Return to Rose -end

[Deleted]

1020 words		The Girl and Her Centipede
Ah, Sarum. The not-so-new frontier. Caerbannog had been wondering what happened to it, since the activity died down as the adventurers pushed forward. The remnants of the original expedition camp was still the same old place, but at the moment it was more quiet than usual. There were few adventurers about, and only those who had not explored the area before stuck around long enough to chat up the landers. But still, there was work to be done. The people of the land were pretty crummy when it came to crafting, and even with repairs they were subpar compared to adventurers. So Caerbannog, out of the kindness of her heart, marched over to the Sarum Expedition Camp to help repair any gear made of metal. Kindness of her heart... yea, right. Actually, she wanted to level up her crafting, which had taken the backseat because it was utterly boring. But recently, the magical limit has been lifted: they could finally make items beyond Level 10. Well, she’d been able to make such items for a while but only because of a special tool that she got for helping out in the Sarum camp. It allowed Caer to make items up to Level 20 despite the magical limit. However, a Level 89 samurai with Level 20 weapons and armor was still pretty ridiculous. Even Foreman Mukade IX’s maxillipeds were strong than her sword. And so with the prospect of getting even stronger weapons and armor just within her reach, Caerbannog had set off to the Sarum Expedition Camp, or what used to be its site. She had heard that they set up a new camp closer to the city of Sarum, but the girl stayed at the old site mostly because she knew that area. If someone yelled for help, she’d be able to know what to do. Speaking of knowing the area, she thought back to the farm which was owned by the lander Rose and her older brother who looked more like her dad. Caerbannog looked around her, noting that the camp site was pretty sleepy that early in the morning. The sun was not too high up the horizon, so it was a good hour to get up and set off for Sarum. But maybe she was too early... in any case, going over to Rose’s farm seemed like a good idea. She could fix their pots and kettles, or something. Down the main dirt road, Caerbannog went. It felt only like yesterday when she walked down that same road with Oxford and his weasel. This time, the wolf-hair wanted to see beyond the trees and so without a second thought, she summoned the elite centipede Foreman Mukade IX. The creature rubbed its face profusely- it seemed as if she had caught him at a bad moment, for the centipede apparently was in the middle of his bathing time. But Mukade, as polite as ever, merely held up an appendage at his tamer and said ‘One moment’, and then he continued to clean his face. What could there be to clean, Caerbannog wondered. His ‘face’ looked as centipede-y as usual, but that was his business and the wolf-hair thought it impolite to pry. “Greetings to you, Cake-Making Meat Baby!” Mukade IX bowed towards his tamer once his bath was done, “What shall we do today?” “Piggyback ride!” the samurai held up her arms towards the centipede. “Piggy? My apologies, but I am not a piggy,” the centipede sounded downcast, “However, you may still ride on my back. I guess you may call this a Mukade-back ride?” Caerbannog giggled at the creature’s unnatural politeness. There was nothing wrong with it; she merely thought him adorable despite his massive size and his appearance that made others, including her dear Kumori, balk or vomit. Without delay, Mukade lowered himself close to the ground so that the girl could hop onto it, which the wolf-hair did excitedly. She then put her arms around the creature’s neck, dangerously close to his maw but neither the centipede nor the tamer minded. Foreman Mukade IX then carefully straightened up and began to move forward. “Forward!” the wolf-hair commanded. The centipede let out a wheezing snicker, and then he did as his master and commander ordered. Down the dirt road, the odd pair walked on. An elite centipede, the stuff of dreams, nightmares and the Old Quarry Caverns, was out in broad daylight with a diminutive, black-haired schoolgirl on his back. What few people they came across ran away due to surprise or sheer terror, but Mukade was used to such looks and reactions. Before long, the pair reached the smaller path to the right which would lead to Rose’s farm. Caerbannog pointed towards it, and so the centipede turned to that place. It was a much smaller fit than the road which they were traveling on before, but still, all four meters of Foreman Mukade IX fitted that area. Notably, the trees were no longer dead or dying. It seemed that Rose was rather successful in giving life back to that almost-useless piece of land. Rose and her purple potatoes... and her older brother George who was nicknamed George. Last Caerbannog knew of Rose was that she was giving some person with questionable taste in women a lap dance in front of the Sarum Expedition Camp. That was right before a horde of golems marched towards the camp, and Caerbannog, with the assassin Kumori, had to stop them with brute force and much death. After the short walk, or crawl, through the smaller dirt path, the centipede and his tamer finally arrived at Rose’s Farm, appropriately named so as a wooden marker indicated. “Git away from ‘ere yah creature from hell!” a familiar croaky old voice yelled, and soon old George came out of their hut with a broom waved over his head. “Hello!” Caerbannog tilted herself to one side of Mukade and greeted the man with a wave. “Oh- you!” George lowered his broom, but he still was wary of the centipede. Though, he did yell towards the hut, “ROSE! THE TINY BLACKSMITH IS HERE!”

[Deleted]

1000 words		Acceptance
How rude. Caerbannog frowned when she heard George refer to her as the TINY blacksmith. She was not tiny! She was only vertically-challenged! Never mind fact that she was just as tall as a dwarf, which was supposedly the tiniest of all the existing races. She grumbled something incoherent, and then the wolf-hair tapped Foreman Mukade IX’s head. “Am I... tiny?” she asked the massive creature. “Absolutely,” came the elite centipede’s reply. He didn’t even hesitate to say that. Oh, Mukade, what have you done? In the centipede’s defense, he had no idea about Caerbannog’s disinclination to accept her lack of physical stature compared to other adventurers. No one had really told him about it before because only a few adventurers had the Tongue of Nature skill, and even fewer were willing to speak to a four-meter long centipede. While Caerbannog sat upon her pet’s back, rather shocked at the recent development and conversation, Mukade twitched his antennae in front of him a few times. He could ‘feel’ and hear the presence of the old man George, but as always he was blind as a bat in broad daylight. Centipedes did not exactly have eyes after all. The dry air of Sarum wasn’t helping him any; it was different from the air in Londinium and was so uncomfortable unlike the air within the Old Quarry Caverns. As Mukade twitched his antennae, he felt another presence approach them. “Oh, dear heavens and all the gods within it. That’s a massive centipede!” Rose was still trying to catch her breath after she ran outside to greet Caerbannog, only to be greeted first with such a sight... a giant centipede right in her farm. The creature was identified as a Foreman Mukade on the landers’ interface. Only the creatures or the tamers gave them their own names after all. Hyzenthlay, being an enemic buster, was only referred to as The Grey Princess in her warren; her name was given to her by Caerbannog, a reference to the real-world book Watership Down. Foreman Mukade IX, on the other hand, named himself because to his knowledge, he was the ninth elite centipede to have spawned in the Old Quarry Caverns. But enough about the pets; let’s go back to their tamer. The dark knight Caerbannog sat upon her mighty greyish brown steed, dumbfounded at the most recent development. Foreman Mukade IX, of all the people who could say it outright, why him? He was, in two words, brutally honest; Caer knew for sure that anything the centipede said was definitely true. She had to accept it... there was no way around it. The fact that she only rose to the chest, shoulder or chin of almost every adventurer that she ever met was a testament to the truth. She was tiny. She was minute. She was short. “Ryuu-nii...” went a telepathic call from Caerbannog to Kumori, “I’m short, aren’t I?” The wolf-hair did not cry this time as she waited for his reply. She had gone to Sarum on a mission, and crying would only delay things. It never helped any, no. Caerbannog gently patted her centipede’s head, and then she pointed at the ground. In response, Mukade lowered himself to the ground. He could sense that something was wrong with his tamer, or that she was upset for some reason, but he did not ask about it. From what the centipede had observed when he spent some time with her, she would get upset occasionally but unless it was very serious, there was no need to worry. Caerbannog still acted as expected so it was all good. “I was wondering if...” the samurai sniffled between some words as she spoke to Rose, “I could help fix any tools?” “Oh my dear, are you so happy to see us that you’re so close to tears?” Rose skipped over to the wolf-hair and gave her a hug so big that the little one almost suffocated between the woman’s breasts, “I’m happy to see you too! I’ve got some of those old tools at the back, you can fix them right up!” As the lander woman led Caerbannog away, the samurai looked back to her pet centipede who waved to her with one maxilipped. “Help the old man,” was her request of the creature. “Surely, I will. I hope there is cake after this,” Mukade replied as he rose up to his full height, “Or any of those so-called sweets.” For a while, old man George stared at the beast before him. He then raised his broom up at the creature and wagged the cleaning tool at its face. “Ye better not mess up my yard,” the lander sternly warned. “Greetings, wrinkled few-legged meat baby!” Mukade waved his maxillipeds at the man before him, “I do not speak your language, unfortunately. I do recognize a few words, but none of those that you just said.” As the broom was waved at his face, Mukade inspected it with his antennae. “Ah, is this a weapon? Such a flimsy contraption,” the centipede said, “Are you challenging me to a fight? Oh, but I must respectfully decline. The cake-making meat baby has requested me to help you in your endeavor, whatever it may be. I’m afraid we cannot tend to it if we were to duel.” The statements came out as hisses and spits to the old lander; he understood nothing. But the elite centipede was not poised to strike George, and if anything, it seemed to be curiously inspecting the broom. The lander lowered his cleaning tool as he scratched his chin. “Well if the tiny one brought ye along, I s’pose no harm will come of it,” he reasoned, “The li’l one’s doing her own tasks by now, probably. Might as well put ye to work too!” At that, old man George slowly... and I mean, very slowly... turned away from the giant centipede. He wasn’t too wary of the creature, oh no. Old man George was just really old.

[Deleted]

1020 words		A Very Earthy Moment
What in the world happened here? World War III? Caerbannog did not even know where to begin. The rather neat tool shed and work area that she used so long ago was no longer neat and tidy. Instead, it was littered with used tools which were allowed to rust and their edges were either blunt, or bent out of shape. Seriously, did Rose go to war armed with gardening tools? Caerbannog was way too distraught about the state of the tools that she made to even think about what Rose could have done with them. The blacksmith sighed and forgot all of the earlier trouble about her height. She walked over to the work area and checked which tools could still be saved, and which ones were beyond help. Scythes of different sizes, shovels, trowels, rakes, axes and hatchets were on the table and at its feet. Even the forge, which had cost Rose a pretty penny back then, had not been taken care of. Ah, well, what could she expect from an aged man and his busy sister anyway? It wasn’t as if they had all the time in the world to cleaning things and such... “What happened here?” the samurai asked Rose without turning to look at the woman, “Why is everything so... messy?” A lot of the smaller objects were beyond repair. That, or would have been too expensive to repair; it would be better to just replace them completely. The larger tools, however, seemed mendable still. It would take a bit of hard work and patience on her end, but with her experience in mending such tools, Caerbannog would not have to take too much time to do it. If only smithing was as interesting as cooking... it would have made things easier. Speaking of cooking, the samurai was feeling a bit hungry and her stomach complained loudly. Rose heard it, of course, and she clapped her hands together- the sound of which almost made the wolf-hair jump. “OH! I have just the thing for you. Wait here!” the jolly woman said to the adventurer who was picking through the sad pile of tools. That said, Rose walked into the hut and left little Caerbannog all by herself. The wolf-hair carefully separated the tools to be scrapped from the tools which were repairable. The trowels were almost all gone, eaten away by rust; the scythes and sickles were bent out of shape and were far too damaged to smith back into their proper pieces. The wooden handles were also eaten away by mold and fungi... seriously, how did it happen? Sarum was about as dry as the Sahara desert, so how in the world did fungus even grow on those handles? At least the shovels did not seem to need a lot of work... the rakes too seemed to need only some minor cleaning and polishing. Caerbannog sat down on the work bench and stared at the pile of useless tools to her side... what a waste. “No, no. Like this!” instructed old man George as he stabbed a thick wooden stick into the ground. He had been trying to teach the centipede some of their improvised ways of gardening, but Mukade was far too strong. The lander used the wooden stick to loosen the soil, which frequently would turn to mud when it rained, which in turn would become very hard and difficult to grow plants in when the sun dried it up. The elite centipede used his appendages to stab through the soil, but the hard pieces of earth flew through the air every now and then. He was not delicate at all, but with each mistake, Mukade learned to be more careful of his actions. “Such amusing work! This is similar to burrowing, but not quite!” the centipede was very interested in the ways of the few-legged meat babies, “You must burrow, but not too deep nor too strongly. Interesting!” While Foreman Mukade IX was having the time of his life, just hanging out with the old lander as they both stabbed the ground with their respective tools, Rose was hurriedly putting together a tray of breakfast for Caerbannog. The lander seemed rather proud of herself too; no doubt she’d been learning how to cook from adventurers, right? Probably... hopefully. Otherwise, yikes! Poor Caerbannog. As if having to deal with a pile of barely-usable tools was not bad enough, would she have to deal with bland lander cooking too? Back to the wolf-hair blacksmith, she had just gotten around to checking the forge. The parts seemed to still be in good condition, but the soot and coal which had accumulated in it- probably due to overuse- had to be cleaned up. A bit of soapy water would do, but a lot of scrubbing would have to be done to it. Caerbannog opened the forge widely so that she could check if the inner parts were too rusted over, and to her relief, it was not. So, with just some cleaning, the forge would be usable again. The wolf-hair psyched herself up with a “YOSH!” and stood up to get some cleaning materials, but a great shadow fell over her. “I’ve been learning how to cook!” Rose joyfully beamed at little Caerbannog. How bad could it be? The samurai looked over the tray: there was a bowl of beans in what seemed to be tomato sauce, a piece of unleavened bread and a small mug of some dark liquid (maybe coffee?) Caerbannog looked up at Rose, who smiled at the girl widely, and then she looked at the food in the tray. Might as well try some... her stomach did complain earlier so it was its fault entirely. The samurai sat down on the work bench and carefully made room for the tray. The lander set the container down in front of the samurai, and the wolf-hair proceeded to try out the beans. “The girls from the camp taught me quite a bit!” Rose proudly claimed as the samurai almost spat out the very earthy-tasting beans; the ‘girls’ were probably the landers of the Expedition Camp.

[Deleted]

1000 words		I Prefer Potatoes
Oh, how Caerbannog loved her chef subclass. It gave her the ability to actually create delicious food. And who didn’t love to eat? Well, maybe plants like Maya-chwan who only loved the sun… mmm, photosynthesis. But anything that had taste buds probably liked eating, and Kyuu was no exception. She used to go out on food trips with Ryuu; the girl even insisted on having a bowl or two of ice cream even though she was lactose-intolerant. That, or frozen yogurt which was much better for her condition. That aside, Caerbannog wished that Rose also had the chef subclass, and that it could affect her similarly. But lolno. The gods of Elder Tale were not so kind upon landers, and Caerbannog was made to suffer through that first spoonful of earthy-tasting beans in tomato sauce. Did Rose even wash the beans before she cooked them? Most probably, since there were no bits of loam or mud in the tomato sauce. It even smelled like beans in tomato sauce; the color was quite inviting too. But the taste… oh, the taste! Caerbannog tried hard not to wince; she tried even harder not to vomit. It was just so utterly horrible! Maybe the bread would be better, since you can’t mess up unleavened bread after all. Right? RIGHT?! Wrong. Oh so very wrong. One bite into the homemade bread and Caerbannog was instantly awash in salt. Salt salt salt everywhere. It wasn’t the usual salty flavor either. It was more like… stale rice crackers that swam in sea salt kind of saltiness. How could unleavened bread taste like rice crackers? Ah, such mystery. Rose probably noticed the horrible expression on Caerbannog’s face by then, which would’ve been reason enough for the lander to offer the girl a drink. “Don’t forget to wash it down,” the woman nervously laughed. Used socks in soap water. That was how the ‘coffee’ tasted like. How did Caerbannog even know how used socks in soap water tasted? Well, it’s a rather long story but the short version is that she had a little accident one time when she was doing her laundry. But yeah, used socks in soap water. How did ‘coffee’ turn out like that? Caerbannog put the mug of shitty drink down and she looked up at Rose with blank eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but the samurai immediately closed it again because she momentarily felt like throwing up. The wolf-hair valiantly used all of her willpower to prevent any embarrassing moments, and once she was ready, she spoke to the very kind Rose who was obviously just trying to help. “Thanks for the meal,” Caerbannog even tried to force a smile but she did it so badly that her face just turned pale, and so she turned away from the lander. “Ah… more practice for me then!” Rose cheerfully exclaimed as she took up the tray of half-eaten food and went back into the hut. It took a while before the black-haired samurai recovered from the horrible meal. She merely rested her chin on the table and spread her arms in front of her, totally out of it. Her eyes were fixated on the rusty scythe which was a little to her side. The food was not bad enough for her to consider taking her own life, but Caerbannog was so out of it that she just stared at the tool without even blinking. It was just an item that she was fixated on for no particular reason until finally, the blacksmith snapped out of it. The color returned to her cheeks as she stood up straight and remembered the reason why she was there in the first place. “Right! Work!” Caerbannog almost yelled. She then walked over to the pile of useless tools and began to separate the metal parts from the wooden parts. Even though the metal pieces were rusted over and bent, she figured that some landers or other adventurers could still find some use for them. As for the wood, Rose and her brother could probably use it for firewood or for repairing their fence. Caer started working on the smallest tools such as the trowels and sickles, careful not to cut her hand in the process. With her small but sturdy smithing hammer, the wolf-hair pounded off the metal clasps that attached the blades to the handles. Some of the clasps stuck to the wood due to the amount of rust that had accumulated, but it was nothing compared to the strength of a high-leveled adventurer. As his tamer worked on the tools behind the hut, Foreman Mukade IX engrossed himself in garden work. Just as she was getting the hang of ‘shallow-burrowing’, the centipede’s terminology for tilling the soil, Rose walked up to him and to old man George. The ever-jolly lander offered a tray of bread and coffee at the pair. George did not seem too pleased by the snacks, but he took the bread nonetheless and dipped it in the coffee, and then he hurriedly ate and drank the items respectively. Foreman Mukade IX, on the other hand, turned to Rose and then he inspected the presented items with his antennae. “Are you trying to poison me?” asked the giant centipede; he noticed that George ate the food items without ill effects but Mukade was still wary of the things since his instinct yelled DANGER DANGER, “I must respectfully decline.” The centipede lowered his antennae, turned away from Rose and went back to his shallow-burrowing. Old man George let out a snicker as he went back to his gardening as well. “Heh, even the bug knows how bad yer cooking is,” he said to his sister who just let out a sigh, “It actually got worse with those young’uns’ help!” “Can’t fault me for tryin’,” Rose merely shrugged, “Unless you want to eat roasted potatoes, baked potatoes, boiled potatoes… potatoes every day!” The lander woman wasn’t about to let some rejection like that get her down.

[Deleted]

1025 words		The Simple Life
For a moment, Caerbannog wondered if she should run after Rose and attempt to eat all the food that she offered. After all, it was rather rude that the samurai already thanked the lander for the meal despite there being some leftovers. But as the blacksmith stood up, her stomach felt as if it was going to turn over and empty its contents onto the hard ground, and so Caer sat back down. She wondered how Foreman Mukade IX was doing and hoped that Rose did not entice the creature with any kind of cake. That was the centipede’s weakness after all: cake. As for the wolf-hair, she went back to picking at the tools until the useless ones were in separate pieces. To make sure that the metal parts would not hurt anyone who touched them or maybe inflict an Elder Tale version of tetanus on the poor sod, Caerbannog used a small smithing hammer to blunt down the edges and protruding parts. Between each hammer strike, the samurai rested because she’d only just begun to feel the effects of Rose’s cooking. What was in that thing? Did it even qualify as food? Then again, the girl was using her blacksmith crafting class which meant that she did not have Iron Stomach, and thus could be affected by badly-cooked recipes. What was she supposed to do again? Ah, right. After the metal and wood parts were separated, she would start to clean the forge. For that, Caerbannog needed some soap and water. The samurai was still feeling a bit sick in the stomach, but she managed to stand up just fine. Perhaps the worst had passed... Caer slowly made her way up front to the door of the hut, and just as she was about to step in, Rose had turned around and noticed her. “Did you need some more coffee?” the lander kindly asked. Caerbannog looked up at Rose with a deer-in-headlights look. No, please, no more socks in soap water. But it would have been rude if she had said that out loud, and so the samurai merely shook her head. “Water and soap for cleaning please,” the wolf-hair politely said. “Ah, okay then. Follow me,” Rose sighed as she walked in, perhaps disappointed that no one really liked her new dishes. The interior of the hut was just as simple as its exterior. Right in the middle, as Caerbannog walked in, there was a coffee table with a couch set around it. To her left, there was an open door and when the samurai curiously peered inside, she noticed some tall closets and two neatly-arranged beds. Rose, understandably, walked to the room on their right side which had the kitchen and dining area. A small wooden dining table for four people sat close to the only window in the room, and two wooden chairs were neatly tucked away beneath it. On the table, there was a clay flower vase with what seemed to be a weed growing out of it- a flowering weed, probably. “What a nice place,” Caerbannog muttered under her breath as she looked at the room. It was nowhere near as big as their guild house, the Westminster Abbey, but the hut was neatly kept and everything was in its proper place. Rose did not seem to be the obsessive type at all; there were no ten different kinds of herbs and spices with their own bottles and labels, but she still managed to keep the room nice and orderly. Perhaps the fact that she only had one relative, her older brother, accounted for the orderliness of the house. The stove and a small oven were on one side of the room, close to a counter and the sink. Rose’s tools and utensils were in ranks and shelves, along with dishes that they used. “Thank you, dear,” Rose replied in kind, obviously pleased by Caer’s compliment, “Here are your cleaning materials.” The lander then handed a small wooden bucket filled with soapy water to Caerbannog, and a cleaning rag to go with it. Kyuu Schwarz was spoiled in some ways, but she was not a completely pampered princess. Since she had to stay at home by herself back in the real world, Kyuu knew how to keep the house in proper order. Her mother’s nearly-inedible cooking also made the girl attempt to cook on her own, and it was that same penchant for cooking that made her select her original crafting class: chef. With the bucket of soapy water in her hand and the cleaning rag in the other, Caerbannog nodded a thanks at Rose and then she turned to leave the hut. As she stepped outside while feeling slightly better than before, the samurai noticed her massive centipede who seemed to be having the time of his life while doing menial chores for a lander. Ah, the creatures of Elder Tale; they were pretty simple-minded, but adventurers could learn a thing or two from their simplicity. All Foreman Mukade IX ever wanted was cake, and he was having a fairly good time just tilling the land too. It was not the first time that Caerbannog employed the centipede to do chores, and it certainly would not be the last. She never heard the centipede grumble or complain, and as Caer turned her back to the front yard, she was confident that there would be more quiet but fun days ahead with the gigantic beast. Her happiness was short-lived, for the blacksmith soon was faced once again with the sorry appearance of the tool shed and the work area behind Rose’s hut. Caerbannog sighed as she put down the wooden bucket beside the forge and cleaning rag close to it. Once she ascertained that there were no dangerous or sharp objects around the forge or inside it, the girl set about removing used coal from the bowels of the thing. Seriously, who leaves crap in forges? Probably a pig who didn’t know any better. Whoever it was, Caer hoped that she’d never have to work with such a person or else there would be blood and guts all over the floor.

[Deleted]

1225 words		A Gentle Centipede
With much effort by Foreman Mukade IX and some effort by old man George, the garden in front of the hut was finally ready for new seedlings to be put in. There were six rows of tilled ground, something that would have taken the old lander and his sister to work on. But with the centipede’s burrowing skills, they were able to finish it in just one morning! George gave the centipede a firm pat on the back; Mukade would have returned the gesture if not for the frailty of adventurers. The elite centipede knew that his appendages could slice the old man’s flesh open, so he refrained from returning that pat on the back. Instead, Mukade rubbed his maxillipeds together in a sort of awkward clap which the lander did not mind at all. Rose, who’d been busily working on ‘lunch’ or something that was supposed to be lunch, stepped out of the hut and was greeted by the sight of his brother happily finishing up the yardwork with the massive centipede. Strangely enough, the woman did not cringe at the sight of the giant bug. Perhaps it was because she lived in the area around Sarum for the longest time, that nothing surprised her anymore. “Time ter git these seedlings into them holes on the ground,” George turned towards the hut and slowly but surely walked over to its side. There, he removed a wide net from some seedlings in little pots. The lander turned to Mukade and looked over his appendages. The man might be old, but he was not stupid; he knew that the centipede would not be able to help with moving the little things. And so George glanced at his sister and nodded to her, which the younger one understood. “Might want to step back a li’l,” the old man said to the centipede, “Help us pat down the ground after we put them seedlings in.” The centipede stepped back and scratched his chin. He did not understand a word that was said, but the few-legged one did not gesture towards the little plants so he probably was not being asked to help. To and fro, the brother and sister walked slowly but surely with three or four pots in their arms. They set each clay pot in front of the holes in the ground which had been tilled open by the massive centipede. Who knew that a beastie of nightmares could be such a good gardener? And all in exchange for cake too. It took a good half hour to move all the pots to the tilled ground, and the plants from their pots into the holes in the soil. Once everything was set, the landers began to gently pat down the soil around the plants to secure them in place. “C’mere you,” George waved for the centipede to get closer and then he pointed at the soil around a seedling as he patted it down, “Do it like this. Go on.” Foreman Mukade IX observed the meat oldies in front of him for a few minutes as they tended to the seedlings in one plot. He then turned to a nearby seedling which was still to be secured in its spot; the centipede folded his maxillipeds towards his chin and began to pat the ground with the blunt parts. It was slow work for the creature who had to stoop down very low to the ground, but it was something new and interesting for him so he did not complain. By and by, the trio worked on the seedlings until they were securely planted in the unforgiving soil which was loosened and readied for planting by the giant centipede. “Ye did well!” said old man George as soon as they finished gardening. He would have given Foreman Mukade IX another pat on the back, but the lander was stuck and bent over one of the plots. Rose had to help her brother up as he dealt with his aching back and waist. In the meantime, Mukade explored the rest of the farm. To the side, he noticed a pen which was full of young pittered boars. They squealed when they noticed the massive beast, but as for Mukade, he could not see their ugly faces because he did not have eyes and so their frightened expressions remained unknown to him. The centipede approached the pen, curious of the squealing few-legged meat babies. His antennae twitched over the pen as he inspected its contents. They were not like his tamer at all despite being small meat babies too, but they did seem familiar to him. Ah well, not that it mattered. They seemed to be secure in their enclosure, so the centipede left them alone. He turned towards the back of the hut where his tamer was busily working, and soon found the little wolf-hair. “Greetings, Cake Maker!” the centipede exclaimed. “WHOA! OW!” Caerbannog, surprised, knocked the top of her head against the upper part of the forge which she had been cleaning, “Oh, it’s you!” The samurai backed away from her work and she sat down on the ground. “How did it go? Your time with the landers,” the wolf-hair asked as she rubbed the top of her head. “It went well! I learned to shallow-burrow! But more importantly...” Mukade pointed at Caer’s face, “What happened to you? Did you have to wrestle with a dark beastie?” “Ah...” Caerbannog looked down at her arms and hands. Full of soot and pieces of coal, the samurai was ‘black’ through and through. Her face was a mess and her hair was all over the place, tangled. The wolf-hair giggled at the sight as she realized just how funny she might have seemed. There was no mirror nearby and so she could not check for herself, but the phrase ‘wrestle with a dark beastie’ did make the samurai laugh. Foreman Mukade IX tried his best to carefully and gently untangle his tamer’s hair but it was taking quite some time. As a result of his earlier yard work, the centipede was more delicate with his appendages but he also failed to notice that as he ran the tip of his legs through Caerbannog’s hair, he put bits of earth in it. “You don’t have to,” Caer giggled as she patted the creature’s tummy, “I’ll clean up later after this, okay?” Mukade let out an unearthly sigh, but he did back away from the samurai as she asked. Caer was then free to get back to her work and so she dove back into the forge and continued from where she left off. Half of its inside was already cleaned with soap and water but the bottom was still grimy and stuck up with soot and coal. Caerbannog took one of the useless trowels and she used it to scrape the bottom of the forge, so as to loosen the stuck parts. She was, of course, careful not to put too much of a push otherwise she might make a hole in the bottom of the forge. It was tiresome work but the nice laugh courtesy of Foreman Mukade IX invigorated the girl. With just a bit more work, she would be able to clean up the forge completely and move on to restoring and rearranging whatever was left of Rose’s gardening tools.

[Deleted]

1255 words		A Happy Ending
At long last, after countless minutes of scrubbing, the forge looked almost as good as... well, almost as good as it should. It did not look anything like brand new or utterly clean, but it looked decent enough to be used unlike before. Caerbannog peered into the wooden bucket beside her. What used to be soapy water had become muck and grime due to the residue from the forge. The cleaning rag was a total mess and would probably be unusable from then on. No amount of soap and water could wash away the grime that stuck between its threads. Nonetheless, it had served its purpose. The forge was workable again and as soon as it was completely dry, it could once again be used for smithing. Speaking of which, Caerbannog stood up and went over to the work bench. Since the useless tools had already been separated from the useful ones, she now had to figure out what to do with the tools that she had to work on. Some of them needed to be at least semi-heated so that they could be hammered back into shape. Others only needed some polishing and rust-removal. The samurai, of course, started out with the latter because the forge was not completely ready just yet. From Rose’s supplies, Caerbannog did find some rust-removal liquid and polishing ones too. It seemed that the lander really was equipped to maintain her gardening tools, but perhaps she lacked the time or expertise to do so. Whatever the reason, Caerbannog would just attend to the matter at the moment and perhaps give Rose some tips on how to take care of her tools later. “Muu-chan should sit down and rest,” the samurai said to her centipede beastie as she sat down on the work bench and pulled one of the better-looking scythes towards her. “If you say so, but please, do let me know if you need my help,” Mukade responded to the statement without even batting an imaginary eyelash, as if being referred to as ‘Muuchan’ did not faze him at all. While Caerbannog started her work on removing the rust off of the tools, the massive centipede loosely curled himself around the work bench and relaxed. It had been a long day so far and it wasn’t even midday yet. But speaking of midday, it was almost time for lunch. Understandably, the samurai’s stomach grumbled again. She did have meals and snacks in her inventory, but the wolf-hair’s hands were filthy so she just tried to keep her mind off of the grumbling of her tummy as she focused on the polishing work. The first scythe was wiped clean with a rag and the rust-removal concoction was dabbed onto it. It would take a few minutes for the liquid to work and within those minutes, Caerbannog’s hunger grew. She could feel her stomach complaining so much within her, but the samurai wanted to get the job done first. “Shall hunt for some spiders for your consumption?” the elite centipede offered, “I know that meat babies cannot ingest cavern spiders, so shall I find smaller ones?” Mukade even had a quizzical look on his face as if he was wondering why Caerbannog had not gotten up to eat some spiders just yet. “Or did you want cake?” the creature suddenly exclaimed, “If you find cake and do not want it, may I have it?” And so the truth was revealed. Foreman Mukade IX just wanted some cake. His tamer giggled as she pulled out Rien’s Ice Cream Cake from her inventory. Cleanliness, or lack thereof, did not matter much to the centipede so as soon as his tamer handed the cake up to him, Mukade snatched it carefully from the girl’s hands and shoved it down his throat. “Mmm~ delicious!” Mukade happily exclaimed as his antennae twitched. “I’m going back to work now, this is almost done!” Caerbannog turned to the scythe and then she wiped off the rust and the liquid which was used to remove it. The tool looked almost as if it was new, but it still needed a bit of polishing. The wolf-hair then applied another coating of liquid to it, this time a metal polish, and allowed the concoction to stand once again. As soon as she got the rhythm of it, the blacksmith found it easy to just remove the rust and polish each metal part of every tool that was still usable. She also inspected the wooden handles of the objects to make sure that they were still secure and serviceable, and indeed they were in fairly good condition. It seemed that the blades were simply overused and had not been cleaned, and so they ended up looking like such a sad assortment. With the moral support of Mukade, Caerbannog was able to clean them right up and once that was done, she stowed them away in the tool shed where they belonged. “Okay! Last ones!” the samurai pumped her little fists up into the air. Caerbannog was fired up, as was the forge. She needed enough heat in the thing so that she could hammer some tools into shape. As usual with all her smithy work, the forge was fired up with coal and a quenching tub was placed close to it. Her own tools were laid out on the work bench close to the large anvil. With a pair of tongs, she put one of the blunt, misshapen tools into the forge which was sufficiently heated up and left it there just long enough for the item to be malleable. As soon as the blade became visibly hot, Caerbannog placed it on the anvil and she hammered away until it was back to its appropriate shape. The heated tool was then quenched in the tub and allowed to cool completely. A bit of polishing and it would be as good as new! Meanwhile, in the hut, Rose had been preparing a specialty of sorts: potato curry. At least this one, she really knew how to cook it and even her brother liked it somewhat. It was just that the siblings had gotten tired of eating their home-grown potatoes, and so Rose tried her hand at cooking something else. But after seeing the sad results, the lander resolved to work harder for next time as she decided to cook her specialty that day. Their purple potatoes which was rather difficult to peel, but once cooked it had a rich taste and was worth the effort. Rose cooked it in a clay pot to avoid a nasty reaction between iron and certain spices, which would have made the curry taste bitter. “Ready! Shall we go and fetch the little one then?” Rose asked her brother but he was already stuffing his face with potato curry, and so the woman could say nothing else but, “Oh, you...” The samurai soon finished up her smithing work and she polished the last few tools too. Tired and hungry, she was a bit skeptical when Rose asked her to stay for lunch but Caerbannog was not one to be rude. The lander did agree that the girl had to take a bath first though. Apart from that, the day ended well with the tools restored and the tool shed neatly kept once again. Foreman Mukade IX, most of all, had learned a few tricks from the landers and also got some cake. It was a great day to be alive in the peculiar reality of Elder Tale.