David, Niala, Karline and Linzy were arrayed around the small purple velour pouch that lay on the kitchen table, staring at it.

  It was a small amount of “ethical” fairy dust, gifted to them the day prior by the Cherry Lollipop institute representatives as a gesture of goodwill, celebrating their future collaboration with David.

  “What is it, 50 grams? How much do you think it's worth?”

  “How did you even get this...”

  “I could make so many potions with this! But... I'm not sure I want to...”

  “I agree. I'm not sure I want to drink ground-up fairies.”

  Karline's wide eyes turned to David. He stared back. A corner of her mouth twitched. “It's one of your jokes, right? You're making a stupid joke.”

  He didn't reply, instead returning his stare at the pouch.

  “Niala, it's a joke, right?!” Karline asked again, clinging to hope.

  “I wish it were.” The catkin replied, ears flopping down.

  The courier woman brought her stare back to the pouch, before throwing her arms and palming her face. “Why am I even surprised! This is the crazy house in town, of course you'd wind up with corpse dust as a form of payment!”

  She then sat down, elbows on the table, resting her head in her hands. “Whatever, can I have breakfast now? Please?”

  David nodded, “Breakfast sounds good.” He said, picking up the pouch and departing for Niala's small safe in her office.

  Linzy's gaze followed the pouch until it left her line of sight. “I wonder if we can make Fairy-Dust-enhanced versions of our premium potions. Oooh, I bet we could sell those for triple the price! All that money...” She said, a bit of drool escaping the corner of her mouth.

  “No Fairy potions, Linzy. Fairy Dust is an incredibly potent ingredient. Adding it to everything I brew would be a total waste!”

  The goblin woman snapped out of her reverie, blinking and looking at Niala. “Oh... well, what is it used for then?”

  “Hmm, well, it's most famously used in youth potions, but also for stronger versions of pretty much any basic formulas. You can also use it to make semi-permanent or permanent body modification potions.” The catkin answered off the cuff as she busied herself preparing breakfast.

  “Youth potions?” Linzy asked, eyes glinting once more.

  “Youth potions?” David asked, stepping back into the kitchen.

  “Youth potions?!” Karline exclaimed, snapping her back up straight.

  Niala recoiled from the clamour as all three spoke at once, holding up a pan to shield herself from their boring stares.

  She blinked. “Ah, huh, yes, youth potions.”

  “How much-”

  “How could-”

  “How young-”

  “STOP!” She shouted, annoyed, cowing all three into silence.

  She matronly stared at each one in turn. “Yes, youth potions, which I will not be brewing and selling. The last time I saw youth potions brewed and sold, it nearly devolved into a civil war with all the nobles trying to get their hands on them.”

  She singled out Linzy. “So don't talk about it. I like my relative peace and quiet... As much as it's not actually all that peaceful and quiet around here...”

  She moved her gaze to the other two. “That goes for everyone. Don't talk about the fairy dust.”

  The goblin woman tsked and crossed her arms, looking away, while Karline simply nodded.

  David shrugged and joined Niala to help start cooking breakfast. He leaned toward her and whispered.

  “You said, brew and sell. What about just... brewing?”

  He spotted the slightest hint of a blush on her face as she whispered back. “Well, maybe... Just for us... But it feels dirty... But if it's just us...”

  He gave her a peck on her head, stopping her from going in circles. “I'll ask again in a few years. Love you.”

  She didn't answer, reddening a bit more instead.

  “Eighteen... nineteen... that's it, keep your back straight, and... twenty. All done.” David counted as Niala finished up her third set of squats.

  She let the bucket-less yoke fall from her shoulders, as she bent forward and put her hands on her legs, panting.

  David patted her back. “You're doing great. It's only been a few weeks, but you have good form, and you're definitely putting on some muscles.”

  She glanced up at him, smirking. “I guess you can tell, with the way you cup my butt every time I do a squat.”

  “Necessary to make sure you have the right posture.”

  She grinned. “Nothing to do with enjoying your cute girlfriend's butt?”

  “It's both necessary and enjoyable.” He said, nodding wisely.

  She straightened back up and stepped over to him, drawing doodles on his stomach with a finger. “Maybe I should help you maintain the right posture as well...” She said, her cheeks tinting pink, the tip of her tail swishing.

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  He grabbed her hands and brought them up to his mouth, kissing them. “A cute and grabby personal trainer sounds lovely.”

  Before she could reply, some distant shouts reached their ears.

  Sharing a look, they let go of each other and walked out the courtyard's side gate, towards the source of noises, which came from the town's direction.

  They were met by a town guard who ran towards them, waving his hand for them to stop. He was breathing hard when he reached them.

  “Sir, Ma'am, please get back to your house. There's something coming this way. The guards are going to stop it, but we're about to use heavy weapons, so it's safer indoors.”

  David and Niala looked at each other before looking back at the guard with determined gazes. David took a step forward. “What is it? Is it dangerous?”

  The guard shook his head, his breath back under control. “It's a defective golem. It came out of the forest and burst through the north gate, and now it's making its way here, and it won't respond to any command. Now that it's out of the city, we're going to blow it up, it's obviously broken, and th-”

  A thunderous string cut through the air, followed by a crackle and a pop. A flash of red light shone over the trees in the town's direction.

  They all looked that way. The guard scratched his forehead. “That must be the heavy weapon. I guess th-”

  The shouts redoubled, and the scene repeated itself.

  The guard's eyes narrowed, a concerned look over his face. He looked back at David and Niala. “I, huh, I should go see what's going on. You guys get back inside!” He said, turning to run back toward the commotion, only to stop a few steps into his run when he saw Ma-Ke-Lo, the Tridget Guard Captain, come running around one of the neighbourhood's house ruins. They headed straight for David and Niala, slowing down as they approached.

  The guard stopped and saluted his Captain, with Ma-Ke-Lo curtly returning the gesture before stepping up to the young couple.

  “David, Niala, you need to go back inside. The golem changed direction and is headed straight for here.”

  The Tridget pointed back to where they'd come from. “We hit it twice with a strum cannon, but it deployed a force field that stopped the shots cold. We have two guards coming with an anti-mechanized mine, and we can't have anyone standing nearby.” They aimed their stare at both of them, their message clear.

  David hesitated, his gaze going from Ma-Ke-Lo to Niala, before nodding. “Right. Come on, Niala. We let the guards do their job.” He said, grasping her shoulder, as she looked towards where shouts kept erupting from, further east.

  With a concerned look, she put a hand over David's and spoke to Ma-Ke-Lo. “If anyone gets hurt, come see me, I'll give you potions.”

  The Guard Captain nodded their thanks before waving them off and turning east, just as two guards carrying a small crate arrived.

  Ma-Ke-Lo hadn't wasted any time, wrenching off the crate's cover and retrieving one of the large discs from within, planting it on the ground and covering it with dirt and gravel, before waving his guards away and activating it with a small surge of mana.

  They stepped back and listened for the approaching shouts.

  A guard woman came running around the house, shouting and pointing. “IT'S CHANGED DIRECTION AGAIN! IT'S GOING THE ORIGINAL WAY!”

  Ma-Ke-Lo followed the guard woman's finger, pointing in the direction that David and Niala had gone. They squinted their eyes.

  Surely not...

  The young couple had barely reached their home, warning off the few customers around, before a guard came running their way, calling after them.

  They told them that Ma-Ke-Lo was asking for them to come back, and to please hurry.

  Taken aback by the back and forth, they followed the guard and retraced their steps to the Guard Captain, who pointed toward a spot on the ground, towards the west, shouting. “Stand there, behind that tree!”

  They did as instructed and waited. A few seconds later, another guard came running in from the east, shouting that the golem had changed direction again and was heading straight toward their position.

  Ma-Ke-Lo cursed and walked up to David and Niala, speaking up as they got within earshot. “We don't know why, but that thing is headed towards one of you two. It's tracking your position.”

  The couple shared another look before David focused on Ma-Ke-Lo. “Send someone to fetch Leandro. If the mine doesn't stop the thing, make sure all the guards retreat. Leandro and I will fight, but it's better if nobody witnesses.”

  Ma-Ke-Lo nodded and barked off some orders, positioning themselves on the golem's incoming path, shielding David and Niala with their bodies.

  The shouts kept approaching, becoming clearer, before something unstoppable walked through the house ruins, heading straight for them.

  David's eyes widened in recognition. It was a reddish, deep-bronze, barrel-chested metal 2-metre-tall humanoid golem, with a single off-set ruby-red eye, half-covered in moss and creeper vines, one of its arms missing.

  The same one he and Karline had encountered on their trip into the Hungerwoods when they went looking for ingredients for Niala's panacea potion.

  Except this time, its eye glowed a baleful red, and it was clearly coming for him.

  “David, a little to the left, please,” Ma-Ke-Lo said.

  He did as asked. The Golem corrected its course, aiming for him, advancing with a steady, mechanical gait.

  And then it stepped on the mine.

  The blast rang out, followed by a wave of force that squeezed their lungs, and a cloud of debris that erupted skyward.

  They heard something heavy fall to the ground, then some scrapping, whirring gears, and finally another of the thudding steps, followed by another, and another, as the golem's red glowing eye resolved itself through the dust, still advancing.

  Ma-Ke-Lo cursed once more and ordered the guards to retreat to the city walls before nodding at David.

  He nodded back and looked at Niala, a smile on his face, and a request in his eyes. She sustained his stare, her face composed, and shook her head. She would not run. She was going to stay and fight.

  He sighed, walking up to her and kissing her forehead, before willing his mana to manifest, his body taking on a blue glow, and advancing upon the approaching golem.

  A few paces away, he put up his fists and lowered his stance, while the golem...

  Stopped.

  David squinted, alert for any twitch the thing might make.

  The golem's eye turned off for a split second, the blinding red light cutting off, before coming back on, but much weaker, and concentrated in a single point, which somewhat looked like a pupil, that moved about the crystal's surface, as if seeking something, before it locked onto David and... blinked?

  “Krtn- dwok Daowin – dds- Daosk?” Crushed-gravel noises emanated from the Golem.

  “Yliwe wumniut, wayinu fluati nuy?” Flowing water sounds followed them.

  The golem appeared... perplexed? Its head tilting to the side by a few degrees, its singular eye “blinking” once more.

  Its hand flashed forward and grasped David's head before he could do anything but flinch. He brought his own boosted hands up at the golem's arm, ready to wrench it apart, before electricity pulsed from the golem's hand, shocking him, making his entire body flail.

  The hand released his head, as he stumbled back a few steps, finding his footing and tensing up for a reprisal strike, throwing a boosted punch at the golem's chest.

  The golem made no movement as David's fist connected, the force of the blow launching the golem back a couple of meters, falling like a statue and lying flat on the ground.

  “Hgum Har Wren His Hyou Hiiii,” Sounds continued to emanate from the golem's voice box as David took a step forward to continue his attack.

  The golem's head craned up, its eye locking on David once more, as it spoke, stopping David in his tracks out of sheer surprise, the thing's voice a mix of electric warbles and a creamy gentleman's voice.

  “Sir, terribly sorry for my gesture. I required access to your linguistic knowledge and, given the circumstances, unfortunately had to perform an electromagnetic scan of your neurological pathways. I greatly apologize for any discomfort this may have led to.”

  “I... what?” David stammered.

  “Sir, if I may resume my standing position?” The golem asked.

  “...Twitch in my direction and I'll punch you into scraps.”

  “Threat very well received, and well deserved, I might add.” The thing said, before bending its limbs and wrenching itself upright.

  Its ruby eye blinked, before softening somewhat, giving the impression of a... smile? It spoke once more.

  “Sir, it is quite a pleasure to find you! By my internal records, it has been 5,312 years since this unit has been graced with the presence of an imperial scion!”

  Its eye took on a... pleased look?

  “Damaged as this unit might be, I am at your entire service, oh blessed one!”

  David let his fists fall, his blue glow fading, as he blankly stared at the machine that was slightly bowing at him.

  Some of David's neurons remembered how to connect. “...What?”