Chapter 299 – Re: Turner

Day 40 (Continued)

"Thank you for saving me. I will be forever in your debt!" The little creature said, falling on her hands and knees in front of him, pushing her head to the floor.

“Sorry, Rou, but she insisted on meeting you as soon as she woke up,” Ee said, standing behind the prone Carbuncle. 

"It’s fine, Ee,” John said, putting his book down. He was in the library giving magic lessons to Mi when Ee showed up with the now-conscious Carbuncle. “I'm glad you're feeling better. Please stand up. It wasn't just me who helped you; several members of our village did. Ee was the one who pulled you out of the mines to begin with." 

"When time permits, I would like to thank them as well, but another issue is more pressing. I hate to ask of you anything further, but I need your help. Humans are invading my master's treasury, and I am unsure if I have the power to repel them."

"You mean the adventurers down in the mine? We already captured and executed them. Unless there were more than six of them, your master's home should be clear of them." 

Still processing the loss of Sei, he hadn't explored the dungeon yet, or ordered anyone else to do so. Without their resident mage, he thought it might be dangerous for anyone else to search the place, and he just hadn't been ready to tackle it yet. He was glad he didn't, as it appeared to be owned by whoever was this Carbuncle's master, and he didn't want to cross anyone who had that kind of power.

"Truly? Then I’m even further in your debt." She said, dropping back down to her knees again. 

"I'm just happy you're okay." He replied, then belatedly introduced himself. "My name is Rou, and I am the lord of this village."

"Apologies, Lord, where are my manners? My name is Returner, and I'm the guardian of my master's treasury."

"It's nice to meet you. Really, stand up, or at least take a seat. I don't want to loom over you anymore than I have to." He said, gesturing to a nearby couch. "So it’s a treasury behind that door? Honestly, we were breaking into it as well, though we didn't know it was someone's treasury at the time. We thought it might have been an old temple or something akin to that, buried deep in our mine, and we wanted to know what was inside."

"That explains why the barrier magic was being assaulted in two spots. I couldn't defend both entrances at the same time, and once I determined that humans were coming in from one of them, I focused my attentions there. My master hated humans." She said, finally getting up from the floor and meeting his gaze. She really did have a doll-like appearance; her two black eyes looked like beans, though they would shift their shape a bit as her expressions changed. 

She might be a foot and a half tall doll, but she has a hell of a lot of magic power compressed into her body. Makes me wonder how those adventurers managed to damage her to begin with.

"He hated them?"

"Yes. He kept his treasures as far away from humans as possible, and instructed me to make sure they never got a hold of them once he was gone."

"Gone? Is he away? Or is he... dead?"

"He died long ago. When he was alive, he created me as an assistant, and to watch over his things once he passed away. He was adamant that humans should not possess the powerful artifacts he had collected and stored there and to do anything in my power to ensure they never would."

"Returner, have you been alone all this time?" He asked, remembering that Sei had told him the magic warding the door was ancient. 

"Yes. It has been... difficult, but I had my duty to keep me going." She said, a tinge of sadness entering her voice for a moment, before she continued in a much happier tone. "I would like to serve you, Lord, if you'll have me."

"Serve me? Why?"

"I feel connected to you, like I did my old master. Before I was injured, I felt compelled to stay in the treasury, maintaining the place and guarding over those things. Now, that impulse is gone, replaced with a desire to serve you." She said, crossing her arms at her waist and bowing her head to him. "I can be of great service to you. I have a vast repertoire of magic, and have a fair amount of experience as my former master's personal assistant. I can even disable all the traps in the treasury if you wish, so you may make use of my former master's artifacts."

He didn't answer right away, chewing over her words for a few moments. It was an unexpected windfall indeed.

She feels drawn to me? That is probably because of the Ki that Pande used to mortar her core back together. I have no idea how I would even go about fixing that, though it couldn't hurt to have another set of hands here. Not to mention that I would love a chance to learn more magic.  

He felt a tinge of guilt at that last thought, remembering how Sei was teaching him the magic she knew, but continued on. "Are you aware that we have humans living in our little village here?"

"Yes, Lord. I saw a few of them on our way to meet you."

"And you have no problems with that?"

"No, Lord. You're the one in power, not them. Even my former master had human servants in the past; he just didn't trust those who sought to take his power for their own gain. Which, inevitably, was most of the ones he had encountered. I will do my best to guard you from the ones who would do the same."

"If I said no. What would you do?"

"Lord?"

"Rou? What are you saying? She needs our-" Ee started to say, but he raised his hand to silence her.

"A moment, Ee." He said, then turned his gaze back to Returner. "If I told you no, I don't want you, what would you do?"

"I... I don't know. Most of my existence has been in the treasury, but I no longer wish to return there. I... guess I would try and find a new master... somewhere." She said, an expression he could only call lost coming across her face.

He nodded, glancing at Card to confirm the impression he was getting from her.

[Name - Returner]

[Race - Artificial Carbuncle]

[Class - Archmagi]

[Age - 455]

[Birthday - December 25th]

[Aliases - Treasury Guardian, Hey You, Servant, Slave, Pole Polisher, Magical Onahole]

[Likes - Magic, Reading, Order, Her Master, Baths, Sunshine]

[Dislikes - Anyone trying to hurt her master, rats, filth, thieves]

[Virgin - No]

[Cup Size - Bite size]

[Sexual Preferences - Making her master feel good, feels pleasure only when giving pleasure]

[Favourite Positions - Whatever gives her master pleasure]

[While mostly flesh and blood, Returner is an artificial being whose sole purpose was to aid her former master, the archwizard Velvet.]

[While she has a great degree of autonomy for a construct, even developing her own unique personality, she will be influenced by whoever her master is, and will slowly assume their biases and beliefs as she becomes more familiar with them.]

[Due to his reclusive nature, Velvet had no significant other in his later life, so he had added several things to Returner's body so she could take care of his needs whenever they arose.]

[She was initially considered just a tool by Velvet, but in his twilight years he felt a growing attachment to her, so he modified her to add a process so she felt pleasure from acts of servitude and satisfying his waning sexual needs, even though it is physically impossible for her to reproduce in a biological sense.]

[Now that she has been repaired, she feels compelled to serve you, and already sees you as her new Master.]

[She is excited at the thought of meeting new people and having new experiences. She is worried you won't accept her as a servant.]

[Current Thoughts - Why doesn't he want me? Did I say something wrong? I just want to serve him in whatever capacity he will allow.]

He ignored the sexual parts of her description; he had more than enough women willing to 'Polish his Pole' these days. He didn't need what seemed to be a cross between a miniature woman and a sentient magical robot to do it as well. Instead, he focused on the last part of the information and her current thoughts. 

Her world was just turned upside down. Now she is just trying to make the best of the situation. 

He stood, then knelt in front of the short woman. "Returner, I will accept you into my service, but we will have to have a discussion about what you can do before I know what that role will look like. Also, I have to tell you a bit more about myself, as I am not exactly your typical ogre."

"Of course, my Lord. I, Returner, humbly pledge myself into your service." She said, collapsing to the ground again and pressing her head to the floor.

"Easy, I don't need that much deference. A simple bow of the head is more than enough." He said, pinching the back of her dress with two fingers and standing her back on her feet. The sand-coloured skin on her cheeks actually blushed red at his touch. "For now, let's get you acquainted with the mansion and the technology that is in here. You will find it is very different than the magic you are accustomed to. Also, I know nothing about your race. Do you need food or sleep?"

"I can eat, my Lord, but I do not require it to survive. My former master added that to me so he had someone to share meals with. I don't sleep as you would, unless I exhaust most of my mana. Usually I just sit still and fall into a trance for short periods of time as my mana recharges." She replied, then cast a spell on herself, causing her to float upwards until she was eye level with him. 

"Okay then. Let me show you around the place. Ee, Mi, care to join us?"

"Yes!" They both replied, the pair of them appearing fascinated with the small woman. He couldn't blame them; he had never met anyone quite like Returner before either, and he had more life experience than all of the goblins in the village put together. A lot more.

With that, the four of them left the library and began the tour, the two hobgoblins wrapping their arms around his waist, while Returner rode on his shoulder. He had no idea what prompted her to do that, but it made it easy for them to talk and was much better than worrying about stepping on her by accident. 

Maybe tomorrow I'll grab a few people and explore this treasury with her. More magic tomes would be great, and who knows, there might be something we can use for the village. Actually, I'll see if Sato wants to come along. She has been a bit aimless, and it would be good to give her something to do. 

Day 41

"Rou, these weapons and armours are amazing!" Sato said, rummaging through the pile of treasures in Velvet's Treasury. "I'm not even sure what this sword does, but I feel drawn to it." She continued, brandishing a blade that reminded him of a great sword, albeit much narrower.   

"Then take it. It's all yours." He replied, not really paying too much attention to the excited Hobgoblin as he and Returner were busy loading treasures into his new item box. It was true, there were plenty of enchanted weapons down here, most of which were quite powerful, but he was more interested in other things. Like the item box, the assortment of magical rings that Velvet had stashed away, and all the more mundane magic items that would make everyday life easier.

A wet stone that will sharpen a blade to a razor's edge just by touching it. A box that floats around and cleans and polishes the floors without any input from the user. A floating watering can that will automatically water a garden. A paintbrush that automatically changes its colour to whatever the user wants. A stack of mana batteries a user can pull out to replenish their mana if needed or power other magical equipment.

The list went on and on, and Returner made sure he knew what everything did as they stored them away in the box. It wasn't infinite, but it made Gulgar's magic bag seem rather mundane in comparison.  

"Oh! This armour is so cool! Look! It even fits!" She said a few minutes later, interrupting Returner's explanation of how one of the rings worked.

He stopped loading for a moment and turned to her, a smile forming on his lips at how happy she looked. It was the first time he had seen her smile since Sei had been killed. Even with the two shoulder plates, the armour looked more like a dress than armour you would wear into combat, though on closer inspection, the blouse was actual plate as well, just dyed in a way to make it seem almost like cloth. The ensemble had three shades of red, with gold trim along the edges.  

"It looks beautiful on you. It matches your eyes." He said. He had noticed her eyes were getting even redder lately, and her hair was lightening from purple to more of a maroon. "Hey, what level are you at right now?"

"Huh?  Umm... ninety-four. Why?" She said, squinting her eyes for a moment to check her level, causing her nose to wrinkle up cutely.

"You changed a bit since we met, and I was wondering if you were about to evolve." 

"Evolve? I'm five years old; I'm practically an old woman. I doubt I can evolve again." She said, placing the sword on her back. It hung there, blade bare, as if a magnet held it in place.

"I'm not so sure about that. I think we should go hunting soon and see if we can push you to a hundred." He replied. He wanted to test a theory. So far, everyone who had evolved had shown physical signs before it happened. Generally, he observed a change in hair or eye colour when they were close to evolving. There were a few hobgoblins in the village who had hit level one hundred and had not evolved, but they had shown no physical signs of changing either.

"Can we take Ruby with us?" 

"That would be nice. I was actually thinking about bringing some others with as well. Maybe make an overnight trip out of it." He replied, having noticed slight changes in Mi, Ee, and Chi as well. He also wanted to go fishing, and there were plenty of lakes in the direction of Riana's old tree.

Yeah, we have been working hard; Let's go have a relaxing camping trip once Riana returns. I just wish I had a boat.

"That could be fun. So what else do you want to take out of this storeroom?" She said, carrying an armful of weapons over to the item box and depositing them under Returner's watchful gaze.

"Just keep loading it; this box has an incredible amount of space inside." He turned back to Returner. "Are there other treasures your former master has stored away?" 

"Books in his library, and then there are the treasures in his throne room, though those are mainly gold, jewels, spirit stones, and his personal equipment." She replied, watching each item go into the box, then taking a moment to organize the content list being generated on the back of the lid. "And... his body."

"His body? You mean he is still in there?"

"It’s where he wanted to rest, so I left him there."

"Why do I suddenly feel like I'm raiding a grave?" 

"No, no, no. It's fine. I'm sure he would have preferred to see his treasures being put to good use. He just didn't want some human kings stealing it and waging wars on others just because they now had a new source of power. He didn't like needless killing and worked to prevent that as much as he could. At least when he wasn't researching new magic spells." She said, placing a hand on her little hip and wagging a finger in front of her. " 'Make love, not war' was something he would say frequently when he went on about human nobles and their lust for gaining more power."

"That's something I can get behind." He replied. "Now, let's keep loading up. The cooks told me they have something amazing planned for dinner, and I don't want to be late."

The two new cooks, Alma and Felicia, were slightly different from the Provisioner; both had trained more to feed large groups of people than to imbue food with magical properties. Since they took over cooking for the mansion residents, he swore he put on ten pounds. He even joked with them that if they cooked like that all the time, they would make wonderful wives someday, causing them to blush sweetly. He received a few pouts from Mi, Ruby, and Ee about that, but he laughed it off. 

That was when he found out the Provisioner had wrangled Chi into something of a relationship, and congratulated them, even gifting them a couple of their bottles of wine to celebrate their union. 

I wonder if we could grow our own grapes here. The land is a bit wet for them, but the hillside is dry. Actually, if we can get some rye, corn, and a few other grains, I can make a mash and start distilling our own whiskey. It won't happen this time, but maybe whenever we return to this world. Once we are done taming the nearby lands, it will give me something to do that I think I'd enjoy doing.

John hummed happily to himself as he stuffed more items into the box, idly listening to Returner as she gave him short descriptions of each item they were placing inside. He jumped slightly when Sato snuck up behind him and gave him a big hug, but he returned it in full before picking up the crate and following Returner to the throne room, happy that she was smiling again. 

While he didn't know it then, soon enough there would be more reasons for others to be smiling as well.