Chapter 5 - Friendship is like a Flower

Business is business.

Sure, we were not exactly making a lot of money quickly, but the process behind getting the Goblins prepared for proper building efforts was going through quite smoothly as the ‘teachers’ dispatched to help them confirmed that the group was learning fast and was intrigued by the improved methods to create materials and resilient substances to sustain a constructions.

Experimentation with this knowledge was still a bit far from being perfect, but it’s been a bit less than a week now since I started this project, and the ensuing raids against Orc-kind had resulted in more Goblins joining the company and thus expanding the potential available for this investment.

Still, despite the fact that the full operational service was not active just yet, that didn’t mean that I let those other Kobolds that didn’t join the raids do mostly nothing. Forming small groups, I sent those to handle mediocre situations after giving them some insight on what they were dealing with.

We ended up receiving two complaints from customers. The first one lamented about some scratches having been left on the floor due to the sharp claws we Kobold had- I had not realized that those could actually be a problem, but I solved this potential long-term issue by checking on the local market for anything that was used for this sort of situations, and found a special resilient stone that was used to grind part of thick nails until those were at a proper length.

Tested it on myself, and the lessened claws allowed me to move at an easier pace.

The rest of the group whined a bit about the extra chore, but they stopped complaining when they realized they had an easier time walking around without feeling like they could trip on themselves because of it.

The second complaint, however, was produced for a very frustrating reason. Grise had bitten the client’s hand to the point of causing it to bleed. Some guards got involved, but the matter was settled when some people passing by noticed what had caused the male Kobold to react- the cretin had reached out to cop a feel with his butt, thinking he was a girl.

The admission from the effeminate Kobold that he was a boy caused the culprit to parrot what he had done, realizing he touched a man’s butt. That was more than enough to seal the deal as the guards took away the troublemaker and compensated Grise for the damage.

An isolated case, but enough to really trouble me with the chances of more of these harassments to happen until the Goblin Construction Plan started to pump out lucrative projects.

So, I was a bit confused and nervous when I received a personal project from the Prince himself. The plan? Have me rework a specific section of the royal garden that had to be ‘treated with care’.

I didn’t need to be told twice that this was some sort of test and I wasn’t even surprised that I was meant to be tested.

Legal or not, allowing goblins inside the city was meant to cause some perplexity to the government, so I could see how they had a reason to try and discern what I was up to- it could have been an invasion as far as they could assume, and yet they didn’t have any factual proof to actually do something concrete to stop me.

What they could do, instead, was check what kind of behavior I had. And the fact the Prince had me work on his late wife’s garden was both a big power move and a potential gamble of massive proportions. That part of the garden was seen as the last memento of the Late Princess Aihelma, the bountiful show of love she had for her family and kingdom.

If I somehow messed up this job, there was going to be a response against my plans and us Kobolds- no matter how legally-tight our situation was.

Still, despite that worry firmly entrenched inside my head, I still braved forth towards the Palace and was soon escorted to the garden itself. The Buloger Palace was the most relevant location in the whole city.

It had been where the country was made, the very place where like-minded nobles acted against the old aristocracy and decided to create what is now the Principality. It was now the nurturing ground of differing factions that whined and clashed over new laws and new regulations.

Still, I wasn’t met by the Prince as Bjorhold was a frail man with many duties to take care of, and a representative took care of this business.

He left shortly after telling me what the Prince was looking to see renovated- the section where the various pots were set had to be repaired as time and raining had damaged sections of the ceramic structure, the flowers needed to be reorganized within the proper scheme left behind by the previous owner, and I had to do all of this before dinnertime.

I had roughly six hours to get it all patched up, and while what I said may suggest it wasn’t that big of a hurdle, the ceramic alone was going to take roughly three hours to get done the right way.

The specific material that was used was one I discovered being unique to this world, meant to be sturdy despite cracks, and able to withstand a lot of pressure if created properly.

At first glance, I could tell that the structure had been rushed up as the degree of cracks didn’t amount to the described cause of damage. I want to say it was just a case of an ill-made product, but there was something else that was being left unsaid and… it wasn’t relevant.

Poor flowers.

While the representative did leave, a guard had been assigned to keep an eye on me and… I had a feeling this was no normal guard. Maybe I was overthinking it, but the sheer intensity I felt coming from the glance by the mostly-covered face of the female dwarf towards me held me in a state of unease for the entire duration of this work.

The only reason I could tell that it was a chick and not a dude was because of the curvy hips and the breastplate accommodating a mighty bosom. Still, I was quiet and I refused to make any small-talks as it was clear the guard was just one moment away from actually killing me and…

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

I had a job to do.

The ceramic piece was over in about two hours, the process had been speeded up as I used my flames to work on it while keeping the furthest away from the garden itself. Then, I proceeded to use a cooling spell to swiftly get it to become solid at an appropriate pace and… it was done.

The pots were removed, the broken piece was moved aside and the new one was put in its previous location, the pots following shortly after as I kept an eye on the new reorganized setting for each pot.

By Hour 4, I was done as I stood up and brushed some sweat off my forehead. I had risked going a bit more than just that because of the flowers being a bit weak as someone had been skipping on watering sessions.

Repotting was perhaps the most intense part of the process, but it was done carefully and well enough to avoid any potential issues with the roots getting enough dirt and water to accept the new pots.

“It’s done.”

The guard tensed up in surprise at the announcement. Instead of saying anything about it, she just stepped closer and studied the end result for herself. There was a bit of unease pooling inside my chest as this could actually end with a mere guard causing a mess while checking on it but… that didn’t happen.

Instead, I saw the mighty guard ‘crack’ before my gaze. First her shoulders sagged, then a muffled sob erupted from within her helmet. I was a bit surprised by the reaction, but rather than press on the matter as I was dealing with a clearly emotionally-upset individual with a very big warhammer on tow, I took my early leave and expected to depart without any delays.

And I was caught off-guard when I heard someone demanding me to stop. I expected a massive charge from the loudness of the steps, but it was just the very guard I left to grieve on her own, suddenly bolting towards me and… dragging me away.

Normally I would react negatively at this, but two elements made me hesitate- one, there was no warhammer on her side, so she was mostly defenseless at this point and then, because she just moved so fast and easily pulled me away that I didn’t get the chance to react to her.

Seriously, how the hell did that happen?!

The unused room I was pushed into left the two of us there, with the girl staring at me angrily and then… hesitating.

“H-How?”

I blinked. “What?”

“How did you- How did you make it like that? How did you make the flowers so gorgeous?!”

I was even more confused at that elaboration. “What?”

She stepped forward, grasping at my elbows and then looking closer at me. “How!?!”

“...Can you please let go of me?”

The polite request was met with a sudden moment of stiffness from the woman as she slowly released me.

“I-I am sorry. I don’t mean- it’s just…”

“Take a moment. Breathe in and breathe out.”

I saw her tilt her head in confusion at that advice, but she unconsciously mimicked my action as I did just that. A few moments passed and then I smiled.

“Better?”

“I… Yes. Still, my deepest apologies for what happened, it’s just… the flowers- no matter how many times I tried to fix them, they never looked so… nice.”

I was a bit confused on the indirect admission that she tended the flowers- was it normal for a mere guard to take care of that task. I decided to push that thought aside and defuse the situation I was stuck with first.

“Tell me, how do you normally tend the flowers? Perhaps there is something missing from what you do.”

“I doubt that,” The guard pushed away, only for her deflection to be met by a flat frown. “What?”

“Just humor me.”

After an annoyed groan came through her, the guard described to me her usual schedule on watering and tending the flowers, and while the timing was right, something she did wasn’t. Precisely-

“You shouldn’t water the flower itself. It’s the dirt that has to be watered.”

“Why would that matter? I am just watering them directly.”

That silly remark was met by my own facepalm on the topic. “That’s… Miss, if a plant is wet and is left under a fairly hot sun, the heat will cause it to dry up faster- heck, it can even burn.”

That didn’t seem to be anything she had expected to hear. “Oh. So, that’s why that happened.”

“Next time, do keep that in mind.”

She nodded, and then the conversation just… continued.

It got to the point it got a bit dark as I was finishing talking with the guard, who had bothered to introduce herself as just ‘Eri’. She mentioned having a bit of issues with the many people saying a girl shouldn’t be using weapons and being a guard, really pouring out her heart on the many doubts she had and…

I kind of had a degree of understanding when it comes to being someone's therapist. Old life’ stuff, being a listener and all of that. So I listened, gave her some agreeing words to her own upset and told her that they were being unreasonable.

As I was done with that intense chatting, the girl decided to go for a childish confession as she realized something about me after talking for so long.

“So… you don’t like to terrorize children, kill innocents and then do horrible things to women.”

I bowed my head at that. “Miss, I am quite sure kids have a tendency to bully me, I have been rescuing dwarves and goblins alike, and women have a tendency to boss me around- just like you are doing here!”

“I-I am not bossing anyone. I am just… exerting my right. As a Guard.”

“Yeah, yeah, I can tell that.”

She huffed. “Think whatever you want, Ser Pyro. Still… It was a good job. Thank you.”

“Likewise, Eri. Remember to not be too shy from asking advice from those that have an inkling of experience in gardening,” I returned with a small smile. “And with that, I think it’s my time to go.”

“O-Oh right, it’s… it’s a bit late. I am sorry-”

“Eri, stop it. We both had a pleasant conversation and no one has regrets for investing some time in it,” I reasoned calmly, grinning even as I could tell the girl was smiling behind her helmet. “See you later.”

“L-Likewise.”

And with that, I walked out of the room and towards the entrance. This time I wasn’t bothered by no one, as I proceeded to make my way back home for some nice rest.

But first, a nice warm bath now that we had a lil’ bath area ready to be used~.