Chapter: 492 – Let’s Be Off

Tala and Rane hesitantly stood on a snowy mountainside, sharing a look that conveyed almost as much as the Archive-enabled conversation that passed between them. One thing about that portion of the situation struck Tala as funny: Tala stood atop the snow, and Rane stood in it, making them nearly the same height, but Tala didn’t let that distract her.

She didn’t even let the fact that this boy shared a name with Master Simon draw her thoughts away.

She and Rane agreed to take it slow and try diplomacy first before moving forward, toward the boy who was cradling Terry. Rane spoke for them this time, “Hello, Simon, I’m Rane. This is my wife, Tala. Is our friend there, Terry, free to leave if he wants?”

It was an odd first question to ask a random child found in the wild, but Tala didn’t begrudge Rane the wording. After all, it lined up with the trepidation they both felt.

Even without any visible magical aura or anything odd about him, the boy was… different somehow.

This child was alone in the wilds, at least fifty miles from any settlement, outpost, caravan route, or research station that they knew about. And yet he showed no fear, nor relief at being found by adults. Instead, he was seemingly making a barrel’s worth of ice cream… for himself?

He was too small to have carried the barrel by mundane means, and he was clearly pulling the candies from something like a bound dimensional space.

Moreover, both Tala and Rane had detected the minute flickers of dimensional magic when Terry had tried to move away—with the weight of both Tala and Rane’s magics behind him—and he’d failed to even budge.

Simon tilted his head to the side, his close-shorn white hair swaying in the breeze. “Oh, please no. I have use of him still…”

Tala could see every layer of the boy’s body due to her threefold sight, and he looked utterly human except for one thing.

-There’s no food in his digestive tract.-

Yeah, his stomach, intestines, and colon are completely empty and immaculately clean, except for the chewed remnants of a few dozen pieces of candy.

-Kidneys and bladder too.-

It’s like someone constructed a human body according to a detailed set of schematics without bothering to use it properly.

It was… odd. Did this boy-formed creature just eat sweets?

His heart beat in a perfect rhythm, without variation or stutter. The lungs filled with air and the other processes seemed to be working without a hitch.

Rane glanced Tala’s way, sending a message through Enar.

|Do we still want to handle this diplomatically? I don’t really like leaving Terry where he doesn’t want to be.|

Let me try to talk with him. Alat, can you find a way of asking Lisa if he knows anything that would help? She’d had the thought as the fox-kin was a ready source of knowledge and older than she really knew.

-Will do.-

Tala took a step forward. “Simon, we are on a trip. We can spend some time with you, but only if we can then go on our way. All of us.”

The little boy frowned. “Wait…” He seemed genuinely confused. “Are you… afraid of me?” He swallowed visibly. “Why? What did I do wrong? Are you usually afraid of children?”

Tala hesitated. “No, but children don’t usually manage to restrain Refined level, bound companions with such ease.”

Simon looked genuinely perplexed. “He’s trying to escape?”

“Yes.”

The little boy looked down at Terry, shoulders hunching. “And he’s really Refined?”

It was Tala’s turn to frown. “Yes.”

“Oh… well… can we just ignore that then, please?” He looked up and met her gaze, something passing between them in a blink.

Tala blinked a few times. What were we… Right. She smiled toward the boy. “So, what can we do for you?”

-Oh, RUST no.- Alat’s voice cracked like a whip within her head, and Tala blinked again, immediately realizing that Simon had nudged her mind.

Alat instantly confirmed that it was non-invasive—not really mind magic—but more of a strong suggestion. She would have remembered everything after they left. If we would have been able to leave. “Simon, that wasn’t very nice.”

It was his turn to look taken aback. “Oh! Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. I just…” He looked down and away again. “I just really do simply want you to sample my ice cream and candies.” He grimaced. “This has all gone wrong. It is so hard to find customers at this stage in your strange city cycle. I was lonely, and then this wonderful creature came by and…”

Tala was about to respond when Alat interjected. -Well, I’ll be. Lisa says that Simon is a known entity. Though, truthfully, not much is known about him. He likes making treats, and he will occasionally give advice or insight, if he likes you. Everyone who has received such and spoken about it conveyed that it was good or true. No one has ever been harmed by his creations to Lisa’s knowledge.-

Well… alright then. Convey that to Rane and Terry, too?

-Already done.-

Rane stepped forward with a smile. “I’d love to try some.”

Simon gave him a flat look, mild sadness poking through his clearly demure nature. “Your trust would mean more if you hadn’t just been reassured of my good will.”

Rane raised an eyebrow. “You mean if we only ‘trusted’ you because you had a hostage?”

Simon seemed genuinely confused. “But… I don’t have a hostage. He’s testing my sweets…”

Rane almost objected, but seemed to realize it wouldn’t go over well. “I really would love to try some.”

Simon took a deep breath and let it out slowly before giving a brave smile. “Alright, I will not turn away a sampler.”

He pulled a bowl out of mid-air and somehow scooped out ice cream into the bowl.

He didn’t get up, the barrel didn’t move or shrink—so, the rim was well above his head—yet he seemed to simply lower the bowl into the barrel and lift it back out filled with perfectly scooped balls of ice cream.

Rane took the offered treat, finding that the spoon was already in the bowl, ready for use.

He took a tentative bite. Then his eyes widened in obviously delighted surprise. “This is amazing. It’s like it was made specifically for enhanced senses.”

Simon beamed. “Well, yes? Does that mean that you like it?”

“Absolutely. How is it different?”

He gave a little grimace. “Mundane tastes are too easy to overwhelm and trick. Just add more sugar, or fat, or a pinch of salt, and that’s it. This? This takes art, my art.”

Rane gave an affirming grunt, not pressing further as he took another bite. He then turned to Tala and offered her the bowl.

She was about to accept when Simon shook his head. “No, no. Please don’t do that… Let me get you your own. Please?”

Tala hesitated. He seemed genuine in his request. With a small smile, she sat and nodded. “Alright.”

Rane sat beside her, making a triangle with Simon.

Soon enough, Tala had her own bowl, and it was every bit as amazing as Rane had made it seem, even though she couldn’t have actually described the flavor with the words she had available to her.

It was unlike anything she’d ever tasted before in the best of senses.

The three chatted about small things, with Simon speaking the least, instead enjoying his own bowl of ice cream.

Terry was finally freed after what seemed like more than a hundred candies of various kinds.

He tentatively trilled, seemingly giving the answer as to which he’d liked the best.

Simon replied in a soft voice. “Thank you, Terry. Are you sure you don’t wish to try more?” He gave a little smile as he continued. “I know you have the room.”

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Terry declined before flickering away.

When the three had finished their ice cream, and Tala and Rane had complimented Simon on its creation quite thoroughly, all three stood.

The barrel was gone, though Tala couldn’t have said when it disappeared nor where to.

Simon gave a small bow. “Thank you for taking the time to stop by. I would love to see you again, if you’re ever in the area again.”

Tala smiled. “We’ll see what we can do.”

Rane nodded. “I would love to try some more of your creations sometime. If you’d like, I can find something to trade?”

“I hope that you can try them. I do not require anything in trade. Take care.”

With that, the boy turned and began walking away, up the mountain.

Tala and Rane shared a look before shrugging and turning to go on their way once more.

She had just crouched down to spring away when Simon’s voice reached her ear. “Existence is a heavy weight to bear. Even if you could pass it on, I would think that you should hesitate to do so. Be mindful of how you are affecting the world around you—and how you will in the future—Tala, gated-human of the House of Blood.”

Tala spun around—unnecessarily as her threefold sight was also frantically sweeping the area. Neither her mundane eyes nor her magical perceptions revealed any sign of Simon, nor even any remnants of his ever having been there.

Even the snow where they’d sat only bore the imprint of herself and Rane.

Rane, who had been right beside her, fell into a guarding position even as she jerked around. “Tala? What’s going on?”

“He… he said something.” Her heart was pounding, even if she didn’t think it was a fully warranted response.

“Oh? Really? I didn’t hear it.” Rane’s question wasn’t one of doubt, and Tala understood it. He was informing her, so that she could better assess the situation as a whole.