The Devil's Foundry

Chapter 7: Roads Less Traveled

No one spoke until we exited the city.

I’d spent the last of our pilfered coin on some cloaks to cover up Electra and my own more distinctive garments, and for some reason, Rel hadn’t scampered off the moment I took my eyes off of him.

Minion material indeed.

Still, it wasn’t all bad; the boy had led us to a chink in the wall, called the Dirt Gate by the locals. The miners used it to avoid the tolls at the main gate, and apparently, they pooled enough to pay off a guard captain not to care.

Just one more sign that this world was no better than the last one, no matter how enamored Electra seemed with it all. I’d be lying if I said the thought of magic didn’t spark some childish joy in my heart. But I was well past the age where I could find happiness in—

Okay, no, I couldn’t even think that with a straight face. Demons or no demons, I was going to enjoy breaking this world’s magic system over my knee.

“What are you smirking about, Empress?”

I turned my gaze to Electra. We were a short distance away from the city now. “Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about.”

Her eyes narrowed. “In case you missed it, that was my job description.”

“Is it?” I tilted my head. “Well then by all means, feel free to be my minder. I’m sure I can find some use for you.”

I turned, walking towards the eastern coast of the island as the sun continued to sink behind me.

I heard a snort as Rel scampered in my wake. “Don’t get yourself killed, Empress,” Electra called.

“Nor you.” I tossed one last parting smirk over my shoulder. “It would be a shame if my nemesis proved so… fragile.” My smile grew. “I haven’t gotten around to breaking you yet.”

I caught the hint of a shiver running through her at my words. It’s true, back on Earth I’d cultivated a bit of a… reputation, regarding such matters. For all I joked, Wonder Man had actually lasted much longer against me than most.

But it was, as I’d said, nothing to worry her pretty little head about.

We parted ways there, Rel and I heading east towards the coast, while Electra turned west towards the road. At my side, Rel pattered on silently, eyes downcast. Now, that just wouldn’t do.

I waited until we were out of sight of the wall, and of any prying heroes, before I turned to face the boy, catching his chin in my hand.

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I wish I could say I looked down on him, but even this street urchin was much taller than me. Still, my past experience gave me plenty of experience looking down at people regardless of height.

“Ah, uh…?” He tried, voice squeaking into a higher register in his anxiety.

“Tell me.” I tightened my grip slightly. “Why did you stay? You very well could have run, and I wouldn’t have had the time or the inclination to track you down.” I smirked. “At least, not before you managed to flee the city.” He shivered at the implication that I would have found him eventually if he hadn’t stayed.

But that was just good business sense. If you were a Tailor, it didn’t pay to leave loose ends in your work. The same only went double for a Villain.

“I uh… didn’t have anywhere tah go?” He shrugged his shoulders. “Been running with the boys for near on a month now. Da…” He shook his head. “Just didn’t have anywhere else to turn.”

I hummed. “Acceptable.”

He blinked, eyes looking up at me.

“Still, I won’t stand for you holding yourself like you’re some kind of common riff raff.” I let go of his chin. “You’re a cut above all of those low lives you used to cower behind, do you understand?”

He nodded, but it was clear from his eyes that he didn’t.

I sighed. “Rel. Rule number one. Never lie to me, understood?”

He jolted. “Uh, y-yes ma’am!”

“So.” I narrowed my eyes. “Do you understand?”

“…no?”

I sighed. This is what I had to work with.

Still, like my mom always said, it’s a poor craftswoman who blames her tools. If I remembered correctly, Father used to blame his tools quite often. See where that got him. Where that got all of us.

“You work for me now.” I said, slowly. Wouldn’t do to overload his brain. “Which means the way you act reflects on me. And I’ll not have you carrying yourself like a piece of trash, am I clear?”

At that Rel frowned at me. “You wan’ me to act more…”

“I want you to act more like you deserve to be here. Can you do that for me?”

Rel just scratched his head. I sighed. “For now, just look up. Keeping your eyes on the ground just marks you as something worth stepping on. From now on, you’ll look people in the eye.” I met his gaze and held it. “Even my own.”

I took a… different approach to minions. So far it hadn’t led me astray.

Or at least, not so astray that a few security protocols and a death ray couldn’t fix it.

“What if someone does decide to…” He gulped. “Step on me?”

“Then I’ll break their legs.” I nodded sharply. “If you work for me, then you are under my protection. I believe that’s the premise of gangs, isn’t it?” I smirked. “Though, unlike the group you were with before, I make it a point to actually keep my promises.”

A nervous, frenetic laugh won free of his throat. “I-I understand, ma’am.”

“Good.” With that I turned. There was still much work to do, especially if I was to grow my magical power to the point where it was actually useful, instead of just summoning random useless hobgoblins too stupid to follow my orders.

“Now, let’s get to work. First, I want you to tell me if you unlock any new classes. I’ll let you know which one to pick.”

He jumped again. “That’s uh—” He looked down again, cutting himself off.

I sighed. This was just going to be one of those days.

“Speak.”

“People don’t… pick classes for other people.”

I filed that away. Good to remember for the future, if only so I didn’t step on any toes. That aside, there was a little misconception I needed to fix. “Oh? You mean those boys you ran with weren’t going to make you become a thief?”

He hunched his shoulders.

“I don’t have to hide my intentions.” I said, looking over my shoulder at Rel. “Don’t think I plan on sticking you with something useless. I will make sure our classes can work together.”

“W-why?”

I paused, raising an eyebrow. “Why what?”

“Why me?” He shook his head. “You had that other girl, and she already had a rare class. I’m just a c-cobbler. Nobody special… just some g-guy you found in the dirt o’ north side.”

I hummed. “Because you showed me something far more important than any rare class.” I said. He looked up at me in askance. “You showed some modicum of loyalty.” I smiled sharply. “Even if it was motivated by fear. Even that much can be hard to come by.” Judging by the expression of his face, he knew it was true as well. The more things change, as they say.

“When people are true with me, I am true with them as well,” I said. “And so, I decided to keep you. And no one of mine will be a ‘worthless bit of trash’ by the time that I’m done with them.”

True, some of them had been atomized bits of trash. But that was their career choice.

Rel looked at me, eyes blinking slowly, before a different expression came over his face. One that I found quite a bit more pleasing than his usual groveling expression. “I-I understand!” He gave a small smile. “I’ll try tah be better.”

“Good.” I nodded. “You can start by telling me a bit more about how jobs work. First of all, how do they level up?” I crossed my arms. “I just got my rare job, so I need to reassess.”

Rel rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as we continued walking, but at least he didn’t look at the ground anymore. “I dunno that much, ma’am…”

“Just tell me what you know.”

He gave a short little nod. “Uh, Da always said you can upgrade your class by getting all of your skills to level 10. Uh, he didn’t say if you had to be level 10 as well for that, but I never heard of anyone getting their skills that high without leveling up themselves.”

“And skills, are we really limited to five?”

“You can switch ‘em, I think. But then you lose all a’ the status points from the old skill. I heard some of the guards bragging about how they had more skill slots after they ranked up, but I think most of ‘em were making it up.” He wrinkled his nose. It made him look almost cute, and I had to hold back a giggle. “I think maybe the captains have got their second class, if it’s even a thing.”

I hummed. “I see.”

So there were people much stronger than the ones I’d fought so far. That could prove troublesome, at least until I was able to build up enough to face them head on. Still, at least he made it sound like it took a long time to reach level ten and unlock this second class.

But that was as a destitute child living in the slums. Who knew what was available to the people with time on their hands to actively hone their skills and increase their levels?

I’d have to make contingencies.

And all of that started here.

I came to a stop, placing my hands on my hips as I surveyed the coastline. Some distance to the south, closer to Silverwall, there were ruined bits of ships and what looked like stone docks. I nudged Rel. “What’s up with those?”

“Oh, uh…” He shifted back and forth on his feet, knees knocking together. “I heard an outworlder showed up here… Da told me that where outworlders go, calamity follows.”

“Calamity?” I smiled.

Rel’s gaze snapped to me.

Well, that giant squid thing could certainly count as one before we’d cooked it like calamari. But as for what I intended for this world, well…

“Calamity is certainly a fitting description.”