A few hours passed since then and Daz was now sitting on one of the ramparts' battlements with his enchantment book placed on his lap. His legs were dangled over the wall and he sighed.

"I still can't understand this enchantment business," Daz mumbled to himself. Despite having spent a few hours yesterday and today, he wasn't able to make any progress at all and it frustrated him.

"Maybe I'm not cut out to be an enchanter? I was hoping to increase my strength with this..." Daz lamented.

The sound of footsteps pulled Daz out of his thoughts and he turned his head to see Ellie walking towards him.

He put on a smile and turned to look at the girl who looked younger than him despite being slightly older. Ellie stopped a few feet away from him and returned his smile with her own.

"It's late. What brings you up here at this hour, Ellie?" Daz asked. As it stood, it was eleven at night and the sky was almost pitch-black, so by all rights, most people should be asleep now to prepare for tomorrow's work.

Ellie adjusted her glasses and sat next to Daz. "I wanted to talk to you about today."

Ellie had a complicated expression on her face and Daz could tell that she was conflicted about his actions today at the military base. While she could somewhat understand Daz's approach, she couldn't figure out why he had chosen to be so... aggressive and to not even attempt a more peaceful way to get what he wanted.

"I... see," Daz said with some apprehension in his voice. His actions had been erratic lately and he hoped that Ellie hadn't lost her trust in him due to this.

"Why did you blackmail the General?" Ellie asked in an uncertain voice. It was almost like she found the notion of questioning Daz to be strange. This was a side effect of Daz's charisma and his new SS-Ranked skill, Legendary Gift Of The Gab.

"I felt like my position wasn't strong enough," Daz replied vaguely.

"What do you mean? You own what's basically a castle and you're the strongest person I've ever seen..." Ellie said with a slightly befuddled countenance and with a hue of red in her cheeks after realising she'd complimented Daz by coincidence.

"I realise that now. I wasn't thinking straight. I should have taken the General's compromise offer and tried to build a friendly relationship with him, but I was in a rush and eager to get more usable weapons for our regular Citizens. I'm sorry if what I did today disturbed you," Daz said with genuineness in his tone while looking straight into Ellie's eyes.

Ellie was silent and seemed to be thinking. "Is it possible for us to become friends with them later? We're all Humans and we should stick together." Ellie had a very optimistic outlook on life now that her hearing had returned, and she wished for Daz to value all Human life, not only the people of Fort Skip.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Daz grinned slightly. "Asking something of your lord so presumptuous? I should put you in the stocks for that."

Ellie frowned, but she couldn't hide the small giggle that escaped her lips. "I'm being serious, and we don't even have stocks."

"That can be changed. Did you hear? I'm learning how to craft. Give me a day or two and I'll have the most comfortable stocks in the kingdom for you to be locked in." Daz's charisma has successfully steered the conversation into something with a lighter tone, and he enjoyed these meaningless jokes.

Ellie covered her mouth and laughed. "I'll look forward to it." Her eyes looked disappointed despite her words. She appreciated Daz's kindness, but his aversion to her question bothered her. Did Daz not intend to fix the tense relationship between Fort Skip and Camp Waterford?

"Don't worry," Daz said with his usual monotonous tone having returned. "I do have a plan to fix things. Just wait for tomorrow and trust me, okay?"

"Mmm," Ellie nodded. "Thank you, Daz, for listening to me."

Ellie left shortly afterwards and Daz simply sat on the battlement and stared at the open grasslands that had been trampled on and destroyed by the Zombies and Barbarians, not to mention by Rimmy's large feet.

Daz couldn't help but crack a smile when he thought of his goofy and reliable best friend. Daz had never truly trusted anyone except for his girlfriend and younger sister ever since he was fourteen, and he thought that would never change. It probably wouldn't have if he didn't stumble across the Jewelled Golem Summon skill.

What made Rimmy special to Daz was the fact that he was bound to the young Reaper. While a bit twisted, this gave Daz a sense that it was impossible for Rimmy to betray him, which allowed the paranoid man to put his trust and heart into the silent giant.

Daz was too restless to do any more training so he just sat there for another two and a half hours. He thought about what he'd do on day four's attack and how he'd fix his mess with the military base until finally, it was two in the morning.

"Jewelled Golem, Summon!" Daz shouted with glee. He was standing a few meters outside of Fort Skip's second wall and as soon as those words left his lips, a blinding light erupted from Daz's hand before condensing into the figure that was the stocky and large Rimmy McShineston.

Rimmy looked around and stared at the limestone rampart that was unfamiliar to him. It took a second, but his head bounced down to look at Daz. A silence reigned between the two before Rimmy suddenly grabbed Daz, raising him off of his feet and then hugged the Reaper.

Daz laughed and hugged him back while tears formed in his eyes. "I missed you, buddy! I made a bunch of stupid mistakes without you here advising me! It's so good to see you again!"

For once, Daz looked like a jubilant youth and if you put him side by side with his usual self, it would be like viewing two completely different people.

Rimmy carefully put Daz back on the ground and rested his ginormous fist on the grey-haired youth's chest. The cyan coloured Golem of crystal then slowly nodded his head.

"Yeah, thanks to you holding off their leader for so long, we managed to beat the Barbarians without losing anyone, well, Dorian lost an arm and Lyle was badly injured, but we dealt with it," Daz was grinning from ear to ear and he was more than willing to reply to Rimmy's question.

Rimmy shook his head and crossed his absurdly thick arms. "Hey, it's not your fault. They were on a separate team. Ah, I'm sorry, Rimmy. I was going to spend most of my points on you to thank you for sacrificing yourself for me, but something happened, and I wasn't in the right state of mind with you gone."

Daz looked regretful and upset, but Rimmy bobbed his head in response. Daz went on to spend the rest of the morning talking to Rimmy and confiding in him. he explained everything that had happened in his absence and received many various head movements as replies.

Even though only twelve hours had passed since Rimmy was forcefully unsummoned, it had felt like years to Daz, and now that Rimmy was back, Daz felt truly happy again.