Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Starting with a good lunch break and a fresh pangolin scale, the blacksmith returned to his workshop and was ready to – plan out what to do with the shield. After all, he came from a thorough vacation and spent the last days with other projects like Samuel, Luf, and the Khopesh.

When did he have the time to do anything? Like this, he sat down at the workbench, staring at the scale and working inside the user terminal of the <Blueprints> skill to create a blueprint fitting for the shield.

The new circuits he had just harvested were strong contenders to be added to the shield. The scale didn’t have great durability to begin with, which explained the initial enchantment. Once the defense, even when tripled, was overcome, it would not take too much to break it again.

Seth would have liked to change something like adding a demonic poem to it to make it more original, but he actually had to agree with the original maker of the former shield. Endurance, Strength, and improved durability were the best combination for this scale. Which was why he decided to add the former enchantment again.

The real question was what to do with the soul. Seth found that he didn’t really have a fitting one for a shield or one that could fit the earth's elemental power within the scale. This left him only one choice: he would have to pay a visit to Tano’Mol before he could decide how to plan out the soul.

Seth had not paid a visit to the soul trader for a while, almost three weeks now. He gave a notice to Mina, Fin, and the others before he left for Delta. The city had changed quite a bit ever since he came here.

One would have expected things to become better now that a new representative of Chrona was here, but things had already gone too far to be changed in a short time. While Delta looked as rundown as before, the demon district looked worse.

With many of the moderate factions of Demons leaving for Minas Mar, it left only those of a more extreme nature and those who couldn’t leave. This became quite visible with the state of the current demon district.

There were signs of fights everywhere and the previously full streets and bazaars had become barren. There were still some stalls, but it was far from as packed as it was back then. In comparison, the shadow district was even fuller than before.

The rotten part of society had grown, while the fresh part had been cut away. Was Charred still in power? Who knew? The blacksmith avoided unwanted attention by equipping his Helm of Hades. Hidden from everyone’s eyes, Seth arrived at the usual warehouse.

But something was different from usual. There was no guard standing in front of it. A little befuddled he tried to open the door. It swung open with ease but behind the door was only an empty warehouse. Shocked, Seth realized that Tano’Mol had moved! He had moved without telling him where to!

…

“Do you know where Tano’Mol has gone?”

Scared, the dark-skinned demon jumped when the voice rang out in the empty room. His wide-open eyes stared at Seth when he took off his helmet.

“Hi, charred, it’s been a while since we met.” the blacksmith greeted the demon Charred, Ember’s uncle. Since the soul trader wasn’t where he was supposed to be, Seth decided to look for the man who had sent him there the first time.

“T-Tower Master. You surprised me.;” he said a little embarrassed, trying to recover his composure.

“Almost as surprised as I was, when Tano’Mol wasn’t there when I went looking for him.”

Seth spoke with a little smirk, as he waited for the demon to recover. Charred was not the lord of the underworld he used to be. Even criminals were hit by the recession, so to speak. he found charred in a small room above his tavern, that was closed this evening.

“I’m sorry, Tower Master. I don’t have the connections I used to have. I don’t know what happened to Tano’Mol,” he made excuses.

“But can you find him? I don’t think someone who was as connected as you were, would suddenly lose everything.”

“Maybe if I had some time and the right budget... I could ask some people.”

As Seth thought, Charred was not completely out of the game. It was just a question of monetary support.

“Let’s shorten this. How much do you want?” Seth simply asked. He wasn't here to have small talk with the man. He really had wanted to take his time to look at merchandise in return, instead, he had to look for Charred.

"If you can give me 15 gold I can call some people immediately."

15 Gold was not a small sum, but Seth agreed to pay him if he found the location or a useful clue to his whereabouts.

"Why don't you wait downstairs in the pub while I call some people?" he asked after Seth agreed to the price. With a shrug of his shoulders, Seth left the room to wait for Charred. He didn't have to sit around for long.

Although the information broker seemed a little down on his luck, it only took him 20 minutes before he came sauntering down the stairs with a confident smirk. It seemed like he found him.

“Tano'Mol relocated his shop because some nasty people started looking for him. I couldn't find the new location of his shop, but I have a contact you can approach,” the demon directly got to business and informed Seth, showing him a picture in a crystal ball.

“But you should be aware, that I'm not the only one who got this info.”

The blacksmith recognized the person in the picture. It was the business lady, Sandra something, that had accompanied him on the little quest the goat had given him in the beginning of their business relationship. If it was her, Seth didn't doubt that she would now where to find the demon now.

“Here's 15 Gold, tell me where I can find her.”

The deal went without a problem and Seth departed from the empty pub. His destination was an apartment building that was still relatively normal without many modifications, despite being part of the demon district. This part of the are the demons occupied was inhabited by mostly humanoid demons, so even normal humans didn't stand out.

As someone who grew up in the city and had the <Map> skill, Seth easily found the address Charred had given him. With his invisibility activated he had no problem getting into the building, but facing the locked door, he could only knock on the simple door and wait.

When nothing happened after a while, he used <Life Detection>, the skill of his left Terra Topaz Earring. He was able to make out several life signs in the apartment and couldn't help feel suspicious. He knocked again, more energetic. One of the life signs started moving to the door. This time he was able to hear heavy steps too, as the person stepped close to the door and looked through the peephole.

Seeing nobody, the person turned back around, prompting Seth to knock again. This time the door was thrown open by a massive guy with his skin covered in scales. Angrily his reptilian pupils scanned the hallway as he hollered, “Who's there?! Come out!”

In the meantime the invisible bard slipped in, only to find a rather unsavory scene. The woman he came looking for was tied to a chair, covered in blood. Her hair was disheveled, her glasses were broken on the ground. There were signs that she had been roughed up and they had even started torturing her.

“They” were the other two scaly demons standing to the left and right of her. They were currently occupied looking toward the door, where their muscular companion was cursing as he couldn't find the guy who kept pranking them.

Charred did say that he wasn't the only one with the information, but it seemed like these guys had been at it for a few days already. Using <Theia's Discerning Eyes> he found that, although she looked barely alive, Sandra Irving's life was not in acute danger with her 700/1000 health. This didn't mean she was in great condition, but at least she was not close to death.

“Come back already and close the door!” the muscular but not tall reptilian on the left called back their buff henchman.

“Don't you think we should just bring her along? We have been at this for three days and she didn't talk. Maybe the customer can use mind magic to get the info they need;” the slim and haggard-looking third reptilian suggested.

Seth hesitated only for a moment. Maybe, if he let them go on, he could follow them and find whoever was behind this? But on the other hand-

A loud crack answered the meager lizard, as the short muscular one's head made a 180° turn and it's neck was broken. It was still staring at its companion, slumping to the ground, when it's view suddenly shifted and the last thing it saw in this life, was its own tail.

When the big guy followed his mate's call and stopped at the sight of both of them dead, he was suddenly folded by a punch to the gut followed by one last view at the ceiling of the room.

“W-Who is there?”

Sandra had been watching these things happen in quick succession. Only when silence ensued afterward, she managed to press out some words through her sore throat and swollen lips. Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared in the room from thin air.