There wasn’t much to do until the paperwork was sorted and I got word back from the guild master, so I sat back down and finished my breakfast. It didn’t taste as good as it had, but I had a feeling that one particular breakfast in the future was going to make up for that.

Finishing off the cheese, I stood and went about my normal morning rituals, leaving the shop to refill my water from the local pump and waving to my neighbors as I walked the broken cobble to and fro.

All the while, my head was spinning, full of plans for the future. I’d have to modify the workshop and make some hidey holes in which to keep the stuff that was too good to give up to the guild. The mech hand order would have to be finished, just to show Boyerman that I was playing ball. And Elli would have to be brought into the loop. After all, there was a chance she’d get roped in regardless of what I did at this point. It wouldn’t take much observation or asking around for the enforcers to peg her as the engineer I’d been talking about.

Then we’d get the license and go exploring. We’d have access to scavenge sites that had already been picked over a few times, assuming Boyerman approved the mission requests, and any new sites we found we’d be able to dig through on first rights.

On paper anyways. The guild master was an asshole, and quite a few of the nobles were as well. I’d heard many stories about top finds being requisitioned by the state, or by the serf holder. Wouldn’t expect it to go any other way, but a man could dream.

When I got back, CD and I worked on creating the farmer’s gauntlets, a process that was much easier and faster now that I knew what I was doing. And by the time Elli came around, they were finished and ready for delivery.

I’d just put everything away when she knocked, the sound of it making me jump out of my skin. I wheezed as CD cackled, and thoughtlessly reached out to grab his hand when he reached it out as if to help me.

“Haha, very funny,” I growled, my breath coming back to me.

I got up off the floor and peeked out my shutters, seeing Elli standing there in her greasy overalled glory. She caught my motion out of the corner of her eye and gave me a wink.

“You gonna let me in, Al? Or am I going to have to get physical?”

She slapped one gloved hand into the other, grinning toothily.

I chuckled.

“Yeah, just a sec.”

Locking the shutters back tight, I opened the door and gestured her in, securing the door behind her.

“Woah, you’ve had a busy morning!” she exclaimed, looking over the piles of large mech hands that dominated one side of the shop. “Glad I missed the extra work.”

I stuck out my tongue, and she playfully made as if to bite it. Giggling, I put my hand in front of my face as a shield.

“Childish apes, now that we are together, isn’t it time that we begin scheming?” CD said, his voice laced with a hint of excitement.

He’d changed form again, this time inhabiting the skin of some old grandfather dressed in an overly large shirt and pants that clearly were meant for someone much thicker and stronger.

I raised an eyebrow, but he either didn’t notice, or didn’t care to explain.

“Scheming what?” Elli asked. “We already talked about the future if that’s what you mean. Drunkenly, and in style.”

She smiled as she said it, but seeing the more serious look on my face, she pulled back as if afraid the news would hit her.

“What am I missing?” she asked.

“The guild paid us a visit today,” I informed her, “And now expect me to do improvement work for them on 10% commission. Apparently, someone saw the new farmer gauntlets and squealed.”

She took a seat and gestured for me to sit in her lap, which I ignored. Instead, I sat next to her and began to lay out everything that happened before diving into CD’s plan, and everything I’d thought of this morning on my way to and from the pump.

When I finished, I could see the worry in her eyes, a small shimmer of extra wetness on their lenses. She reached out a hand and I took it.

“Good things are heard, Al. They’re never give-it-to-me easy unless you’re a golden crib baby for the rich. And even they have to bow to the Duke or the King. Good news is, you’ve got me and I’ve got a good brain in my head.”

“Do you?” CD asked.

He waved a hand at the wall, and screens began to flip on, showing his search through the Coming of Age Testing Records.

NAME, AGE, AND GRADE: Ellinor Nedare, 25, Free Woman

BACKGROUND: Uptown Child born to accredited engineers.

SOCIETAL ROLES: Accredited Engineer, Shop Owner, Licensed Scavenger

WISDOM-ranked Attributes (As Scored by Officiate Mora Goddington Wils, Coming of Age year 27 of King William Karlington II):

WIT: 9 - Ellinor’s intelligence is reflected in her ability to innovate and improve mechanical designs, solving complex engineering problems with creativity.

INSIGHT: 8 - Her perceptive nature allows her to excel in scavenging, easily spotting useful components, and foreseeing mechanical failures before they occur.

SPEED: 9 - Ellinor is adept at parkour, which enhances her ability to maneuver through challenging environments quickly and efficiently.

DEXTERITY: 8 – Ellinor’s fine motor skills and manual dexterity were on tremendous display during the wiring, disassembly, and assembly portions of the test.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

POWER: 5 – She is strong for her gender, and comparable to many non-combat males as she demonstrated during her strength trials.

MAGNETISM: 5 – Ellinor has a reputation for being foul-mouthed, vulgar, and crude. Her status as a free woman engineer and merchant grant her respect, but her bizarre behavior lowers this ranking significantly. A woman of her stature should obey societal rules, not break them.

PRIMARY TESTED SKILLS:

ADVANCED MECH ENGINEER: Expert in designing, repairing, and innovating mechs and mechanical systems.

SCAVENGING AND SALVAGING: Proficient in reclaiming usable parts and materials from abandoned tech and monster remains

TACTICAL MOVEMENT: There is no doubt in my mind that she was trained in using her agility and parkour skills to navigate and escape from dangerous situations. It is likely that, were she given a military posting, she would succeed quite well. However, when I discussed this possibility with her, she declined, noting that soldiers are stick-in-their-ass peons who don’t know their elbows from their armpits.

We both read through the report, and I laughed hard when I got to the end.

“Go get ‘em, Elli,” I said, and she punched my shoulder, laughing as well.

“This is amazing, CD. Can you get anyone’s record?”

“I have noticed various levels of encryption on higher-level candidates, but yes, given the proper decryption devices, I could easily do this for anyone in the local database.”

Elli let out a high whistle.

“That might be something we can capitalize on.”

“Indeed. Also note that previous non-TUNI ape brain numbers have almost certainly improved, taking your above-average intelligence almost certainly into the genius range, though well below that of any Toran infant, or the likely monster-core enhanced academics of your local scholar class.”

Elli scowled.

“What you're saying is I’m dumb by your standards, and just good enough to get by?”

“Your words, not mine,” CD countered.

She shook your head.

“Not a problem. We’ll just get that fixed like how Al fixed his flabby, no-muscle piss-poor body. Hey!” she suddenly exclaimed, her eyes widening. “Maybe we can find some brain enhancement mutagen out in the salvage areas?”

“Definitely possible,” I said with a wink. “But I don’t think mutagen is exactly common. Or safe. Let’s just keep that as a secondary quest. We’ve got a little time to wait here while Boyerman sorts his reply. How about we upgrade the shop, and start making hidden compartments? I’m pretty sure they’ll have people over to go through everything. What if they find CD? He’ll be cut into tiny pieces and then--”

“Not going to happen! Get to it, go, go, and go!”

Elli and I smiled and got up, gathering tools as CD scanned the shop, green lines rolling over every nook and cranny. His holographic form flickered beside us, now resembling a man of the night, dark leather and night camouflage rubbed over his face. A devilish little mustache clung to his upper lip.

“Really?” I asked.

CD ignored me, and instead pointed towards my pantry.

“The earth isn’t even beneath the deeper half of that chamber. It would be easy to raise the floorboards and dig a well-sized hole while pushing the extra dirt to the sides. With no leavings to dispose of, it makes for the ideal hiding place.”

Elli stretched her arms above her head, the joints in her elbows popping audibly. Reaching to her overloaded tool belt, she pulled a mid-tech e-tool and unfolded it into a small black shovel.

“Alright, boys, let’s get to it.”

I followed along, a claw hammer in hand ready to torque loose the nails and planks. The other tools on my belt swayed and clanked together as I walked over to the panty.

Elli and I reached the place at the same time, and we opened the door, scanning the cluttered space. I had stored a lot of cheap and resilient food here over time. Cheese wheels, hunks of rock-hard bread, salted and dried low-quality meats and fish; everything you could need if you wanted food in the morning and didn’t care too much about what it tasted like.

And now we were going to have to move it.

I stepped within, hunching down and grabbing a basket of week-old apples, handing them up to Elli who in turn placed them next to the door. Moving forward, I started moving through the bread loaves, then the turnips.

When all was finished, I moved to the dusty end of the pantry, looking for loose nails. A couple of the rusty heads stuck out, and I wedged the claw under them, levering them out and examining them in the palm of my hand. They were brittle and useless, well too aged, I decided, and I tossed them out onto the shop floor.

“You’re gonna have to clean that up when you’re done,” Elli scowled.

I chuckled.

“Yeah, no doubt. Just don’t go shoeless til we’re done.”

Next, levering the planks out of place, I was happy to see that they were still in good solid shape since having to replace them would be an obvious X marks the spot for any enforcers who decided to come and investigate. I set them against the wall, then peered into the hole beneath.

It was like CD had said. There was a dip here, uneven silty ground. I pushed my pointer finger into it and felt hard clay a couple of centimeters within. It’d be an easy job.

“Alright Lady Digger. Dig me a hole!” I said, stepping aside and throwing my arms out as if to present her with an amazing gift.

“Oh, Alaric, how did you know?” she asked, grinning and giving me a wink.

As she walked past me, her hand slid around my hip and goosed me. I jumped slightly, taken totally by surprise.

“Oops,” she said coquettishly.

I laughed.

“Alright, CD, while Elli’s working on that, what else do you got for us?”

CD crept past, low to the ground like a common cat burglar.

“Apes may be watching. We must be careful,” he said, motioning for me to follow.

Not for the first time I wondered if maybe being stuck in the ground for too long hadn’t crazed up some of his logic circuits. Nonetheless, I followed, and he led me to my word desk. It was a hefty oaken behemoth stuck against the wall, covered with half-assed drawings and designs, many of which I’d never started, and half of which I’d started but never finished. He pointed at it.

“This particular piece of furniture is very thick and quite capable of being hollowed out for smaller devices . . . and substances. I suggest cutting through the bottom and hollowing it out in these sections here and here,” CD said, pointing to the areas on which I was to work.

I studied it briefly, then lay down, pulling a knife and a mini saw from my belt and getting to work.

Wood dust sprinkled over my face and dropped into my mouth, but it was all good fun and soon I was past the initial thickness of the wood and into the softer, sweeter center. Working continuously, listening to the rhythmic hammering of Elli closing up the planks, and following under CD’s tutelage, I soon had quite the inconspicuous hiding area.

“Hey, Al,” Elli called, coming out from the pantry and wiping sweat from her brow. “Remember that time we tried to build a treehouse when we were kids?”

I laughed, hammering a new plank into place to hide the hollowed-out space I’d just created.

“How could I forget? We got halfway done before we realized we’d built it in a tree full of hornet nests.”

Elli snickered.

“Yeah, and you fell out of the tree trying to get away. Thought for sure you’d broken your leg.”

“I’m happy to hear you didn’t. Humans are frail and a broken leg would surely have impacted your Speed and possibly Dexterity,” CD chimed in.

“Thanks for the concern,” I replied, shaking my head. “Let’s hope this project turns out better.”

After finishing both tasks, CD pointed out other minor aspects of the workshop that could be modified. He directed Elli to the studs in the wall and used his lines of light to mark out the dimensions for miniature hidden compartments. I’d cut and gouge, then Elli would fill and finish, replacing the new sections with their old covering and hammering them all back into place.

CD moved around the room, pointing out my shelves filled with technical manuals and diagrams and detailed instructions on how to install false backs into them, making sure they aligned perfectly with the cuts in the wall.

Elli followed behind, attaching latch mechanisms and doing the tinier and more technical errata as CD explained, outlined, and diagrammed them to her.

After a good while, we were finished. Elli lay back on one of the workbenches, letting out a long and satisfied yawn and stretching her legs and arms out like a turtle flipped on its back.

“This is going to work, Al. No one’s ever going to find nothing here.”

I nodded, looking around the place.

“Yeah, it’s a good job of it. Still no visitors from the guild yet, though. Wonder what’s taking them so long.”

Just then, a heavy knocking sounded at the door, and the two of us jogged towards it while CD disappeared from sight. I unlocked it and opened it up a crack, to see Enforcer Radulf standing there holding a half-dozen scroll cases, and giving me his toothy smile.

“Good news, serf boy. You got your excavation license, and Boyerman’s agreed to your terms. Time to sign some paperwork. Mind if I come in?”