Helping the Village

The shadows from the evening sun stretched over the fields, layering every surface of the land. Night had come and all the villagers retired to their homes, which meant I was on the move. I had to make sure my steps were slow and as quiet as possible, but given how heavy I was, it made things difficult.

First, I’ll soften these fields so they can plough through them more easily.

I focused on the spots I wanted to imbue and summoned a magic circle, its white and brown colour stretched nearly five feet in diameter and the ground shifted from its touch. I ran my hand through it and it bent like clay under my fingers, but still had the faint light colour of sand to it. It was completely dried up. Clearly, nothing could grow here.

Even with all my mana, I don’t think I could cover this whole area… Guess I’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way. I’ve got a long night ahead of me.

I buried my hands in the dirt and pushed forward. The dirt broke apart and cracked under my force. I continued in a straight line and by the time I reached the end of the field, I looked back at a row of separated dirt.

Not bad, but I should probably avoid the areas where they’ve already planted stuff. I’ll stick to this spot for now. Okay, row two! Push! Push! Push!!!

I got so absorbed in the task that I didn’t notice the sun had come up already. With most of the rows dug up and the ground loosened, I went over some spots with my magic to even it out again.

“Monster!!” A scream broke my concentration.

Huh, where’s the monster? Oh… they mean me. I hurried towards the boundary and ignored the loud stomps of my feet as I waddled towards the coverage of trees and vines. Rocks flew at me as I retreated. I just helped you guys, can’t you give me a break?!!

It’s definitely not a good idea to go back there, since they end up terrified as soon as they see me. Even so, I have to do this for Rorick. No excuses!

My next mission was to get some water in those fields of theirs. The problem was that I had no way of casting water magic. I had never experienced it before, so I couldn’t replicate it.

I could try carrying water from the lake? No, I’d need to make a lot of trips, even with makeshift bowls… I can’t imbue the water either, since I need to know how to use the element of magic beforehand.

I had a feeling the only reason the villagers weren’t using water from the lake was because they didn’t want to risk travelling into the forest every week. I mean, dangerous monsters weren’t exactly common, but with that strange Duskmaw I met the other day, it wasn’t exactly safe either. Not to mention they were terrified of me, too.

So, what if I brought the water to them? I thought.

I retraced my steps back to the lake, the path was clear in my head and I found it a lot sooner than I expected. My perfect memory wasn’t exactly new, but it still managed to surprise me.

Overlooking the lake, its clear colour reflected my bulky body perfectly.

Theoretically, if I dug a deep enough trench from here to their village, I could feed water to their crops and give them a new source of water. All without having to venture into the forest ever again.

He-he-he! Not bad, now I just have to do the hard part and dig it up.

Without wasting another second, I buried my hands into the ground, a familiar pose that felt almost natural at this point. I pushed forward and drove my hands into the depths of the earth, the ground broke under my weight and stretched out a path that the water followed.

Just as I imagined, it took a full day's work without any breaks, but I managed to successfully create the channel of water. I used a little earth manipulation to block it off right at the boundary line, so it wouldn’t completely flood their existing crops.

Once the coast was clear and nobody remained in the village's fields, I got to work. The night was my cover once again and using some heavy labour and a bit of magic, I created a thin stream that flowed into the newly ploughed fields I completed last night.

Watching the water flow out and darken its colour, I noticed the empty rows were sealed up.

Oh, I guess they did their part and planted new stuff. I wonder if they figured out it was me? Nah, they probably thought I was just a dumb golem or something. Wait, that’s too much water!!

It took all my concentration to keep the stream under control, but once it was properly watered, I cut off the water supply with a small shield of earth. I doubled back and made sure to leave before the sun came out. I didn’t want another horde of humans tossing rocks at me.

***

Weird things had been happening in the village lately. It began last week when an ambassador for Lord Midas appeared in our village, then declared we were being cut off from his lord's grace. The medicine we needed for our sick, as well as all our supplies, were no longer being delivered. Lord Midas had turned his back on us.

What’s worse was that a golem had appeared inside our village, a terrifying scare for all the villagers. Myself included.

I had never seen one person before. Usually, monsters never crossed the forest boundary into our quaint village, at least not in months. Strangely, it never attacked us, not even when one of our villagers threw rocks at it.

I was beyond angry at him. I thought maybe he had a death wish, casting rocks at a monster that could easily kill us all… but it never attacked, it actually ran away.

My son, Rorick, had been sneaking out into the forest again and his condition worsened as of late. It’s been difficult, not only for me. He’s quite well-liked in the village, a regular friendly face to everyone. I’m sure they’ve all been worried about him.

Things had been difficult enough with our dry season and lack of resources, but most of our tools no longer work either. The well dried up a few days ago and we’d been without water for much longer than ever before.

Then, to add to the mix, the golem returned one morning and nearly attacked us while we slept. At least, we thought that to be the case…

I stood over freshly ploughed fields, something that we couldn’t finish within a day, not to mention only one night. I gawked once I saw it, but then the next day, a channel of water appeared. Right near the boundary, no less!

“Chief, there’s some kind of weird stone wall around the village!”

The voice came from one of our younger men, Bell. He was very green, but a trusted young lad I took under my guidance not too long ago.

“What do you mean?” I asked, but he couldn’t form a response.

He tugged at my arm and urged me to follow along, like a child. “J-just come on and see!”

Sure enough, he spoke the truth. A wall had been erected along the edge of our village. It must have been done overnight as well, since it wasn’t there yesterday. We often sent people out on patrol to investigate any weird disturbances around the villages, just in case something like monsters appeared too close to our area. Today was Bell’s turn and he definitely found something strange.

“Should we investigate at night as well?” I muttered. I held my hand over the wall and admired it. I spoke my thoughts out loud, “It must have been him again…”

“You’re not seriously saying it was the golem again, are you?” Bell rolled his eyes.

“How else would you explain this?” I snapped back.

His whole posture softened and I realised I might have been a bit harsh. I had to, I said it for his sake and mine, too. Maybe I struggled to believe it as much as he did and that was my mind being made up. I needed Bell to see that the golem wasn’t our enemy. If the village were to act against it, it might become angered and take action against us.

“We spotted him near the east side of the boundary again,” Bell added, his eyes still lowered.

“Near the new stream of water? What happened?”

“He…” Bell chose his words carefully, almost embarrassed to say them. “He’s building something else…it looks like some kind of cover for the stream.”

“Clever golem. It’s probably got no malice towards us at all if it’s going that far. If I had to guess, it’s probably the reason we haven’t had any monster sightings in a while either.” I chuckled at the thought of it all. “Our own little guardian.”