Legend Of The Empyrean Blacksmith

Chapter 42

CHAPTER 42

A COMPROMISE

Suffocating air suffused the thick, earthen walls carved out into a half-spherical room . Occasional glint of a droplet flashed bright in darkness, splatting against the floor . The room was rather small, large enough only to fit a few chairs and a primitive, mud table at the very center . A single sphere of cyan light hovered above the table, ceaselessly spinning in circles while casting dim light over to the far edges of the table and the chairs beyond .

" . . . are you certain?" a hoa.r.s.e voice asked while tapping sounds of finger against the table echoed out slowly . "You sensed Qi yesterday?"

"It was very faint, but it was there," a mellow and charismatic voice answered . "One of the compet.i.tors, though I couldn"t pinpoint which one . "

" . . . it seems we"ve already got friends in the city, he he . What do you think we should do?"

"Smoke them out?"

"No, no, you"re thinking too simply," the hoa.r.s.e voice brimmed with excitement as it talked . Sin leaned his cloaked head over into the cyan light, his dark eyes glimmering faintly . "It"s too early . Fighting it out now wouldn"t be beneficial . Misleading them, though . . . any ideas, m" Lady?"

" . . . that is your job," a gentle voice replied . "We were tasked with speeding the plans up . If you don"t, well, you know what to expect . "

" . . . ah, as cold as always," Sin said, smiling widely . "You really know how to spin me in circles . "

"We can create a diversion by releasing some out into the open . " the mellow voice joined in again .

" . . . wasteful . I"ll set up a ma.s.sive formation beyond the north gate . Your job is to find them and bring them there . You have three days . " Sin said .

"They"re clearly cloaking their Qi with something . How do you expect me to find them in three days?!" the mellow voice turned slightly angered as a young, handsome face of the Prince Yox came into view .

"I already know who it is," a fourth, slightly ruff voice, joined in . "It"s the guy who got fifth place in the compet.i.tion . "

" . . . hm? Him? Why?" Prince Yox asked .

" . . . I saw the weapon before he chipped it," Shante said . "It was well beyond anything ordinary smiths can do . I also think he made me out . "

" . . . is he strong?" Sin asked, frowning slightly .

"I couldn"t tell," Shante replied, sighing . "I paid attention to him the whole time after he showed me the weapon, but I couldn"t sense a whiff of Qi or anything coming from him . . . as though he wasn"t even there . "

"He must be quite a bit stronger than you, then," Prince Yox said . "And me, in extension . "

" . . . m" Lady?" Sin looked toward the only person who hadn"t stepped out of the darkness yet and asked .

" . . . we can"t be drawing up any conclusions," the voice replied . "Other departments are ahead of schedule, only we"re lagging behind . It"s at point of no return now . Even if he"s made her, it doesn"t change much . They already know something"s happening here . I"ll do the scans more frequently . The rest of you be careful . Even if they hadn"t sent anyone stronger than Purity Realm, Dying Roses b.a.s.t.a.r.ds have strange methods . "

"What about your partner?" Sin asked .

"He"s growing suspicious as well, but I have preventive measures against him . Don"t worry about it, just focus on yourself . Dismissed . " a faint whizz echoed out, leaving the trio behind alone .

" . . . your mom"s really something else, eh?"

"She"s not my mother . "

"Whatever you say . "

"Gather up more information for the next week"s meet . I"m going . "

"See ya" . "

Within a mere minute, Shante found herself walking down the familiar streets, moving toward her house while her eyes danced around with great alarm in them . She couldn"t help it; something about that boy, besides his incredible crafting skills, threw her off yesterday . His att.i.tude . . . stance . . . eyes . . . voice . . . words . . . none of it belonged to a simple sixteen-year-old kid trying his luck in the Capital . It belonged to someone who had a plan, purpose and reason to be here, at this specific time . She was just confused over why he had showed her that weapon in the first place, practically outing himself . He must have known that someone would have discovered him using Qi, yet he still used it . A whisper sounded out and Shante found herself frozen in spot, her vision growing dark . She only saw black cloak flash before her eyes before she lost her consciousness, drifting off into dreamless sleep .

Lino was leaning against the wooden bean, his arms crossed over his chest, staring at Shante who was tied to the chair . His eyes were out of focus as he tapped his leg against the floorboards in rhythmic fas.h.i.+on, doing so all the way until Shante groaned out in pain and slowly opened her eyes, looking around while trying to make sense of it . Her eyes quickly landed on Lino, causing her heart to start while her throat grew parched . She knew she was done, yet that scared her far less than what would happen until that end .

" . . . you guys are really impressive," Lino smiled faintly as he crouched down, leveling their gazes . "I had absolutely no way to follow you . Well, I technically had, but I would have gotten caught and chopped up . And I"m not really into that . "

" . . . who are you? Seeing as I"ll be dead soon enough, I at least deserve to know . "

" . . . it doesn"t matter who I am . " Lino said . "And you"re wrong about your prediction . I have neither the will nor the reason to kill you . "

"You don"t?"

"Nope . I"m not that bad of a person, actually," Lino said, getting up and walking over to the table in the corner, pouring two cups of bubbling ale and bringing them over . Shante felt the knot round her wrists loosen as her arms got freed . "At least I like to believe that . I just hadn"t expected that you guys would be walking around in the open, is all . "

" . . . how"d you make me out?" Read your stats, duh . Lino nearly spat out, but held back .

"How long have you been living here?" Lino asked instead, handing her over one cup while taking a gulp of his own . "You don"t seem that familiar with this place . "

" . . . "

"It"s fine if you don"t want to talk," he said, smiling . "You should just listen then, instead . Unlike you, I didn"t decide to voluntarily partake in this charade . I"m hardly here because I want to be, or because I"m some sort of a n.o.ble hero looking to save the world . I can"t prevent the portal from opening . I can"t prevent the war from breaking out here . Other people who"ve come to stop you guys can"t either . One way or another, you"ll achieve at least initial victory here . But, I"m not in possession of a frigid heart either . I can"t watch that happen, Shante," Lino sighed softly, glancing at her . "I can"t watch thousands of innocent die . So I want to make a deal with your side . "

" . . . heh, you just admitted you can"t stop us . Why"d we make a deal with you?" Shante said, sneering .

"Perhaps you don"t know where the portal is, but you certainly know enough," Lino said . "I can rip your soul out and learn everything . Perhaps I won"t be able to prevent it, but by the time your guys" plan is completed, you"d wish you had made the deal with me today . "

" . . . rip my soul?! Are you an Angel"s Descendant?!" Shante exclaimed . Angel"s Descendant? What the f.u.c.k is that? Lino remained placid on the surface while his mind spun around trying to come up with an answer .

"You"ve seen what kind of a weapon I can create," Lino said . "I can provide you with much better ones . Weapons, armors, accessories, s.h.i.+elds . . . I can even feed my side false information to ensure they don"t whiff up your scent . All you guys have to do is . . . open the portal outside the city . "

"That"s impossible . Moving the portal when it"s already open? Are you already out of your mind?"

" . . . "

" . . . khm, I mean--"

"You"re not on the bright side, are you?" Lino asked, sighing . "It doesn"t matter . I already knew that . However, others don"t . One of you is already drawing up a ma.s.sive formation up north . You clearly have the resources for it . Just chop it up a bit, and you can teleport it . Share my sentiments with the crowd . I am not a patient man . "

" . . . " Lino watched Shante flee with all her might, after he might change his mind . His sharp gaze loosened and lost its focus yet again while his expression turned melancholic . He couldn"t help but sigh when her back vanished in the horizon, somewhere beyond the concrete walls of the abandoned part of the city .

"Don"t worry . They will accept it . " the robotic voice broke the silence inside his head .

"Honestly? I kind of liked you when you were a mute, just occasionally informing me that I"d gotten stronger . " Lino said, smiling bitterly .

"You still won"t be able to save everyone, so you should be prepared . "

"I know," Lino said, his eyes glistening slightly . "I don"t have to . Why do I feel like I suddenly aged so much I"m beginning to see graves?"

"Because you had abandoned the part which had made you a child in the first place," the robotic voice replied . "Your innocence . "

" . . . that just sounds dirty . "

"What do you mean?"

"Hm, nothing . I don"t think you"re ready for s.e.x-ed just yet . "

" . . . "

"Yeah, so, what if they don"t agree and instead let h.e.l.l"s hounds on me?" Lino asked .

" . . . then you run . "

" . . . encouraging . I should probably tell Eggor to leave . "

"Will he listen to you?"

"Not at all . Should I just knock him out and drag him away?"

"Can you knock him out?"

"You"re kind of killing my buzz here . "

" . . . "

Lino sighed yet again, looking up at the darkening sky . He had at least chosen what to do - save as many people as possible and just . . . leave . He neither can nor should save this place entirely through some form of n.o.ble sacrifice . Portal"s already opened . . . Demons have already probably overrun the whole upper strata . . . and a few folk are far from enough to stop this in any way, shape or form . However right his choice was he couldn"t say just yet; perhaps there was a better way, but even this he couldn"t have thought up without the Writ a.s.sisting him . Perhaps, this time, it just wasn"t meant to be .