Chapter 81: Minos

“Does everyone really know everyone else here?” Arthur watched as a relatively nondescript deer woman walked through the crowd, greeting someone at every table as she did. “It seems like most people are friends with each other.”

“Pretty close. I know the names of everyone in this town. I have a few people I’m closer with, but in a town this size, you can’t avoid getting to know each other at least a little. Hell, I rely on about half of them for one thing or another. It’s not like I can just repair my roof on my own or bless myself if I get sick.”

“That makes sense,” Arthur said as he leaned back.

Truth be told, Arthur was having a pretty good time himself. Just watching it all happen from his seat behind the counter. The city he had been in was close-knit for a city of its size. Almost anybody would be friendly to him whether he knew them or not, and that was great, but it was a different kind of thing. In terms of people he knew, Arthur had a bunch of people who came to his shop, a fair amount of from his peer group, and a handful of others that had fallen into his life in one way or another. Here, everyone knew everyone else who walked down the street. There were practical reasons why, but it was still nice.

Meanwhile, Spiky was the star of the show. He was doing his level best to keep the ex-stationer entertained, and just from his hand motions, Arthur could tell he was doing it almost entirely by talking about books, how to shelve books, and how much he liked books. And, wonder of wonders, it appeared to be the exact right thing to do. She wasn’t just hanging on every word, she was swinging from them like a trapeze artist.

The two were getting to know each other and they liked what they saw. Arthur might have been worried if the relationship was even slightly one-sided for Spiky, but if anything she was more into him than he was to her, not less.

And eventually, just as naturally as everyone had came in, they filtered out. Potil cleaned up the few dishes he hadn’t managed to tidy during the night and nodded at Arthur.

“Thanks for the lesson. For what it’s worth, I think every cook in the city would make the same invitation I did. I did better today than I would have without you. No question.”

“Thanks. I just might take them up on making tea if they offer.”

—

Arthur didn’t have any trouble sleeping. The new demon world body was pretty good at it, for one. But even with an objectively uncomfortable cot and Milo’s snoring, the day’s excitement meant he was out like a light within a few minutes.

When he woke up, both Milo and Spiky were already gone. Glancing around the room revealed a note saying exactly where they had went and Arthur washed his face before joining them.

“It was breakfast time, and we couldn’t wait any longer. But we didn’t want to wake you up. You were so peaceful,” Spiky said in the way of an apology.

“Yeah.” Milo dished out Arthur some eggs, meet, and bread from a communal bowl at the center of the table. “You looked like a little angel.”

“Oh, thanks. Good to know I’m worth all the mischief I get into,” Arthur laughed.

He started digging into the eggs. It wasn’t breakfast-master level, or even up to Ella’s super-high standards, but it was good and he was hungry. For a while, nobody talked as they worked through the pounds of breakfast Milo had bought.

“So I ran over and talked to my dad’s caretaker today. He said it’s fine if I bring you guys to visit. Dad had asked to meet you anyway, so I figured we might as well get that done.”

“Hmm,” Arthur said. “Do you think it’s going to be a long visit?”

“As long as you want. It’s not a he’s-too-fragile-for-visitors thing,” Milo said.

“Okay. Then I’m going to bring him some tea,” Arthur said.

“That would be nice. He does like tea, for the record. I didn’t talk to him about the boba so you’ll have to do your whole sales pitch thing yourself.” Milo suddenly realized something and focused on Arthur. “Actually, that’s not what you meant, is it?”

“Nope. I’m not sure exactly what’s wrong with him, but after I talk to the doctor, I might be able to whip something up that helps the healing process go faster.”

Spiky inclined his head a little bit forward. “That’s actually pretty interesting. I’d imagine he’s not on that much medicine right now. He’s not exactly sick after all, just malnourished. And most alchemical products have nothing to do with nourishment. That’s food’s job.”

“And my stuff is kind of both,” Arthur concluded.

“Yeah. You might have an opportunity to bridge a gap here that most doctors and potion-sellers can’t bridge,” Spiky said.

“Well, absolutely do that,” Milo said as he pushed his food away. “What do you need?”

“For now? Just tea. I’m not even sure if this is possible, but I should be able to get a proof of concept. Oh, and I guess cream. Whatever’s the heaviest we can find. There’s not much food value in boba because the pearls only go so far.”

Milo ran up to the cook, had a few quick words, and received a small cup of cream in return. It was easy and quick, which seemed to suit Milo’s hurry.

“I’m sorry, Arthur. I’m just eager to see if this works. Could you possibly…”

“Take the rest of my breakfast as a sandwich? Sure. Let’s get moving.”

After a quick stop to get Arthur’s gear from his luggage, they were on their way. The building that housed Minos, Milo’s dad, was just off the center of the town. It looked so much like a conventional house that Arthur almost missed it.

“It’s a utility house for the entire town. When family members come in, they can book it for that purpose. Or if someone wanders into town out of money and needs some help getting back on their feet. In dad’s case, they put him in a room of the house. There’s a bed, a window, a potted plant, and a few donated books. He’s bored out of his skull.”

They went into the house, which didn’t have any kind of receptionist to check in with, and Milo led them to what once was probably the master bedroom of the place. He knocked, hard, on the door.

“Dad! You up?”

“Yes.” A surprisingly deep voice boomed from behind the door. “Come on in.”

When Arthur talked to Ella, she had said that she got to be married to an intrepid explorer. Since then, he had been very curious about what that meant. Ella was a whole thing. She could cook as well as anyone else Arthur had met in the demon world, but in some ways that wasn’t anywhere near the main draw of the Ella show. She was nice. And as far as Arthur could tell through the mom-haze, she was beautiful. She got stuff done, and she seemed to know much more than her class would have needed to work right.

Arthur had spent some time thinking about that, especially over the last few days. What kind of man could be so incredible that she, someone who was tied for best-person-he-had-ever-known status, would feel so lucky to have him?

The answer was behind the door.

Minos was a goat, just as described. He wasn’t massive like Karbo, but every inch of him was muscle, even if that muscle was a little slack and exhausted looking right now. His shoulders were broad. Somewhere in Arthur’s lizard brain, he reflexively ran a could-this-guy-beat-me-up calculation and came back with a result that it wouldn’t even be a contest, even though he knew the guy couldn’t stand up at the moment. He had what Arthur would have called a presence, a sort of aura that radiated out from him even in the situation where he couldn’t stand.

“You look terrible,” Milo said. “You really couldn’t get back any quicker?”

“I really couldn’t. There was a sort of peninsula I had to map, and because it jutted out into the water, I had to then walk over land I had already mapped for almost a week. Or else, I would have had to leave it unmapped and come back and then do the exact same work again.”

“You could’ve. But I get it. I’ve stayed up late to finish a machine before.”

“Machine? Like, with gears and all? Did you get a skill from it?” Minos looked genuinely interested in his son’s progress, but suddenly shook off his excitement. “I’m being rude. Introduce me to your friends.”

“This is Arthur. Offworlder. Teamaster. He’s a good guy, pretty much your son now once Mom tells you so.”

“Oh, I think we can skip that. I trust her. Nice to meet you, Arthur.” Arthur held out his hand, forgetting for a moment that Minos would have no way of knowing about handshakes. Somehow, incredibly, Minos figured it out by himself. He reached out and grabbed Arthur’s hand in a firm grip, shaking it and then letting it drop.

He even got the timing right. This man is impossible.

“The thing you need to know about Arthur is that he has learned a lot since he got here, but still has giant gaps in what he understands,” Milo said. “If he ever looks confused, just explain whatever you were talking about like you would to a child.”

“That’s true? Or is Milo messing with us?” Minos asked.

“It’s mostly true. Earth was a much different place,” Arthur answered.

“Well, no problem. And you?” Minos looked over where Spiky stood waiting his turn. “You’re the librarian my son talked about?”

Spiky stepped forward. “Spiky, sir. And yes, I’m a librarian. I helped with the shock absorbers.”

“The what?”

Minos looked confused, and Arthur realized that Milo hadn’t told him everything yet. The goat demon didn’t know yet that his son had probably just revolutionized the world of transportation forever. The only explanation Arthur could come up with for that was that Milo was so weirded out by his dad being down for the count that he just hadn’t felt comfortable doing it.

“It’s just two guys,” Arthur whispered, low enough that Milo would hear but his father probably wouldn’t. “Two adults. New kind of relationship. Go.”

Milo swallowed, then reached into his pack, pulling out some components for shocks that he apparently hadn’t quite assembled yet.

“You actually might find this interesting. The way these work is…”

Minos seemed to grasp the implications immediately. As soon as Milo got into the nitty-gritty of what the shocks actually did, he asked pointed questions about how something that ate energy could make things faster, which Milo answered as best he could with occasional help from Spiky. Minos followed along, nodding and listening. The whole conversation lasted for about a half hour before Spiky and Milo ran out of technical details to share.

Meanwhile, Arthur made tea. Medicinal Brewer was getting to where it would work on almost any tea for almost any purpose, but it still worked a lot better when he used a recipe that matched up with his goals. Here, the goal was feeding. He dumped more boba than usual in the drink, soaking it down with heavy cream and a bit more sweet fruit than he normally would. It was a heavy, sweet drink by the time he was ready to mix in the last components.

Before he could hand it over, Minos broke everyone out of their trances by slapping his side table, hitting it hard enough to leave it shaking.

“I didn’t understand half of that,” Minos said. “But this is a bigger deal than you probably think it is, Milo. Much bigger.”