Inflame (The Completionist Chronicles Book 6) by Dakota Krout (best romantic novels in english TXT) 📕

about the last time I saw ye, Hank? Why do you always barge in here, insult me, insult my employees?”

“Hello, little bro. I go by ‘Havoc’ these days.” The mad-scientist Dwarf cracked a wide smile, and smoke released from his mouth, even though there was no cigar on his lips. “I need a favor from ya. Need a custom weapon; I got a magic-type human mentee assigned to me, if you would believe it. Joined the Legion not long back, currently in Officer selection.”

“How is that my problem?” The burly Dwarf demanded, stalking closer and closer toward Havoc until the shorter Dwarf needed to back away to be able to see his face. The smith was clearly trying to edge the scientist out of the forge.

“Hey. Let me say it again, McPoundy. He’s been assigned to me.” Havoc let a little smile show when his brother’s face contorted. “That's right, someone wants him to fail. Someone took an actual, promising Candidate, and gave them to me. I'll tell you right now… the human passed my first quest.”

“Hortatory.” McPoundy sighed as his arms dropped from a defensive position in front of his chest. “It always comes back to that. You come in here, a man that I'm sick of seeing, extort me, and depend on my voluntary compliance. You listen here… just because someone can complete one of your inane quests doesn't mean they are someone deserving of my work. If you want me to make something for them, Candidate or not, I'll be judging them for myself. I will hear nothing else about it. I’ll give them a fair chance, and you will leave. Now.”

“Happily.” Havoc turned on his heel and stormed out of his brother’s forge, trying not to show his true, seething rage. This meeting, in fact, had been one of the most cheerful reunions with one of his previous contemporaries. The fact that he was not outright attacked was likely due to their relation more than anything else. Certainly more than respect for Havoc’s position or threat level. “Now who to see…”

“Human’s weapon is taken care of… I need to find him trainers, put together a squad that he can't boss around… scratch that. I think he is going to need to be a lone agent like I am. We’ll call him a consultant.” Havoc browsed the various shop fronts and work areas. “Armor? Yes… who do I know that can stitch together some good Mage gear? Potions? Components should be taken care of… Cores?”

“Hocus-pocus always takes so much effort.” Havoc muttered as he went from shop to shop, acquiring things in Joe’s name, shamelessly using his Candidacy instead of paying for services. By the end of the day, Havoc had created a full suite of options for Joe, ranging from high-end teachers that could start in a few weeks, to gear that would be perfect for supplementing his abilities and playing to his strengths.

“Heh.” Havoc chuckled as he looked at the total reputation bill for the services. “Never say I don’t do right by the people assigned by me. Least not the ones that prove themselves. Where is that human, anyway? I can’t imagine that he stayed in the dump longer than he needed to. I’m betting he hunkered down near an exit and got out as soon as the quest completed.”

Hours passed, and eventually the Dwarf went to bed. Nothing. No sign of the human. Rather than becoming impressed, Havoc was faintly disgruntled. “There's no chance that being down there is actually useful to him, right? Or maybe he just got trapped in the garbage? Well… then he should show up sometime soon; the debuffs down there are enough to kill a Major, and getting buried is a death sentence.”

Havoc arose the next morning and waited longer, becoming increasingly impatient, until the human finally appeared. Still, it had been over a day since the quest was complete, and the Dwarf wanted answers. Trying to remain calm, he adjusted his goggles and gave Joe a stare-down. “You're late.”

“Hmm?” Joe unenthusiastically replied. The Dwarf observed the man, noting the extreme fatigue apparent on his face. Havoc knew that going into the landfill created long-lasting debuffs if you lived long enough to face them, but he could tell with a sniff that this human didn't even have ‘Stinky I’ on him. “I have… just so much to talk to you about.”

“Hold up.” Havoc’s notification was flashing at him like a strobe light, indicating that he was going to start getting punished if he did not pay out the quest rewards immediately. “Before you say anything else, I'm going to let you know that you passed my quest. I have a whole bunch of things for you to look over, and we have figured out some directions that we can go. Just had to let you know before the world started chucking lightning bolts at me.”

“Has… that happened to you before?” Joe glanced at the Dwarf sidelong.

“Hasn’t happened in the last couple a’ months.” Havoc shrugged, calming down now that the system knew that he would be fulfilling his oaths. “What took you so long to get back here?”

“Horde of Dwarven zombies down there.” Joe’s statement was casual, but it made Havoc freeze in concern. “Got a quest to clean them out; couldn’t manage to finish it before I died. Still, that's not what got me in the end.”

Havoc took a long draw on his cigar to hide his shaking fingers. He couldn’t offer a quest to take out the zombies down there; no one really could. There was no reward that could match the danger. The landfill was pretty much death for anyone who entered it. Frankly Joe should never have been able to survive that quest. There was a reason that Havoc was going all-out on making sure he fulfilled his promises; he didn't want to end up as the ‘boss’ of an instant dungeon beneath the city. “So… what eventually gotcha? You really like to leave