Chapter 14: Dress to Empress

Chapter 14: Dress to Empress

The sound of metal ringing against metal was music to my ears.

The warehouse had transformed over the last several days. Whereas before it had been an empty expanse of dirt floors with crumbling stone walls, now it was an empty expanse of dirt floors with completed stone walls, and a roof. Really, if you wanted my honest opinion, that was much more impressive then the little hand crank generator I’d put together.

I had power, but I still needed things that could use that electricity before my ‘generator’ started paying any dividends.

Of more immediate utility, one of the warehouse walls had been converted into an ad hoc foundry. I didn’t know the first thing about smelting metal; luckily, there were a class of demons who agreed to work with metal so long as they were allowed to sleep in the forge itself. They were called Foundry Imps, and currently I had two.

They were stumpy little wrinkly baby things with soot grey skin and hands like miniature hammers. Really, they were about the most adorable thing I’d seen since coming to this new world. Unfortunately, as I peered into the forge, they were nowhere to be seen.

I sighed. Working with demons was hell.

“Hey!” I banged on the warm brickwork over the mouth of the forge with my palm. “Where’d you two scurry off to?”

A sooty grey head popped out of the burning coals. Large, dark eyes blinked up at me as the first of my imps sat submerged in the immolating coals the same way I might relax in a nice Sunday evening bath in my not so nice tub.

“Hrrga? Krrupbl Mrrrbaba!”

I could understand her—I’d decided this one was a ‘her’—in the same way I could understand all of my demons: an odd mixture of intention and emotion.

I frowned. “Yes, I know you finished the daggers on time,” I replied. “Where’s Mr. Burns?”

“Mrrrgl va Frrrra.” This one, who I’d named Coaline, waved her arms. They were surprisingly large for such a tiny creature, with sharp claws not to be used as weapons but to engrave the metal of their forge with detailed filigree. Coaline and Mr. Burns were excellent smiths.

They were less excellent roommates. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“va Frrrrra!”

I bit my cheek in irritation. “That’s not an answer.”

Coaline gave a little shimmy of her ashy shoulders, horned head tilting side to side. “Crrramsha da Varrrmia mul.”

I sighed. “Coaline, you both live in the forge. He couldn’t have gotten lost.”

“Mrrrvka.”

“What did you do to him?”

“Mrrrgle va Frrra!”

And we were back to this shit. I rested my head against the mouth of the forge, the heat of the coals bathing my face. I was about to just order Coaline to tell me, our agreement allowed me that much, when another clawed hand sprouted from a mound of charcoal towards the back of the forge.

Fortunately, I had an expert poker face.

“Oh, so you have absolutely no idea?”

Coaline nodded eagerly.

I leaned back, smiling as Mr. Burns, a slightly smaller forge imp but with a bigger head (which was why I decided he was a he) hauled himself from the ashes. “Then I refuse to be held responsible for anything he does when he... shows up again.”

Coaline tilted her head. “Vrrakama?”

“Graaaaaeeeeeeee!” Mr. Burns tackled Coaline into the forge with a war cry. I sighed as they tumbled across the interior of the forge, grey forms a dark blot against the otherwise glowing foundry.

They got along like a house on fire.

I tapped the mouth of the foundry once more. “Make sure you get started on the next batch of daggers when Tweedledee and Tweedledum show up with the metal.”

I got what looked like a thumbs up from Mr. Burns, before he returned to noogying the other forge imp so hard steam rose off her scalp.

With a sigh, I turned away. And people wondered why I didn’t want Minions getting around underfoot all the time. I had just enough time to take a seat in the stone chair I’d set up when the side door of the warehouse opened again.

“Lady Via.”

I looked up as Rel slipped back into the room. “The boys are back, My Lady.”

I sighed, standing. “No rest for the wicked, huh?” I brushed off the leggings of my bodysuit, throwing my cloak over my shoulders. “Let’s see what they found.”

Dee and Dum shuffled into the room, eyeing the blue-maned lizard lounging next to the forge. Blue was a good boy, but he did take a lot of mana to maintain. Thankfully, he was lazy.

She blushed again, glancing away as I did up the buttons on her shirt and vest. I ignored it, straightening out the fabric. It wouldn’t do for my Fillet Minion to look anything less than her best. I stepped back to take in the full effect.

“W-well?”

“Try not to stutter so much.” I smiled. “It really doesn’t suit you anymore.”

Rel glanced down at her clothes, before looking up at me in surprise.

I’d gone for a classic look, one that Cypher’s henchmen had used before his fall: a black vest and white collared shirt to go along with black slacks. The shoes didn’t match, but then, if I could find dress shoes on this planet, everything would be so much easier.

To top it off, I sauntered forward and placed a newsboy cap, black of course, on her head. “You look sharp.” I smirked. “Well, you would if you stopped tripping over your own two feet so much.”

“L-lady Via!” She blushed. I just laughed, straightening out the little bits and pieces of her new clothing.

Fitted outfits were far more available here than they should have been in this time period. I’m sure Electra would have had some explanation for me, but I just put it down to bad writing.

Wouldn’t stop me from taking advantage of it though.

With a smile still on my face, I pulled Rel back out into the main room of my little foundry. Dee and Dum were changed into their own outfits: black slacks, white shirts, and black coats. Simple, but classy.

I felt my smile grow wider. “It’s a start.”

Rel and the boys exchanged glances.

I clapped my hands. “Now! I have some new toys for all of you.” General Tock scurried over once again, this time with a small sack. I picked it up. “Call it a... thank you for your service.” Of course, I planned to start paying them as well, but I’d need to figure out our profits from the daggers first.

For now, this would have to suffice.

I opened the bundle, revealing two metal rods and a small pouch.

“For the boys I have these.” The cylinders were a bit big for my hand, but they fit into Dee and Dum’s meaty mitts perfectly.

Well, you know what they say about big hands.

Big beat sticks.

“Simply flick your wrist.” I demonstrated, and the rest of the night stick telescoped out, complete with the iconic weighted orb on the tip. “It’s nothing special, but you’ll find it much more durable than those sticks you were carrying around before.” I pressed it shut again, before tossing both to the boys. “They’re made from some of my own alloy, so feel free to let loose. They won’t bend an inch.”

Dee fumbled his for a second, before flicking it out and giving it a few swishes through the air. “Heh, sturdy.” He gave a little dip of his head. “M’ thanks, Lady Via.”

I held back a sigh. “I keep telling you to call me Via.”

“Sure thing, boss!” I gave Dum a deadpan stare, before tossing him a weapon as well.

Lastly, I picked up the pouch, holding it out to a blinking Rel. “And this is for you.”

Rel took it, letting the cloth wrapping fall from the very compass she’d given me a week ago.

Or at least it’s outer casing.

Rel looked at me in askance. “Lady Via?”

I mimed opening it with my hands. “Take a look inside.”

Rel blinked again, blue eyes going back to the latch. She pressed it, and the spring I’d painstakingly inserted popped the case open.

Her breath caught.

I smiled.

Rel’s mouth opened slightly into an ‘o’ as she raised her other hand to cup the compass. Or rather, the ornate casing that had once been a compass.

I’d polished it with my tools, taking off the little bits of tarnish and bringing the elaborate filigree back to the fore. The inside was where I’d spent most of my attention. I’d taken out the rest of the bits and pieces of the compass, save for the etched rose itself. Behind that façade I’d build a pocket watch, with 12 being north. The finishing touch was a small chain that could clip onto a button.

Rel’s eyes followed the second hand as it ticked around the compass face. It... really hadn’t taken me much more than a bit of time and having Mr. Burns make me some gears.

But I’d seen the expression on Rel’s face when she gave that compass to me.

I didn’t know where she got it, or who it belonged to before it found its way to my possession. I knew that I was being given something precious, and as a villain, well.

I liked to think I saw the Value in things and paid accordingly.