Chapter 108: Bone Tired
I zipped across the hard-packed dirt towards another small human wobbling dangerously. I was only half listening to Beatrice's little speech as there were too many other things to do. Not that I was complaining. I liked feeling useful again. Recently I had become so efficient at cleaning that it hardly required any effort. Now I was doing something I very much wasn't designed for, but I still found it rewarding.
Would I want to care for tiny humans all the time? No, definitely not, but for a little while, I was more than happy to pitch in.
However, as I whisked away a particularly sharp and pointy rock from a child's mouth, I caught the last bit of the speech where Beatrice was telling us to move out. This would be a problem. The tiny humans moved very slowly and seemed like they needed to charge very frequently. It made sense that their battery reserves were lower as they were, in fact, much smaller.
If Beatrice's plan was to have all these little humans walk, I didn't think we would ever make it. Once she started trying to organize all the people to move out, I think she realized it as well. A few words with Tony sent him jogging back into the city. Beatrice moved around to all the women making sure there was nothing that they needed. A few times, she fetched water but mostly just hugged them a lot. The children too.
I had found the best way to keep the children under my care out of trouble was to keep them occupied. It had taken a couple attempts to refine my technique, though. First, I had tried letting them chase my light around. It worked for the cat, so why not? They only seemed interested in watching it. They would ooo and ahhh when it flashed through the sky but eventually lost interest.
So I started to look around for what else we could do. Seeing nothing but grass and rocks, I started to develop a game. I would throw a rock into the field of grass, then the little humans would all run after it. The first to bring it back would pick the next rock to throw.
It was effective at keeping them focused on a single thing, but it was also draining their battery. That would help them stay in one place longer, which was what I needed presently. A couple of the slightly larger kids kept winning, and for now, it wasn't a problem, but I could tell some of the smaller ones were losing interest.
To solve this issue, I started having the winner throw the next rock instead of me doing it. This took them out of the competition and let more new kids win, as no one could win more than one time in a row. Now that I was freed up, I took the smallest five and started them on a second game. Sadly none of them were able to throw the rock very far, but that was okay. I didn't mind helping them out.
Eventually, Tony came out of the city, pulling a mostly intact cart. It was quite large, but I didn't think all of the tiny humans would be able to fit on it. Still, after a few more throws, I left the kids lying in the grass, completely worn out, to go help load the cart.
***
Bee sighed in relief. Tony managed to find a cart. It should fit enough of the kids that travel would be possible as long as the babies were carried by their mothers. Inspecting the cart, it wasn't in great shape and had likely not been sturdy even before the attack. The axle was slightly warped, and the bed boards didn't fit very well. However, even as she watched, the cart started to slowly fix itself.
—
I watched Beatrice struggle mightily as she pulled us all to the road. I cheered her on at first silently, but eventually, I couldn't contain my excitement and started chirping at her. She was too focused to even notice. The women all around seemed extremely disturbed and sent me frightened glances, but the children understood.
Soon, all the ones in the cart were going wild, cheering for her to pull and telling her she could do it. Step by step, she dragged us along at a respectable pace. At this rate, it would only take 2.6 days to reach the castle, assuming she didn't stop. Well, that seemed unlikely, but still, I was impressed.
When we finally made it to the road, she sat to catch her breath, and Tony pulled us for a few dozen feet. I was really happy he was trying to help so much, but he clearly wasn't strong enough. These small humans really added up in mass.
With a quick, careful flick of my thrusters, I hopped down and trundled over to Beatrice. I gave her a hearty shoulder pat in celebration. She reached out and touched my top in return. It was not quite a head pat, but it still felt nice. She really needed to watch Tony and the kids more. She could learn something.
"Master, I leveled up!" She reported with a smile in her voice. "I'm trying to pick between two skills. Improved Repair and Blessed Claw. Which do you think I should go with?"
That was an easy choice. With how often she got damaged, Improved Repair was clearly the best. Besides, she had two hands. What would she need a claw for? I said as much, and she nodded seriously.
"That is true, though I haven't gotten injured in a little while, and I have my alchemy which heals pretty well. Hmm. Still, none of these skills seem right to me." She said pensively.
I thought back a little. That was correct. It had been a little bit since she had been damaged. But the claw wouldn't be helpful at all. She really had some bad luck with this set of skills.
"I'll think on it a bit before I decide. But for now, we still have a long way to go." Bee walked back to shoulder her burden, and we started off again.
Instead of hopping on the wagon, I rolled over to Tony and formally requested uppies. Resting in his arms, I struck up a conversation. Bee was going to need help, but no one else could really pull the load. Tony had tried pushing the cart from behind for a little while, back at the start, but it wasn't really able to make enough of a difference.
"I hear you. I'm not sure what we can do about it though. I need to level up and get stronger, I guess. Any ideas of how to do that?" Tony asked.
I thought about it for a few minutes. Hmmm, maybe I did...