Chapter 213: Comforting

Julius, Reinera, and Cory quickly made their way through the tunnel.

Cory was of course the small boy they were escorting. He didn’t talk much but he also didn’t seem to be scared. He just sat in Reinera’s arms kind of blankly, not moving and not really looking at anything either, only sometimes gazing at the lights Julius created.

It kind of worried Julius. He could understand a boy who was crying or a boy who was excited, but he didn’t understand a boy who looked completely robotic. It was almost like the trauma of what he experienced totally overwhelmed his brain and shut it down.

Nothing that Reinera did seemed to help. So far, the only thing that boy seemed remotely interested in were the balls of light Julius created to light their way.

He had formed over a dozen little lights that lit up the entire tunnel. It turned their trip from a dark and kind of depressing atmosphere to one that seemed a little more cheery. At least they weren’t traveling through the sewers.

The tunnel itself was dark, but it was at least pretty clean. Whoever managed it, must have done something to keep it neat.

As he did, he couldn’t help but think about the last few days. And the more he thought about it, the harder it was for him to believe that the old man was being entirely truthful with him. The whole time he knew Elder Han, Julius felt like he was dancing in the old man’s palm.

I shouldn’t be worrying about this right now, he reminded himself.

Instead, he turned and observed Cory quietly watching the soft orbs of light with a concentrated gaze. Figuring that he had nothing to lose, he walked up to Cory slowly.

The boy didn’t pay him any mind, unsurprisingly.

Julius took his time to create something a little more complex than his normal constructs. He was going back to his days when he would practice by making constructed soldier figurines. However, his skills compared to then were night and day.

He carefully molded his mana, using everything he had learned up till now. Using the softened properties of mana, he was able to create much more delicate joints for the figurine. Even making use of a tiny needle of sharpened mana to carve out the small details of the face of the soldier.

He still wasn’t an artist, but it was already looking so much better than his attempts before.

He gave the soldier a sword to hold, though he made the mistake of making it just like a real sword the first time around. That meant that it was really sharp and much too dangerous for a simple toy, so he had to fix it, making sure the sword couldn’t cut through stone.

That probably wouldn’t be the best thing to hand over to an emotionally traumatized kid.

After some finishing touches he was finally done. The soldier was complete and looked pretty nice if he said so himself. He had even included clothing that had similar properties to cloth, which meant whenever the soldier moved, its cape would flap a little bit.

It was completely unnecessary and nobody would really care, but he thought it would be a nice touch.

He had been so focused on creating it, that he didn’t realize that Cory had stopped looking at the light orbs and was completely entranced by his actions. Unlike the lights, there was a glimmer of excitement in Cory’s eyes as he stared at the figurine.

Julius extended his arm that was holding the soldier to Cory, offering it to the little boy. However, instead of taking it from his hands, Cory just continued to stare at it.

He had to physically tuck the construct into Cory’s arms before the boy finally reached out to touch it.

However, all of his efforts were rewarded because the boy’s blank expression gradually turned into one of wonder and awe. Cory handled the figurine like it was made of glass not knowing that Julius made it so that it would be able to handle almost any Tier 3 attack. He had even infused some Concepts into it, knowing full well that it was overboard but wanted to do so anyway.

Reinera turned and gave him a knowing smile, winking at him as the boy in her arms smiled for the first time.

That wasn’t all Julius had for the boy either. He gently took control of the construct and had it move its arm into a salute, putting the joints he had carefully made to good use.

This small action shocked the boy and he let out an involuntary giggle as he watched the figurine go through a number of dramatic and funny poses.

And that was how their adventure through the tunnel and sneaking out of Stonewall went. Two young people smiling as they watched a little boy giggle in joy.

***

“Are you Julius and Grace?” The man asked.

Julius and company had come out of the tunnel just outside of the walls of the town. They ended up having to wait for a little bit until their escort came, but he eventually showed up exactly where Elder Han told them he would be.

“That’s us,” Julius nodded. “Are you our ride to Blumand?”

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“Yep, that’s me. I’m here to take the little one back to his family in Blumand,” he said while giving the little guy a small wave and a large smile. However, Cory was still completely immersed in the figuring still and didn’t pay the new man any attention.

The man looked a little sad at being ignored but quickly regained his smile. “Han told me you two were just hitching a ride, correct?”

“Yeah, I hope you don’t mind,” he said politely.

“Not at all, the more the merrier. Come on, follow me. The carriage is just over there,” the man pointed over the ridge. “The name’s Danny by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Danny, I’m Julius, but you already knew that,” he said with a laugh while following Danny. Reinera and Cory were right behind him, Cory still poking the figurine back as Julius controlled it to give the kid small teasing jabs with its dull sword.