Chapter 10: Any other Questions? (Part 1)

  Karen brushed past an orc as she strode through the streets of the commoner district.

  “Watch it, midget.”

  Karen bowed her head in apology and the orc left it at that.

  “Idiot,” she muttered and kept walking past the morning crowds.

  The Commoner District was overcrowded by people trying to make a simple living while avoiding the dangers that lurked outside the walls of Hollow Shade. Cost of housing was expensive enough, coupled with the nameplate annual taxing, most commoners were barely making ends meet.

  Everyone was in a rush. The majority were headed towards one job or another, some jobs were in the Commoner District, others in the Trade District. They didn’t have time to spare, most businesses didn’t condone tardiness. After all, there were plenty of others ready to take the employee’s job. Which meant they wouldn’t bother wasting time when bumping into a goblin like Karen.

  She smiled as she jiggled the orc’s coin purse in her hand. Pickpocketing the orc had been too easy. A little bump, a small apology, and none were the wiser of Karen’s theft.

  Unfortunately, the purse only held a few copper coins. She clicked her tongue in annoyance. Karen had hoped for a silver coin, but expected as much.

  She dreamed of the day when she could make enough money to enter one of the four prestigious academies. The business academy would be the easiest to get into, since the only requirement was tuition. Karen didn’t have the family connections to get into the civics academy. And like the majority of people, she hadn’t shown the gift of magic, so the mage academy would never be an option. As a goblin, her physical abilities would never be enough to allow entrance into the martial academy either.

  Like dwarves, goblins were short and at a disadvantage in terms of weapon range and speed compared to other species. Unlike dwarves however, goblins weren’t overly strong for their size. In other words, her prospects were slim.

  Karen’s head shot up as a goblin dashed by. She barely managed to catch a glimpse of his silver hair as he passed through the crowd.

  “...Who the hell?” Karen murmured.

  She had never seen a goblin run that fast. Another goblin followed in his footsteps a few seconds later.

  “Leroy?” Karen questioned.

  “Karen?” Leeroy wheezed.

  His face was flushed and he was drenched in sweat.

  “Did you see *huff* where that fucker went? Goblin, *huff* bluish skin, grey hair. Oh gods, my legs are killing me.”

  “Um, I think he went that way. Are you okay? What’s going on? Who was that?” Karen asked.

  Leroy took a few moments to catch his breath before answering, “I’m not sure. He had a weird name. Twig, or something. I think he’s from a rival gang. He broke Jax’s nose and then ran.”

  “What? Is Jax okay!?”

  “He’s got a broken nose, how can he be okay? I was chasing after the bastard who did it, but he’s too fast.”

  “Yeah, I saw. It’s like he was half vampire or something.”

  Leroy choked out a laugh, “Have you ever seen a vampire talk to a goblin when it didn’t involve giving them one of us some kind of order? Those conceited bastards would never share a bed with a goblin. Not that I’d want them to either.”

  “Yeah, I guess not…”

  “I better get going. I gotta go check on Jax. I’ll look for that Twig bastard later. Keep an eye out for him will you?”

  “Of course,” Karen glanced at the bustling crowd.

  She was curious about the mysterious goblin.

~~~

  Stryg surveyed his surroundings. People still milled about the cobblestone road, though there were far fewer than in the morning. He was pretty sure he had finally managed to get away from his attacker.

  “Aghhh, dammit!” He ran his hands through his silver hair.

  Stryg wasn’t sure where he had gone wrong. He thought he had done well in the initiation fight. Maybe the chief was simply angered because he lost? It wasn’t Stryg’s fault that their chief was feeble. If that was the best they had to offer then Stryg had to conclude that city goblins were just too weak. The lack of wolves, dire bears, and other fauna had clearly made them complacent.

  Stryg’s jaw went slack, a chubby goblin walked by. They had fat goblins too! What kind of shoddy training would allow such a thing!? And where the hell did they have enough food to even gain that much weight? As if responding, Stryg’s stomach growled.

  He had gone a long time without food before, but never after expending so much energy repeatedly. He needed to eat something, but there was no food around. He briefly thought of attacking one of the pedestrians and eating them, but he wasn’t much of a fan of eating others. They didn’t taste very good. Not to mention he didn’t have enough energy to run, let alone fight.

  Maybe he could break into one of the houses and grab their food? Though, it was still daylight, onlookers would notice. He sighed, nothing was going as planned.

  “Wow, I can’t believe I actually found you. Today really is my lucky day.”

  Stryg took a step back as he eyed the cute stranger. She wore a white cotton shirt, a blue skirt, and her black hair was tied in a ponytail.

  She smiled, “My name’s Karen. What’s yours?”

  “...Stryg. Who are you?”

  “Just another commoner trying to get by. I saw you running earlier,” she pointed a thumb behind her.

  Stryg took two paces back.

  “Hey, how did you get so fast? Why is your hair grey? Are you old? You don’t look old. Woah, your eyes are purple, I’ve never seen that before.”

  Who was this girl? Was she an enemy? If so, he was too tired to fight back. Maybe he could scare her? No, he was too skinny and short for that.

  “Not much of a talker huh?” Karen asked.

  Stryg’s stomach growled in response.

  She grinned, “Well, how about we make a deal? You answer my questions and I’ll buy you dinner. How does that sound?”

  The promise of food was tempting, but he was still cautious. “I only have to answer your questions?”

  “Yep,” she nodded. “And follow me.”

  “Follow you? Why would I do that?”

  “How else are we going to get dinner? I can’t buy food here, now can I?”

  “Um, no?”

  “Obviously. Come on, let’s go,” she walked away, not even bothering to check if he was following.

  “Wait. Where are we going?”

  “The trade district, of course,” she kept walking.