Claudette's smile remained cool as the food came out once more and Randidly and the goblin devoured huge bowls of a thick and hearty stew. Even Claudette couldn’t deny that the food smelled delicious, even if her sudden realization about the truth of this man left her without an appetite. But almost as if he sensed her gaze, the goblin gave her a harsh look and jerked his chin over at Randidly.

When the next course had finished, Claudette pressed her lips together. There was still one thing that left her confused. “Setting aside the payment… Well, maybe because your payment will be relatively easy for me to fulfill… I want to make sure you understand… the… ahem, the results of helping me.”

“I might not succeed,” Randidly stretched his arms up into the air and yawned. His massive shoulders audibly cracked. Even the metal arm clinked slightly, seemingly just as much a part of his flesh as his right arm. “Will it really matter if I’m not good at the image refinement?”

He looks like a normal humanoid normally, but looking at how long his arms are… Claudette couldn’t help but scan the compact and powerful muscles of his torso as he stretched. The casual laziness made it clear to her that he wasn’t trying to show off his physique, which meant she didn’t studiously refuse to examine him. His body… was he really this broad shoulders when we met previously…? Somehow…

“Even if you fail and don’t end up offending my… buyer,” The word buyer tasted like copper in Claudette’s mouth. “I doubt that our actions will escape the attention of my father. He won’t move against you directly, but… you shouldn’t take his actions lightly.”

“I’m not taking his actions lightly,” For the first time since they had encountered each other, the light from the Ghosthound’s eyes changed he lowered his arms and laid his muscular forearms against the table as he leaned forward. He barred his teeth. “But am I supposed to just sit back and do nothing when some shitty-”

The Ghosthound huffed out a breath and shook his head. He pressed his eyes tightly shut through the whole of the motion. “...whoops. I’m projecting a bit. Heh. I’m not saying I’ll help you. I do still need to consider. But it just… pisses me off.”

There was a strange tightness in Claudette’s chest as she looked at Randidly. Somehow, she was torn between exasperation and fury by his words. Her smile was fraying. Licking her lips, she tried to figure out the source of the feeling, but only grew more irritated as she looked at the calm and righteous expression on his face.

“No need to pretend to be gallant,” Claudette said finally. “We both know the sort of transaction this is-”

Bang!

As always, the entrance of the goblin was abrupt and decisive. This time, he only had a single tray, but it was so large that he wheeled it out on a trolly. A massive bear carcass sat in the middle, surrounded by steamed carrots, mashed red skin potatoes, green beans, and a massive crock of gravy.

The goblin expertly wheeled the trolly next to the table and plopped down in his seat while tossing a knife toward Randidly. The black-haired man caught it expertly and didn’t question anything; he immediately been carving off juicy slices of marbled meat. Claudette kept her eyes on her lap, trying to suppress her nausea.

Why did I even want to ask this man to help me? Claudette bit the inside of her cheek. Even if I were to get the best image refiner in the Nexus… can I really improve enough for it to matter…? Can I really… escape this…?

She was so small. The pool of her father’s identity was all she had ever known. In a way… perhaps her self truly had drowned within its depths. All that left was the smallest shred of her, that observing portion.

Of course, I can’t escape this, another part of Claudette smirked. The numbing pool around her rippled and bubbled. This is just one last cry for attention. One last nameless boy I use to infuriate father.

Suddenly, she wished very dearly to be away from this. Maybe she could visit the Frost Matriarch, walk out into the field of snow beyond her palace and just lay down, allowing the chill to seep into her bones.

To Claudette’s immense relief, the two took to eating like they hadn’t seen food in years. Only ten minutes were required to leave nothing but bowls and empty bones on the trolly. After patting his stomach in satisfaction, the floppy-eared goblin looked at Randidly. “We still need to do the dessert courses, but it’s time to start talking about payment. You good for it?”

“Of course, I-” Randidly began, but then he rapidly paled. He awkwardly patted at his pockets and then toyed with his interspatial ring. While the goblin’s stare turned increasingly frosty, Randidly rubbed the back of his head and turned to Claudette. “Not that this is a guarantee that I’ll help you… but I’d really appreciate it if you could pay for the meal. I’ll pay you back.”

“You-” Claudette couldn’t resist snorting. “You… came here without bringing money…? What about your salary from being a Head Drill Sergeant?” Inwardly, she wondered what other debaucherous hobby he was hiding beneath his strangely compelling eyelashes. Where had all his money gone?

The goblin sighed very audibly and Randidly coughed. “I… haven’t really collected it yet. But anyway, I’m definitely good for paying you back, so…”

“Typical,” the goblin grumbled. Randidly Ghosthound flushed red.

Somehow, Claudette had the weird impression that this happened to Randidly quite often. Her observing self squirmed, oddly distressed by this information. Either way, she cleared her throat and turned to the blue-skinned goblin. “...as you might have gathered, I am Claudette Beigon, the daughter of Don Beigon. If you contact the Beigon Estate, you will definitely be reimbursed for your troubles.”

“Bah! At least he has the decency to look guilty about not paying me.” The goblin tugged on one of his ears. “But you… you feed me shit and expect me to thank you for the meal? Peh. If neither of you is good for the money, just say so.”

“I-” Claudette sucked in a breath. A frown creased her face. Today was just apparently not a good day for her. When was the last time she had gotten so upset over petty trifles? “I… you don’t know who I am? If you ask anyone-”

“Should I know her?” The goblin looked at Randidly as he asked then. And Claudette was incensed to see that Randidly just shrugged.

“Who’s side are you on?!?” She hissed at him across the heavy wooden table.

Randidly rubbed the back of his head with his metal arm. “I mean, I didn’t know who you were until I ran into you coincidentally in the Fifth Cohort… So can you really blame him for not recognizing your name?”

Claudette gurgled. That was all the sound she managed. Her small self at the bottom of the pool was twitching frantically. You…. you two…. Is this a joke?!?! Did you arrange a play just to piss me off?!?!

“Is there anything else I can do to pay you back?” The Ghosthound asked the goblin.

The goblin considered that. Then he sighed. “Baaaah… well, my son left a while ago to pursue a life of misplaced justice, so… I’m a little short-handed on my farm… and you do appear to have a pretty robust frame…”

*****

“You didn’t have to come, you know,” Randidly said to Claudette, who still wore her fashionable sundress as they walked down the busy streets to the nearest entrance to the Nexus Ways. In order to repay his debt, they were currently heading to the goblin’s homeworld.

Claudette had been acting strangely since the goblin had refused to take her family credit. She gave Randidly a look with a pair of eyes that suddenly resembled a dead fish. “It’s the least I can do for you.”

Randidly’s lips twitched, but he turned around before she could see his smile. Do you really need to be so insulted just from the fact he doesn’t know your family…? Well, maybe she was more disturbed by how much I want to antagonize her father for the way he treats her… haaaah, there are some complications for letting my emotions move freely inside of me…

With the small goblin leading the way, they soon arrived at a teleportation station and walked to the proper portal. The three of them, all different heights, stood on the platform and were whisked away. Randidly idly watched the Aether Engravings around the platform activate, but mostly he understood the process well enough that he didn’t gain anything from examining them closely.

Instead, Randidly thought about his current situation. I’m willing to help for a short time because of how excellent a chef this goblin is… but if the work takes too long, I’ll just have Octavius bring me some spare money to make up the difference...

The trio flashed into existence underneath a wide blue sky without a single cloud spoiling the pure color. Rolling hills stretched around them in every direction, occasionally dotted with dirt roads or small homesteads. Aside from the fact that the greenery had a slight blue tint and all of the buildings were built sunk a meter into the ground, Randidly refreshingly felt like he could be on Expira right now.

“Keep up,” The goblin grumbled as he glanced over his shoulder. Then he started jogging down the dirt track. Despite the fact that his legs were short, they quickly blurred roadrunner style and the goblin zipped forward. Randidly stretched his legs and loped after the chef to keep up. Claudette blew out a loud sigh but utilized some strange ice-skating Skill to keep up.

With their speeds, the hills quickly blurred around them. They covered quite a bit of distance, traveling for about a half-hour before they slowed down. Immediately, Randidly’s eyebrows rose as he saw their destination. Compared to the small hobbit houses that they passed to get here, they now stood in front of an alabaster fortress with ten-meter tall walls.

But Randidly only grew more impressed as they approached. Because he quickly noticed that the entire wall was covered in thick and powerful Engravings. Luckily the goblin slowed as they approached, so Randidly could slow too. His eyes grew wider and wider as he neared the wall. He recognized these Engravings, although it had been a while since he had seen anything like it.

“These Engravings…” Randidly began slowly. “They block the System, yes? The Overlay System. And in addition… those isolation runes… does this wall completely block images from entering the interior…?”

“Heh, you liked my food, yea? Wondered how it tasted so good?” The goblin smirked with obvious pride. “Well, I’ll tell ya the secret; I don’t let the Nexus’ shitty ‘growth’ image touch my livestock. Everything inside matures the old-fashioned way.”