Chapter 85: A Quiet Life
Simon arrived in Slany on the very day that Gregor and the fop of a mercenary that had almost gotten him killed the last time were heading into the mine, and he only heard about that because the man was bragging in the inn about all the silvers he was going to get for letting the young boy do all the work.
“Never get paid to work if you can get paid for someone else to do the heavy lifting for you!” he bragged. “That’s what my dad taught me, and it’s worked out pretty great so far.”
Essentially, he was already too late, and his heart sank. “Maybe you should try smoking 'em out,” Simon suggested helpfully after he introduced himself and bought the man a drink to try to get on his good side.
“Nah,” Nedden said with a shrug as he downed the mug in two quick swallows. “Hauling that much firewood is too much trouble for a handful of gobs, you know?”
“Well, the boy is inexperienced,” Simon continued, “It might be safer if you—”
“Bah!” the other mercenary said, wiping the foam from his mouth with a dirty sleeve. “The boy’s got bloody plate mail - greenskins ain't about to get through that, now, are they?”
The mercenary looked around, and the other men who were in there at that time of morning gave him grudging support. There were a few nods, but Simon couldn’t help but see some of his worst features in the mercenary. Not only was he fat enough that he obviously had trouble squeezing into his breastplate, but he was overwhelmingly confident, and it didn’t seem to have any basis.
Simon dropped the subject, not sure what he should do. Murdering this asshole before he caused any real harm would probably be the best answer, but that would have been wrong, even if Simon was quite sure that no one would miss him. Well, that and some part of him felt sympathy for a man that was obviously more talk than walk.
After another few moments, he resolved to get the man too drunk to fight. So, he ordered a round for the bar as he regaled all of them with stories about goblin shamans that were so connected to the forces of evil that they could use fire magic.