Reede contemplates the nature of progress for a while specifically when it comes to the local mad scientists. Link decides Gloom Spawn are not fun.
After Link and Zelda had disappeared, Hateno had became much less explosion prone. Reede examined the Threshreaper 4000 with a critical eye. It looked like it wasn't going to turn around and shoot beams at anyone. Link had promised several times that this farming machine was not going to turn on the town. Reede believed Link wouldn't intentionally build something that could do that. Link even had made the thing unable to move on its own and given it a horse harness. A full century of Guardians made everyone still wary of the Sheikah tech Link, Purah, and Zelda loved so much.
Reede appreciated the sentiment of the founding day present to the town but didn't dare touch the machine himself, despite Link's cheerful promises. It had freaking teeth on the front of it. Why was there even a 4000 on the thing.
Link claimed he was more of a repair guy than an inventor, but had still thrown himself wholeheartedly into the challenge of making better ways to farm in recent years. There were... interesting times. Such as the strange and long barreled crossbow Link brought out at planting time. He'd called it a seeder gun. Link had managed to miss the field when it misfired and shot out a brick on the chimney of the dye shop. Frankly Reede could not believe it was merely a pumpkin seed that could deliver such force even with the weird technology Link brought out after long stretches of time spent indoors.
Zelda and Link's common sense at least held when it came to livestock. The less said of the automatic sheep shearing machine, the better. The little mannequin sheep had been shredded enough times to make even Link give up.
Reede wondered though if maybe he should embrace change a little because, by Hylia, wheat took forever to process. He recalled the book Link had handed him when the machine had appeared outside of the Mayor's home.
There wasn't much effort needed to locate the manual on the shelf given the sheer girth of the book. Reede let the book set down with a firm 'thud' on the table. It read "Threshreaper 4000 Instruction, Repair, and Safety Manual."
Reede cracked open the volume as if it were some wizardly tome of forbidden knowledge.
He didn't know what to expect, but the first page read "CAUTION! All warnings at the front of the book should be read thoroughly before starting operation. I have repeated some of the warnings through the book. Zelda said to. " Reede flipped through the pages and realized the first half alone was warnings, instructions, and detailed diagrams explaining how to not lose fingers, arms, eyes, and dignity to the behemoth that was the Threshreaper 4000. (Link put far more thought into the operator safety when it wasn't his fingers on the line.)
After Reede found the stick figure with the missing leg being thrown over a field of cows in a diagram, he gave up. Reede looked at the book, peeked out the window at the looming machine, then put the book back on the shelf. Hopefully Link came back soon to use the machine instead. It was very tempting to make the machine have a mysterious accident.
This was a waste of time. Reede decided asking around about what supplies were being spared for the Rito was a better idea. There could be another cart if they looked around, he was certain.
"Wait, wait. Your favorite food is pizza too?"
"Yes, I must admit I am rather fond of it. The flatbread is also quite easy to handle while I am reading documents with Sonia."
"Oh, I have some bad news. So it turns out people forgot how to make cheese, Rauru." Link said. This was one of the more upsetting things Link had realized about the modern era.
Rauru could scarcely believe it. "Wait, people just... forgot? Cheese?"
"Yep. Luckily, I found some guy in Hateno who is working on remedying that. He's almost done recreating the stuff."
Rauru still found himself shaking his head. "I am in awe of how much the Calamity took from this land. Losing cheese. It is a minor concern and yet I mourn its loss. One should wonder what else is missing?"
Both the living man and dead man noticed a change in the air, a slight one. The world became a little darker, more like...
"Rauru, Do you sense that gloom? Are we near a chasm?..." Link asked as he drew his sword and a dazzlefuit. The darkness was intensifying.
"We are not near a chasm, look over there!" Link saw the puddle Rauru pointed at. It was a fair distance so Link thought he had time to brace himself. Link screeched angrily as a hand grabbed him before he was ready. Had Link not dropped the dazzlefruit, he would have been trapped. As it were, Link sprinted and tried to get a read on how this thing moved.
"How fast is this horrible little-HEY!" Link stabbed a hand and frantically reached for his Purah pad when his sword got yanked away.
Rauru felt he could have died again of a heart attack in that split moment where Link tried to pick a destination and fumbled. Everywhere he looked, there were those hands. Link flopped out of the way and sprinted as hard as he ever could since losing stamina to the gloom. He only dared slow to a walk when they were able to see unfiltered sunlight.
Rauru cursed his lack of a body as he checked over the knight. "Link, How badly are you hurt? We need to get you some sundelions and bandage you."
"What was that thing?"
"I'm not sure, but you aren't strong enough to face it yet, I don't think. Mark it on your map..."
"I'm going to check it out again. I need to know what it looks like and how it acts..." Link kept his thumb firmly on the pad, ready to teleport out if it spotted him again. They crept back to the spot where it last was but nothing moved. It was almost taunting them to see that there was no mark to show the movement of the hand monster except... was there really nothing to show?
There was a couple of small things on the ground at the last known position of the hands. Link picked up the clump with Ultrahand to bring closer. "What... what is this?"
Rauru likewise examined the clump. "That is peculiar. It might be a form of gloom residue? Wait don't touch that!"
Link was indeed poking the substance thoughtfully. "...It's cold. Weird."
"Link, why are you touching that, it's going to poison you!"
Link stashed it in his inventory as Rauru was mentally screaming Why? Link peered at the other clumps before picking those up too. "I wonder if I can use that in elixir or a meal?"
Link was struck by the sudden resemblance to Zelda as Rauru started giving him an absolute earful about food safety. Same notes of indignant worry. This continued all the way to the next camp for the night. Rauru even kept complaining as Link cooked, which made the whole experience painfully familiar and a reminder of how Zelda would keep him company. (Ah yes, there was even the same cadence to the outraged, "Have you no self-preservation?," despite Rauru being more composed.) Rauru gave up after the first failed brew. Link found that elixirs failed, but with the third clump he managed a decently weird soup. Link slurped up the taste of victory as Rauru found himself burying his worries in a double facepalm.