Chapter 52: A New Friend For Larry

The “summon” room of Fort Blackstone was finally, truly quiet.

The acrid, sulfuric stench of the [Rotten Legendary Dragon Egg] had fully dissipated, sucked into the fortress's ventilation shafts after Vera had teleported away with her delusional, hyper-maternal prize. The spectral mahogany conference table that Brenda had used to psychologically torture the anime harem was gone, leaving no trace behind but the lingering, depressing aura of a Monday morning meeting.

In the end, Sun Wukong stood up and started walking around Fort Blackstone, saying something about training.

The last thing that Mordecai said to her was "Don't destroy anything, please," followed by a "Okay, My Buddha."

Our beloved fake Necromancer stood alone in the center of the cold stone room, bathed in the harsh, sterile light of the magical neon tubes he had installed the week prior.

He slowly rolled up the sleeves of his heavy, dark Necromancer's coat, while Larry reached into the void and pulled on a fresh pair of thick, yellow rubber industrial gloves to give them to his master. They were identical in make and model to the ones he wore.

Mordecai immediately put on the gloves and then turned back to the stainless-steel surgical cart.

Resting on the polished metal was the pile of bones that Larry had taken.

They were not the glowing, rune-carved bones of an Ancient Skeletal Wyrm or the magically dense, unyielding remains of a fallen Paladin. They were just... bones. Brittle, graying, chipped, and completely mundane. They looked like they had been lying at the bottom of a damp, forgotten crypt for decades, ignored by adventurers and scavengers alike because they possessed absolutely zero monetary or statistical value.

Standing right next to the surgical cart, his cranial dome barely reaching the edge of the metal table, was Larry.

The skeletal janitor was vibrating. Literally. His entire frame was buzzing with a high-frequency, joyous anticipation that made his joints rattle like a set of castanets. The tiny white flames burning in his empty eye sockets had expanded, taking on the distinct, undeniable shape of shining, hopeful stars.

Larry raised his yellow-gloved hand and offered a perfectly executed, trembling thumbs-up 👍.

Mordecai looked down at the skeleton, and the heavy, cynical mask of the ruthless CEO completely melted away. He reached out and gently, affectionately patted the smooth, polished top of Larry’s skull. Pat pat.

"I know, buddy," Mordecai said, his voice softer and warmer than anyone in Aethelgard had ever heard it. "Let's make you a friend."

Mordecai took a slow, deep breath, centering his mana. He raised his right hand, preparing to channel his energy into the pile of mundane remains.

BZZZT!

The air violently distorted in front of his face. The peaceful, quiet atmosphere of the dungeon was instantly shattered by the blaring, obnoxious klaxon of the System. A massive, jagged, blood-red holographic interface exploded into existence, dripping with stylized digital blood and pulsating with dark, gothic energy.

[SYSTEM ALERT: SUPREME NECROMANCY INITIATED!]

[Target Material: Low-Tier Humanoid Skeletal Remains.]

[Recommendation: To maximize Audience Engagement and Viewer Retention, the System strongly advises the application of an 'Edgy Awakening' protocol!]

Mordecai’s purple eye twitched. He slowly lowered his hand, staring at the intrusive hologram with absolute, unadulterated loathing.

[SELECT YOUR SUMMONING CHANT:]

[Option A: "By the blood of the innocent and the tears of the damned, I bind thee to my eternal will! Rise, slave of the Abyss!"]

[Option B: "The light has forsaken you, but the shadows embrace you! Awake, my dark marionette!"]

[Option C (Premium VIP Request): Apply the [Gothic French Maid] cosmetic overlay and the [Yandere Subservience] personality matrix. Cost: 5,000 Mana.]

The Higher Realms chat overlay immediately popped up in the corner of his vision, scrolling furiously.

DarkSlayer69: "OPTION B! DO OPTION B! IT'S SO BADASS!"

Waifu_Hunter99: "OPTION C! OPTION C! WE NEED A SKELETON MAID! BONE WAIFU! BONE WAIFU!"

GoonerKing: "GIVE HER FISHNETS, KAITOYAMA! DO IT FOR THE STREAM!"

Mordecai closed his eyes. He took a very slow, very measured breath, actively fighting the urge to summon a localized EMP to fry the System’s servers.

"System," Mordecai said, his voice dropping into a register of terrifying, freezing calm. "Cancel all prompts. Override recommendation. Switch to manual mode."

[WARNING: Refusing a Premium VIP Request will result in a decrease in your Streamer Rating. Are you sure?]

"I am absolutely, unequivocally sure," Mordecai snarled, his purple eye flashing as he glared at the interface. "I am not doing this for your sick, twisted entertainment. I am not doing this to fulfill some degenerate, terminally online fantasy."

He looked down at Larry. The Janitor skeleton was looking back up at him, tilting his skull in pure, innocent confusion.

Scrik scrik.

Larry didn't understand the System's prompts, and he didn't know what a 'Gothic French Maid' was. Larry just wanted a friend.

"He is pure," Mordecai whispered, his voice thick with a sudden, fierce protective instinct. He pointed a gloved finger at the interface. "Larry is the only genuinely good, untainted thing in this entire godforsaken universe. He doesn't deserve ridiculous commodification. He doesn't deserve fanservice. And he certainly doesn't deserve to have his new companion treated like a cheap, disposable punchline."

Mordecai swiped his hand through the air, violently dismissing the red hologram, his voice dropping by an octave.

"I am the CEO. I write the company policy," Kaito stated, staring directly at the invisible cameras of the Higher Realms. "And the policy states that employee morale events are private, respectful, and strictly professional."

The chat went dead silent, thoroughly scolded by a man who radiated the exact, terrifying energy of a disappointed father turning the car around.

The place returned to its peaceful quiet.

Mordecai then turned his attention back to the surgical cart. He didn't close his eyes or make a pained, dramatic expression. He didn't summon violent, crackling purple lightning or swirling vortexes of abyssal smoke.

Instead, he treated his mana exactly like he treated a delicate electrical circuit. He visualized the flow of power, smoothing out the voltage, lowering the amperage, ensuring there were no surges or spikes. The magic that flowed from his fingertips wasn't a destructive force; it was a soft, gentle, pulsing blue-gray light, as calming as the glow of a low-wattage indicator bulb.

He let the gentle light wash over the pile of brittle bones.

"Awaken, soul," Mordecai said calmly, his tone conversational, as if he were simply waking someone up from a nap.

The mana seeped into the marrow.

There was no explosive shockwave. Instead, there was only a soft, rhythmic clatter.

The bones began to twitch.

The gray, chipped femurs aligned with the tibia. The vertebrae snapped into place, floating upward to form a spine. The ribcage knitted together, and finally, the skull rolled to the top, locking into the cervical vertebrae with a soft click.

The newly formed skeleton slowly sat up on the surgical cart, its joints creaking audibly. It swung its legs over the edge and hopped down, standing slightly stooped, its arms hanging limply at its sides. Tiny, incredibly dim white flames flickered weakly in its eye sockets.

The System obligingly provided a small, gray, entirely unenthusiastic pop-up screen.

[Summon Complete.] [Entity: Human Skeleton (Damaged) ]

[Level: 1 ]

[Stats: Strength: 1, Agility: 1, Intelligence: 0.5 ]

[Passive Skill: 'Rattle' (Makes a slight noise when walking). ]

[Utility Assessment: Highly ineffective for combat. Recommended uses: a tripping hazard for low-level adventurers, an organic doorstop, or a mild moral deterrent for amateur grave robbers.]

Mordecai dismissed the pathetic stat screen. He didn't care about its combat utility.

Instead, his practical, blue-collar mind began analyzing the physical structure of his new employee. In his past life, Kaito had occasionally picked up freelance gigs doing the specialized, high-voltage wiring for the medical imaging machines at a university anatomy lab. He had spent hours working around anatomical models and real human remains, picking up details mostly out of sheer boredom.

He looked closely at the skeleton standing before him.

He noticed the shape of the pelvic bone. The pelvic inlet was wider and more oval-shaped. The sub-pubic angle was broad, easily exceeding ninety degrees. The skull itself was slightly smaller, with a smoother, less pronounced brow ridge and a more rounded, delicate jawline compared to Larry's blockier structure.

"Well," Mordecai murmured to himself, crossing his arms. "The sub-pubic angle is a dead giveaway. You’re a female skeleton."

It made absolutely no difference to her capacity to hold a mop, but it was a factual observation.

At his feet, Larry was absolutely losing his mind.

The skeleton janitor was practically doing tap dances on the stone floor. He vibrated with such intense happiness that his bones sounded like a set of wind chimes in a hurricane.

He took a hesitant, incredibly excited step toward the new skeleton.

[SYSTEM ALERT: Familiar 'Larry' has experienced a profound emotional breakthrough!]

[New Social Skill Unlocked: 'Wave' (Level 1) 👋]

Larry stopped two feet away from the new skeleton. He raised his yellow-gloved hand, his jaw clattering in a wide, invisible smile, and performed a slow, exaggerated, incredibly wholesome wave.

Hello.

The new skeleton did not react.

She just stood there. Her shoulders were slumped, her jaw hung slightly open, and the dim lights in her eyes stared blankly at the wall behind Larry.

She was Level 1, so she possessed zero intelligence stats, zero personality matrices, and no life experience. She was, for all intents and purposes, an empty, mindless drone.

Larry’s wave slowly faltered. He lowered his hand, tilting his skull.

Scrik scrik.

He stepped closer and poked her gently on the shoulder.

She swayed slightly from the physical contact but otherwise remained perfectly still, a vacant, rattling automaton.

[SYSTEM PROMPT: Unnamed Undead Entity requires a designation for payroll and cataloging purposes.]

Mordecai looked at the mindless skeleton, and then at Larry, who was looking up at him with a hint of worry in his starry eyes.

"Carry," Mordecai said firmly, making the decision instantly. "Her name will be Carry."

Larry and Carry. The logistics department. It was simple, efficient, and perfect.

[Entity designated as: Carry.]

Larry, hearing the name, seemed to immediately shake off his momentary worry. If the Master had given her a name, that meant she was officially part of the team!

Larry sprang into action. He was the official Janitor and Solo Cleaner of dungeons, and it was his responsibility to ensure the new hire was presentable.

With a blur of motion, Larry pulled a pristine, white microfiber cloth from his void-inventory. He then hopped up onto a nearby footstool and began furiously, expertly polishing Carry’s skull, scrubbing away decades of crypt dust and grime until her bone shone with a pearlescent white gleam. After that, Larry adjusted her posture, physically moving her spine until she stood up a little straighter.

Then, Larry paused. He looked at Carry, tapping his chin with a rubber-gloved finger and realized that something was missing. The uniform wasn't complete.

Larry reached deep into the invisible, magical void of his inventory. He rummaged around for a few seconds before pulling out a slightly frayed, but perfectly clean, bright pink ribbon. Where he had gotten it—perhaps looted from a destroyed dungeon chest, or scavenged from a defeated adventurer—was a mystery.

With extreme care, Larry reached up and tied the pink ribbon into a neat, perfect little bow right on the top of Carry’s polished skull.

The exact millisecond the pink bow was secured, the atmosphere in the dungeon shattered.

It wasn't a dark, ominous shift in mana. It was a blinding, overwhelming, physics-defying surge of pure, concentrated wholesomeness. The concept of friendship and aesthetic care violently collided with the cold, hard logic of the LitRPG framework.

DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!

The System interface exploded into a frenzy of golden, sparkling notifications, unable to process the sheer emotional weight of the interaction.

[CRITICAL ANOMALY DETECTED!]

[Aesthetic Equipment 'Pink Bow of Friendship' equipped by Senior Familiar 'Larry'.]

[Resonance achieved! Empathic link established!]

[Entity 'Carry' is experiencing an unprecedented cascade of leveling!]

[Level 1... Level 5... Level 15... Level 30!]

[Evolution Requirements Met! Class Transferred: Mindless Drone -> Custodial Assistant.] [Downloading Personality Matrix... Source: Senior Familiar 'Larry'.]

A brilliant, warm golden light engulfed Carry.

When the light faded, she was no longer slumped. She stood perfectly straight, her posture mirroring Larry’s impeccable, eager stance. The dim, vacant flames in her eye sockets suddenly flared to life, burning with a soft, bright, incredibly expressive pinkish-blue light.

Carry 'blinked'. She looked down at her own hands, opening and closing them. Then, she looked up and saw Larry standing in front of her.

Larry immediately took a step back, suddenly realizing what he had done. The confident Senior Janitor completely evaporated. He raised a rubber-gloved hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it nervously.

He then looked down at the stone floor, kicking his foot slightly, visibly embarrassed by the sheer magnitude of the miracle he had accidentally caused. He was acting shy.

But he was still pure since he was still Larry. And he knew exactly how to welcome a new friend.

Larry reached into his void-inventory one last time.

He didn't pull out a legendary weapon or a health potion.

Instead, he just pulled out a perfectly clean, gleaming, stainless-steel spoon.

It was the ultimate symbol of his power, his hygiene, and his philosophy. He held the spoon out toward Carry, offering it to her like a knight offering a sacred relic to a queen, or like penguins do with their soulmate.

And then, trembling slightly with nervous hope, Larry gave her a thumbs-up 👍.

Carry looked at the spoon, and then at the pink bow on her head, reflected in the polished metal. Her pinkish-blue eyes formed the distinct shape of happy, crescent moons.

She reached out and took the spoon, gripping it firmly.

And then, with absolute, flawless execution, Carry raised her free hand and gave Larry a thumbs-up in return 👍.

Standing a few feet away, watching the entire exchange, Mordecai felt a physical weight lift off his chest. The heavy, protective armor of the Dark Lord, the cold calculations of the CEO, the lingering, bitter trauma of his past life—for this one, singular, fleeting moment, it all completely vanished.

He wasn't a corporate monster. He was just Kaito.

A profound, impossibly warm smile spread across his face. It reached his eyes, softening the harsh purple glow into something gentle and deeply human. He looked at the two little skeletons, communicating entirely through thumbs-ups and shiny cutlery, and his heart swelled with an emotion he hadn't felt in a very, very long time.

It was pride. It was the purest, most unadulterated form of fatherly pride.

"I hope you are happy, Larry," Mordecai said, his voice barely above a whisper, thick with genuine emotion.

Larry turned around and saw the smile on his Master's face.

The skeleton put his own spoon away. He didn't walk; he sprinted. Larry ran across the stone floor, his bones clattering joyously, and threw his arms around Mordecai’s waist, burying his face into the heavy dark fabric of the Necromancer's coat in a fierce, tight hug.

Mordecai froze.

He could feel the cold, hard, unyielding bone pressing against him. There was no body heat, no heartbeat, no soft flesh. Logically, it was a terrifying embrace from an undead monster.

But to Kaito’s soul, it felt like the warmest, safest, most profoundly comforting thing in the entire world. It felt like love. It felt like the unconditional, innocent love of a child hugging their father after he had built them the perfect toy.

Mordecai slowly lowered his hands. He wrapped his arms around the little skeleton, returning the hug, resting his chin gently on the top of Larry's polished skull. He closed his eyes, soaking in the quiet, absolute purity of the moment.

"You did well, buddy," Mordecai murmured into the quiet dungeon. "You did really well."

After a few long, quiet seconds, Larry stepped back. He looked up at Mordecai, gave one final, incredibly firm thumbs-up, and then turned back to Carry.

Mordecai straightened his posture, clearing his throat lightly, the warm smile never leaving his face.

"Larry," Mordecai ordered, his voice returning to a calm, steady rhythm, though the corporate edge was entirely gone. "Take Carry with you. Show her the supply closets. Explain the color-coding system for the mops. Teach her everything you know."

Larry saluted sharply. Carry, mirroring him perfectly, also saluted with her spoon.

Together, the two skeletons turned and marched toward the heavy oak doors of the dungeon, hand in hand.

Clack. Clack. Clack. went Larry’s feet. Scrik. Scrik. Scrik. went Carry’s joints.

Mordecai stood alone in the center of the room, watching them disappear down the dimly lit corridor, their synchronized footsteps echoing into the distance until the dungeon was perfectly quiet once more.

He let out a long, slow breath, looking up at the stone ceiling.

His mind, unbidden, drifted across the boundaries of dimensions and time. It drifted back to the cramped, noisy streets of Edogawa. It drifted back to the tiny apartment that always smelled faintly of cheap curry and damp concrete.

It drifted back to Lucy.

He thought about the velvet box hidden in his toolbox. He thought about the ring he had spent months working overtime to afford. He thought about the future he had desperately tried to build—a house with a garden, a quiet life, maybe a dog. Maybe children.

A family.

He had died before he could ever know what that felt like. He had died believing he was completely, utterly unlovable.

Mordecai placed a hand over his chest, feeling the slow, steady rhythm of his own heart, still warmed by the ghostly sensation of the little skeleton's hug.

"I wonder..." Kaito whispered to the empty room, a melancholic but deeply peaceful smile touching his lips. "...how it would have been, to have a real family. Is this what it feels like?"

He lowered his hand, his purple eye glowing softly in the dark.

"I don't mind it," he murmured. "I don't mind it at all..."

Then a System notification appeared in front of him.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: HERO NICK HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN HUMILIATED BY BRENDA AND HAS SIGNED A NDA.]

[REVENGE QUEST STATUS: 48%, THE HIGHER REALMS WANT YOU TO HUMILATE HIM EVEN MORE]

[NOTIFICATION FROM THE HIGHER REALMS: LORD VOID_OF_REBIRTH HAS SENT YOU A PRIVATE MESSAGE: I am so sorry about the amount of incompetence you have to deal with. id offer to send you a mascot but I feel that something would go *very* wrong in the process. Also, idea for your ability to gain power via eating things: Try eating magic? like, an outright spell? Anyway, good luck and good day!]

Mordecai's eyes widened.

"Oh? A God with empathy? I thought people like this were extinct. And..." He rubbed his chin. "Eating... magic? I've never tried. But you just gave me a wonderful idea. Guess I'm gonna pay a visit to the blonde guy with a chronic visible ED in the guild." He said, with a malicious smirk.

In that moment, Mordecai received another system notification.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: PYROAS OF THE PRIMORDIAL FIRE WANTS TO PRIVATELY TALK WITH YOU. SHE HAS REQUESTED A PRIVATE APPOINTMENT.]

"Oh? Pyroetta wants to talk? I guess that is something important then." He said, before using his telepathy to call for Ugo.

'Ugo, open a portal to the main hall and tell Pyroetta to wait me in my office.' He said.

'As you wish, My leader.' In that moment, a purple portal opened, and Mordecai immediately stepped in.

'I wonder what is going on in her mind...'