The Hero Should've Known Better

Chapter 8: Rivermore

Sollar yawned and sipped on the hot water provided to her by General Forge. The sun was still barely peeking over the horizon, as everyone was cast in an early morning blue.

"Waking up early is hard," she complained.

"That's what we have to do. Daylight is important, Lady Sollar," General Forge replied. "Your brother also woke up early, too. Although... he'd wake up too early, sometimes."

"Wake up too early?" the Demonfolk girl asked. She yawned, then wiped her eyes.

"Yes. He has good night vision, so he usually wakes up early to work with General Seis on bookkeeping."

General Forge sighed while reminiscing. "He'd wake up too damn early. The amount of candles he'd burn in a month..."

The Demonfolk General handed to Sollar a handful of tin coins. "Go into the town and get us some breakfast. Bread and some mutton or dried beef. You can do that?"

Sollar held out her hand to accept the money, while wiping her eye with the other fist.

"Yeah. I can get food," she replied. "The town, it's that way. Right?"

"Yep," General Forge replied. "Just go down that way, and the town will have a main street with the bakery and butcher shop right next to each other."

Sollar nodded. "Okay. I'll go there..."

As she walked away, General Forge called back out, "Oh, and don't forget to get breakfast for both of us!"

Sollar nodded again as she walked the dirt road to the town of Grand Elm. Passing by her were some other Demonfolk, many of whom had already grabbed their breakfasts or were going to the town for a meal.

The walk didn't take that long, and Sollar easily found the bakery, from the smell of fresh bread wafting through the open windows. A handful of Demonfolk were idling outside, but Sollar simply stepped past them into the building.

A slightly chubby middle-aged woman was behind the counter. Before her was a tray of bread rolls. Steam was wafting off of them, evidence that they were fresh out of the oven.

The woman's eyes darted up to the door, seeing that Sollar had arrived.

"Oh, dearie. You're a new face around here, aren'tcha?" she asked. Her voice was smooth and sweet, almost inviting.

Sollar nodded. "Yep! I came here just yesterday. I'm working on the rail thing!"

The Demonfolk girl pointed all the way behind her, in the direction of said construction project.

"You?" the baker asked. "I'm impressed, you look a little young for that. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Whitewood. I'm the town's baker."

"And my name's Sollar!" the Demonfolk girl exclaimed. She walked right up to the counter and peered at the fresh miniature loaves. "I need to get 2 breads."

"You're just in time, they're fresh," Whitewood replied. "One small tin coin for each."

"Tin coin?" Sollar asked. She fished around in one of her pockets and grabbed the handful of coins that General Forge had given to her. There were a few small dull-gray coins, two large ones, and a single small brass-colored coin.

"Just the small gray ones," Whitewood replied. "Two of them."

The Demonfolk girl picked out two of the coins, and handed it over. As she was doing so, Whitewood grabbed two of the small loaves and wrapped them in wax paper.

"Here you go, sweetie," she said. Both loaves were in a paper bag, handed to Sollar, as the baker accepted the two coins. "If you need anything else just ask me. Alright, hun?"