Upon reaching the lake, Anastacia dropped everything she was carrying and walked into the cool water with her wet clothes still on. Washing them probably wouldn’t get rid of the swamp smell and she would have to burn them anyway. By now the necromancer had learned to expect being showered in blood at least once on every trip and had prepared more than enough spare clothes for this one. Unlike in the swamp, the water here was clear enough for Anastacia to be able to see the bottom even when her feet barely reached it. Gilbert took his boots off, cleaned them a bit in the lake and left them on a rock to dry in the sun. It was still fairly early into the afternoon and they’d have plenty of time to make their camp before it got too dark.

“You girls can take your time in the lake, I’ll head over there to fish us some dinner.” Gilbert said and pointed at a small peninsula a couple hundred meters away. “Anna, try not to get attacked by some sort of lake creature.” He added as he was leaving, only half-jokingly.

Anastacia floated on her back towards the shore. “I’ve already checked this part of the lake, there’s nothing bigger than me here.”

Gilbert knew of at least twelve creatures that were smaller than Anastacia but could still eat her and lived in lakes like this one, not to mention the ones that could swim and dive but don’t actually live in water. But the girls would probably be fine, and he actually could keep an eye on them from the peninsula if he needed to, but being a peeping tom was not in his nature. If anything, Gilbert was a man of open debauchery, just not to the extent a certain spriggan was - far from it really. While walking along the shore, he was looking for a branch suitable to use as a fishing rod. The line, hook, sinker and float were all portable enough to be kept rolled up in a small pouch on his belt - three sets of them in fact. Having found what he was looking for, he sat down on a rock on the far side of the peninsula and started to snap off the smaller branches from his new fishing rod. From between the trees, he could just make out what his party was doing by the campsite. Emilia had already taken off most of her armor but had stopped to inspect King. She pointed at Gilbert’s location and the simulacrum started heading towards him.

“She threw you out, huh?” Gilbert said and laughed when King got to him. “Good on you to be recognized as more than a statue, I guess.”

King stood next to him in silence and stared over the lake.

Having finished his craft, Gilbert dug out a piece of jerky from his backpack and put a bit of it on the hook. He didn’t feel like digging for bait and it had worked for him before too. With the hook in the lake, he sat back down on the rock and started waiting. “You know, I’ve actually wanted to have a talk with you for a while now. I have no idea if I’m talking to someone or something right now, but here goes: Why are you following Anna? I know she said she’d repair your friend or whatever, but there are researchers who would be more than glad to help you with that and be far more effective than her.” Gilbert asked bluntly. “Not that I mind having you around, you’re certainly helpful to say the least.”

King turned to him and just stared blankly for a while, long enough to make Gilbert think he wouldn’t get an answer. Suddenly the simulacrum woke up again and kneeled to collect some stones from the ground. When he appeared to have enough, he picked up the small branches Gilbert had thrown away and made some room on the ground before placing some of the stones on it. He started by placing the largest stone he had in the middle of the cleared spot and then scattered multiple smaller stones around it.

“Well this will be interesting…” Gilbert said and shifted his attention from the float to whatever King was doing.

The simulacrum snapped small pieces from the branches and placed them on the ground so that there was a branch connecting the large stone to every smaller one he had placed. After making sure that Gilbert was following he started his explanation. King picked up one of the smaller stones and pointed at it, then at himself and then the stone again.

“I see… That’s you?” Gilbert guessed.

King nodded and placed the stone back to where it was and picked up another one that was right next to it. He then hit the second one against a large rock near him and pointed at the mark the impact had made.

“That’s… a scratch? No wait, damaged! That’s your broken-down friend?” Gilbert continued guessing. “And I take it that these other ones are others like you?”

King nodded again.

“Then there’s the big one… All of you guys are connected to it. So it would be whoever gives you your orders?” The adventurer suggested.

King nodded once again. He placed the scratched stone down, picked up the one representing himself again and smashed the twigs between it and the larger stone as well as the one between his friend and the larger stone. After that, he placed the two stones further away from the large one and looked at Gilbert, who correctly assumed that this represented them breaking free from their orders. The simulacrum cleared the area again but left himself in the middle and his friend a bit further away. He then placed a lot of pebbles around the stone that represented him and looked at Gilbert, waiting for him to understand.

This time the adventurer struggled. “Smaller ones? A lot of small simulacra? Pieces? I’m going to need a bit more here.”

King looked around, ripped some leaves from a nearby tree and presented them to the adventurer while pointing at the pebbles.

“Leaves… smaller than you… many leaves and pebbles… Green? Green! The goblins?!” Gilbert finally understood.

King nodded and continued his mute story by picking up the piece of jerky Gilbert had taken from his backpack and pointed at it, then at the campsite and then held his hand at about waist high before pointing at the jerky again.

Gilbert laughed. “She is indeed small and jerky. Your accuracy is top notch.”

King picked up the stone in the middle of the goblins, placed it down with the jerky and took something from a pouch Anastacia had given to him to keep his pebble collection in. He moved the stone and jerky closer together and then quickly replaced them with a diamond that was about as big as a fingernail. He then started adding more and more pebble-goblins around it, then even larger stones and whatever other things he had on hand.

Gilbert scratched his beard and looked at the arrangement King had made. “I see you plan on sticking around, but why? There has to be a reason beyond just getting more goblins. Can’t you just write it?” He suggested.

King scribbled something on the dirt with a stick, but whatever it was, Gilbert didn’t understand it. The adventurer figured it was some ancient language that was used whenever King had been built.

“Okay, that didn’t work. Someone needs to teach you how to read and write. Try to figure out how to say it while I get us some dinner.” Gilbert said and moved his bait to another spot. “Maybe it’s like math or something; you’ve gone through this in your head and this is how you get the biggest number. Or simply you think you’ll survive for as long as possible if you’re with Anna? Because if that’s so, I’ve got some bad news for you. This isn’t exactly the safest of occupations.”

King was busy collecting some firewood and dry grass to start a fire; he also gathered a large pile of leaves and other flammable material a bit closer to the water. Lighting the small fire was easy for the simulacrum as he only needed to scrape a stone along his arm to create sparks. Gilbert was quick to light his pipe on the fire and waited patiently for whatever King had in his mind. Once the fire had taken off properly, King pointed at it then did what had now become the gesture for ‘Anastacia’, holding his hand at waist height. He then picked up some twigs from the ground and pointed at them, then at Gilbert and then at the twigs again.

“I’m in this story? Not sure about me being a bunch of sticks though.” Gilbert commented.

King picked up a burning piece of firewood and held it up, he proceeded to cover it with the twigs that lit and burned up quickly. The slight breeze that came from the lake also blew out the fire King was holding. He then picked up another piece of firewood and placed his own hand into the flames, shielding them from the gusts of wind. Obviously, nothing happened to the simulacrum’s hand and the flame kept burning until King put it down into the pile of tinder he had collected. The fire spread quickly, and the flames of the bonfire soon reached well above King’s head. Unharmed by the heat, he stood right next to the fire and stared at Gilbert.

The surprised adventurer had taken a step back when the flames had reached their peak and understood what King meant. “I see…” He sighed, feeling defeated for some reason.