Chapter 88: Consistent Usefulness

In less time than Arthur had expected, Lily was back, lunch ingredient in tow. The ingredient itself was blue, just a little bit muddy, and from what he could see, entirely beside herself trying to figure out the best way to greet him. Milo, always dependable, moved out of his seat beside Arthur anyone said anything.

“Right here, Mizu.” Arthur dragged the seat a bit closer to him and patted it. “Please.”

Mizu nodded, came and sat, and melted wordlessly into Arthur’s side, her head on his shoulder.

“We told our children of our conflict through stories, inducting them into our anger against you,” Arthur whispered. Mizu’s head whipped up to look at him.

“You learned one?” she asked.

“I did.”

Mizu started laughing against his side. “You aren’t supposed to say them to a water elemental, Arthur. But thank you. I’m glad you are back.”

“It’s so… cute,” Leena said. “How is it so cute?”

“I told you. These moments follow him around like baby waterfowl. There’s no way he plans them.” Ella laughed and folded up her letter. “All right, Onna. The moment’s over. Get in here and we can get caught up. Why are you boys back so early?”

Onna was standing in the doorway with Lily, who was beaming at having fulfilled her duty of retrieving Mizu. Milo and Spiky-Stanta took the lead, running through the story of the trip, the shocks, and the tea with admirable precision that was marred by dozens of little questions from the audience.

“So you just gifted my son an invention of nationwide significance?” Ellas asked.

“I guess,” Arthur said as he scratched his head. “It didn’t seem like that big of a deal at the time.”

“Well, thank you, I suppose. At the least, you’re the best tenant I’ve ever had.”

“I don’t actually pay you rent, Ella.”

“And you never have to.”

The hardest thing to explain ended up being how they had a new demon in tow, something that they left to Spiky and Leena themselves. Watching them try to figure out how to explain how they had fallen instantly head-over-heels with each other was entertaining, even if it wasn’t the most efficient.

Everyone ate. At some point, Rhodia appeared in the door, pulling Milo out of his chair to give him a hug.

“I sent Corbin for her, Milo. I figured he’d be hiding somewhere so I threatened the air until he came out.” Lily puffed up with pride. “It seemed like a good idea.”

“It was.” Milo looped his arms under Rhodia as he stood, lifting her into the air. She let out a little embarrassed eep! noise as he gave her a peck on the forehead and deposited her in a chair. “I’m going to catch her up on everything that went on. You guys can start working on figuring out where Leena is staying.”

Onna had already introduced herself next to Leena, asking her questions about who she was and what she was interested in. As soon as she got a few details on Leena’s predicament of not having a class and not knowing much about city living, her entire posture changed.

“What kind of mother sends her child to a city with these three as guardians?” Onna asked with indignation. Then, she realized who she was talking to and quickly added, “No offense.”

“Oh, I’m not offended. Mom actually only assigned me to Arthur. And he’s handing me off to you.”

“Oh, well, then.” Onna nodded. “Sounds like she had it handled. Well, as soon as lunch is done, I’ll take you down to find you a place to stay. Spiky, are you trying to get her into a situation where she can reestablish her class?”

“Yes, as soon as I can. I figured I’d stop by a few libraries today.”

Onna nodded. “Good. Looks like everything is in order, then. Welcome back, guys. Everyone is glad to see you.”

—

Lunch finally found itself consumed, and people started to leak out for their various tasks. Milo left first, heading to his shop to pretend to show Rhodia the shocks. Onna grabbed Leena to drag her off to see about housing and at the same time, Spiky excused himself to go make a circuit of the city’s libraries.

“And then I can show you all the new rune-ware,” Lily said as she waved spread her wings wide to imitate the changes. “And we can even open the shop if you want. Everything is ready.”

Lily seemed to be planning on monopolizing Arthur all day before Ella pulled her aside for a moment and whispered a few things. She looked up at Ella for a moment, seemed to comprehend something, then changed tracks.

“Actually, I just realized I’m not quite done with the prep. Can I show you the things tomorrow? Early?” Lily said, half a question but more as a statement.

“Sure, Lily. Whenever you are ready.”

“I’m going to take Lily shopping, Arthur,” Ella said as she scooped the little owl up. “Can you handle cleanup for me? I’m sorry to ask you so soon after you got here, but…”

“No worries. It’s just a few pots and some dishes. I’ll have it done fast.”

“Great.” Ella grabbed her coat and more or less dragged Lily to the door. “We’ll be back in a few hours.”

The door slammed behind them. Arthur and Mizu were now alone.

“What was that about?” Mizu said. “I don’t have a very high perception stat, but that was… odd.”

“They were trying to do me a favor.” Arthur stood up and walked around the table, collecting bowls and rinsing them under the water. “I think Ella decided we could use a few moments alone.”

“Oh.” Mizu’s face filled with understanding. “That’s true. Remind me to thank her later.”

—

After cleanup took a bit longer than it should have, they decided to take a stroll through the city.

“What was it like? Being away from the city, I mean,” Mizu asked. She was full of questions, most of which seemed to be aimed at learning about what he had been up to.

“It was sparse,” Arthur said as he tried to come up with the right way to describe everything that he saw. “It was both what I expected and also completely different than I thought.”

“What did Arnt look like?”

“Probably like most small towns here,” Arthur said. “Not a lot of people, everyone knew each other.”

“What else?”

Arthur picked up on a new piece of Mizu information. “You’ve never been? To the small places, I mean.”

Mizu shook her head. “I’ve been through a few. But just stops on trips. I haven’t left the city since I got here. And before that, I lived in the capital.”

“Really? I didn’t know that.” Arthur suddenly realized how little he knew about Mizu outside of the context of the place they both called home. “What’s that like?”

“Like here, but bigger. And busier,” Mizu said. “The way people talk about it makes it seem like everything that happens there is important. But living there is a lot like living here. There’s just more people.”

“Arnt was kind of the same, but different also. It was smaller, to the point where I think that did change what kind of place it was.”

“How so?”

“Here people are friendly. If you want to know someone, they’ll generally make time for you. All you have to do is ask. But there, there’s… less, somehow. There’s one doctor. There are only a few cook classes. There’s probably only one cleric. Everyone has to know each other in a different way.”

“Is that bad?”

“I don’t think so. If anything, every single person felt important. They were all part of a system. But that also meant there weren’t redundancies.”

There was a drink merchant nearby serving a preserved fruit-and-chocolate drink Arthur had come to understand as the Demon equivalent of hot chocolate, and they each got a cup to warm their hands as they walked.

“Would you go back to the capital? If you could?”

Mizu thought for a moment.

“No, I don’t think so. There are already enough wellers here that it’s already hard to grow in my craft much longer. The capital is bigger but it draws far more wellers.” Mizu sipped her drink a bit. “I want… ambitious problems. More problems to solve. If I can find them.”

They eventually sat on the benches near the statue of The Bear. The water wasn’t flowing now, and the basin below it was dry.

Arthur pointed. “Is that because it freezes?”

“Partially. It takes some work to keep it unfrozen, and most of the wellers have been tied up with extra work for the last few weeks.”

“You’ve been safe? Watching out for bugs?” Arthur made a crawly, pinchy motion towards her arm.

“Yes. And don’t do that with your hands. It gives me the crawlies.” She shuddered slightly. “And Milo’s father? He’s well?”

“Not well exactly. But according to his doctor, he’s mending fast now. He should be here with us in a week or so. He’s an interesting guy, actually. Have you met him?” Arthur asked. Mizu shook her head. “You should. He has a whole presence around him, like he’s seen everything and done everything. Sort of an all-terrain version of Itela.”

“He must be something,” Mizu said.

“He really is. According to him, the whole world is about to change.” Arthur blew on his beverage, which was cooling fast in the cold air anyway, then took a drink. “He thinks they’ll open up new territory soon.”

“How soon?”

“He wasn’t exact. A couple weeks, a couple months, a year. I don’t know.”

“That’s sooner than you think. The last time they did that is already in history books.”

“I’m still a bit confused about how it all works. People just go out there? Where there’s nothing?”

“They have in the past.”

“Then why weren’t there more people in the town I went to? If all these people want a frontier life?”

Mizu shifted a little closer to Arthur. “It’s different. Those towns have already settled. They all know what they need. Everyone knows what the opportunities there are. They know what the town offers. When they open up new territory, nobody knows what might happen. It’s… more chaotic.”

“Which seems worse.”

Mizu lifted her hand and wobbled it uncertainly. “It can be. If the town needs something and you’re the only one with the class around, you advance. Quickly. It’s as close to a guarantee of advancement as you can get. But it’s also… importance. Like you’ve been talking about. A position of consistent usefulness.”

“I see.” Arthur kind of did. The demon economy was weird, mostly in positive ways. Covering the basics was cheap and easy to do. Lily didn’t even have a class, and she could just about have taken care of herself on the pay Arthur gave her. High-end goods were so high quality that high-end goods were nice to have, but they were far from necessary unless they had to do with a person’s class.

What people really lusted after was the ability to do better work faster. It was a cultural thing. To the extent they cared about prestige, Demons got it from doing their jobs well, especially when it improved life for others. Milo, for instance, would feel great about himself when he made a cool machine that helped someone excel. Ella loved to feed people. And Mizu was never more on top of the world than when she was able to improve the city’s water in some way.

Which leads to the most relevant question here, Arthur thought, suddenly apprehensive of where the conversation would lead.