The Seed Thief

Vol. 1 Chapter 4.6

More than that...

"...now you don't even sleep with me."

If Ervandas heard, he might have jumped up, worried someone would misunderstand. But it was true. For the past few days, Ervandas had been saying it was too hot and pushing Lulu away to her room. Despite Lulu's repeated objections, Ervandas remained resolute.

She briefly considered ordering him to stay but realized doing so would only confirm to Er the ongoing weakening of her magic.

And this morning, Ervandas spoke to Lulu as if he had made a great decision.

"You'll be out all day today."

"Why?"

"I'm going to clean your room."

Lulu's bedroom was the last area of the house untouched by Ervandas.

Strangely, as the house got cleaner, Lulu felt a growing unease. She sensed that once the entire house was spotless, Ervandas, who would spend the whole day cleaning, would have no further reason to stay here.

'So I insisted he shouldn't touch my room...'

She repelled, but Ervandas ignored her disapproval as if it was out of the question. He handed Lulu the food prepared at dawn, wrapped in cloth, ushering her outside and shutting the door.

Seeing the door slam shut before her, Lulu turned around and walked away without knocking on it to ask to be let in.

As if sensing Lulu's distress, the stone golem and bone crow waddled after her in tow.

In the past, she might have wandered all over the forest, but now Lulu found it rather dull.

'I should have simply agreed to sit still and observe...'

Perhaps, if Er had let her be inside, she could've observed his movements. Watching him would be more interesting than wandering the forest.

Unable to find elsewhere to go, Lulu headed to the stream. Laying in the shade, listening to the flowing water, she soon felt hungry and unwrapped the cloth Ervandas had handed her. Inside was a wooden bowl containing boiled potatoes and wild fruits he had picked near the house.

As Lulu ate, she soon covered it up.

"Tasteless."

The food tasted good when eating with Er, so why was this so bland?

Lulu handed the lunchbox to the stone golem sitting beside her and ordered.

"Take this back to Er."

But the stone golem swung its head sharply, 'Don't want to. Too bothersome.'

"Hey."

"......."

When Lulu called the stone golem again, it did not respond. She looked at the bone crow. Just like the stone golem, the bone crow turned its head and ignored her.

"These guys are really..."

Lulu's eyes perked up for the first time in a while. Only when Lulu spoke in a harsh voice did the stone golem and the bone crow finally look at her.

"Quickly bring this back and come back!"

As Lulu placed the lunchbox in the stone golem's hand, the golem seemed to sigh, slumping its shoulders and lightly tapping the bone crow with its other hand. 'What are you doing? Hurry up and go.'

The bone crow squawked, flapping its bony wings at the stone golem's gesture. 'What? I need to go too?'

When the golem made a fist as if to say, 'Wanna fight?' The crow grumpily kicked at the ground before going with the stone golem.