This was the city of Shiranu. The ruins, at least.
It had... changed a bit as of late.
The dry dead hills were now small jungles encroaching on the parks, the palaces, the rotundas and creeping up the tall towers. A heavy air had been replaced by swarms of colorful birds and fireflies that flew as high as the highest tops.
Under the hill's terraces, valleys of ruined houses had now filled with boiling water. Yes, the ancient water system had overflown and the crumbled canals and waterfalls did not help.
Starved monsters that had lingered in those depths were now happily murdering each other on the hill's terraces. Magic circles kept flashing in the night shade.
Oh yes. That too. The night had come.
I got up, looked at the repaired roof and started to feel my whole body ache. Not from restoring this mansion, that was nothing. From much earlier. A pain that had subsided this whole time and was finally flaring up.
This was the signal to stop. To go down and inside, in the now lavish hallways.
The human was still in her bath. Swimming back toward the soap, all the way across the pool. She still seemed troubled by the water flowing down from the walls and columns.
"Mistress," I informed her, "the mansion is repaired."
Not really, but close enough.
She had been startled by my voice, looked around in the empty bathroom. I was standing behind the door, not daring to enter as she ordered.
"I told you not to call me mistress."
I could not imagine insulting her with madam or milady.
"Have you remembered your family name?" I asked, as a diversion.
"No." She sighed. "Just Ji-Ah. I can't even remember the name of the street..."
It didn't seem to bother her that much.
"Eh," she continued, "you say I'm here to save the world, but I'm still not clear on... how."
I had no idea either: "Just you being here has brought life back to the city. If I may suggest, just you being here seems enough."
"Oh!" She let out a long moan. "That would be wonderful! You know, I still can't believe this is happening!"
Me neither.
I repeated that her bed was ready, then fell silent in the hallway. Waiting for her to come out, to guide her to her room. Sure, she could likely find it herself but what kind of servant...
I had started scribbling on the wall.
The mistress is relaxing. She keeps talking about a system and skill points. I wish I knew about that human marvel so I could help her. The mistress is relaxing. She keeps talk I repaired the mansion. I still need to wax carpets and tapestries. The mistress is relaxing. She She is looking for a family name. She is happy here. She won't leave. The mistress is relaxing. She is talking ab She won't leave.
"Stop it!"
The human was holding my arm. I looked at her, looked at the rock in my hand, then at the wall where someone had written a whole series of words. "She won't leave" repeated a lot.
Her hair were still wet.
"What are you doing?! What's wrong with you!" She held tight.
"I was... reporting my activity..." I answered.
Why? To whom? My mistress was right there and I had already told her. No, wait, was it me who had written those words?
"I will take you to your room."
"Stop!" She ordered. "You can't pretend that this is not happening!"
I had spent my whole service doing just that, for as far as I could remember. But a human's wish was absolute.
"Then, mistress, if I could trouble you with something..."
Soon enough we were in the bedroom, me seated on the levitating field and her uncomfortably behind, looking below my nape. She had taken off the plate.
"Okay, there is another plate under it. What should I do?"
"Sorry, I had forgot." I was wearing an extra layer to look appealing now. "Please remove it too. There should be soft clay after that."
She obliged and I jolted the moment the clay was exposed. Not a problem. My whole body was still suffering anyway.
"Now, you should find a stone tablet in that clay, with inscriptions on it."
Her hand plunged in what was the equivalent of flesh for a clay golem. I tried not to move as much as possible...
... And I was on the ground. Slowly waking up, thrashing a bit before getting a grip.
"Are you alright?!" The human was panicking. "You scared me!"
She had removed the stone tablet. Then put it back because I was moving again.
"I am fine. Can you see the inscriptions on the tablet?"
"Dude, you fell dead on the floor!"
"That tablet is essentially my power core." I simplified. "Feel free to take it out."
"Forget it! I see symbols on it, what now?"
"They should have faded." They should have vanished long ago. "Could you reinscribe them? Just tracing over the existing symbols would be enough."
I had tried to do it myself but, well, human craftsmanship is never that simple.
But yes, I was basically dying. Weeks or months away from a breakdown.
"And if I do it wrong?"
"Then I die." I stated.
Why that caused her so much concern was beyond me and not my place to question. She went to work with so much care that it dragged on for a ridiculous amount of time.
"There!" She finally let out, her tension released. "Can I close your back now?!"
"Thank you, yes." And as she did: "You should rest. I will see that you get proper bedding tomorrow."
"Just... go rest too." She pushed me with a hand. "I would feel bad if you worked while I slept."
"As you wish. Goodnight, mistress."
"Ji-Ah!" She shouted while I left.
There was no real way to obey her command, so I just walked down the hallway, then stopped and stood there, waiting. If that's what the human wants!
Resting? Leaving aside that a golem doesn't need rest, and that magic was energizing, it would take days or weeks for my body to stop burning inside. Old wounds lasted the longest.
Still, the moment I felt the vibrations of her leaving the bed, with the instruction fulfilled I darted to the dining room.
She came down by herself, entered the room in turn and got welcomed by sunrise. Colors brimming from the stained glasses. Gilded moldings adorned the walls, surrounding a row of tall mirrors. Chandeliers on the ceiling.
Yes, it was paltry, I did not have the night to work on it!
I pulled out her seat, before her prepared breakfast:
"Caviar, omelette, croissants, wagyu benedict, melon, soufflé..."
"What's this for?" She cut, her finger pointed toward the breakfast tray.
"In case you wanted to eat in bed."
"You don't have to... thanks for the meal." She gave in.
At her request, I went and opened the window while she sat to eat. The clamors of battle carried in the room along with unimpeded daylight.
She looked embarrassed during her whole breakfast. No idea why.
Then, the young lady asked to go out, enjoy the fresh air. Again, no idea why she would even ask. It was her mansion, she could do anything she wished.
"Of course, mistress."
And once she finally allowed me to go work again, I left her to enjoy the restored, overgrown garden while I finished the interior.
I stopped in the great hall.
What could I say? It looked shiny and clean, bright, regal even! And the painting was missing. The painting of the human family that had lived here. Now that I was repaired, it would not even reappear as an illusion.
Did humans care, if that painting was missing? It felt like humans would care. My mistress didn't. Maybe humans didn't care and I shouldn't either.
Back to melting.
First, stone to sand. That part was easy, just a lot of grinding. Second, sand to thread. If not for all the mana around, I would never have been able to get it right; the silk flowed through my fingers. Third, weaving.
Ah ah ah, no, I was not going to knit entire tapestries. Just iron the threads to melt them together in a pasta that took the right texture upon cooling. It was crude, but faster.
And the only way I knew to get everything ready before the night.
"Eh!" My mistress called. "Uh, golem!"
I abandoned my task to join the human back in the garden. She was looking at a tower on the nearest hill.
The tower was eaten up by mushrooms.
Fibrous stems pulsated like muscles all around the walls, with oyster caps at intervals forming their own terraces. Magic had done wonders on that old parasite.
"Is that normal?" The human asked. "The system says it's a monster."
"It is." I confirmed, a bit tense. "That thing used to rule the city before the oroc. Then the oroc got replaced by the bull horde and now, well, you are here!"
"Want me to kill it?" The young lady wondered aloud.
"Yes."
I was looking at it. It was looking at us. The parasite was a beast on the prowl, just as voracious as the others and far more indirect when ensnaring its prey.
For that coward to show itself, it had a plan.
"Okay!" My mistress rejoiced. She rolled her shoulder and summoned her mace. "I have a lifetime of payback left in me!"
"I want... to speak..." The parasite spoke.
She froze, then looked at me.
"It spoke? That thing can speak?"
"Yes." All monsters could. "Don't listen to it."
"I want... to speak..." The parasite repeated.
From the neighboring hill, that coward was projecting its low, rasping voice at the garden, careful not to let it spread around. Few monsters even noticed. None paid attention.
Because there was no point in talking. Monsters hunted for magic. There was nothing to discuss.
"Alright, I'm listening." My mistress lowered her guard.
"Give me mana..." The parasite went on.
Called it!
"Give me mana... And I will protect your hill..."
"What is this, a racket?" She sneered. "You think I'm stupid, eh?"
"I will serve you... like the golem..."
She was about to retort, paused and looked at me. Then at the towering mushroom. What? She knew better than to listen to a parasite! Right?
"Okay...?" The young lady hesitated, still defiant. "You really expect me to just take your word for it?"
"Korion... The bull horde will come for you... When he does... I will be on your side..." It wasn't struggling to talk. Just pausing a bit too long each time. "But give me mana..."
My mistress turned to me: "Eh, can we give gramps some mana?"
"Gramps..." I was... I was. "No! I mean yes, you are giving it mana right now! But no, why?!"
"Eh, gramps!" She was ignoring me. "So all I have to do is let you stand around and you'll do what I say?"
"Yes..."
"Deal!"
Followed by a laundry list of rules, but I could not be bothered to listen to it. Why?! I had so many thoughts right now I could not even begin...
But the deal was done. She wanted to go back in, visit the Amber pavilion some more. She was in a better mood now.
I was watching her propose where to add pots and flowers in the stern hallways.
"Mistress, if I may..." I tried.
"Sure! Ask anything!"
"You are going to feed that parasite for free?!" I let out and her expression changed completely. "That monster can't be trusted! All it cares about is absorbing magic!"
"I get that you are worried" she chose her words with care "but it sounds like a fair deal to me. If anything we're extorting him."
"That thing is incapable of making deals! It's a monster!"
"What if he isn't?"
He is!
"It used to enslave the city! Using toxins to have the monsters walk to him so he could devour them! It is incapable of even the slightest..."
"Shut up!"
I froze. Before me, the young lady was shaking in anger.
"Just shut up! I don't care about his record, I don't care about his reputation! He is a living, breathing creature just like us!"
I didn't breathe! Also, I was made by humans!
She was nearing tears.
"I'm going to give him a chance and if you don't like it, then you can find someone else to save your stupid world!"
I fell on my knee.
"My sincerest apologies, I should not have..."
"And stop it! With the fawning! If you can't be friendly then, then don't say anything!"
She left me there and I, silent, could process it all too well.
I had questioned the infinite wisdom of humanity. I had doubted my mistress and broken her joy. And I had no excuse. I had never felt this broken before.
The next day, an old parasite was back in control of the city.