I considered saying nothing for a moment, letting the man revel in his smugness. Unfortunately, that would show him that all the production he had gone through to impress me had been for nothing. And, if he realized that, he might not reveal why he had gone through all that trouble.
Of course, I couldn’t just start begging for forgiveness or do something equally absurd. After all, I was supposed to be a brave soul that challenged the guild directly. “It seems that I should have joined the guild,” I said, acting like I was using my anger to cover up my fear. “That way, I might have learned how to be a coward like you.”
My insult was enough to create a flicker of frustration on his face. It wasn’t a particularly well-crafted one, but coming from someone that he saw close to his skill, it clearly had an impact.
He suppressed it with all the smoothness of a politician, and smiled instead. “Oh, the fire of youth,” he said dismissively instead. “As you grow old, you’ll learn that not every problem needs to be faced head-on.” He paused, his smirk sharpening. “Well, if you grow old…”
“Impressive, I would have thought that you would have at least finished explaining whatever amazing offer you had before resorting to the threats,” I said, leaning forward as if I wanted to turn that into a physical confrontation.
“You’re brave,” he commented. “Too bad you don’t have the necessary caution to temper it.”
This time, I gave a mocking laugh. “What’s the point of reaching the peak of what’s possible if I’m going to act cautious all the time. I rather die.”
That earned a patronizing shake of his head. “Oh, poor child. You think that you’re at the top of the world just because you leveled up somewhere near level thirty and earned a few achievements on your own. You don’t know just how many secrets the world truly holds. We’re just at the beginning. You’re weak.”
“What nonsense are you talking about, you crazy old man,” I said, acting shocked. “Do you want me to believe that there are others that could treat me like a weakling? Have you been using drugs? Why would the world be such a hellhole if there were people that are much stronger than us…”
He sighed in defeat. “That’s the question, isn’t it,” he answered, his sigh of frustration real as far as I could see. “For some reason, they don’t intervene even as the monsters massacre people, only intervening when things get too much…”
As I listened to him, I became convinced that his knowledge about the Eternals was quite limited. It was good, as it meant they wouldn’t be alerted if I had to take a sudden emergency action.
“Let’s assume for a moment that what you’re saying is correct, and you’re not getting mad in your advanced age,” I said, not missing the opportunity to get in another insult. “Does it have anything to do with this cowardly trap,” I added.
“Somewhat, but it’s mostly your fault,” he answered, his smirk widening. “This facility holds the key to making contact with that mysterious organization. It was the greatest opportunity of your life when the fourth prince reached for you to repair it … but you chose to waste that opportunity by trying to betray him for the crown prince.”
“And, let me guess, he reached out to you,” I said, implicitly accepting that claim. I had no doubt that the only reason they had learned was because the second prince’s spies deliberately let it known. The fourth prince’s spies — the ones that were actually loyal to him — were nowhere good enough to catch it otherwise.
They clearly wanted to make sure I couldn’t just work for the fourth prince, and had to follow up with the plan of stealing the Spear.
“I have to thank you for that. The prince clearly has concerns about trusting any guild member with such a secret. Without your betrayal, he wouldn’t have contact with me.”
“Good for you, but why all the trouble,” I said, making a sweeping gesture as I spoke. “Why bother explaining all to me when you could just go and repair your precious weapon …” I continued, then I made a show of freezing. Shocked at first, soon turning into amusement. “But you can’t repair it alone, can you?” I said.
“T-that’s nonsense,” he immediately responded, but he was unable to suppress his shock. That was understandable. He no doubt didn’t expect to be caught due to the blunt personality I had been reflecting.
“Oh, really, then why are you here if you’re not trying to offer me a deal I can’t refuse. I help you, and you convince the prince to let me go free. Right?”
His silence was deafening as he tried to decide what to say, his preparations ruined. He could argue against my conclusion, but it would be pointless when he would eventually circle toward it. “And, you think that you’re capable enough to offer me something that I can’t find in the guild.”
I leaned back even further, enjoying his growing frustration. “I certainly can. I’m much better than the bunch of lazy pathetic apprentices that you constantly fill into the guild,” I declared.
“Pretty arrogant of you,” he cut in, clearly desperate to change the topic.
“Maybe. It’s not arrogance if I can back it up,” I declared. He looked happy with that change, so I decided to douse his excitement once more. “It’s not like it matters,” I added.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you clearly don’t think that I’m not as good as your fellow legendary blacksmiths, but still went all that trouble of capturing me.” My smirk turned merciless. “Your fellows don’t know about the opportunity, do they?”
He paused, his arrogance long gone. He stayed silent for almost a minute before speaking. “I see, you’re not as politically unaware as you led us to believe,” he said.
“No, I’m not. I just prefer not to waste pointless flowery language and lengthy yet pointless intrigues.”
“Even when it costs you a lot,” he said. “Things would have been much more different if you tried to ramp up your operations slowly—“
“Well, that’s debatable,” I cut in. “Discounting this nonsense that I couldn’t have foreseen, it wasn’t a bad plan. No matter how I tried to enter, the guild would have tried to cut my path eventually. At least, in my way, I would have gathered enough supporters to make the guild’s job harder.”
“Thinking like this, it’s not too unreasonable,” he admitted. “And, since you’re more scheming than you revealed, why don’t you show me exactly how good are you and guess why I need you,” he asked.
“Come on, that’s the best you can come up with,” I said. “My techniques are designed to create weapons that could be easily enchanted. And only an expert on the topic could create such simplified designs. Ergo, you’re having trouble repairing something about its magical structure,” I suggested.
“Not bad, not bad at all,” he answered. “And does such an offer look acceptable to you?” he asked.
“Depends,” I said.
“Depends on what?”
“On what you’re willing to offer, of course,” I added. “I want some evidence about this mysterious organization before even checking the weapon, and I want to meet a representative before I start working.”
“You can only meet with them once the repair is finished, but otherwise acceptable,” he accepted quickly. “Although, I had to admit, I expected you to resist much harder after the betrayal.”
Good point. Luckily, I had an answer ready to go. “Betrayal is unacceptable, of course, but you were my enemy until a few moments ago. How can we talk about betrayal when there was no allegiance.” I paused for a moment, taking a threatening breath. “Of course, if you were to pull something like this now…”
“Message received,” he answered with a chuckle. “Provided you can prove your worth, of course,” he said as he pushed some papers toward me.
Some very familiar papers, created by my own hand, showing some of the progress notes I had prepared when I had been working on the Spear. I didn’t have any doubt about the source of that mysterious repair job, but it was always good to have confirmation.
“Wow, that’s an interesting weapon,” I said, making a show of my shocked display. “Is this real, or is it just a complicated test?” I asked.
“Good question. Why don’t you tell me,” he said, looking happy now that he had achieved his mission without a problem. Of course, he was unaware that he was just another pawn. I had no doubt that the second prince’s agents were doing their own preparations to contact me, about to deliver their own incredible offer.
Patience, I thought. After all, I had already received everything I needed from the current situation. After I finished my notes, I pushed them back, and his eyes widened.
“Not bad, not bad at all,” he murmured, clearly impressed by my display even as I undersold my capabilities greatly.
I passed the test.
All that remained was to decide whether to use the opportunity to make contact with the Eternals. I was always afraid of targeting them directly … but what if they were the ones to recruit me…
—
{Strength: 45 Charisma: 45
Precision: 45 Perception: 45
Agility: 45 Manipulation: 45
Speed: 45 Intelligence: 54
Endurance: 72 Wisdom: 45}
{Purified Divine Spark: 56280}
{Pseudo-HP: 15000 Mana: 20000}
{ADDITIONAL SPARKS
Light - Chosen 7.4
Nature - Chosen 10
Knowledge - Chosen 10}
{MINIONS
GODDESSES
Elven Goddess
Goddess of Knowledge}
