Rise of the Living Forge

Eleven leaned forward in her chair and pushed her hair out of the way of her face as she stared down at the winners of the latest fight. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so invested in a fight.

Not that I’ll ever let One know. He’d never let me hear the end of it. I’d be on duty for the rest of my life. I don’t care how exciting a fight is. It still isn’t any better than sleep.

“That team…” Eleven’s lips twitched. She recognized the armor that all three of them wore. It bore Ifrit’s mark. The smith was making a statement, and it couldn’t have been louder if he’d tried.

For that matter, it seemed he’d made two messages. The first was that Ifrit’s teams executed anyone who had personal issues with them — and, from the sound of the conversations Eleven had overheard, the dead were the aggressors in the altercations.

Ifrit’s first message was that his mark bore justice with it. At least, it bore his form of justice. Whether that justice was true or not wasn’t something she could make the call on. Eleven didn’t have enough information to decide that. It was something that One could worry about.

But his second message was considerably more interesting than the first. Everyone wanted people to believe that their actions were true and just. But Ifrit’s second message carried something far more unique. He had outfitted two teams, not one. That wasn’t an uncommon strategy for a crafting guild or a smith that was trying to make a name for themselves.

The more people that bore equipment bearing a smith’s mark, the more chances that one of them would do well and make a name for the smith. The drawback to that was if enough people had the smith’s work, then it became cheapened. Outfitting multiple teams also meant worsening that smith’s relationship with all those groups because they weren’t working exclusively with them.

And that isn’t even to mention that spreading the smith’s attention between too many people means that, in general, the armor he’s making isn’t going to be absolutely top notch. Certain corners have to get cut to outfit more people. That’s just how things go.

That was the reason smiths and crafting guilds generally stuck to one team. They made that team as strong as possible to show off how capable they were in comparison with the rest of the competition.

That meant one of two things. Ifrit either only put his equipment into the tournament to demonstrate how strong it was with no regard for if his teams actually won, or he was so confident in both of the teams he’d made equipment for that he felt both of them deserved the best chance to win.@@novelbin@@

Either way, it was an interesting move.

It was made even more interesting by the fact that Ifrit wasn’t the only smith who had outfitted more than one team.

Necrohammer, huh?

Eleven leaned back and drummed her fingers on the armrest of her chair. The armor that Soulforge’s team had been wearing… it sat ill with her. There was something off about it. She hadn’t been close enough to the fight to make anything specific out, but it would definitely be in her report to One. He wasn’t going to like this.

That really should have been more than enough information for her, but Eleven’s unwilling attention was still given no freedom to wander. Her eyes drifted down to focus on the female assassin as she scooped a crutch from the ground.

“You two are a pain in the ass. I really can’t be bothered to get this invested, but you aren’t giving me much of a choice,” Eleven informed the duo as the girl handed the boy — her sibling, from the look of them — back his crutch.

The entire team was fascinating, of course. They had a warrior whose combat sense and skill eclipsed his magical strength by leaps and bounds to the point where it should have been impossible. ŕ𝐚ΝÒᛒĘŝ

One was definitely going to want to hear about him. The man was a good candidate for the Setting Sun. Eleven was willing to bet that his class could be Sunset, if it wasn’t already. She was going to have to try to catch the man after the next fight started.

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But, somehow, he wasn’t even close to the most interesting member of their group. The two siblings had almost all of her attention.

The boy’s magic was unique. That was always a plus, but Eleven had seen a lot of unique magic. Unique didn’t mean strong or interesting. She did have a soft spot for people that didn’t have to move around much during fights, and stealing magic was certainly an incredibly powerful ability depending on its limitations, but none of that should have caught her attention to any significant level.

Eleven had actually found herself subconsciously paying attention to them well before anything had happened. It had taken Eleven more time than she cared to admit figuring out just what it was that had snagged her eye.

And, when she’d finally figured it out, she’d nearly burst out laughing.

“The girl isn’t an assassin at all. She’s a warlock,” Eleven said in delight, rising from her chair to peer closer at the trio as they made their way off the stage. “And she’s contracted with her brother.”

Eleven turned on her heel and strode out of the room without waiting another second. This was something she’d never seen before. And, as tempting as it was to sit back and wait for the next fight, there were some things that even she wouldn’t sleep through.

A warlock contracted to her brother. Who would have thought such a thing was possible?

Eleven is going to give me a month of vacation after I get the juicy details on this team. If I catch them as they make it back to the room, I might be able to do everything at once. Then I can have the best of everything. Get the information I need and get a chance to relax and do nothing until the next fight.

***

Eleven’s luck only improved. She already knew where Thornhelm’s team room was, of course. Not knowing would have made her a very poor spy indeed. But she hadn’t expected to find the broom-wielding warrior alone leaning against the wall beside the door when she arrived to speak with them.

Talking with the members one at a time made things considerably easier for her. Or at least, it should have. Something in the man’s eyes told her that he’d known she was coming.

“What do you want?” the man asked, his eyes flat and empty behind his mask.

“You’re an astute one,” Eleven said. “I don’t hold any ill will toward any of you. To be entirely honest, I’m not even here all that voluntarily. I just want to have a few quick words with you, the siblings, and then I’ll be gone. Nothing to do with the tournament either. I don’t care who wins.”

The man tilted his head to the side. “You have me here. Speak.”

“What do you go by? I’d rather have a name to the face.”

“You can call me Kay. You don’t need any more than that.”

“Kay works,” Eleven said. A strand of hair fell in front of her face and she grimaced, pushing it out of the way. It fell back. She suppressed a sigh. Her hair was in a mood. Taming it was going to be impossible for the next few hours. “Have you ever heard of Setting Sun?”

“I am aware of the guild,” Kay said quietly. “You’re one of theirs?”

“I’m Eleven. I’m here with an offer. I can’t be bothered with a fancy recruitment speech, but I think you’d be a good fit for the guild provided you pass an interview with our leader.”

“Not the most convincing way I’ve been approached.”

“This isn’t generally the job they use me for. I just see potential in you. I’d explain more if I had the energy, but I don’t. Do you want in or not? If you know Setting Sun, then you know we’re one of the strongest guilds in the kingdom for good reason.”

“Strongest in individual members, but also one of the smallest. I’ve heard Setting Sun is very picky with who they allow in,” Kay said. He ran a thumb over the shaft of his broom. “Why me?”

“Because you stand out. This won’t interfere with your tournament run, by the way. We have a team participating but we don’t particularly care who wins this. You can continue on with your friends.”

“How kind of you,” Kay said with a small chuckle. “Thank you for the offer, but I refuse.”

Eleven blinked. She knew she hadn’t exactly given a very convincing offer… but turning Setting Sun down just like that was crazy.

“You… refuse? Why?”

“Because I have a different guild that I have sworn my allegiance to. That is the end of the conversation.”

Damn. Now One is going to like him even more. He loves the stubborn ones.

Oh well. At least that saves me trouble now.

“Fair enough,” Eleven said with a shrug.

“That’s it?” Kay asked.

“Yep. What, did you want me to beg? I don’t have time for that. Have a good one. If you don’t mind, I’m still going to have a chat with the rest of your team.”

“And why’s that?” Kay asked. “Attempting to recruit them as well?”

“No. Too young. We don’t run a babysitting service,” Eleven replied. “It’s because of the girl.”

“What of her?” the warrior’s eyes thinned. He was a protective one.

“I’ve got some information that I think she’s going to want. The girl’s a warlock,” Eleven said.

“How do you know that?” Kay asked, tilting his head to the side. His tone didn’t give any of his thoughts away. “And why do you care?”

“The answer to both of the questions is the same,” Eleven replied with a small smile. “It’s because warlocks recognize their own kind.”