“Well, it looks like this is the route we're choosing,” Grimbleflork said before fishing around in his pockets or something. After withdrawing a bright yellow cube smaller than a marble, he resumed speaking. “Lucky for everyone, the only tower construct I had left I had on me when the ship went down. It ain't anything fancy, but it should give you a little bit of a leg up here, Adam.”
“What's a tower construct?” Norm asked.
“It's a framework. That little cube in his hand, when he activates it at a spot, will quickly throw up a basic interior structure for a building. It won't be completely finished, but think of it like a pre-fabricated house,” I answered.
What I had left out was how many of the System connections it would prime us for. The first thing we needed was a console to control the Neighborhood Stronghold. Right now, we were stuck with a title that I couldn't even apply to it until we got that set up. That meant it was just sitting there doing nothing.
I also wanted to get a good idea of how the mana flow was working within the walls. It would take several upgrades to be able to tweak much of the flow, but still knowing the types and where they were strongest would let us better design our fortifications. And considering I had a feeling this valley was going to end up being incredibly important in the coming integration, there would come a point where we needed to be much more meaningful in how we laid out our defenses.
Hopefully, by the time we were forced to defend against any true faction invasions, we will have secured the mountains around the valley. Those would make for great defensive points. A few of the right types of towers, and we could easily hold against a force much greater than our own.
But those were thoughts for later. Hell, hopefully they were thoughts we didn't have to truly follow through on. We still needed to handle unifying the people in the valley before we even considered the next steps.
“Why don’t you boys go find, was it Tom?” Grimbleflork paused, looking over at me. I gave him a quick nod, and he resumed. “Let him know how this thing works and discuss a good place to put it. I've got some more catching up to do here.”
“On it, boss!” one of them said enthusiastically, grabbing the cube from Grimbleflork and quickly marching down the road in the direction Tom went. The rest of the Goblins quickly followed after. I had forgotten just how loyal his crew tended to be.
“And once you get that figured out, stick with that, man, and help him with whatever he needs. I can imagine there's already endless construction needs around here, and you boys got some skills there. Put them to use!” the old Goblin called after them.
I spent the next couple of hours walking Grimbleflork around the neighborhood, giving him the nitty-gritty of where I thought we stacked up. Despite him keeping his mouth shut on a lot of it, I could tell he had words he wanted to say, but we both knew there was no point in criticizing what couldn't be fixed yet. Instead, a clawing feeling of nostalgia crept up inside of me as my brain grasped for some feeling of wistfulness that had never truly been there.
In no world did I want to start reminiscing over the horrors of my youth. I was under no delusion that it was some grand adventure. There were moments that had been fun, but they were always bookended by gut-wrenching loss. It was something that I would not let happen this time around. I would protect these people from the worst they could experience.
Returning back inside the walls, Ash appeared looking a bit flustered. “Hey, Dad, um, do you and Mr. Grimbleflork want to come join me in a picnic, maybe?”
“Girl, I ain't no mister,” Grimbleflork replied, laughing. “But I'd love some food. Eighdum, she has your eyes.”
“Was that dad's name before Earth?” Ash asked, her earlier apprehension gone in an instant.
“It was. Your dad was one of the strangest kids I'd ever met. He and Alecks always stood out. But, I’m hungry, so come on, let's go get this food set up, and I'll tell you some stories.”
With a slightly building sense of dread, I helped Ash lay out the camping mat she had found. Soon, she'd spread out a basketful of different foods between us. She named each item as she pulled it from the basket, some sounding more delectable than others, but I was willing to try them all. And from the look of Grimbleflork, so was he. He had never been a picky eater.
“So Grimbleflork, you're a Goblin, right? I don't know what that means. There are a lot of legends about Goblins on earth, but they're a myth here, and most of them don't have beards,” Ash said as she passed a plate to him.
“Yeah, that's one of the curious things about some of these integrated worlds. There are always legends of things that come from outside it. Makes you wonder about how this all started, doesn't it? But that ain't something for me to dwell on. That's for the philosophers and the people far more insane than me,” he paused to take a bite, and then several more bites. Bits of food were falling into his beard as he piled the rest of the plate into his mouth.
“Not that the boys or I will care, though, but just in case it comes up, we're Greel Goblins. There are some grumpy Goblinoids out there that will throw a tantrum if you don't get their exact species right. Then again, there's a lot of people out there that will throw tantrums over just about anything. Your dad's hit a lot of them in the face in his time. You should follow suit,” he continued.
“I, well, I'm not going to say don't hit people, Ash. I didn't like giving that advice before. Sometimes you do need to hit people, but read the room before you hit anyone. There's always the chance that diplomacy is the better choice,” I added, taking a few bites of what I thought was a potato salad.
“I wouldn't listen to your dad too much there. It was always your uncle who did all the diplomacy. Adam, his usual first thing was to hit them in the face, and if that failed, he pulled out that sword of his. Well, I guess not always. He didn't jump to kill people when he was still a kid.”
“This might seem weird, but Dad never told me about any of this until it started. I don't really know anything about his family. What is my uncle like?” There wasn't any judgment in the way she asked, but I felt a bit of shame nonetheless. She had deserved to know about her family, and the longer this went on, the more I thought I had made a mistake in depriving her of that.
“Don't judge him too harshly. If I could've escaped the nightmare that was the System, I might have done it too. There are a lot of people out there who don't want to live under its tyranny. But your uncle, he was the politician of the two of them. Some people dabble in the bardic skills. Alecks mastered them. That man could have talked his way out of hell itself.”
“He actually did once. It was one of the wildest things that I’d ever seen. He convinced a full-on demon lord to give us safe passage back through a dungeon to regular System-space,” I said, the memory triggering a nostalgic wave that I couldn't suppress. The look on the face of the advisor to the demon lord had been one of the funniest moments of my life.
“Now, your aunt, she was something different. I don't really know how to explain her. Not a lot of people get as tied up in the System as she was, and there was a lot of baggage to a relationship with your dad and your uncle. They didn't know she was alive for a very long time, and she kind of held some of that against them. It was a shame, really. Family's got to stick together, especially in the face of something like this.” Grimbleflork took another offered plate from Ash, passing her his empty one while he spoke.
“Laurenth and I made peace in the end. At least, I think we did. Our last conversation still wasn't the most pleasant, but I think she understood that nothing that had ever been done had been purposeful toward her. We really hadn't known she had lived through that horrible first night for so long. God, I still feel awful about that,” I said as those less-than-pleasant memories drove out the nostalgic ones with ease.
“Not your fault. You were a kid. Just because you, Alecks, and even Laurenth were some outstanding kids doesn't change the fact that you were all kids. This damn System destroyed everything the three of you had loved and left you broken and desperate. The three of you deserved better, but you know as well as I do that ain't how the System works. And I don't think now is a good time for more depressing stories when there are so many good, funny ones to tell. How about you, Ash? What do you think?”
“Yeah, I'm getting the idea there's a lot of shitty stuff in Dad's past. Considering what I've seen here already, I think I can get it. Why don't you tell us something funny? You knew him as a kid, right? What was he like? He had to have done something goofy.”
“Oh, has he ever told you about his actual first class? He doesn't like to tell people that one, but you're his daughter, so maybe he did,” Grimbleflork asked with a knowing smile. As Ash shook her head in response, I contemplated that it was possible I had been wrong about how much I missed the Goblin.
“Frog-Stabber.” Both Grimbleflork and Ash burst in laughter at his revelation.
“Wait, really, for all his talk about how to do things properly here, making me hold off to level twenty-five, he picked Frog-Stabber his first time. Really, Dad? Really?” In between every other word, she laughed all the harder.
“I did. But I don't have the benefit of this old man around to help me yet. He was busy traipsing around the planet trying to sell his merchandise to others before he found Alecks and me,” I replied with my own smile plastered on my face. As embarrassing as Grimbleflork's story might have been, it did do a lot to deflate the tension I had felt since the battle.
“Hey, who's that over there?” Grimbleflork asked, pointing to a very large dog that was hobbling over with a small troop of four-legged creatures behind him.
“Oh, that's Floof!” Ash said excitedly. “It looks like he's starting to feel better. That, or the temptation of food, couldn't stop him from coming out to see us.”
“I'm more surprised the coyotes are up and about. I didn't realize the mom was mobile again,” I added as the group sauntered over, each of them already with their best begging look on their faces. How had Floof already taught the coyotes this?
What I didn't add out loud was that I was surprised to see all six of the coyote pups up and about. Even in the best of circumstances, it was hard to keep a full litter alive, and we had had to do this with a badly wounded mother. Even the runt was looking much stronger than it had when we found them.
Almost all of that credit went to Norm. Whatever he had been feeding them had certainly worked. Still, though, the question remained of what we would do with a pack of coyotes.
“Come here, boy. Let me get a good look at you. You definitely got the look of a regal knight, but I want to take a look at that wound on your side. It's rough looking,” Grimbleflork said, calling the dog over.
Floof stopped in his place, bowed his head slightly towards the old Goblin, and then marched right over to him, plopping down in a perfect sit. That dog was getting strange. I really needed to figure out what class he had picked.
“Did you get those scars defending my granddaughter over there? Well, I approve. You're a good boy.” The Goblin pulled a small reddish-purple pellet from one of his pockets. “Here, eat this. It's gonna taste real bad, but I promise it will help you heal up a little faster, alright?”
Contrary to any other time I had had to give that dog medicine, he opened his mouth and ate the pill immediately. And then he flopped down fully next to the Goblin and rubbed his head on his leg. Four of the coyote pups joined him.
The other two pups climbed in Ash's lap, mewing a bit as they stretched out for a nice nap. The mother, on the other hand, walked over to me, looked me in the eyes, and then sat down perfectly, as though she were a dog right next to me. I sighed. They were all going to need names soon.
Floof
Rolling over from his nap, Floof smelled something different. The King had brought more subjects to the realm. Where had he found those odd-looking men, though?
Instead of interrupting their discussion in the garage, Floof let them talk. His body still ached a lot, and he felt it was best not to prod. He would investigate later when they were done with their important discussions.
That time came sooner than he expected. Once the Princess had finished making a meal for the King and his new friend, Floof decided to cautiously approach. Unexpected to him at the time, though, was the fact that the coyote pups decided to join him, and not willing to leave her children behind, the mother followed.
Floof was surprised that she was strong enough to make the journey. Not that it was a long one. They were just headed towards the far end of the neighborhood. But still, his body yelled in pain with every step, so he did not see how she could be doing much better.
He did understand, though. Those pups were in her care. Of course, she could not let them wander on their own, protected by himself or not. She still barely knew any of the people here. Trust takes time.
That last thought was exactly why Floof found it so odd how much he immediately trusted the ancient Goblin. There was something about him that drew Floof in. This was a man the King respected.
Floof bowed low, showing his own respect. He may not know how or why yet, but the dog was certain it was earned.
Taking the horrible-tasting treat without hesitation, he immediately felt something shifting inside himself. The broken bones the potion maker had worked so hard to fix finally started knitting themselves back together correctly. Several of the pains he had felt since the battle eased as well.
The question the Goblin had asked finally registered in Floof’s mind. He had called Ash his granddaughter. That made this man, as strange as it may seem, the King’s father.
There was a safety here radiating from these two men. That was what Floof had felt. He understood now. Giving into that feeling, he lay his head down on this new Grandfather’s leg, allowing himself a moment of relaxation.
It was a beautiful day for a meal with family.