Story by Ekroth Ekronicus
Written NOT by me, but by [Joe D Mercala, also known by his alias JoeTheMercenary on fanfic. If you like his writing here, go check him out, commision a fic or two and support his activities. His discord is: Joe D. Mercala#8764
Power, to some, is a tool, but it can also come with its own burdens.
To King, he has none of the power but all of the burdens…and that just sucks.
Sure, the villagers love him now, he's the new big warrior of the village. The scarred scary man. They even took the bear he killed, slaughtered it and made him a pelt to wear that was supposed to make him cut an even more imposing figure.
Instead, it made King feel silly. Simply for the fact that they had made the head of the bear into a sort of hood that went over his head, reminding him of the look of that S-class hero Watchdog Man, so for the most part he would just wear the pelt over his shoulders rather than the full hood, the thing could at least keep him warm during colder nights so that was a plus.
It wasn't the only issue though. The main one was knowing what would come next. He had been stuck in this pattern before, his luck ending him up in circles made of being in the wrong place at the right time when some villain was defeated so that he would end up taking credit for it. It was frankly absolutely insane to him that even in this world his rotten luck would persist.
So, he needed to stop it…and that meant convincing the villagers that he didn't do it. Something of a herculean task as most of them seemed intimidated still and the others that would talk to him wouldn't believe him, thinking that he was just being humble.
The story King was telling was also a problem. It wasn't exactly easy to convince them that a girl shorter than most of them popped out of the ground, killed the bear, then dug back into the ground while he stood there and watched.
No, there was only one way to fix this situation. He would need to go back into that forest and hopefully find the girl, drag her back to the village and make everyone see that he wasn't a hero.
That was a bit easier said than done though. First he had to pull himself away from everyone so that he could sneak into the forest alone…then it was a matter of finding the girl in what could be hundreds of miles of forest.
Though…she did mention something about the mountain. The best place to start would be at least looking around the base of the mountain opposite to the village.
So King set off in the morning, trying to find the girl and change his fate.
By the early evening however, fate looked like it might win this one. He looked around the entire perimeter of the mountain and found nothing. Not even a hint of crumbled earth or tracks.
Maybe she had left the area? Gone off to dig or mine somewhere else? The thought made King want to grit his teeth in frustration as his heart began to beat with rage, but then he realized that there may be a better way.
He kneels down, then leans forward to put his ear to the ground. It's subtle, and he can't be sure if he's actually hearing it or his heart…but there is a small rumble coming from the ground every few seconds.
He hurriedly gets up, moving to grab a few sticks on the ground. He starts kneeling in different spots, marking locations where he can hear the rumbling better. Through a basic form of triangulation he's able to slowly begin to track the rumbling blows to the point he doesn't even have to use the sticks anymore as he gets closer as he can simply feel it in his feet now.
It was all going well, too well for King's luck. It's why the rumbling began to stop and suddenly he was without a way to guide him.
"Dammit! No…come on…" He puts his ear back down to the ground, only to feel the earth under him shift. "Oh no."
The ground crack beneath him, making him fall directly down into an open tunnel. He looks up to see a hammer pointed straight down at his head.
"Hey! Why the heck have you been following me! Don't lie either! I could hear the pitter patter of your feet the whole time from down here!"
For once, King thought his bad luck had taken a break as he finally found the girl he had been looking for…though she was pointing that giant bear killing hammer at him so maybe it hadn't cut him a break after all.
"I um…you…a few days ago!" He shouted, getting his thoughts together as he tried to cover up his head in a bit of fear. "You killed that bear that wasn't cute or cuddly!"
The girl looks at the man quizzically before raising her hammer and hefting it over her shoulder with ease. "Jeez, you are one scared little…wait were you that guy back with the bear?"
He lets out a nervous little smile before picking himself up, coughing just a bit from the dust he was breathing in as he tried to get all the dry dirt off of him. "I have searched for your help miss um…what's your name?"
"Rathty, though it's rude to ask for a name before giving yours." She states before sticking her tongue out at him and turning away to walk deeper into the tunnel.
"Woah wait!" He starts following her, minding a half dozen small torches lining the side of the tunnel to illuminate the path that she must have put up as she dug. "My name is King, and I need your help. The villagers who live around here think that I killed the bear that you slew and now they think I'm some sort of a hero to them!"
Little Rathy didn't seem to care much at all for what he was saying as she started poking at the earthen walls nearby with her hammer. "There is not a damn smidgen of good ore around here…now what were you saying? Oh ya…wait, how the heck is that a problem at all? Don't you humans like being heroes or something?"
"That's not the…wait, humans?" He stops for a moment and looks at the girl. "Are you…not human?"
"Look, I don't got time to explain everything to ya, just please leave me alone so I can focus on mining."
King just stands there for a few moments, trying to figure out something he can do to deal with all of this. "Hey, why are you here? What are you trying to mine?"
"Alexandrite!" She replies, turning with a hungry gleam in her eyes. "It's a beautiful sort of gem that changes colors in different kinds of light! It's one of the rarest kinds in the world…and I have it on good authority that once upon a time one or two of the gems were found around this mountain!"
The young, scarred man stopped for a moment, thinking back. When Folso taught him about being a scribe he had him read dozens of old prospecting records made by miners from an age past that had opened a quarry at the base of the mountain. However they ended up filling the quarry back up when they mined everything they wanted.
"Rathy, wait a sec…if I help you find the gem you're looking for, will you come back to the village and tell everyone what happened?"
The young girl looks at him, almost seeming to want to laugh. "Oh ya, sure, but how's a cowardly sort of fella like you gonna help me? What, you gonna try to lift some boulders big guy?"
He turned back to start heading toward the hole he came in through. "Just keep the hole you opened for me there so I know where to find you. I'll be back to help you."
Rathty looked upon the man and his big bear pelt and simply shook her head. She figured he wouldn't be back, after all how the heck could he find something in the ground better than a Mining Elf that had been searching for weeks now?
Before printers, before even the printing press, there were scribes. Men taught to perfectly copy texts so that books and stories could proliferate the land. They were the copy and paste function of their age, but that meant they had to know quite a lot about language and writing.
King had a decent education, but preferred manga to most literature back in his time. In fact, it's why he took to reading even older, more ancient scrolls these days. Folso had a small collection of them and they seemed to be written through more pictures than words, resembling something of manga…but that was not what he was getting into at the moment.
For the last two days he had been piling through dozens of old scrolls that the old man had kept. Each one about some point of the village's history and how it was founded by the mining families that first made the quarry near the mountain…and yet none of them spoke of how one could find where the quarry once was or how it could be found.
He did at least confirm that some of that Alexandrite stuff was found and sold off, though the miners of the time didn't have the tools to dig any deeper to find more…so it was at least possible for Rathty to find more. The problem was that even with her digging all around the mountain it would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
King had poured so much work into it that Folso nearly had to force the young man to take a break. He was overexerting himself…but it would be worth it if he didn't have to be a hero again and endure the stress that life brought with it.
He did take a break in the night though, moving to look up at most of the more interesting scrolls that told stories for children and such. One was to teach them about a sinkhole in the forest that they should avoid. The story described a monster with shiny teeth that would lure kids close to suck them into the ground forever. The art drawn was rudimentary but it was at least something to look at…but something about the illustrations caught his eye.
The monster was always depicted at the base of the mountain, and thinking about it…don't they usually fill quarries with water to help with mining? If that was true…and they filled the whole thing up, the water under all that dirt might make the whole area into a sinkhole!
King smiled, beaming with pride and satisfaction upon figuring it all out. He moved to wake up Folso, nearly shaking the man out of his bed.
"Old man! I'm trying to find the old quarry in the records you have and I figured out it's all under the shiny toothed sinkhole monster, where is the sinkhole?"
"Oh, I knew where the quarry was, why didn't you ask me?" The old man blinks at him for a moment before putting his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Have you…spent the last two days reading over scrolls just to figure that out?"
King gets on his knees, and every villager hears him in the night, calling to the heavens.
"Why me!? Why all the time me!?"
Rathty felt like giving up a little.
Sure, the Miner Elf has a can do spirit but even that can take a hit after more than a few weeks of work with nothing to show. Perhaps she might never find the Alexandrite even if she dug up the whole mountain. Maybe it would be better to pack up and head somewhere else, maybe earn some money digging for other more common ores or enter some sort of tournament.
However, just a few moments before she was going to give up, she heard someone's voice echoing down the tunnel walls. "Rathty! Wherever you are, come down here!"
"Does he really just expect me to run over like a puppy?" She sighs before brandishing her hammer. "Well, I might as well see what the big guy wants."
Traveling down the tunnel quickly, she came upon King standing at the entrance, looking a little tired as if he ran here. "Ah, there you are…I found…where you need to look for…"
That got her attention, getting her to jump out of the hole and grab the taller man by his pelt to drag her down to her level. "What in the heck are you talking about?"
He gulps before explaining everything about the sinkhole and where it could be found. According to Folso the quarry had been closed up and sealed because they couldn't dig any deeper and they were finding less and less stones and ore to be mined, so it was sealed up with dirt but the water at the bottom of the quarry made the dirt around the area much like quicksand.
Rathy let the tall man go before she demanded he take her where the old man had told him to go. King however made the girl swear that she would come to the village afterward to tell them the truth about the bear, which she agreed to on the condition that she found some Alexandrite.
So, the two headed off as the evening began to creep up with them. It was coming upon sundown when they finally reached the supposed quarry, now marked by large sticks buried into the ground to make sure people were aware of the sinkhole of quicksand.
"Now…I'm not sure what we can do here, it's not exactly something you can dig through…" King started to explain before he saw the girl let go of her hammer and start walking forward. "Hey, wait! What are you doing?"
"Oh for the love of, I'm a Mining Elf you dummy! I can swim through quicksand!" With that, the girl simply dove upward, landing straight into the ground that seemed to suck in and absorb her as if it had eaten her in all of one gulp.
"Huh?" He had to admit, he had seen a lot of strange things in his time as a hero…but someone swimming through dirt was a rather new one.
Hey waited tentatively for a few moments, watching where she had jumped in, maybe expecting bubbles or for her to burst out…but no, the sun just continued to set.
He may have started to get worried about her…if he didn't feel something squeezing at his legs. King looked down and saw that his feet had been sucked into the earth without him knowing.
He tried to lift his feet but the wet earth below sucked against his movement, pulling at him even deeper. He tried to reach for the nearby hammer to try to pull himself out but it was out of his reach. He had heard once that panicking only made you sink quicker so he stopped…but that only made it feel worse! Now he was just gonna die slower!
"Why can't I just have a normal life? Why do I always have to get close to getting killed again and again! It's goddamn nuts!" He told himself as his knees sunk slowly into the earth.
For minutes on end he had to watch his legs slowly sink down into the earth, getting deeper and deeper as he could feel his own fear of death well up inside of him…but then again, maybe he would get lucky. If this was an Isekai, maybe he would get born into another world when he died…one that was comfy, with video games and pillows and nice girls who would talk to him.
However, before that he would have to drown in quicksand…and even if there was another world waiting for him he was damn scared of that.
Luckily, or unluckily in a way, a single skinny, mud covered arms bursts out of the ground before him, holding onto a gem that sparks with green yet also blue tint. From where that arm comes another that leads to Rathty getting herself out. "I found it! You were right!"
"Oh…um, that's great…" He says, but her getting out has simply displaced the earth more and made him sink all the way down to his halfway up his chest, making it rather hard to breath. "Not sure if you can…help here…having a little trouble…talking…"
The small elf swims to the edge first, pulling herself out before grabbing up her hammer. "Hmm, you're a little deep…even with my strength it might be trouble pulling you out, just a sec…"
She lifts her great, tall hammer as King watches her, thinking that she might hit him in some way. "Wait! Stop!"
It's too late, the hammer comes down, striking at the ground with enough force to blow a lot of the rock and mud away and blast King out of the ground, though it did launch him into the nearest tree, knocking him out damn near instantly.
"Ooops…maybe hit a little too hard on that one…"
King awoke in a daze with darkness around him. He thought possibly that he might have died and gone to another world again like before…but then he was able to make out the stars above…and not only that, a bit of fire to his side.
He turned over to look at a small pile of gems, each now red, though that wasn't surprising. According to what he read about Alexandrite, it changed colors by the light of day and shadow of night, so much so that when miners found ruby's in the night or emeralds in the day they would wait until the sun went up or down to make sure they were not Alexandrite.
"Ah, finally awake are you?" Rathty says, staying warm by the fire by wearing his big bear pelt. "Ya know, I should have this, since you know, I'm the one who killed the bear."
Wiping his eyes, he pulled himself up to sit. "Ugh…keep it if you want, just tell everyone else that I didn't kill the thing. That's all I want."
Rathy quirked her brow toward the tall man, before throwing the pelt over to him. "On second thought, it's a little too hairy for me, not cute at all. Ya know?"
She watches as he puts the pelt back on. His eyes seem tired while he looks into the fire…and she wonders why?
"Hey, human, why is it so important that they know you didn't kill a bear, why is that such a problem?"
King sighs deeply. "Where I came from…I was, well…sort of was, a hero."
The idea of the man being a hero made the little one smirk. "You, a hero? You were cowering when we first met!"
"Exactly." He states with despair as he looks into the fire. "I've never done anything heroic really. I'm always just in the wrong place at the wrong time so that everyone thinks I defeat big bad monsters. Even now, with you…everyone thinks I'm a hero and I know it will only get worse for me."
"Oh come on, you act like god hates you or something."
King simply shrugs, not knowing and frankly not caring what it is at this point. "Either way, we'll fix it tomorrow…can I ask what you need all that Alexandrite for? Are you making it into something?"
She smiles, gleaming with pride. "Yes, and no! A merchant made a bet with me. He told me it would be impossible to find any more than a small gem of Alexandrite in the land. I told him that Mining Elf could find ore or gems anywhere with enough work, so he bet me that he would give me a huge heap of ores that I could use to make kitchenware for every decently sized gem I bring him of Alexandrite…so thanks to you I'll be able to make stuff for months to come."
King was a little curious, and asked why the elf liked making kitchenware compared to something like, well…weapons. She told him that everyone makes weapons, and while it does make good money…well, weapons aren't really tools. Weapons are made for hurting others, while Kitchenware is designed to help with cooking. Rathty simply states she likes making things that provide joy rather than pain.
In return however, she asks about his life as well, and it was a tad tough for him to explain. He didn't want to state straight out he was from another world, so he mostly tried to explain that before he became a scribe to Folso he lived as a sort of fake hero and mostly played games, which she thought must have gotten rather boring after a while and told him that it was no wonder he made a change in his life.
He wondered about that, if the part of his life that wasn't about being a hero was boring and simple, but decided it would be better left to the morning when they took care of the village.
So, before the fire, the two laid down upon opposite sides of the flame, taking its heat as the night rolled over their sleeping forms.
Everything was coming up on King's side this morning. He made a new friend who would clear everything up with the village as soon as they got back, then he could go back to living the quiet life and who knows, maybe he could help Rathty sell those gems of hers.
Of course, it couldn't be that easy, for when they arrived back they found a host of armor-clad soldiers waiting at the edge of the village. They were allowed to pass through but found that many of the villagers had gathered around one of the more elaborate dressed soldiers on horseback.
Folso was the first to see King, pointing him out to mounted soldier who in turn trotted his way over. "Hmm, my…you do cut quite an imposing figure, not to mention that scar of yours…you have definitely seen danger and looked it in the eye, haven't you?"
King really didn't know how to answer that one, which was an answer in itself to the soldier as he thought the man was looking at him intensely. "I see, you are exactly what we are looking for…"
The soldier takes out a scroll to read from. "By the Emperor's decree, all able bodied men that are judged to be fit to join the army shall be drafted. From what the villagers have told me, you have defeated a bear…and the strength of your conviction is easy enough to see, so you must serve!"
Rathty moved up quickly between King and the soldier, "Woah woah, he didn't slay the bear, I did!"
The soldier and the villagers looked at the little girl, and then to King…and simply burst out laughing.
"A little thing like her? Beat Bazuso? Ya right…"
"Maybe she used that cute hammer of hers, you paint it to look like metal sweet girl?"
Rathty was about to give them all a piece of her mind as to show them she could take down a bear, but felt King's hand press down on her shoulder. "If…say, someone else took down the bear, would you be drafting them instead?"
The soldier tilted his head. "Possibly, is there another who perhaps helped you?"
King sighed, feeling the weight of the world striking down on him again. It was one thing to be screwed over by fate, but it was even worse when it gave him the choice to do it to himself, limited as the choice was.
"No, I did it all by myself. With no help at all, it was a tad easy really."
The soldier gives the scarred man something of a nervous smile as King tries to look at him with a serious face. "Very well, we shall be heading off to the capital soon. Bring only what you need."
The soldier turns, trotting away to group up with his men as King grabs Rathty and turns away from everyone else. She can see the literal fear and frustration in his eyes…but this time she puts her hand on his shoulder. "I…I'm sorry I didn't help you sooner, if I did…maybe…"
He tries to get a handle on his emotions before giving her a cracked smile. "It's…fine. Come on, you can help me pack…I don't have much, but it will give us some time."
They both walk off, going up the mountain. Rathy feels guilty for her part in this…while King realizes that there's no escape, even in another world.
No matter what he does, it ends with heroism…so might as well do something good and save the girl the trouble of being brought into the army, one simple little gambit King makes in order to do something good with his crappy luck.
After all, something has to come up his way sometime, right?