Wild Gourmet: Chapter 15

“Expanding circles,” Moira said. “It’s really the only way. The general problem with trying to run a patrol any other way is that there are potentially infinite straight-line routes you can take away from a central point. And while it’s possible to plan those straight-line routes cleanly and efficiently, it ends up being a lot of work.”

“So we do circles, because they are easy to draw and I can only messs them up so much as I actually try to walk them,” Brand said the quiet part out loud. Moira wasn’t overly polite, but she did have the bad habit of saying things tactically. She wouldn’t include Brand’s not-a-cartographer shortcomings in her estimations of the situation if she didn’t have to. “And you’ve already thought of this, I see.”

Brand was starting to take a closer look at Moira as a person. When he had first showed up at town, she had been mostly a source of housing and direction to him. He had barely seen what she looked like, outside of those practical functions. Now he was noticing other aspects of her.

She didn’t just work hard. She could have worked hard in a way that never took her out of her shack and only rarely got her into conversations. Instead, she worked hard and also packed in discussions with every single member of the village, figuring out what they needed, how and when they needed to get it, and then the best way of going about actually making all those good, beneficial-for-everyone changes a reality.

Generally speaking, all solution-roads led to Brand right now, or so it seemed.

“At the very least it will result in quite a lot of materials coming into town. I want to emphasize that you are not to deliver any of those materials yourselves. Make piles.”

“I feel bad making other people come get them. It’s part of my work, right? My kills, my delivery.”

“No. Absolutely not. You are thinking about it backwards.” Moira rolled up her map. Apparently she wasn’t giving it to Brand to navigate by, which was wise. She had pointed out a few landmarks for him to navigate by in his first few circles around the town, and that was more than enough to refine his vague patrol to something practically useful. “Those two crafters need those materials to do their work, and you are giving them to them more or less for free.”

“They are making me weapons and armor.”

“It’s not enough. That hide you provided will make three or four sets of armor all by itself. By the end of the day, you might deliver a pile of levels to each of them in the form of materials. Neither of them are high enough level to justify that, yet. Trust me. They can pick up their own materials. Now, if we get very lucky, the town might eventually get something like a porter class. If that happens, great. Until then, I’ll make the decisions on who is doing what and keep it fair. Deal?”

There was no arguing with Moira. Brand knew that even where she was wrong and he was right, it was likely to be by accident. She spent much more time thinking and had a much more fleshed out general view of the village than he did. She shook her head, whipping her black, simple ponytail this way and that as she did.

“Just trust me. I know it’s hard. But also remember you don’t have to actually do what I say. I’m here for advice, but I’m not an authority over you in any way. If this sounds wrong, don’t do it.”

“No. It’s right,” Brand said. “And it’s in my benefit, anyway. I guess my only question is what I should do with monsters I really don’t want anyone to handle but me.”

“Easy. Put them in a separate pile by themselves. The crafters will still bring them back, but they’ll know not to take them apart in any way without talking to you. They’d probably do that anyway, just so you know. If you bring back a dragon, they’ll know not to descale it until they have your permission.”

Brand nodded and held out his hand for a shake. Moira returned the gesture with a firm grip and a smile.

“I think today will make a big difference for everyone in the town. You included. You are going to see Luisa?”

“Yes. She said she might have something to show me by now. Darvon and her have been working all morning with Shemi. I guess I’ve sort of monopolized them.”

“Let them thank you.” Moira put a hand on his shoulder and maneuvered him towards the door. “And have fun.”

Brand jogged across town at a pace that would have beat his best, terrified speed of retreat a few weeks ago, reaching the blacksmith’s shop in no time. The building had apparently once been set up to accommodate a whole team of smiths taking care of a whole city’s needs, so there had been plenty of room for Luisa to set up her own operations side by side with Shou.

This also meant that they were able to do a few things together that they couldn’t have otherwise done apart. Brand didn’t really understand exactly what that meant, but both of them seemed excited enough about what it meant for themselves that he would have been surprised if it didn’t also mean good things for him.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Brand!” Shou and Shemi burst out of the building as he came into view, filthy but smiling like loons. “Get in here! We have things to show you!”

Brand walked into a building that, in his humble opinion, smelled worse than just about anything he had ever smelled in his life. It was sweat, piles of scrap from the Ursine that neither of them could use, soot and smoke, and some sort of byproduct of the hide-tanning process he couldn’t quite place. It all combined to an aroma that tingled his nostrils in the worst way.

It’s probably not dangerous to breathe it. They’d tell me if it were. Maybe.

The two might have just forgotten, at that. They each approached him with wrapped bundles, even with each other until Shou finally dropped back politely to let Luisa go first. It appeared to cost him a lot, emotionally.

“They have gone crazy.” Shemi was sitting on a chair near the open double-doors to the outside of the shop. “I understand because I’ve been leveling with them as they use my materials, but even considering that it’s been something to watch.”