At the end of the labyrinth, Stella drew to a halt. She frowned at the floor in front of her. “Is it here?”

“Is what here?” Milo asked.

“Here… or there?” Stella put a hand on her chin. Slowly, she extended a foot forward.

The stone under her foot clicked. Covers clicked upward, revealing dark holes in the wall. Flame flickered in the mouth of the hole. With a whoosh, they rushed out at Stella.

Milo’s eyes widened. He snatched up Stella and ran down the labyrinth, flame licking at his back. “Oh shit oh shit oh shit—”

“Whee!” Stella said, her eyes glittering with glee.

A fire slime greeted them at the far end of the corridor, wiggling its round top in greeting. Stella wriggled out of Milo’s grip and ran to its side, giggling as she slapped the slime. “We did it! We made it again!”

“Again?” Milo demanded.

Stella froze. She turned slowly, unleashing her puppy eyes at Milo. “I made a mistake… I didn’t mean to…”

“Did you activate the fire trap on purpose?” Milo asked, suddenly suspicious.

Stella shook her head adamantly.

Straightening up to his full height, Milo looked down at her. He summoned his memories of the elder priests who taught in his seminary, and their dour expressions that seemed to say, I know what you did, and I hate it. “Stella…”

She shrank back. “But it was fun! And you made it out fine. It’s a slow trap! It won’t hurt you.”

“If you activate another trap on purpose, I’m leaving,” Milo declared, crossing his arms.

Stella shook her head. “No, no! I didn’t do it on purpose. I promise.”

“Mmmmhmmm,” Milo said slowly, drawing it out.

“I didn’t! I just, maybe, wasn’t as careful as I could have been,” Stella mumbled under her breath.

Milo sighed. “I don’t get it. Do you not want humans to die, or do you not care about us?”

“I don’t want you to die! You’re still alive, aren’t you?” Stella pointed out.

“I did notice that,” Milo deadpanned. He shook his head. “I just… I can’t help but wonder, when you do things like activate a trap on purpose and throw me into it. If you really cared about my life, you wouldn’t do that, right?”

Stella stared at her feet. Her lower lip trembled, and she nodded slowly.

“So don’t do it again,” Milo finished, relenting somewhat. I don’t want her to start crying. I have no idea what to do with crying kids.

Stella nodded. She rubbed her face and grabbed his hand again. Although her lip stopped trembling, she didn’t smile again.

Dammit. I’m no good with kids. This is why I avoided preaching and teaching like the plague! Milo scowled internally, but forced himself to smile. He led her onward, toward the dungeon’s mouth.

Their footsteps echoed off the sheer stone walls. Milo licked his lips. Sweat beaded up down his back from the awkwardness, and his palms grew sweaty. He chewed his lips, desperately casting for something to talk about. Come on. Come on! There has to be something. What do kids like? Toys… but where would she find a toy in the dungeon? Candy? But she just had cookies for the first time. There’s no way she’d know about candy. Oh! Playing. Kids like to play… out in the sunlight, with other kids…

Uh… uh… Nothing. I have nothing. Absolutely nothing. All those etiquette classes covering polite conversation and appropriate small talk are completely useless against a kid!

Water tapped down from the ceiling, quietly splattering onto unseen stalagmites. Milo swallowed, profoundly uncomfortable. Stella hummed under her breath, completely unaware of his internal struggle.

“Have you met Daiyo?” Stella asked at last.

Milo glanced up. Finally, something to talk about! “Daiyo?”

Stella gestured. “He’s a big guy. Bigger than Aster! And he’s hard.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“He’s… huh?” Milo asked, blindsided.

“He’s hard rock,” Stella clarified.

“I think the phrase is—” Milo forced himself to stop. No, no, no. Focus, Milo. Think. What does she actually mean? He swallowed. “He’s a rock monster?”

“Mhm!” Stella nodded.

“A really big rock monster… Eh.” Milo put a hand on his chin. Actually, we did run into a large rock monster. I wouldn’t call him huge, for a rock monster, but he was bigger than Aster…

“Did you meet him?” Stella asked, tilting her head.

“Briefly,” Milo said. He scratched his neck. “I don’t think our meeting was very, er, positive.”

Stella narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t kill him, did you?”

“Kill him? A golem? We’re only an A-rank-ish party. Ish,” Milo stressed.

“Daiyo isn’t strong,” Stella said, shaking her head.

“He isn’t?” Milo asked, confused.

“He’s weaker than a fire slime,” Stella explained.

Milo blinked, even more lost than before. “H…huh?” A golem, weaker than a fire slime? It’s true that the golem we encountered was small, but small is relative! He’s still larger than Aster, and he’s a golem. A golem! There’s no way he’s weaker than a fire slime.

Or is he some different type of rock monster? Maybe he isn’t the golem.

Stella nodded. “You’ll see.”

She drew to a halt in the middle of a corridor and knocked on the wall. Milo scanned the corridor wall up and down, then raised his eyebrows. Come to think of it, this is where that golem attacked us. So then, is Daiyo…

A wave of stone hands blasted out of the wall, grabbing ahold of Milo. They slammed him into the wall. Milo’s head knocked against the stone, and his vision flickered.

“Stella! Get back!” Daiyo shouted.

A stone fist filled Milo’s vision. His heart raced. Every instinct told him to flee, but there was no time, nowhere to go. He tensed, bracing for impact.

“Daiyo, no!” Stella shouted. She leaped in front of Milo and threw her arms out.

Daiyo tensed, as panicked as a massive featureless stone figure could be. “Stella?”

The wall of stone rushing at Milo twisted aside. Daiyo smashed into the wall instead of Milo, breaking a man-sized divot half a foot deep into the stone.

“Stella, why?” Daiyo asked.

Stella shook her head. “He won’t attack anymore. He’s good… for now.”

“Are you sure?” Daiyo peered suspiciously at Milo. The stone hands slowly released Milo.

Milo peeled himself off the wall and peeked at the divot beside him. Cold sweat broke out down his spine. I almost died. I almost died, for real. Holy shit.

“I’m sure. He’s going to help me make a tea room,” Stella explained.

Daiyo turned his flat stone plane of a face to Milo. In a rocky voice, he rumbled, “I’m not so sure.”

Milo backed away slowly. “I’m a priest. I barely have offensive spells.”

“Barely have? So you have them,” Daiyo said, crossing his arms.

She gestured threateningly. “Don’t make me summon a fire slime.”

Daiyo backed away, putting his hands up. In an instant, he went from terrifying titan to terrified. “No, no. It’s fine. I won’t hurt him, I promise.”

Stella nodded. She puffed her chest out proudly, grinning at the golem. “That’s right, that’s right.”

What is happening? Milo wondered. He licked his lips nervously and chose to remain silent.

“So? What did you come for today?” Daiyo asked conversationally, suddenly as casual as a neighbor passing on the street. With a great creaking of stone, he leaned back and put his hands on his hips, giving the impression of a smile with rolled-back shoulders, a tipped head, and a welcoming stance.

“Furniture!” Stella said, throwing her arms wide.

Daiyo turned to Milo, then paused. He extended a hand.

Milo flinched back, sinking into the wall. He’s decided to kill me after all!

“Dieyoushit,” Daiyo said.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please don’t’ kill me!” Milo screeched, covering his head with his arms.

“No, that’s… that’s my name. Dieyoushit. Isn’t it human custom to exchange names and shake hands? Or did I misunderstand something?” Daiyo asked, lifting a hand to the center of his face.

“Er… huh?” Milo slowly uncoiled. What kind of a name is Dieyoushit? He looked at Daiyo, then at the golem’s hand. And yet, he seems to be serious? Slowly and gingerly, he took Daiyo’s hand. “I’m—I’m Milo. Priest.”

“Dieyoushit, golem. Though I go by Daiyo, nowadays,” Daiyo explained, nodding back at Milo. He turned to Stella. “Furniture, you say?”

Milo sighed out, wiping the sweat off his forehead. I survived.

Stella threw her arms out again. “Tables and chairs, lots of them! We’re going to have a tea party!”

“Oh? That’s wonderful. How many people are going? People go to parties, right?” Daiyo asked.

Clearing his throat, Milo stepped forward to explain. “We’re setting up a tea room in the first chamber of the dungeon so that Stella can peacefully gather some mana.”

“Ah, yes. She is a bit weak right now,” Daiyo said, nodding to himself. Almost absent-mindedly, he reached a massive palm toward Stella. Stella hopped aboard, and he set her on his shoulders. “Let’s head to the front of the dungeon. It’ll be a pain to move tables all the way to the front from here.”

“Okay!” Stella said, grabbing onto Daiyo’s head.

Milo glanced at the two of them, then bit his lip. “Er, are we going to…”

Daiyo knelt in a runner’s stance.

“Daiyo, I’m not Aster, I can’t—” Milo said hurriedly.

“Here we go!” Daiyo shouted, bursting off into the dungeon. Dust flew up from under his feet as stone ground on stone. The wind of his passage whipped Milo’s robes into a flurry, and he raised his staff protectively.

“—can’t keep up with you,” Milo finished, watching Daiyo and Stella vanish into the dungeon.

Milo smacked his lips, not sure what to do. He glanced to his side and found a pair of red eyes gazing at him from the shadow. Sighing, he reached out. “At least you’re still with me, Alice.”

The red eyes faded away, and his hand hit bare stone.

Milo took a deep breath. He bent over, trying desperately to contain something, his shoulders shaking. All at once, he stood upright and shouted, “Dammit, don’t forget your healer!”

Up ahead, Daiyo slowed to a halt. He raised a hand to the side of his head. “Did you hear something?”

Stella turned, arching her back around. She shook her head. “Nope.”

“Huh. Where’s that Milo human?” Daiyo asked, raising a hand to his chin.

Alice faded into view, crouched on Daiyo’s other shoulder, and giggled.