《Not Hurt by the Frost》 Chapter 1 - Patience A Virtue? Gerry woke and pushed himself off the dusty ground. He couldn¡¯t remember where he was, or how he got there. He knew he was dirty, sweaty and that he needed more clothes. Looking around he heard a voice call out from the woods ¡°Hey Typhon! Get yourself over here. And another called back, ¡°What, why?¡± ¡°New recruits coming though.¡± ¡°OK. Just give me a moment.¡± Were they talking about him? While Gerry could not remember his recent experiences he felt that being noticed by others was generally a bad thing. Gerry looked over at Typhon almost a football field away and he took off running away from Typhon and his band. As he runs, he passes by another man sleeping in the grass in the same state of undress that he is. He briefly thinks of waking the other man and warning him, but thinks better of it as he runs past. ¡°Hey you, stop where you are!¡± yelled the voice which Gerry could now see belonged to a giant of a man with a great red beard. ¡°We have a runner!¡± ¡°Let him go,¡± yelled Typhon then louder for Gerry¡¯s benefit. ¡°He¡¯ll come back once he¡¯s hungry and cold. Only he¡¯ll be behind in training, which means he¡¯s more likely to get himself killed.¡± ¡°Nah, I¡¯ll get him,¡± yelled the man with the red beard and started jogging after Gerry. Gerry sped up running among the pines; stopping as he approached open glades to make sure all was clear; crawling on all fours as the woods grew dense. The pace he set himself was deadly; his heart seemed bursting within his ribs and finally when he arrived at a small stream he slowed to a walk. He received a notification that popped up directly in front of his vision:
[Running Skill Increased by 2 to Level 2]
Oh. Gerry realised. This is some sort of game. And I don¡¯t have any items or any skills. I must have died and respawned. Or this is my first time playing the game. You would think I would be able to remember these things, but maybe that¡¯s part of the game too. Gerry bent over to take a drink from the stream, using his hands to bring the water to his mouth. He felt refreshed and started talking to himself as was his way when alone. ¡°Ok. First things First Gerry. Find someplace safe.¡± Gerry looked around for anything of use and saw his footprints in the ground. Again the notification came up in front of his vision.
[Perception Skill increased by 1 to Level 1]
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. He waived his hand at it, but there was nothing there to touch. Gerry looked over at his footprints again. If they were visible to him in this game then the red bearded man would be able to track him down, unless he was able to hide his tracks. The stream would work well for that. Gerry ran down the stream until he saw a tall cedar tree next to the river with heavy foliage. He jumped up and grabbed a branch from the tree and worked his way up high branches without leaving a trace on the ground. Mounted on a thick branch, he broke off a few smaller branches and tucked them around him to thicken his cover. Gerry had settled into the tree just as he saw the red bearded man pass him by on the river below. He was a big man, but did not appear to be breathing hard after a fairly long run. The big man kept going down the river until he disappeared and a few minutes later came back heading the opposite direction below the tree where his prey sat, swearing under his breath as he passed . Gerry stayed as still as he could in the tree until the bearded man passed. Why did he run? Being noticed was never a good thing, but by running he had only singled himself out for attention. They seemed to want him for something, something important enough to let one of the group run after him, but not important enough that the leader seemed concerned about his loss. Should he have attacked the bigger man when he passed below the tree? If this was a game, surely he could get some skills from beating a stronger enemy. It was boring sitting in the tree, but fear kept Gerry there. Gerry would not have called it fear, to him it was just wanting to be sure that Red Beard was not coming back. Fear is a funny thing though, sometimes it comes out in it¡¯s most primordial form, as true emotion, but for most socialized individuals is comes out as something more subsumed in the rationality, is the excuse that one makes to avoid facing what one is afraid. For anyone socialized they do not merely run away from what they are afraid of, but they have a reason they have sold to themselves as to why they are running away that allows them to ignore the fear they feel. Gerry decided that he would slowly count to 600 and give himself ten minutes of silence before he would start trying to plan out what he was going to do. That way he could be sure as he could be, without waiting in the tree all day, that Red Beard would not be coming back. And to Gerry waiting around rather then running farther away Gerry counted in his head emptying his thoughts of everything but the numbers, when he reached zero, he found that he was completely calm. And a new notification popped up in his vision.
[Wilderness Skills increased by 1 to Level 1]
[Evasion Skill increased by 2 to Level 2]
[Patience increases by 1 to Level 1]
That¡¯s funny, thought Gerry. Patience seemed like a funny skill to have get a notification for. If this was some sort of game he was trapped in, he had never seen a skill like that one before. There was an ? to the skills and it glowed with a faint blue outline. Gerry focused his concentration on it and after a moment a pop up window came up in his vision.
[Patience is the ability to wait for something to happen. Lower levels of this skill make time more bearable, while higher levels of this skill can make monotonous tasks pass in a moment.]
OK, thought Gerry. So there appear to be the standard video game skills like running and perception. But there can also be something like patience. It seems though the skills are like any other video game in that they will help me get better at a task the more points I have in each skill. Even one point in perception brought my attention to the information circle when I was looking for more information. More points would probably be even better. Chapter 2 - To Front Only the Essential Facts of Life Gerry sat there thinking. There was a strangeness to his memory. He knew what a video game was and what being offside in football meant. But remembering playing a video game or going to a football game? Nothing. He knew everyone had a mother and a father, but couldn¡¯t remember his or anything about his life before waking up in the field. What would be great, Garry thought, was if there was a menu where could check out all of the skills that were available and figure out what was the goal of this game. He knew most games had a way for the player to interact with the interface on a meta-level, and he hoped that this might have something similar. As he thought of the menu his perception skill kicked in and he saw a faint blue outline glow off to the left in his peripheral vision. As he turned his head, hunting the outline, the blue glow remained just out of sight. Remembering how he interacted with the information icon Gerry focused on the faint glow a moment. As he did, a menu popped up. It had the following categories:
Character
Ownership
Journal
These seemed pretty basic to Gerry. His knowledge told him there should at least be a map or a settings list as well. OK, he thought, sitting in a tree might not be a bad place to check out the menu and see what there is. Garry opened up the Character Sheet:
Name: Gerry Holiday
Sex: Male
Class: ---You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Level: ---
Running:?? 2
Perception: 1
Wilderness Skills: 1
Evasion: 2
Patience: 2
It seemed to be missing a lot of information that Garry¡¯s knowledge expected to be there. Like football, Garry knew the rules of D&D and expected to find some stats for strength and intelligence. Gerry found having these expectations without knowing why was highly disorienting. He looked at his character sheet, and saw no surprises. He could remember earning every point on the sheet. He knew there were likely some other skills, but since he did not see them there he guessed that they would only show up once he leveled them. So it would be up to Gerry to find the skills that would suit him and to do that he would have to experiment. If something as simple as waiting could build a skill called patience, what else could he earn skills in? Gerry was also interested in the level and class indicators. Those were classics. In the role playing games that Gerry knew of the class was one of the most important choices a person could make for their character. It dictated what skills could be learned, and as a character leveled it received a whole number of bonuses to their use of skills, and their abilities. These Gerry was sure would end up being very important. Somehow, somewhere. Gerry did a quick check of his ownership and found that he currently owned himself and his underwear. Gerry didn¡¯t like the implication of that. If Gerry owned himself right now, did that mean that people could own other people? Gerry finally selected the Journal and saw that there were already two entries.
Stranger in a Strange Land You woke up as a stranger in the middle of a field with 15 other new entrants. Find your purpose. Figure out the rules. Make allies, conquer foes, and whatever you do don¡¯t die. Rewards: By not dying you get to continue living. Some people find this to be torment, but it doesn¡¯t have to be.
The Black Company Typhon and his mercenary band have come to recruit you to join their number. Joining may be a great way to figure out what you are going to do with yourself or it may lead to naught. Will you Join? [Update] You declined the offer by running away before it could be made and hid in a tree while Tomi the Red looked for you (but not high and low, because then he would have seen you in the tree), and is heading back to the band empty handed. Typhon¡¯s band may want you back, but if you spend too long away from them, this desire for new recruits may expire.
Tomi the Red, eh? Not that original, but it seems as though the Journal knows more about what is going on in the world, then I know at a particular moment. I had hoped that that red bearded bastard would stop chasing me, but according to this he is already heading back. That¡¯s good to know. Chapter 3 - Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, If I am in a game, Gerry thought, then this would be the most realistic game I could ever think of. But why do I think it is a game? The only reason I think it is a game, is because it has what I know to be a game like-interface. ¡°But whatever you do don¡¯t die¡± Garry said aloud. Games like people dying though, Garry thought. There is a whole study to what the penalties should be for death, but most designers admit that death shouldn¡¯t be permanent. Permanent death deters taking risks, and part of what makes gaming enjoyable is taking risks and having them pay off or not. A permanent penalty for dying removes the incentive to take too many risks. I don¡¯t have enough information right now to know what I should do. If this was a game, joining up with Tomi the Red might have been have been the training mission. Or it might have been the equivalent of spawn campers taking advantage of the newbies. ¡°How do I know this stuff?¡± Garry said.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. I¡¯ve made my choice in some ways by running away, Garry thought. If I want to do this on my own, and I think that I do, I am going to have to make sure I get my lower Maslov¡¯s dealt with. But first, if I am running away I should get a bit of space to make sure that I do not get an outcome that is not the one that I want. Gerry climbed down out of the tree and headed away from the field. The forest covering was consistent, but not dense enough to block out the sun. He kept the sun at his back throughout the morning and once it rose overhead kept walking towards it as the evening ran its course. As he walked he looked around and the surroundings for danger, but after hours of not seeing anything he drifted off into thought and daydreams. It¡¯s hard to think when you do not have any memories of the past, thought Garry. All you can do is think of the present and the future. Frankly, that isn¡¯t really so bad? Why do people even remember the past normally? Does it really serve a function to help people, or does focusing on things that happened only hinder the present and the future? I know about directions, and about the sun rising in one direction and setting in another, but strangely I cannot recall any of the details of the interface or of how the leveling system works. I wonder if that means that wherever I was from before this didn¡¯t have the leveling system, or if that part of my knowledge has been removed from me as well as my memories? I guess the right thing to do is to figure out some basics about the system, because whether or not this is a game it seems like this interface is going to be one of the more important things to learn about. Chapter 4- It Were as Easy to do a Thing as to Judge It Let''s see, if there''s anything I can do to develop the character sheet, thought Gerry. What''s it going to do, list every single skill in every single area then I develop over the course of my life? That doesn''t really seem sustainable. Or practicable. Is that really what this system does, list everything? That data overload might just be a useless amount of information, as you develop hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, no probably just thousands of skills. Gerry saw fallen branch next at the edge of a glade he walked through. It looked perfect for a walking stick. Like a child out on a walk he swung the stick around in the air. Like he thought Donatello from the Ninja Turtles would have done. Swiping it Back and forth through the air at imaginary opponents. He swiped from high to low, then low to high, tried (and failed) to spin it back and forth between his hands. If anybody had been watching, it he would have been greatly embarrassed. After five minutes of playing around like this Gerry got the notification that he had been waiting for: [Staff skills increased by 1 to Level 1]If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Checking his character sheet showed that the skill increase had its corollary there: Staff Skills: 1 Gerry then checked the Ownership screen, with the expectation that the staff would now show up. He was disappointed, when he only saw the same two entries for his underwear and himself. ¡°It¡¯s apparently not that hard to level in skills,¡± Gerry said aloud ¡°but harder to gain ownership of something¡± . As he walked, he had an idea and stopped to do push ups until he could not manage any more. After completing 25 he gained another skill: [Upper body strength skill increased by 1 to Level 1]. As he got up from the grass he brushed the gathering mosquitos off of his shirtless body. Wiping the mosquitos away brought his attention the other bites that had accumulated on his body over the day of walking almost naked through the forest. If this is a game, they could have at least left out the mosquitos. He didn¡¯t think that they played an important role in any ecosystem, but his mysterious knowledge did not quite go into this level of detail. As Gerry continued walking his excitement over the system interface waned and worry about his situation gradually began to take over. When two fingers remained between the sun and the horizon he had given up hope of finding any other source of civilization or safety for the day and went about building a shelter for the evening. Chapter 5 - Pour Yourself Out Like a Living Waterfall Gerry woke with the morning sun under a poor shelter of fallen branches that he had leaned against a tree. It had seemed like a good spot to him when he was tired: the ground was flattish and not too rocky and there was a glade of tall grass nearby. He had laid out tufts of the long grass for a bed and more for a cover to make sleeping outside in the cold less miserable. Despite his efforts he ached all over. He resolved to himself that he would make sure to stop tonight with enough time to make a better bed. As he got up he stretched out his aching back. First to the left and then to the right. He disassembled his lean-to and spread out the grass around so that the area would be less conspicuous if anyone passed by. Gerry was not worried about someone trailing him¡ªhis journal had let him know that his pursuit had been called off¡ªbut something about leaving his work standing there felt wrong. Gerry felt it must have been his wilderness skills kicking in. He had gained another two levels in wilderness skills as he settled in for the night: one for building the lean-to and one for making his bed. After he had struck his campsite for he continued on through the woods, walking stick in hand, away from the rising sun. He found that moving through the woods was easier today. The soles of his feet did not hurt as much as they did the day before, and finding paths took less effort. ¡°I am going to see how far I can push this leveling thing today,¡± Gerry said out loud. He tried doing more push ups intermittently as he walked as they seemed to be a measurable way to test how leveling worked. It took 25 push ups to get the first skill point, thought Gerry, if I can figure out how many it will take to get the second skill point than I can look for a relationship between them. The thing about doing push-ups though is that it is hard to do a lot of them. Since he got the skill point Gerry found it was easy to get to 25, but things got much harder after that. He got to 30 twice during the walk, and hit 31 push-ups once, but he was hungry and thirsty and his energy was fading. As the sun was almost directly overheard, he heard the faint sound of fast-flowing water in the distance and headed towards it. A few minutes later he was beside a vigorous stream, with large boulders jutting out of the water created rapids. He went up to the bank and drank his fill, using his hands as a cup. ¡°There¡¯s one of my lower Maslov¡¯s down,¡± said Gerry. After he drank he got the feeling that if he was going to find any form of civilization around here it would likely be by the water. So, on this theory, he followed the stream towards the afternoon sun. As he ambled, other small streams fed into the stream and it grew to three meters wide, roughly the size of a lane on the road. It still surprized Gerry that although he had no memory of ever seeing a lane or a road, he knew what one was (and he knew that cars and trucks traveled on them.) The stream, now more aptly a river, bent and wound through the landscape. As he followed the river he gained elevation as the water receded from the banks. The river grew louder and more turbulent as he continued climbing. Over the next crest in the hill was a small still pool. The sun glistened off the pool where it was not blocked by the shadow of the larger hill. Gerry could hear a waterfall around the bend.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Seeing no way forward other than through the water, Gerry removed his underwear resting them on top of his walking stick (though as he had not other clothes to wear over them, perhaps the better term would be small-clothes) and started heading through the calm waters. It came up no deeper than his midriff and he made it across without incident. Once he reached the other bank of the lake he put his small-clothes back on and walked down the shore a bit to look at the waterfall. Standing in thigh-high water beneath the waterfall was a young woman. ¡°Well, turn around,¡± she said. Gerry quickly turned around as instructed. ¡°Do you have any food?¡± asked Gerry. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but it¡¯s been a couple of days of hiking and I haven¡¯t had anything to eat. The grass was starting to look appetizing.¡± ¡°Oh you poor thing,¡± she said. ¡°We have some bread left. You might want to take a quick dip though. You look quite ridiculous.¡± Gerry looked down at his stomach and saw that he was covered with dirt from his travels, except where it had been washed away by his crossing the pond leaving a line across his stomach where the water had stopped. His hands were covered with dirt¡ªhis fingernails were dark crescents. ¡°I guess I should¡± said Gerry, ¡°I am normally much cleaner then this. At least I think I am. I just woke up in a field yesterday. My memory¡¯s shot, but I have strong feelings about some things. It is quite disconcerting.¡± Gerry felt the edge of a blade at his throat. It was a small bronze blade, held by a boy, barely into puberty. ¡°Brother,¡± said the girl in the water, ¡°look at him, he is tired and hungry, and he turned around nicely when I asked. He doesn¡¯t seem like he is much of a threat.¡± ¡°Whatever you say Drew¡± said the small boy, removing his knife from Gerry¡¯s throat. His voice was barely above a whisper, but his sister, seemed to hear him clearly, like she was used to his soft talking and had given up on curing him of it. ¡°Thanks Coglan,¡± said Drew. ¡°I appreciate the sentiment though. Just a little misplaced on this one, by all appearances. But then again appearances can be deceiving. You can turn around now, Sir. Gerry turned around to see that while they were talking Drew had got out of the water, and got dressed. She was wearing a wool dress with an alternating cream and brown triangle patter knitted into the fabric. Coglan still carried his knife at the ready. ¡°It¡¯s Gerry. And again I appreciate the bread, I can just wash my hands and have a bite. Then if you wouldn¡¯t mind directing me to the nearest inhabited place, I can be on my way." Coglan went over to get the bread from a woolen shoulder satchel on the ground. ¡°Hold on a minute Coglan,¡± said Drew. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be cruel, but fair¡¯s fair. You walked in on me bathing, I am going to have to insist that you take a dip before you eat.¡± Gerry thought about protesting. He was already walking around without much on. But he thought better of it. If she was willing to give him something to eat, and all he needed to do was hop in the pool, then he would hop in the pool. Gerry laid his stave on the ground and stripped out of his small clothes, folding them carefully and placing them on top of his staff, then ran into the stream filled with energy at the thought of the meal waiting for him. When the water got to his thighs he dove in head first. ¡°Not much modesty in him, is there?¡± Drew asked Coglan. Gerry quickly scrubbed himself. When he couldn¡¯t see any more dirt on him he started heading out of the pool. ¡°Don¡¯t forget behind the ears,¡± said Drew. Gerry scooped up some water and quickly washed behind his ears. Then he rushed out of the pool, wiped away the excess water with quick motions of his hands, and put his small clothes back on. ¡°Now,¡± said Gerry, ¡°you said something about some bread.¡± Chapter 6 -Very Sad Thing That Nowadays There Is So Little Useless Information Gerry ate the small loaf of bread with relish and finished his meal with more water from the stream. ¡°I don¡¯t think I have ever had bread taste so delicious,¡± he said. ¡°You must have been hungry,¡± said Drew. ¡°Mom¡¯s a fine baker, but nothing great.¡± ¡°I was hungry, but I have imposed too much and offended you too many times. If you could direct me to the nearest settlement I can be on my way.¡± ¡°Not so fast,¡± said Drew. ¡°We are heading towards Gillgrist¡ªor as you called it, the nearest settlement. We might as well walk together. You will just have to work harder not to offend.¡± As she was talking Coglan picked up the bag, his knife still in hand. As they left the pond Drew lead the way down a small trail, and Coglan took up the rear. They walked in silence for a few minutes until it grew uncomfortable. ¡°What¡¯s Gillgrist like?¡± asked Gerry, breaking the quiet. ¡°It¡¯s a small village. First people spawned there about ten years ago. Upper Abattoir, the largest town in the area is across the lake. It¡¯s maybe twenty years old. Nice place to grow up, but almost nobody ever leaves.¡± ¡°Sounds nice. Peaceful,¡± said Gerry. ¡°It sure is that,¡± said Drew as she led them out of the woods into a grassy plain. Below were neatly laid out fields of growing wheat and corn. Below that was a village with a short stone wall. Below that was the lake. That must be Gillgrist, Gerry thought. Gerry could make out the other side, across the lake from Gillgrist, but could not make out either end of the lake. ¡°That¡¯s a nice view¡± said Gerry as they walked down the sloped ¡°In all it¡¯s glory,¡± said Drew. ¡°Let¡¯s get there already then. Stop dawdling. ¡± said Coglan. ¡°Sure¡­ said Drew ¡°So, anyway, you must have travelled quite a long way, if you just came through the looking glass yesterday. I don¡¯t know of any nearby spawn points other that Gillgrist and Upper and Lower Abattoir. And those are across Lake Tubor.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°I didn¡¯t stop much, and while I don¡¯t know how I know it, but on open ground a person can walk 50km a day. About the distance from Sydney to Campbelltown.¡± said Gerry as the path turned into a well-worn dirt path by the fields. ¡°I don¡¯t know where those places are,¡± said Drew crossing her arms across her chest. ¡°I¡¯m just familiar with this world.¡± ¡°We¡¯re second gen,¡± said Coglan. ¡°Oh,¡± said Gerry. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean any offence.¡± ¡°She¡¯s sensitive,¡± said Coglan. Drew stopped. ¡°Am not. We are just more settled and without the weird memories that the first genners have.¡± Drew paused. ¡°Sorry about that. There are not many of us, and we stick out a little bit. Mom and Dad were some of the earliest Travellers to come through.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t pipe up to get you to stop, Drew.¡± said Coglan without stopping walking. ¡°Dad helped found Gillgrist,¡± said Drew. ¡°Soon after they discovered people spawned there. Came over from Lower Abattoir with Mom. He saw that the river would be good for a mill and that the land was good for crops and help set up the farming community around here. He¡¯s important.¡± ¡°You have a one up on me for certain. I don¡¯t¡¯ know how anything works around here. All I know if I got a bunch of skills soon after I came over, but they have been slowing down since. I have not got a single skill point today.¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯ll get used to that,¡± said Coglan walking backwards down the pater ahead of them and keeping them moving forward. ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Gerry. ¡°He means that when you immigrants get here,¡± said Drew pointing, ¡°you all think there are an unlimited number of skills you can get. There¡¯s not. You get twelve skills.¡± said Drew. ¡°That¡¯s it. A lot of having kids here is apparently trying to get them to pick up the right skills and avoiding the bad ones.¡± ¡°Like [Stubbornness] right Drew?¡± asked Coglan from down the path. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re still here,¡± said Drew? Coglan stuck his tongue out at her and blew a raspberry. ¡°You can raise skills 3 points each and then that¡¯s it,¡± said Drew. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± asked Gerry. He suddenly worried that he had wasted a lot of the skills that he had the chance to learn. He had almost nothing that he thought would be useful in a city, other than maybe perception and patience. ¡°Unless you level,¡± said Coglan. ¡°Unless you level,¡± said Drew. ¡°But you don¡¯t want to do that. Nobody wants to level. It¡¯s never worth it. You get what, a little more [stubbornness] to or a little more expertise to your [poaching skill]? ¡°Not fair,¡± said Coglan coming out and standing on the path now. ¡°As Mom always says, ¡®Turnabout is fair play,¡¯¡± said Drew. Drew stopped in the middle of the road before a wide opening in the wall of the city. ¡°We arrive at last. The beautiful town of Gillgrist.¡± Chapter 7 - It is Better to Live in a Corner of the Housetop Than in a House Shared Nick closed the gate from the mill pond that controlled the flow of water to the waterwheel. Once the waterwheel had stopped he went back into the mill to look at his mornings labour. He went to the last of the sacks that was still attached to the chute where the flour came out of the mill. He tapped the wooden chute three times to make sure he dislodged the rest of the flour into the bag. Then taking a handful he rubbed a pinch between his index finger and his flattened thumb. He decided this batch of flour would be fine. Nick restacked the sacks of flour working up the courage to head back to the house. He loved his wife. And had many, many fond memories with her and their two children. However, in many ways he found the mill work easier. The last eighteen years he had spent in it all blended together. Dragging grain up into the loft, pouring it into the hopper. Bagging and checking the flour. Cleaning out the stone every season. It was hard to pick out one day from the next. He had the [labour of love] and [handy] which helped in his daily work. Everyday in the house brought new challenges. Drew was a joy and Coglan would find himself one of these days. He was a sweet kid. But they had gone up to the falls for the day. It would be just Veruca in the house. Nick exited the mill into the bright sunlight, leaving the scent of fresh-milled flour behind. He closed the door to the mill and brushed the flour off his clothes. It is a beautiful day today, Nick thought, reminding himself of all the good things in the world. His shoulders hunched as he walked the forty steps to his house. He brushed off his boots on the matt out side and entered. ¡°Bread¡¯s ready,¡± said Veruca, taking the tea towel of the golden round of bread. ¡°Thanks,¡± said Nick. He walked over to the counter and pulled off a chunk of the still cooling bread and poured himself a glass of water from the water jug. He sat down at the table by himself and started eating. The bread was dense and buttery and very much to his liking. ¡°Taxes are due soon,¡± said Veruca, chopping some onions and tomatoes in the kitchen. Nick finished his bread, got up, and grabbed another piece off the loaf. Veruca, finished slicing the vegetables and put them in a bowl. She added some salt, and a bit of oil and vinegar and set the bowl before Nick, before heading back to the kitchen to clean up. Nick started eating the salad with his bread. He was hungry and the vegetables were chilled from being stored in the underground cellar near the stream. ¡°You¡¯re eating like a monster, Nick. No manners,¡± said Veruca. ¡°If the Mayor were to see you eating like a hog or the Feldman¡¯s you think they would let you mill their grain?¡± Nick sat up straight and started eating in a more mannered fashion. ¡°I don¡¯t think that me eating like a hog, or a monster has any effect over whose grain I mill. What are they going to do, send it somewhere else?¡± ¡°They might¡± said Veruca, ¡°if they saw how you ate.¡± Nick finished his salad and bread and brought the bowl over to the wash basin and grabbed the cloth to wipe out his bowl. ¡°I¡¯ve got that,¡± said Veruca, pushing him out of the way. ¡°If your heading into town, see whether the Gardner¡¯s have any cabbage for sale, and get some more white yarn. I¡¯ve got plenty of grey left, but I¡¯m running out of white.¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°OK,¡± said Nick heading for the front door. ¡°White or Red cabbage?¡± ¡°White,¡± said Veruca. Nick grabbed his coin pouch and headed for the village. The path to the village followed the river for the first few minutes, crossed a small stone bridge then turned into a cobblestone road the flowed into the city. Nick was proud of the work he had done here and the work he had enabled others to do. It was the work of others here that would be his true legacy, if he ever thought about such things. Nick did not like to think too much though. He was a strong believer that overthinking could complicate things, and when things got complicated ¨C that was when people started to get in fights. The Village was something of which Nick could be proud. In the past twenty years they had divided up the land so that everyone had a place to live, build the mill, paved the streets, and built a permanent dock so that ships could go back and forth across the lake. The walk to the village passed by the docks. Nick saw the barge was in and stopped by the office. The entrance was flanked by a covered porch with benches of old wood or the rowers to sit on when they needed to get out of the sun. Walter was sitting at his desk doing paperwork when Nick walked in. The office was sparsely furnished and the desk took up half to room. In the corner was a well-crafted wooden cabinet, with a ledge on it for a pitcher; in the center of the room were a couple of chairs. The only decoration were the crossed oars hanging on each wall near the ceiling. ¡°Flour¡¯s finished milling this morning¡±, said Nick. ¡°Morning Nick. Take it you¡¯ll want the boys to come pick it up from the Mill and cart it down here?¡± said Walter. ¡°That would be much appreciated. Like to get it sold in Upper Abattoir sooner rather later. Don¡¯t quite have the [skills] to get it down here myself in any reasonable amount of time,¡± Nick said siting down in a chair. Walter got up from his desk and leaned out the door ¡°Chuk! Pick up at the Millers!¡± He then turned to Nick, ¡°That should do.¡± He leaned back out the window for good measure, ¡°You hear me Chuk?!¡±. A shout came back over the yard, ¡°Yeah, I heard you bossman!¡± ¡°You want some beer?¡± Walter asked Nick. ¡°Yeah. Just a small one,¡± said Nick holding his thumb and pointer finger just a bit a part. Walter took two large mugs from the table and filled them most of the way to the top, ¡°It¡¯s not full¡± he said handing the mug to Nick. ¡°It¡¯s a bit much for this time of day,¡± said Nick. ¡°You¡¯ll be fine,¡± said Walter. ¡°So when are we going to get that son of yours out on a boat? He¡¯s old enough to get a job and help out the family. Not that you need the help, but you know what I mean. My boys have been out in a boat since they were at least his age.¡± ¡°He¡¯s the right age. And we¡¯ll have to see what he ends up doing. I still have him help out in the mill to get the hang of it,¡± said Nick. ¡°It¡¯s an art as much as a science.¡± ¡°I can see that. Shipping¡¯s simple stuff. Load the barge. Row it across. Unload the barge. Reload the barge with new goods. Row it to the next town. Try not to tip. All forbid,¡± said Walter. But the thing about shopping is that we are always in need of strong backs. Not everyone has the Skills to make it a light thing to row, even just across the lake is an hour. Nick drank deeply. ¡°Seems like there are a few around that won¡¯t be ready for tax time this year.¡± ¡°You know what¡¯s wrong with you, you¡¯re too kind. I heard what you did last year with the Feldmans. If they don¡¯t have the money to pay their taxes when they are due, how are they ever going to pay you back. You must have had hell to pay from the wife on that one. ¡° Nick finished off the rest of his beer. ¡°Thanks for the beer. Send the boys up to pick up the flour when the have time.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be sore about it,¡± said Walter. ¡°No hard feelings¡± Nick got out of the chair and headed towards the door. ¡°Again thanks for the beer.¡± Nick left the office and out in the sunlight. Walter yelled out the door behind him ¡°Chuk you left yet to pick up the flour!¡± ¡°Just leaving, now. Didn¡¯t know it was a rush,¡° yelled Chuk. Walter¡¯s not as nice as I remembered, thought Nick. Might be best to send Colgan down next time something needs to be picked up. Or have him send up Chuk with the money from the sale. Chapter 8 -Barrels (scraping and building) Nick made his way into city and checked his Journal just to be sure about what his wife wanted. The same three were that haunted him were always there. Love''s Labour''s Lost You spent your life building Gillgrist into a home, however an existential threat to all you¡¯ve accomplished lies in the near future for your beloved town. Find a way to prepare and maybe you can save all you care about. Rewards: All you have worked for will not be in vain. Plainsong Be a good father to your children. Rewards: If you are lucky you will have adult offspring whose company you enjoy and of whom you are proud. Of Cabbages and Kings Get the white cabbage and the white yarn. It¡¯s easy to remember they are both the same colour. White cabbage, White yarn, thought Nick. That¡¯s fairly easy to remember. And they are both the same colour.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. As Nick continued into the village he whistled to himself. Maybe a wall might work. If it is an attack, a wall would be the least we should have. I should get on that right away. Nick passed by the Cooper¡¯s place and decided to stop in for a bit. Wilfred was shaving a barrel stave at his chair when Nick walked in on him. ¡°Wilfred,¡± said Nick, ¡°I¡¯ve decided that the village needs a wall.¡± ¡°A wall, now is it Nick,¡± said Wilfred his finger feeling the stave he just shaved the side of to make sure it was smooth. ¡°What do we need a wall for?¡± ¡°Every good village need a wall,¡± said Nick. ¡°And I take it your going to be the one building this wall?¡± said Wilfred. ¡°Well I won¡¯t stop ya, I might even help. Have a seat.¡± Nick sat down on a tall stool and Wilfred got up from his chair and put the stave down in a pile of staves. ¡°Still waiting for the shipment of hoops, just prepping staves for now,¡± said Wilfred. ¡°Let me poor you a beer.¡± ¡°Just a small one,¡± said Nick holding his thumb and pointer finger just a bit a part. ¡°You ever get those feeling that you have something to do, but you just can¡¯t bring yourself to do it?¡± Wilfred handed Nick the beer and took a sip of his on. ¡°Yep. Know exactly what you mean. You just got to wait it out.¡± ¡°Waiting it out never really worked for me,¡± said Nick. ¡°I always need to up my level worry about doing something, until it almost wasn¡¯t going to get done. Then I could get it done. Like today. Got my work done first thing this morning. All the grain that¡¯s fit to be milled, well I got up early and milled it, but then there is the question of what to do next.¡± ¡°There¡¯s always something that need¡¯s doing,¡± said Wilfred. ¡°Even if it¡¯s just shaping staves for when you get more hoops in. People are always going to need more barrels. Or buckets. Everyone should have a good bucket or two.¡± ¡°You just sold me a new bucket last time I was here,¡± said Nick. ¡°Cannot afford to get a new one every time we have a drink.¡± Nick remembered Veruca telling him the same thing almost verbatim last time he came home with a bucket, after having a drink. ¡°You probably could afford one. Not that you need another right now,¡± said Wilfred. ¡°Thanks for that,¡± said Nick finishing his beer. ¡°Got to go finish the quest from the wife. Get some cabbage and yarn.¡± ¡°We have cabbage that Willa and I picked from the fields ourselves,¡± said Wilfred. ¡°You can have a couple if you¡¯d like. I will be right back. Won¡¯t hear otherwise.¡± Wilfred zipped into the kitchen and Nick poked around his workroom, playing with his hammer and anvil while he was out of the room. This anvil is really neat, thought Nick. In a moment Wilfred was back with the red cabbage, ¡°Here you go.¡± ¡°I really shouldn¡¯t,¡± said Nick. ¡°It would be rude, not to,¡± said Wilfred. ¡°And I would have to explain it to Willa. Just take the cabbage already.¡± Nick reluctantly took the cabbages and put them in his sack.