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Chapter 66: To know someone

He could practically see the gears spinning in Reya’s head as she tried to determine whether to believe him or not. Slowly, her expression changed from disbelief to wide-eyed shock.

“They canceled the funeral,” Reya muttered. “I saw it on the flyers. You mean you survived the explosion? I thought you killed the demon queen but died in the process!”

“Someone certainly tried to make it look that way. There was a bomb in my armor, and it’s one that I believe the adventurer’s guild planted. I was betrayed, but the Mesh saved me. I don’t know why, but it took my class and gave me the one I have now instead.”

“That’s why you know so much about monsters and fighting,” Reya said, pulling at her hair. “You’re literally the greatest warrior alive. And you’re saying the guild betrayed you? Why? What’s the point?”

“I don’t know,” Arwin replied with a shrug. “I haven’t figured that out yet, and something tells me I wasn’t the greatest warrior either. I think the guild intentionally kept me in the dark, but that’s a story for a different time. The point is, I used to be the Hero, but I’m not the Hero anymore.”

“That’s why you’re so deadset on protecting everyone?” Reya asked.

“I used to think that, yeah. Because it was my duty.” A short, bitter laugh slipped from Arwin’s mouth and he shook his head. “Not anymore. I don’t think I give a shit about duty or any of that. I just don’t want to see my friends die anymore. When I realized I survived the explosion, I had just planned to lock myself away and never deal with people again. It would have been easier.”

“If you were betrayed by the biggest guild in the kingdom, I can see why,” Reya said. “Why didn’t you?”

“Because I ran into you,” Arwin said. “And then I met Lillia – and Rodrick and Anna after that. I realized that there wasn’t a point living life if there weren’t people to live it with you. Why be a smith if I can’t make armor for the people that are important to me? Not that it did anything for Zeke. As I said – I’m not the Hero anymore. I’m just a smith.”

“You already said you knew it wasn’t your fault,” Reya said, walking up to Arwin and putting a hand on his hunched shoulders. “I can’t even imagine what it must feel like to have all that power and lose it – but you’re far from just a smith.”

“I didn’t mean to turn this into a pity fishing session,” Arwin said, shaking his head and straightening back up. “But now you know. I was acting like the Hero, even though I wasn’t him anymore.”

“I don’t think people can change that quickly,” Reya said. “It does make a lot of things about you make way more sense, though.”

“Is that so?” Arwin asked, a small grin gracing his lips. “Like what?”

“Everything.” Reya waved vaguely in Arwin’s direction. She paused as a thought struck her, face going pale as a sheet. “Wait. There’s a new Hero and a new Demon Queen, isn’t there? Doesn’t that mean there’s a chance the first Demon Queen also survived? What if they team up against the Hero?”

Arwin squinted at Reya, trying to figure out if she was serious or not. He felt like it couldn’t possibly have been that big of a stretch to determine that Lillia wasn’t just really, really into her role of pretending to be a demon waitress and was an actual demon.

“I don’t think she’ll be a problem,” Arwin said finally. It was one thing to spill his own secrets, but Lillia’s were hers. Reya would probably figure it out pretty soon either way. It may have seemed obvious to him, but nobody in their right mind would expect the demon queen and the former Hero were hanging out together on the same street.

“Oh. That’s good,” Reya said, letting out a sigh. “What about the guild, then? If they betrayed you, doesn’t that mean they were working with the demons? That’s really, really bad.”

Pretty sure they aren’t working with the demons either. Not in the way Reya is thinking, at least. Lillia got just as screwed as I did.

“There’s something going on with them, but I don’t know if now is the time to delve into it,” Arwin said. “There’s another guild that I need to handle first.”

“The Iron Hounds.” Reya’s face darkened. “I know I’m not as strong as you, even as a smith, but can’t I help somehow? I know you don’t want me to fight, but I’m sure I could do something!”

“Yes,” Arwin said. “You can.”

“Just let me do something! I’m not completely incapable – wait. Did you say I could help?”

“I did. It wasn’t right of me to completely exclude you,” Arwin said. “You have every right to want to avenge Zeke that I do, but I don’t want you to die in the process. Revenge only matters if you live through it. Would you be willing to settle for helping making the armor that Lillia and I use to take down the people that killed Zeke?”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“I think I’d settle for that as a start,” Reya allowed. “But if there’s more I can do, I want to do it. I want to see them pay for what they did.”

“It won’t feel the way you think it will,” Arwin warned. “In the end, they’ll just be dead. Zeke won’t come back.”

“Yeah, but–”

“But what?” Arwin asked. “I’m not going to tell you to forgive them, but I want you to really think about what you want. The people that killed Zeke will die –that, I promise you. But what more do you want? Do you want to drive the blade into their heart yourself? Maybe take your time with it, make sure they feel all the pain that they made you feel?”

Reya blanched. “I – I don’t know. I just want them to pay.”

“We all do,” Arwin said, rising to his feet. “If you’re still determined to fight when the time comes, then I’ll see what we can do. Until then, promise me you won’t try anything on your own and that you’ll stay away from the Iron Hounds. We do this my way.”

Reya didn’t respond for several seconds as she mulled over his words. He could tell she still wasn’t happy, but she finally gave him a sharp nod.

“Fine. I won’t. I couldn’t handle them on my own anyway. But… why do you think Lillia can? She’s just an innkeeper.”

“If you still think people are just anything after speaking with me, then you need to be more careful,” Arwin said, putting his hand on Reya’s shoulder. Over her shoulder on the street, Rodrick and Anna stepped out from an alleyway and headed their way bearing two pots of grout.

Reya noticed Arwin’s distraction and turned to follow his gaze. “Oh. They’re back.”

“If you’ve got more questions, you can ask later,” Arwin said. “Don’t share what we talked about with them yet. It’s not the right time, and I don’t want to put undue stress on either of them.”

“Okay,” Reya said, giving him a final nod. Arwin took his hand off her shoulder just as Rodrick and Anna came to a stop by the open door.

“Not interrupting, are we?” Rodrick asked.

Arwin shook his head. “No. We’ve just finished up. You’ve got good timing. Did you run the whole way over and back from the market?”

“No comment,” Rodrick replied, stepping through the doorway and setting the pot of grout down on the ground beside Arwin. He then held out the pouch of gold. “Here. Got what you needed.”

“Thank you,” Arwin said. “I can get started, then.”

“How can we help?” Reya asked. “You said I could help forge, right?”

“I need stone to make a hearth before I can do anything,” Arwin said. “If you could look for stones from the smithy that weren’t completely destroyed in its collapse, that would be really useful.”

“We can do that,” Rodrick said. They all started for the smithy, but Rodrick paused in the doorway, blocking Arwin from leaving.

“You’re going to have to move for me to squeeze by you,” Arwin said. “I’m not that thin.”

“I was just thinking – wouldn’t it be better if you generally stayed inside?” Rodrick asked. “I haven’t noticed anyone spying on us, but it might be safest if the Iron Hounds have absolutely no reason to believe you might still be alive. The less prying eyes can figure out you’re here, the better it is.”

Arwin grimaced. As much as he wanted to dismiss Rodrick’s concerns, the warrior brought up a good point. He let out a sigh and took a step back.

“Damn it. You’re probably right, but I’m not happy about it. I’ll stay here, then.”

“We won’t take long,” Rodrick promised, following after Anna and Reya. Arwin watched him leave, then walked back over to his anvil and sat down, drumming his foot on the ground.

The last thing he wanted to do right now was be left alone with his thoughts. They weren’t going anywhere that he wanted them to, but it didn’t look like he was going to have a choice.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait too long. It only took the trio around an hour to gather all the stone that they’d need and bring it into the room, stacking it in a pile beside Arwin. Once they got enough to start working with, Arwin began layering stones on the ground and spreading grout onto them.

Reya joined him some time later, and by the time evening rolled around, the group had a fully built, albeit slightly sloppy, stone dome. It vaguely resembled an oven and was nowhere near what an actual hearth should have looked like, but it would work for Arwin’s purposes once the grout hardened.

“Now what?” Reya asked, wiping her dirty hands off on her clothes. “What else can we do?”

“For today? Eat dinner,” Arwin replied. “One step at a time. I can’t do anything until the grout sets. Tomorrow, I think the main thing I’ll need is supplies. That means either gold or hunting monsters, and I’m not sure hunting is safe right now.”

“We can do it,” Reya said. “I’m sure we can find a way.”

“What’s more important is not getting killed,” Arwin said gently. “I know you want to help, Reya. But don’t make me have to avenge two people instead of just one. For now, we’ve got gold. We can use that. When I run out – that’s when we can look at alternative ways to get money.”

Reya nodded reluctantly. “Fine. Just make sure you think of something. I’m not just going to sit around.”

“And neither will we,” Rodrick put in.

“I will,” Arwin promised. “For now, just go get dinner. Lillia will be disappointed if nobody eats her food, and you aren’t going to do anything on empty stomachs.”

“What about you?” Anna asked. “You need food as well.”

“Not that kind of food,” Arwin replied, turning to his makeshift forge. “And I’ve got something else to do.”

“Like what?” Reya frowned. “I thought you couldn’t do anything until the hearth was ready to work with.”

“I’m not going to forge,” Arwin said, picking the helmet Zeke had been working on up and running his hand over the burnt surface of the metal. Deep within it, a faint shimmer of intent spoke back to him. The helmet hungered to be more, and Arwin planned to give it exactly what it wanted. “I’m going to plan. It’s not something you can help me with.”

Reya and the others exchanged glances.

“Don’t stay up too late. Your own advice goes for you as well,” Rodrick said, putting a hand around Anna’s shoulders.

Arwin nodded absently as the three of them headed off, closing the rickety door behind them. His attention was fully focused on the helm in his hands. He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Tell me,” Arwin murmured, his fingertips tingling as he felt for the faintest traces of the Mesh within the plain, burnt helmet. “What do you want to be?”

And, deep within the charred, damaged metal, something responded.