Duncan was happy with himself, forgetting his current situation and enjoying his obsessive-compulsive disorder which turned him into a hoarder in every video game he ever played.
He was soon at the broken barrel and he moved the pieces around to reveal a hole behind it. The hole was big enough for him to squeeze himself inside the open space on the other side. A normal person would probably call it quits but Duncan forgot where he was as the sense of mystery and adventure overwhelmed him and he squeezed himself through it.
On the other side, he found a similar space probably belonging to the neighboring building with broken shelves. He looked around and saw three pairs of red eyes reflecting the torchlight watching him. One pair of eyes was significantly bigger. He clutched his dagger and moved closer and the eyes moved towards him like car headlights from three cars.
Time seemed to slow down, as he kicked the first rat with his ankle boot and swung his dagger at the middle one going for his crutch. The first rat flew into the broken shelves while the second one he missed with the blade but knocked over with the grip handle. The third one managed to jump his left leg and scrambled up towards his head clawing.
He dropped the torch on the ground and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck before smashing it down on the ground beside the torch. The dagger soon followed this time not missing his target as the pointed end pinned the screeching rat to the ground. As he looked up where the other two were, the second one was already upon him. This time since he was crouching it jumped straight towards his throat. He only had time to raise his left hand to shield himself and the rat bit him on his wrist instead of his throat.
The pain from his wrist flesh and bones being punctured by the sharp incisors of the rodent hit him like a truck and his natural response was predictable.
“-BLEEP-. Mother-BLEEP-in -BLEEP-!”, he yelled as both he and the rat started convulsing on the ground. The third rat used this chance to stick its teeth into his left foot and started to do the happy dance too. Soon the party was over.
Duncan lay on the floor by the torch breathing heavily while the rats were breathing never more. He moved his left hand and the sharp pain of rat teeth pulling on his flesh and bone coursed through. Pulling the dagger from the dead rat he pried the mouth of the biter open cursing in his mind for being stupid enough to go back here. The one on the left foot must have been shaken off by his happy feet as it was no longer attached. It did leave a nasty gash above his toes though.
“Damn. I hope I don’t get infected with something,” he muttered as he looked at the damage with the torchlight in his right hand now since the left one hurt too much to carry the weight.
Opening his backpack and rummaging for the potions, he found a set of bandages and he wrapped them around his wounds to at least try to stop the bleeding. The health indicator was nine-tenths full and implied there was no great damage to himself so he tried to save on the healing potions.
Looking around he tried to find something to make this experience worthwhile but this cellar was just full of empty broken shelves. He found another hole into another building but this one was too small to squeeze himself through. After rummaging around some more he found what he presumed was the rat’s nest. It was empty.
“Ah well. It’s not like they are magpies,” Duncan muttered to himself.
Backtracking to the vicinity of the incident of violence he identified the corpses.
[ Black rat Queen – Level 5 ]
[ Black rat Soldier – Level 4 ]
[ Black rat Harem male – Level 3 ]
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He pulled all the bodies back to his inventory and returned through the gap in the wall. Once there he called Wazsh to lower the rope and he fastened himself and was promptly pulled up.
Once he was up Wazsh patted him on the shoulder and smiled.
“How was your first adventure? I see you got yourself a couple of souvenirs again,” Wazsh said motioning towards his wounds.
“Yeah. They are fast little buggers. I picked up the corpses like you asked,” Duncan replied.
“Good. Good.”, Wazsh replied.
“Where is your dumpster?” Duncan asked.
With a surprise in his voice, Wazsh asked, “Dumpster?”
“Yeah, for the rat corpses,” Duncan replied.
“What for? These are not trash. They are for dinner,” Wazsh replied.
Duncan looked lost for a second although this reply was the least of the weirdness he experienced in the last four hours.
“You eat rats?” he asked after a while.
“Yes. I eat them. My customers love them. They are just like rabbits minus the ears and fluffy tail and are much easier to catch,” Wazsh explained.
“But they are dirty carriers of disease and eat garbage!” Duncan replied in exasperation.
“That may be so on your planet. Here the whole rat species is immune to almost all diseases. My employers must have feared an outbreak or something and made some tweaks. Here rat meat is just as valued as rabbit meat. Rabbits are just rats with good PR,” Wazsh explained.
“Well, I am not eating them,” Duncan said.
“Suit yourself. More for me and my customers. Now out with them,” Wazsh replied.
Duncan unceremoniously dumped all the rat carcasses on a nearby table. Wazsh was smiling until he saw the biggest one.
“You didn’t have to kill the Queen. Ahhh, damn it. I should have told you to stick to my side of the wall,” Wazsh burst out angrily.
“What’s wrong?” Duncan asked.
“Nothing,” Wazsh replied while shaking his head. “Here, take your reward,” Wazsh replied in an annoyed voice as he deposited 10 bronze coins and a small bottle on the table.
Duncan identified the bottle.
[Minor Healing potion – Low quality]
His foot and left wrist were still sore so he opened it up and gobbled it down. He was glad that he did it in one go since the taste was bitter and made him almost retch it all out immediately. It took a while before the warm feeling spread from his stomach to his wrist and foot before a slightly itchy feeling came and then vanished.
He took off the bandage on his wrist and could not find a wound after he scratched away the clotted blood.
Wazsh sighed as he put away the carcasses presumably into his own inventory space.
Duncan stuck around for a few minutes but since Wazsh did not seem like he was coming back anytime soon he left through the entrance.
The now familiar view of the black hole sun still left him in awe as he squinted at it before checking out the town. The buildings were made mostly of wood except what he guessed was a smithy by the anvil and hammer on the sign. It was wholly made from stone probably due to the fire hazard a wooden construction would represent.
Looking at the light source he could not help but mutter, “Black hole sun, won’t you come, won’t you come.”
There were no people outside so he had no choice but to enter an establishment to meet the natives. He chose the smithy to do so since he could hear someone pounding away at some metal while he was still far from it.
As he entered a set of angry eyes attacked him, as well as the heat from the forge, before letting go of the hammer and walking towards him. The person walking toward him was almost more wide than tall. It was a stereotypical dwarf of around 130 centimeters tall and around a meter wide with bulging muscles and sweat gleaming from them. His long brown hair and beard were sparsely braided with a bulbous nose on a big head.
“Gere teneka?” the dwarf asked as he wiped his hands on a cloth.
Duncan raised his hands in surrender and said hello.
“Gere teneka?” the dwarf repeated.
“Helloooooo?” Duncan said slowly in a timid voice.
The dwarf just shook his head in annoyance and pointed one of his index fingers at the door and said Wazsh before he went back to work.
Duncan looked at him pounding away at something for a minute as the dwarf ignored him before he once again pointed at the door. He was afraid the hammer would pound his head soon if he didn’t leave so he used the exit.