The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) Jonathan Brooks (online e reader TXT) 📖

He laughed, amused at how well she knew him.  That was the first thing he always asked when he saw her, so it was funny to hear her ask him first.  “Well, we finished the construction of the last Inn; there’s still a bit going on with finishing the interior, but it should be complete tomorrow.  After that…well, I’m suddenly short of work with that being the last one.”  He hadn’t really thought about what he would do after he was all done, as all of his focus had been on construction.  Though by appointment he had the job of “Chief”, as a construction worker, he would technically now be unemployed, as would all of the others working with him.

Half of those working with him were villagers that had started with him from the beginning, and he knew they were eager to get back to their farms and see to them; despite the help from Raiders who had assisted with the planting and harvesting, there was still a lot that was being neglected.  Sterge supposed he could see to that on his own farm as well, but Gwenda had somewhere found a few non-Raiders who had some farming experience to help take care of both of their farms.  Apparently, they were looking for work and had heard about the booming economy down south; he knew exactly what that felt like, as that had been the same as many of the villagers before they were able to lease the land they now worked.

The others on his crew, however, were primarily Raiders.  From what Gwenda had told him, they all had made a hefty sum from their work helping to construct the building so quickly, which he couldn’t deny that they entirely deserved.  For them, they already had another job to go to: Delving through dungeons as a Raider.  That just left Sterge with nothing to do; he didn’t think that standing around trying to look important as The Village “Chief” would occupy him more than an hour, nor was that something he wanted to do in the first place.

“Did you say that was the last of the construction jobs around here?” one of the Raiders sitting at the table looked up and asked, a Human dressed in a threadbare-looking robe.  He looked even more depressed than he had before, if that were possible.

“Yes, unfortunately.  The Village is out of room to create any more buildings without encroaching on some of the planted fields, so that was it.  Why do you ask?”

The Human Raider looked at the others with him and sighed when they seemed to take the news badly as well.  “Well, we were hoping to find some work to earn enough to get back home.  Everything else around here is apparently already staffed and doesn’t need any assistance, so we were going to see if the construction people needed some help tomorrow.  I’m not sure what we’re going to do now.”

The others looked crestfallen as they nodded at the Human’s words.  They were a female Elf and a male Gnome that were apparently who the Raider meant by “we”; unlike what he usually saw with Elves, however, this one was outfitted in leather armor and had the look of some sort of Melee Class.  She reminded Sterge of the intimidating Clan Outpost leader he had met in Heftington a little – though she was obviously a much lower Raider Level.  Probably even Raider Level 1.

The Gnome was small even for his race, and a quick look at him revealed that the only weapons he had on him were a pair of braces full of iron throwing knives.  He kept looking around every once in a while, as if he was worried someone would sneak up on him when he wasn’t paying attention.

“Back home?  Aren’t you here to delve through the dungeon?” Gwenda asked.

The Elf let out a big sigh before answering for their small group.  “Yes, of course.  But we didn’t realize that because of the demand, they are only letting in full groups of five to the list.  At first, we tried to find some additional members for our group to fill us out, but everyone that came here already has a full group.  There were a few that had lost members to the dungeon already and were willing to take one of us, but we didn’t want to be split up; we’ve been through too much together to get here that the thought of going our separate ways is…distasteful.

“Just this morning, due to our funds situation – or lack of funds, as it were – we figured it was our only chance of surviving and resolved to do it anyways…only to find out that all but one group had already replaced their members.  Therefore, we’re planning on heading back home to see if we can find some work there, or even find some additional Clan members to bring us up to five.  We can’t afford to wait around here hoping that something might fall into our laps, and we’d rather be doing something than sit around here all day starving to death.”

Just then, the server Sterge had signaled earlier brought a tray filled with food, which she immediately started to empty as bowls of steaming hot stew were set down in front of everyone, along with small loaves of bread that appeared to have just come out of the oven.  There were also some mugs of water for Sterge and Gwenda, who hadn’t had anything to drink quite yet.

“What’s all this?  We can’t afford to—” the Gnome said sadly, looking at the food in front of him hungrily.  The others looked about the same, and they all hesitated to touch it.

“It’s on me; there should be no reason for you to starve while you’re here in The Village,” Sterge said, before he dug into his own food.  It was delicious and he