Jack desperately wracked his brain for some kind of excuse. He was practically wearing the cloak that was synonymous with the god of this world, it wasn't a good look for him. His mind raced in panic, searching for anything at all. But there was nothing. He had no excuse to give, no lie to tell. How would he be able to explain this away?

It turned out that Jeler would provide him an out. "Is that some new power, Jack?" The animalus leaned in curiously, waving his hand through the floating cloak. The black mana dissipated as Jeler's hand passed through it. The cloak slowly vanished from the point Jeler had tried to touch, vanishing into midair.

"Umm, yeah," Jack replied lamely. "I didn't realize it would come with the cloak."

"It makes me think of priestly attire a little," Jeler said, watching the mana disappear into the air. Then he snapped his fingers as a sudden thought struck him. "There are certain rituals that can do something like that, making an image of the High Deity appear. Is it like that?"

Jack didn't want to keep lying to Jeler, but he was in a bit of a panic. "Yeah, it must be like that then."

"So what is it?" Jeler asked.

"Huh?"

"What is the new power? Some kind of system skill?"

"Oh, uh, it's related to the butterflies. I...don't really fully understand it yet." This, at least, was true. Jack didn't understand the new power he wielded. It had happened on accident, and apparently he couldn't use it on Drowl. He would need to experiment with it when he was alone...well, alone with Alpha anyway.

This seemed to satisfy Jeler's curiosity. "Well, let me know if you figure anything out."

Jack gave him a thumbs up, not trusting himself to speak about it anymore. The three of them left the storehouse, and Jack was immediately dragged to a nearby cooking fire. The mercenaries welcomed him back with gusto, drinking and cheering. Over the next few hours, Jack heard all the camp gossip about the king of Vitlavin. Everyone got really drunk and told him all the nasty things about the king, from his personal habits to his terrible kingdom policies.

By the time Jack was able to break away from the group, he had heard quite a few disgusting things about the king he was supposed to meet. He deeply and truly hoped that most of those rumors weren't true, he would be afraid to shake the man's hand otherwise. Jack shuddered and decided to stop thinking about it.

He and Jeler made their way back to the bore-bot's house along with Alpha. Alpha had leaped into its role as Jack's helper, flitting around the mercenaries and perching on Jack's shoulder. When Jack explained that the butterfly was assisting him, they welcomed it with open arms, even giving it a tankard of ale. Alpha had submerged itself in the drink out of interest and hadn't been able to type in full sentences since. Somehow, the system bug, a being made of god's own mana, got drunk despite the fact that it couldn't drink. Hopefully, a night's rest would resolve the issue.

Dirge was there to welcome Jack in when he arrived. "The other two are working downstairs." they gestured behind themselves towards the stairs. "How was the welcome back?"

Jack thought for a moment. "Honestly, it was fun." It had been a chance to unwind, to not think too much about work. Jack's stress had grown considerably with all the things he had gone through recently. Having a chance to unwind with good people had done wonders to ease his tired mind.

Dirge smiled, "Good! You've got to know when to take a break from work, eh?" They playfully elbowed Jack, taking an easy attitude with him.

Jack returned a grin. "I haven't taken enough breaks, but I appreciate being able to use your home here, Dirge."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Of course!" Dirge exclaimed. "What's mine is yours, Jack, we're glad to have you." They clapped him on the back, welcoming him and Jack inside. "To be honest, I'm glad you got to mingle in the camp."

When Jack raised an eyebrow, Dirge continued. "We're already a bit suspicious, making a tri-type internal bore-bot. When you vanished for longer than intended, people pointed the fingers at us first. I know Riniox was fighting some allegations as well."

"I'm so sorry about that. Was there any trouble?"

"Nah. Well, no real trouble anyway." Dirge waved their hand dismissively. "Riniox claimed you were in religious seclusion or something. Mostly we got yelled at by the king of Vitlavin."

Ah, I heard about that a bit." Jack grimaced. "Is he really as...disgusting as the rumors say?"

"Disgusting?" Dirge asked. They took a moment to be confused, then came to a realization. "Oh, you mean those rumors. Couldn't say. Probably not as badly as you're thinking, he is a king after all."

Jack wasn't sure if he really bought it, but let the matter drop. Nothing he had heard about the king had made him want to actually meet the man, and he was glad for some delay before the official meeting. He turned to Dirge, looking to change the topic. "Are you guys taking breaks too? I heard you were all working hard on my body."

Dirge chuckled, the steam vents in their body puffing as they laughed. "Sorta. We worked in shifts, honestly, it felt like being back in school. Too much work and not enough time, we had to learn to lean on our partners." They looked nostalgic, smiling at some memory.

That didn't sound very restful to Jack. "What are Glimm and Reph still working on? Shouldn't you guys be relaxing for a change?"

Dirge shook their head. "It's our personal project. We...well, we're feeling a bit of a time crunch right now."

"Anything I can help with?"

"Well actually..." Dirge seemed to weigh something in their mind. "If you could keep the king of Vitlavin here longer, we would appreciate it. We've made some breakthroughs in our work, but interruption can spoil inspiration."

"Delay him? I thought we wanted him gone."

"Well, yes but actually no. The man is annoying and crass, but that can serve a purpose. His pride serves as a shield against others who want to come here."

Understanding dawned on Jack. "So the longer we keep him around, the longer everyone else has to wait?"

"Exactly. Better to deal with the enemy you know, instead of the enemy you don't."

"Is he? An enemy I mean."

Dirge looked at Jack seriously. "He isn't our friend, sometimes that's all it takes."

It was a sad way to look at the world in Jack's mind, but he had been caught off guard by people before. "I'll do my best to get him to stay."

Dirge clapped him on the shoulder good-naturedly. "Good man!"

Jack and Jeler bid farewell to Dirge and went upstairs. They wanted to brainstorm ways to keep the king of Vitlavin here.

----------------------------------------

Dirge went back down to the basement workshop. Glimm and Reph were behind a privacy screen, working on the project. Dirge parted the curtain and stepped inside.

A partially formed bore-bot body was there. Its arms, legs, torso, and head were all in pieces. Some of the parts were nearly finished, while others were little more than a framework. Unlike Jack's body, there was no clear division between the three internal types on the body. Vents, gears, and mana conductive material all mixed and intermingled haphazardly. Studying Jack's body had given the bore-bots amazing insight in ways to combine the three internal types.

The result was...less than ideal so far. Some sections of the body worked, but any attempt to combine multiple working sections failed. Even getting a working hand segment to connect to a working arm section had been exhausting. They had adopted a shotgun approach, throwing everything at the wall and seeing what stuck. Then they consolidated the results. Patterns that worked on one half of the body didn't work on the other. Configuration of parts couldn't be mirrored, they had to be specifically crafted for each and every minute section.

The work was made all the harder by each of the bore-bots advocating for one another. They all wanted a balance between the three of them, not wanting to opt for too much of one internal type or the other. The result was a patchwork design, with odd coloring shifting and changing through each limb as the materials changed.

Dirge walked by the section that they were working on, a leg, and ran their hand along it affectionately. They were getting closer, it was hard work, but it would be worth it. "I asked Jack to keep the King here as long as possible."

Reph nodded. "Good, that should buy us another day at least. If he can keep delaying people..."

Glimm finished his sentence. "Then maybe we can escape."

The three fell silent at that, their hands stilling. They didn't want to say what that would mean, abandoning Jack. If he broke, there wouldn't be anyone to fix him. Finishing their work, their child, would mean abandoning the person they had come to care for. None of them wanted to face that truth, so they got back to work.