A coup? Ridiculous. Seriously, the last thing Noa needed was to be the posterboy for a coup! Free schooling, good money, nice life, Noa repeated his mantra, finishing up his mending on Aud deep within the troll caverns.

System [Lesser Appeal] level 11 → 12.

System [Lesser Mend] level 48 → 49.

System Class [Mender] level 6 → 7.

System [Lesser Mend] level 49 → 50.

System [Lesser Mend] level 50 → 51.

System Aether depleted.

Seeing his level go up brought a small smile to Noa’s face. He eased back onto his heels from where he knelt, and looked up at Magenta.

“I can do more for her tomorrow,” he promised.

“This is good,” Magenta nodded. “Now we go trade.” He started out from the large room, Noa glad to not play “ragdoll” in his hands again.

Following Magenta out into a dim hall, he asked, “Trading?”

“Chief decided that you will remain our spokesperson with the humans now that you work for me,” Magenta said, a wide smile growing on his face. “Later, you tell us stories!”

Noa scratched at his head. He was going to run out of stories quickly if he had to tell one each day. Or maybe I can break them up across multiple days? he thought. Yeah, what a novel idea!

As they came to a wide, round room, Noa froze, his jaw hanging loose. Shining in the troll’s lantern light was a mound of large, uncut jewels. Most of them were rubies and sapphires. Quartzes of various colors were strewn across the mound, along with opal, emerald, and very, very few diamonds, but diamonds nonetheless.

“Where did all of this come from?” Noa asked. Magenta set the lantern down, moving to start stuffing gemstones of incredible sizes inside a bag.

“We find them when we mine,” Magenta shrugged. “They are not so uncommon under the mountains. Chief says it is a blessing and curse of Jildas. Earth crushes, and it makes stones. Leaves us with silliness to sift through to get to bronze and iron.”

“Right, yeah, silliness,” Noa nodded slowly. He wasn’t sure how the science of that worked, but he was positive all of these stones shouldn’t be in the same place, and yet, here they were. “Tyrm, would it be possible for me to have a few of these diamonds?” he asked, walking into the room and picking a diamond up that fit neatly in his palm.

“Not mine to give. Chief’s stones,” Magenta said, and Noa followed him out after the troll filled his bag━it was the size of Noa! “We give all colored stones to Chief. Chief gives them to our troll sisters when they bear children. Blue stones are lucky.”

“If they’re lucky, why are you trading them away?” Noa asked.

“Luck did not grow food, and only some of us are skeptics that actually believe in the luck. We have plenty to spare, and trolls do not populate as fast as humans,” Magenta explained, guiding them out of the large cave system. Without him, Noa would be so lost. While there were only three paths to choose from upon entering the cave, two of those paths branched out into a plethora of winding halls.

“Where do you grow food?” Noa asked.

“Up the mountain. I will show you later,” Magenta said, walking out into the sun. He looked back at Noa. “Do not fall behind,” he said.

That won’t be a problem, Noa thought.

He panted heavily as they reached the end of the mountain pass, leaning over his knees. He felt like damn Niagara Falls with how much sweat trickled down his brow. Holding up a finger, Noa tried to tell Magenta one minute when the troll looked back at him. Magenta shrugged, and continued on. Noa waved a hand. Yeah, he waved at a troll’s back.

Huffing and puffing, Noa pushed himself forward, his legs like noodles as he started to run. He had a stitch in both sides begging him to stop, but he didn’t until they reached the other side of town, where he proceeded to collapse in front of Mini Buckingham. At least the last half of that run wasn’t as hard as the first half. Means it’ll be worse on the way back... Noa cringed.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Blondie the Barbarian soon eclipsed the blue sky, staring down at him with a braid dangling over her shoulder. “Do you need help?” she asked.

Elvethor moved in on the other side, his hair longer than his wife’s. Stinking Thor. “You’re a mess,” he said, nudging Noa with a toe.

“Water,” Noa wheezed, his face morphing into one of disgust as he ran a hand over it.

“I’ll get it,” Eliaz said while Lila moved towards Magenta, eyes big as the troll presented the bag of gems.

“So many!” Noa didn’t know her voice could get so high. She waved over an older woman, who walked with authority and wore a perfectly fitted green dress bearing the insignia of a golden scale. In other words, she was this world’s version of what Noa would describe as “professional” or “business-like”.

Noa jolted as water splashed over his entire form, jerking upright. He scowled at Eliaz, who smirked, holding an empty bucket. “Enough water for you?” he asked.

Noa’s deadpan was particularly... wet today. “How about some to drink?”

“If that’s what you wanted, why didn’t you say so?” Eliaz asked.

“I thought it was obvious!” Noa flicked water at Elvethor, smiling as the elf flinched.

Eliaz chuckled. “You needed a bath anyway,” he said, and offered Noa a hand up.

Squeezing water from his shirt, Noa looked over at Magenta when he called. “Come play ambassador.”

Sighing, Noa nodded. He looked back at Eliaz. “Get me some water to drink, won’t you?” he asked, squeezing a hand through his hair next. He hated to admit it, but having water dumped on him actually helped, despite his aching legs. Working for the trolls was definitely going to rebuild his endurance. Or kill him. Maybe both.

Making his way over, Noa looked up at Magenta as he pointed at Blondie. “She asked about expanding our trade beyond gems to include labor. Bargain,” he ordered.

Noa raised his brow, looking at Lila. “What do you want the labor for?” he asked.

“To build more homes. I’m sure you have realized that we need a permanent solution for the sixty-one people currently living in my home. I almost don’t have enough rooms for them all, and with the High Prelate coming to town, it will be my duty to house him,” Lila explained, tucking a loose strand behind her ear.

“And the payment would be more food?” Noa asked.

“Actually, I plan to integrate the trolls into our currency system. It would attract more outside trade, and with more church presence here, we could possibly gain an influx of people moving in. Combining carpentry with the trolls’ obvious physical advantages, the time spent building homes could be minimized.”

“So you’ll pay them actual coin?”

“Yes. The plan does bring another problem, so it could take weeks to integrate the trolls into our trade system,” Lila stated. “I can’t sell the homes to impoverished indentured servants. I would quickly run out of money to pay the trolls, and I’m not about to do it on the promise of payment either without a guarantee of the debtor’s income. So, we need to find new jobs for everyone.”

“Is continuing to work the apple farm not an option anymore. That should bring income,” Noa suggested.

“It is, but what of those who refuse? Yana’s apple farm is not a happy place for many people.”

Noa cringed. Yeah, he didn’t want to go back either. So... how to get sixty-one people employed? Or sixty. Conagan was hustling already. He held up a finger as he scratched his head, thinking about what they could do. It briefly brought him back to missed opportunities when he was trying to get out of retail and possibly into manufacturing. He had yearned for the steady job with regular hours, despite the overtime requirements, and━

It hit him. “How about a job fair?”

“What’s that?” Lila asked.

“People looking for, um, apprentices, or some extra helping hands, set up booths or interviews to entice those looking for work. It’s a time to make connections and to find employment,” Noa explained.

Lila hummed for a long moment. “That isn’t a bad idea,” she said. “A lot of people in town have never met the indentured servants. Most of them were plucked from off the streets or during their travels━it was why we never suspected a thing,” she said. “There are many masters that could take apprentices in this town and expand their business, desperate for it, in some cases.”

Noa smiled as Lila went on. “Then that solves enough to fund the trolls for their help,” he said.

“Indeed. It would make me more likely to give out loans if there were actual payments,” Lila nodded. “Well, Noa...” she reached out a hand, placing it on his shoulder. “Think you can pull a job fair together two days from now?”

Blinking, Noa shook his head a bit. “Me?” he asked, his voice slightly higher.

“Who better? You’ve seen them before,” Lila said. “Put it together.”

Eliaz walked up, gently pushing a cup into one of Noa’s hands while he mulled over the work it would take to put together a job fair in such a short amount of time. He gulped.

“If it will benefit us as well, the trolls will help,” Magenta noted.

“Then it’s settled. Tyrm, you’ll receive a mountainside shipment of produce by the end of the day, I will parse out land to start building on, and Noa, you will get the town together for this job fair,” Lila summarized.

Noa sighed, and nodded. He took a big swig of the water, somewhat wishing he had something stronger. Right, just... get a whole town that he hardly knew put together for something they’d never done before. Definitely a walk in the park.