Chapter 18: Golem

Alex didn't just dislike wasting time.

If his presents turned out to be useless, he utterly would despise them. And that wouldn't be just because he would waste time preparing that present, but also because his friends would get nothing more than just a nice gesture.

Of course, it depended on the present and circumstances.

Alex didn't want to screw up his first presents for the Deathwill Sisters in his current situation. Those would be more like sovereigns, but the point was still the same.

He wanted to build his relationships carefully.

That was why he simply asked. Other than Sara, he would ask everyone and note down their wishes.

He straightforwardly asked what Stella wanted.

"Golem?" Alex repeated.

He lowered his eyes and stared at Stella deeply.

She was on the bed, curled up with her eyes closed. She didn't turn toward him and maintained that cute and lazy posture. The blanket covered her body up to her little head, so Alex couldn't see too much of the lady's beauty.

However, that was not the point of his visit, so Alex didn't pay attention to it.

"Golem," Stella replied in her usual, lazy tone.

That led to the next question; why?

Alex didn't ask her straightforwardly this time, though.

Because he knew that he had probably distanced himself a little from Stella, Alex wanted to solve her desire on his own.

That was a good move. After all, people often remembered little gestures more than anything else. And constantly asking questions could annoy the lazy lady as well.

He recked his brain and contemplated.

"You… You want a golem that will do your duties, right?" Alex uttered.

Hearing his words, Stella opened her eyes a little. She turned around and looked at him with expectations and unconcealable happiness.

While the latter was an excellent sight to see, since Alex's choice of holding back his questions pleased Stella, the former was wrong.

In a nutshell, Stella wanted a loyal servant.

Perhaps she used to have servants that would take care of her. But that was impossible in the Deathwill Castle with many enemies lurking around and even more challenging opponents searching for them.

But a golem would be existence without intelligence. He would have programmed moves, and he would serve Stella faithfully.

"You don't want to take care of me. So, golem." Stella said.

Alex looked at her, then burst out laughing, "I can't believe it! Haha!"

He brought a chair closer to her bed, then sat down. He continued laughing, leaving Stella a little puzzled.

But how could he not laugh? She really wanted a golem that would do duties for her!

"I will take care of you. Didn't I help you already?" Alex wiped off his tears and smiled widely at the lazy healer.

Stella nodded slowly, "You did. Thank you."

"You are welcome," Alex chuckled.

Still, his laughter didn't halt. He kept looking at Stella with a broad smile, laughing to himself in a little weird way.

Stella didn't comment on it.

After some time, Alex calmed down and said, "I will continue taking care of you. Still, there will be days when I am off to some work. You can't expect golem or servant to take care of those little duties in my absence, can you?"

"Why?" Stella asked.

Although it might have looked like the princess' attitude, Stella genuinely asked her question. If she had a golem, that existence would function using her mana. If she had a servant, she would pay her.

Was there something wrong with it?

Alex read Stella well, so his reply was on the spot, "You see… Everyone takes care of those minor duties by themselves because we don't need others to help us. Of course, it's always a great help if someone helps us.

I guess taking a bath together with your sisters is good for bonding. The same goes for cleaning up your room and other little duties," Alex nodded.

But then he made a grave expression, "But you never know what might happen. One day, your golem might stop functioning. One day, your servant might get unsatisfied with her income and use her absence to negotiate a better deal. In the long term, that servant might grow too greedy and simply leverage you until you go bankrupt."

And as Alex started talking about feasible scenarios, Stella properly turned around and hovered her eyes on him.

He talked so much that even Alex thought of some of his words as bullshit. But in that magical world, no one knew what exactly could happen.

Perhaps, Stella didn't think of his words as bullshit because of how erratic her world was.

"And you know… I am too weak to even get a golem!" Alex burst out laughing again.

A golem would be like a pet. From what he saw on social media, pets were pretty rare existences. They were so rare and unique that players would accept any player with a pet to their parties.

It would be too hard for Alex to get one, to say nothing of finding clues about golems.

Stella pouted.

Alex shrugged, "Now that I am here. Let me ask you… Have you taken a bath today?"

Although Stella could use some of her skills to cleanse her body, it was still not comparable to regular hygiene.

Therefore, Alex asked and stressed that information to her.

Stella didn't say anything, confirming that she spent another day lazing around in her bed.

Alex sighed and shoved his hands into her blanket. He didn't even ask for permission, as that was not needed with this peculiar lady.

"Take a bath, then change clothes on your own. As for your present, how about something else?" Alex asked while carrying Stella to the bathroom.

She glanced into his eyes, "Golem."

"…"

It turned out that Alex would need to consult others about a present for a lazy woman. He could only hope he wouldn't miss and give something useful for Stella.

After he closed the bathroom, Alex bid farewell to Stella.

He would notify Celia and Sara about Stella in the bathroom, just in case, she would simply ignore his request. It would be pretty bad for her to sleep in the bathroom, after all…

He then went straight to Schnee's room.

Ever since he saw her for the first time, Alex and Schnee avoided each other. It was mainly the cat woman who ignored him, so they never talked to each other.

Knock! Knock!

"Are you in your room, Schnee?" Alex asked and patiently waited for a response.