Rodentia Adventures

CHAPTER 7: AARON VERSUS THE HAT MONGER

Riccard was a mouse like so many others, grizzled and not quite past his prime, even if rapidly approaching that intangible barrier. He had no family and few friends, regularly traveling beyond the city walls in spite of the terrible dangers which lurked outside. He wasn't a brave hero, however, or even truly an adventurer. When his job was done properly, after all, it was as unheroic and lacking in adventure as possible. Riccard was a scavenger. 

The differences between an adventurer and a scavenger could be somewhat vague, much like the differences between an adventurer and a grave robber, or an adventurer and a drifter, or an adventurer and a violent thug. Adventurers took on many traits, very few of them what most would call conventionally virtuous, but generally speaking, the whole usually proved greater than the sum of its parts. In this case, the mouse in the dark prospectors garb and thick brown fur was originally an adventurer, but even back then, he hadn't sought out battles or glory. What he had searched for was treasure, and that was exactly what he had found. 

Now, his career was devoted to the no less challenging task of retrieving it. This treasure wasn't in the form of gold, silver or gemstones, of course. It was a cache of brown glass, a massive supply both hidden from passing eyes and largely broken down into transportable pieces. 

Riccard had briefly considered forming a team to aid in this task, but ultimately decided against it. There were no legal claims to treasure hoards, and any extra mice who knew about it could easily move in to take far more than their fair share, stabbing the scavenger in the back (hopefully only metaphorically, but the promise of wealth has always been known to summon the darker instincts of people). Even should they prove to be an honest sort, there was no guarantee that they were good at keeping secrets. 

As a result the lucrative, albeit back-breaking task fell to him and him alone. The hoard was rather far from the city, which meant it was unlikely other mice would stumble upon it, and well away from the usual prowling routes of the dark lords. Still, he could only carry so much on each trip, and despite the secure location, trips needed to be frequent. As well hidden as it may have been, in a small nook behind a tree and the corner of two fences, it wasn't invisible. He had found it after all, so there was no guarantee that others wouldn't eventually do the same. Quite the contrary, in fact. Given a long enough timeframe, it was pretty much inevitable. 

Glass was an especially precious commodity. It could be used to create blades of unrivaled sharpness, even if such tools and weapons were not the most durable. Even the fact that they chipped and broke easily wasn't considered entirely bad. Sellers of glass appreciated this fact a great deal, as customers always needed more of it. Customers were somewhat less enthusiastic about this detail, but it did keep glass as a valuable resource. Even if their glass blade might not be the most useful in a fight (and if it were, would be significantly less useful in subsequent battles), owning one was seen as a point of pride. This sense of status would not have existed were it not so delicate and finite in supply. Aside from being effortlessly made sharp, it was also beautiful, shiny and clear, making it ideal for art and jewelry, and similar to metal, difficult to find in portable shards. Riccard hadn't even come close to exhausting the supply, and even this work had already made him extremely wealthy, and while there was nothing he particularly needed money for, the very nature of money is that you just never have quite enough of it. However much you have, with just a tiny bit more, all of your problems would simply melt away. 

Unfortunately for him, his travels were not nearly as unseen as he had hoped. As a result, his real problems, the sort which many see as mythological, in the sense that money can't solve them, were just beginning. 

<3~ <3~ <3~ <3~ 

"-And that is when the earth exploded. Things were looking rather grim, I must admit, but thankfully, I still had two wishes left."