Chapter Eight

  The thing about creatures of chaos was that the general attitudes toward them were changing. Once they were exterminated on sight. Some people might hold old views on creatures of chaos, but there were a few chaos creatures here, and I had to keep a good relationship with Cora and live among them. It would not be good to even slightly be seen as some sort of bigot. So going and killing slimes just because they were chaos creatures probably wasn’t a good idea.

  I mentioned this to the adventurers, even as I followed them to the ruins like some sort of lost duckling.

  “Don’t worry,” said Wyatt, and I turned my wide eyes on him. Was he the same Wyatt that had brought things to the orphans? “Everyone knows that Gavin says stupid shit.” Gavin started shouting again. “But well, look, I can just say that if Lily heard him than she would be sad and everyone calms down.”

  “I don’t care about that self-righteous drunkard!” shouted Gavin.

  “Which if Lucy heard him say that: she’d try to kill him,” said Wyatt and winked at me.

  “Ah, that wonderful child. She’ll make a fine warrior of light,” said Gavin, puffing out his chest. I couldn’t help but continue to watch him incredulously.

  Like, the girl was an orc. Even I knew saying that was insensitive, and I grew up with relatives obsessed with “the light”.

  The start of the ruins already dampened my ability to feel the earth of Four Seasons. The sensation started eating at me and made me feel empty inside. I felt like I was instinctively looking for something important. I wanted something that would bring that feeling back. Even the sun felt like it was dimmer here.

  It felt like I’d gone back to the city.

  I moved the sword with my arm a little, so I could start scratching at my arms.

  “Ah, here we are. The mouth of the trouble,” said the warrior.

  “I really can’t stay long,” I said, knowing I was whining, but also knowing that I had only been in one fight in my entire life. I didn’t even know if it counted seeing as I’d run from it.

  “Just swing your mighty sword. And if you pass my task, I’ll not just give you the sword, but also buy you a pickaxe you can use to mine the valuable minerals here.” I couldn’t help but take that to heart. I needed more things to harvest to get money. Minerals and jewels always sold for a lot, so they probably got good return rates from the government. That, and I remembered someone telling me some gossip like Anthony didn’t like digging up his own metals for his forge. If I moved here, it would be a good place to earn extra cash to fix the farm.

  That’s right, I think it had been Cora who mentioned the blacksmith didn’t like to move. Which meant, if I could, then maybe I could trade instead of paying him for the upkeep that my tools needed. It was a good place to start.

  “Ah, I see you are ready. Let us enter the elevator!” cried the warrior, and he charged to the cage-like elevator. Wyatt seemed to laugh under his breath, following at a walk instead of running after his supposed boss.

  Then the doors creaked shut and we started going down. I felt a little panic at the thought of fighting. I followed the other two examples as they drew their swords, though I had nowhere to put the scabbard. Wyatt helped me secure it around my waist. By the time we were done, the doors were sliding open again.

  “It didn’t feel like we went that far down,” I said, a little surprised.

  “We only went down a level,” said Wyatt and then shrugged when I turned on him. “They’re all low-level chaos creatures. Gavin and I can keep the numbers of slimes and slugs down to a minimum most of the time.”

  “But so close to the surface?” I whispered as we walked out of the elevator and the lights in the shaft started flickering on.

  “That’s why Gavin’s worry isn’t just complete insanity,” said Wyatt with a shrug. I couldn’t help but swallow nervously but tried to push that feeling away. It would be fine. I hadn’t been sent to the next Space to be overrun and destroyed by blossoming chaos.

  My hands shook a little as I drew my sword. The feel of it in my hand felt just a touch warm. Gavin let out a scream that had me almost jumping out of my clothes, and Wyatt followed with a much more subdued, but still happy war cry of his own.

  “Now, these little creatures should be easy enough, but if you don’t get rid of them the right way, they’ll reform in minutes,” the old warrior said as he attacked a neon pink blob that made squelching, screeching noises as it was attacked. “You have to hack away at them until you find their black little hearts, and then tear it out of the slime without burning yourself. These simple chaos creatures always have some sort of core or two that keep them together.”

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  “The slugs are easier,” said Wyatt, drawing my attention to him. He was peeling something the same color as the dark rock around us from the wall. “If you can find them. They’re usually shinier than the rock around it, and once you have them, all you have to do is not touch their underside, find their tentacle eyes, cut them off, and destroy those pieces.”

  I gulped and nodded as I watched the two go through the mine shaft and destroy everything in their way. Then Gavin turned to me.

  “Come youngster, there is an orange slug, come whack it into submission,” the barbarian said while pointing in front of him.

  “Oh, right, alright,” I said and took a deep breath, and walked forward with the sword gripped in front of me. My hands felt slick on the hilt of the blade. I knew that these creatures had to be killed. This was a space that had been called for the holy light and growing things to support the people. Keeping chaos away from the surface was something even creatures of darkness would agree to.

  Keeping this in mind, I lifted the sword and swung it. The creature made a horrible sound, but I kept going. Actually, once I got a rhythm going, it was sort of fun, like digging into jello with a big knife. I didn’t even have to feel bad because slimes were all instinct and scientifically proven not to even think on the level of what we thought of as stupid animals. So, I swung the sword like a bat until I finally hit something round and hard, and it flew out of the slime.

  Swearing, I chased it down and stomped on it to stop it, only to crush it under my foot. Then something pushed against the back of my leg. I let out a bit of a scream and turned on it and started batting at the next slime with the sword until I accidentally hit its core out and had to chase it. By the time I’d calmed down, five cores had almost been crushed under my feet, and I was sweating and wheezing as I put my hands on my knees.

  “Wonderful lassie!” said Gavin, and I wasn’t able to correct him and decided it didn’t matter. I had a feeling he wasn’t being rude on purpose, and I was too exhilarated and exhausted to contradict him. “You need to build up your stamina a little, but I believe that you’ll be a great addition to our force. Look, one of them even had some rock still inside them you can take to Anthony.”

  I took the pretty bluestone the barbarian was pointing out. It did shine nicely, having been probably cleaned and smoothed as it was disintegrated within the slime itself.

  “Come, let’s get you back to Anthony that we may get you your pickax and get you signed up,” said Gavin, leading my gasping self back to the elevator. “You should really stay with one of the two of us the first few times you go down and get some training if you go lower than a few layers.”

  “Wait, what do you mean ‘signed up’?” I asked as we went up the elevator.

  “So, you can get calls from Louis if there’s an emergency. Otherwise, you might get requests from us, but you won’t be expected to do anything unless the call comes,” the barbarian said with a wave of his hand

  “From Louise?” I checked. Gavin huffed, and the elf smiled a little wider.

  “Feel free to ignore anything scary that Gavin tries to tell you,” Wyatt said, and then laughed when he was punched in the shoulder.

  “I hope you join us more than just a few times. Plants still take some time to grow, so you should have time to join us in making this place safe for everyone,” said Gavin, and while this was interesting, I was glad that I would finally go back to the surface.

  Gavin thankfully didn’t do much more pushing of his ideas as we kept going which was a relief honestly.

  “Ah, welcome back,” said Anthony as Gavin led me back in.

  “Anthony, my friend, we need a pickax for our new warrior!” shouted Gavin. I hasped in realization.

  “You set me up,” I accused.

  “I apologize,” said Anthony with a shrug, though he didn’t look too concerned or sorry for his actions. I scowled and then huffed at him. Seriously annoying. “I have your tools for you.”

  “I guess I have this for you,” I said, holding out the rock to him. He blinked in surprise before taking it from my hand.

  “Well, I guess I can add some extra goodies with your tools,” said Anthony with a smile while he made the rock disappear.

  “I’d rather have my tools fixed up,” I said with a sigh.

  “Ah well, I fixed all of them,” Anthony said with a shaky laugh. “While it was inevitable that Gavin would test you, I thought you wouldn’t pass as more than someone he could call on in an emergency. I didn’t think he would push you to join as much as you could. I mean, you are rather sad-looking.”

  I glared at him, and he just shrugged and pushed the bag with my fixed tools to me. Then he disappeared while telling me to stay put.

  “I’m going to see if I can catch Brayden,” said Wyatt before disappearing into the back room.

  I took all my stuff, leaving Anthony and Gavin talking to each other. I was fairly sure they were bosom buddies, and I wished they wouldn’t involve me in their little lover whatever it was. But once I got back to my cottage, I realized that all of the tools had been fixed up, and I was fairly sure that while it looked similar, he had completely replaced the watering can.

  Well, I guessed that maybe it was worth it. If the chaos did break out of the ground, I would want something to protect myself rather than just cowering and waiting to die. The ruins were the closest things outside of the mountains to the entrance to Four Seasons. The train system probably wouldn’t be able to make it if something really bad did happen. So, the sword I could wasn’t the worst thing to have on hand.

  Still, I wasn’t sure I wanted someone like Gavin not only to have my contact information but also apparently use it to send me emails. I didn’t know a time when I had so many emails before. Well, no, that wasn’t quite right. Between school and people wanting to get into my friend group, at one time I’d had a lot of emails.

  I’d just ignored all of them back then.

  Now I felt like I couldn’t.

  After all that excitement, it was time to wind down, and I spent the time reading my pad and books before finally passing out.