"Sollar. Sollar, wake up."
The Demonfolk girl groaned as she felt an arm shake her side. She blinked her exhausted eyes open. General Forge was standing beside where she slept on the hammock, and he had a lit lantern in his hands.
"Sollar, it's time to wake up. They want the rail tracks done today."
The Demonfolk girl groaned. She glanced over at the opening to the tent, to see that it was still dark out.
"Why so early?" she asked.
"We're a little behind schedule," General Forge said. "And everyone else is getting up. See?"
She could hear the sound of conversation outside, from the other Demonfolk laborers who were awake.
"...Fine," Sollar sighed. She wiped her eyes clean and hopped off the hammock.
The Demonfolk General lifted one of the cloth curtains of the tent to show the activity outside. Several Demonfolk were already up, illuminating their surroundings with candles and oil lanterns.
"Yeah, everyone's up. Hold this lamp for me, I'm going to grab breakfast."
General Forge handed the lit lantern to the Demonfolk girl. He paused for a moment, as though hesitating whether to give it to her, before finally handing it to her.
"Don't drop that, okay?"
The sleepy girl nodded as she took the handle of the lantern. "Okay. What is it? Why can't I drop it?"
"A lantern," General Forge said. "You see the fire in it? You'll spill burning oil everywhere if you drop it."
Sollar glanced at the oil lamp as though the Demonfolk General had handed to her a particularly unstable and fiery magical spell that could've burst any moment. The Demonfolk girl decided to hold the lamp out as far from her body as possible, as she stepped out of the tent.
There was a flurry of activity outside, even more than the amount of activity that'd usually be seen at this hour. Several campfires burned, with lit pots of bubbling porridge atop.
General Forge had stepped up to one and poured some of the hot porridge into two wooden bowls that he had procured from his belongings in the tent. He then walked back over to Sollar and held one of the steaming bowls at her.
"Porridge for breakfast," he said. "We need to get to work quickly, so we'll be eating here."
Sollar cautiously took the bowl of porridge in her free hand, then looked over to the lantern.
"Spoon?" she asked.
"Don't have a spoon," General Forge replied. He plucked the lantern out of her hand, allowing both to be free. "Just sip at the soup, though be careful. It's hot."
Sollar sipped the porridge.
"Why can't I taste it?" the Demonfolk girl asked.
"It's not flavored," General Forge admitted. "Just eat it to keep your energy up."
The Demonfolk girl grimaced but didn't complain. She tipped the bowl into her mouth and poured another bite of the tasteless gruel down.
Meanwhile, as the two walked forward to the worksite, one of General Forge's coworkers stepped up next to the Demonfolk General and stuck up a conversation.
"How's the situation, Forge?" the Demonfolk asked, walking up next to the General.
"Mmm... Not great, not terrible," General Forge admitted. "We're behind schedule, sure. But if we work within the morning hours we have before first light, we can get it done in time."
"I've got everyone started on it already," the other Demonfolk replied.
General Forge nodded. "Good, good. So much for not spending money on lamp oil, though..."
They crested the hill to look over the worksite. They could see the flickering yellow and orange flames from lanterns that were dotted across the site.
"Gravel time?" Sollar asked. She had just finished the last of the porridge.
"No, no more gravel," General Forge replied. "We've laid down all the gravel going to the station, which is in the town. As for now, we're going to be building the platform. And, uh... some digging, too. There's a small hill right where we want to build the platform."
Sollar's eyes lit up as she heard the word 'digging'.
"Can I use Shov-ar then?" she asked.
General Forge looked back, paused to think, then nodded. "Yeah, you can. Just... be careful with it, alright?"
"Okay! I will!"
Ever since almost losing it yesterday, the Demonfolk girl had kept her bespoke shovel with her all the time. She was currently carrying it over her shoulder, as though she were a seasoned Frontier laborer.
...She technically was at the moment, but this was a temporary thing. Or, at least that was what General Forge kept reminding himself.
He was worried about what would happen if Lord Luth were to learn that Sollar had to engage in hard labor, but it seemed the Demonfolk girl didn't mind. He'll make sure Sollar articulated that when she finally met her brother again.
General Forge was lost in thought as he continued his work, hoisting planks of wood onto his shoulders for the platform. How was he even going to get to Lord Luth once he was in the Capital?
That... was a problem that he needed to ponder on. The Demonfolk General kept an eye on Sollar as they continued working. She was tearing through the short hill that was in the way of the construction.
Sollar could dig her way in with the shovel, which meant that General Forge will need to be the one to fight the guards. Hopefully the Hero wouldn't be there... but the Hero was literally right in the same town as they were!
General Forge blinked. Right, he had forgotten about that confrontation from last night. Now he remembered, and that made him worry immensely.
One part of him, the irrational part, wanted to brush it off as a coincidence. But he knew better than that; he knew that they were here because of Sollar. Somehow, they had figured that she was out in this quiet little town.
She showed up two days ago, and they arrived just yesterday? No, any chance of him simply brushing this off had been vanquished immediately.
The early morning blue cast an eerie glow over the entire worksite. General Forge's unease grew as he continued thinking over the possible ways they could've known.
Judging from their reactions last night, they couldn't have known he was here. And... Sollar did mention that she had been communicating with her brother, before her contact was cut off. Oh goodness, did she just broadcast her location to the Hero when she was talking with her brother? That was the only possibility that General Forge could've thought of.
And it also made sense as to why her communication had been cut off shortly thereafter, too. They found out and didn't want her talking with her brother, for obvious reasons. She was a wanted person, after all. And for no good reason, too.
What a mess this was. General Forge had to somehow clean it all up.
And he knew for a fact that the options for 'cleaning up' the Hero and his Healer were slim to none. Not only did he not want to cause a commotion in Grand Elm, but he was severely outmatched by the Hero in his current state, let alone the both of them.
He really needed to get his halberd repaired.
The Demonfolk General also realized that he had messed up by lying to the Hero and Healer. He pondered for a moment as to what might've happened if he admitted that Sollar was with him. Not to save his own skin, of course, but to explain whatever misunderstandings they might've thought about her.
Without a doubt, they were suspicious of her. It wasn't unreasonable, either; if General Forge ever met the Hero's younger siblings, if he had any, he'd be wary of them too.
He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts by a prodding at his shoulder. Looking over at the perpetrator, he could see that it was Sollar. There was some dirt on her arms and legs, and also on her shovel too.
"It's done," Sollar said. "I did the digging, they're doing the building stuff now."
General Forge glanced over to see that the Demonfolk laborers were already laying down the wooden foundations for the platform.
"Er, you need something to do?" General Forge asked. Sollar nodded.
He looked around. There was admittedly not much left to do on the site. He wasn't sure if he could trust the Demonfolk girl to help with building the platform or any of the construction tasks.
He also needed to start packing, too. They needed to catch the first trip on the rail line out of Grand Elm, to put as much distance between themselves and the Hero Party.
"Sollar, can you go buy us some bread and jerky?" General Forge asked. "You can do that, right?"
The Demonfolk girl blinked at him, then nodded. "I can do that," she said.
General Forge fished for a few coins out of his pockets, then dropped them into Sollar's outstretched hands. "Alright, that should be enough. You can do it on your own, right? Buying the bread and jerky?"
"Yes, I can do it! Don't you worry!"
She flashed him a grin. General Forge wasn't sure if he should be proud at how confident she was, or worried.
"Alright. I'll be off to prepare us to... travel," he said.
"Travel? Where? Don't they need to keep on building this?" Sollar asked. She cocked her head.
"It's almost done. Once we're finished, we're leaving Grand Elm. To see your brother, of course."
General Forge added the last sentence in haste.
The mention of her brother made Sollar grin widely again. "Okay! I will get the breads and meat!"
Before General Forge could say another word, the Demonfolk girl immediately turned on her heels directly to the main street of Grand Elm.
The Demonfolk General stared as her form disappeared into the town. How did she have so much energy, even after all that digging?
Well, he could wonder about that later. First, he needed to get things packed.
Sollar, in the meanwhile, had paced herself to a brisk jog towards the bakery. A few people on the dirt trail there took note of her as she ran by, but nobody otherwise said much.
The town center was a familiar sight to the Demonfolk girl now. She waved to a few of the store owners who were setting up their storefronts, and they waved back at her.
Now, she just needed to go to the bakery. There wasn't even a line due to the rather early hour. Whitewood, the baker, had just been waiting inside. She was preparing a few loaves of bread for display when she spotted Sollar.
"Oh, hello dearie!" Whitewood said. "Are you here to buy bread again?"
"Yep!" Sollar exclaimed. "Two loaves of bread."
"You're in luck. I've got just what you need..."
The baker reached for some of the freshly-baked loaves and wrapped them in wax paper.
"Here you go, you can pay me two small tin coins."
There were three loaves of bread. Sollar looked at the three as though there were a dilemma in front of her.
"But there's three," she said promptly.
"The third one is free. You look like you can do with the extra loaf, hm?"
The Demonfolk girl shook her head. "But three is too much. I give money for two, though?"
"It's fine," the baker insisted. "Please, just take it."
Sollar gave a quiet 'okay' as she placed the two small tin coins on the counter. She picked up the paper bag containing the three small loaves of bread, before waving goodbye to Whitewood.
"I'll be going! Me and Forr-ar are going to the New Front-land!" she exclaimed.
The baker seemed surprised at the revelation. "Oh, really? Well, that's a surprise. What for?"
"To visit my brother! I can't wait to see him!"
There was a smile on the Demonfolk girl's face as she spoke. Sollar's rather contagious joy had Whitewood smile, too.
"Well, I hope the trip goes out well for you," the baker replied. "It sounds like you're in a hurry, so I won't leave you here any longer."
"Thank you!" Sollar exclaimed. She gave a wave back to the baker.
"As for the bread," Whitewood suddenly added. "Don't forget to eat it while it's still warm!"
As Sollar stepped back out, she passed by a particular armor-clad individual and a mint-green haired Healer. Her eyes flickered over the pair for just a moment — she was wondering why the two seemed familiar, before her mind was set on getting back to where General Forge likely was for the time being.
First, she needed to get some dried jerky.
Rivermore's butchery was right next door. He gave her a greeting and, knowing what she wanted, gave her the usual strips of dried beef. The Demonfolk girl placed the four small tin coins on the counter, which he accepted happily.
"Pleasure doin' business with ya!" he exclaimed. He handed to her the two strips of jerky, wrapped in butcher paper.
She took the jerky happily, and turned on her heel to bound out the exit.
Sollar skipped her way on the dirt trail back, to see that General Forge was already ready.
He was waiting for her with the bags he had packed. The Demonfolk General realized how close they were to not getting a seat; it seemed that the news of the rail engine had attracted a lot of people. A load of passengers had already come over, and many were returning on the same route due to the novelty of the new transportation method they had.
That alone left only a handful of seats to snatch up. Thankfully, General Forge had gotten in line soon enough for the last two seats to go to him and Sollar.
It was nothing short of a miracle that he was just in time.
"Hey, Sollar!" he exclaimed. "I'm right here."
"I know!" she said, skipping up to him. She had the paper bag of bread and beef jerky in her hand.
"Sollar, you see these?" General Forge asked. He was pointing down at two satchels on the ground. "These are our bags. Got that?"
She looked down at them. "These are ours?"
"Yep," the Demonfolk General replied. "I'm bringing them with me because they're things we'll probably need. Rest of the stuff will be watched by the other Demonfolk here, since I'm buddy-buddy with them. Also..."
From one of the bags, General Forge grabbed a cloth knapsack. "This, keep your money in it. Same with the food. Got that?"
"Why do I need to carry it?" Sollar asked.
"Because I'm already carrying all of these."
Sollar pouted, but she couldn't argue against that. If he carried his things, it was only fair that she could carry some of her own things too.
General Forge placed the food in the knapsack. He then grabbed at his coin pouch and drew the string back in a loop, before pointing at it so Sollar knew.
"And here's our money," he said. "This is important, we'll both have to make sure it doesn't get lost. Don't let it leave your sight, alright?"
Sollar nodded. "Okay!"
General Forge placed the coin pouch on the rest of the luggage, and stepped back to look at his handiwork. Truth be told, if Sollar was given some better-looking clothes, she'd look like a newspaper seller.
Then, a familiar face stepped up right behind General Forge, startling the Demonfolk General with a pat on his back.
"General Forge, you leaving on me so soon?" Mister Billers asked.
The General blinked, and almost stammered over his next few words.
"A-a temporary leave, don't worry about it," he replied. "I'll be back as soon as possible—"
He was interrupted as the entrepreneur patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry about it!" Billers exclaimed. "I've got everything prepared and ready for that. Organizing the labor ain't gonna be too much of a problem for me since you've been a good help in guiding me!"
General Forge smiled a little.
"That's nice to hear. You can probably take care of the deed to our land, right?"
"Yeah. You're willin' to lease it?"
"That was the agreement, yes."
The entrepreneur reached into his bag to grab a few coins. Between his fingers were five rounded silver coins.
"Five large steel coins. Payment enough?"
"Definitely," General Forge replied, as the coins were dropped in his hand. "Say, what do you plan on doing with the land? I'm curious, since you seem so enthusiastic to get it."
"Cash crops!" Billers exclaimed. "I've got a few in mind, but I've gotta look at the market first to see what's most viable. Labor's plentiful here, and the ones I'm thinking of always sell at a premium on the mainland."
"Really?" Forge asked. "Let me guess: Coffee and sugar?"
"Precisely."
General Forge scratched the back of his head. "Never understood the Human obsession over sugar and that bitter drink."
"It gives you energy," Billers replied. He then looked down at the bags at their feet. "Seems like you two are heading out soon. Greet the city for me, will ya?"
"Sure will."
Mister Billers and General Forge waved goodbye before the entrepreneur departed.
"Are you ready to go?" General Forge asked Sollar. "We'll be heading out soon."
Sure enough, the rail engine that they built the rails for had moved into the station. Steam billowed around the cabin as it gradually came to a stop.
Despite how ready the two felt, General Forge felt as though he was forgetting something. He placed a finger on his chin, his eyes flickering between the different bags he had packed.
"Lady Sollar, are you sure you have everything?" General Forge asked.
The Demonfolk girl nodded. "I have everything, yes! My hat and my Shov-ar. And the food."
That was when it hit the Demonfolk General. He held both hands up to his head in realization and panic.
"I forgot my halberd! Dang it!"
He immediately turned to Sollar and pointed at the luggage on the ground. "Sollar, make sure this doesn't move from where it is right now. Got it?"
"Don't let it move?" Sollar asked.
"No. Not at all by anyone else."
The Demonfolk girl nodded. But then, she paused.
"Why do you need to go?" she asked.
"I gotta grab Mandrel."
The Demonfolk girl seemed confused.
"Mandrel is my weapon. Like your shovel. It's got a name."
Sollar nodded, in understanding. "Oh, your thing! Is it like Shov-ar?"
"No, it's a weapon... forget it, I need to go grab it! Hold onto these for me, alright?"
General Forge handed to Sollar two slips of paper, the tickets for the train, then immediately turned tail to run back to the base camp.
The Demonfolk girl was standing there on her own. She glanced down at the bags on the ground, the ones that General Forge was supposed to be carrying.
As Sollar idly looked around, it seemed that people were heading onto the rail engine already. The people lined up in front of her walked forward onto the carriages, taking seats.
She waited for another minute, before her attention was grabbed by a woman speaking.
"Last call to board the train!" the attendant exclaimed. "There's two passengers missing, last call to board! Anyone here have two tickets?"
Sollar looked down at the two slips of paper that General Forge handed her. These were the two tickets, right?
"I have the two tickets!" she exclaimed.
The attendant looked over the Demonfolk girl.
"There's only... one of you," the attendant stated.
Sollar didn't know how to answer that. "But I have the two tickets."
"Two tickets, but one person?" the woman asked. "I'm guessing a no-show, then. You want to get on?"
Sollar glanced around, looking for the General. He still hadn't come back.
"But I need to wait for Forr-ar," she replied.
"Sorry, kid, but we can't wait forever. You wanna get on before you miss your chance?"
On one hand, Sollar still wanted to wait for the Demonfolk General. On the other, she knew that missing out on going probably meant missing out on her brother.
It took her a few seconds to decide which one took the priority.
Figuring that General Forge had to carry his own bags, the Demonfolk girl stepped over them to board the Rail Engine's carriages. However, before she got on, she stopped and glanced at the pouch of coins.
Right, General Forge said that was important. And it shouldn't leave her sight. Logically, she was going to take it.
After grabbing the pouch, she turned back.
"I'll be going!" she exclaimed, handing over the two tickets.
"You only need one," the attendant said. "But that's good to know. What about the bags behind you, miss...?"
"The bags? Forr-ar's supposed to carry them, not me!" she exclaimed.
"Okay, then... Your seat will be over here."