Eli POV
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After waking up to a bright morning sun I made my self decent and immediately scarfed down some quick porridge from a local food vendor. Fortunately, there were no mandatory classes I had to attend today and was on track for my other magical etiquette and mana theory classes. The main advantage of having no social life was now coming into play.
When I got back into my workshop, I thought that the answer to my problem with the directional issue in my mobile generator might be water pressure. By having two bags entrances empty into a hollow metal sphere, I could make the water spin a turbine by having the pressurized water go through a tube leading up from the sphere. This turbine could then use a gear to move a long metal pole with teeth to open and close the bags at certain points.
But this design had many flaws. Moving the bags so they would be facing down would be a nightmare. Not to mention fitting a twin apparatus for the water to continue the circular flow. Having too many moving parts would make it prone to failure in the rough treatment of a combat situation. I needed a design that had few if any moving pieces and just re-enforce those parts as much as I could.
Then I considered the bigger issue going forward for me personally. My attempt to get into the good graces of the mage world hadn't really worked. Worse yet my situation has deteriorated since then and there was an argument to be made that I would have been better off if I had just done the absolute minimal amount of work.
The unique circumstances I'm in also means that any big achievements I made were likely to have to be done on the sly for what could very well be years.
Behind me came the soft creek of the hatch. I prepared my water jet and hung the tube over my shoulder. I was 99 percent certain it was Salamede, but that 1 percent was enough to merit this minor preparation. As expected, this 1 percent didn't present itself as I smelled something like a fresh bread pastry in a basket Salamede carried in her right arm as she shuffled into the room. She wore a blue dress today with the typical white undershirt.
"Smells good. May I ask what the occasion is?" I asked as she handed me one.
"The occasion is you need a decent breakfast. I saw how you dashed out towards the food market and back in 5 minutes. There's no way you had anything good or filling in that quick amount of time." She said as she handed me a bottle of some liquid from the basket. After a sip, I let the fruity and faintly spicy drink run down my throat. The meat-filled bread went perfectly with it, but the bread was oddly stringy. As I chewed on my second breakfast/early lunch, Salamede leaned against the table holding my magnet crafting set up and looked at the floor for a long moment.
"I think it's time I tried my luck among the peasantry," I said after swallowing the last of my meal.
"That's perfect. I've been asking around town and one of the things I found involves an earth troll..." She trailed off towards the end. After a long second, she started talking again.
"Eli, why are you listening to me?" she asked.
I just raised an eyebrow to her.
"I'm a magicless Kelton while you are some mage from a legend who could be working with scions. Why not simply send me away and dismiss me?" She asked nervously.
" I think we're both in the mood for a more light-hearted story right now. Frankly, I'll probably have more luck amongst the peasants than I will among the mages and you're the only connection I have to that side of life here. " I said. I can't decide if what I was feeling for her was a simple bout of lust, friendship, or genuine attraction so I kept that out of my reasons until I made a decision on the matter.
She gulped and release a heavy breath.
"Well Eli, if you want to raise my spirits there is something you could get me. Would you be willing to give me a weapon to defend myself with?" She said, her apprehension clear in the spirit connection.
"Sure, but I would advise you to remember that tools are just extensions of your intentions. A simple, well-executed plan can overcome many shortcomings." I offered.
She nodded in agreement and pushed herself from the table.
"So, what would be a good starting weapon? A sword or a dagger?" She said as she stiffened her shoulders. I stopped to think it over for a moment.
"Neither. Unless you're willing to become a professional soldier, bladed weapons aren't going to be a good fit for you. Another consideration is that unless you're willing to lug around a weapon over your shoulder everywhere you go, we'll have to stick to something that can be hung on your hip or hidden up a sleeve." I responded.
For the next few minutes, I roughed out two ideas for her as she went over the agreement she got with the local government. Apparently, our association was of such wide interest that they never even questioned her claim to work for me. Killing the troll would get me the civil service achievement I needed to get the right to own land and they had another infrastructure need that I could help with that would help smooth out my land purchase.
One weapon was a flamethrower over her left wrist that had a small smooth half-circle of wood at the joint that would shoot out a tongue of flame several feet in front of her. The other was a right armband that summoned a water shield. Stone was too heavy for her and this water had enough enchantments to hold the liquid in place that it would at least block arrows. It took a while to get the proportions down right but eventually, she had a shield that could cover her top half while leaving enough space to allow her to shoot the flamethrower in front of her.
Fortunately, I had stocked up on several leather strips laden with fire, earth, and wind constructs from working with Ryan and bumming from other students so I at least had a ready explanation for how I got her those. As she fiddled with the new accessories, I also refilled my store of bubble grenades and had even gotten the process of making their enchantment down to just a few minutes.
I thought about making her crafts packet-switched to make them immune to spells, but it only took one stray wind spell and her to then activate the items to bring the heat down on both of us. Besides this was more for bandits or quick alley fights so I wasn't really worried about it. Although the bandits did apparently have mages among them.
That little tidbit still puzzled me. How anyone who had access to enough magical materials to make caster could fall to the depths of banditry was a mystery but when I went over what the big guy had said about going back to the capital I knew there was more to this picture than them just being some souped-up bandit minion. Salamede sending a tongue of flame out the hole entrance of my workshop brought me back to the present.
"These will do nicely, thank you thank you thank you," She said as she turned around and hugged me. When I hugged her back, I noticed a lot of the tension bleed out of her shoulders.
"All right, why so they want me to kill a troll and the charity gig?" I asked, finally getting into the fine details of what it was they wanted me to do.
"Oh yeah. There's an orphanage that could use food. Money was tight before and with people still struggling to get stuff in from the docks, food prices are going anywhere but down. Their problems have only gotten worse as the influx of children from families who lost their main provider have trickled in.
Another problem is a small village that's been getting harassed by a rock troll. They're too poor to afford guild help, even if the guild wasn't too swamped to help anyone else right now but the local government has put out an emergency award of a single civil achievement, which would help you buy your own house" She finished.
From my poor attempt to start acquiring land, I knew it was a complicated matter here, to say the least. If I wanted to prove that I was a citizen, I would have to submit references and documents for my family line, which obviously wasn't an option. Otherwise, the only way was getting the official recognition of the local government for being a person in good enough standing to get an award.
The one they could give me was only recognized in this local area, so it wasn't nearly as good as the merit Ryan earned, but it was enough to start the process to buy land. It would be long and painful if I didn't also get another in with the local bureaucrats but staying in such an unsecure location was quickly becoming untenable. Fortunately, governments always have means of letting you get what you want if you know what levers to pull for the right people who need them pulled.
"Sure, I'll kill the troll and get some food on the way back," I said as I got up to leave.
"Um, could I come along?" Salamede asked. I sat there for a while going over the approximate weight limits of my armor. This was a dangerous job and I was very reluctant to bring her along at first. But I wasn't familiar with the local area and I needed a guide to wherever this was if it was as dire as she made it out to be.
"That depends on how far away the village is. Of course, on the way back it may take a while to get home depending on how well we come out of this." I said. She nodded in agreement.
"It's a good bit from Holstead, we should get there after lunch," she said.
"Ah, that's by carriage. My jumping armor will get us there much faster since we can ignore traffic." I said as I picked up a mid-sized leather sack and slung it over my shoulder.
"But first things first," I said.
After getting my armor and arsenal equipped, I made one badly needed piece of equipment, a quick and dirty leather saddle with air boosters. It had a special sack that would allow her to slip into it.
After a few minutes of testing the saddle, I took her down to the armorer and got her a leather armor setup with thick shoulder pads and a thin metal chest piece. Salamede had a fist to her mouth as the total came up and was clearly worried about how she would pay for this.
"Well, I think if I scrounged up enough from calling in a few favors maybe I could afford-" I put up my hand stopping her.
"It's fine, I've spent five times as much in materials just these past few weeks," I said as I handed over the silver to the shopkeep. But now a very real test, as a man and as a decent human being, was upon me as we headed out of the shop. The trip was going to have to be done carrying her on my back as I was sure having her trial run with the boosters in a forest or against live opponents would be a fantastically bad idea.
She would be safe wearing the leather armor as we moved. Of course, having her wear the leather armor and metal chest piece was obviously the safest option for her personal safety. But the thought of her generous bust squeezing against me on every landing kept me from going with the obvious solution. When we finally made it out of the shop and into the bright sun of mid-morning I knew that I had to do the responsible thing, the decent thing. If she got hurt because I wanted to be a pervert, I imagine my conscience would make sure I was repaid a thousand-fold.
"All right, suit up in full armor. and we can head out." I said.
After she put the armor on in one of the local latrines we headed out over the bridge. Once on the other side, we briefly stopped to get her into the saddle I had made for the ride. Once we started moving It took a few tries to really get the motions down but eventually, I was moving along at a speedy clip with slightly elongated jumps. Salamede squeezed way too hard the first time we landed but fortunately she knew to keep her head firmly against my shoulder.
My jumps along the road were eventually assisted by the saddle wrapped around Salamede's back. Once I was confident enough to leisurely jump with her on me, I activated the saddles boosters and while I used it in fits and starts I eventually got it down to where I was going a good several yards in each leg motion. The saddle also helped lower the weight load and impact on my knees by using a booster to constantly thrust upwards. As we moved along, I took in the oddness of the atmosphere. The air had less pollen than when I had arrived, and the temperature was gradually dropping. Despite this, the trees were in full bloom like it was still the early days of spring.
Following her directions, we eventually came up to the village. The village was split down the middle by the road and was surrounded by a wide field with a forest off to the left. The few drab houses had thatched roofs and dingy wooden walls that had their shoddy construction exposed in the rising sun. The scattered ruins being picked over by various peasant men besides some of the houses said this wasn't the peaceful slice of country life it looked like
"So where exactly is the troll," I asked Salamede.
"The farmer said that he came out here around lunchtime yesterday. The locals have been trying to pack up and leave but when this troll came by yesterday, he scattered all the animals. They only just got some of their animals back out of the forest this morning." She said through a spirit link.
"Why risk getting them instead of leaving straight away?" I asked as I looked around the village, taking in the weary tired faces of the inhabitants.
"These poor people have nothing. Those cows and pigs are the closest thing to wealth and money they have" She said sourly. I just nodded, not agreeing or disagreeing.
A few minutes after getting the lay of the land and scouting several potential sites to fight the beast a crunching sound was heard off from the direction of the forest and suddenly a good 14-foot tall walking mountain could be seen moving in between the tall trees. Its movement was less ape-like than the troglodytes and more like a human with long arms going nearly to its knees.
He had beady red eyes sunk into the vast empty chasms of his jutting eyebrows with thick wet lips over a pair of tusks. His whole body was covered in muscle and what looked like stones couched in the brown sandy hair surrounding them. Fortunately, he hadn't seen us yet and the size of the trees meant he was having to slowly weave his way through them. Salamede got behind me as I went out over towards the forest.
I moved over to the only nominally safe spot I could see in the few precious seconds I had to move, a particularly large pair of trees and then set up my mines around the base and a big boulder beside it. A shout went up in the town and the people going over the ruins panicked as they scrambled with their family and loved ones in a stampede to try and leave the village. But they were fleeing into an open field, so the troll could hunt them down at its personal leisure once it got free of the forests' obstruction.
Salamede moved to come with me as I went closer to the walking giant well over twice my size.
"Stay back! I'm going to try and kite it around the trees." I said. She looked a little put out but took another look at the troll and acquiesced to my demands as she waited behind a large boulder.
The troll was getting into the clearer section and was looking at a particular family of running peasants, made up of four children and their parents, with hunger as his tongue ran over his lips. But when he made it out of the forest, I ran forward in front of several trees behind him and shot him in the back with my lava tube. The roar made my teeth shake in their gums as the troll turned, his eyebrows furrowed in rage. A second shot took him in the gut. They didn't have as dramatic an effect as it did on humans or the troglodytes as the rock hard skin and bits of stone armor proved quite resistant but the sheer heat burned the hair and left scorched burn marks wherever the molten stone landed and dripped before it disappeared.
I moved back and shot out another missile. The troll summoned a rock shield and continued his charge. I dodged the occasional head-sized boulder he shot at me and managed to get near to the mines I had set up. But as I managed to clip him in the shoulder, he did a big pull with his hairy right hand. I didn't understand what he was doing as he didn't summon any new stone with the brown earth mana coming out of his hand.
The faint whooshing of air behind me told of what he had used his magic on. I dodged to my left, but the troll summoned a block of stone to intercept me as the bigger boulder brushed past me. It hit me full on and knocked me out of the air like a rag doll. Thankfully, my fall was 'cushioned' by a tree.
"Fucking shit. Great idea to fight a rock troll near a boulder you fucking dumbass." I said to myself as I lay against the tree I had landed against. 3 seconds later I was cursing my dumb ass again for not putting a heal function into my armor for a moment like this when I was too stunned to heal myself with a spell. I tried to push through the pain and focus on what needed healing. Shit, my right arm was crushed.
The thumping of the dirt and blurry visions told me the troll was charging me now as he maneuvered around a tree. The world was spinning and I could only feebly throw out a bubble grenade with my left arm at what I prayed would be the general vicinity of his foot. Fortunately, it was and he tripped as his foot met the unexpected resistance of the bubbles. As he fell with a thunderous crash that shook all of creation, Salamede came up and tried to douse him in flame.
"Get back!" I yelled as I made my way over, but I still wasn't balanced enough to do the elongated jump. The troll looked up and did another earth spell with both his hands in a fist pump motion. Part of what was making this hard was that the troll didn't have to use mana constructs to do his magic, he just absorbed the ambient mana and converted it into the earth mana which I guess then cast the spell as it was in his flesh. This circumvented the typical means to at least get a general idea of what the spell was going to do based on its number of triangles or size of the circles.
This spell sent the surrounding earth up and down like a wave. At least near the troll, it did. The roots of the trees must have been severely limiting the spell's effectiveness because he howled in frustration and probably pain from the burns as well. The waves still managed to leave Salamede unbalanced long enough for him to pull back his arm and swat her.
" NOO!" I yelled as my visions came fully back in synch and I saw her fly past a tree out of my vision. My tube and water jet were made with the intent that my right hand would use them and I had to move right now If I wanted to make sure the troll stayed off Salamede.
"Hey ugly" I called. The troll turned his beady red eyes on me and roared again, just like I was hoping. I tossed a bubble grenade in his mouth. It had even managed to get a decent way down his throat before it activated. The bubbles filled his mouth and completely clogged his windpipes. I was hoping he would choke to death on it, but I wasn't taking that chance, as I shot a few clumsy left-handed shots with my lava tube that reduced his eye sockets to smoking ruins. I then left the thrashing mass of hairy muscle clawing and pounding on the ground.
I called for Salamede as warmth flooded my arm when I used a quick healing spell on it. I found her laying on the ground a good distance from where she had been thrown.
She was clutching her side and the plate armor over her chest was heavily dented. Moving quickly, I removed the chest piece to make sure it wouldn't interfere with my healing. After I healed the broken ribs, she coughed up some blood that had gotten into her lungs and then got to her feet.
We just stood there for a while taking as much air as our lungs could hold and listened to the deafening thumps of the troll pounding the dirt close by. When I got my second wind I rushed back towards the troll. He was stumbling around now as the bubble grenade had apparently run its course. Taking no chances, I hit him with missile after missile of red hot slag as it feebly put up its arms to defend itself. After the sixth or seventh blow, the charred giant arms were burned to black stumps as it laid in a barely breathing heap. To make sure the job was done I hit his skull repeatedly until it caved in from the repeated blows. The brains and blood splashed all over the ground in a pile nearly 3 feet tall.
A sound of liquid splashing against the ground and heaving drew my gaze to my left as I saw Salamede throwing up in front of a large tree. I walked over and patted her back in sympathy. After a few dry heaves, she finally talked.
"Damn, warn a girl before you do something that disgusting." She said through spirit magic.
"In combat, there is often little time for warnings, as I'm sure you now know. I had to make sure it was dead." I said with as much warmth as I could manage right now.
She nodded in response.
A few more minutes of refilling our lungs and we headed back towards the village.
The few peasants too old or feeble to leave were looking out from windows and porches. One skinny lad with a bandaged leg called out to us from one of the doorways.
"What news is there?" The kid with brown hair and green eyes yelled.
"He's dead. The troll is dead." I responded. The faces I saw showed mixes of incredulity and relief. I didn't care to convince them so Salamede and I just laid against a tree until we got a second wind. After a few minutes, a patrol of guards came by. They seemed surprised to see that the village was still standing.
"Alright men, form up. The troll may come back at any moment. We need to-" The lead guard said, his brown beard and green eyes telling of a veteran.
"The trolls dead" I called.
The men either did a double-take or had looks of flat disbelief. I got tired of having to explain myself, so I just pointed towards the forest.
"Go check it out" The leader said as he motioned for two of the lighter armed guards towards were I had pointed. They didn't look happy about it but did as they were told. As the other guards were setting up various positions the two scouts came back.
"He was telling the truth boss, a huge troll is lying dead just past those trees." One of them shouted and pointed behind them as they came out of the woods.
This caused quite a stir among the guards and the growing crowd of peasants. Then someone among the peasants cheered and the wave of relief sent the cheer through the rest of the crowd.
"Thank you, thank you. I thought we were being sent to die" The guard leader said as he shook my hand vigorously.
"It wasn't just me, she helped as well," I said as I motioned towards Salamede. There was a moment of hesitation but not dying helps people move past many prejudices.
Salamede blushed and looked at the ground as she was showered with praise and thanks.
The guard leader sent some men to track down and bring back the families who had not yet returned as well as get someone to give out a price for the trolls body. After a while, the peasants who had run away or back towards the town were trickling back in, drawn in by the guards or were coming back to investigate what they assumed would be the wreckage of their lives.
As some families were hugging at the reunion or swearing at the returning people for leaving them behind, the guard leader pulled me aside.
"All right, the examiner came back and it looks like a good haul. He reckons if we get some dissectors down here we'll have about 4 gold and 50 silver to be had from it. As the officer on duty, I am authorized to make an offer of 4 gold and 10 silver for the remains, the difference being a convenience fee." He said.
Good. Frankly, paperwork had never been my strong suit. I shook his hand and took the money from a pouch he put in my hand as well as a certificate commemorating the sale. But I had another question that I wanted to ask him.
"How exactly were your men supposed to defeat the troll with swords and spears?" I asked.
His eyes got angry and he squeezed the pommel of his weapon.
"Someone giving the orders really fucked up, that's how. Trolls aren't supposed to be allowed anywhere near this close to civilization. Somehow a 14-foot tall bugger damn near strolled right on top of us. Some heads are going to be rolling in HQ soon. Maybe." He said ruefully towards the end. I raised an eyebrow at that last remark.
"Eh, you know how it is. Some people know enough of the right people to never get fired. No matter how badly they screw the orc." He said, his voice brimming with resentment. I could only nod and turned back towards the peasant group.
Eventually, I found my target and walked closer. I motioned towards Salamede who was talking with a few housewives.
"All right, lets head on out of here," I said. She gave a slight bow towards the other women who returned the gesture and accompanied me down the road. Along the way, I tried to decide how I would move my stuff out of the workshop out without being seen.
"No jumping travel this time?" She asked with spirit magic.
"Nah, they paid out for the troll corpse. Once we get to Holstead let's just pick up a bunch of food and take a carriage back to the academy." I said, handing her the two gold and 5 silver as her split. She stopped dead in the middle of the street.
"Eli! This is... it's too much." She said trying to hand the gold coins back. I just put up my hands.
"Nah, you can pay for the carriage and the food though," I said.
"That's barely a dent in what you're giving me. No one alive would say I deserved this much just for getting in your way and making you lug me everywhere." She said, her voice had such a sweet mix of honest praise towards me and innocent purity.
"I don't think getting slapped by a troll would be considered a light contribution for anyone," I said.
I forced her open hand closed until her fingers wrapped around the money.
"T-Thanks Eli," She said as she gave me a light hug.
Salamede was a damned distracting woman.
We went through town and got three crates of vegetables and salted meats after a quick perusing of the food vendors. A few of the carriage station workers even helped load them into the carriage we rented. The whole affair took less than an hour before we were off. On the way, we were both too tired to do anything but sleep as we sat on the opposite sides of the carriage.
"Oi! We've arrived" The voice of the driver slammed through my sleep. I jostled awake with my neck slightly cramped from the position I had been sleeping in. When we both went out, we got our three crates of food, two for me and one being held by her, she lead me down towards the poorer part of town closer towards the back end that brushed up against the forest.
Eventually, we came up to a long building that looked more like a rundown barracks, with its thick beams and small windows, than a home. Salamede knocked on the door and a tired-looking woman with grey hair answered.
"How may I- Oh," She said, taking in the food and our no doubt rough appearance.
"We come bearing gifts," I said as I laid my burden down.
"Jordan, Pete! We have dinner!" She called inside the building. Two young lads with brown hair came up and took the crates eagerly.
"Thank you, thank you both." She said as she hugged us. Her tears and the tears of the boys flowed freely. I could hear some commotion in the building now as the food was brought in.
"We're just doing what we can ma'am. Just like everyone else" I said humbly as we both made our way back down the street.
As we walked down the street, we both took in the fading sun as we moved past the various pedestrians coming to and fro. Salamede was humming and looking at me with what I assumed was pride.
"See? Is it so bad to have a day out of the house to help people." Salamede asked.
"Maybe not," I responded.
Coming onto a larger square building with a sign out front saying 'Town Hall', we made our way inside.
The entrance room had nominally well-maintained wood floors with white paint on the walls and two hallways on opposite sides. The first thing presented was a large desk with a large woman with brown hair and green eyes getting ready to close for the day as she dusted off her brown dress behind her station. Salamede gave a cough, which caused her to look up.
"Oh, hi." She said before looking down the hallway to the right.
"George! They're here! The troll hunters." She called before giving us both a light smile and looking back down at her work.
"Ah, so I trust the matter has been seen to?" A voice coming from the doorway called. Through it came a large set man. He had grey lamb chops with a full head of hair. His green overcoat and brown overalls lent him a docile, friendly air that would immediately be dispelled by the hungry look in his almost wolf-like brown eyes.
"Indeed," I said as I showed off the certificate.
He took it and looked at the paper up and down. Then gave a satisfied grunt. He then looked over to the secretary and clicked his tongue.
She then scrambled through the desk until she produced a metal medallion of copper with the signature of one 'George Manta' melted into it. This metal disk she quickly tossed to Salamede who caught it with ease.
George gave a slight bow and then headed back from where he came. With that, we both left then hugged and went our separate ways as I went to use the local latrine and Salamede headed home. I thought about getting some work done once I got back to my house, but I felt way too tired from the charity work I did today. The world went black the moment my head rested in the hammock.