The large, makeshift tent was bustling with activity. Several Demonfolk were gathered around a large, equally makeshift table near the center of the tent. In the middle of it all was Mister Billings.

“Alright, quiet up everyone!” the entrepreneur exclaimed. He slammed his hand on the table to catch the attention of all the Demonfolk. “I gathered you all here today because this one’s urgent!”

The chatter and conversation immediately died down. All eyes were on him.

“Recently, a fellow belonging to the Frontierland Rail Company approached me. They’re currently building a rail line from New Frontierland to here, Grand Elm, and they’re very behind schedule.”

General Forge, who was foremost in the crowd, raised a hand. “What is this ‘rail line’ you’re referring to?”

“Good question! It’s a road, but with metal rails. Go figure why it’s called that. Of course, the metal rails are designed to guide a self-propelling piece of technology that’s basically like multiple wagons attached to each other. It’s called a rail engine!”

The murmuring between the various Demonfolk started up again. There was curiosity and questions in the air; most had never heard of such a device before. Sollar and General Forge included.

“Rail engine! Rail engine! I’m excited! I want to see it!” Sollar said, in delighted whispers.

“Now, now, Lady Sollar,” General Forge said back. “I’m curious at what it is too, but don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“I want to see it!” Sollar replied. She held both of her hands in fists in front of her and smiled.

“We can certainly take this job, if that’s what you want.”

Before the Demonfolk girl could give a response, Mister Billers spoke up again.

“Of course, the rail company and I drive a hard bargain, since the work isn’t going to be easy for you folk,” he said. “Lifting gravel, metal rails, hammering... I certainly don’t doubt your strengths, but it’s hard work. And guess what?”

He gave a moment of silence, for emphasis.

“They promise to double what we’re currently paid!”

A few Demonfolk cheered at that news.

“Oh, and that’s not the best part,” the entrepreneur continued. “This was a risky move, but it paid off. You see, asking for labor on such short notice also came with a premium cost. Not only do they promise double pay, but if we can get it done in time, they also promised to grant all of us land!”

The cheers following that were even more cacophonous than previously. Mister Biller’s monocle reflected some light, as he spread out his arms to the cheering crowd of Demonfolk.

“Our own homesteads! Can you believe that? I couldn’t either, and I’m guessing they didn’t believe me when I told ‘em you all are willing to! Men and women, if we can get that railway completed quicker than they think we can complete it, the drinks and dinner party will be on me!”

In contrast to the cheering and shouting Demonfolk, General Forge and Sollar were quickly vacating the immediate vicinity of the crowd. Sollar had her hands over her ears to block out the noise.

“Lady Sollar. Are you alright?” General Forge asked.

“Crowd loud. I don’t like...”

General Forge looked at the crowd, then back at Sollar. He then sighed.

“It’s fine. I don’t really like crowds or loud noises either. Reminds me of... other things.”

The crowd gradually dispersed, as Mister Billers finished up with his parting words. As the entrepreneur stepped off the stage, General Forge walked towards the man.

“Mister Billers,” General Forge asked. “You seem pretty enthusiastic about this.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” he asked. “Double pay, and land! It’s a rather good deal, if you ask me.”

“I agree, it is,” General Forge replied. “But I have a favor to ask regarding that. Mind hearing me out?”

“Sure, why not?” he asked. The man adjusted his monocle. “Doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll accept it, since I do need to be somewhat selfish here. But go ahead, tell me!”

“So, the land,” General Forge said. He held out his hand to signify the land. “It’s a good deal and all, but Sollar and I don’t really need the land.”

Mister Billers raised an eyebrow. “You don’t? Even if you can’t do much with it now, holding onto it is best. The price of land on the frontier is steadily rising, you can sell it for good money months from now.”

“Sollar and I just need money right now. We can’t afford to wait months,” General Forge replied. “But I don’t want to sell it for pennies to some random individual. Are you willing to buy the deed to it?”

“That’s certainly a tempting offer,” Mr. Billings said. “Despite my looks, however, I’m not made of money myself. So I might have to hold off on buying the land.”

“Ah,” General Forge replied, giving a nod of understanding. “That’s fine, I just—”

“Or, you can also lease it to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still interested in the land! Can’t buy it, though.”

“A lease?”

“Like... a renting agreement. I rent the land and till it. You still own it, I pay you a renting fee plus a portion of what I make. Deal?”

General Forge held his hand out. “We can do away with the fractional fees, I’d prefer it most upfront. With that, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“Ah, let’s not shake our hands on it so soon. Can’t count your chickens before they hatch, we need to get the railroad done quickly!”

“Huh? But it’s nearing sunset. We’re going to get to work already?”

“We need to get the beginning preparations done, of course!” the entrepreneur exclaimed. He clapped his hands together. “Remember, we’re being paid twice the usual rate per hour, so every hour you work is two hours you’re getting paid! Here’s the blueprints for it.”

Mister Billers handed to General Forge a large, rolled-up sheet of paper.

General Forge nodded. “Alright. Give me a moment to look...”

He unrolled the sheet of paper and peered over it. “Let’s see... We can definitely complete this project within two days. But we’ll need to be clever when it comes to how we allocate labor. I’ll rally the Demonfolk together and we’ll—”

“Two days?” Mister Billers asked. “We have about a day and a half!”

“That’ll be stretching it,” the Demonfolk General replied. He rolled up the sheet of paper and looked at the entrepreneur. “But I’ll see what I can do.”

General Forge then raised his hand into the air and called out in a loud, commandeering voice: “All crew leaders, gather on me!”

Within thirty seconds, the bustling crowd of Demonfolk reorganized around the tent, this time circling around the table that was in the middle. General Forge had laid out the paper plans right in front of him, so anyone nearby could lean in for a good look. Sollar was next to him, peering at the plans too.

“Looks like we’ll need to break the ground and do some gravel work,” General Forge said to all the others. “They’ve dropped off the earlier shipments of supplies that we need, but we can’t get started ‘till we prepare the ground itself. Got that?”

The Demonfolk that were closest to the table, the crew leaders, nodded.

“Alright. I want crew one through five to begin digging through the ground.”

General Forge pointed to a few Demonfolk, presumably the leaders of those respective crews.

“Crews six through eight will prepare the gravel to be laid down after they start the digging process. We’ve got a fair amount of gravel, but you’ll need to be loading it into wheelbarrows.”

The Demonfolk general tapped his fingers while scanning up and down the blueprints again.

“It looks like nine and ten will be helping me catalog the supplies dropped off, because they did not have the courtesy to even list out what they’ve given to us, great.”

General Forge then looked up from the sheet. “Any questions?”

“How long will we be working for?” came a voice from the crowd.

“We have daylight to burn, so until sundown,” the Demonfolk General replied.

“Why not under lantern light?”

“Because lamp oil isn’t cheap. Unless you’re willing to foot the bill?”

General Forge waited for ten seconds, waiting for a response. Hearing none, he continued.

“Anything else?”

“What do I do?” Sollar asked.

General Forge turned to look at her; it seemed that he had forgotten about the Demonfolk girl.

“Uh...”

The Demonfolk General looked from Sollar over to the other few teams.

“You’ll work with the gravel teams. Crews six through eight. Understand?”

Surely, she couldn’t possibly mess up laying down some gravel?

Sollar nodded in response to General Forge’s answer. “Okay!”

The respective teams filed away to the areas they were assigned. Sollar trailed behind the gravel teams as General Forge went off to inventory the supplies they had.

Then, a wooden wheelbarrow was shoved into the Demonfolk girl’s arms.

“Hey, girl. Sollar, your name was?” another Demonfolk asked. “You don’t look suited to digging the gravel, so you transport it. Okay?”

“I can dig,” Sollar replied.

The Demonfolk raised his eyebrow. “Can you? Well, you’re wheelbarrowing gravel now. Got it?”

Sollar hesitantly nodded. “How do I?”

“You start there,” the Demonfolk man replied, pointing to a pile of gravel a good pace’s away. “We’ll load it up with gravel. Then you come over here, and dump the gravel out for us to flatten.”

“Go there... wait for it to fill... then come back and dump it out?”

“Yep. Dump it out where we tell you to. Got that?”

Sollar nodded her head. “Yep! I understand!”

Without another word, Sollar immediately turned around with the wheelbarrow and set off to the gravel pile.

The Demonfolk were organizing so quickly that a few had already readied themselves with shovels by the time Sollar reached the gravel pile. Scoops of gravel went into the bucket of the wheelbarrow, filling it to the brim.

“It’s full, go back!” one of the Demonfolk laborers exclaimed.

Sollar nodded, and turned back to jog at a brisk pace back to the staging area.

“Alright, this is good!” another Demonfolk exclaimed. “Move up and dump it, we gotta get the rails down!”

Sollar proceeded to dump the wheelbarrow full of gravel right where she was told.

“Lass, we need more gravel! More, quicker!”

Sollar jogged a brisk pace with the wheelbarrow in front of her again, up to the gravel pile.

This continued on for... quite a bit. Occasionally, Sollar would take a short break or sit down as they shoveled more gravel into her wheelbarrow, but the pace was kept up. And the Demonfolk girl was beginning to enjoy the routine, tapping her foot to a rhythm that she made herself as they worked.

It all stopped, however. A loud whistle pierced the ears of everyone on the worksite. Accompanying that was the sound of a hammer banging on a metal pan.

“Everyone, cease working!” General Forge yelled. He continued hitting the metal pan with the hammer. “Good job everyone! Sun is down, everyone stop working!”

Sollar slowed to a pause as everyone proceeded to drop their tools and began to walk away. She gazed around in confusion, knowing that something had changed but also taken by surprise at how quickly everyone was filing away.

“What do I do with this?” Sollar asked a passing laborer, pointing to the still-filled wheelbarrow.

“Ah, just leave it,” he replied. “We’ll get to that tomorrow.”

So, she placed the wheelbarrow back down and began to step away, too.

It took Sollar a minute to find General Forge in the crowd of departing Demonfolk. He was talking to Mister Billers, pointing at a clipboard in his hand.

“Well, it looks like they sent us too much,” General Forge said. “Not a problem. But if they want the extra back they’ll have to ship it out themselves. We ain’t touching anything else after the job’s done.”

The Demonfolk General handed the clipboard over to the entrepreneur.

“You aren’t?” Mister Billers asked. “Wouldn’t that pose some issues?”

“We’re getting paid to build the railroad, not to clean up,” General Forge replied. “Unless they’re willing to pay us the same rates for all that, too. But it shouldn’t get in the way, since all the supplies were put off to the side.”

Mister Billers examined the clipboard. “Hmm... you’re right, the contract only extends to building the railroad. I wonder if I can squeeze some more money out of them in the form of a clean-up fee...”

“You’ll have to negotiate that on your own, since I’ll be heading to New Frontierland once the rail line opens up,” General Forge said. “But it shouldn’t be too hard. The other Demonfolk trust you enough.”

While General Forge conversed with Mister Billers, Sollar walked up to him and stood next to the Demonfolk General.

“I’ll trust your word on that,” Mister Billers said. He then looked up, spotting Sollar. “Looks like your cousin is here, too. First day on the job not too hard for her, I hope?”

“Who?” General Forge asked. He looked next to him, and flinched upon seeing Sollar so close to him.

“Goodness! Sollar, don’t scare me like that,” he gasped.

The Demonfolk girl cocked her head. “Scare? I’m not scary.”

General Forge shook his head. “Just... don’t sneak up on people like that. Anyway, was today good for you, Sollar?”

Sollar nodded. “Yes! I pushed a wheel-barrow full of small rocks!”

Mister Billers smiled. “She has a lot of energy, does she? I remember my first day laboring away. I was knocked out by the end of that day.”

General Forge scratched his shoulder. “Well, I didn’t lie when I said Sollar doesn’t tire. Unlike me, I’m exhausted.”

“Best sleep, then,” Mister Billers replied. “I’ll leave you two to rest for tonight. Especially since we’re getting up early tomorrow!”

“Yep. I’ll be getting some good sleep tonight.”

General Forge turned to look at Sollar. “Sollar, let’s go. I’ve got a tent set up nearby.”

The Demonfolk girl followed the General as the two made their way over to an open field that was near the railway. Dotting the field were a variety of tents that were set up. A few fires had been set up outside the tents, surrounded by Demonfolk who were heating food for supper.

General Forge scanned his eyes over one line of tents, before pointing to one at the end of the row. “That one’s mine. Let’s go, Lady Sollar.”

The two made their way towards the tent. General Forge pushed the flap to the front of the tent aside, and Sollar did the same — before grabbing it, and feeling the material between her fingers.

“A house made of what clothes are made of?” Sollar asked.

“It’s a tent,” General Forge said. “Since I’m managing the Demonfolk, I get my own.”

“A tent? Is this what this house is called?”

The Demonfolk General glanced back. “It’s not a house. Just temporary lodging for now.”

Sollar cocked her head. “Lodging? What does it mean to ‘lodge’?”

“You don’t know what— never mind, it figures you wouldn’t,” the Demonfolk General sighed. “It means that we’re staying here. Sleeping in this tent, for the night, since there’s nowhere else to sleep.”

Sollar nodded, absorbing the information. “Okay, I get it!”

As General Forge lit a few candles and pulled off his ragged coat, Sollar looked around after stepping into the tent. There was a hammock hanging between two wooden stakes hammered into the ground, and a few boxes serving as makeshift tables. It wasn’t extravagant by any means at all.

“Are we going to eat?” she asked.

“Huh? Oh, I’ve got something,” General Forge replied. He opened up a wooden box to grab a few items out of it.

“Some bread, dried beef, and cheese. Oh, and...”

He pulled an apple from the box.

“We can split this,” he continued.

The two munched on their rather light supper. General Forge would chew through his food one at a time, while Sollar would meticulously tear the bread into flat strips to craft into sandwiches with the cheese and beef.

“Sollar, you like making sandwiches?” he asked.

“It tastes better together,” she replied. “Unlike you. You’re eating it weird.”

“I’m not eating it weird, I’m just not preparing it,” General Forge replied.

“It’s still weird,” she retorted.

After finishing up what they had left, General Forge sliced the apple they had in half and handed Sollar one half. She bit into it with a satisfying crunch, while the Demonfolk General proceeded to eat his half in three bites.

“Well, time to sleep,” the Demonfolk General said. From yet another box, he pulled some sheets out of it and began to roll them onto the ground.

“I’ll sleep on the floor. You can take the hammock,” he said.

“Hammock?”

“The thing hanging between the two wooden poles. You can sleep there.”

Sollar peered at it. She frowned, dissatisfied.

“I still want something, though,” Sollar said pouting.

General Forge sighed. “What is it you want, milady? I can’t get you whatever you want, so don’t complain if I can’t—”

“I want to meet Luth-ar! And give him his Crown back!”

The Demonfolk General blinked.

“Lady Sollar, it’s not that simple to just ‘give’ Lord Luth his Crown back. I mean, sure, you’re next in line for the—”

“But I said I’m not waiting in line for anything!”

Sollar flung the Crown directly at General Forge, the man ducking as it flew over his head.

“Milady, you can’t just... Ah, forget it. We’ll talk about it tomorrow, it’s late.”

General Forge jumped into the makeshift bed he had set up on the floor.

Sollar huffed, and gave a pout. “You know where Luth-ar is?”

General Forge grumbled. “In a sense. But knowing it wouldn’t make any difference compared to not knowing it, considering the guard he’s likely under...”

“But... but you know where he is?”

“Absolutely! He’s holed up somewhere in the Capital, guarded by hundreds of trained soldiers and mages, and that doesn’t even account for the Capital being on an island and fortified as well as the best Demonfolk fortresses I know of—”

“Then I want to go to the Capital place.”

General Forge turned around, mid-rant, to stare at Sollar.

“You want to go to that place?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed. “I want to see Luth-ar again!”

“Lady Sollar,” General Forge said, emphasizing her name. “I told you this already. He’s being kept in some dungeon and guarded by the most elite military forces the Humans have ever mustered. We have no army, no weapons, no supplies, no communication, and I don’t even think you can use magic.”

“I can!” Sollar replied. She swished a hand around, and a handful of sparks flew from her fingers.

“See?”

“Those are parlor tricks, Lady Sollar. You can’t hurt anyone with that. Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that— Gah!”

The Demonfolk girl prodded the General with her pointer finger, lightly zapping him with magical sparks at every poke.

“You lied. It does hurt!” she said.

“I was just surprised, but it didn’t— youch! Stop it, this is getting annoying!”

Sollar did stop, but the displeased look on her face remained.

“I can use magic!” she exclaimed. “And we know where he is. So we can go there!”

General Forge rubbed at his side, where Sollar had prodded him. “And how do we get there, considering it’s the most fortified island on this continent?”

“We go there by boat!”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this. We can’t just buy a ticket to sail right into the... place...”

General Forge trailed off, as he thought over that plan once again. Once he actually began thinking over it, he realized that the plan might actually be plausible.

“Hold that thought, Sollar. That... that might actually work,” the military general said. 

The Demonfolk girl glanced up, then at General Forge’s forehead.

“How do I hold a thought?”

“Just stay with me for a moment.”

Sollar pouted once again. “I am staying here—”

“Everything lines up. The treaty lets any Demonfolk get into the Capital without any fuss, and the Hero does not know of your existence at all. But to actually bust into the place would be the difficult part...”

A few heartbeats passed, the two of them silent and in thought, before Sollar broke the silence.

“Gen-rall Forr-ar is smart,” she said. “But you forget that I have Shov-ar! I can dig anything!”

“Your... shovel?” General Forge asked. Come to think of it, he did recall asking Lord Luth about the exact abilities of the shovel. Back then, he languished over the fact that Luth spent his precious powers to create, of all things, an enchanted shovel.

A small voice at the back of his mind was telling him something important about the shovel. He just couldn’t place his finger on it.

“Lady Sollar, what can your shovel do again?” he asked. “The magical abilities of it.”

“It can dig through anything!”

General Forge shook his head. “No, not what it can literally do, I meant the magic it casts.”

Sollar frowned at his response. “I mean it! It can dig through anything!”

“Don’t be foolish, milady, that shovel can’t dig through everything.”

“I can prove it!”

Before the General could say another word, Sollar raised her Shov-ar up. She held one hand on the handle at the very end, and the other on the hilt, and slowly guided the end of it at a small rock on the ground.

General Forge could sense that she was beginning to pour her magical energy into the spade

“Lady Sollar, wait—!”

She thrust the shovel down onto the rock. The shovel didn’t stop, nor did it bend or snap. The rock did not shatter, either; at first, Forge had thought that the shovel phased right through the rock as though it was a ghost.

Moments later, Sollar pulled her shovel towards her body, revealing that the stone had been cut in half, in one of the cleanest cuts that General Forge has ever had to witness.

It indeed had the ability to ‘dig’ through anything.

“The ability to cut anything... no, if it was cut then she would’ve had to slash the rock. She simply thrust the end of the spade right into it...!”

It suddenly clicked as to how she was able to get rid of the boulder. She simply destroyed it!

And, if his theory was right, that dumb shovel of hers might be able to dig through anything. Dirt, brick walls, armor... could it dig through flesh? That was a particularly morbid line of thought, but nothing worse than what General Forge has ever had to witness on the field of battle.

“Sollar... can it cut through people?”

General Forge winced at his own wording a little. He wasn’t unfamiliar with the blood and guts of battle, but just asking Sollar that question felt wrong.

“People?” she asked. “No, no, no, no!”

The Demonfolk girl shook her head with every ‘no’. “It can’t cut things that are living. Like... people! And plants. Luth-ar told me to not try that!”

Figures. Lord Luth was smart enough to include a very distinct restriction on Sollar’s enchanted shovel. Of course, he didn’t want her to hurt anyone. But this also meant that the shovel could serve a secondary purpose.

Cutting through metal restraints and cuffs was difficult, especially without injuring the captive. Lord Luth, without a doubt, had restraints made of the best alloys that the Humans could create.

This dumb shovel could be the answer to that.

“That would actually work. Oh my Lord, it may actually work! Lady Sollar, you’re a genius!”

Sollar cocked her head at General Forge.

“I am?” she asked.

“Well... no, you’re technically not. But you thought up of something that I couldn’t, so I can give you credit for that. We can dig your brother out of prison. That shovel, it can dig through anything, right?”

Sollar smiled, then nodded. “Yes, it can dig anything! That’s what it can do!”

She was waving said shovel up in the air.

“It can dig through anything. Which means we can dig your brother out of this mess!”

“Yayyy!”

General Forge clenched his fists in excitement, as Sollar raised her shovel in a celebratory stance.

“Forr-ar, can I ask a question though?” she asked.

“What is it?”

“What mess did Luth-ar make?”

“Mess? What do you mean?”

“Yes. You said we had to dig him out of a mess. Did he make the mess? Will it take time to clean up?”

General Forge shook his head. “No, I meant... well...”

She was technically right, Lord Luth was in the middle of a mess at the moment. But she was probably thinking of a physical mess, like a spilled drink.

“He’s in trouble, let’s say. And we can get him out of that trouble, with the help of that shovel right here.”

Sollar shook her head. “No! I mean, why is he in trouble?”

“Why? Because people don’t like him, that’s why.”

The Demonfolk girl pouted. “I don’t understand...”

“Me neither, Lady Sollar.”

The Demonfolk General looked at the bunks laid out.

“Let’s go to sleep, milady. Are you tired?”

Upon the mention of sleep, Sollar yawned. “Yes... Sleepy.”