"Well, I’m teaching you now. Connections are important, so rember that."
"I’ll rember, Mr. Kene..."
"That being said," injected Vaun, "when we first ca here, you were just this little kid swinging twigs around in the back room. Now look at you, you’re nearly half a man."
"Half a—I’ll be fifteen this winter!"
Zech’s mother brought over the cider that Vaun had requested, along with a plate of dried ats and hard cheeses.
"Lucian bless you, Ma’am," said Kene, accepting his flagon. "You’re an angel if there ever was one."
"Oh, stop it," she smiled, turning her motherly eyes on Zech and his friends. "Only one cup each for you lot, and no sneaking others. Understand?"
"Okay, Mum. Thank you!"
Taken aback by the offer, Alistar stared down into the cup that Mrs. Lawson had placed in front of him and then gave the contents a whiff. It actually slls nice? He had taken tiny sips of wine and ale on rare occasions throughout the past year, though he hadn’t enjoyed either of them. Taking a sip of the lukewarm cider, he was surprised at its mostly sweet, slightly bitter taste.
"Blah, this is terrible," muttered Anice, who slid her cup away in a sign of reluctance.
Vaun snatched up the drink in an instant, only barely beating Kene to the punch. As the two n began to fight for the extra serving, the only woman in the group let out a quiet laugh that saw a little bit of her drink spill down her chin. Seeing this, Alistar instinctively offered her the handkerchief that had been included in his current outfit, which she accepted with a light smile and a minute tip of her head. When she offered it back, he shook his head.
"You keep it."
She nodded toward him and stowed it within an inner pocket of her simple, cream-coloured tunic, though said nothing.
"If you’re wondering," said Vaun, who had just finished downing Anice’s drink and was now cradling his original cup as if its safety wasn’t guaranteed. "Vanessa can’t speak."
One of Alistar’s eyebrows tugged up at the man’s comnt. He had never heard of an adult that couldn’t talk.
"Why is that?"
"Who knows? She was born a mute, so she can’t do much more than whisper."
Alistar suddenly felt pity for Vanessa, wondering what her voice would sound like if she were able to speak.
"Have so awareness, Vaun," snapped Kene. "Or at least learn to say things properly."
"Yeah, yeah. So, kid. Are you the one that’s been practicing with our little tavern boy here?"
He nodded. "Zech’s a quick learner, so he keeps on my toes."
"He better be a quick learner, if he wants to do what we do."
Alistar saw an opportunity to learn a thing or two, and took it. "What do you do, if you don’t mind asking? I’ve only ever read about frontiersn, but I’ve never spoken to one."
The big man stifled a belch with a balled up fist, leaning back in his chair and waving at Mrs. Lawson to bring over another drink. "Basically, there’re frontiersn guilds in most towns and cities, and they’re all affiliated with each other. If soone needs help doing sothing, whether it’s clearing timber from their property or killing a dangerous creature that’s ravaging their livestock, they go to one of these locations and ask the guild for help.
"The guild’ll then post the request in the lobby, and whoever carries it out gets to collect the reward along with a certain number of contribution points. The amount of points you accumulate determines your ranking, which determines what tasks you can take up and thus how many more points you can get. These days, we mostly hunt danger beasts or exotic animals and bring them in for bounty."
"Don’t mislead the kid," said Henri, who fixed Alistar with a sturdy, mahogany gaze. "Over the last four months, all we’ve done is collect rare herbs and minerals for wealthy clients. It’s not always so exciting adventure."
"Are you guys really challenging the Iron Dungeon?" asked Lessa, who seed a bit uneasy at the thought. "A lot of people have gone missing there lately. Wouldn’t it be better to pick a safer task?"
"Do you know why they call it the Iron Dungeon?" The speaker was the other bald man, who had wide ears and large blue eyes that even now didn’t leave the contents of his cup. "Only two levels of the labyrinth have been explored—the tunnels that were carved out by Lucian-knows-what—but according to the accounts of the few frontiersn that managed to make it out of that place alive, the entire area is filled with night iron."
"Which ans," interjected Vaun, "that even if we’re in and out of there in just a few hours, we can still make a fortune off of those ores."
"Enough to retire, at least," said Henri, whose cool expression brightened up a bit with heartfelt anticipation. "Imagine that, retiring at twenty-four, living on a quiet plot of land sowhere with Vanessa and having at least a dozen children together..."
The young woman gave a silent, exasperated sigh. Turning to Lessa and Anice, she pointed at their dresses and gave two thumbs up, nodding along with bright hazel eyes.
As the girls began to thank her and praise her for her beauty, Alistar looked at the n and asked, "Where is the Iron Dungeon? Is there a special way to find dungeons?"
Looking into his empty cup and then glancing at his companions, Vaun put on a skeevy smile, brought his palms together and then began tapping his fingertips against one another like a contemplative businessman. "You’re asking for so pretty heavy information. The more people that know where the dungeon is, the higher our competition. As for finding the tunnel networks that we call labyrinth dungeons, that’s a secret of the trade."
"Co on, now," said Kene, who shook a callused finger at his friend. "It’s not like the kids are gonna head there themselves, so what’s the harm in telling them?"
"I guess so, but I can’t just give out such sensitive information for free. If we had a couple more—"he glanced at his companions, who gave him specific stares—"a few more drinks, then that might not be the case."
"How ’bout it, kid?" said Kene, who licked his lips as if imagining the kiss of another cup of cider. "Buy us all so more drinks, and get so top-quality tips from the pros. That shouldn’t be a problem for a Silverkin like you, right?"
The excited, eager look that flew onto Zech’s face told Alistar that the other boy would dip into his own savings to buy the team more rounds if he decided against it. Vanessa seed to notice this as well, as she shook her head in disapproval and placed a few copper lucets on the tabletop.
"Put those away," whispered Henri, leaning in close to the woman. "Have you forgotten how broke we are? We’re doing business here."
"I don’t mind."
Alistar placed a silver half-lucet onto the table, which was akin to the three thicker, wider coins that Vanessa had offered. This was also enough for three rounds of cider for each of the adults.
Vaun collected the coin and called out another order to Zech’s parents, who were idling behind the bar area while cleaning cups with rags and bucket water. "You’re a smart one, kid. Seizing opportunities as you see them, that’s what being an adult is all about. Henri, why don’t you tell him what he wants to know?"
"It’s simple," said Henri, clearing his throat while his brown eyes took on a wizened glint. "Most labyrinth dungeons were dug by unknown creatures that’re long extinct. The best way to find these tunnels is to travel to areas where those creatures were known to have lived. What I an to say is, where there’s one dungeon there’s usually more. So form naturally, though, like in caves and canyons, so you can still find them in all sorts of places."
Henri was interrupted by the arrival of new drinks, pausing to take a long draught of cider before continuing with his explanation.
"Where did I end off? Ah, yes. Most of those old tunnels are empty, though. It’s only the ones where magic crystals form that might possibly beco a dungeon, because these are usually places with high concentrations of magical energy in the environnt, which seeps into the minerals and collects over ti. This attracts all sorts of interesting creatures, almost all of them dangerous, since it takes a certain level of magical awareness for them to sense the magic crystals within these caves."
"It’s no surprise that such a dangerous dungeon appeared in the area," added Vaun. "Considering that the biggest crystal mine on the continent is just a few days’ ride from here. That’s one of the reasons why there are always so many frontiersn in Distan; people have been looking for new sets of tunnels around these parts for ages. Now that they’ve found so, they turned out to be the biggest discovery in generations. Its threat level’s already been listed at seven, and it doesn’t get much higher than that."
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