"What kind of favors?" The dwarf asked with suspicion.
"I need information regarding a group that tattoos members with a sword piercing Others' ears and-" Before Jayce could ask for his other favor, the dwarf grabbed him and dragged him into the forging area.
"Do ya want to get us killed!" The dwarf yelled in a whisper as he closed the door to the forge.
"What do you mean?" Jayce asked in response.
The dwarf jumped and wrapped his arm around Jayce's neck, bringing Jayce's head closer to the floor as he fell back down.
"They have eyes and ears everywhere. If they found out ya was poking ya nose where it doesn't belong, well let's just say they don't like people sticking their nose where it doesn't belong." The dwarf responded in a hushed voice.
Seeing the dwarf whisper showed how serious he was about the gang.
Jayce assumed that it would be a small group considering he hadn't heard about them before but this was because they were silencing anyone mentioning them or their activities.
"Can we safely talk in here?" Jayce asked.
"As long as ya keep it to a whisper. The walls here are dense to endure the intense heat from the forge." The dwarf answered his question, letting go of Jayce he went and sat down on a chair close to the forge.
"What can you tell me about them?"
"Not much. They're a gang called the Other Worldly Exterminators but most people just call them the Exterminators."
"They appeared a few months ago and took the town by storm. The first thing they did was charge a large ass fee on any shops that weren't owned by humans, making most of them go out of business."
Some Others tried to tell the guards but when they tried, they disappeared and some random human took over their business."
"Why are ya asking these questions anyway, don't ya work for them?" After explaining the situation to Jayce, the dwarf grabbed a large bottle full of ale and took a massive swig.
"Why would you ever think-" After realizing his mistake, Jayce facepalmed. The dwarf's shop was being extorted by the Exterminators and was close to shutting down.
Then some stranger walks in and offers loads amount of money for his services but threatens to kill him if he tells anyone.
It would make the most sense for the stranger to be associated with them.
'I guess that's might fault for threatening him right off the bat.' Jayce thought what he did was the right move but was unlucky with the town being in its current situation.
"I'm not working for the Exterminators."
Instead of answering, the dwarf took one look at Jayce before taking another large sip from the bottle. He set the bottle down as he looked at his huge, rough hands.
"I don't care if ya with them or not, all I want to do is use these hands to smith and ya gave me the chance."
Jayce didn't know what to say, he found that dedication admirable but also stupid. What would be the point in doing something you enjoy only to end up dead?
Instead of focusing on the drunkard in front of him, Jayce started to process the limited information he was given. As he was thinking through it, a thought came to mind.
"If they are keeping tabs on the shops owned by Others, wouldn't they have heard about my huge donation?" Jayce said as he looked back up and the dwarf.
Hearing Jayce, the dwarf dropped the bottle, shattering upon impact. Glass shards and alcohol spread across the floor as his eyes went wide.
"Oh shit."
As the dwarf finished his realization, a scream came from the front of the shop.
'Dammit!' Without a second thought, Jayce burst out of the room with the dwarf following close behind.
At the entrance was a group of men who all were wearing black suits. In front of the group was a muscular man who was over two meters, he had a buzzcut and a scar down his right eye.
But the reason why Jayce was paying more attention to him than the rest was because of what he was holding, Ashley.
Instead of focusing on the crowd, the dwarf looked frantically around the shop.
Spotting the receptionist leaning against the wall, the dwarf ran over to her to check her condition. She was unconscious and had bruises all around her face and arms.
"About time for you the two of you to show up, I was gett-" As the gangster was talking, Jayce instantly appeared in front of him, delivering a kick to his abdomen.
Seeing the kick, he quickly dropped the girl as he went to block the kick. The gangster was sent flying through the group and the door, landing outside.
Catching Ashley, he quickly threw her to the dwarf as he rolled out of the group.
Seeing a small girl flying through the air, the dwarf stumbled around as he positioned himself to catch her. Grabbing Ashley out of the air, he blew out a sigh of relief. "Give me a warning next time ya bastard!"
"Take those two and go to the backroom," Jayce said, completely ignoring the dwarf's complaint. Reaching into his satchel, Jayce pulled out his gauntlets and quickly put them on.
"What about ya? You can't fight all of them by ya-self." Although the dwarf could see that Jayce had some fighting experience, this was completely different from your normal fistfight.
These were gangsters who wouldn't hesitate to kill kids if it meant they could benefit from it. He didn't want to lose his only chance at smithing when he just got it.
"Just do it." The longer they stayed there, the chance that one of the gangsters would target them increased.
Due to his skill, {Combat Clairvoyance}, Jayce could see attacks directed at him but if one of them were to target the other three, he wouldn't have that much time to react.
He was lucky that the gangsters were just standing there instead of rushing him and he didn't want to push his luck any further.
"Fine, but if ya can't win just run and get the guards. I doubt they could break into the forge room." With his high-strength stat, he easily picked up the two girls and ran for the forge room.
Safely making it into the room, the dwarf set the girls down and closed the door behind him.
The thought of running away to get help did cross his mind but he gave up on the idea for a few reasons. First, the chance of him getting away from them was pretty low as they were blocking the only exit.
Second, if he did somehow get a guard's help, the gangsters would just get away and he would be dragged back to the Academy. But the main reason was that something wasn't right, the shop was located on a busy street yet there wasn't a commotion.
People should have been flooding toward them, but as if nothing was happening, people continued their day like normal.
'More than likely, they did something similar to what Isaac did.' This was the only explanation he could think of. In the middle of his thought process, a dagger came flying from behind the group. Jayce swiftly raised his arm, deflecting the dagger with his gauntlet.
"It's rude to attack someone while they're talking."