At the plains, a certain wagon was being attacked by a group of kobolds.
Kobolds are a race of bipedal wild dogs, with some form of intelligence, they were able to craft and use a variety of weapons and armor, although most of their equipment are improvised. They are not particularly aggressive towards others except when one enters their territory.
"Angelica on the right!" [Matthew]
"Got it!" [Angelica]
A kobold jumps a few feet off the ground to strike the woman with its makeshift club. Retreating a step back, the woman in a maid outfit easily dodges and counters with the thick knife in her hands. Drawing a crimson arc, she slashes it diagonally in half killing the beast and filling the air with the smell of its burnt flesh.
She had already dispatched to around six of them, but they had just kept on coming. Kobolds, much like orcs and goblins tend to move in groups when taking down stronger opponents, overwhelming them with their superior numbers.
"Help!"
Eight kobolds surrounded the wagon, they had intentionally drawn her away to get to the ones inside the wagon.
They swarmed the wagon stealing food and materials in the process. The others pointing their arms at Matthew and the couple.
"Why you!" [Matthew]
(Shatter!)
Matthew threw a glass bottle at one of the kobolds, when it broke it released this red haze. The two kobolds near it gagged and covered their eyes, as they swung their weapons blindly.
"Is that... pepper spray?" [Angelica]
With a chance presenting itself, Angelica used her wind enchant and releases a flurry of slashes towards the three kobolds. She deemed that saving everyone as her first priority.
Seeing them die, the rest of the kobolds began to retreat with their loot.
"I won't let you!" [Angelica]
The maid, looked cool as she ran after them like an arrow.
Then...
(Bonk!)
She had tripped over the maid skirt, magnificently planting her face first on the ground.
Lifting her face dirtied with mud, she shed a small tear. In her mind, she screamed, "THAT WAS SO EMBARRASSING!!" She stares dead ahead at the kobolds who were running away.
They were laughing at her comically as they looked back making fun of her.
Pouting her lips and glaring at them, she lifted her hand.
(Snap!)
(BOOOOOM!!)
The kobolds flew in different directions when a large explosion rung out from the center of their group.
"Hahahahaha!! Who's laughing now? Serves you right!" [Angelica]
She laughs at them while raising her hand showing a censored finger.
Everyone was clueless about what it was for, but they had soon forgotten about it once things calmed down.
"The food is all..."
"Those were supposed to be for emergencies..."
Meters from ground zero, is the sole casualty, the food that they had stored for the whole journey.
"That's alright Angelica..." [Matthew]
"Uh..." [Angelica]
Huddled in the dark corner of the wagon is the depressed Angelica. She was covering her face with her knee as she embraces them.
The couple couldn't take seeing her like that so they tried to comfort her.
"No worries Angelica. At least none of us got hurt."
"Yeah, what good is all of us were safe."
She raised her head when she felt cheered up.
"But honey... didn't those come from your families savings?"
"Guh..." [Angelica]
She was again reminded by the expenses the couple had shouldered.
During the past week, they got to know the couple better when they shared their stories. The couple both came from farming families. The man, Spencer is good at planting various stuff and the woman, Jody is a professional at caring for animals. They met during a yearly celebration where farmers had gathered to exchange produce, cooking and eating together celebrating the bountiful harvest.
After the celebration, they started a relationship and saw each other every week. It is due to the distance between them, they meet up at a certain spot so that the distance between them is halved.
Fast forward, they decided to marry each other, to cover their wedding expenses and to get extra money, Jody's family gave them animals to sell at Herxheim. While Spencer will be given a bunch of seeds and fertilizers when they got back to the countryside.
The total amount equates to about 300 silver. Right now Matthew and Angelica's money combined is only 26 silver, which is why our heroine is so depressed.
"Ah, wait." [Angelica]
"Yes?" [Jody]
"Is there any nearby town or city?" [Angelica]
"In three days we would be passing Nielitz." [Spencer]
"Do they have any shops there?" [Angelica]
"From what I know of Nielitz is mostly a mining town." [Spencer]
"What do they mine there?" [Matthew]
"Magic crystals." [Spencer]
"Sorry, come again?" [Angelica]
"Magic crystals." [Spencer]
"Oh!! It seems like I would be able to pay you back after all!" [Angelica]
Upon hearing that our heroine became thrilled, she was really glad that something so convenient was just right around the corner.
"Hmn... now the problem... how can I purchase the crystals without cash?" [Angelica]
"You can always barter for stuff." [Matthew]
"Really?" [Angelica]
"Yes, although they will more than likely give you the bare minimum." [Spencer]
Pondering for a second she thought up a way to make money. Then, she stood up and rummaged through her skirt.
"Spencer don't look!" [Jody]
"Wha, I wasn't." [Spencer]
Jody covered Spencer's eyes the instant Angelica pulled up her skirt.
"There." [Angelica]
She took out the mythril cinquedea. Its blue blade glittered from the light of the fireplace.
"You're planning on selling your mythril equipment?!" [Spencer]
"No-no-no it's too much Angelica." [Jody]
"This is an emergency. So I'm fine with it." [Angelica]
"What are you going to use for a weapon then?" [Matthew]
"Easy, I'll just get myself a titanium or some other type." [Angelica]
"Still... mythril is really expensive... in my lifetime I probably wouldn't even be able to own one." [Spencer]
"That's fine~ this isn't even mine to begi..." [Angelica]
Angelica sweated buckets at this point realizing her blunder.
"Huh?" [Jody]
"I-I mean the quality isn't that good and the condition of the blade is already bad, to begin with." [Angelica]
"I see..." [Jody]
She was relieved knowing that Jody hadn't heard her... she'll try to be more careful on what she says from now on.
~~~Angelica~~~
We had finally arrived at Nielitz and it is not what I expected. It had only a few wooden buildings which I could count with my fingers... it gives off the feeling of being deserted...
I can see a lone dog walking in the middle of the street along with rolling tumbleweeds. We are not in the wild west, aren't we?
(Creeeaaaak)
From the wagon, we all glanced to the direction of the sound. It was those typical half wooden doors that swing open with a little push.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Then, out comes a guy pulling a lady by her hair. Another person followed them at the back and knelt as if begging the guy to let go. He was soon kicked over and spat at...
He was pointing at his shirt, where of which seemed wet. Ah, I think I know the reason why...
The punk was now barraging the lady with insults and profanities. I cannot take seeing that anymore so I jumped off the wagon.
"Angelica..." Jody whispered to me. She was giving me a concerned look. I smiled and waved to let them know that it was alright.
She is a redhead with twin tails and freckles, she somehow reminds me of a restaurant chain mascot. {1}
"Hey, mister." [Angelica]
"The fuck you want?"
"Can you let the lady go?" [Angelica]
"HUH?! You also want some of this bitch?"
He tugged the lady closer to him. She was showing a painful expression as her hair got pulled.
"Really, let her go. If not I'll make you." [Angelica]
Then, the lady spoke in a low voice and said "Kno..."
"You said something bitch?!"
He brought his face close to the lady with his saliva flying out his mouth as he talked.
"I said... KNOCK IT OFF!!"
(Pow!!)
"OHHHHHH?!"
She kicked him right on the nuts. The thug rolled on the dirt holding his man berries while he simultaneously moaned in pain.
Seeing it also made me unintentionally close my legs... RIP, Mr. Ballsack you shall not be remembered.
"Father are you okay?"
"I'm alright... but you need to be more concerned of yourself..."
The lady ran to where her father was and held him up.
"H...e-lp..."
Now the punk was asking me for help...
"P-lease... *chu-chu* he-lp"
Gross!! He kissed my shoe!
"Disgusting..." [Angelica]
I glared at the lower lifeform who was still going at it.
Soon, people at the other buildings came with weapons or should I say pickaxes drawn. I gulped when I saw their numbers, not more than eighty I presume...
But... how do they manage to fit in that many people? All of the buildings are single floor only and aren't wide enough.
From what I can see, the whole place can only accommodate up to thirty people max. Don't tell me that they all slept like a bunch of sardines in a can.
They trembled when I took out the cinquedea. I don't... want to murder any of these people...
"Rah!!"
"Eh?" [Angelica]
They rushed towards me and went past. The people surrounded the thug and beat him to a pulp.
"Hey thank you for earlier."
The lady talked to me while the crowd proceeded to give the thug a beatdown.
"Uh, no problem, but it seems like you don't need my help after all." [Angelica]
"I dunno about that. This is actually the first time the townspeople stood up against these types of guys."
"First time?" [Angelica]
When they were finished with the thug they left him out to dry in the sun. The lady brought us to one of the buildings. She told us that her name was Anna and she explained the situation regarding the town while treating her father with a potion.
Nielitz, was known for their poor living conditions because of the Empire. To them, magic crystals were only a means of detecting magic and nothing more. Also, mining them was easy due to their abundance so they buy them dirt cheap.
Because of that, the workers were not treated well and are only given meager salaries without any benefits. In our terms, slave labor...
Due to this, the town has barely developed and traders mostly chose to skip this one over the next town/city where trade is profitable.
I hope that the place where they mined the crystals in the Republic is not the same... When I started imbuing them the price has since skyrocketed due to my demand.
I wonder if me being gone would cause an impact? Maria would most likely keep the business running since she now knows how to imbue them with her magic.
The town is oftentimes visited by sharks who would prey upon its citizens giving them money to buy their supplies while burying them with debt that they could barely even pay.
That one guy they beat up was one of them. He was "apparently" with a group of thugs that kept coming back to get their monthly cut. By now, most of the townspeople are already drowned in debt and are sick of their constant overcharging. The families here could barely have three meals a day and the children are getting ill because of it...
It had only started when Anna had an altercation with the shark to reduce their debt and he slapped her which led to him getting poured on with water.
"What is that?!" [Angelica]
"An elevator." [Anna]
"I know but." [Angelica]
"Heh, Let's go to town." [Anna]
"You meant the buildings outside isn't the town?!" [Matthew]
"Well, part of it." [Anna]
Inside the building was a wooden elevator, a literal elevator. It was large enough to fit twenty people, but since it is made out of wood it is probably fewer for safety reasons.
"Angeli-kyah?!" [Matthew]
Matthew got startled when I hid behind him and hissed as we got out. Tunnels! Lots of them! It's like Pilapil version 2.0!!
The only difference is the houses and shops are dug into them whereas in Pilapil they dug into the whole goddamn mountain. The corridor is jam-packed full of people coming and going, it is actually much much smaller compared to the tunnels in Pilapil which makes it seem crowded. Only four people could fit through here, side by side, shoulder to shoulder.
"Isn't this place kind of dangerous?" [Spencer]
"Because it's underground? Nah, there's no earthquakes nor flooding in this area." [Anna]
"How about monsters?" [Matthew]
Good question Matt!
"I haven't even seen a single monster here since I was born." [Anna]
"Seriously?!" [Jody]
"Seriously." [Anna]
"Insects/bugs?" [Angelica]
"Nada." [Anna]
Ohhhhhhh! I'm starting to like this place!
Anna gave us a tour and showed the shops. Since this place is free of monsters there was no need for the adventures guild nor shops for weapons and armor.
The only shops that I can see are the ones that sell food, but most of them had already closed down... there were a few pubs here and there and not much else...
Anna also showed us where they raised animals, though not as grand like those in Pilapil and another place where they cultivated underground plants to produce breathable air.
We ended the tour at Anna's house where her father slept in a separate room.
"So what brings you here?" [Anna]
"Can you give us your magic crystals?" [Angelica]
"You're planning on stealing our only source of income?!" [Anna]
Anna stood up with her fist at the ready.
"Wait-up!! Wait up! I'm not stealing, I just want to trade." [Angelica]
"Trade?" [Anna]
"Yes. Also, I may also be able to help you with your living conditions." [Angelica]
"Alright... but first the money?" [Anna]
"Sorry I don't have any on me right now tee-hee~" [Angelica]
"... ... ... Hahhhhhh?!" [Anna]
References
{1} Wendy's