked.

Kien is part of the Menagerie. He joined to help them take down the Adventurer’s Guild. There’s a pretty good chance we continue working together after this tournament… so long as I can prove that Arwin needs me. I don’t work for free. I want something good from him in return, but we won’t get that if our team flops on our face or if Kien has to do everything.

“I was asking if you’ve got any plans for Starforge,” Vix said. “Because I’ve noticed some of the teams that have fought in the main rounds have been called up a second time already. That means there’s a possibility we end up going against them in the next round.”

“A plan might be a bit of a stretch.” Art rifled through his cards and one of them slipped free of the deck, seemingly flipping itself over of its own volition in his hand. It split apart into three cards, each with a member of the Starforge team drawn upon it in excruciating detail. Notes scrawled across the cards’ surfaces beneath the drawings. Art wasn’t worried about concealing them — he’d written them in a cypher that only he and Vix knew. ＲäƝǒ₿Ё𝘴

“You still haven’t mentioned the full extent of what those cards can do. Can you really just lift information from people by looking at them?” Kien asked.

“You haven’t told me what you can do either,” Art pointed out. “If you’re going to play like that, then I will too.”

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Kien chuckled. “Fair enough. It doesn’t matter either way to me. For what it’s worth, I’m looking forward to seeing what the younger generation is capable of. I didn’t really have a chance to interact with many people when I was… ah, you know. My job required too much of me.”@@novelbin@@

Just how intense was his job? I suppose I never really thought about it. He must have been incredibly exhausted. I know he wasn’t the capital-H hero, but I’ve heard of Kien without ever trying to. He was legendary. Not the strongest of the heroes, but he took every job he got. I don’t recall ever hearing about him failing either. Did he completely sacrifice his personal time and life to achieve that standard?

Not for the first time, Art was aware of the weaknesses of his abilities. He knew a lot about Kien the Hero. But Kien the man, the one standing in the waiting room across from him… Art didn’t know much at all about him at all.

Really, the only things I do know are that he wants to stop his brother and feels an enormous sense of responsibility for his actions.

“Interesting,” Art said.

“Interesting?” Kien asked. “What is?”

“You,” Art replied. “It’s difficult for me to get a good read on you. That isn’t made any easier by you refusing not to tell me anything that you can do, you know.”

“It’s more for your good than mine. This tournament is my end goal. Not yours. For me, it is a task to be accomplished. For you, it is a stepping stone. You have a future.”

“Only if we survive,” Art said. “Vix is dying. She’s being consumed from within by affliction. Her own heart is trying to kill her.”

“I have not forgotten the stakes you face. As I promised before — I will do everything in my power to ensure we win the tournament. But why not ask Anna for her services? I have witnessed her heal the impossible.”

Art let out a grunt. “You think that didn’t cross my mind? It was one of my first thoughts. I spoke with her. She can cure Rot — which is incredible, but not what Vix has. Vix’s heart isn’t rotting. It is actively trying to kill her.”

“We don’t need to waste so much time talking about this. I’m right here, you know,” Vix said, shifting from foot to foot. “And I’m not dead. Not yet.”

“And we will be keeping it that way,” Art said firmly. “I plan on winning this tournament, no matter who we go up against. And even if Kien doesn’t tell us what his new class lets him do, I know what he used to be able to do, and I have one more card to play against him.”

Kien blinked, then tilted his head to the side as a frown creased his face. “A card to play against me?”

Art smiled. “That’s right. Even if you aren’t willing to tell me what you’re capable of, I think I’m getting a pretty good understanding of who you are as a person. I expect a lot from you. Not because I want to, but because I need to. And that means you’re going to do everything you possibly can to ensure you don’t fail. So even if I don’t know your exact abilities, if I say I’m going to count on you to deal with the gravity mage, I know you’ll do it.”

Kien’s eyes narrowed. “You are depending on my sensibilities to ensure I will go all out in the fight to avoid being the reason your sister dies?”

“Correct,” Art said. The corner of his lips pulled up into a smirk. “If we fail, it will be entirely your fault for trying to use this as a teaching opportunity.”

“That is an underhanded strategy.”

“I had a very experienced teacher.”

Vix snickered. “If there’s one thing Art is good at, it’s adapting. He has no limits. There are just things he hasn’t tried yet. Putting him together with Rodrick was a terrible idea, but it’s too late to change that. Just remember you asked for this, Kien.”

The former hero studied the two of them for a moment. Then a small smile passed over his features. “Very well. In the end, victory is victory. I’m still not revealing the full extent of my skills. Should you fail to account for something during a fight, while I will still win, you will not stand on the stage together with me for the coming battles. It will be too dangerous. I will fight for the three of us. But, if you prove yourself competent enough to defeat Starforge with what information you have, then you will have the ability to stand with me when we fight Hein.”

“How do you know we won’t fight Hein first?” Vix asked. “There’s no guarantee we’ll run into Starforge before him.”

“Every fight Hein has participated in has been easy. Too easy,” Kien replied. His eyes darkened. “And we are not an easy opponent.”

“You think the fights are rigged?” Vix asked.

“I think the tournament is meant to show the skill of everyone participating while providing entertainment. The Secret Eye will attempt to go for one of the two in every round — or both, if possible. Putting us against Hein early is incredibly unlikely. They do not want him revealing the full strength of that dagger. But you and Starforge… you have history, do you not?”

Art’s eyes narrowed. “We do. Extensive history.”

“And up next,” Kraven roared, his words slicing through the moment of silence in their conversation like a blade, “…is a rather mysterious team! We haven’t seen what they’re capable yet, but they seem to have some rather interesting connections! Let’s welcome Thornhelm’s group to the Proving Grounds once more! And as for their opponent…”

Kraven trailed off to let the excitement build in the crowd.

“You can’t be serious,” Vix said. “You think they’re going to rig the tournament so we fight Starforge? But we should be pretty low ranked and they don’t know who you are. How is that meant to show our talent? Theoretically, we should just get crushed!”

“We won our fights until now easily. That means we’re at least interesting to the crowd,” Kien said, cracking his neck and stretching his arms out before him. “And you can’t have an entertaining fight without drama. What if we get taken out before the next round? I can assure you that’s what they’re thinking.”

“If that’s true…” Art slid his cards back into his deck and grabbed his crutch, driving it under his arm and pushing himself to his feet.

Kraven’s pause was done. He clapped his hands together with a resounding bang. “Let’s have a round of applause for the 2nd place winners of our last Proving Grounds, Starforge!”

Art’s lips thinned.

“Shit,” Vix said, her eyes widening. “You read the Secret Eye like a book.”

“I have some experience dealing with them,” Kien replied curtly. He grabbed his broom and nodded to the arena before them. “Shall we?”

“Yes,” Art said. His voice was as cold as ice as his crutch rang against the stone ground, ferrying him toward the arena. “Starforge overstepped their bounds a long time ago. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity.”