When did he have the time to do anything? Like this, he sat down at the workbench, staring at the scale and working inside the user terminal of the
The new circuits he had just harvested were strong contenders to be added to the shield. The scale didn’t have great durability to begin with, which explained the initial enchantment. Once the defense, even when tripled, was overcome, it would not take too much to break it again.
Seth would have liked to change something like adding a demonic poem to it to make it more original, but he actually had to agree with the original maker of the former shield. Endurance, Strength, and improved durability were the best combination for this scale. Which was why he decided to add the former enchantment again.
The real question was what to do with the soul. Seth found that he didn’t really have a fitting one for a shield or one that could fit the earth's elemental power within the scale. This left him only one choice: he would have to pay a visit to Tano’Mol before he could decide how to plan out the soul.
Seth had not paid a visit to the soul trader for a while, almost three weeks now. He gave a notice to Mina, Fin, and the others before he left for Delta. The city had changed quite a bit ever since he came here.
One would have expected things to become better now that a new representative of Chrona was here, but things had already gone too far to be changed in a short time. While Delta looked as rundown as before, the demon district looked worse.
With many of the moderate factions of Demons leaving for Minas Mar, it left only those of a more extreme nature and those who couldn’t leave. This became quite visible with the state of the current demon district.
There were signs of fights everywhere and the previously full streets and bazaars had become barren. There were still some stalls, but it was far from as packed as it was back then. In comparison, the shadow district was even fuller than before.
The rotten part of society had grown, while the fresh part had been cut away. Was Charred still in power? Who knew? The blacksmith avoided unwanted attention by equipping his Helm of Hades. Hidden from everyone’s eyes, Seth arrived at the usual warehouse.
But something was different from usual. There was no guard standing in front of it. A little befuddled he tried to open the door. It swung open with ease but behind the door was only an empty warehouse. Shocked, Seth realized that Tano’Mol had moved! He had moved without telling him where to!
…
“Do you know where Tano’Mol has gone?”
Scared, the dark-skinned demon jumped when the voice rang out in the empty room. His wide-open eyes stared at Seth when he took off his helmet.
“Hi, charred, it’s been a while since we met.” the blacksmith greeted the demon Charred, Ember’s uncle. Since the soul trader wasn’t where he was supposed to be, Seth decided to look for the man who had sent him there the first time.
“T-Tower Master. You surprised me.;” he said a little embarrassed, trying to recover his composure.
“Almost as surprised as I was, when Tano’Mol wasn’t there when I went looking for him.”
Seth spoke with a little smirk, as he waited for the demon to recover. Charred was not the lord of the underworld he used to be. Even criminals were hit by the recession, so to speak. he found charred in a small room above his tavern, that was closed this evening.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“I’m sorry, Tower Master. I don’t have the connections I used to have. I don’t know what happened to Tano’Mol,” he made excuses.
“But can you find him? I don’t think someone who was as connected as you were, would suddenly lose everything.”
“Maybe if I had some time and the right budget... I could ask some people.”
As Seth thought, Charred was not completely out of the game. It was just a question of monetary support.
“Let’s shorten this. How much do you want?” Seth simply asked. He wasn't here to have small talk with the man. He really had wanted to take his time to look at merchandise in return, instead, he had to look for Charred.
"If you can give me 15 gold I can call some people immediately."
15 Gold was not a small sum, but Seth agreed to pay him if he found the location or a useful clue to his whereabouts.
"Why don't you wait downstairs in the pub while I call some people?" he asked after Seth agreed to the price. With a shrug of his shoulders, Seth left the room to wait for Charred. He didn't have to sit around for long.
Although the information broker seemed a little down on his luck, it only took him 20 minutes before he came sauntering down the stairs with a confident smirk. It seemed like he found him.
“Tano'Mol relocated his shop because some nasty people started looking for him. I couldn't find the new location of his shop, but I have a contact you can approach,” the demon directly got to business and informed Seth, showing him a picture in a crystal ball.
“But you should be aware, that I'm not the only one who got this info.”
The blacksmith recognized the person in the picture. It was the business lady, Sandra something, that had accompanied him on the little quest the goat had given him in the beginning of their business relationship. If it was her, Seth didn't doubt that she would now where to find the demon now.
“Here's 15 Gold, tell me where I can find her.”
The deal went without a problem and Seth departed from the empty pub. His destination was an apartment building that was still relatively normal without many modifications, despite being part of the demon district. This part of the are the demons occupied was inhabited by mostly humanoid demons, so even normal humans didn't stand out.
As someone who grew up in the city and had the