"If you wish for an extra meal at dinner, tell Dunce the following sentence: 'The only part of your reflection that you can lick is your tongue.' Then, just lean back and wait till he runs away to find a mirror. You can safely eat the meal he leaves behind; he won't be returning anytime soon."

— Life cheats for Shoes, from a mysterious fellow

[https://i.imgur.com/lEL3Anu.png]

It was a free day for Bezel, but he decided to go to the Research Facility anyways. He felt a bit nostalgic about it, since he hadn't worked with the other slaves for quite a while. This wasn't actually what he had planned—he was deviating from the original timeline quite a bit—but he wasn't too worried. Events at the Research Facility never affected what Miranda would do on the next day, and only that mattered.

The slaves were carrying long wooden beams that Bezel remembered all too well. He was marching up the hill with two of the slaves; Dunce going first, Slug in the middle, and Bezel at the end. This meant that he bore most of the burden as they went upwards. And upwards they went! That damned Research Facility was way too high up on the mountain. The work didn't tire him out—even though by all rights, it should have. Years of sitting in a small chamber and poring over books should have taken their toll on his body. Bezel supposed that without his power, he would have trouble holding this weight now.

Bezel and the slaves got rid of their burden as soon as they arrived to the construction site. The forest around the Research Facility had been cleared out nicely, and a dozen or so houses were already standing. They hadn't even finished working on them yet, but the professor had already ordered more homes to be built. He just kept spurting out newer and newer creatures.

But, at least this day's work wouldn't be too difficult. Bezel and the slaves didn't have to do anything with those wooden beams for the time being; now that the weather had cleared out, they could start painting those houses that were already standing. Bezel found it fortunate that the beginning of the time loop happened on a sunny day like this one; constant rain would have been maddening.

"Why the hell did we need to bring those wooden beams, then?" Slug grumbled after Ormus explained the day's tasks. Bezel, Slug and Dunce would be priming one of the house's exterior, which would be then followed by white paint. The rest of the slaves were assigned to other houses.

"Lad, be glad painting is all we gotta do," Dunce jostled Slug's shoulder.

"I'm just saying that this is stupid. Stupid like your face," Slug jostled Dunce back. "Stuff isn't planned here properly. It's stupid."

"Ayy, lad, I think you just like to complain."

"Nah, it's just facts I'm sayin'. Right, Shoes? Help me out here a little."

"I'm not Shoes," Bezel said. "I told you already, call me Bezel from now on."

"No can do," Dunce said cheerfully. "Mistress called you Shoes, so Shoes you are. Better accept it, lad."

Slug chuckled. "Not lad, Dunce. You mean, better to accept it, Shoes. Right?"

"Hahaha, yes. Accept it, Shoes."

Bezel began to regret this nostalgic afternoon he had planned for himself. Dunce and Slug were about as smart as a sack of potatoes; it was a true wonder that ten years ago he had considered them as his friends. He must have had incredible patience back then. Patience, and smarts like a sack of potatoes.

"Don't freak out, but Professor Sylven's experiments are watching us," Bezel decided to change topics when they began setting up their ladders. If he didn't alert Dunce in time, the creatures would startle him so badly that he wouldn't stop screaming for two minutes straight.

"W-What?!" Dunce looked around frantically. "Where?"

If Bezel had ever doubted that Dunce had bad eyesight, this now confirmed it. There was no way not to notice the blue-skinned figures watching them from behind the newly-raised fence.

"What are they doing here?" Slug asked. "Did they sneak out?"

"We-We have to report this!" Dunce exclaimed. "They could be dangerous!"

"Calm down, Dunce. They are harmless." Bezel scaled the ladder and started to apply the primer. He had to hurry if he wanted to get some work done; in about an hour it would be impossible for him to work. "You can report it to Chief Ormus if you want, but he won't be able to do anything. The professor will eventually notice they are gone and collect them, don't worry."

"Ah-uh. Okay," Dunce said, but didn't move. "They are creepy."

"What the hell are they anyways?" Slug asked as he got to work. "Why do we need to build homes for them?"

Bezel was silent for a while, considering whether he should answer the question. Slug would cease to exist in one week; there was no real need to tell him anything. Still, it would be better to talk about this, than to listen to their inane jokes.

"They are Krinils," he told them. "You know what Krinils are, right?"

He could never be sure with this bunch.

"Of course!" Dunce said, finally tearing his eyes away from the blue figures. "Krinils are fairies."

"Nah, they are powerful beings from another world," Slug said, "They give power for Krinfused people."

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"That's what I said," Dunce grinned. "Fairies."

Slug frowned. "In Old Cook's tales, fairies aren't—"

"You are right Slug," Bezel interrupted him before they could start arguing about something entirely different. "As I was saying, those blue figures over there are basically Krinils. So far, people only managed to trap them in gems, but Professor Sylven had a breakthrough and now he is able to give them humanoid bodies."

Dunce nodded several times. "That's a nice word. Humo-noid. Where did you learn such things, Shoes?"

"Yeah, Shoes," Slug agreed. "You've always been a smarty-pants, but not this much, I think."

Bezel sighed, then continued to work in silence. He knew these guys didn't consider him a fun person to have a conversation with, but the feeling was mutual.

"But why?" Slug abruptly asked, several minutes later. "Why did he give them bodies?"

"It's just the first step of his plan," Bezel said. "You heard that business isn't going too well for House Dawngrove, right? Fewer and fewer Krinils become entrapped. Some say they are leaving this mountain."

"I would leave too, if I was a fairy," Dunce remarked. "I wouldn't enjoy getting trapped and put inside some fat noble's body."

"Yes, Dunce. So, this is only the first step. The professor gives them physical bodies. He lets them procreate—that is, he makes more of them. Then, he puts some of the new Krinils into the gems."

"They can do that?" Slug asked dubiously.

"Not yet, but that's what Professor Sylven is working on. First however, he is trying to get them make babies."

It was a mistake to word it like that, because Dunce immediately latched onto the topic and Slug joined him. They proceeded to annoy the hell out of Bezel, even though he did his best to ignore them. He didn't know whether the Krinils were able to have sex like humans, and honestly, he didn't even care. Those creatures had child-like bodies, and in their current state they were about as intelligent as a human baby. It felt wrong to talk about procreation when they were this young.

Supposedly, the reason behind the Krinils' condition was that their brain wasn't developed enough. During one of his talks with Professor Sylven, Bezel had learned that the Professor is secretly working on improving their mind; he wanted to give the Krinils brains that were on par with human ones. Bezel liked that about Richard Sylven. His project started because House Dawngrove was desperate for an alternate source of Krinil-gems, but it wasn't the money that motivated him. Richard Sylven lived for his research and strove to create something truly unique. He didn't want his creations to be bred like animals. He didn't want them to be harvested like crop. He wanted to make them sapient, capable of deciding their own fate.

"Oh no," Dunce whined, huddling on top of his ladder and looking down sheepishly. "Lads, they are coming closer!"

Bezel noted with a slight surprise that indeed, they were. It was earlier than he had expected; last time it took the Krinils more than an hour to gather their courage and approach them. He counted four of them, which was their usual number. Sometimes there were three, sometimes five, and he had no idea what induced these changes within the loop.

The closest Krinil was one he recognized very well. Lynn was the bravest among the Krinils, a girl who looked like a six-year-old. Some of Professor Sylven's creations appeared to be older, some a bit younger, but they were all very human-like. If this girl didn't have dark blue skin and a pair horns protruding from behind her ears, she would have passed as a normal human child. Well, a human child with amber-colored eyes, pointed ears, and silvery hair.

"Aaaah, it's watching me!" Dunce cried.

"Calm down, man," Slug chided Dunce. "Look how tiny it is. Won't hurt you one bit."

"But what if it's poisonous?!"

"They aren't warbeasts," Bezel said. "I already told you what they are, Dunce. There's no way they're poisonous."

"Y-Yeah? W-Well, they're still creepy. Fairies aren't supposed to walk these lands, I tell you! A-And stop being so calm, Shoes! The professor will have us punished if he thinks we stole his creatures!"

In the original timeline, they were indeed punished—Ormus whipped them personally—but for a different reason. If the Krinils weren't distracted by Bezel, some of them would eventually gather around Dunce's ladder. Dunce would then panic, pouring his whole bucket of paint on the poor creatures.

"It's— It's going for you, Shoes!"

Dunce continued whining, but Bezel just tuned him out and watched Lynn from the corner of his eyes. The girl stumbled towards his ladder with uncertain steps, much like a toddler who had learned to walk only recently. The other three Krinils were peeking around the corner of the house, watching him and Lynn curiously. Lynn eventually reached his ladder, clutching it with her tiny hands. She lost her balance and bumped her head into the ladder, the end of her curved horns clanging against the metal.

"Oii!" Dunce screamed. "It's attacking you!"

Bezel rolled his eyes, then started to climb down his ladder.

"Continue on without me," he spoke to Dunce, "I'll distract the Krinils and make sure they don't hurt themselves."

"Be careful, Shoes!" Dunce shouted. "Don't let them touch—oii!"

As soon as Bezel was down the ladder, the little girl reached out and grabbed the bottom of his shirt. Bezel patted her head cautiously, and she looked up to him, shooting him a wide smile.

"Gaaa," she gurgled.

"Hello, Lynn," Bezel whispered as he took one of her hands into his, engulfing it completely. "Let's go back to your brothers and sister, okay?"

"Aaava-gaa!"

"What is it saying?" Slug asked.

"No idea," Bezel said. "Just like babies, they cannot speak properly."

Making sure that Lynn could keep up, Bezel led her back to the other Krinils. They came forward one by one as they saw him approaching. Gonn was the tallest of the bunch, the top of his head reaching Bezel's chest.

"Oh, ooh, we are going to get into so much trouble because of this," Dunce whimpered.

Slug let out a sharp laugh. "See who's complaining now?"

"I'm not complaining, this is—"

"You are!"

"No! You're the one who always complains!"

Bezel left them to their usual argument and walked the Krinils back to the main building. The Krinils had a little garden there, presumably to acclimatize them to the weather. One of the balusters on the iron fence was bent out of shape however, giving Lynn and her siblings enough space to crawl out. Bezel didn't try to usher them back the way they came, because he knew from experience that it was a futile effort. Instead, he stopped just outside the main entrance and waited for Professor Sylven or one of the caretakers to show up. He had tried alerting them in the past, but frustratingly they never opened the door for him, not even if the Krinils clung all over him like now. Mik was hugging his leg, while Pam was doing his best to climb up on his back. Bezel let them do so, because he had no idea what he'd do with them otherwise. At least they weren't running away in different directions. That would have been a true nightmare.

Bezel felt a tug on his right hand, and when he looked down Lynn held up a flower towards him. She held it clumsily—some of the petals were squashed—but the gesture was unmistakable. It made Bezel furrow his brow; this hadn't happened before. If he remembered correctly, he had given Lynn a yellow flower once, but it had never been the other way around.

"Thank you, Lynn," Bezzel smiled as he accepted the gift. "That's a nice flower you found for me."

"Naaz! Naaiz!" Lynn babbled. "Naiz, bevvel!"

Bezel's eyes widened. "Lynn? What did you say?"

"Bevvel! Bev-bezze! Bezl!" She jumped up and down excitedly, waving her arms at him.

It could have been just incoherent babbling, but to Bezel it sounded as if Lynn was trying to say his name. He found it cute, but it raised a serious question as well.

How did Lynn know what Bezel's name was?