Testing My Luck in the New World

Volume 2 - Chapter 24b

"And I thought you went home to go dig up your metals or whatever."

"Ores, and yer damned king cheated me! The mine he gave me wasn't worth pissin' in, let alone diggin'. All that work protectin' yer sorry arse, and what do I get fer it? Tin! Gods-damned tin!"

"Oh no," she laughed. "Saint Mejula must have forsaken you. What a shame."

"This ain't a damn joke! My hammer forges weapons of war, not trinkets and baubles! I staked time better spent at the forge, years of my life, protectin' ye and what he gave me wasn't enough to keep me fed. Or drunk! And when I dared to complain, I was cast aside. Tricked into becomin' a thief and..."

"And then you actually became a thief to make up for it?" Elane finished, scratching her head. "Sounds like you were just being picky."

Tillmann glared at her, his eyes attempting to burn her with the raging infernos of hell itself. But she remained calm. Almost concerningly so.

"It ain't that simple. Our work here and the gold we're makin' is my ticket home. Even then, it's bound ta be a gamble."

"You know, you could have just asked me for help. I might have given you the coin as a thanks for watching my back until I could fight for myself. What happened to being drinking buddies? I leaned on you when I was... tipsy. Why not lean on me when you're sober?"

"... I seized the first opportunity what came my way. And how was I supposed ta know that the big-tittied blonde choking that boy in the city was you?"

"Right. I suppose you needing to stay under the barrier to keep it active kind of makes it hard to visit. I take it that means you've been sleeping under this thing since you became a thief? Suppose it keeps you safe. Well, used to, anyways."

At this, Tillmann spun the shaft of his hammer in his hand. Elane shifted her grip on her axe, but didn't lift it from her shoulder.

"Ye fixin' ta get in my way, Map-Fucker?"

"Depends, Rock Muncher. Are you going to stop me from collecting Alex and his women?"

"... I might be willin' ta part with the boy, so long as his woman tells me what I want ta know."

Elane looked to Yua and, her cheeks dried, she quickly explained the situation.

"Tillmann's been threatening Alex to force me tell him where to find more essence crystal caves. But I keep telling him that my people never even knew about the first one. They were about to kill Alex to make me talk when you showed up."

"... Is that so?"

Elane hefted the battleaxe from her shoulder and let its – massive – head thud against the ground. She glanced at me, at Gregor holding me, and, presumably, at Silvano behind me. Her fingers strangled the axe's long handle.

Tillmann's grip on his hammer tightened in response. Then he took a breath and spoke with a surprising calmness.

"Map-F... No, Elane, work with me. For old times' sake. If ye know these two, make em see reason and fess up. Do that and they can leave. I'll give 'em up for ye. But ye... With yer strength and yer love of axes, together we could swing our picks in the next cave and we'd have it cleaned out in no time. I'll cut ye in on the gold. What say ye ta forty-percent?"

"What?!" Gawin shouted. "The rest of us only get five-percent! Why's she getting forty?"

"Quiet, fool!" Tillmann barked and Gawin flinched back. The dwarf turned back to Elane. "How about it?"

"No thanks."

"Do ye have any idea how much an essence crystal is worth? Theres caves full of them in this here forest."