The Devil's Foundry

They found her after Via left the city, hunting for reagents.

Just like Via said they would, well, after complaining that people had stolen her armor and she’d be getting back soon. But Mistress always made sure to give Rel all the information she needed, even when Via was upset.

So, to put it simply, Rel wasn’t surprised that someone from the guild came up to her when she was overseeing a work crew.

“Seems like a waste of your skills.”

Rel paused, hand dropping to the row of daggers strapped to her hip. She’d gotten a knife fighting skill as well recently. It would be a shame to get blood on her suit, but she was never against a few easy levels.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

The young woman in armor, a level 8 warrior, waved towards the group of people working on the new dormitory building. “They got a rare class like you doin’ scutt work.”

Rel said nothing.

The woman ran a hand through her short blond hair. “What, you can’t tell me you’re not pissed off. I know I would be.”

The woman was short, almost as short as Lady Via. And even though she tried to dress up like she was from the docks, her cloak was new, and the dirt stains obviously rubbed on. There was more to poverty than filth, and if the guild couldn’t see that, Rel wanted no part of their offers.

But she knew the part she needed to play.

>Feigning irritation might work? Ah, but… being over eager would b-be bad though…

System Messages

Dream Sequence has increased to lvl 3!

Rel loved and hated Dream Sequence in turns. On one hand, whenever she was out of her depth, the skill tossed her a lifeline. How to move forward. How to bring Mistress’s dreams into reality.

But on the other hand, did it really have to sound like her from before Mistress made her more confident!?

Rel huffed, crossing her arms. Feign irritation nothing. “Lady Via makes me go where she needs me.”

The warrior girl laughed, putting a hand in front of her mouth. “Oh, and she really needs you of all people to make sure this building goes up?” She shook a hand. “Jeeze, Empress must be really short on competent people, oh wait.”

Rel let herself twitch in frustration.

“It’s not like she took all the people she trusted with her out of the city or anything. Even those two oafs that follow her around everywhere.”

Rel looked away. “So?”

“I’m just saying… you’ve been around since the beginning, haven’t you? It seems weird that you’d be on the outs. ‘Specially over that new girl.” The warrior pulled a face. “She’s an idiot.”

Rel clenched a fist in the fabric of her sleeve. “She’ll get what’s coming to her sooner or later.”

“Yeah, well, maybe.” The girl shrugged. “But hey, if good things happened to good people, we wouldn’t all be stuck here, would we?”

You’renot stuck anywhere. Rel bit her tongue. She hated when people played the ‘we’re all in this together’ card, because they never meant it. Only one person in Rel’s life had even tried to follow through on that promise.

“What do you want, anyway.” Rel shoved her hands into her pockets. “In case you couldn’t tell, I’m… busy here.”

“Suuuuure!” The girl gave a little twirl, coming to lean against the wall of another run down building. It hadn’t rained in the last few days, so the dirt road beneath their feet was hard and cracked. Across the street, members of Empress’s gang continued to lay out stones for the building’s foundation. “I just… wanted to make an offer, ‘s all. From the people who all know you do a better job than that Electra bitch.”

Rel gave a little jump. No way they’d managed to infiltrate so quickly…

>S-she’s lying...

Rel took a moment to gather herself, letting out a slow breath. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She shouldn’t be too eager.

“But don’t you want to at least hear what we have to say?” the girl asked. “We all know you could do a better job around here than Electra. And if Empress doesn’t see it, well…” She shrugged.

Rel turned. “Well what?”

“Then you’ve gotta show her, don’t you.”

It was… ambiguous on purpose wasn’t it? Rel chewed on the words. They were still feeling her out, trying to figure out just how mad she was with Empress. Maybe they were still deciding if they would keep her after knocking Empress off, like Lady Via said.

She took a deep breath.

“Maybe I’ll listen to what you have to say.” She glared at the girl. “But you better not be wasting my time.”

“‘Course not!” The girl skipped forward, pressing a thin piece of parchment into Rel’s hand. “Don’t let anyone catch you with that, though!”

>They won’t help if w-w-we get caught, huh?

No, Rel thought, they probably wouldn’t. She shoved the piece of parchment into her pocket. “Got it. Now, go get another cart of stone.”

“E-eh?” The girl paused mid-step.

Rel raised an eyebrow, doing her best to copy Lady Via’s expression. “Don’t you think it would look suspicious if you just talked to me and left?”

“Well, that’s—”

“What, don’t want to be taking orders from me either?” Rel crossed her arms. “I see how it is.”

“Ugh, what a fucking pain.” The girl tossed her hair. “Whatever, I’ll be back with a cart. You better not stand us up.”

The ‘we’ got lost pretty quick there, Rel noticed. “I’ll be there.” She slid a hand into her pocket, rubbing a finger over the rough parchment. The guild made contact. Now she needed to be the bait that would reel them in for Mistress to catch.

>D-don’t mess up!

She wouldn’t.

*~*~*

The moon was up tonight.

The piece of parchment had a location and time. It was another building in the docks, still deep enough to be considered part of it, but far closer to the center of the city. Parts of the town that had been converted into a merchant district without much fuss.

Rel knew because her Da used to complain about it when he was in his cups. Talking about all them blue bloods…

Rel shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to get distracted.

She rapped on the rough wooden door twice. After a few moments, the door opened. Rel saw the warrior girl again, still in her bad cloak with the fake stains. Of course, she wasn’t the only one.

“What’s the guild doing here?”

There was another warrior sitting at the table, level 11. It made Rel suck in a breath.

The woman smiled at that reaction. “I thought it would make sense to be here,” she said, idly playing with the gold tassel hanging over her shoulder. “Your little gang is my investment after all. Suffice it to say you aren’t the only one… displeased with the current state of affairs.”

>Act surprised already!

Rel spun, glaring at the first warrior. “I thought you said there were other people in the docks that cared!”

“Oops?” The girl shrugged, tossing her cloak into the corner, revealing a much better set of armor than anyone from the docks would be able to afford. “I mean, I wasn’t really lying, was I?” She smirked. “You showed up, didn’t cha?”

Rel took a deep breath, trying to appear like she was getting her anger under control, even as two other people came out of the corners of the room. A and an both moving to stand next to the younger warrior. They were clearly her party.

The archer pushed the door shut behind them.

Rel glanced around. It was a small building, only one story. There was a door leading to another room, full of empty barrels. But other than that, there was nothing but a rough-hewn table with a lantern on it.

Rel drew herself up to her full height. “Is this the part where you kill me? Cause I dun’ die easy.”

The woman just laughed. “Oh, that’s precious.” She waved a hand. “Take a seat, Relia.”

Rel stiffened for a moment, before moving to take a seat across from the woman.

“How do you know my name?”

“We know a lot about you,” the woman said. “We know that your father is a waste of space, we know that you’ve been through quite a few different apprenticeships.” Her smile grew sharp. “We know that you’re always looking for a better deal.”

That was so far off base it wasn’t even funny. Rel switched jobs because she didn’t like the idea of paying to be a with her body. But then, Rel didn’t expect a woman who had power to understand.

There was only one person who ever had.

Rel waited a moment, and then nodded. “Okay, and who are you?”

“I am Lady Delia, Guild Knight.”

Rel nodded again. The guild liked to arrange their ranks like some kind of fake nobility. At the bottom were recruits, or ‘shield bearers’. Then it went Captain, Knight, Marcher, and Lord Marshal. Technically, this Delia lady was supposed to be a Sira, or something. But then, guildies loved putting on airs and acting better than the rest.

>S-she’s used to getting her way…

And she thought Rel was looking for a better deal.

She ducked her head for a moment, as if she was bowing.

“E-empress has a new project she’s working on,” Rel said.

Delia raised an immaculate eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I don’t know what’s going on with it yet, but if you give me some time, I can figure out that one too.” She looked up, meeting the other woman’s gaze. “That’s what you want, right? Someone else to… help move things along.”

“Hmm, perhaps.”

Rel didn’t let the ambivalent reply phase her. She had a feeling of surety growing in her chest, as if she knew this was what she needed to say. “I hear things, even if I’m on the outs. Empress has been slowing down production on purpose.”

An ugly glower crossed Delia’s face. “I knew it. That bitch.” She tossed her hair, rising. “Well, you’ve certainly proved you know how to play the game, haven’t you, Relia.”

Rel ducked her head again, covering a glare of her own. “Yes, Sira.”

The woman huffed, walking around the table. But she didn’t make any issue about not being called Lady Delia. Which was good, because as far as Rel was concerned, she only had one lady. There would be no room for another.

“Vire.”

The warrior snapped off a salute. “Yes, my lady!”

“Your party will help little Rel get everything into position.” Delia smiled. “Erak should be helpful figuring out that new project of hers.” The woman gave Rel a sharp look. “It had better be something important, if you’re going to spend time on it.”

“It is.” Rel could say that without restraint. “The whole thing with her foundry, it was just to get money and resources for this next project. Whatever it is, it’s big.”

Delia sniffed. “Well, if you say so.” She breezed past them, golden tassel swaying from her shoulder. “I’ll leave you to work out the details then. Move quickly.”

“Yes, my lady!” Vira gave another grin, before coming over to Rel as the door shut behind the Knight. “Looks like you made a good impression on her, huh, Relia?”

Rel put on a smile. “Call me Rel.” She held out a hand. “We’re gonna be working together after all.”

“That’s what I like to hear!” Vira snagged Rel’s hand, holding it for just a bit too long. “Last Rare Classer we ran into ran off with your old boss.” She pulled Rel half a step closer. “But we’ll… get to know each other, won’t we?”

Rel’s smile went wooden. Behind the short warrior’s shoulder, she saw the archer sending her a venomous glare, thumbing the arrows in her quiver.

How was she going to get out of this mess?

>M-maybe try… flirting b-back?