Entoma's return went as unnoticed as her departure. She found herself again in her quarters, her mental state awash with a curious, unfamiliar mix of warmth and uncertainty. Bertra's comforting touch could not be felt well beneath the shell that covered her softer flesh beneath, but that did not change the impact of the act.
Bertra's words, comforting though they were, left a sting inside the maid turned professor that stung. The deepest comfort of friendship would not erase the fact that, in a strange sort of way, 'I was shot down.' The cut was a deep one in no small part because it had been done with such delicacy and tenderness. Bertra's loving touch bore none of the interest that Entoma wanted to explore.
Also, there was Inta. There, she felt only doubt, flinging herself on the hammock web she made for herself, she rocked back and forth, the white silk rocked soundless back and forth while the arachnoid maid put her arms behind her head and soaked in the sun that came in through her window.
The white yellow glow cast an outline of the window on the floor, with her shadow shifting back and forth within it.
"What do I do? What do I do…?" She asked, and caught a glimpse of her shadow down below, moving in sync with herself.
It made her think. "What if… what if I had something made…?" Entoma wondered, the teasing plucked at her, 'My own created being… Lady Albedo had love for our master 'created' in her. Could I… is it possible?'
'Do I approach Lord Ainz…?' She wondered, all her eyes blinked in rapid succession at the very temerity of asking for his help.
'Absolutely not!' She thought, then exclaimed out loud, "No! Absolutely not!" As if the thought alone was not enough of a denial.
'Demiurge though…' Entoma immediately snagged the name when it came to mind. 'Yes, Lord Demiurge… I know he's been working on golems and blending it with magicine and runecraft enchantments. What if he were to give one the traits I liked? Then I'd have something that would care about me that I could control and make it into whatever I wanted?'
The sting of Bertra shooting her down was briefly covered by the excitement of the prospect, and so she activated a message spell, 'Better to go to his assistant first… weird as she is, if they're working on one…?'
'Sure but you'll have to wait for the gate for a few hours, everybody is busy with somethin, that okay?' The familiar silvery voice of the demoness replied.
'Yes, I'll just work on my lesson plan.' Entoma answered, swaying back and forth a little faster until she built enough momentum to simply toss her out of her resting place.
She killed the message link and in no time she had the grass under her feet and a gentle breeze flowing through her imitation hair. Though she got many a look, none of those were the sort she wanted, and so Entoma ignored them. The noise of the students chattering about was at least interesting to listen to. Men and men, women and women, men and women, they seemed to relate to each other so naturally in so many varied ways. One would tell a joke, the other would laugh.
Touch would often follow, in a few places some couples reclined together beneath trees and just let the minutes slip past, more than one pair was simply napping at ease. Their clothing varied as much as their many races, some wore bright and garish things, while others wore severe darker, form fitting things.
But no matter how different they were, it was notable that it was peaceful, utterly peaceful. The smell of grass in the air in the warm season under a clear blue sky seemed to have ensnared them all as surely as one of Entoma's own webs.
She left all that behind to enter the building and go to her office, once there she opened the window to let the light in, and found a bird struggling in her web. "Yum." She said, and snatched it free, making the web thrum like the strings of an instrument while she shoved the unfortunate animal into her waiting mouth.
For hours she worked on her lessons after that, compiling the first textbook of her field: "Entomancy: Theory & Practice, First Edition".
Her quill flew over the papers as if she'd been born with a quill in hand and ink for blood, all the knowledge her creator had poured into her for her specialty was transferred from inside herself to the book she was compiling. 'My gift to my creator… wherever you are.' She promised with a moment of anguish for the lost creator and a following rush of love for the One Who Stayed.
The sun went on its way, moving across the sky as she moved her quill over the paper, alternatively writing out the textbook and writing out notes for class lessons, leaving her wondering again, 'Will I even have any students?'
The promised clash to showcase her speciality was no guarantee of success, 'And of course it could backfire.' The prospect of nobody seeing the value of what her creator had endowed her with… and the memory of the cruel words, "Nobody would want you to serve them" left a larger mark.
'What if nobody wants me to teach them?'
And then…
'What if nobody wants 'me' at all?'
And then…
'What if, after all, I can never have more or be more than this… all my sisters grow, have friends, form bonds… and I'm just…'
Worry led unto worry as the old scar that mocked her body as if she herself had some control of how she looked, that mocked her dress as if it had not been a gift from a supreme being… 'but they left.'
'But he stayed.' Entoma reminded herself.
'No, I'll see about making something, if it's designed the way I want, how could I not be happy?' She asked and flung herself back in her chair, her head tilted back and arms limp at her sides, she saw the sun begin to wane and realized, 'Oh my, I've been at this for some time.'
It was at just that moment that a message spell connected, 'Are ya ready?' the folksy voice of the demoness asked.
Before Entoma could answer, the gate opened and Entoma got up to step through it.
She found herself in the colosseum, a most unexpected location.
"Hiya." The gold skinned demoness gave a little twiddling wave of her fingers in greeting, her other hand on her hip, she stood beside a golem that was roughly chest height. It was colored purple, similar to Entoma's shell, and had a curiously almost dwarven look.
Entoma waved a hand and approached. "Uh, hi… what's this and where's Lord Demiurge?"
Vanysa gave a shrug, "Busy, says he's workin on soul yanking or somethin. Somethin about transferin spirits into new bodies. Been helpin-"
"Sorry, could you drop the folksy country girl act, it's… a little much." Entoma interjected.
The gold skinned demoness closed her eyes slowly and opened them again, "Alright, sorry, it just sets people at ease and you didn't sound your best earlier. Demiurge is working on a project that lets us yank a soul out of one body to put it into another. Part of the long term plan to ensure our master can one day produce an heir. Simple morphomancy on him would be too risky." Vanysa explained.
"I see… and this?" Entoma asked.
Vanysa patted the head of the golem, "I call him 'Harold." She grinned a sharp fanged grin, "Say hello, Harold."
The golem slowly raised its purple stone arm and waved to Entoma.
Entoma waved down to Harold as politely as she could. "Is it… is 'Harold' intelligent?"
"Well…" Vanysa scratched her head at the base of her long dark hair. "Kinda. See, ever since we got intel on the golems used by the Triumvirate of Beastmen Empires, we've been trying to make something better. Something that can really think, not just obey commands, you know?"
"No." Entoma answered with dry shortness.
"Okay, well, I just told you so… now you do. We've been trying to make thinking golems, undead are alright, but there's a high mana cost to creating the smarter ones, I think it's because intelligence is a kind of strength and it has a mana cost to create more of it. So," she grinned, "This was my idea!" She looked down at the chubby golem, "Harold, turn around."
The golem took a long slow step, swinging its leg out and planting it hard in the sand, exposing its back.
Vanysa pointed to the glowing crystal on the back. "This is kind of like its brain. There's a bunch of mana in there that isn't part of the spell that makes it move, the whole idea is that it can use the mana like a brain to think."
"And this… works?" Entoma asked, turning her many eyes away from the golem and back to the demoness.
"Harold, dance sexy." Vanysa ordered.
The golem didn't move.
"See… not sexy. Not even a dwarf would be interested in that. Sorry Harold, sit down." Vanysa said with a shrug and patted the golem's head when she apologized for him.
Harold sat down with his legs out, and looked at neither of them.
"See? It can follow exact orders, but not ones that require reason or intuition. But if you wanna try to play with it… we have started to give it personality. This is still pretty crude though." She raised one sharp taloned finger, "However, our golems are now on par with anything the Triumvirate has, from what we know, theirs can only perform a few simple commands at a time. Ours, by the time the war gets going with them, will be vastly superior. So… you want to take Harold with you, give him a spin?"
Entoma looked down at the golem, it seemed to feel her gaze on him, and turned its face up toward her.
"Al-Alright, I'll try it." Entoma said.
"Okay, Harold, go with Miss Entoma, do what she says." Vanysa said, and the purple golem stood up.
"Just tell him to go back to the lab when you're done with him." Vanysa said as Entoma walked away.
"I will and… thank you." The maid said and left the arena as Harold followed after her.