"How could you even think about selling me for money? Just because I was a golden statue, it doesn't mean that you can just kill me!"
Peter was righteous in his anger. He knew, without a doubt, that Asmodeos had nothing good planned for him.
And so, just like any other person who wanted a piece of the person who nearly killed him, he was already swinging his copper sword, trying to hit Asmodeos.
To turn him into a golden statue and then do to him that which Asmodeos had tried to do to him.
"Come back here, you! Stop running!"
Asmodeos, on the other hand, very much liked to keep himself alive. He, without a hint of remorse, had coated his hands with necromantic mana and was trying to hit Peter with it.
Right above the heart. A single shot would do the job.
Just like his teacher, Nestor, had always told him to aim at.
"You stop running. I'm trying to do my job here. I will revive you; I swear!"
Asmodeos was lying, of course. He was not going to revive Peter.
For Peter had rebelled against him.
As far as the white haired Dark Lord was concerned, their contract was now broken.
Mike looked on, decided that this was getting out of hand, and then, without a hint of remorse, gave them a new quest.
A quest which was going to see them calling a ceasefire for the next two weeks or so.
As they saw the message, which was in bold and italic letters, they wanted to simply strangle the phoenix and throw him in the freezing ocean.
The following message was displayed for their viewing pleasure:
"Hey, suckers! You're not going to be able to kill each other or the gnomes for the time being. You see, I need new shoes, and you can make gold out of thin air. So, here's a quest, a grinding quest, the best quest of all!
Go kill 100 snakes, turn them into golden statues and bring them back here!
P.S. Bring me a couple which are not statues. I'm hungry."
Asmodeos looked at Mike, Mike just tucked his head under his wing.
He knew that Asmodeos was not going to attack. The man needed his help, his protection, just so Peter wouldn't turn him into a golden statue.
Peter hummed, then looked at Mike.
"If I end up turning myself into a statue once more, then there's going to be trouble. If you want me to help you, then you have to help me too. Look, can't you just take all the golden statues and give me an ability which protects me?"
Mike snorted.
Oh yes, he could do that. He didn't see any problems with that.
Apart from one.
No one wanted to put anyone into easy mode, especially not a system which existed to torture, read, help, its selective heroes.
"No."
It was a deep no, a guttural no, a no which made Peter think that, yes, Mike might be a demon.
But if Mike didn't do something to help him, then Mike was useless, and useless things could be made useful by turning them into golden statues.
Mike decided that, without a shadow of doubt, he could survive this. He could get turned into a statue, and then he could tell Peter where to shove it.
He produced a new system message, a system message which was created from not one, not two, not three auto-texts.
With a smiley face at the end, to boot.
The following message was displayed before Peter and Asmodeos:
"During the duration of this quest, Peter will not be able to turn himself or Asmodeos into a golden statue. But if you fail the quest, and by fail, I mean not finish within two hours, then Peter will be turned into a statue once more. To be in a countdown for a whole day with Asmodeos having to drag him back.
Accept?
Yes/No?"
Peter was about ready to pluck every single feather out of Mike. And yet, Asmodeos placed a hand on his shoulder, smiling at him. Peter knew that he just had to roll with the punches. He took his sword, hooked an arm around Asmodeos.
Wanting to give him a false sense of security.
Both of them went down the tunnels. The gnomes, as any creature which was left abandoned for too long without company, looked in their hot chocolate mugs and started to eat their cookies once more.
They were very distraught. They looked at the golden snake statues, looked at one another.
For a whole minute, no one spoke.
The creatures had lived their whole lives in this prison or another, being coddled, being given sugar so as if it could actually solve their problems.
But this time, with that much gold, the gnomes wanted to act. The problem was that they were small and defenseless. And to be honest, if they tried to sell the snakes, then they wouldn't have much success with that.
Who would want to pay for the snakes when they could simply take them from the gnomes?
The gnomes were just 50 centimeters tall. They felt small, even now, as their salvation was giving off a shine in the candlelight.
Then one brave gnome stood up, went to the golden snake statues, and laid a small hand over his heart.
"Come on!"
This cry managed to wake up all the other gnomes. Even the ones who were curled up around the fireplace for warmth.
"Brothers, we can get out of here! We can make something of our futures!"
For a second, the gnomes remained silent. But then, as the brave gnome did not take back his place by the fireplace, one gnome dared to raise his gaze from his hot chocolate mug.
"But brother, if we aren't here, if we don't get fed, how are we going to survive?"
The brave gnome hummed.
He knew that his bones were hollow like those of a bird, knew that he wouldn't live for much longer.
He couldn't fight.
He could only talk and drink hot chocolate, which, to be fair, was a fate worse than death.
The brave gnome who had spoken first decided that, no, the time for doubts was over.
"We may be gnomes," the gnome said, as he looked each of his brethren in the eyes. "But that doesn't mean that we have to live our whole lives like this! We will find a way to sell this gold. We will find a way to make space for ourselves in the world!"
They were small. They wouldn't even need more than a city. That one gnome who had spoken went down in history.
What he would do was probably the riskiest thing a gnome had ever done.
He went to the small side entrance where the dark gnomes usually gathered to receive their portion of the hot chocolate and cookies, and knocked on the stone.
For a whole minute nothing happened, and then, as if a dream was coming true, a dark gnome opened the small stone door.
"Yeah?" the gnome asked.
He looked sleepy, for the delivery of food was not to be made for another two hours.
The small, green-haired leader pointed at the golden snakes.
"Look at this, brother! It is time we changed!"
And so, as the eyes of the dark gnomes became as big as saucers, history was made.