Interlude : Migrant Tales (Patreon)

Interludes : A migrant’s tale

“Korf. Stop stealing stuff from the merchants.” Asfan, a boy with short, sand-colored hair stained with dust and dirt, said. Asfan and Korf were both in their early teens, fifteen, sixteen or so, the dates didn’t quite matter to them. Young boys that lived in the peripheral regions of the Southern Continent. 

The Southern Continent was a place that had seen long periods of war. Or at least, the last war ended twenty five years ago and fighting had mostly subsided into small scale skirmishes. The city they lived in, Slofont, was once a mining town for crystals, the ravenous consumption of crystals during the era of the guild wars brought huge economic prosperity temporarily.

But that ended. 

As finite things often did, the crystals ran out. 

Some mages claimed that the crystals could regenerate. That crystals could grow out of water and magic. It’s one of those crazy tales that sounded too good to be true and honestly, for young boys like Korf and Asfan, it might as well have been.

The mines were empty. Well, mostly empty. The good veins and large batches of crystals were long removed from the mines, but as with most minerals, there were smaller, more difficult batches.

They didn’t find anything in the past two weeks, and for young Asfan, a Level 13 [Minecrawler] and young Korf, a Level 12 [Minecrawler] and Level 4 [Thief], the hunger from not having any food was a little too much. 

“Why shouldn’t I?” Korf rolled his eyes. “The merchants don’t care if I nick a fruit or two.” 

Asfan frowned. “Having a bad [class] is going to make it harder for you to move to the Order-lands.” 

Korf responded to the statement by biting into the juicy orange-skinned fruit. It was some variant of persimmon, though the local names varied. 

Asfan sighed, but decided to stop entertaining his friend. Over the last two weeks they made five dives into the old, mostly abandoned mines of Slofont. They didn’t find much, and they knew their funds were almost empty. 

Hunger. Asfan shook his head. That skill again.

[Skill: Hunger Resistance rejected ]

Asfan didn’t want that skill. Korf had three such skills and still decided to steal. Some classes could not be rejected. These were usually criminal classes and were a function of the local [King] or [Lord]’s abilities. 

Those with [King]-type classes could apply a ‘law’ on their territories, places where they had reasonable exercise of executive powers and a common application of such codified laws was that certain classes that were criminal in nature could not be rejected. 

Thus, nations differed. Some nations didn’t force such laws, and thus one could steal and get offered a [thief] class. They could then reject it. Places with no such laws were usually seen as dangerous, unless there were other ways of enforcing order. 

Holy Emperor Erranuel, in theory, ruled the city they lived in. 

In theory. 

He was absent, and for Asfan, the Emperor might as well have been a mythical figure. “Yusli. Did you get anything?” 

Yusli was a girl of the same age and also a [minecrawler]. Her hair was covered in dirt, and her face still stained with the dark ashes of the mines. Down in the depths, the old miners sometimes used magical fires to cut through the rock and that left the mine walls charred. She nodded and passed him a coin. “The scrap merchants gave me this for the pound of unprocessed crystal. Here.”

“Thanks.” Asfan sighed. He hated having to borrow from Yusli, but he knew that it went both ways. Sometimes, Asfan had more luck and he shared his coin with her too. 

The dried bread was hardly a meal, but it would be enough to feed him for a day or two. 

Slofont used to be much more prosperous. Used to. There were many old homes here, left abandoned as many of the citizens and merchants moved out. 

Asfan, Yusli, and a few others like them claimed the old homes as theirs. There were bigger, larger abandoned homes, but in the end, they had decided to claim a smaller house. The local authorities didn’t care that they took these old homes. But they wanted their share of taxes. A house tax. 

It was often pegged to how big the homes were. For [minecrawlers] who are not even full adults, it was an expensive thing. 

It was a lucky thing that the local [lord], who ruled from a larger city a few hours away by carriage, decided to grant a special rate for children. 

They were all orphans. Orphans from mining accidents two decades ago. As the veins began to run out, the leftover miners took more risks and tried to go even deeper. 

The mines, in the first place, were not well built. In the depths, there were sometimes monsters. Magical creatures that spawned, perhaps because the mine was a little too close to old magical ley lines. It was said that the ley lines were why there were crystals in the first place.

Yusli and Asfan were made orphans much later than Korf. Maybe that’s why Korf just didn’t care. 

For Korf, life in the mines or on the streets was the only one he knew. He didn’t imagine it was possible to leave Slofont. He didn’t imagine that he had anything for himself. His goal was to pass the day, pass the week. Whatever money he had he spent it the moment he earned it. 

But Yusli and Asfan, they had parents. They both remembered them. The last few batches of miners. Life was better when they had parents. At least, they didn’t need to hunt for food. Their parents were stressed out all the time, and when they came home they remembered them cursing about how they couldn’t find anything in the veins.

Asfan was seven, maybe eight, when he remembered his parents debating after every trip whether to leave Slofont or not. The merchants charged huge sums for them to leave, and they would have to start over. 

He sometimes thought about it wistfully and wished they decided to leave, rather than keep trying to find some miracle vein down in the depths. 

Yusli’s parents were in the same group. 

There used to be some old miners that once cared for them. Miners operated as a group, and some of the mothers used to serve as caretakers for everyone’s children. Including those when their parents had passed. 

That was how Asfan and Yusli came to know Korf. 

But charity didn’t last forever, and financial pressures caused even the most stubborn of miners to face reality. They had left. 

They had brought their kids with them. 

But the orphans? They were still here. 

Their home was old, but purposeful. They did the best they could to keep it in shape, perhaps, mostly from advice from people on the street. 

“I hear that there is a caravan headed to the Coffee Port.” Yusli said. “Think we can get on it?”

“Coffee Port?” It wasn’t the real name of the port. It wasn’t even a single city, but rather a region with a cluster of towns. But the Southern Continent remained a large producer of coffee that was often exported to the Central Continent, a large bulk of that went through that region.

The name of the coffee port thus stuck. Perhaps, at how easy it was to remember. 

“I- I plan on going.” Yusli said, before Asfan could answer. Yusli used to live a rather nice life. Her parents were quite lucky in the mines, and so they often had nicer food and clothes. But luck ran out. “I have had enough of this life. Come with me, Asfan.” 

Asfan blinked. He looked around the house, and the boy in his teens thought about the future. He didn’t like thinking about the future, but Yusli started it. “How- do we need to pay to get on?” 

“I heard it’s free, because we’d be working on the docks.” 

Asfan’s heart sank. This sounded a lil’ bit like slavery. His father had once said that the Southern Continent remained rife with slavery. “Are you sure this isn’t a slave contract or something?”

Yusli’s eyes widened in horror. “Oh. I- I’m not sure.”

***

The merchant was a fat, chubby man, but Asfan looked at the man and felt he looked trustworthy. 

“Slavery? Ain’t nothing like that. It’s outlawed a few years ago!” The merchant said with a wistful sigh. “Things would’ve been a lot easier if we still had slaves to do stuff. But alas, Central Continent won’t buy our stuff if we had slaves working in the process, and I’m not stupid enough to piss off the all powerful customer!” 

Asfan found that statement appalling.

“So, we have the next best thing. Long term employment contracts!” The merchant laughed. “So that’s what you two are. You’re gonna work on the docks and in the coffee roasteries! You will still be covered in coal and char, and you will live in tiny, overpacked dormitories with many others like you. You must serve and work for at least half a year, but after that you are a free man and woman.”

Asfan looked at Yusli, and she looked back at him. Korf, somehow, ran over and stood behind them. “You two are leaving?”

“Uh. Yeah.” Asfan thought about it. “I think so.” 

“Can I join?” Korf asked. 

The merchant took a look at Korf, and frowned. The merchant perhaps could sense the presence of some kind of [criminal] class. So, he shook his head. “Sorry. No room for [Thieves].” 

Korf looked horrified and turned to the two. “What? No, I’m just level 4! I’ll- I’ll get rid of it! Asfan, Yusli, don’t leave.” 

The merchant ignored him. “Well, you two, if you want to join, just hop on. I’ve got other hollowed towns to visit.” 

Yusli shook her head and climbed up the horse drawn carriage. Down in the Southern Continent, horses were still a fairly common method of travel. The use of horses instead of cheap, magically supported beetles meant the economies of the Southern Continent could not compete against the impressive logistics of the Central Continent. “Sorry Korf. I- I can’t do this anymore. Sign me up, please.”

Asfan looked at Korf, and Yusli. He looked between them. Korf immediately begged. “Asfan. Buddy, stay with me.”

“Sorry, Korf.”

***

“I feel bad for leaving him behind.” Yusli admitted as the carriage began to move. The two didn’t have much belongings. Old clothes. Some old belongings of their parents. Most of them were sold to feed themselves. 

Asfan nodded. Korf was a friend, but they could not stay back in misery and hunger for him. “Me too.” 

But the Coffee Ports were massive places that had a strong smell the moment the carriage crossed the hills. 

Yusli looked starry eyed. “Wow.”

But their hope soon smashed into the reality of their work. A life they would have to endure for at least six months. They were commanded to wake up before the sun rose and worked in the various roasteries the entire day till night. 

Their employers were rude, strict, and if they didn’t do what they wanted, they would get a deduction to their pay. 

Crawling mines was hard work, for pittance. Working in these roasteries were nothing more than labor sweatshops. 

And yet. It was still better than before. 

They had a steady supply of food.

***

“Keep your money in the Order Bank.” One of the other servant-employees said. “Don’t keep it in your jar or in your pouch. Someone here’s gonna nick it. Even if it’s not one of us, someone on the street is bound to get it. Or the militia.”  

“Order Bank. Got it.” 

For the two young teens, that was the first time they’d met someone from the Order. The Order Bank was located in the merchant district and was a fortress in itself. A keep built into the Coffee Town, with its own little moat. There were magical protections and guards that looked powerful.

They gulped. “Are you sure this is the place?” 

“Yes. Come along.” 

Yusli and Asfan felt like there were a hundred eyes on them, but the bank was big with many floors. Some customers went upstairs, some went into smaller rooms. For the two of them, their newfound friend guided them to the ‘mass market’ banking department.

Or as they often called it, the ‘peasant’ department. 

In truth, it was really a charity department, mainly to enable local peasants to safely store their wealth. The benefits of banking to the mass market had greatly enabled the emergence of a technically skilled middle class. Without banks as a secure store of wealth, it was quite difficult for families to invest and plan for their future. 

It was a mindset alien to the older generations, who lived their entire lives without the existence of ‘safe’ and ‘reliable’ banks. Money, for the older generations was pretty much an ephemeral concept that faded and became worthless whenever the government of the day changed. They relied on physical objects, gold, and heirloom artifacts to store said wealth. 

Unfortunately, these things were easy to steal, and for middle-class folks, that meant one theft could reverse decades of work. 

Thus, the guaranteed Order Bank was a transformative existence that enabled the current version of the merchant class to emerge. 

Asfan and Yusli looked around. There were many others here, all regular civilians and workers.

***

“This book-”

“It’s just a record of what you have.” Asfan and Yusli kept staring at their own little savings book. “If you lose it, the bank will give you a new one.”

“How does the bank know? Why can’t I just write my own number in this thing?” Yusli asked. Not that she knew how to write such fine words. 

“The bank has gigantic records, I heard they even have spiritual creatures that keep things in order.” The bank clerk said. Asfan and Yusli looked at each other as they tried to digest the idea of banking and saving their money with a magical being. The truth wasn’t far from fiction, as Order Bank’s records were supported and maintained by a small army of [Artificial Minds], [administrators], and crystalline computers. 

The two young teens stared at each other and couldn’t believe it. “And they’ll give our money back when we ask for it?”

“Yes. They have these artifacts that record your spiritual presence, and that is apparently kept centrally. So the Order Bank knows who you are even if you move to a different town. No idea how it works. It’s probably some crazy magic thing.”

“Got it. It’s a magical bank.” Yusli decided to sum it up.

***

“I’m tired.” Yusli moaned after work. It had been six months, and they were both officially free people. The merchants were unusually prompt with the delivery of their notices. The two were fairly close and often met up at the dining halls in the peasant quarters of the Coffee Ports

It was hard to change their mindset, because they had lived so long with so little money, but eventually, at the invitation of the other fellow workers, they went. 

Many other workers spend long hours there, because the large, spacious places were often more comfortable than the tightly packed, stuffy dormitories. They were also cleaner than the often filthy, smelly dorms. 

“They really work us hard, eh.” Asfan sighed. In the past six months, he had been gaining levels in [General Worker] class. 

“I heard from the others that we shouldn’t get that [General Worker] class.” Yusli shook her head.

“Really? Why?” Asfan looked at the small pot of meat. It wasn’t much, but it was one of the cheapest spots to eat for workers. There were hundreds, if not thousands of other workers like them eating in these eating halls. 

“Apparently, we can’t get better jobs with [General Worker].” Yusli took a bite from her pot of meat. The first time she tasted it she wanted to eat it every day, but a few months in, it had begun to taste kinda bad. “We need to specialize, get a [Cook] class or something. They pay better.”

“Do they?” Asfan stopped and swirled the meat in his pot with his wooden spoon. “But I’ve already taken the [General Worker] class.”

“Yeah. The better guilds and places only hire those with specialist classes.” Yusli said. She wasn’t going to let food go to waste, so she ate a big bite even if it tasted quite bad. Maybe today’s [Cook] wasn’t so good.

“Darn.” Asfan said. He never expected that there were guilds that only hired specialist classes. “But how do they know?”

“They’ve got some special type of abilities, I guess?” Yusli guessed, unsure. She didn’t think about the question before. “I don’t know. Where does having [General Worker] take us?”

Asfan looked around. They would still be here, then. But, could he have a family one day? With Yusli? If he was still a general worker, they had a little bit of money now, but it would be quite a struggle to feed them. Food wasn’t cheap. 

His current predicament somehow reminded him of his own parents and remembered how he had wished that his parents had moved elsewhere. “Yusli, should we move?”

“Move?’

“Yeah. We- we’re doing alright here, but it- it’s just a middle ground. We should go further. To the Central Continent.”

“Uh, will that be better?” 

“Everyone tells us the wealth on the central continent is much more than here. Let’s go and see what it’s like?”

“We’ll have to give everything up.”

“Yeah. I know.” Asfan said. “But this is like when our parents were staying back in Slofont and kept hoping that things would get better in the mines. That they would stumble on some secret. If I were them today, with us in this situation, I would want them to move.”

Yusli looked at her pot of meat. It did look quite disgusting.

“Alright.”

.