The plan was supposed to be bulletproof. Nikola was just supposed to get some dirt, stones, and to pour his mana inside the mud-stone thing Dimitri had made him.
He was not prepared for what came next.
"I think it imprinted on you. Like a duckling," Dimitri said, scratching the back of his head.
"Yes. But how do I get it to muck the stables?" Nikola asked. They had just one hour to get to the stables and muck them.
The clock was ticking.
"It won't be so bad like yesterday," Dimitri tried to calm him down. "I mean… how much dung can a couple of horses produce overnight?"
"They started to produce it just as we were leaving," Jack was ever the realist. He didn't want any false hopes in his mind. "And I can assure you, more than one party got landed with that torture. The farmhand doesn't seem the type to muck."
Jean nodded next to him.
"He is not a good sort," the younger vampire said. "I could hear his smirk as he sent us off."
The golem hugged Nikola again. Squeezing this time.
"Bad!" Nikola choked out. "Let me go! I need to breathe!"
The golem let him go so, as if it were burned.
"What are the chances it has a soul?" Dimitri asked the important question. "Because if it has a soul, letting it muck stables for months is going to achieve only one thing."
He made a pause. His party members shared a quizzing look.
"The golem will become an Archdemon before long. Bend on destroying all horses and horse riders in the world."
The golem let out a giggle.
Nikola bowed his head.
"I will send you to school," he didn't have any idea what sort of school would accept a golem, but he still felt like he should try.
"No!" Jean protested, who was already smelling the stench of horse manure. "We created him to muck, and he will muck!"
The golem's eyes flared red.
Jean was not done.
"Niki, if it has a soul, down your gullet it goes! Then we will make the body of the golem muck the stables!"
Nikola blinked.
Did Jean really say that, or was he hallucinating from the lack of oxygen?
"Just one thing here, Jean," Jack said, as he clapped the man on the back. "You are asking a creator to eat their creation's soul."
"The golem doesn't have feelings! It is just mud and stone!" Jean protested. He still stank from the previous' day's mucking.
Even after the third shower.
The golem took one threatening step towards Jean.
Nikola placed himself in its way.
"No! Jean said those mean things, yes, but he is still young! He doesn't understand you, Emil!"
The golem turned back to look at Nikola. It began to blink at him.
"You are Emil because you are kind!" Nikola continued his valiant attempt to protect Jean from getting pummeled to death. "And I would like for you to become the fifth member of our party!"
The golem nodded, sitting down.
"Niki, you are evil," Jean had to admit.
"What? Why shouldn't he be the fifth party member? It is not like we can get Bleda or Andrew to join! They don't want to!"
"No, it's just that…" Jean closed his mouth. They were going to have to muck the stables today anyway. It was for the best if the golem came with them.
Little did he know that Nikola had no backhanded thoughts about making the golem muck the entire stable.
****
They were stinking, the golem was vibrating with energy.
Nikola had no idea what he was supposed to do with the creature.
"This is the last time I animate something," he told Dimitri, who was walking next to him. The locals were giving them a wide berth. Doing everything they could to avoid their stench.
"Well, today was the second day! Five more to go!" Dimitri said cheerfully. "And today was not so bad! At least none of the dung turned into stone overnight!"
"Something has to be done," Nikola muttered. "This is animal abuse!"
"Niki, you accepting Emil for this quest can also be considered animal abuse!" Dimitri said with a sly smirk on his lips.
"Are you calling our second born son an animal?" Nikola said, his green eyes were blazing! He pointed at the golem, who was walking at the back. "Apologize!"
Dimitri blinked. The golem made a stop to pick up a flower.
"Are you for real now?" the vampire asked.
Nikola nodded.
"Emil is not just a golem; he is a living being! With a free will!"
"He is no different from the animated dummies in the training hall!" Dimitri protested. Just the thought that he had to pretend to be a golem's father made him worry.
What if the golem killed or ate someone he was not supposed to?
"Dimitri! Emil has feelings!" Nikola yelled, as the golem began to eat the roses of the bush he had been admiring.
Dimitri decided that some battles were not worth fighting. He bowed his head.
"Besides," Jack pipped in, as he slowly tried to make Emil to stop eating the roses. "He has spirit! He is just like a child!"
The vote was now two to two. Dimitri looked at Jean.
"He mucked the dirtiest stall by himself. Come now, Dimitri, would it be so difficult to help raise him?"
The vampire looked at the golem once more, who was now picking torns from between his teeth.
"Oh, where's the harm?" Dimitri said with a slight frown.
Emil turned to look at him, then. There were two roses in his hands. Only the blossoms.
The golem went to Nikola, ignoring Dimitri, and placed the two roses in his creator's hands.
Nikola would have hugged the golem, if he was not covered in dung.
"I love you, my son!" Nikola said, tearing up.
But whether it was because of the stench he was emitting, the small flies which were trying to get in his eyes, or just the fact that he was moved by the gesture, was anyone's guess.