There was an odd moment of silence as Duncan contemplated how to get out of this for him embarrassing situation.

He remembered Wazsh saying there were woman guards around but as he had not seen them so far, he let it slip his mind.

“Is Captain Fenris not around?” he asked even as he knew the answer already.

Demira smirked at the obvious distraction tactic, “No. They have a delivery today. He is there making sure the kobolds don’t try something funny like last time.

“What happened last time?” Duncan said feigning his interest in this topic.

“The kobolds grew cocky and decided to forget their end of the deal and make a run for it,” she said followed by a smile, “they didn’t get far though,” she added.

“Demira get to the point or I will,” Shaya interjected.

Demira’s facial expression turned from a smile to a stern one as she uttered, “Well, we heard from Tyrok you bought Midnight deer from him. We were wondering if you have any interest in buying Midnight deer or any other local game.”

Duncan let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. The women exuded danger even though he knew he was safe if he didn’t start something first. He thought about it and spoke, “I am but I currently don’t have a lot of money.”

“Well, you don’t have to buy everything at once,” Demira expressed before she started looking in the air.

“What is she doing?” Duncan loudly asked.

Shaya rolled her eyes at him before she shouted, “She is obviously browsing her inventory.”

“Ahhh. Alright,” Duncan stated before he considered if he looked as stupid as she did while doing the same action.

“So, we have three Midnight deer, seven Horned rabbits, five Golden ducks, one Red-beak eagle and a Silver badger,” Demira declared.

Duncan thought about poultry. A nice roasted chicken would be great. He wondered if an eagle tastes like chicken. He tried duck but never an eagle as they were protected and a national symbol.

“Choices, choices.”

“How much for two deer, two ducks and the eagle?” Duncan questioned.

Shaya answered after Duncan waited for a while, “40 bronze for the two deer, 50 for the two ducks, and 80 for the eagle. All together it comes to 1 silver 70 bronze.”

“HEY! I was halfway through calculating,” Demira suddenly yelled.

“Don’t lie. If this was left up to you it would get dark sooner than you would finish,” Shaya replied.

Duncan thought about it and then decided to purchase them with a minor modification.

“I will take another duck and give you 2 silvers instead and then you can split it between yourself,” he conveyed his choice.

Demira raised herself from her sitting position and came closer. Duncan was not very tall at 175 centimeters but Demira was quite a bit taller. He guessed 10 centimeters taller.

“You are short,” she stated as she came near him and then laughed. Shaya behind Duncan facepalmed in frustration. Demira saw her and gave her a look of not understanding what’s wrong.

Duncan sighed, “And you are tall. Here are the two silver coins,” he uttered and offered them on an open palm.

Demira happily grabbed them and did a happy dance.

Shaya came in front of Duncan and yelled, “Demira aren’t you forgetting something.”

“Ohh, right…” Demira voiced out before she dropped half a dead petting zoo on the ground.

Shaya facepalmed before saying, “Sorry about that. As you may have noticed she is not the sharpest tool in the shed. She does make up for it in other qualities though.”

“And what would that be?” Duncan inquired.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Loyalty, bravery and care from the top of my head,” Shaya stated before taking a few more steps and flicking the excited archer on the helmet from behind.

“Now that the business is over, you should join us for a drink,” Shaya declared.

Duncan was still feeling uncomfortable around these two so he decided to politely decline.

“Actually, I came to train archery,” he stated before Shaya raised her hand to stop him.

“I insist or Captain Fenris will think of us as bad hosts,” she told Duncan who could only nod in resignation and follow them to the dinning room.

Once there, as they came to the table, they took off their helmets and used their hands to fix their hair. Duncan could finally see their faces behind the two helmets that enclosed most of their features except the eyes.

Demira has a cute pixie cut blonde hair with blue eyes, freckles underneath and she looked to be a human. Shaya on the other hand had a darker complexion with emerald green eyes and raven dark shorth hair. Their delicate faces hiding the danger they projected before. If Duncan were not so scared of them, he would probably call them out as beautiful.

Shaya then produced three beers from her inventory. As she passed one to Duncan, he noticed they were ice cold and the same as from Wazsh’s bar. He noticed the same thing the last time he was here but was occupied with other things and forgot to ask.

“Where do you get the beers from?” he asked.

“We pay a guy to buy it from Wazsh every couple of months,” Shaya replied.

He nodded and started drinking it eagerly to get out of the ordeal as soon as possible as spoke again, “Will you go back to the mine?”

“Probably. Why are you asking?” he replied taking another sip from the bottle again.

“I want to join you if you do,” she stated.

Duncan closed his eyes and tried to not spit his beer out as he uttered, “Why would you want to do that?”

“To get stronger of course,” she replied and then continued,” I can detect traps or stay behind and shoot arrows at your enemies.”

“Why would you need to get stronger?” Duncan asked and then as he declared it felt it was a stupid question.

Demira laughed before she exclaimed, “We all want to get stronger. Right now, all we get to shoot are animals that come too close to our guard towers. I would have asked to come with if not for a stupid bet.”

Shaya held up her hand and Demira went quiet.

“The thing is the kobolds and goblin merchants’ entourage are gaining in levels every time we see them. If this continues, we are risking to be attacked by the same beings we supplied the means to. The mayor is playing a risky game that myself and Captain Bloodhorn don’t understand,” Shaya said and sighed.

Duncan put down his beer on the table before asking, “Is that the reason for everyone asking when I will go to the mine?”

“I don’t know what the others are thinking. I am not a mind reader,” Shaya told him.

“Captain Bloodhorn told me the mayor takes good care of you financially. Why is there such a need for money from the game you kill?” he inquired.

“We all have families. Families with mouths to feed. The job pays well if you are alone but not if your pay is the only means to keep your family afloat. If you haven’t noticed the whole village is struggling. The food we have is barely enough since it’s all produced inside the walls, so the prices have risen. There is no trade with any other human settlements anymore,” she said sighing then raising her hands in resignation.

“Why should I take you and not someone else?” Duncan asked.

Shaya thought about it before answering, “I am the second in command because Captain Bloodhorn trusts me most and because I have earned it.”

Duncan was afraid to ask how. He shook his head free of dirty thoughts and continued asking questions.

“So, how do you imagine this would work? I go in front and take care of Shades as you stay behind and keep watch?” he probed.

Shaya was undeterred and countered, “Shades are a bad match-up for the guards but I am sure they are not the only thing down there. I will do what you tell me to do. Within reason of course.”

The piercing green eyes were suddenly piercing Duncan’s brown ones. He looked at them and felt he could look at them forever for a second. Turning his head away he knew he lost.

“Why the hell did I ask Wazsh if there are any women here. Now suddenly here they are…” Duncan thought as he closed his eyes and organized his thoughts.

“Look, I may have sprung this up on you but we have been debating this between ourselves since you rescued the Captain and the guys from the mine. If you allow us to go with you, we can only spare one of us and the Captain can’t go. I just want to make sure I am the one you will be taking with you,” she explained.

“When would it be good for you to go and for how long?” Duncan asked resigned to fate. He was planning to go tomorrow anyway and it would definitely be safer if he was not alone.

“Anytime and for how long it takes,” she replied immediately with certainty.

“Alright. I will pick you up tomorrow morning but be warned I will mine,” he countered.

She nodded before asking, “Mine as in you are a miner?”

“Yes. And it will take some time before I mine enough ore to fill up my inventory,” Duncan replied and watched her expression.

“OK. I will stand watch or cook in the meantime,” she replied.

“You cook?” Duncan asked.

“I cooked the stew you ate yesterday and the roasted venison you ate before that,” she replied.

“She is a great cook,” Demira interjected.

Duncan nodded acknowledging the statement.

“OK. Tomorrow. It’s a date,” he replied hen raised himself from the seat in embarrassment and hastily continued, “I just remembered I have some pressing matters to attend to. Good bye,” then ran off before he could hear their answer.

“Are you sure about this?” Demira asked Shaya.

Shaya nodded before explaining, “You saw him right now. He can’t even talk to women normally most of the time. He is not a threat to me even if he wanted anyway. Not yet at least but with how he is, I don’t feel he has it in him to ever become one, without a good reason. As long as I stay on his good side, that is. And by the look of things, that is not that hard.”

Demira nodded in understanding before she cried out, “I really wish I could go with you two. You could have at least let me tease him some more.”