Aunt Susan was kind, tolerant, and benevolent.
The next morning, she took Martin along to the market in Pinelin Town.
Unlike before, when An Nan and Martin would hastily sell firewood and occasionally wander the streets, never approaching shops or food stalls.
Today, however, Aunt Susan actively led them, breakfast-less, to the fragrant market.
The sweet scent of baked bread and roasting meat mingled with the morning mist. The steaks on the grill reminded An Nan of the half-minotaur... By now, the miners would have entered the mine.
"An Nan? An Nan?" Aunt Susan lovingly roused him from his reverie, "What would you like to eat?"
...
"Anything... anything..."
Old Zoren, leaning on his pickaxe, blended in among the miners. With his lame leg and advanced age, muttering to himself, he looked like a vagrant.
Entering the mine alone was a dangerous decision. But at least he wouldn't have to pay wages to anyone, and all findings would be his—most importantly, he'd found one piece of ore, so why not a second?
Believing luck was on his side, Old Zoren entered a branching tunnel, completely missing the figure dragging rusty shackles watching him from afar.
Clank—clank—
Tasia dragged her chains, ignoring the miners' disgusted glances, silently following the group deeper into the gold mine.
Stopping in the mine's depths, Tasia swung her pickaxe, sparks flying, breaking off a large chunk of rock.
"Hey, bull-freak, move aside."
The words from behind made Tasia stop. Without argument, she passed the two miners and walked back.
"Damn beast-folk slave... ptui."
They were cruder than orcs, weaker than goblins, greedier than dragons.
Tasia kept her distance from the gossiping miners. Her bull horns, which once brought such shame she'd wanted to cut them off, no longer bothered her as her experience grew.
She thought of the boy called "An Nan." He hadn't shown the disgust of other humans, or hidden contempt in his eyes, though his occasional pity and sympathy made Tasia somewhat uncomfortable.
The two miners who'd driven away the half-minotaur sorted through the rubble and continued digging. They weren't slaves; finding ore meant rewards.
Stone fragments scattered as striking sounds echoed through the tunnel.
Soon, one miner stopped puzzled.
"Did you hear that?"
"What?"
His companion lowered his axe, then heard chaotic footsteps behind them.
The miners peered uncertainly into the darkness beyond their lamp light. Suddenly, a scaled, grotesque head emerged, followed by a second, a third...
"Don't- don't fear! The foreman said kobolds only attack when they greatly outnumber their enemies!"
The miner's voice trembled as he spoke to his companion, frozen in place. Though the two kobolds weren't even waist-high. But then, the sound of barking echoed through the tunnel, and more kobolds emerged from the darkness.
The miners' cowardice cost them their last chance.
"No—"
The kobolds thrust their crooked spears at the screaming miners—
...
An Nan looked at the shy Martin, then at the potato stick with its saliva-covered wooden skewer, and had to give it to him.
Aunt Susan was still paying, unaware of what happened behind her. By the time she turned back, Martin had finished the potato stick and destroyed the evidence.
"Was it good?" Aunt Susan's eyes nearly disappeared as she smiled.
"Smelled nice," An Nan said.
...
"Damn, did some idiot shit somewhere again?"
A miner suddenly sniffed the air, cursing as he waved away the fetid air, "Ugh... I need to move before I vomit..."
The miner dragged his pickaxe deeper in, ignored by others who continued their dull work. Soon after, they heard chaotic sounds from the depths, followed by a piercing scream.
The miner who'd left moments ago ran back howling, a pickaxe protruding from his chest, two barking kobolds clutching its wooden handle. His steps slowed until he collapsed, lifeless.
Thud—
The miners screamed, dropping their pickaxes and fleeing. None wanted to fight as kobolds poured out like a tide.
The ant-like tunnels scattered the miners into groups of three or five. As these ragged, child-sized kobolds charged out barking wildly, they could only flee in panic, surrounded by those who caught up or blocked their path, countless spears and pickaxes striking vulnerable bodies—
...
The chef skillfully sliced the roasted meat into strips, scooped them with a spatula into a leather paper bag.
Aunt Susan swatted away Martin's reaching hand, gently placing the bag in An Nan's hands.
"Eat up, little An Nan, you're still growing."
An Nan held the bag but quickly withdrew his hands when burned by the bottom.
"Ouch... hot!"
...
The miner shook his hand where sparks had landed. As the clanging in his ears faded, approaching chaos left him bewildered. He saw miners fleeing in terror and instinctively ran with them.
The panicked crowd kicked over baskets, spilling gold-veined ore that glittered darkly in the lamplight.
Kobolds were small and weak, bullying only those weaker than themselves. But the terrified, fleeing miners certainly qualified as weaker.
The fleeing Old Zoren watched as a pursuing kobold leaped and bit a miner between the legs—
...
Hot egg yolk dripped down Martin's chin, making his face contort.
An Nan patiently waited for his to cool before biting. The orange yolk flowed thick and savory across his tongue.
"An Nan, there's magic tricks over there!"
Martin pulled An Nan toward the market's most crowded area.
...
"Don't push! Don't push!"
Miners crowded the tunnel, falling in heaps.
Tasia gripped Old Zoren, like a boulder in a river. A foreman seeing this shouted, "Slave, you should protect me, not that old man!"
"Even I, a minotaur, would save him, yet you'd abandon your own kind?" Tasia said.
Suddenly, a piercing scream erupted from the crowd.
"Kobold sorcerer!!!"
Light suddenly filled the tunnel, then fireballs exploded among the people—
...
The sudden heat wave drew gasps.
An Nan dodged quickly, but Martin wasn't so lucky—his brownish forehead hair curled from the heat.
The townspeople threw copper coins at the circus performer spewing alcohol onto torches.
An Nan enjoyed a wonderful otherworldly holiday.
On the way back, he heard townspeople discussing that something had happened at the haunted gold mine.