After calculating the situation, Esdes waited for the kobolds to gather in a crowd and jumped up high. Her palm opened in a circular gesture, covering herself with frost, and suddenly a multitude of ice spears appeared in the air above her.
- Die, you wretched creatures,' she said without a shadow of pity, hurling Weiss Schneeble at her foes.
And the hovering ice blades snapped out of their place, raining down on the crowded ranks of enemies.
They ran, screamed, and fell dead in an attempt to save their lives.
But the kobolds' legs were too short, and it was as if their brains were even smaller... so they didn't even have a chance to escape and foresee such an outcome.
Esdes cut down most of the enemies, flooding the ground with rivers of blood and torn flesh. The remaining kobolds at the sight of this horror began to run away with hideous shrieks, marking our victory!
- Beautiful! - I finally left the shelter of the tree.
Esdes had done her job perfectly without complications. Quick, precise, and unmistakable.
I even started clapping for her, pleased with the result.
The escaped kobolds didn't interest me. Even if they informed their friends of the attack, we wouldn't be here for long. All I had to do was to retrieve the ore and search the cave for useful items. And then we'd disappear without a trace.
But Esdes didn't wait for the enemy to flee. Contrary to my expectations, she behaved in a way I could not have expected. A predatory grin appeared on her lips and she took off, catching up with the fleeing kobolds in seconds. With a few swings, she cut off their arms, and when they began to yelp in pain, she knocked them down with a crude footstep.
As the unfortunates fell, she stepped on one of them with her heel and revealed a sadistic grin.
That's right... Esdes was a cruel sadist.
Before I could run up and stop her, god knows how much pain and agony she inflicted on the unfortunate creatures. But I could see the numerous thin cuts on their flesh with the tip of the blade, as if she was playing with their most sensitive points and trying to delay the moment of death, to deliver the greatest suffering in the most subtle ways.
And when I asked her why she was doing this... Esdes replied that she was simply studying the weaknesses of the kobolds to fight more effectively in future skirmishes.
At her straightforward and pure smile, which hid not even a gram of regret, I nodded silently.
- Well... okay,' I turned back to the mountains of corpses.
It was a good cleanup, but because of the bloody mess Esdes had made and the stench that came from it, I didn't want to go through the corpses. There was no telling what kind of contagion those rats were carrying around with them.
Esdes explained her actions in much the same way. The enemies were indeed rat-like, and those were known to be carriers of contagions.
The kobolds themselves, as it turned out, did not carry anything of value, except that occasionally a couple of coppers could be found in their pockets. And by the way, Esdes volunteered to search and study the corpses... she even asked me to take one with her to Creator Space, but I refused, for we didn't have much room.
So I had to watch as she sniffed the kobold corpses with cold methodicality and mild interest. She shoved her fingers between their ripped stomachs, probed their ribs, and pulled out their entrails with her fingers without a trace of disgust, as if she were a normal girl cooking.
I almost threw up a couple of times, so I waited for her to finish on the sidelines.
Then we explored the kobold camp. Basically, it was nothing special. A couple of rickety tents, a few fences that served as a kind of barrier from animals rather than people.
Inside their humble dwellings was a not-so-humble pack of small traps that they used to catch small animals and make food out of them. They were mostly small rodents, including rats, rabbits, snakes, and similar creatures of the Alvin forest.
Unfortunately, the object of their everyday life was similar to a caveman's lifestyle. I found a couple of pickaxes that appeared to have been stolen from humans, and threw them in my inventory to resell for pennies or use in the future. I picked up a couple of daggers and staffs that were of poor quality but worth something. And found a couple of apples that were basically clean, but... er... put them in the inventory, in short. The food inside the spatial pocket wouldn't spoil anyway, and I could use this apple to feed my future horse. Finally, on the small table was a pouch with forty coppers, which I had deposited into my System account.
All in all, there was nothing of value in the kobold camp, but I enjoyed the experience of mopping up.
All that remained was to go deep into the mine and see how much goodness I could find there, hehehehehe....
- Esdes, do you feel anything? - I asked when we stopped at the entrance of the cave.
- No, it's clear, apart from some small critters. But they're not a threat to us,' she said confidently.
- That's fine.
Esdes went first. The cave was quite narrow, damp, and winding. A small river flowed inside, and hid somewhere deep in the mines.
At one point Esdes stopped and, with a slight blush on her cheeks, suggested that I hold onto her hand to keep from falling, which I politely declined.
Sometimes I thought she thought I was a little boy... but it was within her character. And she was taller than me... which was still a little embarrassing. Maybe I should take those heels off for her.
Note: Esdes is taller than canon, and ranges from 1m80+/-.
We walked along the rails where the trolleys were supposed to be rolling along. The first cart showed up just a couple of metres from the entrance, filled with rocks and containing nothing useful.
Occasionally we came across copper rock and even silver rock, but unfortunately we didn't have time to mine it.
But near the end of the cave we came across a work station, where there was a group of carts full of stones and rubbish. Unfortunately, there was no gold here. Apparently the kobolds and bandits had already removed the recently mined batch, and now the ore would have to be mined again.
I did come across a wooden chest with iron fortifications. That meant only one thing: there was something very attractive in there.
Putting my hands on the chest, I tried to open it, but the lid wouldn't budge. It was locked.
- Oh, man,' I mumbled unhappily, 'I forgot all about that.
- Allow me,' Esdes said, holding out her thin palm to me.
I accepted her hand and stood up quietly. She'd be offended if I kept blowing her off.
Esdes asked me to step back a few steps, and then swung her silver rapier. The force of the blow was so impressive that I felt a wave of air on my skin after it. But what was most striking was the silence that accompanied the delicate cut.
The chest remained standing as it was, and at first I even thought that Esdes had done nothing. But then she silently walked over to the chest, planted her heel into it, and pushed with her heel. The lid of the chest slipped off the bottom, and collapsed to the dusty ground. Esdes turned to me, and with a smile, pointed her palm at the contents of the chest.
- I beg your pardon, Master. The chest is open.
- Not bad. And you're doing a great job,' I said, not holding back a smile.
As Esdes smiled at me with an innocent blush, she watched with interest as I sat over the chest and examined its contents.
- Well, let's see,' I rubbed my hands together in anticipation.
And... as it turned out, it was, of course, full of crap.
'Thin woven wristbands.'
Firstly, it was an item of simply terrible quality, which the System valued at three measly coppers... They were worn on the wrist and belonged to the ring gear, which was useless for me now. Esdes, on the other hand, wore leather armour, so chainmail was a no-go for her. And I was kind of a mage and wore cloth clothing in general.
Throwing the wristbands into my inventory, I hoped that I could get them for at least that amount of money. After all, a penny a ruble is a ruble and all that.
Esdes said that these wristbands are so bad that they are only worth wearing if you're a cripple who can't dodge a child's blow. Otherwise, they'll only get in the way.
In addition to the wristbands, the chest contained two pieces of hard corned beef, worth twenty-two coppers, and two jugs of Refreshing Key Water, worth twenty-seven coppers.
Sighing over this goodness, I looked up at Esdes and shrugged.
- It looks like this is all we could find of our treasures.
- May I see the chest, my Lord?
- Sure, go ahead,' I waved my hand without much enthusiasm, stepping back.
Esdes calmly approached the chest and gave it a cold stare. Sometimes I thought she was too smart for me to trust her to do everything for me. But such a thought was slightly frightening.
Had she noticed something that I hadn't?
Esdes elegantly knelt down on one knee, did something with her hand, and... voila, there was a small, almost tiny greenish pebble in her fingers, glistening even in the shadows of the cave.
Esdes stood up quietly and turned to me, smiling sweetly.
- I think I may have found something, Master.
- You're a sweetheart,' I said thoughtfully, letting my feelings come out. - How did you do it?
- I don't know... I thought the structure of this chest was a little strange, and I assumed there might be something hidden in it,' Esdes explained, opening her palm with the stone for me.
I took the pebble and let the System study it:
'Moss Agate (Uncommon).'
Item level 10.
Used for crafting.
Selling price: 4 silver.
It was exactly the kind of precious pebble I expected to find in a cave like this. If I wasn't mistaken, it was one of the very first gems a player could encounter in the game. Usually Moss Agate was used in jewellery to create jewellery with special stats, or for engineering, or somewhere else.
Plus its cost itself was 4 silver, that's almost a week's worth of food.
But I wasn't going to let this pebble go to waste. There's a lot more to be gained by making it into an expensive trinket. Who knows, I might even be able to hire a jeweller and create Esdes' first combat ring with useful characteristics.
In her case, even +2 to dexterity would be useful, since I only have one dexterity at first level. Did that mean that if I put the ring on, I'd be three times more agile? We'll see.
***
It took us about a day to do everything, just like I thought from the beginning. After finding the chest, we poked around in the cave for a while looking for useful resources and found some linen cloth.
Linen cloth (normal)
Item level 10.
Selling price: 13 coppers.
Well, I'll tell you, that's not too bad considering it's the price for a small piece. I found about twenty of them and put them in my inventory for the future. I didn't want to sell them before they were gone, but I could use some for the future.
There was a chance I could resell it for a higher price or make things out of it. Good tailors could weave a good shirt, trousers, or a whole set of clothes out of it. I could save money on the material and pay the tailor only for the work.
So, the material was collected and the cave was explored. There's nothing more to find, except to open new excavations in search of gold, but that's a fool's errand. I have no men, no permission, and the kobolds and brigands might be back soon.
So Esdes and I left the cave in a hurry, heading south. It was a cool night, but because of the evergreen forests of the Elvin Forest, it was warm enough even in the evenings. The branches of the trees swayed in the faint wind, and I could smell freedom.
And that freedom reminded us that we were in a wild forest, not a holiday resort. Soon wolves flashed between the trees and kept us company. Esdes killed them quickly, however, and we stopped to breathe the air for a while while I contemplated the forest.
- Hmmm... here's me thinking we could use to teach you leatherworking.
Leathercrafting was the kind of profession in WWE that allowed the player to leather and ring gear. Potentially, Esdes could learn how to make herself good armour out of animal hide. Considering the fact that she already had the inbuilt skill of skinning - it was handy.
- Should I skin them? - Esdes asked, pointing to the wolf corpses that had been dumped in a pile.
- No, not now,' I waved my hand, 'now we need to get as far away from the cave as possible, so as not to draw attention to ourselves. I don't want to make myself known just yet.
- What about your plan to clear the mine and seek glory?
- It's a good plan, but it has its nuances,' I raised my finger, 'for example, I don't know how the local authorities will react to my uninvited interference.
- Why do you think so?
- It's quite simple, my dear. If the rumours of a deal between kobolds and bandits are real, - there is a risk that someone from the local authorities is involved.
- Do you think someone is using the bandits to take the gold from the mines for themselves?
I nodded, amazed at her insight.
- Absolutely, right. Bandits may be bastards, but they have to eat something too. Illegally mined gold is a kind of contraband that needs to be resold to someone. And while there are plenty of people and places in Azeroth that make it easy to do so, distance is key. Outlaws have to find the most convenient and profitable way to exchange and launder money. I would guess they trade with the Pirate Bay in the Thorny Valley, but who knows, maybe someone else is involved?
Gold exports from Elvin Forest must have been going to West Edge, a farming location not far from here. And then from there it was travelling from Pirates and Bandits Bay to Pirate's Bay, where it was sold.
There was also the nuance that I might inadvertently attract the attention of the outlaws of the Brotherhood of Justice who ran the Western Edge. Considering that in the game they were planning to attack the Kingdom of Stormgrad, they're serious guys.
- You've thought of so many things,' Esdes said with a blush on her cheeks.
- It's just caution and... I don't trust people much in a world where even a child can stab me,' I said, a little embarrassed by her compliment.
No one promised I'd be right, after all. Maybe I was being overly cautious.
But I didn't want to risk getting inadvertently involved in the squabbles of the local state, bandits, and rotten nobles. It would be too premature to put myself and Esdes at risk while we were still so weak.
On the other hand, I could continue to pretend to be a travelling merchant and keep a low profile. As long as there was enough money and I stayed in the safe shadows, I was more than satisfied.
As long as there was enough money...
I glanced at the wolf carcasses, then at the quiet night forest, then back at the wolf carcasses. My stomach rumbled.
- You know... you could probably still skin them, though. Just one question, can you cook them over a fire...?
Esdes had the basic skills, she came from a family of hunters. And she knew how to roast game over a fire.
- Of course,' she said enthusiastically, then lowered her gaze thoughtfully and tightened her fingers in a strange way, 'but I must warn you that wolf meat can have a peculiar odour, be a carrier of disease and...
- That's it! You can stop! - I said, abandoning the idea once and for all.
I'm glad Esdes is smart and observant, otherwise I might have made a mistake. How could I not have thought of that? I don't know who I can and can't eat, do I? It's too much for my city carcass.
Esdes spoke as if she could eat a wolf without any problems, but she had explained the details to me in advance.
- Thank you,' I told her, 'it's not everyone who is so considerate of others after all.
And so Esdes' cheeks were once again flooded with ruman. She put her palm to her chest and silently glared at me with a strange gleam in her eyes.
- Why are you... looking at me so strangely...?
***
'He's like a cute little puppy... I want to cuddle him!' - Esdes mentally blazed.
***
- N-nothing like that,' she looked away embarrassed, 'I just thought you were very kind to me, Master.
- You deserve it,' I said with a clear heart, 'and yet, it's time to call it a day. It's getting dark and we need to get ready for bed.
Our task now was simple: to get as far away as possible to open a portal to the Creator Space in a place safe and inconspicuous enough to avoid problems in the future.
The thing was that I could not change the place of portal appearance freely. I had some restrictions. For example, I could only change the location of the portal when I was outside of Space. That is, if I opened a portal inside the mine now, I could only leave the portal through the mine, where the kobolds who had already returned could be waiting for us the next day.
So we left Esdes and I moved as far away from the mine as possible, and I was able to open the portal in a safe and inconspicuous place in the Elvin Forest.