7. The sewers
The sun hadn´t even risen above the horizon jet, as Alex made her way to the A.S.S. this morning. She was quite happy, because today would be her first real Adventurer experience since coming to this world. And she liked her look. She had visited the leatherworker yesterday and had received some of her ordered clothes already. Of course, her gambeson would be the safer outfit, but she had feared it would get the wrong kind of attention, because of the self-cleaning feature. Coming out of the sewers with clean clothes might do that.
She wore a corset-like top, skintight trousers and her heavy boots. Everything was in black leather, and she had to say it looked really hot. She had of course her sword belt on her hips and a dagger on the outside of each boot.
She didn´t thought that she would need more armor today, as there would mostly be rats and slimes in the sewers, at least that was what she was told. And she had her backpack on her back, so she could chance to her gambeson if necessary.
As she got to the square at the A.S.S. there were already some people waiting. Five younger ones, with not much gear, six that were wearing thick leather cloths that would nearly count as armor, and one that was clearly a clerk with a clipboard. As he must be an A.S.S. official, Alex walked to him and announced herself to him.
Good morning! I´m Alexandra Bloodthorn Willows Daugther, and I´m here for the sewer job.
After a look on his clipboard he answered,
Okay. You are with Journeyman Albert over there. You can wait with him until everybody is here.
He pointed out one of the men with the heavy leather clothes. So, Alex walked fast over and greeted the man with a small bow.
Greetings Journeyman! I´m Alexandra Bloodthorn Willows Daughter, a Nymph and as the Clerk says I´m in your care.
The man looked at her curious and so did the two boys behind him. As she saw him now up close, she noticed he had a knife and a heavy mace on his belt next to a strange thing that looked like a tuning fork the size of a Baseball bat with sharp pointed ends. The two boys, perhaps young man, behind him were both smaller than her by at least 15 centimeters, wore cheap worn cloths and had a lot of scars. They looked like brothers, maybe even twins even if the different scars made them not look very identical. Both had a short sword, that had a new and cheap look to it and the rest of their weapons were a lot of knives, which looked either old or makeshift.
Well meet Lass!
The man said,
I´m Albert, Journeyman of the Cityworkerguild. Those two Scamps are Nick and Rick, they are new Coppers like you. If you are with us, then we only have to wait for our last one. Perhaps we have luck and can start early, if they come soon too. Swordfighter as I see, and a slender blade as it seems. That will work in most places with the sewers, but I hope you can work with your small blades too. Can get quite tight in some places.
Something else I need to know about you?
Well, I´m a healer, too. Alex said and all three seamed happy to hear that,
But I´m not yet very good, I can speed up your normal healing quite a bit, but don´t expect something in the middle of a fight. I need to touch you and have to concentrate solely on healing.
Oh, and I can see in the dark pretty good.
After thinking a bit she added,
If you don´t mind, what exactly is the Cityworkerguild and what is this strange tuning fork thing you have there?
Albert laughter and answered in good mood,
Ha! Tuning fork. No, that’s my Slimezapper. I will show you soon how it works. And the Cityworkerguild is for all those that keep a City like our Nordhutten working. From those that make and repair the streets, to the walls and sewers. Not just the normal building part, we are the people who are responsible for all the Enchantments and build in Rituals. Like the big warding’s on the wall, but also the small stuff, that you will soon see in the sewers. In short, without us this City would be a stinking heap that either drowns in it´s own garbage and filth or would soon be overrun by a beast surge.
Alex nodded and smiled. Thank you for your answer, Then she looked at the other two, And you are into small blades, Nick and Rick if I did understand right.
They looked at each other, as to silently communicate than one spoke,
Nah, it´s just what we most used to, had not the money yet to buy something fancy like that sword of yours. And what the Fuck is a Nymph, you look strange with that hair and your eyes are not normal. Me an´Rick didn´t see much other than here, but you are strange.
As Nick, blurred out that speech, Rick seamed to rue to let him be the one that spoke.
Hey! Let me tell you I´m perfectly normal for a Nymph! That means my mother is a Dryad, by the way.
Alex said outraged,
But it´s okay that you do not have the money to get better stuff. We all have to start somewhere, and I was just lucky that my mother gave me some things as I left her place. But I think those old blades that you have are not so useful, you have good short swords, but… wait a minute.
She turned around and set her backpack on the street. Then she bends down and made a show of rummaging in the pack. That gave the two a good view of Alexs behind and they good big eyes.
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Yup! They are looking, Kagami commented.
And now they get even some red in these cheeks. Not that I know why you are doing this. I mean you aren´t into boys, or did something change?
Alex shook her head a little and looked at Kagami. She didn´t exactly flirt with them, but she had noticed, she liked being looked at by others in a certain way. And why not have a little fun with an ass like hers.
She grabbed two of her spare daggers from the pack and turned back to the two.
Here, take these! I have some spares and would feel safer if you were adequately armed.
They grabbed them fast and gave their thanks. And as Alex had broken the ice quite firmly, as it looked like, they stared to tell about themselves and the backstreets of Nordhutten. They told her that they were orphans, that had grown up more or less on the streets, and that they didn´t even knew if they are brothers, but decided to be as they are very alike and a good team.
As they two told story after story, the next half a hour flew away, until finally the last of their group showed up.
Finally!
Albert said forceful, unterbreaking the twins, as Alex started to think of them, in their story, he waved a young woman,
Come here, Lass! I want to get to it already.
Alex looked at the newcomer, a young woman, perhaps drawing near her twenties, with a very martial look to her. She wore armor that was a combination of plate and chainmail, that was more on the lighter side. A cuirass, greaves, bracers and a helm she had under one arm, all worn over chainmail. On her belt she had, beside a dagger of course, two axes with short hilts. Both axes were engraved, so Alex had to assume that they were enchanted. All in all, the girl came clearly from money, not like the others that had come to this square this morning. Apart from her gear, she was a nice-looking girl, a little burly and had a quite prominent nose. A nose you might call aristocratic one day, if she grew into it. But she sure looked badass and capable.
As she drew near and wanted to say something, Albert just said, Up we go! As I said I want to get started! I´m Albert and in charge of you four. You can introduce yourself while we walk!
And with that he started walking with swift steps.
The next minutes they did just as he had told them. Her name was Neeli Sal Feng, and she had a Fireinfuser Class. As Alex knew from Kagamis teachings, that was a Aura based Class, that let her, at least, fill her enchanted weapons with fire. Albert was pleased to hear that, as she would be very helpful against slimes. Those of course were hard to kill without direct magical damage.
Of course, Alex and the twins did introduce themselves too. As the twins had both a simple Fighter Class, Albert told them they would put one of them with Alex and one with Neeli, to have front and back secured when they were in the sewers. Albert would be in the middle of them, so he could concentrate on inspecting the sewers and the Enchantments in them.
They walked through the city, in the direction of the river and the south-west side of it, and soon the houses got much more, well poorer. It wasn’t on a level of those south American slums Alex had seen on TV, but it was still a big difference to what she had seen until now.
After a while they came to a compound, that had high walls and multiple wind turbines that protrude over them. As they walked up to a big gate, which was standing open without any guards in sight Albert said,
So, welcome to the Waste Recovery Facility of Nordhutten!
Also known as “The Shithole”! Came it from Nick.
Albert gave him a knock on his head wit his knuckles and said, Don´t call it that! Not in front of me. This might be one of the smelliest places in the city, but it’s a marvel of magical engineering too.
He led them through the gate, and they saw two blocky buildings in front of them. Albert pointed to the bigger one, a ramp in front of them going downwards, and told them with bride.
Here in this one all the sewers of the city are coming together, and all that shit and whatever is separated from the water. You wouldn´t want to drink what is coming out of this, but what we lead back into the river is not much dirtier, than the river itself.
He pointed to the other building, And there all those bits we got out of the water are pressed, to get rid of the moisture, then shredded and finally pressed again, before you have nice fertilizers to sell.
Every half decent Enchanter can carve you a wand or something like that. That here is true magical Engineering!
And Alex was really impressed, not just by this facility, but by Alberts ardor, too.
Wow! She said, Are we going to see how they separate the water from the rest?
Albert smiled, happy that someone partake at his awe,
Of course, Lass! We have to go into the sewers, and you get nowhere else into them as easily as here. Come on, I show you a little around.
Albert led them down a ramp and through a door on basement level. After a short passage they came into a fast underground hall, perhaps 50 meters wide and 100 meters long. A bridge leads from the passage over two basins, each nearly 10 meters wide and going for the full 100 meter length. The basins were separated by a wall, and over the wall pipes bend from basin to basin. The first basin, next to the outer wall of the hall, held water that was brackish, the other a nasty sludge that came out of a big tunnel to the far left.
After those two basins came a wide walkway and another two basins of the same make, just that there was no water, and worker filled a thick disgusting sludge into big bins, that were hoisted up on chains through holes in the celling. Thick shafts came down from the ceiling, slowly spinning, and probably gave their power to some form of pumps in those pipes. Albert made a proud sweeping gesture and said.
So now look at that and tell me you are not impressed!
One side of this contraption is always pumping and separating what is coming from the Sewers, while the other side gets emptied. A wonderful crafted maschine of wind powered pumps and seperating Enchantments.
He led them over the bridge and Alex had to try hard not to gag from the smell of this place.
On the walkway they turned left and walked to the big tunnel ahead. The tunnel was at least 6 meter wide and had a nearly one-meter-wide walkway on each side of the stream of sewage that came out of it and was send to the side that was pumping at the moment through a switch of gates.
So, we will now go in there and do our job. In this cabinet are lamps, so get yourself one.
He pointed out the cabinet and spoke while everybody, but Alex got one of the lamps.
We will walk single file. The first has to concentrate on the front, the second and fourth are responsible for the sides, watch out for smaller pipes coming in. The last person will guard our back, and I, in the middle do my job inspecting everything.
We are not here to kill as many rats, or whatever, but if it comes near us, we kill it. The slimes are not as dangerous and will ignore us most likely, but if we see one that is bigger than a man’s head, we kill it, because they are what damage the Enchantments with their acid.
Everything that we kill, we simply toss into the sewage, they enrich the fertilizer and are not worth much for anything else. Any Questions or proposals?
Alex held her had high, I think I should go first, as I see good in the dark.
He nodded, Okay, then its You, then Nick, Me, Rick and Neeli takes the rear. If we find big slimes one of you holds it of and either me or Neeli kill it, as we have the right skill and gear for them.
Now get going, take the left side walkway.
And as they walked into the tunnel he added,
Welcome to the underbelly of the Beast called Nordhutten! Don´t worry about the Enchantments on the first 40 steps, they are just the Mana-gathering-circles for the pumps and get inspected often.