Teleportation Center
"And that's about it guys. Well? Any questions?" Blake wrapped up his explanation of Los, the Valley Of Los, and their importance to the crafting world as a whole. "Huh? What's with your faces?"
However, the only thing he got out of the others were looks of bewilderment. It was as if Blake grew an extra head or something, and he was pretty sure he didn't have an item that did one. "Ah?" After a while more of those stares, Risabeel spoke up. "I believe we were...uhm...not expecting you to be...well? So informative in your words, Sir Blake?"
"HEY! I can be smart if I want!" Blake yelled at the others for thinking that. Sure, he was some guy from the sticks, but that didn't mean anyone had the right to call him an idiot on the spot, right? "Can you believe these guys, Anthony?" He turned to his fellow crafter for some backup. "Huh?"
But found the man with a similar look to what the others were giving Blake. "Well, yes, but no..." Anthony rolled his hand around. "...Ugh!" Earning him a glare from Blake asking for an explanation. "I mean! All I've heard from Master Deller about Reiner was that he's a fool who only cared about crafting items instead of studying our history! That's all!"
"Eh, I'm kind of with you there...I was surprised when my old man sat me down one time and actually made sense for once." Blake admitted half the time Reiner's lessons were more of 'the go out and kill a monster kind of thing' while the other half was trying to last inside the heat of smithy for hours on end. "Hey, kid, you got all that?" He questioned Bread.
"Ugh, can I get a repeat?" The boy asked, trying to take everything in at once, and pulled his hat off to fan himself. "This is harder than designing items."
"Hey, you got that stuff down in a week, little shit." Blake rubbed his knuckles through the boy's hair. "Took me a month to make sure stuff was shaped the right way. What about you, Tinker?"
"Oh, I only needed a day to come up with perfection..." Anthony smirked as he waved his gloved hand around. "Granted, Master Deller started me out on items that were more utility than a fatality."
"Pfft, wimp." Both Blake and Bread chuckled at that as the pair crossed arms together.
"Hmph, I was trained to improve lives, not end them mind you." Anthony shot back at the two with an iron fist shaking at them.
"Yeah? Well, an item does what its user wants!" Bread snapped back the next second, which made Anthony do a double-take at the boy's words. "Hah! Got you with that one!"
Anthony didn't have a comeback as Deller told him something quite similar in his younger days. "Our masters' words run deep, eh?" He asked, looking at Blake with a sense of understanding between them.
"More like punishment..." Both Blake and Bread thought as a flash of their training came to mind. "Alright, we're done with class for today. So, let's get to the valley and start cracking some ruins open!" Blake declared with a hand going around Anothny's shoulder.
"Indeed! And quickly! B5! Bring all of this to our teleportation room, at once!" The Tinker ordered his Anthomata as it turned off the illusion gem and dropped the veil that was keeping them hidden. "Now come along! Come along!" Right as it fell, Anthony was already on the move...and quickly since he was fast walking for some reason.
"Hey! Wait up, man!" Blake called out to the Tinker as he swung around a corner with the others still standing where they were talking. "What's with that guy? He still needs me..." He grumbled as the group tried keeping up with Anthony.
"Tsk, for what? You're useless!" Saffire growled while rubbing the bridge of her nose. The thought of Blake being anything but a perverted idiot who likes hitting rocks with a hammer didn't go with her. "What?!" Which only got worse as Baba came up to her face.
"Hmm? Last time I checked Hubby's the only one who can open those ruins thingies, right?" The Ala asked the Dragon woman. "~Thought so~" She sang out when Saffire turned away without answering. "But I've got to say, Hubby, you being a Smith-Knight sure brings you a lot of adventure. Not only do you have such 'interesting' friends like ~me~ but now it looks like you're all wrapped up in some godly business."
"And I not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing," Blake muttered as he looked up at the ceiling.
"How so, Sir Blake? Uh, this way?" Risabeel asked in the middle of keeping track of Anothny and only followed him by the tail of his red coat. "Would it not benefit you if you were related to a god in some way?"
Blake shrugged before answering. "I guess? I mean from history most heroes that got a god's blessing got off pretty good by the end of their stories but like I told you guys Los doesn't work like a normal god. Hell, people still aren't sure if Los was a god or not." He explained then suddenly had a thought that made his face turn blue. "And if they are a god, then I've been fucking around with their shit for the last few months and stole from them...ugh." A shiver went down his spine next. "Ugh!" Then a second one hit when Baba tranced a finger up his back.
"I wouldn't be so worried, Hubby. After all, you've gotten down and deep three times now, and nothing's bad has come out of it, right?" Baba assured Blake as she slowly took her usual spot at Blake's side by wrapping herself around one of his arms. "And you got Mama right here to protect you if anything comes your way, okay?"
"Nothing yet, Baba." Blake pointed out, holding up the arm Baba was on to look at her. "And that Demon kid's been after Risabeel since I opened the first one back in Fairmaw, so I'm kind of worried..."
"Ah...Sir Blake...hmm? I do not think that...over there? That Demon child and my being in one of Los' ruins...here? Have anything in common...that way?" Risabeel kept turning her head from left to right as she spoke. "Though it is only a feeling on my part...I have lost him?"
Again Blake shrugged; Risabeel might be right about that since nothing happened with the last two ruins other than what went on inside them while Risabeel's was a little different. There weren't any weird traps, no trials, or giant iron golem to smash him into the floor. All there was, was a small bit of Ore that was ready to use and Valac only came after everything in there was said and done. "Wait? Yours was the easiest out of them...and what are you doing?" He asked when they all stopped in a large circular area that had hallways leading out from all around.
"I seemed to have lost Sir Anthony..." Risabeel whimpered and dropped her head. "Ah!" Then got a cold shock when Vas jumped out of her hood and onto her neck. "Vas! You must stop startling me so!" She lectured the frog while holding him in her hands.
But Vas being a frog only looked at Risabeel with a blank mucus-covered face before hopping to her shoulder, then atop her head, and let out a low crook.
"If you wished to stay home, you could have. I asked you myself, and what was your answer?" Risabeel poked the frog a few times while Vas remained stoic under it all. "Yes, that is right; you agreed without a word of complaint just like now."
"Gram..." Blake sighed after he took a quick once over of the room.
"That way." Not a second after Gram was already following Anthony's scent down a random hallway.
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15 minutes later
"Oh? There you all are!" Anthony was standing in front of an archway that led to an open room with one of those glass domes dotting the roof of the Teleportation Center up above. "Did you get lost on the way or something? I have been waiting for a bit, you know?"
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"Yeah, we did cause someone ran off without telling the rest of us where to go." Blake groaned after giving Gram a head pat.
"Ah, yes! That was me! And I am sor..." Anthony began apologizing but cut himself short when he clapped his hands together and took a look at his glove right as a red gemstone on the back of it lit up with a low beep. "But enough of that! The casters are almost done, and I believe we should all get prepared..." He looked at his glove yet again as another beep came by. "...and maybe I should run another illusion te-ah!" In the middle of waving his gloved hand around to get another illusion going, Blake grabbed his hand. "Uhm? Yes?"
"Talk..." Blake demanded, pulling Anothny in close and gave the Tinker's glove a look over.
*Beep...*
"About what?" Anthony asked in return, acting the part of a fool who didn't know what was going on.
*...Beep...*
"About you being in a hurry like a bounty hunter's after you and the beeping coming from this thing," Blake answered and gave the glove a shake. "It's starting to get annoying." He added when another beep came from the glove, and the gem glowed brighter.
"Me in a hurry? No! I just wanted to keep us on a schedule, that's all!" Anthony spoke in a forced tone and tried pulling his hand free from Blake's hold. "And this beeping is just a reminder for lunch that's al-"
"Lunch's in an hour, dummy!" Moco pointed out of nowhere. "And I know! Cause Chum always feeds me on time! Right, Chum!" She poked Blake a few times while the Smith was keeping his eyes on Anthony. "Like this?" She whispered to Baba as she took Blake's other arm.
*Beep...Beep*
"It's getting faster, louder, and brighter now. Talk before I let the Dragon handle this." Blake warned with his head mentioning over to Saffire.
"Says who!?" Saffire snapped her fangs at Blake with embers fanning between them.
Now with the combination of Blake's hold and glare, Moco's strange and timely tearing down of his lie, and the fear of a Dragon's fire, Anthony caved with a heavy sigh. "You see...I may have..." He paused to roll his hand around in a nervous manner. "...taken on this endeavor without my master's knowing." Then he pointed to his glove. "I placed a tracker on his person, and it appears he is getting closer...so we need to hurry before he...well does things to me."
"How many bones?" Blake casually asked as he let go of Anthony's hand. "And the rest of you get inside." He waved to the others as they all had looks that were wondering about his question to the Tinker. "Not you." But he did stop Bread for some reason.
"11, you?" Anthony answered with a hand held out to Blake. "Ugh!" Which he pulled back when the beeping got louder. "Is he running here!?"
"19..." Blake answered, rubbing the back of his head a little. "...didn't think your master was like mine just because they used to be rivals. Hope you don't give me a reason to do that..." He patted Bread's hat and then waited for the boy to answer.
"Like what, haha?" Bread wondered out loud and tried to keep his eyes on Blake and only Blake. "Don't look at Mari. Don't look at Mari. Do not look at Mari!"
"Hmm? Well, it might've come from their master, I suppose." Anthony guessed with a hand going to his chin to think about it. "Uhhh!?" But the beeping on his glove was getting even more worrying.
*Beep, beep, beep*
At the mention of Renier and Deller having the same master Blake perked up. "Wait, they had the same master?"
"Why, yes, they did! Master Deller doesn't speak much of them, but he did meet Reiner while training under them, and their rivalry began there." Anthony explained as he only ever heard Deller speak of his master in passing, and it was never in any good light other than their crafting skill. "I take it Reiner seldom spoke of them as well?"
"Kind of? Whenever I asked about who taught him his stuff, the answer was always; 'He's the biggest asshole I've met...and that includes you, little shit'." Blake muttered with a thumb pointed at himself. "He did say the guy was the only person that was better at making items than him, so I guess he's good."
*Beep, beep, beep, beep*
"Same for myself and oddly his imposing size..." Anthony tried to keep his mind off the beeping on his glove as he, Blake, and Bread joined the group inside a magic circle. It was surrounded by a group of mages who were either whispering something or finishing up on some parts of the circle. "...Uh, how are things coming along?" Anthony asked a mage in a set of higher class robes them the rest.
"All good on our part, even if you're a bit early..." They answered and took a look at the group and looked at a scroll. "Uh, we might need to make a few adjustments...nothing major, we just didn't think you'd have a Demon with you." They pointed at Risabeel currently playing around with Vas. "Not trying to be rude, it's just that Demons, Angels, and those types get around in weird ways. If you get a few things wrong, it can get out of hand."
"How out of hand?" Blake asked while giving Risabeel a look. He already knew how clumsy she could be, but he was hoping it wasn't something that was caused by her being a Demon. "Are bad luck Demons a thing? Is she cursed? Or is she that bad at anything?"
But the head mage threw a hand at him in jest. "Uhmm? You could appear a few meters off course or end up in her home realm..." They answered and smiled at the worried look that came to Blake's face. "...yeah, to be fair it's never happened here but there have been a few times when a stray Demon comes around looking for a way home or trying to bring their 'Demon horde of death and doom' to kill us all...never works, heh," They gave out a little laugh that did nothing for anyone's thoughts. "Oh, then there are those times when some loudmouth bursts through the doors screaming how they 'need' to stop someone or go after them. Ugh, they are worse!"
*Beep, beep, beep, beep*
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10 minutes early Main Entrance Of The Teleportation Center
"ANTHONY!" The sudden roar of a beast erupted out of Deller's throat as he marched through, and none dared to get in his way or even catch the look of his eyes. "Move!" Even the guards who tried to step up to him weren't sure of what to do.
On one hand, it was their job to stop anyone that seemed or acted unruly by any means which Deller was but they were also told that under certain circumstances, if an official needed something done urgently, then they had to follow along. And as it stands, they don't get more official than the head of an entire district coming through with a face that said they were just backstabbed.
"Uhmm? Ex-excurse me? Sir?" Came the weak voice of a blonde female attendant who had the guts to speak to the raging Orc.
"WHAT!?" Deller snapped at the attendant as if he was ready to pick her up and toss her.
"Eeek!" The attendant got behind a pair of guards just in case that was her fate. "Is there anything I can help you with!?" With a wall of steel, flesh, and air between her and Deller, she was able to get some needed courage to speak.
Deller stared at her, then at the guards, and back at her and took a breath in slowly. "Yes...you can." He spoke with a low growl that sounded more like an animal trying to speak. "Take me to the teleporter room requested by Anthony the Tinker...at once."
"Yes! Right away! Uh, you!" The attendant pointed at some poor soul trying to hide behind the group of guards that showed up after a warning was called because of Deller's coming through the door like a war raider. "Go through all the requested outings for the day and look for one booked under Anthony the Tinker. NOW!"
"On it!" They disappeared on the spot to some office where records were kept.
"Uh?" But even with that being taken care of, the attendant was still left with Deller standing there. "Is there...anything I can do for you whi-oh?" She tried to offer some more help, but the Craftsmaster wheeled around and then crossed his arms with a heavy foot being tapped against the stone floor. "Ah...uhmm...that's a lovely pin you have...on your ba-ah!"
The Orc turned back to her with a raised brow. "Pin?" Deller eyed her for a moment then reached around his back to feel around. "Oh? That little sh- that boy takes after me more than I like." He smirked after finding an iron pin with a gemstone inside it clipped to his coat. "Cancel that request you just made, I can find him on my own." Keeping that smirk on his face, Deller walked off on his own. "Not good, in my rage, I forgot I could keep an eye on him myself." The Orc held out his metal arm, and just like Anthony's glove, there was a gemstone on the back of it. "This way." But this one had the addition of creating an arrowhead for its user.
"Oh? That's good?" The attendant wasn't very happy about that, in fact, she was more scared if anything. Anyone who could go from a mass of boiling hate to calm and collective genius was a bad thing. "You two, come with me to follow him just in case." She ordered two guards, but she wasn't even sure about doing that given Deller's status in the city. "And where did he go?!" While the attendant was lost in thought for a moment, Deller had already disappeared. "Ooh, this is not going to end at all..."
Chapter End