Chapter 70
Just before he could flip the switch, a red-scaled hand grabbed his arm. "Gren. You're back. Sorry, I don't want to be seen right now." Jasmine's voice sounded hoa.r.s.e.
"Your mom told me about what happened. Do you feel like talking about it?" Jasmine released Gren's hand after his question.
"Not right now." Jasmine returned to her bed and curled up into a ball. "I'd like to have some time alone."
"Okay. Just come find me when you are ready to talk. You don't have to be so hard on yourself. I'm really glad that you went looking for me." Gren slowly shut the door and sighed. He didn't like seeing Jasmine being depressed but he didn't know how to help her.
With Jasmine being unwilling to talk, Gren went to find Midna. Unfortunately, Midna was asleep so Gren decided to leave her be and instead asked one of her roommates to tell Midna that he returned safely when she woke up.
On his way back through the hall that housed his statue, Gren spotted one of the dwarves sitting at a table. She was drinking alone and seemed to be thinking about something. Gren couldn't remember the names of most of the women but he was sure that he talked to her before.
"Is it fun drinking alone?" The dwarf looked up at Gren briefly before going back to drinking. Gren sat opposite to her at the table and tried talking to her again. "You're one of the dwarves that tried being a mercenary, right?"
His words managed to get the dwarf to stop drinking and she placed the bottle down. "If you're here to make fun of me for being a failure then f.u.c.k off, Gren."
"That's not why I'm here, I just wanted to have a chat. Let me start over. My name is Gren, as you seem to know already. What's yours?" Gren tried to take a different approach this time.
"It's Rumi. Now, are you done bothering me?" Rumi returned to drinking from her bottle.
"So, Rumi, why do you think you're a failure? If this
"It's not just the mercenary work. Even as a miner I wasn't as good as Alba or Letta. Now all I've been doing is clearing dirt and stones to expand our living s.p.a.ce but we've already got enough room for all of us. What's the point in continuing?" Rumi finished the last of the bottle and slammed it down on the table. "The other women might be happy as long as they've got food and shelter but I'm sick of this!"
Rumi's yell managed to make some of the women uncomfortable when they heard it. "So you just want to be of use to those around you? I can understand that feeling. It wasn't that long ago that I felt useless. Even now there are times when I make a mistake and beat myself up over it." Gren brought out a couple of bottles of a sweet wine along with some snacks to help soak up the alcohol that would be entering his stomach. "If you want, I can help you find something to do around here."
"What else is there that I could even do?" Rumi grabbed some of the fried potatoes to munch on. "I'm not good at cooking or cleaning. I can't make clothing. The only thing I can do is move around rocks and pretend that I'm helping--all so that I can earn enough to drink until I forget how useless I am."
"It'd be hard to find you something to do with what you've told me. You've said a lot about what you can't do but haven't said a thing about what you're good at. What are some things you're either good at or if you can't think of any then tell me about things you are at least interested in. Ignore the idea that you need to be doing something that other people are already doing around here." Gren had already purchased a loom for the women that were good at making clothes and was looking for new sources of income so that they could balance their budget.
"I can't think of anything I've ever been good at." Rumi seemed to be thinking about something. "When I was young I did want to become a teacher. I would often read to my little brother and I helped my mom teach him the alphabet."
"A teacher, huh? Right now we've only got two kids running around so it might be a good time for you to start practicing. There are more if you count the goblins but I wouldn't be cruel and make you suffer trying to teach them." Rumi laughed at the idea of trying to teach the goblins. They could barely sit still for more than a few minutes before they got distracted and found something to play with.
"It's decided, then. If you want to become a teacher then just write down what you think you'll need. After a couple of days we'll sit down and think up a learning schedule for Ruby and Sasha." Sasha was a little wolf beastman that lost her parents; she was around the same age as Ruby: 4-5 years old. Gren wanted to adopt Sasha as well but she refused to be adopted.
Rumi wasn't the only woman that wanted to find a job. When Gren looked up from the table there was a swarm of demihuman women that quickly descended upon him. There were many women that were currently living sedimentary lives and the discussion that they heard between Gren and Rumi helped to reignite the flame to their childhood desires.
Rumors started to spread that Gren was planning on expanding the guild even further. He soon became overwhelmed with new equipment requests that would allow the women to seek new occupations. By the time that Gren was finished jotting down everything that they requested and he was able to return upstairs, the eggy bread had gone cold. Still, Gren ate the eggy bread with a smile on his face since it was made by his lovely wife and adorable daughter.