"It even killed the eldest females," Geynor snorted as he side-eyed the beasts that had been hit by Lucius's solar beam.
"Wait, eldest females? Are you guys farmers?" Lucius asked in audible shock.
After all what other use would golems have for knowing whether a beast was male or female?
"Farmer? You speak strange words for a thief. How are you going to pay Geynor and his family back for the damage you caused? It was nearly time for these to be bred. You have caused the loss of at least 4 beast infants in addition to the ones you have slaughtered," Geynor mumbled as he walked towards the fallen beasts, before caressing their corpses and whispering to himself.
"Forgive Geynor tiny warrior, these beasts are Geynor's pride and joy," the other golem said as they both stared at Geynor shedding tears at the loss of his livestock.
"I am Triden, Greynor's mate," the golem said.
Now that Lucius had a better look at it, he could kind of tell that its build was slightly different from all the other golems he had met before. Well, the two mounds covered by beast hide should've alerted him of this difference the moment he saw her anyway.
Lucius could not respond to Triden, as he was still trying to process what was going on. Of course there were female golems, after all, how else would new ones be born, perhaps the demeanor of all the other golems he had met before blinded him to this obvious fact.
"We herded the animals towards you, so I suppose it's partially our fault. Though using magic to kill them was a bit much, so you have to understand Geynor's anger," she continued.
Even the way she spoke was confusing. Whereas the males seemed sort of mentally challenged, she spoke as if she were from a completely different species.
"You'd do well to avert your gaze, tiny warrior. I am pleased that you find interest in my body, however, I am already spoken for," Triden said softly, snapping Lucius out of his daze.
"What? No, I was just... confused," Lucius murmured.
Truly baffling.
"You can keep the creature's you killed, however we will need payment. One mid-grade mana stone should be a fair trade, don't you think?" she continued, whilst staring at her husband still making a fuss over the death of their dead animals.
~So that's what it is,~ Lucius thought to himself, before removing his pouch from his back, and pulling out the bluestone inside it.
"This is a mana, correct?" he asked, presenting it to the giant woman,
"A high grade? Hmm, we have a few low grades at our homestead. If you follow us we can complete our trade," she said after inspecting the stone for some time.
Lucius had a lot of questions, however, the first he had to ask was; "Are you guys really golems?"
"What else could we be?" she asked in confusion.
"I haven't met any golems as..." Lucius said, trying to find a way to say things without insulting their entire race.
"Oh, have you only encountered low-tier golems? I thought that after meeting Wise you would've seen the difference. We are high-golems, our low-tier brethren are indeed an odd lot, so I understand your confusion," she explained after some thought.
~Well, that's beside the point. Your husband is singing, dancing, and crying around a dead animal. I'd say he's just as odd,~ Lucius thought to himself as he stared at Geynor blankly.
At this point, Zhayen was now hiding behind a tree just a few meters behind Lucius. From the way Triden was glancing at the tree, he could tell that she had sensed him too.
"Sorry, he's with me," Lucius explained.
For the first time in a while, it felt like he was conversing with a creature that had actual intelligence. Perhaps their use of farming had created that perception within his mind.
~What other advancements have these creatures made?~ Lucius thought to himself.
"Is it fine if my warriors accompany us to your homestead? Leaving them out here would be..." he said out loud.
Triden thought about this for a moment, clearly against the idea. Lucius assumed that it probably had something to do with the way they referred to him as tiny -and sometimes even puny- warrior.
There seemed to be some kind of discrimination against smaller creatures, though he supposed it only made sense. After all, they were a species who valued strength over all else, and he was certain the only reason she was even speaking to him as an equal was due to the fact that he was leagues more powerful than his small stature let on.
"They can follow us, however, make sure they do not come anywhere near Geynor or my sons. The men of our kind do not look kindly to small creatures, especially those who can't even use magic," she said after some thought.
Lucius quickly ran back toward the group and informed them of the plan. Of course, there were a few warriors who voiced their concerns, apparently, there had been many altercations where their kind was left as roadkill on the floor. Though Lucius assured them that he'd step in if anything were to happen to them.
And so Lucius and his group made their way toward Triden and her husband. By this time it seemed that Geyron had finished with his mourning ritual.
"Hmm, give me a moment," Lucius said, as he stared at the four beast corpses on the ground. As large as Geyron and Triden were, he doubted they could carry this many on their backs.
So after taking a deep breath, he began molding some of the nearby mushrooms into a massive cart. Though he couldn't make it nearly as dense as he wanted to, as his mind was still suffering the effect of overheating.
~The abundance of mushrooms here is really convenient,~ he thought to himself. If the golems had the power to use Elmando like their tiny mush-being counterparts, he had no doubt in his mind that they would've created a great civilization by now.
"Interesting, so you have powers similar to the tenth tiers," Geyron murmured, once Lucius had finished creating the cart.
