The World of Strife

While I gazed over the scale of destruction, I sensed movements behind me. I turned around, only to see Regmir slowly standing up. The man looked completely dumbstruck as he stared at the crater at the end of the archery range.

"You've gotta be shitting me!" — The man's breathing hitched worryingly.

I turned my gaze back at the destruction caused by my spell. It was completely different from anything I had done previously. And I wasn't even that tired. The spell only consumed about the equivalent of two lightning blasts while unleashing a wide area of damage that is multiple times the destructive effects of two lightning spells. Is that because this spell is not purely magic-based, but uses the law of physics?

A few minutes went by in shocked silence as we stared at the blasted apart and burning remains of the straw men on the other side of the shooting range.

I uncomfortably scratched the back of my right arm as I stared at the ominously burning targets.

I am going to be scolded again for wasting perfectly good straw men. Well, that and the hole in the ground filled with lava might be a problem to explain…

I glanced tentatively at Regmir's silent form. Sighing heavily, I turned in his direction. — "Look… uhm… I wanted to say, thanks for saving me back there… I froze up."

I heard some incoherent mumbling coming from the man. So I decided to step closer while asking. — "Hmm? I didn't quite catch th-… EEH?" — He turned around, grabbing me by my shoulders. — "Let me go, you donkey!" — I shouted while trying to backpedal on full throttle. However, the dwarf's grasp on me was unyielding.

Then I heard the words he was shouting and stopped.

"You crazy, stupid yet magnificent girl… You'd better be in my group in this rotten expedition… don't forget that you owe me one, no two times, including today! You better not go back on your words."

Wait what? Did he receive a head injury? What is he talking about? — "Horse face, are you ok? Did a rock hit your head by chance?"

His face strained for a second, then his smile came back twofold. He even chuckled a bit. Seriously starting to creep me out.

"Horse face… ah, yes-yes… whatever you say witch-bitch…" — He reacted nonchalantly.

For once, he seemed almost amused by the nickname, giving me his own. Which I was aghast to hear.

"I couldn't care less for your stupid nicknames, girl. Just promise me to send that spell into enemy lines when we need you to. The rest is history…" — He chuckled maniacally, finally letting me go.

I stumbled back a few steps, looking at the man, who was overwhelmed by the power of my spell. I can't blame him. I felt the same way, only I was less obvious about it.

I shook off my stupor and told him. — "That goes without saying. I had a run-in with some goblins yesterday. They didn't seem like a funny bunch."

The man chuckled again. — "Well, I can hardly argue with that."

He shook his shoulders. — "We all have our demons. Believe me, if you spend enough time in the deep roads, goblins will be the least of your worries."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, there are a lot of goblins in this area, but they are not that dangerous individually."

"Look, girl, traveling the uncharted regions of the deep roads, you eventually will run into orcs or dark elves, among other less intelligent races and beasts."

"They are the real threat down here. Orcs are powerful, with a primitive culture centered on physical strength. They can create crude but effective armors and weapons while still preferring to fight in small hunting groups."

"And there are the dark elves. They are our eons-long rivals under the mountain. They have the technology and intelligence to create vicious battle tactics. They like to enslave our people or anyone else who is unfortunate enough to cross their path. They are disgusting slavers who prefer to maim, then drag their prey into the deep instead of giving them a swift death."

He spat in front of his feet in an act of disgust.

"They are even worse than goblins. Since goblins don't have the intelligence to understand human morality… While these wretched things are perfectly capable and knowingly choose to disregard it."

"Compared to them, goblins are a joke. Their only threat is in their abundant numbers. Just think about it. How far have you needed to travel to run into a goblin ambush? They are camping on our doorstep. Can you imagine what it is like when you go out there? Lucky for us, they don't seem to attack large groups. The cowards."

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There was a moment of pause, allowing my imagination to run wild before Regmir added. — "So let me say it again out there… in the darkness… goblins will be the least of our problems."

I gulped. Waiting for him to say something else. He was preparing for it when we were distracted by the sounds of a bunch of dwarves bursting into the training hall.

"What the hell was the noise just now?"

"Are we under attack?"

"Did something break into the outpost?"

"What the… is that lava in that crater? But that's impossible. The outpost has no connection to active magma channels."

We turned towards the commotion, and some of the dwarves eventually began to notice our presence.

I heard a familiar voice shouting my name. I turned towards the large culmination of armored dwarves waving axes in the air. And saw Emrum leaving the phalanx formation, running up to us.

A knot began to form in my throat as I saw his pale face. Emrum realized by now who caused the disruption. I didn't exactly make it hard for him to figure out. He only had to spare me a glance to realize it from my guilty expression.

He stopped in front of me, searching my gaze, which I tried to avoid, and said. — "Do I even want to know how this happened?" — I shook my head as that was a tale I didn't want to share with anybody.

The man sighed, grabbing me by the wrist. — "Now you are going to come along and apologize to the Commander, but only after you give a brief explanation to the others."

"Of course…" — I said meekly and went along with it. It wasn't my brightest hour, but lucky for me, most of the dwarves were more impressed with the scale of destruction than to care about the fright my actions caused.

They also noticed that I genuinely felt sorry about it and didn't seem to pursue the topic for long.

I got a few encouraging pats on my shoulders, and one on my butt, which took me by surprise. I looked around, but I couldn't catch the bastard who did it. Not amid a bunch of dwarves heading back to the barracks. I couldn't even voice it since I was being dragged to the commander's office.

I wasn't quite certain how I felt about this, yet those thoughts were forgotten the moment I laid my eyes on the commander, who didn't seem half as amused by the situation.

"What did I tell you about bringing down the ceiling on our heads?" — He shouted at me without reservation.

I flinched back… — "Uh about that… I am sorry."

"Ah… so you are sorry? Then that makes everything alright!" — The man began in a sarcastic voice dripping with venom. — "Except… it doesn't." — He added.

Ugh… this is going to be a long afternoon…

"You could have brought down the cave on top of our heads. If you hit the wall at the wrong place instead of the target you aimed for. You stupid, ignorant elf! You are no longer in a damn forest. There are different types of consequences for explosions at this depth. Kilometers of thick rock and earth are towering above us, you idiot!"

"Do you intend to bury us all?" — He added the question, shaking his head disappointedly.

"…" — I truly fucked up this time… still, if I think about that unfortunate revelation… My desire to blow up something kind of resurfaces. Of course, saying that isn't an option here. — "… It won't happen again. I didn't expect the explosion to be so powerful. It shouldn't have been… I must have miscalculated something…" — Come to think of it, I was really angry and frustrated back then. Maybe the emotional state can affect a certain type of spell. Did my anger resonate with the fire magic?

"Oh, it definitely won't happen again. Because I am forbidding you to use magic inside the outpost from now on!" — Balgrun stated the verdict.

It was not entirely unexpected, but it was still annoying. I had little else to occupy myself here, and losing my major source of entertainment wasn't exactly fun. Those thoughts must have been shown on my face as the commander asked in a dare-me tone of voice.

"Do you have something to complain about?" — He asked, and I was quickly brought back to reality, hearing the ominous tone.

I shook my head, saying. — "N-no… that's only logical…"

"Good, then, aside from that, I will deduct the extra costs from your payment. Buying a set of targets and repairing the floor will cost you somewhere between three and five gold. I don't want to hear any complaints."

I nodded, accepting the deal easily. I was earning quite a lot of money.

Compared to my clean 45 gold coins of monthly income. Three to five gold coins didn't seem like a big deal.

After I received my thorough head washing regarding the dangers of bringing down the ceiling on us, I was eventually let go.

Well, it was probably quite a sum of money for the average soldier. It was nothing extraordinary for me.

While on the topic of money, I learned from Emrum that one gold coin was worth sixty silver coins, while one silver coin was worth eighty copper coins.

The straw targets were pretty cheap even in the mountains, only costing five silver coins each, and I agreed to buy a set of ten even if I only destroyed six, counting the one I burned with my lightning last time. Meaning that the targets only cost fifty silver coins. What was pricier was the transportation. The caravan was escorted by professional adventurers along with a standard military escort.

While the military men were paid by the Kingdom's coffers, the adventurers weren't. They were hired by the soldiers' own money, since it was the sensible thing to do.

Adventurers were the ones who were familiar with such tricky and often changing areas as the uncharted section of the deep roads. Not even mentioning the lurking dangers there, the road was risky enough on its own.

Unfortunately, the adventuring society and the official military were never in a seamless relationship. They were competitors on many levels, while in other areas their interests aligned.

It was a true love and hate relationship.

To put it plainly, I was asked to pay a part of the adventurers' fee for the next caravan. For that, the commander will forget about the crater I made. The final price was around four gold and thirty silver coins. And a pair of ringing ears after all that scolding.

At least I learned the exchange rate of dwarven money. I consoled myself.

One gold is sixty silver and one silver is eighty copper. Better to remember it if I don't want to end up fooled.

That done, Emrum also scolded me, in a lot lighter tone compared to the commander, but it was still a warning. He told me that as a member of their clan, my actions also represent the clan at large. Therefore, I should be more prudent from now on.

I nodded, and as an act of circumspect behaviour, I went straight back to my room and packed up my stuff for tomorrow's expedition.

Then my eyes fell on the washing basin.

"… Sh-should I try it out?"