As Duncan woke up, he noticed it was not an earlier than usual and he hurried with his daily routine before rushing past Wazsh who was once again chopping up some vegetables.

He said a quick hello and rushed out the door. Duncan had an appointment to keep. With a quick step all the way to Maryka’s shop he imagined how the measurement for his new pair of trousers will go. Half way there he was already blushing.

Asking himself questions in his head like, “I wonder if she will touch me when she does the measurements and why the hell does Wazsh chop up so many vegetables if we never eat them?” he finally made it to the shop.

He took a big breath and tried to enter. It was locked. There was a yellow parchment attached to the door with some letters visible. Trouble was he could not read it. He could speak Zyninan but the writing was illegible to him.

He hurried back to Wazsh’s bar and entered the kitchen.

Wazsh looked at him and inquired, “Did you forget something?

Duncan nodded before he became embarrassed for rushing, “Do you have written Zynian as an upgrade?” he forced out of himself.

“Yeah, but I need to charge you 5 silver coins for it. Employer rules,” Wazsh said and shrugged.

“Here,” Duncan replied and offered the coins.

[

Black Sherwood Forrest – Symbol reading pack

Zynian, Dwarven Zynian, Elven Zynian

Learn YES NO

]

He clicked on yes mentally and after a slight dizzy spell he felt nothing different.

“Are you sure that worked?” Duncan asked Wazsh.

“It’s the same as the starter language pack and that never failed. Try reading something,” Wazsh replied in frustration.

Duncan nodded before he took out the parchment from his inventory and uttered, “Ahh. Right”

The words on the parchment were still the same but somehow, he could read them as if they were in English.

“For Duncan,

I am sorry that I am forced to postpone the measuring due to urgent work at the fields. Hope to see you back soon!

Maryka”

Wazsh laughed as he saw Duncan reading it and the changing facial expressions on his face and could not stop himself from teasing,” Was that a confession of her love for you?”

Duncan sighed and shook his head, “No, a cancelled appointment.”

“There are no refunds on system services,” Wazsh said and waved his hands.

“Forget it. I have to go to the mine anyway,” Duncan replied and rushed out the door.

As he was walking to the mine, he remembered they didn’t actually set a meeting point or the hour for that matter.

“I hope she is not pissed. It’s still morning technically,” Duncan thought.

He saw from afar the mine entrance was without anyone there so he made a beeline directly for the barracks. As he got there, he went to the training field where he saw Shaya last. As expected, she was there shooting some arrows at the target.

“Sorry if you have been waiting for a long time,” Duncan yelled out of breath.

“Good morning to you too. We forgot to set the time yesterday. You just said morning and so that makes you not late,” Shaya replied and went towards the target.

After picking up she came to Duncan who was sitting on the ground beside Demira’s boulder, resting his back on it. At least that’s what he decided to call it.

“Are you ready to go?” she asked.

Duncan took a big breath and said, “Yes. Let’s go,” before he stood up and started walking towards the mine.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As they were walking side beside in silence Duncan took a look at Shaya. Her helmet was back on. The leather armor had seen a lot of use and was chaffed in places. She was about his size and moved with elegance.

“I was wondering,” Duncan probed.

“Ask if you want to ask something…” Shaya replied with a monotone voice.

“Well, I was wondering why guards like yourself would want to go with me to the mine,” Duncan explained.

“What do you mean?” she asked while walking.

“I mean you are all stronger and faster than I am. Higher leveled by I don’t know how much. I know there are more things down there as the crypt where I am useful. Why don’t you go there?” Duncan inquired.

“What level do you think I am?” Shaya asked.

Duncan thought about it and replied after a while,” Around sixty?”

Shaya sighed before she revealed, “I am level 27 and every one of the guards except Captain Bloodhorn is lower.”

“How is that possible?” Duncan asked in surprise.

“We have no options to level up if we stay in the guardian towers all the time,” she replied.

“Then why don’t you go to the deeper levels of the mine?” he asked.

“We don’t know what is down there by now and Captain Bloodhorn doesn’t want to risk it. We need every one of us with the rising threat of goblins and kobolds. As for why he allowed me to go with you. The answer is simple. You survived and we are higher level than you are so the odds are we survive also,” she elaborated.

“So, I am the cannon fodder?” Duncan angrily replied.

“A what fodder?” Shaya asked.

Duncan wanted to explain cannons at first but then gave it up and just exclaimed, “Ahhh. Forget it.”

“I still don’t understand how you are the second highest level in the guard,” Duncan said after a while.

“There was a war a long time ago. All the guards were conscripted for it and never came back. Even the old mayor left at that time. Fenris was just a novice and I was not even formally recruited at the time. All the other guards came from locals who had the right classes for it,” Shaya explained.

Duncan was deep in thought for a while and tried to fit all the pieces together.

“A war and a new mayor, probably Wazsh came to live in the village at that time also,” he replied.

“Yes. How did you figure that out from this?” Shaya asked.

“It must have been the ‘employer’s’ way to integrate the refugees into the local population,” Duncan surmised.

He shook his head and replied, “I am just guessing.”

“Well, we were a group of new newbies who didn’t know much and tried to defend our village as best we could. Then the new mayor used her…” Shaya said before she grew quiet.

“Power on you?” Duncan continued.

“Fenris told you about that?” she asked looking at him in shock.

“She didn’t use it just on you. Wazsh can’t leave his premises,” Duncan explained.

“So, he is not a coward? That would explain some things,” she said as she nodded before she murmured, “still doesn’t explain where he gets the beer and wine from though.”

Finally, they made it to the mine entrance and Duncan took out a torch.

“How will you see in the darkness?” he asked as he looked at her without one.

“I have a pretty high-level night vision skill,” she replied.

Duncan nodded before he probed, “How good is it?”

“Your torch should be enough to see for around 25 meters ahead,” Shaya responded.

“That’s more than I get from a torch,” Duncan replied and then sighed before asking, “How did you get the skill?”

“I don’t know. I just got it one night on guard duty. All of us have it. Shall we go?” Shaya replied.

Duncan nodded, unlocked the door and went inside. Shaya followed him close from behind. They closed the door but didn’t lock it before they went deeper.

Duncan considered mining first but dismissed the idea since he wanted to keep his inventory free so he pushed on towards the crypt. Shaya was quietly following him. At certain moments Duncan had to look back to make sure if she was even still there.

Soon they were at the empty stone casket with the trap door. Duncan saw the rope was still there tied around the casket. He sprung the mechanism on the wall and lowered the rope down the slope.

They quickly climbed down.

Once there Duncan walked to the wall where the ruby was. He used the same technique from upstairs to pry it from the wall as Shaya observed him. He dumped it into his inventory, before he turned to Shaya awaiting a question about loot which never came.

“Shall we open the coffin?” she asked.

Duncan considered it but shook his head, “I don’t dare for now. Maybe when I am at a higher level.”

“Then what do we do?” she asked clearly bored.

“You go to that side of the room,” Duncan said and showed her the wall opposite of the door with the mechanism before he continued, “I will open the door and if any Shades come, I will deal with them.”

She nodded and Duncan stuck the torch in a crack, before taking out the sword he got back from Bolgar.

“Here we go!” he said before activating the mechanism.

The stone door slid open and revealed a dark passage. There was nothing to be seen on the other side. Duncan went inside for a couple of meters, until the torch light was no longer effective.

He backtracked and took it in his left hand before he once again entered the dark corridor. After around 50 meters of walking, they came across a T-junction. The corridor split into two. Left and right.

“Which way?” Duncan asked.

“It doesn’t matter. You chose,” he heard Shaya say from behind.

He chose left and could soon see a trip wire a bit of the ground. He could not see any holes on the walls on either side though.

“Careful here. Can you dismantle that?” he warned before asking.

“No. Not unless we break down the wall. We could trip it though from a safe distance,” she replied after she came closer and saw it.

She took out a thin wire with a hook attached to it and backtracked.

“Come here, unless you want it to blow up in your face,” she requested.

He came to her side behind the corner of the junction.

“Here we go. Stay behind the wall,” she warned before she pulled.

There was a whooshing sound before the clanking of bolts was heard in the distance.

After that there was a familiar screech and Duncan ordered Shaya, “Run back a few meters until you can barely see me. I will deal with them.”

He stuck the torch into a crack and prepared for the BLEEPery to commence.