Better Than One - Chapter 9 Just The Two Of U

We met with the head smith of Bashag tribe, a jovial fella by the name of Kuuz. His scaley snout was frayed and white, showing his age. He was also fatter than any kobold I had seen before, to the point that he had a second chin hanging down like a pelican. Much like other kobolds he took the change of authority in stride.

“You may address me as Queen Estra.” She said, and I looked over to her in surprise, but she ignored my stare.

“What do you mean, ‘Queen’? I thought that we were in charge? The two of us!” I said, alarmed at a sudden coup.

“We still are, but I’ll be the Queen.” A queen? She’s got a few dozen kobolds under her rule and it goes straight to her head. More like a village chief. Kuuz was looking at us, trying to hide his bemused expression.

“So, that would make me a King.”

“No, you weren’t born royal, you don’t even have [Aristocrat.] Besides, if you’re the King, and I’m the Queen, that means we’re married. But we’re not.” She said.

“You want to get married?” I asked, chuckling.

“Not to you!” she said, and I didn’t know if I should feel relieved or insulted. We might as well be married, we’re stuck together for life. Ugh, I hate my afterlife.

“Did you have a boyfriend back home, perhaps?” I asked, but she looked away without answering. I get it now, the princess was dreaming of marrying a prince and living happily ever after. “How about this. You’ll be the Queen, and I’ll be the Prime Minister. Alright? This way you can still marry your prince charming when you find him.” Although prince charming would be in for a surprise on the wedding night, and I don’t mean the extra ‘head’ on the shoulders. She was rather satisfied with that arrangement and the new titles. As top chief, we should be getting tributes now.

Kuuz disregarded our royal proclamations of titles. “Top chief needs top armor and weapons, let me show you to our armory.” He said with a pipe in his mouth, puffing smoke like a dragon. Someone should have told him that smoking is dangerous, but given the stuffy smithy he worked in, it probably didn’t matter.

He unlocked the fortified door and led us inside. The armory was more of a wide corridor than a room, but without an exit at the other end. Lining both sides were small wooden dummies. Some were sporting chain coifs fitted for a kobold head, and full length chainmails with long sleeves. Strewn about the area were various weaponry and armor, including the previous chief’s armor. While the chest armor and the helmet were too small for us, the pair of gauntlets fit perfectly.

Steel Hourglass Gauntlets [Crafted]

Leather underlayer gloves

Hourglass style cuff

Articulated fingers

Buckled leather straps

When worn, they were surprisingly mobile and dexterous, even allowing for unhindered wrist movement. They were accented with bronze metal plating giving them a two-toned coloration. There was nothing else in here that would fit our fat body, but I bet two chainmails could be put together to fit us, or three.

I handed over my ‘shield’ and the leather apron we wore in the front. “I need a better shield, a large chainmail, and something to wear underneath it. Also two helmets.” Maybe one that fully hides her face, and dampens the sound coming out, I thought amusingly to myself.

“I don’t need a helmet, I need a crown.” She said, and I laughed. Kuuz took measurements of Queen’s bountiful ogre figure and the blacksmiths got to work.

“Can you make steel?” I asked him. He looked saddened, shaking his head.

“The one steel bar we have came from a rare Metal Slime in the dungeon,” he said. That’s a place we definitely needed to explore in the future.

“Do you know how to add carbon to iron?” I asked.

“Add what? Do you perhaps mean charcoal?” He asked. I suppose they didn’t have a word for the carbon element, but I’m pretty certain that charcoal is made from carbon.

“Right, if you add charcoal to wrought iron, just a little amount, you’ll make steel.” I told him.

He looked surprised. ” Are you sure about this?”

“I’m pretty certain, I used [Inspect+] on a steel bar.” I said, and he raised his hands in a shrug.

“It’s alright, just think about it. We’ll talk it over later.” I said to Kuuz and walked back to our new chief’s room. There, we were approached by a well armored kobold. He was a bit taller than the rest and carried himself in a fluid manner, like a trained fighter, armed with a black iron buckler and a short sword sheathed at the hip.

“I’m sergeant Lan, chief.” He said, unsure who he was supposed to be addressing. Turns out, we had a standing army now, twelve kobold strong. It was probably all those kobolds in chainmail that I saw before. They were even doing light skirmishes into the Slime Dungeon. He suggested that we might see some repercussions from the local orc tribe in the area, since we killed one of their kin. Lovely.

He seemed knowledgeable, so I squeezed out as much of information as I could from him over a couple of hours, giving us an idea of what this clan was about. Aside from the usual things like smithing, mining, pottery, woodworking, etc., that the first clan did, this clan also had a quicklime operation, a dungeon crew led by Lan, and was making honey outside. Both clans combined it brought our numbers to a total of 78 (23 in Ozo, 53 in Bashag and the two of us.)

As far as running day to day activities, we decided to delegate as much as we could. Not only because they probably had a better idea of what to do, but it also made it easier on us. I summoned Kuuz and told him to also coordinate the smiths and miners in the Ozo clan, similarly Zoey was put in charge of trapping and foraging. All other professions had too few artisans without an obvious manager. I would need to keep an eye out for someone capable to be second in command.

During our briefing with Lan, we had brunch in our new ‘royal’ quarters. The food was brought in a single large bowl, including a large spoon. It was browned meat in some sort of a glaze. We were hungry, and something about the scent of the cut pieces of meat got Estra interested in food. It was the smell of honey. She hesitated for a moment, but then took a piece and ate it. And then ate all the rest of the bowl of honeyed meat cubes. I had thought she was a vegetarian, but turns out she was just a picky eater with a sweet tooth.

After our afternoon nap, we did some calisthenics in the arena, and then took a walk around our domain, only to run into the troll chief from before. However, his tune changed since last time and instead of asking for the ore that we ‘supposedly’ owned him, he brought us a basket of what he described it as ‘purified coal.’ [Inspect+] said it was coke; maybe Kuuz would know what it was for.

Concerned about our security, I had Lan show us the defenses, starting with the front entrance that we came through earlier. Upon closer investigation, I realized that the door wasn’t all that sturdy or impressive. If the trio of orcs that we ran into before decided to show up looking to start something, then we would be in trouble. Lan told us that there hasn’t been much conflict in this area for a number of years, but seeing how we might get orc retaliation for killing one of their own we needed to beef up our front defenses and increase the size of our ‘army.’

This meant a walk back to Kuuz to tell him to fortify the door, but he told us we needed a stronger wooden base first, which led us to the woodworkers, a short walk away. Their workshop was stuffed with lumber of various dimensions and types. Saw dust covered every possible surface and a smell of wood hung in the air. It was yet another place lacking proper ventilation, and the poor lighting made for dangerous working conditions. We were constantly blinking as fine saw dust particles were getting in our four eyes. Three kobolds were busy at work. The older of the three who was using a simple hand drill, approached and introduced himself as Wen.

Instead of replacing the door that was already there, I decided to have a second door installed a few yards down. Wen told me that he’d make a sturdy door, but needed the dimensions of the door frame first. In other words, we had to go see the stoneworkers, another walk away. This is exactly why we needed a chief of staff, or some kind of an office manager, perhaps a vice-president of operations?

The stoneworkers’ workshop was manned by a single kobold who was exceedingly proficient at his craft. He was [Stone Shaping] blocks of limestone and granite into perfectly shaped bricks.

“My name is Gibz but all the ladies call me Rocks.” He said, and I was afraid to ask why.

“Is it because you like rocks?” I said.

“No. I have large testicles.” He said in a deadpan voice for effect, and I barked out a laugh.

“Okay then,” I said and looked over at Estra who was rolling her eyes and shaking her head. “What are we building?” There were large stacks of brick sorted by stone type along the perimeter of the wall, ready for use.

“Castles in the sky, chief.” He said with a smirk. “The last chief didn’t have any standing orders to build anything, you see. I been making bricks just in case.” And that he has, there were enough to build a small house. I told him I needed a door frame just past the one at the front entrance.

“Sure thing chief, I assume you’ll want me to get with Wen and Kuzz once I have it properly shaped, and then have Lan test it for defense?” Rocks said.

“Exactly.” This guy gets it. He was a straight shooter with upper management written all over him. Main entrance out of the way, Lan took us to other possible places where we could be breached. As is often the case with Kobolds and their tunnels, the place had a slew of small hidden exits besides this one; they were like rabbits. We visited a number of them, but they were too narrow for our size, and supposedly were camouflaged on the outside.

We ended the tour by visiting the Slime Dungeon entrance, which was just a hole in a wall at the end of a tunnel. Apparently they dug into the dungeon by accident. Lan mentioned that they had mapped out a good portion of the dungeon from this side, a whole two levels worth, and a little of the third. We stuck our head past the entrance and looked around with a lit torch. It felt like I stuck my head into an alley in London in middle of the night during a power outage, it was cold, wet, and miserable. Sounds of dripping water echoed down and against brick laid walls from uncomfortable darkness at both ends of the corridor. A shiver ran down our spine, and I wasn’t sure if it was fright or excitement.