Arwin left Wanda standing in the main room of the smithy and headed into the back, closing the door behind him. He waited for a minute before summoning his armor around himself and stepping back out. It probably wasn’t the most convincing way to pretend to be two people, but unless someone actively suspected that Arwin and Ifrit were one and the same, there wasn’t really much reason to even start wondering about it. Wanda certainly didn’t seem to mind. She’d settled into a crouch in the middle of the room and had Read the latest chapters on NovelHub - completely free! When Arwin entered, she hurriedly straightened and cleared her throat. “You’d be Ifrit, then?” “I would be,” Arwin said. His helm muffled his words, making his voice come out heavier than normal. “And I can see why you need the armor modified. I think I could stitch two whole sets together and they still wouldn’t do you justice. How do you fit through doors with those shoulders?” “Damn things are too small,” Wanda said with a throaty laugh. “Made for twigs, not real warriors. Especially not ones with northern blood.” “Northern blood?” Arwin asked, tilting his head slightly to the side. “My mum’s from the Frozen Ridges, up at the top of Lian,” Wanda explained in a tone that made it clear she’d said these exact words hundreds of times before. “She wasn’t all human. Gave me a bit more to work with than the rest of you.” So I can tell. She could easily be part giant. “Just 400,” Arwin confirmed. Wanda shook her head in disbelief, then pulled a pouch of gold away from her side and tossed the whole thing to him. “Counted it out yesterday. All yours.” “Pleasure doing business with you,” Arwin said. He added the gold to his growing pile. “Make sure to come back if you need any repairs.” “Will you be selling more gear in the future?” Wanda asked. She looked down at her feet. “Sabatons, for example?” “I’m still working on that,” Arwin admitted with a chuckle. “Working with scale isn’t the same as metal.” Not that I could make them with metal yet either. “I understand that. So it’s in the cards?” “Likely. I’d check back in the Devil’s Den every once and a while. I’ll have my future plans listed there, as well as any exclusive offers.” That got everyone’s attention. The two adventurers at the back of the room both broke their conversation and turned to listen more attentively. A small grin pulled across Arwin’s lips, hidden behind his helm. “Exclusive?” Wanda asked. “What you’ve got now is the armor I’m producing in bulk,” Arwin said. “I haven’t revealed my full capabilities yet. I can do a lot more than this.” “Something tells me you aren’t about to say what.” “Afraid not. Not today, at least. Just keep an eye out. You won’t want to miss it.” “Somehow, I believe you.” Wanda shook her head, then popped her new helm on. “Thanks for the work, Ifrit. I’ll be putting this to the test. Feels solid enough, but we’ll see how it holds up in a fight.” “Hopefully better than you anticipate.” “I’d say I’ll get your ass if it doesn’t, but I may not survive if that’s the case,” Wanda said through a snort. “Good business model, if you think about it. Customers can’t complain if they’re dead.” “Except that results in me running out of return customers.” Wanda nodded thoughtfully. “A fair point. More of a long-term profits angle than maximizing earnings early on. That’s a good sign. I’ll be around, Ifrit.” With that, she turned and headed for the door. The other adventurers hurried to get out of her way as she squeezed her way out of the smithy. Once she left, Arwin cleared his throat to get the others’ attention. “Right,” Arwin said. “Let’s get you lot fitted, shall we? I’ve got a busy day ahead, so I don’t want to waste time. Who’s first?” The next five hours swirled away. Adventurers from the previous day came in for the modifications to their armor one after the other. Fortunately, none of them were anywhere near as time consuming as Wanda had been. It wasn’t long before they’d all been handled and Arwin’s coffers were even larger than they had been the previous day. Once it became clear that no more adventurers were coming, he took break in the main room of the smithy to look over his earnings. Seeing this much gold just sitting around in the middle of a relatively barren smithy felt wrong. Then again, a big chunk of this is about to vanish so we can keep the street. We’ve definitely got the funds for it now. Now all we need is for the Adventurer’s Guild to approve our application to be a proper guild ourselves. I hope they get to it sooner rather than later. I don’t want to screw Jake over. “Madiv?” Arwin asked. “Yes?” the vampire replied, looking up at him from where he leaned against the wall. “Can you keep an eye out for a member of the Merchant’s Guild called Jake? I owe him a bit over ten thousand gold. I’m going to be working in the back, but just give him the money if he comes by. He might need a cart, but that’s probably something he’s dealt with before.” At the very least we can get him the pay so he doesn’t get in trouble himself. Even if the Adventurer’s Guild drags their feet in officializing us, Jake’s superiors won’t cook him over an open flame if he’s paid off the land.