The Battleaxe Wielded Man, Archer Woman, and Magic Woman were staring at the corpse of their now dead companion, Completely caught off guard by it.
The Golem who killed the Mace Wielding Man threw his body to the side like a dirty towel, with absolutely no care in the world.
The Battleaxe Wielded Man was too busy looking at his dead friends corpse that he didn't notice the second Golems fist flying at his chest, sending him stumbling back and breaking his distraction.
The Archer Woman has long since had a new Crossbow bolt loaded, but was too stunned by the death of her friend, so she quickly aimed the Crossbow at the Golem attacking the Battleaxe Wielded Man and fired.
Due to the hasty shot, the Crossbow hit the Stone Golem in the shoulder, shattering the Stone and causing its entire arm to fall off, revealing a corner of its Core.
The Archer Woman turned to look at the Magic Woman, who was standing still, like a statue, hugging her staff and shaking with wide eyes, it's her first time seeing someone die.
Archer Woman: Hey! Are you gonna help or stand there?
She shouted at the Magic Woman, who was taken out of her shock and looked around, she saw that one of the Stone Golems had its shoulder and arm destroyed and its core was visible. She remembered her father telling her that all Golems have a core, and they will never truely die until that core is destroyed.
She raised her staff and aimed it at the core, her staff would shoot her projectiles several times faster than they would if she cast them from her hands, reaching nearly 1,000 Kilometers per hour in speed. She aimed the fireball and shot it at the core.
Billie Nelson charged forward to try and intercept the fireball, but he was just barely too slow, the fireball shot through its fingers and hit the core, blowing that part of it up and causing the entire Golem to collapse.
The 3 of them were really happy that a Golem was dead now, the Battleaxe Wielded Man even charged over to his dead friends corpse and snatched his shield, intending to use it to defend himself.
The archer Woman had a third Crossbow bolt loaded and aimed it at the Golem who killed her friend, who noticed.
When she fired the crossbow, what she never expected was for the Golem to quickly grab the Battleaxe Wielded Man and yank him in the path of the crossbow bolt.
The Crossbow bolt pierced the man's back with absolutely Zero resistance and continued forward, piercing the Stone Golems side and disconnecting its upper and lower body.
The Golems Core seemed fine as it started using Mana to rebuild itself with its destroyed legs.
Billie Nelson immediately charged at the Archer Woman and swung its fist down on her, she blocked the attack with her Crossbow, but it shattered under the impact.
The Magic Woman was now scared and stunned to the point of being unable to move now.
The Archer Woman seeing her Crossbow being destroyed, she clicked her teeth and decided not to die.
She ran in the direction of the Magic woman, grabbed her hand and dragged her away from the fortress, neither Golem gave chase. Simply going back to their resting spots while the Wood Golems went back to work.
Reaching the main road and seeing that the Golems weren't chasing them, the Archer Woman left go of the Magic Womans hand and smashed the bottom of her fist against a tree. The Magic woman collapsed to her knees.
Archer Woman: FUCK!
She smashed the bottom of her fist against the tree a few more times in anger.
Archer Woman: This is your fault, you know that?! You spend so much time daydreaming that two good men died cause of you! No wonder no other parties wanted you...
The Archer slammed her fist against the tree trunk one last time before storming off in the direction of Krok-Magar. The Magic Woman never moved, just stayed collapsed on her knees, staring at the ground with wide eyes.
3 Hours later, an older man with a Cane approached the Magic Woman. He was Older, but he still looked way too young to need a Cane, so he must need the cane due to an injury and not age.
Man with Cane: Hey...
He said, leaning against the nearest tree, which just so happened to be the one the Archer Woman punched.
Man with Cane: Sasha told me about what happened...
The Magic Woman didn't respond.
Man with Cane: It's not your fault. Their death wasn't your fault. They do this job knowing that they could die any day and ... Today happened to be that day. Sasha knew that too, she was just... Overwhelmed by the loss of two lifelong friends.
The Magic Woman still didn't respond, and instead of continuing on, the Man with a Cane didn't continue talking either. He simply looked off into the distance, keeping her company.
...
A few days later, some people showed up to collect the corpses of the two men who died here, the City Lord came as well, nailing a paper note to the wooden door. The Stone Golems didn't react this time, letting the City Lord nail a note to the door and letting the other people collect the bodies.
Raphael: Interesting... The Golems won't attack me...
...
2 more days have passed and the City Lord came back again, this time, he had a group of Miners and workers with him.
Immediately upon seeing the workers, the remaining Golem outside the wall rised up and stood there, staring at Raphael and his workers intensely.
Raphael raised his hand up in defeat while backing away, all the workers ran away too.
Raphael: So the Golem knows what we are doing and only reacts when we try to bring harm... Interesting...
...
Back to the present time, Cashew finally made it back to his Fortress and noticed something different.
Cashew: a Golem is missing. And who left a note on my door?!
He immediately headed towards the note on his Fortress Walls Door and reached for it.
Cashew: Eh .... Eeeh....
Cashew can't reach. He is too short. He is reaching for the Note, but it is too high for him. He's jumping and using both hands and he still can't reach.
One of the Wood Golems, who Cashew grew somewhat attached to, even naming it "Woodie Nelson", quietly approached and stood next to Cashew as he kept jumping up to try and reach the note.
Cashew noticed and looked at Woodie Nelson hopelessly.
Cashew: Woodie Nelson... Can you please get it down for me?
He asked with pleading eyes, Woodie Nelson looked at the note, which was about Elbow height for him, and slowly reached for it, ripping it down and handing it to Cashew, who thanked him and read the note.
The note reads...
"Dear Unnamed Child,
Your actions have inadvertently caused the deaths of two good men. More specifically, your Stone Golems have killed two men. When you receive this letter, please Disassemble ALL Golems in your possession and head to Krok-Magar as soon as you are done. When you reach the City of Krok-Magar, a Guard will escort you to the cities jail, where your magic license will be permanently revoked, you'll pay a 100 Silver Coin fine, (50 Silver coins per killed person) and you'll spend the next 30 years behind bars.
The Reason I am asking you Nicely instead of putting a bounty out is because you rescued my daughter. I do hope that you'll comply with my kindness, otherwise I will have to put a bounty out.
Sincerely, Raphael - City Lord of Krok-Magar"
Cashew looked at the Note, not taking it seriously at all.
Cashew: Wait... I'm supposed to have a Magic License?
He shrugged and put the paper in his shoulder bag, and opened the Fortress Walls door to enter, but right as he was about to walk in, he heard a voice.
Unknown voice: So, kid, are you gonna listen to the City Lords note?
Cashew turned around and looked in the direction of the voice. It's the same guy who delivered the Woodcutting axe, Handsaw, Door hinges and Stone piercing nails that one time.
Cashew: You actually think I'm gonna?
Man: No, I don't, I think it's wishful thinking on the City Lords part, but he asked me to come by every day and see if the note is gone, so that's what I'm doing. I just so happened to come here when you returned, so I can't help but ask.
Cashew: Well, tell him that it's naive to think I'd willingly turn myself in. If he wants me, he's gonna have to send people after me and that's just gonna result in more deaths. So ask him if he's willing to send more people to die just to try and arrest me. Ask him if sacrificing 5, 10, 50 or even 100 people is worth it to try and arrest me.
After finishing his little speech, Cashew ordered his wood Golem to carry the core of the destroyed stone Golem into the Fortress yard.
Cashew: Come on Wood Golems, carry this core in so I can try to repair your brother!
He said loudly so the Man could hear, who sighed and left, heading back to Krok-Magar.
Standing in his fortress again, Cashew sighed and looked around, gathering his thoughts on what happened the past month.
Cashew: Ok... I managed to gather about 100 Crystals, most of whom are the size of my fist, with the largest one the same size as my head.
He shut the door to his Fortress Walls, Calling the two Wood Golems out of the cave they were digging.
Cashew: So, while I was gone, something must have happened with some people showing up here and being killed by my Golems. I assume those same people killed one of my Golems as well.
The Wood Golems that Cashew left behind to mine have not come out yet, so he looked in the direction of the Mine, waiting for them to come out, which they didn't do. Even after 3 minutes of waiting.
Getting annoyed with waiting, Cashew headed over to the Cave entrance to find his Golems, thinking maybe they ran out of Core charge, but no. When he reached the cave, about 10 meters in, the Cave collapsed.
Cashew: Oh.... Right, I didn't teach them how to build support for the cave... So it collapsed on them... Right.... How deep are they, though?
...
Back at Krok-Magar, in the City Lords office, the Man finished trlling Raphael everything Cashew said.
Raphael sighed after hearing that Cashew wasn't willingly gonna turn himself in. He dismissed the Man, who left the office, leaving Raphael to look outside his window.
"Is the kid worth it? He said that id be sacrificing peoples lives trying to arrest him. Add onto the fact that his arrival is right on time with the disappearance of the kid who caused problems in Clorilwood. Id normally laugh at the threat, it's coming from a kid, afterall, but..." Raphael thought.
Raphael: You normally wouldn't take a child's threats seriously, but... Maybe he isn't joking? His Golems did kill two skilled adventurers, after all...