How had it come to this? A question Esilka idly asked herself as she was lying on her back, the comfort of her bed doing little to ease the discomfort she was feeling right now. It had only been a few days since she had done her job for the wealthy man, a job that got her paid nicely, but it still felt unpleasant. The miners had mistaken her for a mere child and refused to take her seriously until she had whacked one of them in the gut. Was this how most dwarves were treated in Fiore? She hoped that wasn't the case, even if she was proud of her youthful looks, that didn't necessarily mean that she wanted to be compared to a child! Such disrespect... Unfortunately she wouldn't be able to lament her situation, for her employer had yet another job in mind for her.

She needed to return to the mine, but this time in a different section where supposedly an area rich in ore had been found but was still unclaimed. Her job was simple: to visit the mine, travel toward that section and confirm if it was indeed true that there was a lot of ores waiting to be mined.

A simple task all things considered, but something sounded a bit off about this assignment. Nonetheless, the dwarven lass had decided to make her way back to the mine, after all the faster she was done with this task, the faster she would be paid for her work, and everyone knew a dwarf loved jewels.

Traveling up to the mountain Esilka's gaze drifted around, she could already see the mineshaft, but for some reason it seemed quieter than usually, often there would be at least a miner or two wandering in and out of the mine, but today it was eerilie empty...

Most would have likely considered the eerie quietness as a sign of danger, of having to escape but that wasn't the case for Esilka. Where others might have seen danger she saw an opportunity, and her curiosity was stirred. Whatever had been going on, it was clear that the miners were being affected by it, perhaps even terrified of it. Perhaps it was obvious then that the young dwarf wanted to look into the matter, armed with her axe as she started to traverse into the mining shaft. Fortunately it didn't take long for her to return back to the same spot she had met the miners at last time, although today there was quite a different sight that awaited her.

The miners were on a higher elevation inside the area, using their pickaxes in an attempt to scare off their enemy. The enemy? Yes, there was an enemy, a wild predator in the form of five large rats that were clawing at the elevation, attempting to scale it, but fortunately the pickaxes of the miners were just enough to force the rats back. Not enough to scare them away or to kill them, but still enough to keep them away. Of course, at this point it would become a battle of arbitration, and Esilka wasn't exactly fond of rats eithers.

Brandishing her axe she pulled back her hood, showing the mysterious icy blue colored helmet that she had concealed underneath it, and it appeared the rats were quick to feel its chill, turning toward the girl who seemingly was the source of the unpleasant chill.

As soon as one of the rats started darting toward her Esilka heaved her axe into the air, bringing it down with a powerful swing which was enough to pulverize the head of the rat that was approaching her.

The remaining rodents seemingly took that as a hint, and scurried right back to the entrance of the mine. Wiping clean her precious axe from the rat's blood that spilled onto it, Esilka raised her head toward the miners who were already thanking her for her help, but rather than indulging in it she inquired quickly about the recent excavation areas, the miners being more than willing to give her a map which showed the best locations they had found.

Perhaps being helpful sometimes was an useful feat to accomplish?