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Chapter 24 - Overseer galore

Riin's POV

Asperd Isles - Spring, Flinty Village, Flinty mine

“Are you completely blind or are you just lacking any amount of normal brain cell in that head of yours, you fucking idiot, just how stupid can you get, I'm trying to help the people who got hurt here, so let me go, you mindless barbarian.”

Ah…shit… now I have gone and done it, I'm sorry mother… and also father, thanks for the wonderful years you gave me, your offspring, accidentally might have pissed off an idiotic fool with no real amount of functional brain cells left in that head of his. My ‘little’ erm… outburst, have stopped quite a few of the men working around us, some of them are even looking at us with an half open mouth and big eyes, ah, I really went an did it this time, me and my temper. A few moments tick by as hulk stares down at me.

You have been hit, resulting in a broken nose.

Yeah… it's not like the sound of my face getting crushed by a fist the size of my head, didn't make it clear that I ‘broke’ a bone or two, broken nose, my ass, it's a fucking crushed nose bone if it's anything. Black dots form in front of my eyes, as I blink to try and adjust to the sudden pain of having a fist smashed into my face. Fucking hell, it hurts, I so hope the herbs that help heal broken bones also helps make use that here is no lose bone shards sitting around doing more harm than good. Gritting my teeth, I glare at the hulk of a man, who is looking down at me with a equally pissed of face.

“What the fuck!!”

Ah, it hurts to yell, that fucker I will get him for this, I swear!

“How dare you talk like that to me, you damned brat!”

“Huh?! You, ask what I'm doing, do you not have eyes in that big bloated up head of yours, huh?”

Aw aw aw, my poor nose, I had so forgotten, just how much a broken nose hurts when you try to talk.

“You lit-”

“Galore! What in the worlds have you done to the kid!”

The voice, that I quickly recognize as belonging to the inns cook, Greta’s voice brooms out, interrupting him from saying anything more. He stops his once more raised hand, to looks towards the owner of the voice.

“Kid, you mean this damned brat?”

“Watch you mount, if you want any dinner for the next year.”

Hulk or Gelore as he is apparently named, let's go of my arm, and as soon as he does, I get grabbed by Greta, and spun around to face her, presumably so she can get a better look at hulks handiwork.

“Wife, why are you so worried, over a brat like that.”

Woah, hold up… wife? Hulk and Greta are a thing… poor Greta, I say, having to live with such a mindless specimen of a man.

“Oh my! Look what you did to his nose! What man hits a child!”

Muhahahaha! Take that you fucking brute, hitting me for speaking my mind, if I had no use for you, I would have fucking stabbed you by now.

“Come with me, I have a few medical ointments at home. If I remember correctly there is one for mending broken bones.”

I just nod my head as I don't feel like speaking with my nose all flat and bleeding down into my mouth as soon as I open it. Guided by Greta, I get half dragged back towards the village as she yells at people to move. As we reach the inn, she turn to one of the small houses that lies behind the stable. So now I'm sitting and waiting for her to find the cream to treat my broken nose. A few appliness of the cream and my nose is look and most important feeling a lot better, the nose is already starting to show signs of healing. I got a free meal at the inn and my room and stable spot free for the next seven days time thanks to Greta, or should I say, Galore’s money, anyway free logging is always welcome.

I also made it into a daily thing for me to walk around the forest in the mornings, looking for herbs that could be of use. As I came to gather a great deal in the weeks it took for my nose to fully heal, I had to borrow Greta's shed to dry out the herbs before using them. With my walks in the forest I sometimes came across small game, so I started to put up snares to see if I could catch anything. With that my [Survival] and [Trap] skills gained some experience, the more the better I say. I stayed for free at the inn, thanks to the miners families paying for my room and stable spot.

With my nose still mending, I had to relax so the healing progress is speeding up the repair of the bone. So, I'm placed myself behind the inns stable making a frame big enough to hold the bear hide. My plan, I want to try and make myself a set of leather gear, like the ones in adventure games, preferring leather equipment over linen cloth, seems to me like the best way to get a good set of cloth that will not rip if cut. So, I begin my progress of sitting up the framework the dry out and treat the semi-fresh bear skin. A few hours of fiddling and I have a self supported wooden frame, one big enough hold the whole pelt. After a day of drying the pelt and me sitting around and using the time to getting to know, Blackie - the horse, that I got from Baul. - I have prepared the leather for use as clothing, meaning that I have made is soft enough that I can work with it and sew it into cloth, while it will still be hard enough to take the impact of light blows and any roiling around on the ground that I might be doing.

I used my old linen cloth as a baseline for drawing up my new clothing, then I scratch the inside surface with my knife, making a soft outline of the old pants. After a few hours of fiddling around, I finally got to a result, that I was very satisfied with. The pants were made with agility in mind, they most of all reminded me of those pirate pants that has a slim waistline and are ‘baggy’ around the thighs and knees, then closes into a tight set just below the knee. New pants in hand, I felt that I had just a bit more resistance to that big hulk, that now I was ready to face him again, and hopefully not get my face smashed in once more. 

After a good nights rest, I once more made my way towards the mine, all the while I was hoping for some better luck this time. As I reached the gate leading to the mining area I was met by the hulk himself, he was talking to one of the guards by the gate, they looked like they were talking about women, judging by the smug look on their faces. Soon after I got near the gate, hulk and the guard stopped their talk and turned towards me, my thoughts?... shit I'm in trouble now. The guard turned to face hulk and seem to wait for him to address the kid ruining their conversation.

“Ya’ know this kid, Galore?”

The hulk himself was staring hard at me.

“Yeah, he's the brat that helped a few weeks back during the rockslide, with the wounded, the herbalist kid, you know?”

The guard turned to look at me once more, after a once-over, he turned towards, Galore again.

“Ah, yea’ the kid Tom, talks about.”

Tom? guess that's the name of the guard for the forest gate, oh well. After his statement he looked between hulk and me, a couple of times before turning his attention fully towards me.

“Ya’ have my thanks kid, if not for ya’ help lots would have had problems from the injuries, ya’ did them good.”

“My pleasure to be of help, sir.”

He burst out laugh and waving me off.

“Sir! Haha, good one kid, good one.”

He then turned to Galore, gave a small weave of goodbye and headed for the stairs that lead to the wall surrounding the village, all the while laughing and talking to himself about being called a ‘sir’, I don't get the fun in that but who cares, right.

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All the while I was busy, looking at the laughing guard, Galore was staring at me, hard, I might add… after awhile, he finally spoke up.

“So… my wife… she said you want to try working in the mine…”

He was scratching his hair and looking around while talking to me, oh! feeling guilty over smashing my face in, are we now. Well, I better answer fast, before the hulk lose it.

“Yes, I want to see if it's something that I want to do for a living,”

At that comment Galore’s eyes grew a bit, he then made what I think was a ‘hmfp’ sound, or it could have just been a straight out growl at me, in that case I'm sticking with the ‘hmfp’.

“A living of it you say, just how easy do you think mining is, you brat?”

Ah, there we go again.

“Hey hulk, I'm not a ‘brat’!”

“Oh, so thinking that you can ‘just’ start up are mine is not something a brat would think?”

Deep breath, riin, they are not aware how much you know, they are ignorant people, yes, just plain stupid, that's it, they don't know better. By the look on hulk face I might have growled a bit at him, that is to say he was not looking happy at all, not one tiny bit… 

“Erm… what I mean is, if we can increase the output of metal from our land, we will in turn be increasing our overall wealth.”

Hulk, was now staring at me, with a look I have not seen before, I would even dare say that he looked kind of smart.

“So, what you are saying, kid… is that if we increase our mines, we increase our income.”

I'm speechless, the hulk is smart!

“Yes.”

That was all I could think of saying, man who knew he was a smart person!

“Well, you seem to know what you are talking about even if you are just a kid, kid.”

Ah, I will take that as a complement and not an insult.

“Yes, if we can get more than one mine, up and going we can produce more metal. There are the [Stony Mountains], what? fifty miles north of here, has anyone been mining there?”

Galore was at this point staring into midair, thinking I guess, after a few minutes, of that he turned to face me again.

“As far as I know, no one has mined in those mountains, but I will ask around to see if some of the elders know anything about it, I say even if you are still a kid, your idea sounds solid.”

he stood a moment before looking towards the gates.

“Yes, I will talk to the elders, I like that idea of your, kid. Meet with me in the morning and I will let you know if the elders think the same.”

For setting in motion a grand building of a new road and mining area, you gain +2 [intelligence].

Elisa's POV

Asperd Isles - Late Spring, Flood Village

Raval came bursting through the door with a massive grin on his face. As I was in the middle of mixing the right about of dried herbs, I almost knocked over my chair at his entrance. I gave him my ‘what are you thinking look’ and his smile fell a tiny bit, he walked over and kissed me.

“Sorry, my dear, I simply got too excited and didn't think of your work.”

I couldn't help but not be mad at him, with that puppy face he was making.

“So what made you become so excited, love?”

And his grin was back as he weaved a letter in his hand.

“It is form [Flinty Village], shall we open it?”

I half and half ripped the letter out of his hands, my sweet baby has written me!

As I open the letter I got quite the shock, the letter was not from my sweet boy, but from the Inn's cook, I gave a look to Raval to see his face, it too was looking a bit funny.

“What in the worlds… that kid…”

Ah, I had to agree with my dear husband on this one, opening the letter, I was met with a finely written text.

Dear ms. and mr. Torvar

I write to you, since I have notice that the sweet kid, have yet to send a single letter. After his arrival he has settled in fine, for a three weeks time he got his room and stable spot for free since he had gotten a lot of people happy, by helping out after the rockslide at the mine. Each morning he leaves at sunset to go gather herbs in the forest, and each time he brings back a large about of herbs, so much that he has started up a small storage of them in my houses shed, where he hang them to dry.

I looked at Raval after rereading that a few times over.

“Stable spot… how did he get himself a horse?”

“Well, he's a smart kid, so who knows how.”

Raval, patted me on the small of my back, looking back at the letter to read the rest.

The elders has taken kindly to his idea of traveling to the [Stony Mountains] to open a new mine. They whole village have been running around and getting ready for the journey, my husband, Galore and Riin had a small run in at his arrival but now they are talking as if they have known each other all their lives, it is funny what equal stubborn minds can create. They have made the whole town move at their wish, as they get ready to move the mining operation to the north.

Ah, my sweet bright kid, what has you gotten yourself into now…

“The [Stoney Mountains], just what kind of things, did he set in motion, now?”

Raval's face was set in a scowl while looking at the letter. Wait… they are traveling to the Stoney region, that means bandits… oh no.

“Dear, it's that the region where the most bandits brand together?”

All he did was nod while reading on.

A group of experienced miners and a small group of hunters together with a few guardsmen from the village, will travel with them. My husband promised me to look after Riin, while they are out there, the time set for the main group is one year.

I wish you the best, Greta cook of flinty inn

“Ah, my sweet little boy.”

“If he set all this in motion then he must be growing up, our kid, haha.”

Yes, while I fear for his safety, I trust in my child, I have to trust him.

Riin's POV

Asperd Isles - Late Spring, Flinty Village

A few weeks after Galore’s first talk with the elders of the village, we finally set the plan in motion. With the first sun light we set off towards the northern mountains in the region named [Stoney Region]. Five big wagons, pulled by two horse each, we took our first steps out on this new adventure. A group of ten miners plus Galore, a small group of four hunters and a group of ten guards, we set our sights at the road ahead, I of cause rode on Blackie. The course that was set for us would take us a bit west on the road towards [Flinty City], from there we would head straight north into the forest surrounding the mountains. We started out slow ride out from the village in the late spring.

Galore's POV

I had promised Greta to keep an eye on the brat, not that I thought that he would need it, he had a special kind of air around him, the air of a soldier… that brat might be young, but he is quick thinking and fast on his feet and by the look of his face that time that I hit his face, he made not a single sound of crying. Yes he might be a mere brat but the act like a man, I can only respect that about him. I look forward to see this next year in the mountains, I wonder if he is just as tough as I think he is, this will be a good year.