Arwin went to move the bundle behind his back. It was a childish strategy, but it was the best idea he could come up with. The second best one would have been pelting it through the window and pretending he had no idea what Esmerelda was talking about.

He got time to do neither.

With impossible speed, the old lady grabbed the bundle from him. Her hands flew as she unfolded the oilcloth. Esmerelda’s eyes widened. Her lips parted and her arms lowered, her gaze lifting from the sword bundled within the cloth to meet Arwin’s gaze. Her lips worked as she tried and failed to form a word for several seconds.

“…you?” Esmerelda asked, swallowing heavily. “You made this?”

“Don’t steal things from people,” Arwin said firmly, plucking the bundle from Esmerelda’s hands and re-wrapping it. He paused and frowned. “Wait. I thought you sold magic items. What’s this about Cursed—”

“Never mind that,” Esmerelda snapped. She thrust a finger in Arwin’s direction. “You. This. You made this?”

“And you are not to breathe a word about it,” Arwin said. Esmerelda wasn’t a member of the Menagerie. He had absolutely no idea how she’d moved so quickly, but he wasn’t going to take any risks no matter how much the old woman needed some people to speak to. “If you do, we’re going to have a problem. A big problem.”

“Tell? Why would I tell anyone about this?” Esmerelda exclaimed, aghast. “I’m not trying to eat into my own business here!”

“So you do sell Cursed items.”

“You stay in your lane, devil. This street isn’t big enough for the two of us.” Esmerelda squinted at Arwin, then cleared her throat. “Actually, it is big enough. I just moved in down the road. But that’s despite the point.”

Arwin squinted at her. The armory had mentioned a moving building suddenly showing up. One that it couldn’t see inside. Esmerelda’s shop had been rather small as well, now that he thought about it.

“You moved in? Into what building?”

“Oh, I brought my own. Don’t try to change the topic,” Esmerelda said. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I’m trying to earn an living here. You’re stepping on my toes. I thought we had something good going.”

“Just… slow down for a second,” Arwin said, holding a hand up to keep Esmerelda from saying anything else. “I don’t think I follow anything anymore. What the hell are you selling, and how am I infringing on it? I don’t plan to be making items like this.”

Esmerelda blinked. “You don’t?”

“No. They’re too dangerous for random adventurers. This is for members of the Menagerie only.”

Esmerelda’s expression shifted in a flicker of an instant. All the affronted anger vanished, replaced by a beaming smile and a cackle.

“Well, why didn’t you say so, you big lunk? I’ve got some commissions I want to make.”

“I — what? Hold on. You can’t just skip past everything. You still haven’t even said why you think Cursed items are going to step on the toes of your business.”

“Sure I did. I’m making an living.”

“Is there a reason you’re saying it wrong?” Arwin asked with a frown. “I feel like I’m missing something. Did you mean you’re making an honest living? You dropped a word.”

“No, I definitely didn’t,” Esmerelda said. “Next question.”

“That is not how this works.”

“I’m sure it isn’t.” Esmerelda grinned and clapped Arwin on the shoulder, reaching up above her head in order to do so. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a white feather, popping it into Arwin’s pocket. “That’s for you, hon. All yours. When can you take my commissions?”

“You aren’t part of the Menagerie.”

“Yes, I am.”

“What? When did that happen?”

“I just decided to join,” Esmerelda said. “I did just move all the way out here, after all. You wouldn’t leave an old woman out in the cold, would you?”

“I… don’t think I’ve followed any part of this conversation, and I don’t follow this one any more than the last ones. You haven’t answered a single question I’ve asked, and you definitely insinuated that you’re selling Cursed items. Have you been trying to sell us cursed stuff this whole time? Are the feathers I bought from you cursed?”

Esmerelda slid another feather into his pocket and gave it a pat. “There you go.”

“Is this cursed?”

“No. It’s a normal feather. Just like the other ones you insisted on.” Esmerelda’s eye twitched slightly.

“So you’re trying to bribe me with normal feathers?” Arwin wasn’t sure if he should be offended at that.

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“Yes,” Esmerelda replied. “Is it working?”

Arwin looked down at the feather. “No.”

“Oh. Well, I’ll sure you’ll come around. Let me know when you’re ready to take my commissions. I’ve got quite a number of them, you know. Say, do you know how to fix existing Cursed items as well? I’ve got a few broken ones that could use a bit of tuning. A few of them are getting bloodthirsty.”

Arwin had to pause for several seconds to actually process the conversation — if it could even be called that — he was having with Esmerelda. Even though she hadn’t actually answered any of his questions, she’d given him more information than he’d initially thought.

Esmerelda has a class that lets her work with Cursed items as well. She doesn’t actually seem all that evil, either. She’s definitely a bit odd and she keeps trying to sell us crap we don’t need. But she hasn’t hurt anyone despite her complaints we won’t purchase her stuff. Beneath everything, she really is just an old lady that wants to spend time with people. If she wasn’t, she’d have left after realizing we weren’t going to buy her magic items.

I’m not sure if that’s enough to let her into the Menagerie, but I could use the council of someone who has a class with any relation to mine. If Wallace can help me with Dwarven Smithing… maybe Esmerelda can help with the Cursed elements.

“I’ll… consider it,” Arwin said slowly. “No promises. And absolutely no deal if you hurt anyone.”

Esmerelda slipped Arwin another feather.

With that, she spun on her heel and strode toward the front door. It opened as she drew up to it and she stepped past Rodrick, who had his fist raised to knock, and headed off down the street.

Rodrick blinked, then looked from her retreating back to Arwin, the question clear in his eyes.

“Don’t ask. I’ll deal with it later,” Arwin said with a shake of his head. “Sorry for the delay. I was a little wrapped up. What’s going on? Nothing bad, I hope.”

Rodrick grimaced. “Ah. Sorry.”

“Is anyone dead or hurt?”

“Nothing that bad,” Rodrick said. “But we’ve got some trouble on the horizon.”

“When don’t we?” Arwin rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “Out with it, then. Fill me in.”

***

They headed back to the tavern so they could speak without worrying about someone listening in.

There, Rodrick told Arwin everything that had happened back in the inn, including his suspicions on Twelve’s relation to Jessen. The conversation didn’t take long, and by the time it was over, all Arwin could do was cross his arms in front of his chest and tap his heel against the foot of the chair he sat in.

“Well, shit,” Arwin said. “I can’t say I’m completely surprised. We did suspect that Jessen had some form of tie to someone. That room in the dungeon was definitely too advanced for any Journeyman level adventurer to pull off.”

Rodrick nodded. “The good news is that Twelve doesn’t seem to care about Jessen at all. Just the Dungeon Heart.”

“And the bad news is that he’s in an organization that doesn’t care how much of a raging piece of shit Jessen was, and they’re almost certainly far stronger. How long do you think it’ll be until you can determine what guild Twelve is from?”

“I don’t know,” Rodrick replied. “I’ll be getting to work immediately. But I don’t think Twelve is someone we can fight in the same way that we fought Jessen. He has a massive guild behind him. If people find out we killed him...”

Arwin nodded his understanding. “I’m all too aware. Fortunately, we have the advantage right now. Twelve was literally on the street and he didn’t notice the Heart. Nobody knows of its existence other than Wallace, and he definitely isn’t going to spill the information.”

“Not if he wants to ever taste anything I’ve made again,” Lillia said from where she leaned against the kitchen doorway. “I think the real question we need to answer right now is how we deal with the Ardent guild. If they’re scouring the city for the Dungeon Heart, it won’t be forever until they connect the dots. People already probably know we killed Jessen.”

“Because we started selling all the Wyrmling armor,” Arwin said with a nod and a grimace. “Can’t avoid that. Would have been stupid to waste the material. And we cleared the dungeon first.”

Rodrick rocked back in his chair, chewing his lower lip as his brow creased in concentration. “Twelve mentioned that. He was likely telling us he doesn’t give a shit who killed Jessen.”

“Even if Twelve doesn’t care who killed Jessen, I bet he suspects we know or have an idea of where the Dungeon Heart might be,” Lillia theorized. Her tail swayed from side to side in a slow arc as she thought. “Well, it’s not like he can actually get it.”

“Definitely not,” Arwin agreed. “Even if we wanted to give it to him, the heart is otherwise preoccupied right now. I don’t think the Infernal Armory would be willing to give it up. What we should be more concerned with is figuring out who Twelve is and why he cares so much about the Dungeon Heart.”

“I’m on it,” Rodrick promised. “I figure I should be able to root some information out of the Ardent Guild given how panicked they’ve been of late.”

“Perfect,” Arwin said. “Thanks. In the meantime, we’ve got no reason to do anything differently. I’ve got a lot of work to do crafting, both to outfit ourselves and keep my level up. I’m also thinking it may be wise to continue expanding our network.”

“You mean find someone else to make some magic items for?” Lillia asked.

Arwin nodded. “Yes. I’m in no huge rush, but we’ve already got backup from Melissa’s family once she gets things under control. The more small guilds and groups we have on our side, the more official we’ll become. Selen — the Secret Eye representative we met before — found me some time ago to warn me that there would be guilds that don’t take kindly to us getting ranked and aim for our spot. I don’t know if Twelve has any relation to that or not, but we’ve made ourselves known to the public. We need backup and money to build the street bigger and make sure people think twice before coming after us.”

“Not a short order,” Rodrick observed. He rose from his chair, pushing it back across the floor with a scrape. “But I’m all for it. Lillia’s already halfway through the bigger and better bit. More money would definitely smooth things out a bit. But how are you going to find more customers that we can actually trust with magic items?”

“Just leave that to me,” Arwin said. “I’ll figure something out.”

Rodrick shrugged. “I’ll be happy to. In that case, I’m going to get started immediately. I’ve got a lot to look into. Make sure you don’t mention anything about the Heart where other people can hear us.”

The others both nodded. Rodrick raised a hand in farewell and headed out of the tavern. Arwin and Lillia watched him leave.

Then Arwin turned to Lillia, lifting the oilcloth wrapped bundle in his hands. Her gaze drifted down to it and she tilted her head to the side.

“What’s this?”

“A gift,” Arwin replied, the corner of his mouth pulling up. “Perhaps now isn’t the best time given the discussion we just had, but it’s already made. No point just sitting on it.”

Lillia blinked in surprise. “It’s for me?”

“Do you see anyone else here right now?” Arwin asked with a chuckle. He held the cloth out to Lillia. “It’s a test of my new abilities. Just… don’t let anybody else see it. That might go poorly.”

“I won’t. Thank you, Arwin. I didn’t realize you were making something for me.” She took the bundle from him, confusion mixing with appreciation on her features.

Lillia opened the oilcloth.