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Chapter 15 – Payback

Emily was in luck the secret tunnel came out of a dead end mine tunnel and with a few left turns found an intersection she remembered turning right on. Happy to finally know where she was and eager to leave the dungeon, Emily almost sprinted through the rest of the mine tunnel maze.

Just before she left the mine, Emily stopped and repacked her pack. After she organized everything to her needs, Emily swung the pack back on and exited the mine tunnel.

Taking a moment to enjoy the forest and fake sun shining down, Emily made her way towards the exit. Turning the stealth rune on, though she had nothing to fear on the first level now, Emily made her way out of the dungeon without any father delay.

As Emily stepped out of the dungeon there was just one thing she needed to do, payback.

The guards had changed form when she first entered the dungeon so Emily could not show the guard that doubted her survival how much she leveled. Making a mental note that next time she would stop and ask when that peculiar guard would be on shift Emily merged into the flow of traffic.

The press of the crowd, the sights, and sounds a comfort form the long silence and comparatively empty dungeon. Emily made her way through the crowds, exiting the adventures district, and a few more streets arrived at her destination.

The guard standing station looked at her and waved her through. Emily very familiar with the location made her way inside and moments later was in front of the man she was here for.

Throwing down Shady Emily exclaimed. “Here is your payback!”

Emily remembered when Count Edmund Swift had visited her again when she was 9 years old, 2 years on the dot of when he first stormed in and demanded his many back plus the ridicules interest on top of that, Emily had taken delight in informing the Count on the specific law in regards to magical contracts and children, he had not been amused.

Now she was ten, a legal adult, and had two years to repay him the 150 small gold Emily had negotiated as repayment for ‘borrowing’ his money. If the noble and knights in the dungeon had not been carrying so much money, through to them it was pocket change, Emily would have been in trouble coming up with the money. Now Emily grinned at the Count as he looked at the bag she had stolen filled with gold coins.

“You should have repaid it a year ago.” The count finally said.

“And a year ago I was underage and not liable for the debt. But!” Emily continued brightly. “As soon as I was and adult and had the money I rushed over here to repay you!”

The count gave her a flat look. “And who did you steal this money form?” He asked acidly.

Emily mimed being shot in the heart. Clinching her chest she said. “I am shocked you would think such baseless accusation against my good name sire! I am not a thief, I borrowed money and now I have paid it back! I say to you good day!” With that Emily spun around and flounced out.

She held it in until she exited the mansions doors, then double over laughing. Finally she was done with count and his threats.

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Repaying the Count had wiped out her finances leaving her with little more than 5 small gold 6 large silver, 7 small silver, and a handful of small copper. With the money Emily need to rent a smithery and practice smithing and her mana skills to raise the levels up for her next class change. Through Emily had seen a Tier 1 class that looked to complement her current smithing class.

Emily was undecided if she should take the chance and get a fourth Tier 1 class. It would mean she either had to change her Tier 2 classes at L25 and forgo special skills or spend a long time bringing them both up to L50 and receiving special skills but with a total level of 200, meaning 50 more levels before she could get a Tier 3 class. The other option would be to raise one Tier 2 class to L50 and the second one only to L25 receiving 1 special skill instead of 2. Emily could also forgo the fourth Tier 1 class and raise both Tier 2 classes to L50 for a combined level of 175, just 25 levels more then she needed to ascend to a Tier 3 class.

Emily shook her head clear of how best to Tier and class up and arrived at the adventures guild.

Walking inside, it felt like months had gone by when it had only been a few days. The line was thankfully shorter and she was quickly in front of anther receptionist.

“What can the adventures guild do for you?” The receptionist said in a bored tone.

Emily understood, having to say the same phrase over and over again would get tiring.

“Yes I was wondering if the guild had smithing faculties to rent?” Emily asked hopefully.

“The adventures guild does have a cooperative smithery, but be warned, there are a lot of would be smiths and the smithery can get crowded.”

“That is fine. Is the smithery opened 24 hours?” If the smithery was opened at night then Emily would just smith when everyone else was sleeping.

Without losing her bored tone the receptionist replied. “Yes the smithery has great noise reduction enchantments inside, a most for such a noisy and loud profession.”

Emily got the location of the cooperative smithery and thanked the lady. Turning Emily made her way outside in search of the smithery and her new profession.

Another weaving through the streets and Emily found herself in front of a smithery, backed against the western cliff face, as out of the way as the city planners could get the building. Opening the door and walking in Emily was assaulted by the noise level. Noise damping enchantments had been right, Emily had not heard the sounds of metal hammering on metal while outside the cooperative smithery and now she was hearing the clamor load and clear. Almost wanting to turn around and get back to the quitter noise of the street, Emily stilled her nerves and ventured farther in.

The building was long and narrow, on either side of the main walkway was smithing stations filled with beings busy hammer away. There were gnomes hammering small cogs into shape, a goliath hammering a great ax, humans hammering all sorts of weapons and armor. Emily walked slowly down the main walkway studying each station and forging in fascination.

Finally coming to the end of the walkway Emily arrived at an open office door. Inside was an old dwarf reading a blueprint. Knocking lightly she waited for the dwarf to acknowledge her.

Looking up the dwarf blink in confusion. “Yes?”

“Hello good sir I am Emily and want to work here to improve my new smith class.” Emily did not mention it was an elite runic smithing class, higher classes needed to be concealed.

“Well we can always use more people here.” The dwarf started. “We make very cheap weapons, armor, and household items here. It gives people an affordable way for them buy stuff they are too poor to normally afford and the smiths a way to raise their classes.”

“That sounds perfect! So how much does working here cost.” Emily was now down a lot of coins but still felt better paying back the loan that had hung over her head for years.

“Well we do not charge a fee for use just a 30% fee on everything you sell.”

Emily winced that was a high percent but it evened out form not paying a set fee.

“Also any materials you use you will need to pay for.” The dwarf continued.

Nodding Emily agreed. “That is more than fair. So when can I get started?”

“Anytime just find an empty workstation and have at it.” With that the old dwarf started looking at the blueprint clearly done with discussion.

Turning around Emily headed back to the workstations and found an empty one.