Right after eating I did a quick scan of the clearing I had created. I still have a fallen tree that hasn’t been chopped up completely… Maybe I can use that as shelter for the night. I slowly made my way over to the tree, fatigue during the day started to kick in. There is a rough 2’ gap between the tree and the dirt. Guess I can make this work. I grab some branches from the pile of tree limbs and quickly place it around the base of the fallen tree. Climbing under the tree I can hardly make out the sky from where I’m laying. Guess this will be suitable. Just gotta make due with what I’ve been given.
Once I got my shelter prepared I headed back to the refugee camp, it looked like a fire was lit not too far away. I got a couple of strange looks from people on my way over, but no one caused an issue. The children whispered to their mothers while the elderly had already turned in for the night.
“Got room for one more?” I call out making my way towards the fire.
“Yeah, feel free to join us. We are all grateful for the work you’ve done.” One of the ladies standing by the fire calls out. I can’t make out her face behind the smoke of the fire.
I quickly stand by the fire. There are two young girls who look about 15 and 12 and an older lady around 38 standing by the fire. They all are wearing rough cloth dresses and all have the same brown hair and brown eyes.
“Are you all related?” I ask when noticing they look similar.
“Yeah, my name is Jasmine and these are my daughters Becca and Raphilia. Everyone here is extremely grateful for the work you’ve done so far, even if some people in the camp are less than thrilled that you’re a demi.” The older lady says while gesturing to the younger girls.
“My name's Kusk, it feels nice not to be treated like a vermin for once. Thank you.” I let out with a sigh of relief.
“Yeah, you probably get that a lot from the people here. My family has always been against slavery. We don’t care if you’re human, demi, beastmen, elf, or dwarf. As Long as you're friendly to us we’re friendly to you.” Jasmine replies with a grin on her face.
“I’m just glad I can finally live free… So I’ve been wondering, why are you all outside the town?”
“Oh, since none of us are citizens we can’t enter the Ghum without a traders permit. Plus none of us have the funds to actually live there. The only one present here that actually has money is Emelia. She could have just left and started fresh, but lucky for us she took pity. We’ve been making a few coins here and there from the clothing we’ve been making, but without her we would’ve gone hungry plenty of times.” Jasmine says.
“Oh, so is Emelia from nobility?” I ask curiously.
“Not sure, all I know is she is either a citizen or has a trade permit, because she is able to enter the city without any issues. She’s been the one to buy us food and sell the items we’ve been making.” She replies while the fire starts dying down.
“Oh, well she definitely seems like a nice lady. I’m glad you all have managed and I’m glad I can be here too.” I reply after a thought.
“If you need anything just let her know I’m sure she can get you what you need.” She replies while walking over to her younger daughter. Her younger daughter Raphilia whispers something in her ear.
“You’re too modest Raphilia. If you’re tired you could have just said so. Anyways Kusk, it looks like we are headed to bed for the night. I’d offer you a place to stay, but there is only one bed in our tent and it's already tight with the three of us.” She says as she starts walking away with the girls.
Maybe I should go ask Amelia if I could have a blanket. The cold of the night bites into my limbs, as I walk away from the fire headed back to the tree. As I’m walking out of the camp the cold begins gnawing at my bones. Yeah, on second thought I’m definitely going to go ask Amelia for a blanket. I quickly side track to the large tent in the middle of the camp.
“Amelia, are you in here?” I ask as I poke my head into the tent.
The inside is pitch black, but with my right eye I can make out Amelia’s figure laid out on the wooden contraption in the middle of the room. The candle on a table next to it gives off small bits of smoke. She must’ve fallen asleep working. Poor woman, she seems to be pushing herself too hard. Horrible thoughts rush into my mind as I step into the tent. No, I’m not being the bad guy in this life. I quickly make my way over to her. Looking down at her she looks like an absolute mess. A cute mess, but a mess.
I look around the room and see her bed not too far away. Picking her up out of the chair as gently as I could, I helped her over to the bed slowly placing her down. Shit I should’ve moved the blanket before putting her on the bed. After a thought I grab the side of the blanket she's not laying ontop of and wrap it around her tucking it in. Well, looks like I’m not getting a blanket.
On my way out of the tent I noticed a piece of paper on the desk with a bunch of numbers written on it. Curious to what it is I head over to it. Looking through it, it is obviously a list of how long they can live here.
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List:
Treasury Expenses
800 made per month 400 P
200 F
300 M
100 MI
800*x + 4,000 = x m 10,000 = 1m
2 Months
The numbers don’t add up correctly. According to the list she should have enough money for over a year and a half, but at the bottom it says 2 months. Maybe this is why she was over working. I quickly add a 0 next to the 2 at the bottom, and fix her calculations. I’m glad I learned algebra. After fixing the list I quickly jog my way back to the shelter I created trying to keep my muscles working to fight the cold. Laying down on the cold ground, tossing and turning for a while I finally managed to fall asleep
* Skill Cold Resistance lvl 1 acquired-
* Skill Cold Resistance lvl 2 acquired-
I am greeted with 2 new skills when I awake in the morning. My muscles protest as I crawl out from beneath the tree. The sun is just coming over the top of the trees. Wow, surprisingly I slept longer than I thought I would. Grabbing the ax and saw I immediately got back to work chopping trees.
As soon as the first tree crashed down I could see a familiar figure rushing towards me while I was stripping the limbs off the tree.
“Excuse me! Please don’t start so early in the morning.” Amelia calls out while heading towards me. She looks much better than last night.
Oh, oops I didn’t even think about that.
“Sorry, I wasn't thinking, I won't start for a couple hours.”I say as she reaches me.
“Thank you, so where did you end up sleeping?” Amelia replies as she sits on a stump.
“Uh…” Should I lie to her? Eh probably doesn’t matter “I slept over there under that tree” I say pointing towards the rough shelter I created.
“Oh… Sorry I couldn’t find you a tent to stay in.” She says with down cast eyes and a frown.
“Eh, it's fine. I’ve slept under worse conditions. At least I wasn’t shirtless and tied up.”
“Did… did you come to my tent last night?”
“Yeah, I went over to ask for a blanket, but I found you slumped over that weird wooden contraption.” I reply without making eye contact. Shit,hopefully she doesn’t think I did something wrong.
“So…it was you. I thought it was you because my blanket had sap on it. Uh… Thank you.” She quickly turned facing back towards the camp.
Well she knows about me putting her to bed, might as well come clean about everything. I don’t want her to be upset.
“Also I saw your slip of paper with the calculations on it. Um…….. They were wrong, so I fixed them. According to the figures you had on that paper you can afford 20 months not 2 months.” I say, as I put the saw down next to a tree.
She quickly turns to face me, her face is beat red. “Wait, WHAT!?”
“Yeah with 200 coins in expenses every month the 4000 coins you currently have will last 20 months.” I calmly state as I begin walking over to the camp.
“You.. You must show me! RIGHT NOW.” She blares out rushing behind me.
“Sure no problem.”
We quickly made it back to her tent. Amelia grabbed my hand dragging me to the piece of paper.
“Show me.” She says eagerly while pushing to paper towards me.
“Well let me make this simpler first.” I quickly jot down the important information.
New List:
Treasury Expenses
4,000 coins
800 made per month 1,000 coins total
1000 coins - 800 coins = 200
4000 coins/ 200 coins = 20 months
20 Months
“See 20 months not 2 months.” I quickly reply while showing her the paper.
“Oh my god, you are right. And here I’ve been stressing out because I thought I was running low on funds” She says while biting her lip.
“Can you look at this one to?” She walks over and grabs another paper that was in a small chest next to her bed.
My stomach growls loudly.
“I can, but I am famished. Anyway, we could get some breakfast before?”
“Of course, I will make some food, but take a look at this one while I’m cooking.”
“Sure that works for me.” I quickly take the paper and look over it.
The calculations on this one are more complex, but are also wrong. So I quickly fixed them as well.
Newburk Trading Association
Revised by Kusk
Product
Woolen dresses 3 copper each
420 dresses 3 copper each = 1260
420 Materials = 210 coppers
1050
15% trading fee - 158
Total 893 copper
After fixing the calculations Amelia walked over with a hard piece of bread, and some strange looking fruit.
“Was that one wrong too?” Amelia says as she sits down at the table next to me.
“Yeah, before it said 800 coppers as the total but it should be 893. What is this slip for?” I reply before taking a bite from the bread.
“URG, that swine. That's the trading slip for the products we’ve been making for the month. They’ve been stealing money from us since the beginning.” Amelia states visibility shaking.
“Oh” Well that's unfortunate.
“Quick eat. We are leaving to pay these bastards a visit, right after breakfast.” She declares after shoving the paper in her pocket. I could sense her bloodlust. Oh boy what have I gotten myself into now.
“I can’t enter the Ghum, I don’t have enough money.” I quickly say, trying to get out of the situation.
“Leave that to me.” She says as we finish our meal.