Arwin lowered himself into a chair back in the Devil’s Den, letting out a relieved sigh as he finally let himself relax. It had been a busy few days. Every few days seemed to have been busy, but these even more so than usual. But there was finally nothing more that he had to urgently work on. He couldn’t make Kien’s weapon until the man returned with his Quest completed and new class obtained. Lillia was working on dinner, which meant she couldn’t work with him on the [Soul Guardian] for the Devil’s Den. Everything was prepared on his end for the tournament. There were still projects that he had to attend to — finishing Anna’s armor, making himself armor given his last set had transformed itself into a [Soul Guardian], upgrading the equipment of just about everyone in the Menagerie — the list went on. But all of that could wait for a little while. There was no benefit to rushing through important work, and most of the Menagerie was busy. Olive was practicing along with Phoenix Circle in preparation for the Tournament; Anna had gone off with Monica to get Raen and meet with Melissa and the Montibeau family in attempt to get backing for Art’s team. Reya was off somewhere as she tended to be, and Madiv was with Esmerelda. Arwin didn’t know where Rodrick had gone off to, but the man tended to go missing just as often as he was present. And that was just fine. Everything was in motion, and all Arwin had to do for the rest of the day was kick back and relax. Thoughts bubbled in the back of his mind. They tried to remind him of all the things he still had to do. Of how there was a dwarf smith aiding Soulforge, and how he needed to talk with Wallace about what that meant. Of the Setting Sun guild. Of the Adventurer’s Guild and the Mesh and — Arwin’s teeth clenched and he shook his head. It felt like his body was physically rejecting the idea of resting. The moment he stopped working, his mind went into overdrive in search of things to do. Just do nothing for a little, damn it. There are two days until the tournament. One of those days will be set aside to make Kien his weapon. That leaves me with one day to do nothing, and I’m taking it, do you hear me? “What do you want?” Arwin asked, his eyes narrowing as he pushed himself straighter in the chair. “I want to know why you made this guild,” the woman said. “What purpose do you survive? What desire?” “That’s an odd question.” The woman leveled a flat stare at him. “Okay.” Then she was silent. Arwin stared at her, but it was evident she did not plan to say anything else. She’d acknowledged his observation and simply chosen to ignore it. The sheer audacity of that pulled an incredulous chuckle from Arwin. She nodded. “Yes. It’s okay. Are you going to answer me?” Arwin shook his head and shrugged. “Because we wanted a place to belong, and I want to protect the people close to me. Our goal is to help people in the ways we can.” “Running for mayor, are you?” “What?” Arwin’s brow furrowed. “No. what are you talking about?” “That answer is too perfect. You want to protect people and make the world a better place? Let me guess, you also want to deliver gifts to all the orphan children and un-kill their parents while you’re at it?” “That would be nice, yes.” It was the woman’s turn to let out a laugh. “You don’t want to be famous? To sell your equipment throughout the kingdom? Isn’t that why you’re entering the tournament?” Arwin studied the woman closely. The Menagerie’s participation in the Proving Grounds wasn’t public knowledge. It was supposed to be something known only to the Secret Eye — though he had no doubts that, if Rodrick and Art had been able to figure out the people participating in the tournament, then others could too. Is she a member of another team? “I’m not stupid enough to think my goals can be accomplished just by hoping hard enough,” Arwin said with a shrug. “We will do what we need to in order to become strong enough to achieve them. Is that a better answer?” “A more realistic one,” the woman replied. “I’ll be looking forward to seeing your performance, then. A smith fighting a bunch of combat classes… that might be one for the ages. I don’t think the Proving Grounds has ever seen something like that.” Arwin tilted his head to the side. Whoever the woman was, it didn’t seem like her information was entirely accurate. She thought he was taking part in the actual fight. Well, I’m not going to be the one correcting her. “Expectations can be dangerous. Better to take things as they are,” Arwin suggested. He leaned forward, his gaze sharpening. “Is there something you wanted, or were you just poking around for information?” “I’m just killing time, actually. I was just going to kill it napping after I ate, but there weren’t any rooms left,” the woman said with a defeated sigh. She pushed her chair back and rose to her feet. “You seem like the decent enough sort.” “Thanks, I think. Are you going to be in the Proving Grounds yourself?” A faint smile crossed the woman’s lips. She stepped away from the chair and pushed it back into the table. “No. That sounds like a massive hassle, and it would probably defeat the point. It’s meant to be a competition, after all. Thanks for the talk, Arwin. I’ll be seeing you around.” “Defeat the point? What do you…”