Ranjo just sat in front of the door.
He didn't know what was going on inside the bathroom,and honestly he didn't care. All that mattered was that the deviled one was fine and that they could proceed.
But there was one problem.
He started to get bored.
He didn't know what E.V.A was doing to Luciana.
But.
„Aiaiaoaioioioiio!!!!!"
Ranjo looked at the source of the scream.
After a few days, he started to get used to the outcry of the little being.
The one who was screaming was a small, 4 foot tall humanoid figure.
It had short, but fluffy hair, and carried a red, thin tunic.
It's skin was as dark as coal, and also had bright red pupils.
And currently, it ran towards the bathroom.
Then it stopped, seemingly not realizing Ranjo was right next to him, and started sniffing the air.
„Oiououiiuioiioo!!! Whaaaat is this smeeeelll!? Filth. FILTH?!? IN MY HOUSE! WHO DARES?!?! Oh, hi Ranjo."
„Hello Kuz'ma. How is your day?"
„It was good. Perfect even. It was all good. Your father finally stopped his experiments in the laboratory for one day, I thought it would finally be the day where I can just stay in my little bed for one day, and suddenly my extremely sensitive smell caught yhe smell of filth. WHERE IS THE SOURCE!? Ahem, sorry for that outcry."
„No problem."
Then, the strange creature looked at the door from the toilet.
„The filth comes out of there. I smell lots of corrupting magic. I should better start cleaning. I don't wanna E.V.A get that last laugh. Perfect servant my ass."
„Wait, don't…"
To late. Kuz'ma already opened the door and slipped in.
Then, a few moments later the door opened again, and the Kuz'ma flew out of it.
Getting back up, he angrily cursed.
„Fine! But you gotta clean that place! By the looks of it, your new pet will need to learn a lot of manners! The toilet exist for a reason!"
„…Is something wrong?"
Ranjo seemed a little bit perplexed about the current situation. Why would E.V.A throw out Kuz'ma, when he could have helped.
„No" Kuz'ma said, „You are still to young for that."
…
It's been a few hours.
Neither Ranjo nor Kuz'ma left far from the bathroom.
Whatever was going on inside was probably a long and teinous.
In fact, even Ranjo started to get worried.
For as long as he knew E.V.A, there wasn't anything she couldn't do.
And whatever she started doing would be done in just a few moments.
Of course, Kuz'ma wasn't any less bad.
Currently, they were playing a game of „Coins in a row."
The rules are basically that two players have either gold, or silver coins.
They have to push them into a 50x50 square.
The one that manages to put seven gold coins or ten silver either horizontally, vertically or diagonally wins.
When Kuz'ma got thrown out of the bathroom, he domehow made that desk appear, with a ton of both gold and silver coins.
„Hey Kuz'ma."
„Yes Ranjo?"
„We know each other a few days already. But honestly, I don't really know what you are. You aren't a creature that father created, neither were you found in a bunker. And yet you seem to be loyal to him. Could you maybe tell me what you are?".
Kuz'ma at first looked at the door hopefully.
„They are probably about to finish, we should probably…"
Just as he said that, a load moan could be heard coming from the bathroom.
„Or not. Fine."
Before continuing, he pushed one if his gold coins to stop the silver rows that Ranjo slowly built.
Ranjo hoped to catch Kuz'ma of guard by that question so that he wouldn't notice that row, but sadly his manipulation didn't work.
„Unlike you, I am indeed not a creation your father created. Cheks"
Oh no. Cheks was the word on had to say when you were about to finish a row.
„Then what are you?" Ranjo asked while putting a silver coin to stop Kuz'ma getting a four gold coin in a diagonal. Kuz'ma didn't show anything on hid face what he was thinking about.
Both of them wanted to come out victorious out of the game.
Up until now, Kuz'ma won all eight of them.
Ranjo couldn't understand how Kuz'ma managed to use the coins that Ranjo used to put his coins in a advantage.
„Your father, and we'll that mechanical servant of his came here about one and a half years ago."
Ranjo already knew that.
Kuz'ma followed up with pushing another silver coin in the second last row from the left. Why he decided to waste a coin there Ranjo didn't understand.
„And then, we had a deal." Kuz'ma continued.
„Wait, you lived here before him?"
Kuz'ma made a small laugh, and then placed another coin.
He seemed about to win again.
„Cheks"
Ranjo placed another one of his gold coins to stop him from winning.
„Yes. I may not seem like it, but I am probably old enough to have most old elfs as grandchildren. Cheks."
„But what exactly are you?"
„I am just an old being that lives in this mansion. To tell you the truth, this house wasn't always in a forest filled with monsters. Once, this house was surrounded by many other mansions. And instead of a forest, we had a magnificent city."
„…what happened to it?"
Kuz'ma, for just one moment seemed uneasy.
Following with another Kuz'ma, he said: „War. Back then, deviled ones weren't even a concept. But gods were, and so were their champions.
Let's put it like this. Our nobility refused to pat tribute to them, and so the goddess of victory, Rena, sent here her champion, the future so called ‚first hero' she summoned from another world here to take care of our masters. When they refused to obey, he started to fight us.
But it was clear he was to powerful. No matter how many men were sent yo fight him, he would always vome out on top.
My people weren't warriors. We only took care of their houses. That was our job.
And so, when he somehow managed to get inside one house, all of the ones who were inside, no matter if man, woman, child, age, or even would be killed.
When the time came, my master did the unthinkable. He got in contact with a power thar even I am not sure what it is. Cheks."
Not letting Kuz'ma get the win, Ranjo asked what happened after that.
„My master fought the champion. The only thing left from the city were ruins, and this city. Only a handful of my people survived, and all of them came here. Cheks."
„Really? I never saw them."
„Probably because they never wanted you to see them. My people usually only let their masters see them, and are usually invisible for everyone else. You can only see me because I am the, let's say the head for now. Cheks."
It was over. Ranjo saw that no matter where he put a gold coin, Kuz'ma would still win.
„You win. I give up."
„Khekheke. I know."
„Just one last question."
„Yes?"
„Why did youvallow father to settle in here?"
„…Ähm, you know, my people have a tradition. Whoever defeats us in ‚Coins in a row' would automatically become our masters. It happens rarely, but that is often the case. Then, even after our masters death, we would continue to serve their decendants. Our children meanwhile would get the choice of either serving the house like we, or go out and serve gehe one that manages to beat them in the game."
„… I am sorry, but gave up your freedom because of a simple game? Are you nuts."
„My people don't always try to win in the game. If their is someone we would like to serve, we let the other person win. Your father however beat me fair and square, including the other inhabitants in here."
Then, the door from the bathroom opened, and a metallic figure left it while carrying another humanoid figure on her left shoulder.