Chapter 3: Earning Money

Chapter 3: Earning Money

Reigar woke with his hand beneath the pillow.

He took out his phone and pressed the side button. The screen lit up, showing the message he had tried to send the night before, with a failed delivery symbol beside it. He stared at it until the light dimmed, then switched the phone off before draining what remained of its battery.

He sat on the edge of the bed. The pain in his neck had eased, and the room no longer spun when he moved his head. Outside, he could hear the creak of a wheel and a vendor calling out to sell bread.

He wanted to understand where he had ended up and how to get home. Staring at his phone every few minutes would tell him nothing new.

He found Aris setting a kettle on the table.

“Good morning. Is there a library nearby?”

She looked at him, then at the empty chair.

“Good morning to you, too. Sit down first.”

He sat, and she pushed the plate of bread toward him.

“What do you need from the library?”

“A better map, something about the history of this land... and magic.”

“You’ll find it near the market square. A stone building beside the scribes’ shop.”

She explained the route, and he repeated the turns to help himself remember. When he stood to leave, he asked her for the directions again.

She smiled.

“Turn at the well. Don’t enter the alley behind it. That will bring you back here.”

“Then at least I know the way home.”

He pushed open the library door and stepped into cool air that smelled of paper and leather. Shelves stretched to the far end of the hall, with tables between them whose edges had worn smooth from years of use.

An elderly man looked up from behind a desk.

“Looking for a particular book?”

“I’d like some books to start with. The history of Istoza, the fundamentals of magic, and the monsters that live near cities.”

The man studied him briefly, then led him to a low shelf. Before reaching for a book, Reigar asked quietly:

“Does it cost anything to read here?”

“Reading is free. Borrowing books is not.”

Reigar breathed a little easier and took three volumes.

At the table, he paused over the title of the first. The letters were different from those he knew, yet he understood the words. He ran a finger beneath the line and read it again. He had no idea how he could do that, just as he had no idea how he had understood Aris from the moment they met. Slowly, he turned the page, searching for something that might explain it.

A map of the three continents spread across two pages. He found Istoza in the southeast and traced its mountains, forests, and coasts with his finger, continuing as far as the deserts. The author described it as the most beautiful of the continents, rich in farmland and resources, but its crowded borders seemed less reassuring to Reigar than that description.

Eight great kingdoms, and beside them, a name repeated among broken borders: Kadna.

“The Fragmented Kingdom,” he read under his breath.

He searched until he found Dorth, then tried to locate Amraj within it. That was where he was now—a tiny point on a map he had never seen in his life.

The history chapter began with the arrival of the Norm people on the continent’s western shores, where their ships had landed in a region called the Neck. There, they had founded the kingdom of Monten Beis, bringing knowledge and weapons that changed life across a continent inhabited by primitive humans, the Druk, and other creatures.

As the book described their expansion, an illustration showed an enormous warrior facing men armed with spears and iron shields. He read the caption beneath it: one of the Druk.

He lingered over the image. What had seemed, on the previous pages, like the story of a kingdom’s founding was beginning to look like the hunting of another people. He placed a paper marker at the beginning of the chapter, then turned to the book on magic. He was searching for something more closely connected to what had happened to him.

In its opening pages, he found a term that appeared repeatedly in the explanations: Wahaj.

It was the energy a mage used to perform magic. The ability to direct it, however, and the amount a body could withstand, varied from person to person.

“Like mana...” he murmured, then continued reading.

Fire, water, earth, and wind formed the foundations of elemental magic. A mage controlled and influenced an element according to their knowledge and skill. Understanding the description, however, was not enough to use it. The following pages were filled with exercises for sensing and controlling Wahaj, along with warnings against pushing the body beyond what it had been trained to endure.

He looked down at his palm and stretched his fingers beneath the table.

He waited.

Nothing happened.

He returned his hand to the book before anyone noticed.

In the contents, he found chapters on less common arts, including metal shaping, healing, and protection. Divination caught his attention. Its description was not limited to seeing the future; it also included perceiving things beyond the reach of ordinary senses and suggested the possibility of looking into other dimensions.

He pulled the book closer.

Other dimensions.

He read the passage twice, then carried the volume to the librarian.

“Is there anyone in Amraj who knows this kind of magic?”

The man looked at the passage beneath his finger.

“No one I know. Those who possess it are rare.”

“Are there more books about it?”

“There are references in travelers’ accounts. I can look for them, but don’t expect every tale to offer a sound explanation.”

Reigar thanked him and returned to his seat. He had not found a way home, but he had found something he could ask about.

Before leaving, he opened the monster guide. He passed over the large illustrations that occupied entire pages and stopped at a chapter on pests found near farms. They posed smaller threats, but they were closer to him than a dragon living on a mountain he could not even locate.

He read about burrow rats: rodents the size of cats that gnawed through wood with their fangs and ruined seed stores. Their skulls were tough, but the underside of the neck was less protected. They avoided open ground and preferred to run alongside walls.

When he looked up, the sunlight had moved to the other end of the table.

He found Aris at home around midday, carrying a small basket. He took it from her and set it on the table.

“Did you find out what you wanted?” she asked.

“Enough to realize how little I know about this place.”

He told her about the books, then hesitated before asking:

“How can I earn money here?”

She looked up at him.

“So soon?”

“I’ll need food, books, and somewhere to stay. I can’t leave you to pay for everything.”

“I haven’t asked you to leave.”

“I know. But...”

She was quiet for a moment, then sat down.

“You could sell things at the market. Or register at the Wayfarers’ Hall.”

She explained that the Hall bought slain monsters and whatever useful parts could be taken from them. It also offered jobs that people paid to have done, from escorting merchants to moving supplies and helping with everyday tasks around the city.

“And don’t start by escorting a caravan to the other end of the kingdom,” she added.

“Why?”

“Because this morning, you needed the directions to the library explained twice.”

He opened his mouth to object, then laughed.

“That’s a fair point.”

The Wayfarers’ Hall was much noisier than the library. A man stood arguing over the price of a hide at a side counter, while others crowded around notices posted near the entrance.

Reigar looked through the jobs. He paused at the payment offered for escorting a merchant, then saw how long the journey would take and put the notice back. There was work carrying crates, too, but that would last several days. He wanted something nearby that he could finish in a day, a way to test what he could do without straying far from Amraj.

He found a request to eliminate three burrow rats in a seed store near the eastern fields. Beneath it was a reward of twelve copper coins.

He read it a second time, then took it to the clerk.

“I’d like to register and take this job.”

“Your name?”

“Reigar.”

She entered it in her ledger.

“Have you fought burrow rats before?”

“No. I read about them today.”

The quill stopped.

“Do you know how to use a weapon?”

Aris spoke from beside him.

“I’ll train him before he goes, and I’ll accompany him to keep him safe.”

The clerk looked at them both, then explained the conditions: they were to deliver the carcasses through the rear inspection gate, along with confirmation from the storehouse owner. The registration fee could be deducted from his first reward, together with the cost of renting a simple sword from the Hall’s storeroom.

Reigar left holding the sword away from his body, as though afraid he might stab himself.

He spent the rest of the afternoon practicing in the yard behind the house. Aris corrected his grip and the placement of his feet, having him thrust into a sack stuffed with straw, withdraw the spear, and recover his balance. Those few movements would not make him a fighter, but at least he was beginning to understand how to keep the weapon from pulling him forward.

After a few attempts, his shoulders began to ache.

“It takes less time in books.”

“A book doesn’t get tired,” Aris said.

When his next thrust went awry, she made him try again.

They reached the fields the following morning. The storehouse owner led them to a small building beside an old irrigation channel and showed them the gnawed bottom of the door and the scattered seeds.

“I saw three of them go under the wood. I tried driving them out yesterday, and one tore the leg of my trousers.”

Reigar examined the piles of planks against the wall. Gnaw marks led toward them, while on the other side lay a stretch of open ground that ended at the road.

He turned to Aris.

“They run along walls when they’re frightened. We can leave them only one way out.”

They used the intact planks to block the gaps, leaving a narrow passage beside the irrigation channel. Aris braced the last board while Reigar took his place at the end of the passage. Then he asked the owner to disturb the wood with his stick from the opposite side.

A rustling sound reached him, and he tightened his grip on the spear.

The first rat emerged with its head close to the dirt. It was larger than he had imagined from the drawing. Its yellow fangs appeared as it squeezed between the boards, then it rushed toward him.

Reigar thrust too soon.

The spearhead struck the ground, and the rat reached his boot before he could pull it back. He stumbled away in panic, his heel catching the edge of the channel.

“Plant your feet!”

He lowered the spear across the passage, pushing the creature back with the wooden shaft. Its fangs scraped against the wood. This time, he waited until it raised its head, then drew the spear back, turned the point toward it, and thrust beneath its neck.

The animal’s body convulsed. Reigar nearly let go of the weapon, but he pressed down with both hands until it stopped moving.

He remained where he was, breathing quickly, his eyes fixed on what he had done.

“Reigar. Look at me.”

He raised his face toward Aris.

“Can you keep going?”

He swallowed, then nodded.

“Wait a moment.”

She did not hurry him. She kept the board steady until his hands stopped shaking.

With the second rat, he kept the spearhead low and left more distance between himself and the opening. His first thrust missed its mark, but this time he maintained his balance and killed it with the second.

The third did not enter the passage. It lunged at a gap behind the board Aris was holding and struck it with its weight. Her foot slipped in the dirt, and its head appeared beside her leg.

Reigar moved toward her.

“Stay at the opening!” she said, pressing her knee against the board.

He stopped. If he left his position, the way would be clear.

He readied the spear again and waited. The rat recoiled from the board, then charged through the open passage. Reigar met it with an angled thrust and had to push it off the weapon before it fell onto its side.

Silence settled around them, broken only by his heavy breathing.

Aris lowered the board. He went to her at once.

“Your leg?”

“A scratch from the wood.”

He looked at the small tear in her sleeve, then at her dusty knee.

“I should have braced the board with a stone.”

“We’ll do that next time.”

She said it simply, then bent to pick up the rope. Reigar moved the board out of her way before helping her.

The storehouse owner gave them a sack for the carcasses and signed the job slip after they checked the area for more rats. When they reached the Wayfarers’ Hall, Reigar returned the spear, then they emptied the sack at the inspection gate. The worker checked and counted the carcasses, adding the value of the usable hides to the completed job slip.

The clerk placed the money in front of Reigar.

“Twelve for the job and three for the hides. We deduct two for registration and one for the spear rental. That leaves you twelve.”

He gathered them slowly. They were small, dark coins, some with visibly worn edges. He turned one between his fingers, remembering how badly his hands had shaken only hours earlier.

Outside, he counted out six coins and placed them in Aris’s hand.

“Your share.”

She looked down at the money.

“I wanted to help you get started.”

“And without you, I would have had to put down the spear and hold that board.”

She examined the splinter caught in her sleeve, then closed her hand around the coins.

“All right. But you’re carrying the shopping home.”

“As long as it doesn’t bite.”

They bought bread, lentils, and a few vegetables. At a small cart near the market, Aris slowed in front of some honey-covered pastries.

Reigar noticed her glance and bought one.

“I was going to save the rest of my money,” he said as he divided it between them, “but this seems like a reasonable investment.”

She took her half.

“In what?”

“In your patience with my questions tomorrow.”

She laughed, then pointed to the larger piece he had given her.

“For this much? Only two questions.”

Back at the house, she insisted he sit when she saw how much trouble he had lifting his arm. She prepared the meal and left him to clean the vegetables at the table. He asked about the first money she had earned, and she told him about delivering clothes to a tailor in the market—and the bundle she had dropped in a puddle before reaching his door.

“Did he pay you?”

“After I washed them.”

“Then my rats were kinder than your tailor.”

“Ask your shoulders tomorrow.”

While she tended the pot, he took his phone from his pocket. He did not switch it on; he only rubbed the dust from its edge with his thumb.

Aris placed a bowl in front of him and sat down.

“Thinking about your family?”

He nodded.

“I keep thinking that they don’t know where I am.”

He stared at the black screen.

“Even if it takes me a while to get home... I want them to know I’m all right.”

She did not answer immediately. She moved the bread closer to him, then said:

“Tomorrow, we’ll go back to the library and ask about the books the man mentioned.”

He looked up.

“You’ll get bored sitting there.”

“Maybe. You can read something to me.”

He looked at the food between them, then set his phone beside his plate, screen down.

“About what?”

She thought for a moment.

“A monster we can kill without having to hold up a heavy board.”

Reigar laughed, and she pushed the pot toward him so he could fill his bowl. This time, he reached for it without waiting for her to invite him again.