I remembered the mottoes the thug had recited, so I put my back into it and didn’t slack off. It was harder work than I expected. Yorka and I were cleaning the thickest layers of the substance, which was like a thick grease with debris mixed in. Pretty soon we got into a rhythm. Several sweeps of our scrapers, then scoop the debris off the floor into a bucket, kick it down further, and repeat. Several sweeps of our scrapers... An hour flew by without me even noticing. I only regained my sense of reality when the job was done. Yorka moved to the side and sank to a sitting position on the floor, exhaling loudly. Then she lay down and went quiet. I looked expectantly at the man in the coat, but he was talking to the leader of the cleaning team, and motioned me to go see the woman I had gotten my rewards from before. Without even looking at me, she handed me a two-liter bottle of water, then a stack of two gray baseball caps with handkerchiefs and nutrition briquettes inside. Right. Goblins didn’t need dishes. And getting food crumbs in your hat? Well, that’s just how it was for goblins. I was too tired to be resentful, though. I took our rewards over to Yorka, sat down next to her, and poked her until she took the water bottle I was offering. She drank lying down, chugging her half incredibly quickly. She picked up the nutrition briquette, but her hand froze before she put it in her mouth.
“Eat,” I said, understanding her hesitation. “We need energy. We’ll be hauling again soon.”
“A nutrition briquette, a baseball cap, a handkerchief, and a t-shirt... They’ll leave me alone for two days now.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled through my full mouth. “And then they’ll make you bring them at least that every time. The more you feed the beast, the hungrier it gets.”
“So what do you suggest?”
“Tell me your story first.”
First reluctantly, but growing more and more animated, Yorka started talking. It was pretty straightforward stuff. Midway through, I was already yawning. By the end of her long, trivial story, my thoughts were wandering to anything but her words. Why? It was just so straightforward.
Essentially, she was late to work one day and was running along the hallway when she crashed into another girl standing in front of a screen, yelling and trying to survive in a game challenge. They both fell down. Yorka swore that a defeat message was already on the screen when they collided, which meant it wasn’t her fault, but the girl’s cronies still blamed her. They demanded she pay a thirty-sol fine or they would never let her live in peace. She said no, at first. But after they cornered her in a dark, narrow hallway one night, she decided it would be cheaper to pay it off. By then, the amount had already grown to fifty sol, for her disobedience and unwillingness. She started to pay it off, slowly but surely. And she almost managed it, but then they told her that there was still interest accumulating every day. Five sol per day, or items. She hadn’t brought them anything yesterday, and the girl’s boyfriend hit her in the face. She got the message, and that’s why she was putting in so much effort today, trying to bring them anything she could by evening.
When she finished, I nodded automatically and stood up:
“Let’s get to work, goblin.”
“But...”
“We’ll solve your problems once the work is done.”
“You’re pretty bold for a goblin. Trying to intimidate a halfling soldier.”
“Do you hear what you’re saying?”
“Why?”
“Who did I try to intimidate?”
“Him!” Yorka pointed to the thug. “A halfling soldier. Well, almost — he’s more of a security guard. But still! Who would ever risk... listen, I already wish I hadn’t told you. I can deal with it on my own.”
I shook my head. “No you can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’re used to it now.”
“Used to what?”
“To these gifts they get every day. You get used to good things really quickly, Yorka. And when the good things stop coming, you get angry and do whatever you can to get them back. So you’ll never pay them off.”
“But then... What do we do?”
“First we’ll talk. Politely. And then we’ll see.”
“Do you hear what you’re saying? They’re always together. A whole party! Five orcs! You’re just a goblin!”
“We’ll figure it out after work,” I repeated, pointing at the fresh herd of future barge haulers coming in from the hallway. “Let’s get harnessed, Yorka the goblin!”
She sighed. Decisively, she picked up the new t-shirt, wrapped it in the handkerchief, put that into the baseball cap, then put the cap on her head. “I’m ready to work. But you’re still way too bold, Elb the Goblin...”
Chapter 5
“YOU’RE AN ASSHOLE and a goblin!”
