Choices

Chapter 67

Though I was taking a break of sorts, I didn't neglect my regular chores. I expanded the internal layers and bought surface tiles just before the refresh. I was halfway to connecting the secondary entrance to the stone valley.

Stone valley was a shit name. Despite that, the second entrance was also in a valley. One among the foothills of the opposite side of the mountain range. I needed to call it something and was already calling the other one green valley.

I might need to resort to a poll among the skeletons to officially determine what to call them. But, for now, the names would do as placeholders.

Since I wasn't in a hurry to do anything for the moment, I used a few mana points to add to my chamber of machinations. Nothing fancy, just a cavernous room that I planned to use as a workspace. I tentatively labeled it my build lab.

Though I hadn't been working on it for a few weeks, the idea of a town was never far from my mind. My first order of business was to copy the plans and doodles for it out on a wall in the lab. Once that essential bit of organization was done, I felt a pleasant sense of accomplishment.

Having an idea was one thing. Taking steps to make it happen was an entirely different matter. The farmhouse had been a start, but I would need to do a lot of planning to pull off building a full-on town.

Thinking of the farmhouse invariably got me thinking about Elim. We'd kept in touch, him asking me the odd question, me sending him lists, but we hadn't really talked lately. Not since I'd asked him to pass on the map.

He'd done as I asked, but there was a shift in how he spoke to me after. I'd expected a change, possibly even anger, but the subtleness of what had happened left me confused and nervous. Nothing was wrong, but nothing was the same.

I scrubbed my face with my hands. I knew I had a choice to make, but I felt out of my depth. This was a personal issue rather than a dungeon matter. Despite that, it wasn't something I could ask for advice on. This was something only I could decide how to deal with.

[Elim,

I want your opinion on something. I think it might be interesting to add a town to my valley. I'm getting mixed reviews from the bone brigade. It seems like the architectural tastes where I'm from are pretty different from the local ones. This is the first building I've made. It's supposed to be a farmhouse.

Let me know what you think when you get a minute. This isn't anything you need to hurry about.

-42]

I read the message a couple times before finally sending it. Attached were pictures of the farm and a drawing of its layout for clarity's sake. A bit like a well-done real-estate listing back on earth.

It was a declaration of war, of a sort. I wasn't going to acknowledge any subtext, real or imagined. I wanted to be friends with Elim, and if he didn't want that, he would have to be blunt.

My resolve did nothing to keep my innards from churning with an uncomfortable acidic tingle. Far too late, I realized Elim might think I meant to add the town as a kind of roach motel for people. Mortified, I started drafting a new message to explain my intent, then deleted the draft.

I forced myself to calm down and take a moment. I'd already sent the first text. So instead of jumping to a panicked defense, I decided to let Elim respond and see what questions he had.

To keep my mind off the message and possible replies, I decided to turn to some busy work. I'd already said we might have a raid league match the previous day to the bone brigade. So I sent a text to make it official.

I followed that mass notice up with texts to the teams, including the rough idea I'd come up with for each team’s insignia. The Crimson Centipedes were going to face off against the Violet Hive Bats, going by the match schedule. So I expected they would be the first ones to get back to me about possible insignia.

Instead, it was the Silver Horned Devil team led by Dawn who did. She had notes, a lot of notes, about the problems with the drawing I'd sent. I ended up laughing.

I'd drawn something akin to certain versions of satan back on earth. But, looking up a horned devil in the encyclopedia, I found I'd been way off the mark.

The creature attached to the name looked like what I'd have considered a sprite with horns. A humanoid body with a distinctively insectile cast to it and thin tapered horns. Nothing like the man goat beast thing I'd drawn.

I sent Dawn an apology, explaining the mix-up, then quickly sketched out a new version. Working on art, doing my regular tasks, getting ready to have some fun, the day passed by quickly. None of the teams had picked an insignia by the time the match was due to start, but I didn't mind.

While I was lost in thought over the idea of team banners, a sudden alert startled me. Elim, it seemed, had decided to speak directly. I picked it up immediately.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Mistress, what causes a high fever, rash, yellowing eyes, and confusion?" Elim asked harshly. Shocked, I turned to my encyclopedia and turned up ten options. Of course, I'd need more information to narrow it down properly, but I didn't bother.

"I've given you potions for it. Who’s hurt?" I asked. If it were back in my old world, I'd need to keep asking to narrow down the specific condition. Thankfully here, I only needed to identify a cause, like infection or disease to treat it. Doubly lucky the possible causes fell into two broad categories, so it wasn't expensive to help.

"It's Tiller. She-" Elim cut off. I waited, assuming he was busy helping the lady in question. The call didn't disconnect, but I only heard faint background sounds and suggestions of movement for a couple of minutes.

"Is she alright? I can try something else if that doesn't work," I offered, feeling nervous. The symptoms had seemed reasonably distinct, but maybe Elim had misunderstood or failed to observe something important. Of course, neither one of us was a doctor.

"She's alright. Her fever’s down, and she's calm," Elim said, sounding tired.

"I'm glad. Are you sure you're okay?" I asked, hesitant to end the call. If something had happened to Tiller, then Elim might have been in danger too. I checked his stats, but didn't find anything amiss, and Marlow seemed fine too.

"I'm fine now," Elim replied. The words caught me oddly. He was physically fine, and there wasn't any indication he'd been harmed earlier. So that meant he hadn't been fine for a different reason.

"Which potion helped? The green was for poison, and the yellow was for sickness," I asked. Since there wasn't an immediate threat, it was probably best to figure out what happened.

"The green one," Elim said, sounding worried.

"I'm copying the information I looked up. I'll send you the list of poisons that match those symptoms… A lot of them are from plants, though. So be careful, alright?" I said, more than a little worried.

"I will," Elim replied.

"Where are you right now?" I asked, scanning the information. I sent it once. I felt sure I had everything pasted legibly.

"We made camp in the woods. I just got the text," Elim said, and things went quiet. I assumed he was reading.

"Fuck, I recognize the third plant down. We walked through a patch of it," Elim hissed. I took a look at the entry, red regossa shrub. It wasn't super toxic most of the time, just irritating to the skin on contact. The problem was the pollen which would fuck a person up during its brief release season.

"I'll add some more potions to the inventory, just in case. Give Tiller the red one when she feels up to drinking it. It should fix any injury she suffered from the poison. The green ones an antitoxin for you, just in case," I added, feeling bad for the mystery lady. I added a low-cost physical healing potion as I spoke. I was surprised that Elim was fine given what they'd been through and added an antitoxin for him just in case it was a delay of symptoms rather than him being free and clear.

Reasonably, I should have given Elim some advice for how to look after Tiller then hung up. He sounded like he could use some rest. Instead, I was just waiting, too indecisive to do it myself. Again silence dragged for a few minutes.

"Mistress… Thank you for your help, but please don't count this as a debt on Tiller's part. I'll repay it myself," Elim said finally. I felt my orbs flicker. That wasn't what I'd been expecting him to say.

"Elim…" I started only to falter. My nature and our contract complicated the relationship between us considerably. He wasn't wrong to assume I'd require payment from someone even if he was wrong about my intent.

"I can't contact her, and she's not in a contract with me. She's safe," I said finally. It was all the comfort I could offer, thin as it was. Elim didn't reply, and I wasn't sure what, if anything, more that I should say. I could lie that I wouldn't make contracts with people he knew, but I didn't bother. I would if I had a reason to.

"I'd rather not… I'd feel better if you set a price," Elim said finally. I flinched a little at that, though I couldn't exactly blame him. Feeling like you owed someone wasn't easy.

"No," I said firmly.

"You didn't agree to a bargain beforehand, so neither one of you owes me anything," I continued. We already had a deal, and it was good enough for me.

"Any agreement we reached now wouldn't have anything to do with what I've already given you," I added to clarify. Even wanting to be friends, denying that we had a transactional relationship due to the contract was pointless. One that followed rules that Elim needed to keep in mind and understand for his own protection. Relying on my goodwill wasn't a smart move.

"I just…" Elim started, then faltered. I remembered what he'd said earlier and had to wonder who exactly Tiller was to him.

"I take it she's important to you," I said, trying to be gentle. I didn't really need to ask. Elim had called me thinking there would be a cost and wanted to pay the debt himself.

"I don't know about that," Elim muttered.

"Elim, you’re willing to make a deal for her," I said bluntly. If he was trying to snow me, that was fine. But, if he hadn't realized what he was doing, he was brick-level dense, and I was doing him a favor pointing it out.

"Shit... She is. We didn't know each other long, but we got on alright. Then she thought I died and came to check on my mother, give her money," Elim explained. I flinched. Tiller sounded like a nice person. I could understand Elim being defensive of her.

"I don't want her to end up in trouble because of me," Elim added, sounding tired.

"I really can't do anything to her as things stand," I offered.

"But working for you might bring danger, and I can't tell her why. So I'll part ways with her soon," Elim countered.

I almost said something but paused. What Elim was saying translated to him wanting to keep her around. That he wasn't was because she couldn't make informed choices without knowing about me. It was a rational decision.

It was also convenient for me. The more people who knew a secret, the harder it was to keep. But, despite that, my eyes drifted over to a vase of leather roses. Cutting people out of his life to keep my secret or try to protect them would be miserable for Elim.

"You can if you want to. Tell Tiller about me, I mean," I said finally.

"Would she really be better off if she stayed? If she knew?" Elim asked quietly. I knew it was a rhetorical question.

"Not knowing wouldn't make it less true or let her make better choices… Knowing lets her decide what she wants to do, be it stay or go," I offered.

"I'll think about it, Mistress," Elim said softly. I ended the call a moment later.

I looked at the roses again, then got up and started heading for the necropolis. The game was due to begin soon, but really I just didn't feel like being alone any longer.