Chapter 309: Rewards
Arwin couldn’t peel his eyes away from The Ivory Executioner. His arms hung limp at his sides — for once, not because he was completely drained of energy after finishing his work — but because his body was just struggling to fully come to terms with what had just happened.
He was dimly aware of Lillia and the others standing behind him. They’d piled at the back of the Infernal Armory’s forge. Just about the entirety of the Menagerie had showed up, with the exclusion of Esmerelda and Rodrick. All of them had wisely chosen to stand a few feet back in case anything he’d been working on had been dangerous or too hot to resist without [Indomitable Bulwark].
Finally, Arwin swallowed. He wiped the sweat from his head with the back of his hand. A flicker of amusement wormed its way through his surprise and confusion, pulling at his lips until a tiny smile crossed his features and a laugh slipped free.
I can’t believe it. I think my armor just got stolen.
A hand fell on his shoulder. Arwin glanced back. Lillia stood behind him, still wearing a stained apron. The cursed knife that he’d given her floated by her shoulder, swaying to and fro as if searching for something to stab.
“Arwin?” Reya asked in a worried tone as she joined Lillia. “Are you okay? What happened? We heard a big… boom. Kind of.”
“More of a whump than a boom,” Anna said. She pulled her eyes away from the statue of Arwin’s former armor standing in the center of the room and studied him intently in search of any injuries. “You aren’t hurt, are you?”
“No, I’m fine.” Arwin shook his head and grimaced. “Sorry for scaring all of you. How obvious was it? Are we going to have a bunch of people kicking down the doors?”
“There were some adventurers in the dining room,” Lillia replied. “I told them that you were just working, so nobody’s too concerned. I don’t think the noise was loud enough to go much farther than that… and the Devil’s Den blocked the magical energy from entering it.”