NOVEL NEXT Chapter 41: Berg
Kaw! Kaw! Kaw!
The kawing echoed through the alley, causing the follower behind another to scowl as he shoots the annoying critter a look, even contemplating throwing a rock at them.
"Stop it."
"What? C'mon, it's just a stupid bird."
"It's a crow. Don't you know that crows never forget?"
"If I kill it, then it won't have the ability to remember or forget." the second follower shot back.
"The other crows will though." the leading one said as he ponted at the other crows who were quietly watching them.
Seeing them, the second follower snorts, but stops his spell.
"Doesn't look like any crow that I know." he grumbled as he turned around and the pair continued along.
Kaw! Kaw! Kaw!
The sounds grew louder and the two hurried along faster than before, unseen by anyone other than the crows.
Grant went in a few days later to register his new familiar.
His aura had returned to normal, and yet the memory had not been forgotten. The people could not so easily forget the presence Grant had shown.
The child was not with him, but neither was the bear. After seeing the spatial magic the other day, many rumors had spread, and speculation ran wild.
Everyone who stood before Grant felt anxious and that day, the work seemed to go just a little bit faster.
"And this is a crow?" Anna the guild worker asked as she eyed the bird unsurely.
On the surface, it looked like a normal crow, but it was hard to ignore the crowning horns emerging from its head. And there was something about the bird that felt off, if it being slightly larger than a normal crow wasn't a giveaway.
Not that she would've noticed, now that drows and dravens had begun blending into the flocks, the larger size did not stand out.
Were those teeth?
"Yeah, I think it has some dragon blood, so it has a few weird features, you know? I thought it'd make a good reconnaissance familiar."
"Ah!" she exclaimed, as she realized why it felt different.
It had dragon blood!
The sense of worry faded quickly, as anything she worried about was waived away by the fact that the creature had dragon blood.
Creatures with dragon blood were rare, but not exotically so, and it was true, creatures with dragon blood were considered special amongst their kind.
There were also those who kept them in the hopes of them evolving into dragons, as hopeless as a dream that was.
"All right, done!" she exclaimed as she collected the registration.
She paused for a moment, as she contemplated something, before carefully asking.
"About that ogre child..." she waivered.
"Yes?" asked Grant as he got quiet.
Anna noticed but continued anyway.
Regardless of what he was, he was a child, and she felt obligated to ask out of concern for the child.
"Is he... feeling better?"
Grant paused, and a different aura arose.
Affection.
Pure affection.
It was as if life itself was just better all of a sudden.
Unconsciously, her shoulders relaxed, as she felt the charm of the world seep through her, as if life itself was good.
"The child is doing fine." Grant said. "He has yet to awaken, but that is to be expected after what he has endured."
She nodded, feeling relieved, watching as Grant left.
Returning to the small house in his realm, Grant checked the boys forehead.
A bit warmer than he had hoped, but that was fine.
The real problem lay on his chest, where a certain range of magic circles was engraved.
The spell was one that suppressed the child's demonic bloodline by allowing his ogre bloodline to consume it.
Grant was inclined to erase the magic circle, lest all that bonded the child to his mother would fade, as he became fully ogre.
However, there were concerns Grant had.
Namely, whose bloodline that demon was of, for the demoness from whom the child originated from was of duke level at least.
The demons who inhabited Earth had a nobility, with each rank of bloodline having respectively higher levels of potential.
This does not mean a demon can't grow stronger than the nobility, merely that the nobility are more closely related to their hellish ancestors, and are stronger innately.
And this child had the blood of a duke.
This wasn't something too amazingly difficult for Grant to deal with, but the child...
Demons weren't exactly fond of ogres, who seemed barbaric to their kind. They may not hate ogres for their nature as monsters, but their barbaric and primitive nature displeases demons, especially noble ones.
The fact that this child, who was part demon and ogre, was out here in the middle of nowhere, able to be captured by a mere ogre out in the middle of nowhere spoke volumes about what had likely happened.
Forbidden love and its costs, and the unfortunate child who was caught in its crosshair.
There was a chance that the duke from whom this child was descended may come knocking one day.
Could the child deal with that?
How would he deal with a man who despised him for who he was, the regret he represented?
Grant wasn't sure yet.
He would have to consider it for some time.
For now, he would awaken an old friend.
Dipping into his inventory, he pulled out a familiar golem core.
"Berg", as he fondly called him. Yes, he called his golem berg.
He could be a dick at times.
Creating a smaller body then Berg was likely used to, he created a mythril derived body, which took the form of a stumpy little golem, chibi in its nature.
Yeah, Berg would probably hate this too.
Infusing the orb with mana, Grant plunged the now-glowing orb into the golem's chest.
As the golem lit up softly, life came into the golems two little eyes. Grant would've preferred 3, maybe even 6 eyes, but he wanted the child to feel at ease with the little golem.
That didn't stop him from installing tiny sensors in all sides of the head.
Looking around, it spoke in that casual voice it always had. A youthful, exasperated voice, one that seemed to always have just a touch of sarcasm to it.
"This don't look like the afterlife..." it commented as it looked around, and then settling on the child "... and he don't look dead..." as his eyes finally settled on his old master, he sighed "... you escaped death again, didn't you?" it said exasperated.
"This is like, the 5th time you've pulled this kind of stunt Grant." The golem said sighing. "Why does death keep letting you get away with this?"
Grant rolled his eyes as he took off the mask and clothes, changing into something more casual.
"No clue, but that's not what happened."
And so, Grant went through everything up until now.
"Another stray." complained the golem, and yet that did not stop the golem from taking out a wet towel and using it to cool the child's head.
With a better body he might've even split in two so that he could begin preparing porridge for the child.
"So you brought me back in this innocuous body to care for the child."
Grant nodded.
Berg asked cautiously.
"And King and Queenie...?"
"-No." Was Grant's simple response to that, and the golem accepted, even feeling relieved.
He missed his two homunculi friends, and the two were great with kids, but...
... They were just such horn dogs, that not even magic could suppress the noises that came with.
Some actual peace and quiet sounded nice.
He wanted to settle the child, ease him into his care.
And dressing as a dark and brooding crow while hand feeding him was not the solution, nor was making the nights sleepless.
Hence the casual clothes. And the absence of his old homunculi.
And before this, the boy will likely still be traumatized, and needing of adaptation.
This was why the boy would be cared for within his divine realm, out of the reach of any human, and the beings that inhabited the realm knew better than to defy his orders.
A small golem acting dumb and innocent was the way in which he could slowly lower the child's barrier.
When they did meet, it would be in small appearances, bringing food, tucking blankets, the kind of things that were barely there, but there enough that he may slowly ease into the child's life.
In the meantime, it was time to start ruining the plans of those foolish devotees.
"Allrhalda " he called as the draven appeared upon the man's shoulder as he left the building, using its newfound divinity to arrive at its master call.
Indeed, the drow had evolved into the draven form, or the adult form.
At this point, the monster in it had begun to make itself more apparent.
Looking closely, one would notice the beginnings of a second pair of arms appearing under the crows breast.
Meant for grabbing foraging they were, they were useful tools for a draven to use tools with, and easy to hide within the dense plummage.
Dravens were barely larger than drows, perhaps being a head taller, meant to blend in amongst drows.
Each of its eyes were surrounded by a patch of scales, and the horns had become more prominent.
Gathered around it were 4 smaller drows, and one draven that stood alongside his familiar, his partner, who had begun radiating divinity as well.
For the drows and dravens, the mother holds equal value to the father, the omega to the alpha, and thus the divinity that Allrhalda held was shared by his new partner.
The female draven bowed, demonstrating familial piety the way a new in law does before the parents. \
Respectable.
Nodding in approval, he fished out a golden pendant and gifted it to the new draven, who cawed happily.
"Allrhalda, report." Said Grant, and the draven perked up as he began responding, describing vividly what his scouts had seen.
By the end of the talk, Grant had heard all the plans, and all the ideas that the church had brainstormed, all in the palm of his hand.
And now that they were in the palm of his hand, what else could he do, but crush them all?
Berg is an infamous golem, specifically because it travels as Grant's companion.
Not much is known about the origin of Berg.
Some believe he is Grant's first attempt at creating life,
Others say he is Grant's first familiar,
and others claim the golem is Grant's first alchemical creation.
Even those who remember Grant in his youth never really knew the origin of the golem.
All they remember was a tiny golem who went by the name Berg, who served as the alchemists assistant in his youth.
In his current age though, the golem is feared as a walking tower of destruction, a hulking monster of a golem, created out of metals and alloys most could only ever dream of, built in with some of the greatest functions that only a creation of the madman could give.
The ability to split, the ability to transform, the ability to cause time to freeze for an hour, to teleport, to become one with, and control entire cities.
There are even some whom wonder if he is secretly a nexus star, a rare entity that is the evolution of the nexus castle.
In the end, all that is really known about the golem known as Berg is that it is terrifyingly strong, and fiercely loyal to Grant, like many of his followers.