One Less Problem

Walking through the city with two members of royalty draws no shortage of attention, though less than Omni expected. It didn't bother to question why Queen Niramia followed along, and based on the reactions of the citizens, it wasn't that strange for her to be walking about. Rather, the attention was on the golem itself, who was leading the party. At least people were giving it a wider berth than usual, making it easier to get lost in its own thoughts as its legs took it where it wanted to go.

During the walk, Krave let it in on the theory of past lives stacking up, causing the distortions in its memory as well as the absurd energy capacity.

'𝘏𝘮𝘮~... 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘖𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘡𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭? 𝘛𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 173 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 172 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨?'

The golem couldn't help but frown. If that was true, what would happen to its conscience? Could its soul even handle that? The pain from trying to use skills it had 'forgotten' was felt in the soul, the far less intense than what it had experienced before. That means if things get worse, it might not be able to do much without having to endure constant pain.

'𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴... 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦.'

It quickens its pace, wanting to set out as soon as it can.

~⚪~

Valentina and Kaida clean the eating area while Christoph practices creating medicinal dishes. They were apprehensive about opening up without the assistance of the golems they had come to rely on, and the audience was a good enough excuse to remain closed for the rest of the day. Despite the closed sign, the batwing doors swing open, causing the bunny-man to roll his eyes.

"We're currently closed, go find somewhere els- Ack!" She bites her tongue by accident when she sees the Queen walking in, and she quickly kneels down. Valentina gasps and does the same, calling Christoph out from the kitchen.

"So this is where you've been working?" Queen Niramia asks as the rest of the group enters the building. "You can all stand, I'm not here on official business." She states, which the three hesitantly stand after seeing Omni.

"Yes, though I don't remember Kaida being a part of the staff." Omni states.

"Oh, uh, my sister chewed me out for being careless, and then I came here cause I wanted to talk to Valentina some more." Kaida states, trying not to be rude in the presence of the queen.

Silverbeard goes to sit down with Ghorm, who has just woken up. The two whisper between each other, apparently being rather close.

Charlotte nearly tackles Valentina. "I'm leaving the city soon, take care of yourself!" She says as she hugs the meek sheep-woman.

Before Valentina can ask about it, Omni looks between the three retired adventurers. "Things have worsened, and I'll be heading to Diel'derose along with Charlotte, Silverbeard, and Dean." It states, motioning to the slippery demon who only makes his presence known after being called out. "My Harmonize skill has advanced, so I'm here to test it before we head out."

With that, Omni heads into the back, then down to the cellar where it had commanded the golems to stay before severing the link. Kaida follows it down, curious about what it plans to do, but her questions go ignored.

Facing the golems who were all lined up and inactive, Omni can see the energy wisps reaching out with surprising clarity. It activates Advanced Harmonize and links up, though this time it can see a more mesh-like network of energy strands working between the other golems. It hums idly as it feels out what is different.

"... If this is right... What luck..." Omni lets out a dry laugh at the circumstances. It continues to ignore Kaida's questions and pouting, leading the golems out of the cellar.

It sets up the commands through the network, then disconnects Adv. Harmonize. Despite being disconnected, the golems continue moving, beginning to clean and move about on their own. Christoph and Krave look with confusion. "Weren't you shutting things down until you were better?" Christoph asks.

Omni sighs. "Krave suggested I test out the Advanced Harmonize, and it turns out his hunch was right, the problem of Harmonize solved itself. Through the link, I was able to imprint more open-ended orders, and infused their cores up to capacity. They'll continue to function as they did before without being connected until their cores run out of energy."

"Hah!" Krave laughs, grinning. "Glad I was right, that means the food deal with the Tower can continue while you're gone. And we'll take care of recharging the cores free of charge too, since it benefits us." The old demon states, happy that he can continue eating the good food.

Christoph breathes a sigh of relief. "That means we can continue business as normal."

Valentina similarly smiles and nods. "That's wonderful. I hope you can find answers in Diel'derose, I don't want to lose a good friend." She pats Omni's shoulder.

"Right." It responds.

Kaida's pout is at an all time low, but she suddenly smiles. "Hey, how about I come with you?" She offers, causing the golem to pause.

"... If there is room on the airship, I see no reason to say no. I don't like the idea of defending it all by myself."

"Ooh, we're taking an airship? Then I'm definitely going!" Kaida throws her hands up in a cheer.

Omni sticks its thumb towards Silverbeard, who had somehow got his hands on alcohol in the short time it had been in the cellar and was drinking with Ghorm. "We're travelling with royalty, so you'd better behave."

Queen Niramia looks up from the dish Valentina had prepared for her, mouth full of food. "S'not that sherioush to travel wiff shortie." She says, earning a swat from Krave.

"Don't speak with your mouth full, how are you still our Queen?" Krave sighs.

"Hey! I could have you beheaded for that!" Niramia pouts just like Kaida, but Krave just laughs.

"You wouldn't, nobody else can carry out the research I do." He says with a shrug, settling down at the table with her.

'𝘚𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵-𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥.' Omni sighs. "Lady Niramia, shouldn't we be getting an airship ready?" He asks a little impatiently.

"I sent Dean to go do that so I can enjoy my lunch. You came up with all these dishes, right? Maybe after all is said and done you can be my personal chef~." She says half seriously.

"Then I'll just set up a golem to cook for you, I have no interest in doing it personally." It rebuffs.

"Aww, that's no fun~." She replies, going back to eating her food.

"..." Omni can't wrap its head around the behavior of people in this world. Not just simple people like adventurers and citizens, but even the people in the highest seats of power were just... Happy and kind. Even with the threat of war on the horizon, they still fool around like this. Are they naïve? Are they idiots? It knows for a fact that bad people exist here, the thugs in the alleyway, sentient monsters like the goblins, whatever the Human and Gnomish kingdoms were up to.

'𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦... 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘵, 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮?' It thinks to itself, still not allowing itself to believe it can be like them at this point.

It shakes its head, ignoring the goings-on around it, focusing inward and painfully prying open its hazard storage to peer at the runes it still held. It had to practice and learn, it had no time to relax. The better grip it had over the newly advanced Gravity magic, the better it could protect the airship as they made their way to Diel'derose.

'𝘕𝘰 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘹, 𝘩𝘶𝘩?'