Eem didn't say much on the way home. She clung to Vivi, occasionally scowling at Lortel as if the concealer was some devil. Vivi chuckled and mentioned that Lortel was the one who saved Eem. Eem didn't seem to care, and merely buried her face into the fabric of Vivi's dress.

Vivi smiled. How is she even clingier now than before?

"This might become a problem," Lucius said. "We have a lot of work to do. We'll be slowed down if we have to become Eem's caretakers."

Vivi's lips formed a line, but she couldn't fully disagree. For now, she brought Eem to the Lost Raindrop. Stepping through the door, she placed Eem down on her blue carpet and said, "Welcome. This is my new home."

Eem stood there with her mouth open, eyes slowly scanning her surroundings and all of Vivi's decorations. She looked wary. Slowly, she stepped forward, toward Vivi's circular table, where she climbed onto one of the chairs.

"Careful," Vivi said. "I'll be upset if you break something."

Eem seemed to listen. She climbed to the chair slowly. At the top, she eyed the cat plushy on the table, as if the plushy was some suspicious enemy. Eem poked the plushy on the cheek with hesitant movements.

Then her stomach grumbled.

Vivi moved to her ice box. "The fish here aren't as fresh, but maybe you'll like them."

She grabbed an ungutted fish and offered it to Eem. The fiend handled it warily, suspicious by its cold scales. She took the first bite. After that, the fish went down in seconds.

From there, Vivi gave Eem a bath in a small basin. Eem protested, swinging her arms. Vivi stayed stern and said, "Eem, we aren't in a dungeon anymore. In this house, you need to be clean."

Even then, Eem wasn't happy to be bathed, only calming down after Vivi gave her another large fish. Eem munched on it in the bath, while Vivi scrubbed Eem's dirty hair. The smell from the prisoner wagons had caught on to her clothes, her skin, her hair—all around, this type of grime couldn't be earned from just a day in a dungeon. Vivi had potent soap, but even then, getting Eem to look like a living being again took almost an hour.

By the end of it, Vivi placed Eem down. The fiend's hair was back to a vibrant white, skin surprisingly smooth. "You look beautiful, Eem," Vivi said, and the fiend let out a beaming smile, now running around with much more energy.

Clothes were the next problem. Eem's cloak was dirty to the point that washing it wouldn't get rid of the smell. The rips were large enough to stumble on in case Eem started running. She definitely needed new clothes. But considering her size, almost nothing would fit.

It turned out, Vivi didn't need to worry about that. A few minutes later, knocks came on the door. Peeking out, Vivi saw Lortel, carrying a small stack of clothes. Vivi let her inside.

"Since Eem is your dear friend," Lortel said, "it's only natural her wardrobe is upgraded as well. I hope this will suffice until I learn what clothes she prefers to wear."

Lortel gave Vivi a new brown cloak, tailored to fit Eem. Nothing was fancy about it, but it was surprisingly stylish, with the seams made of pretty strings, and the hood having tailored holes to make Eem's horns fit.

Eem looked curious, and didn't fight back as Vivi put it on. Lortel eyed the outfit and nodded, deciding it seemed to look good. Vivi, too, felt warmth in her chest, as Eem grinned up at her in the new and clean cloak.

"Thank you, Lortel," Vivi said. She grabbed Eem and made the fiend face Lortel as well. "And Eem, you need to thank her as well. This woman made your new cloak."

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Eem was still wary, but she made some sort of sound of appreciation, and nodded her head repeatedly.

Lortel grinned back, an amused look on her face. "Don't get into trouble, you two. Good night."

With the smithy silent, Vivi fed Eem another fish. The fiend ate it with her face wide in joy. Vivi had to stop Eem from running about, bumping into furniture. She yawned, jealous of Eem's sudden energy.

I've been awake for over twenty hours now, haven't I? Vivi thought. She watched Eem for a moment longer, smiling, before changing into her sleepwear.

"I'm going to head to sleep now," Vivi said. "Don't do anything stupid while I'm out, Eem."

She lay down underneath her blanket and closed her eyes, pretending to already fall asleep. As expected, Eem stopped playing around, suddenly silent. Half a minute later, the fiend, carefully, climbed up to bed, tucking herself underneath the blanket and clinging to Vivi.

Only then did Vivi tell Lucius to bring her to Paradise, where she spent another night channeling ether.

***

In the morning, Vivi performed her morning routine as usual. Except, this time, she had a problem.

Eem was far too curious and impatient. Brewing tea in the same room as Eem with any sort of calmness turned out to be difficult. Each bit of decoration and furniture drew Eem's attention. She examined everything, bouncing around the place as if she was on a playground. When Vivi told Eem to slow down, she did—for a minute at most, after which something new caught her attention.

She hadn't destroyed anything yet. Eem seemed to keep herself behaved, at least when Vivi was watching, but she definitely saw Vivi's equipment as toys.

Vivi ate a spoonful of porridge and sighed. You might have been right. Eem is going to be a handful to watch over.

"I do hope you are not planning on personally raising her," Lucius said.

I don't plan to, Vivi thought. The goal was always to find a place where she could belong. The Lost Raindrop won't be a good home for her. This place is too small.

In Zand, Eem's carefree attitude had never been a problem. The dungeons were large, letting Eem run about freely, and Eem, despite her appearance, had a solid survival instinct. Monsters and ether could keep Eem occupied.

The Lost Raindrop, however… It was cramped, filled with all sorts of interesting objects. There were no monsters to keep Eem on her toes, and there weren't any crawl spaces for her to traverse. As much as Vivi liked Eem, she doubted keeping Eem in the smithy would be possible long-term.

Eem would probably survive alone in the city. She had survived in Zand, after all, though Eem would quickly grow into a hated thief. Vivi wasn't about to toss Eem out onto the streets.

Somehow, she needed to figure out a new home for Eem, where she would actually live a good life…

She thought about it while she ate, coming up with nothing. Few people would want to adopt Eem, and if she dropped Eem off to the Runes And Rain company, the fiend would be treated as a problem child.

Vivi warned Eem one more time not to poke her freshly cleaned head into her forge. The fiend snapped back upon the command, and searched for something new to explore. Then she found the gallery of metals. Vivi watched, until Eem did something unexpected. She began sniffing the metals.

The sight rekindled a memory from Zand. From the shoreline of the main dungeon, where Eem had dug up metals underneath the soil, claiming she'd found enirium, while excitedly pretending to swing a pickaxe.

Lucius? Vivi asked. Do you think Shivenar has a mine?

"Yes, it definitely does," Lucius said. "I think I saw a sign for the mines near the upper levels."

Ideas ran through Vivi's head. She finished her bowl of porridge and drank her tea, then put on her new dress—her best outfit. "Eem, I think you're going to be meeting someone today. It's an important meeting. I need you to show your best self and not disappoint."

Eem turned to her suspiciously.

"Now that we're in a city, I think you might need a job, Eem," Vivi said. "You can't just spend all day hole up in the smithy. It would be beneficial if you got an actual job. And I think I have a good job for you if you're ready."

Hesitantly and nervously, Eem nodded. Vivi still wasn't certain how many words Eem could understand. Perhaps it was only Vivi's serious tone that spread to Eem. But the fiend looked determined regardless.

Vivi lifted Eem onto her shoulders like she used to in Zand. Now Eem was serious, staying still, anticipating what this important meeting was about. Vivi smiled and thought, Silly girl.

From there, she requested a carriage ride from Lucas, up to the mines on the upper levels. Lucas questioned her intentions and eyed Eem, to which Vivi responded that she just needed to talk with the managers of the mining team, and that she'd like a short tour of the mines.

Lucas arranged the carriage immediately. He also sent someone to inform the mining team of Vivi's arrival so that she wouldn't need to waste time. It wouldn't be much of a warning; a fast runner could make it up perhaps five minutes faster than the carriage ride, but a short notice was useful nonetheless.

Eem and Vivi departed toward the mines.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.