Simon Steelrun

Stretching his arms in the air, Simon Steelrun yawned with boredom.

Damn it, not another day as well...

Inside the decrepit shop lay an assortment of weird and misshapen gadgets. Each one of them displayed scenes that were out of the world yet incapable of working properly. Scratching his back, the young dwarf silently mused his days away, hoping for a miracle shopper to come.

Just as he had given up hope, a short shadow loomed over the shop. A small child came inside, covering head to toe in a dirty, raggedy cloak. "Please...give...me...that..." Trying her best to sound as deep as possible, the young girl pointed it at one of Simon's 'inventions', a small music box that seemed to not be powered by mana. "That'll be 23 silver coins, ma'am."

Flustered at being caught, she quickly waved her hands in panic. "N-n-no sir, I-I'm clearly a man. S-see, I speak deep, just like a man." Deepening her voice, the young girl quickly snatched the box, scampering out as quickly as she could.

Shaking his head, Simon realised that it was 4 pm. Well, it's time to close the shop...

Hoisting the sign, he closed his store before heading upstairs.

Above the shop was his home. A home where he eats lives...and does other activities. A home that's supposed to be clean.

Well, it's not.

Cluttered atop the staircase were tons and tons of papers, each labelled 'failure' or 'too risky' or even such as 'Holy shit, I'm gonna get sued'.

Despite the obvious mess, Simon somehow managed to dexterously dance his way through the clutter. Finessing his way into his room, he removed the sheet covering a huge board.

On it were several pieces of paper, each filled with various thoughts and ideas.

Some had images of catapults throwing a very cartoonish dwarf up into the air. Some had drawings of a very stick-like dwarf hanging onto some sort of airborne dirigible flying high into the air. Some even depicted designs of a giant cannon, he'll bent on launching a dwarf into the air.

Yet they all had the same aim:

The Moon.

Today was no different. Today Simon grabbed onto his latest plan, a blueprint with the number of 10068. On it was a dwarf strapped to a gigantic firework. The simple calculations laughably depicted him reaching the Moon in exactly 476 hours, with having no considerations to external factors.

Feeling hopeful, Simon took the paper, along with some food.

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"Well, here we go..."

Turning his head, he checked to ensure that the firework, or rather, rocket, was tightly strapped to his back. Ok, no need to worry Simon, it's gonna be alright...

Lighting the fuse, he braved himself. "To the Moon!"

Phsshhhhh...

Opeing one eye, simon realised that the rocket did not set off. It was wor- arrrggh!

A loud last emerged from behind him. Turns out it just needed some time to properly ognite the fuel. Instead of propelling up into th sky, our poor dwarf was instead sent spiralling sideways into the forest.

Unable to control himself, our young adventurer was forced to hope and pray that nobody was around for him to hit.

Oh how unlucky he was...

Just as he believed that he was safe, from tbe corner of his eyes emerged a yoyng man, wearing a leather coat in gold trims. He was kneeling on the ground, too busy picking up herbs.

Panicking, Simon tried warning him, "Move out of the waaaaayyyy!" Yet despite his valiant efforts, the young man did not perceive the warning. Oh no...

Boooooommmmm!!!!!