Chapter 409: Packages from mysterious women |
Arwin hadn’t forgotten what Necrohammer had said about Sunsetting a class — nor had he forgotten about the dwarf’s parting words.
As far as Necrohammer knows, Lillia and I are basically the only people who have ever had a chance to Sunset our classes twice. He seemed to think that was pretty significant. I have to wonder just how much Eleven knows about us. Does she know who we were?
But even if she did… Arwin wasn’t so sure he was in a spot where he could go and set his class all the way back down to Apprentice Tier. They were only growing closer to a collision with the Adventurer’s Guild with every day.
“That depends,” Arwin finally said, realizing that nobody had spoken in several seconds since Eleven had asked her question. “What do we have to give up for that kind of information? And to be honest… I’m not sure we’re interested in Sunsetting anything right now. Certianly not enough to start making deals for it.”
“Necrohammer told you about what it means to Sunset your class, did he not?” Eleven asked. A flicker of confusion passed through her features. “Why would you pass up the chance for such an opportunity?”
“Because I don’t want to cripple myself right before what may be a major fight — and that isn’t even to mention the attention that’s sure to be on the Menagerie in the coming days,” Arwin said. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “People are going to come wanting armor. Wanting Lillia’s cooking. We can’t go setting ourselves back to Apprentice whenever we want to. I won’t lie that your offer isn’t tempting. Power is always needed. But we have responsibilities. And if you claim to know what Necrohammer and I spoke about, then you know we can’t afford to give those responsibilities up.”
Eleven blinked. Then she let out a small laugh. She took a long drink from the mug Lillia had given her before speaking again. “Damn, this is good. And I’ll be honest. I don’t know exactly what Necrohammer said to you. He’s powerful. More than competent enough to keep my nose out of things unless I really want to get my hands dirty. And, to be frank, I don’t. I hate work. Even this talk is pushing the limits. So how about this? The information we offer you will be free.”
“Free?” Rodrick’s eyes narrowed. “That makes me even more suspicious. Nothing is free.”
“Why do fish bite a fishing hook?” Eleven asked, tapping a finger against her chin. “Could it be because the bait is so good that they can’t resist?”
“One thinks your guild has potential,” Eleven replied with a shrug. “And we have a common enemy. Think of this as whatever you want it to be. A gesture of good will. A trap. I don’t care. Do you want the information or not? I’m happy to leave if you don’t. We can end things right here.”
The Menagerie exchanged glances. It was a few moments before Rodrick spoke.
“Information never hurts. What is it you want to tell us?”
“I’ll start small. Sunsetting your class doesn’t necessarily mean you get set all the way back to the start,” Eleven said with a small smile. “Sunsetting is not what you think it is. It isn’t some form of rebirth. It’s more of a reforging, and the way it pans out depends on how you’ve gotten to the point you’re at now. If your foundations are shit, then you’re going back to square one. But if they aren’t…”
Eleven didn’t finish her sentence, but the implication was more than enough.
“And how do we know if our foundations are good?” Olive asked.
Eleven shrugged. “There are some who can answer that question, but I’m not one of them. Setting Sun could probably get a pretty good idea of it if you joined up.”
“Not interested,” Lillia said. “An alliance is one thing, but we’re not joining your guild.”
The others all nodded.
Eleven grimaced. “Fair enough. I think we do owe you an apology for Twelve. He got… out of hand. That won’t happen again.”
Bit hard for it to. He’s dead.
“Gathered as much,” Eleven said. She blew out a breath. “You aren’t at the level to form a proper alliance with us. That isn’t arrogance speaking. If you aren’t formally under our protection, then you’ll get the wrong type of attention. Setting Sun has powerful enemies. The same ones you do. And I think you know just why you don’t need more of their eyes on you. You’ve already got enough.”
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“Speaking of that, I’ve got a question,” Arwin said. “If you’re fighting the Adventurer’s Guild, why are you able to just wander around freely and participate in the Secret Eye’s tournament? The Guild and the Secret Eye work together.”
“They’re still separate organizations, and there’s more than one way to fight the Guild,” Eleven said. “The Guild is unaware of the extent of our activities, which is the reason I will not e elaborating further on what we do if you are not part of our organization.”
“Fair enough,” Lillia said. “But then I think we’ve reached a bit of a deadlock. We won’t join your group, and you won’t help us without us doing more for you.”
Eleven nodded. “Yes. It does seem like we are running out of options, but there is one left. I suspected you wouldn’t take us up on the previous offer, so this might be the only way we can help each other out.”
“Oh?” Arwin asked. “And what would that be?”
“Setting Sun is not a crafting guild,” Eleven said simply. “The number of people who get a support class to the point where it can be Sunsetted is astronomically small. And we need equipment. Weapons. Armor. Items. Everything. Normal guilds can’t produce at the quality we require.”
“And you think we can,” Lillia finished.
“No,” Eleven said.
They all stared at her.
“That was rude,” Reya said.
“Not yet,” Eleven corrected. She ran a hand through her long hair and blew out an exasperated sigh. “Damn. This is such a pain. I’m not good with words. Look. You’re Adept tiers at best. We’re far above that. But you have potential. Potential we need… and potential we’re willing to invest in.”
This was starting to sound eerily similar to an offer that Arwin had received from the Iron Hounds some time ago. He didn’t let his emotions show in his face, but tension built in the back of his neck.
“You want to hire us?” Arwin asked.
“Pretty much,” Eleven said with a nod. “We can get you access to dungeons that we’re doing. Opportunities to make yourselves more powerful until the Menagerie is strong enough to stand side by side by Setting Sun.”
“And what do you want in exchange for that?” Anna asked. “Offers like that sound too good to be true. Do you expect us to be exclusive to you?”
That was the question Arwin wanted the answer to as well. This was the very same thing that Jessen’s guild had offered them. And Jessen had been trained by Twelve.
Is Eleven just like them, then? Is Setting Sun just another power-hungry group that just happens to also be enemies with the Adventurer’s Guild?
“No,” Eleven said. “An exclusive contract would go against our goals. We need you stronger, and we aren’t going to be able to provide enough opportunities for that to happen. You have to be working for them on your own. We can just give you access to a few extra things in exchange for your work. And, if you do enough for us, we’ll help you Sunset your classes. That’s it. It’ll be exclusively a business relationship.”
Arwin blinked.
Really?
The rest of the Menagerie looked just as surprised as he felt.
“I don’t think we’d say no to someone just trying to hire us,” Arwin said slowly. “It depends on the job, of course. But if that’s really all you want, then we won’t have any issues.”
“I figured as much,” Eleven said. “Good. Then I’ll be on my way to let One know the way things shaped out. Can’t say I’m surprised. We’ll be in contact soon… but don’t worry. We’ll give you some time to weather the waves from the tournament. You’ve got some interesting people headed your way. It’ll be interesting to see how you handle them.”
“What are you talking about?” Arwin asked. “What do you…”
He trailed off. Eleven was gone. She’d simply ceased to be… but there was something in her place. On the chair where she’d been sitting was a package wrapped in oiled leather. It was roughly the length of Arwin’s forearm and definitely hadn’t been there a moment ago.
“Is she gone?” Elias asked, looking around the room warily.
“I’m wondering the same,” Rodrick said.
Lillia nodded. “As far as I can tell, yes. I don’t think she should be able to hide from my senses within the Devil’s Den. Not anymore.”
“Can you tell what that is?” Arwin asked, nodding to the package.
“I’m working on it.” Lillia’s tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth in concentration as her brow furrowed. “It’s protected from my senses, but I’ll have it in a moment. Don’t touch it yet.”
“There’s something written on it,” Reya said, pointing to a side that Arwin couldn’t see from where he stood. “Look over there.”
He moved to follow Reya’s suggestion. Scrawled across the side of the leather in black ink were two short sentences.
A gesture of goodwill and a congratulations for your performance in the tournament.
P.S.
Seriously, where the hell did you put his body? We can’t find it.
The package thumped.
Arwin’s heart jumped in his chest. His eyes went wide. He recognized that sound. It wasn’t something he could forget so easily.
“Oh, shit,” Lillia said. “It’s—”
“A Dungeon Heart,” Arwin finished, and the expression on Lillia’s face told him that he was right. That was one hell of a gift.
Eleven had given them a way to create another living building on their street. And, given their recent emergence into the eyes of the kingdom’s eyes as a whole, an expansion right about now sounded good.
Very, very good.
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