Amelia was in pain.

Entirely too much pain, considering it had been three days since the harvesting plant fight, and yet somehow she was still sore over her whole body.

Activating the Repair Module didn’t help, like she had desperately hoped. The entire system seemed convinced that nothing was wrong, which was the worst part of it.

A blatant lie, and yet nothing she said to the Access Core made any difference. Whatever was wrong with her had gone completely undetected, and remained so to everything but her conscious self. There was no point in arguing with herself, though, so she gave up and just decided to lounge around the house for a few days until she recovered.

That in itself was a poor decision, because a house full of overly nice women living together also meant a house full of women doting on Amelia at all times.

Even right now, as she laid down on the common room couch and read the newspaper, Phelia the kobold was trying to help her in whatever ways she could.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright today?” she asked Amelia. “I’m going to work, but I’ll bring you back whatever you need after lunch. Is that okay?”

“I don’t need anything.”

Phelia’s undersized wings flapped in emotional outpouring. “Sure you do! A snack or something, at least.” She paused for a few seconds to suddenly remember that Amelia did not eat food. “By snack I mean, uh, a magazine? Do you like magazines?”

“No.”

“Do you need, um, medicine?”

“I don’t.”

Phelia put her hand behind the back of her head. “Well, I hope you feel better. I’ll help you in any way I ask. You’re my friend, Amelia.”

The word “friend” was being tossed around rather casually here, but Amelia decided not to fight it. “Alright, Phelia. Thank you.”

She left the hostel, and Amelia was alone to her pitiful sore-body self. The whole room was finally quiet for the first time since before breakfast.

That quiet lasted for about fifteen seconds before Otto came prancing up to Amelia, whining and whimpering at her and rubbing his slimy nose against her hand. He wanted to be petted, and she was absolutely not going to oblige.

“Get off. Get.”

Mino came into the common room next, wearing tattered denim overalls and a big sun hat atop her pink hair. A white towel hung around her neck, and she had a large rucksack on her back. She looked ready for adventure, or if not that at least ready to do some light labor.

“Whew, I thought we’d never be alone,” Mino said. “Usually everyone clears out by now, but I guess they wanted to cheer you up.”

“I don’t need it.”

“I know that, but they don’t. They’re all a bit silly. I mean, Gruzut is pretty serious, but she also goes to work in the middle of the night.”

“I have not seen Gruzut even once,” Amelia said.

“I’m sure she’ll hang out with us sometime.”

Amelia walked over to the service counter, where Mino tidied up some stacks of papers that had been strewn about. She looked pleasant, in a way. It was relaxing to watch her work, and it put Amelia’s mind off her own overarching soreness.

“What are your plans today?” Amelia asked.

“Oh, nothing special,” Mino said. “I’m picking up supplies for the vegetable garden.”

That patch of barren land behind the hostel? Amelia just assumed it was an empty lot. It did not seem particularly arable. But Mino also did not seem like a novice, either.

“Sounds fun.”

“I wanted to wait until everyone was out before I left,” she said while putting one stack of papers inside an empty drawer. “I guess you’re not going anywhere today, are you?”

“Not likely.”

Otto suddenly hopped up on his hind legs and with his front legs grabbed ahold of the service counter ledge. He sniffed around, trying to figure out what was going on up here.

“Mino, what is that thing? Otto.”

Mino leaned back like she realized something she had long forgotten. “Oh, I guess we’ve never talked about Otto before.” Then a mischievous smile appeared on her face. “Say, why don’t you come with me to pick up supplies? I know just the thing to lift your spirits: Exercise and friendship. I’ll tell you about Otto on the way.”

Why did Amelia feel like she was being taken along just so she could carry heavy objects?

Nevertheless, she picked her body up and sat up on the couch. “Okay. I’ll go.”

“Great.”

And so began Amelia and Mino’s trip across Beechhurst. Otto came along, though it mostly just scurried around to sniff everything in sight. At least it was ignoring Amelia, she thought.

Beechhurst in morning was no different than Beechhurst in the middle of the day. The large buildings still went steady and unused, and the grass still grew plentifully. Almost no one was around on the streets other than elderly folks visiting their neighbors, hunched-over backs on full display. Wait a minute, elderly elves?

“Mino, do you see them?” Amelia asked.

“The old folks? Yep. They’re pretty cute, aren’t they? Just hanging out, enjoying themselves on their own. I know one of them; he comes to the hostel sometimes to eat supper. I think he thinks we’re a cafeteria.”

“What age are they?” Amelia asked. “I’ve never seen a sun elf so old.”

“Oh, that’s what you mean,” Mino said. “I get it. Yeah, I don’t know, and I guess they don’t either. You know about Elf Memory Syndrome, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, they don’t remember their pasts, and nobody else is old enough to know. It’s hard to keep records for a thousand years, what with wars and fires and all, so unless they’ve kept detailed diaries, it’s probably just a mystery. Most old elves I know act like it’s not worth bothering with, anyway. Real stubborn tha way.”

“And what do you think?”

Mino shifted in a tiny way, like broaching that kind of question was a surprise for her. “Well, I have to keep good records. I run a business, and my big sister’s a stickler for details. Plus, with my medicine...” She trailed off, and looked ahead to the small farm up ahead on the road. This was their destination, and it was only a few minutes away now. “I’m 157 now,” she continued. “Still a spry young one, but old enough that my early years are just a blurry mess. You’d think things like your parents, your school, your first kiss, all that, might stick in your mind forever. But they don’t, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“You and Aeo are still friends.”

“If she went off on a big adventure for fifty years, maybe we wouldn’t be anymore. Maybe I’d lose her, too.”

Things became very quiet for a minute.

“But,” Mino said with a sudden cheery smile, “I’ll never forget Beechhurst. I love this neighborhood, and I love the hostel.”

“Mhm.”

“I hate that this town is falling behind the rest of the city. But you know what? We’re going to make it better, you and me. I can tell, we’re going to do a lot together. I’ve got so many plans.”

She assumed entirely too much about Amelia’s interest in this place, but at least her enthusiasm came from a good place.

They came to the farmer’s house, where a simple orcish man in a worn-out winter jacket stood before a large array of goods.

If Amelia knew Mino was doing full-on farming, she would have stolen some supplies from that harvesting plant. Of course, that was all for growing crystal ferns, and those did poorly in the sun, but everything else was probably the same.

The air out here felt crisp and cold, yet warm and musky at the same time. The snow had cleared out for the most part, and the weather was warming up just enough that it was bearable to go outside at night now, even if there was no revenge plot to fulfill. Here, at this farm, it started to smell like the turning of seasons already.

They were still months away from that, in actuality, but Amelia was still taken back to her time at the village, where the only worries in life were how to keep Ed fed and Amelia charged. That tilled dirt covered in fertilizer with its gross yet inviting smell.

Mino bought a bag of seeds. Late winter crops like onions, potatoes, and garlic, and the kind that went well with a great number of meals at that. She bought two fertilizer bags as well, and as Amelia suspected, she was made to carry both of them over her shoulder.

It was not so bad. They were heavy, but Amelia was strong. She felt a lot better, actually, than when she was just sitting around the hostel in pain all day. She still had an overwhelming soreness in almost every muscle in her body, but maybe friendship and exercise were fairly useful in many ways.

They walked through fields of planted seeds, more slowly than before, and basked in the not-quite-that-cold winter sun. Mino with her stuffed-full rucksack full of seeds, and Amelia with the pungent fertilizer bags on her shoulder.

Suddenly, Otto ran up to them, carrying in its mouth a dead bird.

“Oh, good boy,” Mino said. “You caught a bird!”

Amelia shuddered as Otto seemingly offered the carcass to her. Even without eyes, it seemed like he was staring right at her.

“Oh, I never explained Otto to you.” Mino kneeled down and put a hand on the animal’s head. “He’s an olm. Do you know olms?”

“No, I don’t.”

“I thought not. They’re not an animal the country folks would tell you about. They’re a legendary beast species. Blind hunters that track and feed off mana. I assume you know baku, right? Olms are kind of like smaller, eyeless baku, but instead of eating dreams they feed directly on living things. They can’t see, but they sense everything around them maybe even better than we can.”

“What makes them so legendary?” Otto sure did not look the part of an especially dangerous hunting beast, although it certainly moved fast.

Mino petted the olm until he dropped the dead bird on the ground. “There’s fossils of them all around Sunwell, even on the surface, but there are almost none left living. Now they’re only around in the deep caverns of the Manadhmeth Dungeon below us, and only a few of them, at that.”

“But Otto’s here.”

“Well, I found him in the dungeon,” Mino said. “He was just a pup, all by himself all sad and that, so I picked him up and took him to the surface. With a government license, of course. I have to pay a big bill every year to keep him. Luckily, he’s adjusted to the sunlight pretty well. Still no eyes, though. I guess you can’t grow eyes. I don’t know what I was expecting.”

This creature, not much bigger than a bear cub, skinnier than a hungry wolf, was a legendary beast, and Mino just sort of kept him as a pet. Well then, Amelia certainly had a new reason to stick around the hostel a little longer. Any connection to the Manadhmeth Dungeon was very lucrative, considering that was exactly where she planned to head when she came back to full strength.

Mino stood up and they kept on walking, with Otto following close behind for about five seconds before he scampered off somewhere else.

“I wish he would stop digging up all the plants, though... I need to fence off the vegetable patch, but I can’t afford the materials right now.”

“Give me some stone and I’ll build something,” Amelia said.

“You will? You can?”

“I was a farmer for four years,” she told her. “I built my own house.”

“Holy crap, you really did that? You sure never mentioned that before!” Mino jolted into a sudden excitement, much more than Amelia was ever expecting from a line about farming and houses. “I’d ask if you could help, but...”

“What’s the issue?”

“You’re a paying customer. I can’t let you work for me for free.”

“Then pay me.”

“I don’t have enough money... That’s why I have to buy grow all these vegetables in the first place.” Mino frowned adorably.

Amelia shrugged, the fertilizer bags raising with her shoulders. “I don’t mind.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“That’s great!” she exclaimed. “Thank you so much. You’ll save the hostel forever. But you don’t have to do it if something comes up with your revenge plot and whatnot. I promise. I know you’re busy.”

“I’m a golem. I just do what I’m told.”

“Gosh, I wish I had a real golem around the hostel,” Mino said. “When my sister’s off on trips, it’s just me doing everything except cooking. If I could just get a golem to clean the rooms, it’d save so much time.”

“A cleaning golem... It’s absurd,” Amelia said.

“What do you mean?” Mino asked.

“What do you mean, ‘What do you mean?’”

“What do you—oh, Amelia. I mean, what’s wrong with a cleaning golem?”

“Golems are supposed to be guardians. Warriors. Heroes and protectors. Not... household appliances.”

“Oh, I see...”

“Until I came to Fleettwixt,” Amelia said, “I never even met a golem not for battle or hard labor. I’m still not very familiar with the concept.”

The idea of purely peaceful golems was always just a dream, at least how Ed spoke of. Her ambitions to change the world and bring golemancy into the public domain of good. She had so many beautiful ideas about using her creations to help Sunwell, so many that the North Sunwell Company shot down immediately. Not profitable enough, they told her. And yet, by the looks of thing in this city, things had changed completely.

Surely Ed had not succeeded in just a single year. There must have been a long chain of progress, but one still contained to this simple city.

Amelia swore to herself. Countless glossal beings died daily in the quorium mines and the plantations, and yet right here in this city were countless artificial lifeforms that could perform those tasks with less risk than buttering toast.

“You’re a golem, but you don’t know golems? That’s kind of funny.” She rubbed her chin and then an idea popped right into her head. “I’ve got it. After we get back to the hostel, let’s eat lunch, let’s wash up, and let’s head to the Highden area. I’ll show you all about how golems work in Fleettwixt, and you’re going to love it.”

She had only known Mino for about a month, but she already knew she was the type of woman not worth struggling with when she made a plan. So all she replied with was, “Okay.”

Perhaps it would be good research, she thought to herself. Perhaps she would find more signs of Ed’s handiwork, just something to know how she was doing. And, if the fate of the Gods were on her side, perhaps she could find even more than just signs.

Mino and Amelia returned to the hostel, and Amelia decided she might as well try on some of the nicer clothes she bought and had never worn.

Yes, indeed. Maybe the two could make a real day of it in Highden.

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