Chapter 17

Helping out 1

“Brother, why are you staring at the girl like that? Are you perhaps having indecent thoughts?” Bella asked, annoyed at her brother who had been staring at the strange woman for a while.

“What? Indecent thoughts? Don’t you trust this brother of yours, little sister?” Shiv retorted back, slightly hurt. Well, he could not blame the girl for making such remarks. In front of the duo, a girl slept on the bed, her clothes revealing a little too much of her skin. Her white thighs and ample cleavage show were enough to make men drool.

“For some reason, I cannot trust you on this matter. All men are the same when it comes to this kind of thing” replied Bella pouting.

“My god!” with a fake shocked expression Shiv exclaimed. “Such cold words for your own brother, I am hurt” Shiv made a crying face.

The two were immersed in a heated conversation that they did not notice the girl in the bed waking up from her slumber. The girl opened slowly her eyes and looked around with her half opened eyes. As she carelessly looked around, her gaze fell on the back of an unknown boy. The boy’s broad back and the long black hair with a reddish tint for some reason attracted her red eyes. In contrast to her own red hair, the boy who appeared as old as her possessed hair that had a strange luster to it.

And as she was in a trance, the said boy suddenly turned his face to look at her. His beautiful golden brown iris stared at her, and in those eyes, she read surprise. Those golden brown eyes carried a strong gaze and yet was strangely warm. The boy’s charming face was decorated with a sparkling smile that caused her heart to skip a beat.

It took her some time to process the situation and when she recollected everything, her body swiftly moved. Jumping out of the bed, the girl brought her hands which were equipped with daggers to the front of her body, guarding her against the two strangers in front of her.

She stared at the boy and girl in front of her, refusing to even bat her eyes and it was then she saw the smile on the boy’s face disappear. The warmness in those eyes round eyes from a moment ago vanished and instead they now had a heart-piercing coldness to them. She shivered, unable to comprehend how a person could change so much in an instant. And then the boy spoke, his voice as cold as ice.

“Is this how you show gratitude to the people who saved you?”, she heard the boy’s dignified voice.

“Eh? Saved? Who are you? Why did you kidnap me? Are you bandits?”, but she refused to believe in the boy’s words. The last thing he remembered was being in a dense forest and so she was sure that the two in front of her had somehow kidnapped her.

“And you think bandits would feed you food? Give you water to drink? Would take care of you till you woke up? Don’t mess with me, brat” Shiv raged hearing the girl’s remarks.

“Enough nii-san”, with a hit to his head, Shiv was stopped by Bella who had then looked at the girl with concern, “She just woke up. What are you doing trying to scare her, stupid nii-san?”, she scolded her brother.

Bella then turned to the girl slowly so as to not startle her and spoke gently, “Sorry about my stupid brother. Please don’t worry, we are not bandits and we mean you no harm. This is just a small village inside the forest of the fairy. One of the villagers found you collapsed in the forest and carried you here. At first, we thought you were dead but then you suddenly you woke up and screamed for food. We gave you whatever we had but after eating you fell asleep again. So we shifted you to our house so that you could sleep safely”

The girl was not fully convinced but still she withdrew the dagger and quietly stared at the two. She felt some sincerity in Bella’s word and so decided to holster the daggers.

“My name is Bella and this here is my brother Shiv. Welcome to our village, please feel free to ask anything” Bella tried to convince her with a smile.

“Kate” was all the girl said. This once annoyed Shiv again.

“You ungrateful brat. That is all you got to say?”

“Nii-san, please be quiet. She is just confused. Let us give her some time to think. Now come, you lazy brother” with an angry face Bella dragged Shiv with her.

Kate stared at them with amusement. Once the two went out, she then carefully observed the room she was in. ‘A wooden house that’s not too big. Well-kept too. Are they really not bandits?’ with such doubts, she then slowly walked towards the door and exited the house.

Outside the house, the girl saw a torn down village. With most of the houses in ruins, the village seemed as if it had just survived some sort of attack. There were men running around everywhere, each and everyone doing some kind of manual labor. It did not take long for her to understand that the village was in the middle of rebuilding itself. She then noticed Shiv and Bella talking to a group of people.

“How’s it going with the houses? Is everything going according to plan?”, Shiv asked Ames who was accompanied by two other males.

“Actually, I discussed things with others and we think that the previous houses were too weak. Being only made of wood is not enough anymore. And so we decided to use stones as well as wooden planks this time”, Ames explained eagerly.

“That sounds great. That will make the houses sturdier. Have you gathered the materials required?”

“We have the wood but the stockpile of stones is running low, but we have asked the children to mine some”

“Children? Is that fine? I mean, isn’t mining a dangerous job?”, Shiv was visibly worried at the words of the head mason.

“We know. But since we don’t have any adults to spare we have no other choice. Also, the children that we plan to send are trained enough. So I think there is nothing to worry about”, though Ames said those words, Shiv sensed uncertainty in them which again worried him more.

“Then let me go with them, I am kinda worried. At the least, I can watch over them”, Shiv offered his help with a stern voice.

Surprised, Ames blinked his eyes a few times. “Are you fine with that?”, he asked just to make sure.

“Of course. Even though I myself am a kid, at least I am strong enough to protect them”

“That’s a relief chief. To tell the truth, I myself didn’t want to send the kids. But if you were to go then everyone in the village should feel a little relieved.

“Brother let me come along too” Bella interrupted suddenly. Shiv saw concern in her eyes and her voice felt a little shaky.

But Shiv nodded his head and with a smile he spoke, “While I am away, it’s your turn to look after the village. Don’t worry, I will be back soon”, he assured his little sister.

Even though she was not happy with her brother’s words, Bella understood what Shiv said was correct and s agreed reluctantly.

Your actions have influenced the villagers. They now think highly of you

You have gained the support of +7 people

Acceptance: 50/78

“Bella! Get that ungrateful girl a decent piece of clothing. I don’t want her walking around wearing a torn out rag” Shiv shouted with a mocking smile.

Kate blushed red with embarrassment and stormed away cursing Shiv.

---***---

“Clint, how far is the stone quarry?” Shiv asked the miner boy who was leading the way in front. A group of 5 had just exited the village and were now heading towards to a quarry to collect stones, each of them pulling a sledge with wheels.

“Not far. Just a ten minutes’ walk. There is a small stone hill nearby with a cave mouth. We have been mining stones from the hill for a long time from there”, the boy answered eagerly while he pulled the sledge. All the five boys wore dirty clothes which seemed to be some kind of mining uniform. Clint who walked in the front seemed to be the oldest and the most experienced among them. Though his body was thin, the boy showed no signs of tiring out, neither did the others four.

“Just stones? Is there no other metals inside?”, Shiv asked curiously, trying to gather more information.

“I do not know. They don’t tell much to us kids, but I think that there is nothing but stones there since I never seen any other item being mined from that cave”, the boy replied after thinking for a while.

“Hm. Clint how old are you?”, Shiv made a mental note of it and then continued asking various questions.

“I am fourteen big brother, a year younger than Agon”

“Fourteen eh” Shiv was no longer surprised. “Good boy. So what about these kids here? Are they all the same age too?”

“No, only I am fourteen, the rest are thirteen. Since that makes me the oldest, I have to look after them”, the boy proudly stuck his chest out. He gave an ‘I am an adult too now’ vibe.

“So are all the children in your village taught so early?”

“Yes. We are taught the family job by our parents at the age of twelve. By the time we are thirteen, we start the helping out our parents in the field. And when we are fifteen we are full-fledged workers”

‘No wonder this village is a self-sufficient one” marveled Shiv.

“Big brother. We are here”, Clint stopped and then pointed his finger towards a cave

A little away to where the group stopped was a small hill with a cave came to the view of Shiv. The hill was much bigger than what he had imagined so was the cave mouth. At first, it appeared just like the mud cave that Shiv had earlier seen but once they got inside the cave, the appearance changed completely. The cave mouth opened into a huge tunnel with hard rocks as it walls.

The group kept walking deep into the cave for a while, with Shiv in front protecting the kids while Clint gave directions. The tunnel was like a labyrinth with the paths dividing into many branches. Clint had directed the group and had explained that the other paths were unknown to him though the miners used to take those paths too. A couple of minutes of walking and the group came to a much wider tunnel where the group came to a stop once again.

“Big brother. This is the place where we usually mine the stones. We mine the stones here and then carry it to the village in the sledge. The masons will then take over the stones and shape them accordingly” Clint explained to Shiv.

“Then little Clint show us how it is done”

Nodding his head, Clint continued his explanation, “My father used to knock at the wall to understand whether the stone was good or bad. I don’t know how he did but what I know is that the stones he mined always had a grey color with a little white tint, just like this one here” saying so Clint picked up a small stone piece from the ground and passed it to Shiv. Shiv accepted the stone and examined it carefully.

“We don’t have any particular size requirement. We just mine them and give them to the masons. Ah, I should warn you big brother, mining is a really difficult task. Hitting the rock with a pickaxe is really hard, so be prepared. Then big brother let us begin”

Shiv and the others nodded. One by one, they went towards their wheeled sledge which had all the essentials needed for them like food, water, and tools required for mining. The kids then picked up their respective pickaxes and headed to different directions in the same tunnel.

‘Tick’ ‘Tick’ ‘Tick’ and so the hitting started. The would hit the walls for some time and then extract the stones which were then placed inside the sledge. After a few hours Shiv felt his hand ache, his body felt heavy and numb. Panting, he asked Clint,

“How much more should we mine Clint?”

“Um! From what I heard from my father, we need 3000pieces of stones. To produce that many then we need to keep mining a week at the least”, Clint replied as if it was a normal thing to do. But those words from Clint’s mouth brought a headache to Shiv.

Just a few hours of mining had caused his body to become sore at places, and now he had to continue the same activity for a week. Shiv face palmed not wanting to accept the situation he was caught in.

‘trrrng’

Stone pieces required: 3000

Stone pieces gathered:321/3000

Shiv’s eyes bulged out. They had been mining for more than four hours and this was all they could manage to gather. ‘Is there no way to increase the output? Hm? Increase the output?’, suddenly something struck Shiv’s mind.

Shiv got up and looked around. He then checked the walls carefully. ‘These walls are strong. But a large scale explosion will lead to its collapse. One meter? No that is too much. Half a meter then? Even that much is too big.’

“Clint I need your help”, Shiv acted instantly.

“Help? What is it?”, Clint asked, squinting his eyes as he suspiciously stared at a grinning Shiv.

“I need you to run to the village and fetch me at least 4 bags of flour and as many pieces of rags as you can. Take the others with you too”, Shiv gave out instructions.

Clint and the others were confused. But soon Clint figured out the need for the bags of flour and he smiled at Shiv.

“Big brother, has anyone told you that you are a cunning guy?”

“I get that a lot” Shiv smile and winked. The other 3 who did not understand anything just started the grinning duo.

Clint then urged the three to accompany him and the four left with their respective sledge. Once the four were outside his view, Shiv sat down.

‘They are going to take at least 1 hour to return. Maybe I should log out for some time’

“Log out”

---***---

Ryu exited his capsule and walked to the kitchen to have something to eat. While going to the kitchen he took his mobile phone with him. There were 15 missed calls. Some were from his mother while the rest were from an unknown number. ‘That is strange only my family and Kiro-san are supposed to know my number. Well whatever let me call mother’. Ryu was about to dial to his mother’s phone he got a call from the same unknown number. Perplexed, Ryu attended the call.

“Hello! Is this Mr. Ryu Yasahiro?”

“Yes, it is? May I know who is speaking?”

“It’s an honor to be able to speak to you, Mr. Ryu. My name is Yuki Matsuda. I work for Mr. Allen Perez, the CEO of Phoenix Enterprises”

“And why is it that you have my private number Miss. Yuki” Ryu replied assuming the woman was unmarried.

“Mr. Allen wishes to have a meeting with you, Mr. Ryu”

“With me? May I know the reason for such a request?”

“That is confidential and he desires to speak about the issue with you directly”

“Is that so? I am afraid I can’t accept your invitation unless I know of your intentions”, Ryu replied calmly, “If you are so intent on meeting with me, then ask Mr. Allen to contact me personally. I do not intend to be rude, but right now my situation does not allow me to be careless. Please do not be offended”, with a polite tone, Ryu tried to convince the lady. Ryu decided not to think too much of them tracking his number.

“I see! I shall convey this to Mr. Allen. Thank you for allotting your valuable time for me”, saying so the other side disconnected the call.

Ryu wondered about the Japanese woman just contacted her when suddenly another Japanese woman occupied his mind. ‘Shit, I forgot to call mother’. Hurriedly Shiv dialed the new number that he was given by Isamu. After a few rings, the call got connected and a woman attended the call.

“Mother! It’s me! Sorry for not calling you till now”, Ryu apologized first hand.

“Ryu? Is that you? How have you been on? Where are you now? Your grandfather said you are at Korea. Why are you there?”, Miyuki asked with visible concern.

‘Ah! So she still does not know about the kidnap problem’, Ryu thought to himself.

“Nothing at all mother. I just wanted to come here and stay here for a while, you know just for a change in atmosphere. That aside where is Mia?”, Ryu asked trying to change the subject.

“Oh that girl! She has been busy with her new game all this time. She hardly comes out of it. I don’t know what to do with her”, Miyuki let out a long sigh as she complained about her daughter.

“The capsule has been delivered? Good! Have you started playing too mother?”

“A bit. I can’t believe it’s a game. Everything is so real”, the woman gasped unable to hide her ecstasy and surprise.

“I know, I know. Ah! Mother are you and Mia together in the game too?”

“Of course. We are at some place called Wayville in the Northorn kingdom. What about you, Ryu?”

“At Bredon Kingdom. I will come meet you after a while mother. What is your game name?”

“I used my name itself. Mia say’s that I should have used some other name but I just didn’t want to change the name your father liked so much. Mia named herself as Tina. Mia said you named yourself as Shiv”, Miyuki paused for a while and then continued, “You really do like that name. Once you even cried demanding to change your name to Shiv. You were so cute back then, ufufufu”, Miyuki laughed as she teased her son.

“Mother. Don’t say such embarrassing things”, Ryu retorted with a reddened face. He clearly remembered that time when he had lunged to his father crying his lungs out.

“Oh my! My son has all grown up. Mother misses that cute boy who would always follow me around”

“Mother! I have to go. Love you”, Ryu tried to escape from his teasing mother.

“Love you too Ryu. Take care of your health. Eat properly and sleep well too.”

“Yes, mother. I will” Ryu disconnected the call and walked towards the capsule, smiling.

---***---

When Shiv opened his eyes the four had already arrived. Getting up in a hurry Shiv asked Clint who was unloading the bag of flour.

“When did you guys get back?”

“Just now. Big brother, here are the flour sacks”

“Where do you think we will good quality stones”

The boy observed the surrounding and pointed to the area nearby. Shiv nodded, then approached the area Clint showed. For a while, Shiv observed the wall, often touching the wall, sometimes even knocking on it.

The first thing Shiv did was make a hemisphere shaped earth wall which covered the area marked by Clint. Shiv then made a small hole, the size of his head, on the hemisphere. Once he was done with the hole, Shiv opened one of the bagged flour and then emptied it into the earth hemisphere. Once the flour was emptied, Shiv used the unwanted piece of rag to half close the hole.

The next thing he did was use basic wind magic to agitate the flour inside the earthen wall. The half-closed hole and the wind magic prevented the flour from escaping out and at the same time helped in building up pressure. Shiv then turned to the kids and spoke,

“Things are going to get really dangerous and so run when I give you the signal”

When the boys agreed, Shiv walked a couple of meters away from the hemisphere. Casting a basic fire spell, Shiv aimed his hand at the rag that was now completely closing the small hole. Once the rag caught fire, Shiv signaled the kids to run while he ran together with them.

The kids ran without stopping and when they were almost outside the cave, they hear a ‘Boom’ that reverberated in their ears. Shiv and the kids stood outside the cave motionless as they stare at the stone hill. Even after half an hour passed, the stone hill remained still which greatly relieved Shiv.

Still cautious, the group slowly head inside. It took them double the time to reach the area than they normally took but when they reached the place.

Stone pieces requited: 3000

Stone pieces gathered:1535/3000

Their jaws dropped and eyes almost popped out from their eye socket. A single explosion had rewarded them with almost eight times their previous yield. The kids jumped in joy while Clint laughed loudly as he hugged Shiv tight.

“This will be over soon”, Shiv grinned.

Thus the group of five filled their sledge with stones and went to the village. The group had to come and go five times to completely transport the stones they mined. By the time they had finished transporting all the stones, it was already dark.

On the second day, they used another explosion which was slightly bigger than the previous one which resulted in giving them an even higher yield.

Stone pieces requited: 3000

Stone pieces gathered:3319/3000

“With this, it is over guys. You all did great. Now go have a good sleep”.

Once the four left Shiv then walked towards the head mason’s house. He then knocked the door.

“Who is it this late in the night?”, a manly voice called out from the house.

“It is Shiv. Can I come in?”

The door was opened and Ames stood there with a welcoming smile, “Ah chief! Please come in”,

Shiv returned the smile as he apologized for disturbing him late in the night. Ames took him in and gave Shiv a chair to sit. While getting himself a chair Ames enquired “What brings here you at this time of the night?”

“Ah, I just wanted you to know that we gathered the stones you needed”

The mason looked at Shiv with disbelief.

“Wait a moment, chief. I will be back” and the mason stormed out of the house. It took the guy a good twenty minutes to return, his face was full of surprise.

“How did you get the job done so quickly? I mean, even if five adults were to do the work, it would have taken four days at the least”

“I used a bit of creativity” Shiv smiled and explained to Ames what he had done. Ames who listened what Shiv had to say, stared at Shiv, his disbelief clearly evident on his face. He then broke out it a laughter and patted the boy’s shoulder.

“Aren’t you a smart one. That girl has good eyes, after all, just like her father. Come meet me tomorrow in the morning here. Let me see how you will do with masonry”

‘trrrng‘

Your actions have influenced the villagers. They now think highly of you

You have gained the support of +7 people

Acceptance: 57/78

Shiv then left the house and walked towards his house. When he entered the house he could hear the giggles of two girls. Shiv smiled, knowing that one of the girls was Bella. He felt grateful to Kate for making his sister happy. Shiv stood outside the house for a while as he listened to his little’s sister laughter and then knocked at the door but not before making a poker face.

Bella who opened the door smiled when she saw Shiv. Shiv smiled back but when he saw Kate who was behind Bella,

“Bella! Why is this girl who is wearing a torn rag still here? Kick her out. She smells” Shiv mocked the girl while he held his nose with his hand. For some reason, he found teasing the girl really interesting and fun.

“Nii-san! Don’t be rude to Kate” Bella glared at Shiv.

Kate whose face went red also glared at the boy.

“Sister, you would side with her than with your brother? Have you abandoned me?” Shiv clenched his heart as he spoke with a sad face.

“Yes! Yes! Now please sleep on the floor from now on. I and Kate will be sharing the bed.” Bella said with a smile and the two girls jumped on the bed.

Shiv shrugged his shoulder and sighed.

“Why do I have such a troublesome sister?” saying so Shiv laid down on the ground.

“Goodnight brother”

“Goodnight Bella, Goodnight rag girl”

---***---

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