Chương 83: 18 – Bolts

It was so obvious! I didn't understand how I'd missed it, how everyone had missed it! It wasn't guaranteed, but if it worked like I thought it did, the key to defending this town from anything — or anyone — was right in front of us. The strongest weapon I'd made hadn't been the sword. It hadn't been Mom's book, and it hadn't even been the scythe. Tom had just been injured in the most recent attack, but it had only been about thirty goblins.

Three had managed to reach the outpost before the archers could take them all down. It had been suicidal and idiotic, but they had still managed to wound one of us. Enough goblins, and we could be overrun just like Mitoras. It might've been more, if not for the Captain's timely arrival. The granary was a good idea. Providing food would give everyone peace of mind, but it didn't solve the main problem. We weren't safe. The whole town still had needs related to goblins or trolls.

Terrifyingly, some were going to face wind magic. Captain Berkenem had to fight a winged one. May the gods watch over him. Battle was our future, and battle was what I needed to prepare for. I'd prefer to have us fight entirely at a distance, but we had almost no mages, and archers were hard to train. I thought back to the goblins, remembering when they'd broken through the patrols at the beach, and I'd followed their trail.

I hadn't even thought about it at the time, but there were at least five dead goblins and a troll that were killed by that crossbow. I knew they were dead at the time because there had been bolts sticking out of the bodies. I'd taken off at as fast a walk as I could manage, returning to the beach. Mom shook her head and went back to the river, intending to practice more of her fire magic. She'd gained quite a few free points from the exchange and wanted to see how her fire magic handled now that it was stronger.

"Burnom!" I shouted as I barreled into the man's camp. He was still sleeping down at the beach, and it had taken me an irritatingly long time to get to his alcove with my foot still not fully healed, but I'd come as quickly as I could.

"What… whassat! Mera?" he said drowsily. He'd been sleeping in his usual bedroll. His hands were dirty with soot, evidence that he'd continued examining Travis's chimney after Mom and I had parted with the captain yesterday.

"Burnom! The crossbow. Tell me you still have the crossbow," I demanded.

"Cross…? Bloody fuck, the sun is nearly down! Why are you here, girl?" he shouted. It seemed he'd just lain down to sleep, and I'd barged into his abode with all the subtlety of a bull. He was pissed. It seemed our recent friendship did not extend to waking him up before he went to sleep. Any other day, I might've been intimidated. Not today.

"Where. Is. The. Crossbow!?" I demanded.

"The one I made for Elsee! Do you still have it?" He'd cleaned up the blood and remains of the dead trolls since the last time I'd been here, but otherwise the place showed little change.

"What crawled up your ass this evening?" he groused, rubbing at sleepy eyes.

"Aye, aye the fucker's here. It's right over there!" He pointed to a shaded spot in the corner of the alcove, and I spotted the weapon's tail sticking out from behind a large jar, where he kept his water. I rushed over to it and picked it up, reverently. The scythe was old news. This! This was the key to fucking everything! I cocked it and turned to face the same stone wall Burnom had pinned at least one goblin to, and fired. The bolt was there, and it flew away with no trouble, lodging straight into the stone.

"Hells!" Burnom screeched, shocked by the twang of the weapon, but I was already cocking the crossbow again. I fired, this time just irritating the old man instead of scaring him. I didn't know why he was so jumpy. The bolts weren't aimed anywhere near him, and there was still plenty of light left to see that.

"What… Mera, what the fuck are you doing!?" I fired a few more, ignoring him. Watching the bolts. I continued watching the bolts. I set down the crossbow and ran out of the alcove, examining the bolts. They were lodged deep into the soft rock. I grabbed one and had to really work to tug it out. The broadhead was slightly blunted and chipped, but otherwise none-the-worse for wear. Burnom was watching them too. I turned back to him, holding up the bolt, grinning a sneaky grin. The man's eyes widened.

He'd figured it out now, too.

"My… my gods," he breathed.

"They don't fade…"

"I need to make sure of that. I can't have Travis and Mularet switch before we're sure. Give it… six hours? If they don't disappear for six hours, then we need to shift all our production. Fuck bows and arrows. Hell, we might not even need walls, though I'd certainly prefer to have them. Instead, we can arm every man, woman, and child in this town with a crossbow. Who needs magic when we can pepper the enemy with a limitless supply of bolts!"

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"Uhm… h-hello?" came a startled voice. I blinked, before turning around. Standing there, only a short distance away from the rock I'd just been firing at, was Elsee. She wasn't alone, either. I cocked my head at the strange sight of Elsee and her mother, Omoali, both standing there. I'd never seen Omoali at the beach once in my entire life.

"Hi there?" I asked.

"What brings you two here?"

"Who the hells else did you bring here, Mera?" Burnom shouted as he stood up. He was disheveled, and I suddenly realized that I was lucky the lout slept in his clothes. This might've looked somewhat awkward otherwise.

"Never mind that!" Omoali said, pushing past her daughter to stare numbly at the bolt in my hand and the others embedded in the rock.

"Is what you said true?" I beamed and handed her the bolt.

"I think so!"

"I don't understand. Mom, what's going on?" Burnom approached with his usual irritated shuffle as he climbed up the sandbank and out of the alcove. His eyes were sunken, and he looked mad enough to spit. I suddenly felt a little bad. Not guilty, but bad. He was surely suffering from withdrawal, and I doubted waking him up just before he was about to sleep had helped. He'd been going to sleep before the sun was even down, so I couldn't feel too bad.

"What did bring the two of you out here?" I asked again.

"Oh! Right," Omoali said, before turning to her daughter.

"Elle?" The girl nodded before turning to Burnom.

"Mom and I wanted to thank you. We should've, uhm… we should've done it sooner, but with everything that's been going on, we didn't have the time. So just. Thank you, sir. For saving my sister and me." She held out a small bowl. It was still steaming, despite the long walk from the carpenter's home. I knew it probably didn't have much in it. Likely flatbread and veggies soaked in a stew. Perhaps they'd splurged a little for some venison from the hunters. That didn't matter.

To a man like Burnom, it would be a feast. Burnom's tired eyes softened as he took the wooden bowl. His hands were shaky. I winced as I realized the withdrawal might be hitting him harder than I'd guessed.

"That's… mighty kind of you," he said to the girl, and then turned to her mother.

"Thank you. It means a lot." Realizing how uncomfortable he was, Omoali didn't let the moment linger.

"Settle a bet for me, will you Burnom? Rumor around town is that you're a Mason. I told Edra I could believe it but she refused. Said there was no way you could have hidden a profession like that behind the mug all these years." He chuckled.

"She would say that. The old hag. Yes, I'm a mason. Not much use for my skills around these parts, but I can service a stove or a chimney. Planning to build myself a house closer to town over the next few weeks." He'd insulted Edra, but anyone could hear the genuine affection in his voice. Edra had kicked Burnom out of the bar more times than I could count, but there had never been any maliciousness there.

He got roudy when he was too far in his cups, but she welcomed him back the next day with an open seat, as long as he had the coin. Sometimes even when he didn't.

"I wouldn't bet on that," I told him firmly.

"I can certainly use the skills of a mason." He frowned.

"What in the hells does a farmgirl need with a mason?" I sighed.

"I've committed to a bit of a deal. I need to make another war weapon. One that lives up to the pepper paste. With your help, I think I can get started. At the very least, it would be great if I could get a proper lab built, and I need a solid foundation for that."

"And why would I do that? I owe you, girl, but you're talking months of work there!" he said. I chuckled.

"Didn't you hear? We're rich now! And about to be even richer unless I miss my guess. I'm getting into the business of commissioning crossbows. It's actually fortunate that you're here Omoali! I would like you and your husband to begin making as many crossbow hafts as you can!"

"Crossbow… haft?" she asked. I blanched.

"Uh. The body. You know?" I walked over to the crossbow and pointed to the main handle on Elsee's crossbow.

"This part."

"The tiller?"

"Is that what it's called? Huh. Learn something new every day," I replied.

"Well, we can do a bit more than that. Might need Tom's help, but we can get the stock and the prod built, easily enough. Can probably build, oh, five of the things a day if all of us are working on them, but from there we'd need Sebinet or Fedenat to take over. I don't know how the pins on those things work. Also, this won't be cheap, Mera. Hundreds of coppers. Maybe even silvers." I nodded.

"We'll need to talk to my Mom about that, I–!" I paused, noticing the woman wince.

"What?"

"Could we make a deal here, do you think?" she asked. I cocked my head, not understanding.

"I… right here on the beach?" The woman flushed, but persisted.

"How does a three silver per crossbow base sound?"

"I would need…" I shook my head. Something fishy was happening here, but it didn't matter.

"No. What? No, I'm not going to make a deal with you on the price just before nightfall right here in Burnom's… whatever. We'll talk about that in the morning, okay?" The woman's shoulders sagged in defeat, leaving me baffled. Elsee snickered, and Burnom laughed, too.

"I feel like I'm missing something," I said, not sure if I should be offended. Elsee snorted.

"Mom's scared of Mrs. Farmer."

"I am not afraid of Mrs. Farmer, you little brat! I'm just… wary of her. Mera, you've… never really had to deal with your mother when she's trading for something. If we could come to an arrangement right here, that would be preferable." I blinked. Then grinned. I sensed an opportunity here.

"Fifty copper," I said.

"Done!"" Mom!" Elsee spat, her head snapping between her mother and me.

"Fifty copper?! That's robbery!"

"Better than what her mother would talk us down to, I assure you," the woman said, knowingly. Her eyes took on a haunted cast. I beamed. How much could the tiller of a crossbow be worth anyway? I was almost certain the deal was good. I was sure Mom would be proud. Even if it wasn't, she would surely appreciate that her reputation alone had garnered us such a great price. I wasn't done yet, though.

"And you," I said to Elsee.

"I'll give you five copper a day if you spend all day cocking and firing that crossbow." The girl's eyes widened.

"M-my archery skill will…!" She shook herself, and glared at me.

"Ten copper!"

"Four," I said.

"W-wait, you just said!"

"Three!"

"Five! I'll do it! Five!" she pleaded.

"Deal," I said happily. Your Bartering skill has improved by 6 points! You developed the new skill Intimidation!

"Oh gods, there are two of them," Omoali moaned. Burnom was laughing, but I didn't know why.

'Didn't he realize he was next?' I thought maliciously.