With a smile, while the customers were a bit confused, Ryan led Gaia behind the counter. Her footsteps were heavy, but this was an old, solid building and could easily support her weight there at the ground floor. Ryan hurried and grabbed something from the back. He could swear he saw an old pack of Café Runic–branded aprons there for different species who had probably worked there in the past when Runar could actually be bothered to hire outside help.

  There was one that fit larger species pretty well, which he quickly put onto Gaia in the back room while asking her to split off the sub-golems off of her. As she did, instead of two small boulders, three fell off her body. Her Garden Golem’s Division skill had leveled up, and now she was able to create three sub-golems. It didn’t even use up any more of her body than before to create the third one, like a bit of extra stone was just suddenly produced by magic, which of course made sense.

  The three sub-golems were also double the size, around forty centimeters tall. They were given the smallest aprons Ryan could find, and they seemed to fit somewhat alright, though they might still have been a little too long, so Ryan folded them up a little bit and fixed them up like that with safety pins.

  He grabbed a box of cookies that were supposed to be put into the baked-goods display next to the counter, and gave it to Gaia. “Alright, you hand them out, and I’ll go check up on Silvia, okay?”

  Gaia slowly nodded, seeming both excited and incredibly nervous. Ryan smiled. “Don’t worry; I’m not leaving you alone.”

  Immediately, he activated his Spirit Link skill. It was level 13 now and could be active for around fourteen minutes. It wasn’t long, but it was enough to make sure Gaia and the sub-golems properly handed out the cookies while also giving Runar the time to come back up from the basement before the skill effect ran out.

  Ryan rushed upstairs while using the link to control the sub-golems in particular. He had gotten pretty good at doing that since going into the dungeon. He was sure that Gaia would be able to have them act properly with some practice as well, but she wasn’t the best around people right now and tended to get a bit nervous when interacting with them for more than a few moments at a time, so Ryan figured he should take some pressure off her.

  But since the sub-golems could still act independently to some degree, even more so now that the Division skill had leveled up a bit, Ryan didn’t have to control them like marionettes and could just make sure they didn’t mess anything up too much.

  Ryan rushed up the stairs and got into the flat, immediately making his way to his bedroom. In there, Silvia was already covered in one of Ryan’s blankets, creating a mound to protect herself with.

  Carefully, Ryan approached her, sitting down on the side of his bed. “You wanna talk?”

  Silvia pushed one of her hands through a gap in the blanket around her, pointing her thumb down.

  “You wanna be left alone for a bit?”

  Silvia hesitated but just kept her thumb pointing downward.

  “Well, in that case, want me to sit out here, or are you gonna let me in?”

  Slowly, Silvia pulled her hand back inside the blanket, then threw the blanket up over Ryan’s head. With a sigh, he moved a bit closer, and Silvia placed her head on Ryan’s shoulder. The two just sat there silently, with Ryan’s legs peeking out over the edge of his bed from underneath his blanket.

  He didn’t know what else to do but to just sit there. It felt like he should say something, but for once, he wasn’t confident in this gut feeling. It wasn’t the same kind of intuition that he usually felt but more a sense of anxiety that was trying to push him to make sure he was doing the best he could for his friend.

  For a little while, the two of them just sat there, doing nothing, until Silvia took a deep, loud breath, throwing the blanket off the two of them.

  “Sorry, I just … needed a moment,” she said, and Ryan shook his head.

  “You’re fine; no need to apologize,” Ryan replied, slowly standing up. “I, uh, I told her to leave. And that she wouldn’t be welcome back until you say so. I don’t know what your plan is from now on, so—”

  The young elf scoffed. “What, do you think I should try to forgive her or something?”

  Ryan immediately shook his head. “Oh, no, I’m not thinking anything at all. I don’t have any opinion beyond, you know … that my priority is that you’re alright in all of this,” he pointed out. “If you think you want to keep meeting her, then sure; as long as you’re going to be okay, you have all my support. If you never want to see her again? Same thing. I don’t feel super great about abusing this, but Runar has some contacts in the police force, so we could make sure she can’t get near you again like that.”

  Silvia hesitated. “Okay … uh … I don’t … I don’t know. I absolutely don’t want to see her again, but if we call the cops on her, she might go back to prison, and I don’t want that, either.”

  “If she goes back to prison, then that’s her own fault. You’re just trying to protect yourself,” Ryan pointed out.

  “But—”

  “No, seriously, you don’t owe her any of this.” He squatted in front of the bed. “If my stepdad showed up, asking for my forgiveness? Well, first, I guess I’d beat the shit out of him now that I actually can, and then I would turn around and call the cops on him and have him taken away. We don’t owe our abusers forgiveness.”

  Silvia looked at Ryan, trying not to cry. “So, what, I’m just supposed to hold on to this? I thought I could finally move on if I got to talk to her about everything, but … no, it just made everything a thousand times worse. I just feel so … dirty. Even being in the same room as her made me feel …”

  “… Like you were a kid again?”

  With a slow nod, Silvia looked down at Ryan. “Yeah, that’s exactly it. Like I was a kid trying to painfully get her attention that she only gave to me in the form of throwing empty bottles at me.”

  “Yeah … those hurt a lot, huh?” Ryan laughed awkwardly. “But we’re not those kids anymore. Like I said before, I’d beat the shit out of my stepdad, and I have no doubt in my mind that I could. I mean, maybe you can’t beat the shit out of her with those noodle arms, but …”

  “Oh, shut up.” Silvia kicked Ryan’s shoulder lightly as he squatted in front of the bed.

  With a laugh, he continued. “… but … you’ve definitely got her beat in everything else a dozen times over. We’re not those kids anymore. You’ve got an amazing family, an awesome girlfriend, two really fun and handsome best friends.”

  Silvia laughed. “Yeah … I guess so.”

  “Not denying the ‘handsome’ part, huh?” Ryan stood up straight, a grin on his face. “I’ll take that. Anyway, uhm … I might have to go downstairs before Gaia accidentally breaks the coffee machine or drops any plates and mugs, so …”

  “You left Gaia alone down there?”

  “Hey, she’s doing an … okay job. But yeah, really, I should check up on her. You can stay up here if you want. There’s a literal ton of food in the kitchen, so just grab whatever you want if you get hungry. Or Liam should be home around three; don’t let him push you around too much.”

  Silvia nodded. “I’ll try. Thanks.”

  “You got it.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Pain

  Sorry, I was caught up in something else and only just saw your message, so—” Runar rushed out from the café’s back room, almost immediately bumping into the boulder in front of him.

  Confused, he looked around, squeezing by, and soon realized that this was indeed Gaia who was now towering over him. Three sub-golems were walking around the café, serving the customers, while Ryan was actually making the drinks. And not just that, but the café seemed a lot fuller than normal.

  “Dude, finally; I texted you like an hour ago. I was getting worried,” Ryan said, sighing loudly as he practically glared at his uncle.

  “… What’s going on? Why are you having Gaia take orders?”

  Ryan shrugged. “I needed someone to watch the store while I went to check on Silvia upstairs, so I linked with Gaia so that the place wouldn’t be abandoned. By the time I came back downstairs, some people posted about the ‘Golem Café,’ and … well, more people showed up,” he explained. “I told Gaia she didn’t have to stick around after that, but she said she wanted to keep helping out. I think she likes this kind of thing.”

  Runar tied his apron behind his back. “Isn’t she busy upstairs?”

  “No, I mean, she already took care of everything. Since I unlocked both stamina and strength, I don’t go to the gym for quite as long, and we’re not worried about leveling up too much right now, either, so … you know,” Ryan explained. “The garden isn’t big enough for her to have a ton to do.”

  “Hm … fair enough. But what is this about Silvia? Is she okay?”

  “… We’ll see. Anyway, for now, just come on and help out. Some tourist group stopped by after hearing about Gaia,” Ryan explained, and Runar quickly nodded. He stepped up next to Gaia and started taking orders. More people came into the café pretty soon, making this probably one of the busiest days there in a good few weeks.

  But with the extra hands that Gaia provided, they were able to get through all the orders pretty fast. Plus, it was a good way for Ryan to level up the Spirit Seal Recovery skill. With just a single spirit affected, Ryan’s passive mana recovery was higher than what the skill drained, so he could have it active for however long he wanted. Maybe he should have at least one spirit constantly “unsealed” to help level the skill up as soon as he could.

  It also had a secondary effect. Until now, all of Ryan’s skills drained the mana all at once in a fraction of a second to activate skills, but with this one, there was a constant stream of mana going from him to the spirits. It was like a slight tingling flowing through every cell of his body. It was a totally different sensation from before Ryan awakened. Maybe because his intuition stat was as high as it was now, it was like a whole other world. Now, if he could only control that mana … his spirituality stat was there for a reason, and it was definitely at a point where he should be able to actually affect his mana with it.

  Ryan was pouring milk into the cup, seeing the small ripples and waves of the foam flow through the coffee. He felt the weight of the milk jug lighten while the coffee cup grew heavier. Similarly, his mana began to ripple and flow through his veins. Lighter on one side, heavier on the other.

  Bit by bit, point by point, Ryan’s mana flowed through his body, speeding it. From his toes and his fingertips, through his heart, up his spine, into his mind.

  The world around Ryan went white and he could feel his legs give. Or, rather, maybe that wasn’t really the case. He just didn’t feel the weight of his body on his legs anymore, so he was startled for a moment. But when he came to, Ryan wasn’t in the café anymore. Everything was still just white, but it was different. Like this was an actual space. And then he heard it. The sound of gravel being pushed around by heavy steps, as well as the sound of mechanical clicking.

  Ryan turned around, and saw three spaces unfold in front of him. One was basically empty: waving grass, some flowers here and there, and the edge of a tree coming into view. Another one was an old, dark workshop with a six-armed figure clicking together some pieces of metal and wood. The third had an old, small hut, where a tall knight was swinging a massive sword at a training dummy. After every cut that practically tore it apart, the dummy simply repaired itself again before the next swing could come in.

  These were the domains, weren’t they?

  Ryan carefully stepped forward, approaching the domain that was closest to him. It was Maximus’s domain. His hand passed through the outer wall and simply made its way through. It was like Ryan was pushing his hand through thin cobwebs, tickling his fingertips. The moment he stepped fully through, the sound of gravel being crushed stopped. Maximus saw Ryan suddenly inside the domain and carefully approached him.

  For the first time, the tiny model knight appeared how he truly was: massive and towering. Ryan had no idea what species Maximus was supposed to be under that armor, but he definitely wasn’t a human. He was well, well above two meters tall, and the air that he gave off was truly intimidating. The spirit dropped his sword beside him and stood in front of Ryan. Of course, if he didn’t know any better, Ryan would have been scared, but he knew exactly what Maximus was about to do.

  He spread out his arms and swung them around Ryan, pulling him into a tight hug. The metal of Maximus’s armor was cold, but the hug itself was incredibly warm.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m glad to see you too, buddy.” Ryan smiled, looking around. “I didn’t know this was a thing. Did you?”

  Maximus immediately shook his head.

  “Do you remember anything now, like, did other Spirit Keepers do this kind of thing? Even if you don’t remember specifics, as long as this feels familiar …”

  It seemed like Maximus was thinking for a few moments, like he wasn’t particularly sure, and then just responded with a shrug.

  “Hm … Well, I don’t think it matters that much, anyway. But it’s kind of neat that I can come visit you guys in here, huh? Maybe I can train with you at some point,” Ryan suggested jokingly, but Maximus seemed incredibly excited at the idea. He picked up Granfell again and pushed it into Ryan’s hands. The sword was still far too heavy for Ryan to do anything with at all, but it seemed like the knight still wanted him to give it a try. Before Ryan could say anything about it, though, he could feel an echo shake through the domain.

  “Ryan? Ryan, are you okay?”

  It was Runar’s voice, and Ryan suddenly remembered the situation he had been in when he came in there. He looked down at his hands, starting to feel a stinging pain surge through his left hand.

  “Oh, fu—”

  [Your Spirituality has increased by 0.04]

  The world around Ryan changed once again, and he was back in the café. The cup was overflowing, and hot coffee and steamed milk were dripping down his fingers. He set the cup down and wrapped his hand in the towel hanging over his shoulder. Runar and Gaia were both looking at him, extremely concerned.

  “Sorry, I … got lost in thought, I guess,” Ryan apologized with an awkward smile, but Runar just clicked his tongue.

  “Got lost in thought? Just go upstairs; we have some high-potency anti-burn salve in the kitchen cabinet now, where we keep the first aid kit,” Runar said. “I’ll come up in a second after I clean this up and help you out.”

  “Nah, don’t worry. I can probably ask Silvia for help. I’ll … tell you about what just happened later.”

  Runar frowned lightly. “Sure … Just call for me if you need my help. I’ll have Kula come over later as well.”

  “Thanks,” Ryan replied, making his way upstairs. His hand hurt like hell and was deep red. Luckily, it was his right hand and he hadn’t accidentally poured the hot coffee over Tiar’s marks. Tiar was completely freaking out right now, though. It didn’t seem like they felt Ryan’s pain directly, but they could feel when Ryan was in pain. “Don’t worry; I’m alright. It’s just some blisters, but we’ve dealt with worse, haven’t we?”

  Tiar’s patterns waved around anxiously as Ryan pushed open the door to the flat, his other hand still wrapped in the towel. He rushed into the kitchen, where Silvia and Liam were sitting together. It seemed like Liam had somehow managed to convince Silvia to do his homework for him.

  “… So much for not letting him push you around.”

  “He can be very convincing.” Silvia sighed, while Liam just sat there smugly. “What’s up? What got you in such a hurry?”

  “Oh, I spilled some hot coffee on my hand. Mind helping me out a second?” Ryan asked, and Silvia immediately jumped up.

  “Oh, shit, yeah, alright. What do you need me to do?”

  “Just help me wrap my hand up with this.” Ryan handed Silvia the tube with the anti-burn salve, and Silvia looked up at him.

  “Isn’t this the highest-strength salve you can get? Why do you have something like this?”

  Ryan glanced over at Liam, who was looking around, confused and startled, so Ryan whispered to Silvia, “We have this in case Liam gets hurt. If his sunblock stops working, we need this to make the burns go down until we can get him to a healer.”

  “Ah,” Silvia let out, “that makes sense. Alright, just show me your—”

  Ryan unwrapped his hand, showing that it was covered in giant blisters all over. Taken aback, she stared at her friend. “You call this ‘spilling some coffee’?”

  With a smile, Ryan glanced over at Liam and nodded. “Mm-hmm. It’s nothing big, just a small blister. Right?”

  “R-Right … Honestly, you’re kind of overreacting, aren’t you?” Silvia laughed awkwardly, trying to play along as she opened the tube and squeezed it onto some gauze, carefully pressing it onto the blisters until basically, his whole hand was covered. Before Liam could come over and see what was going on, Silvia started wrapping Ryan’s hand in thick bandages.

  The cooling and pain-relieving aspects of the salve quickly set in, and Ryan let out a relieved sigh. “Much better. Thanks.”

  Silvia looked at him nervously. “No problem … So, what happened?”

  “Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?” Liam asked, and Ryan looked at him with a scoff.

  “This? Nay, it’s just a scratch,” he replied, trying to play into the knight act, but Liam didn’t seem particularly convinced. Even so, it seemed to work a little bit. But seeing the mass of bandages that was now Ryan’s hand, it was really rather hard to believe that this was nothing at all. After what had happened in the Channel, Ryan tried whatever he could not to show Liam when he got hurt. With Kula waiting right outside the dungeon, that was a fairly simple matter, but this was something pretty unexpected.

  “Don’t worry; Silvia is just really, really bad at wrapping bandages,” Ryan pointed out, sitting down next to Liam. “So, what have you two been working on?”

  Together, Silvia and Ryan kept helping Liam out with his homework, just talking and hanging out a bit while the pain in Ryan’s hand started subsiding.