Soon enough, Myrtle and Ivy also came over to sit on the side with the three boys. Unfortunately for the other kids that wanted to come over and chat, the round metal table could only seat about six people at most. Besides Jade, who was new, the other seven of them grew up together and were basically best friends. Or at least must closer friends than the rest of the kids in the village.

“It’s crazy that the statue Ollie found in the ruins back then was actually a real person… Wait, doesn’t that mean the other statues might be real people too?!”

Barilo looked at Verna and asked, “Doesn’t that make you a slave trader?!”

“I’m not! Don’t you dare slander me, Baldy!”

“They’re not like me.” Jade shook her head and sighed, “They’re… Just statues. Most of them were Sculptures that my Papa… My father made. But a few of them might be mine or my mother’s…”

“Who was your father? Was he famous? Damn it!” Verna clenched her teeth in irritation, “I wish we didn’t sell them so quickly! If we knew your father’s name and he was famous enough, we could have made an even bigger fortune!”

“Famous? Umm, I don’t know. His name was Celadon, a Legendary Sculptor.”

“Legendary?!” Verna screamed, Peridot choked on a sweet potato and Ivy gasped in shock. Everyone else except Oliver was just confused.

“Shit! No wonder those bastards at the Auction House looked at us like idiots!”

“What’s a Legendary Sculptor?” Forest asked first.

“It’s exactly what it sounds like!” Verna’s blue eyes glared at the silly boys, “Haven’t you ever heard of Legends before?”

“Like a Legendary Knight in a fairy tale? Or Ysolda the Legendary Huntress?” Myrtle giggled, “They’re not real though, right?”

“Of course Legends are real!” Peridot retorted angrily, “They’re the pinnacle that a Mortal can reach!”

“Yeah.” Oliver nodded and used a napkin to try to wipe the sauce from his short beard, “My Dad always wanted to become a Legendary Dwrven Miner. But… He didn’t have enough time.”

“It’s not that easy to become a ‘Legend’. It’s not just about time, or there would be loads of Legends out there.” Verna sighed dramatically and leaned against Oliver’s shoulder again, “It’s said that every Legend has to do something really amazing and be written down in the history of a country.”

“That’s true.” Jade nodded seriously, “But not every Word can become ‘Legendary’. It’s more common among Jobs. My father said that he became a Legendary Sculptor after he finished a giant statue… Of himself.”

“How giant?” Oliver asked, “As big as a house?”

“No…” Jade shook her head, then pointed over towards the distant peak of Greenstone Mountain. Up near the snowy peak was a large sheer cliff. There were two huge pillars reaching half-way up that rocky cliff face, connected together at the top. However, there was nothing above that.

“Umm, no, never mind. Forget what I just said.”

“Wait, isn’t that-” Forest opened his mouth but it was quickly covered by Ivy’s hand, “Mmmn~?!”

“Don’t say it. Don’t tell anyone.” Oliver frowned and glared at his friends around the table, “Jade is just a girl from another village nearby. I’m serious. If anyone finds out…”

“We’re not idiots.” Barilo frowned and shook his bald head, “We get it. Don’t worry.”

“You too Verna. You can’t tell anyone. Even your parents. No, especially your parents. You’ll get all of us killed.” Peridot glared at the little girl’s bright blue eyes, “Promise!”

“Okay, okay~! I promise! Heheh~! But it’s really tempting…” Verna giggled and smiled at the embarrassed statue girl, “That reminds me! Do you know where any other treasures might be buried?! Did your family own any other properties we can dig up?!”

“Uh… Maybe?” Jade scratched her cheek with a harsh high-pitched scraping noise, “I never left my village. I barely ever left my house. My father said he had a property in Greenstone Castle, but-”

“Really?! Do you have the property deed?! Or any proof of inheritance?!”

“Umm… No. Not really…”

“That might not be the case!” Verna grinned, “It might be your blood… Uh, hopefully not blood. It could also be a passphrase, word or code.”

“Does Greenstone Castle really still exist?”

“Of course it exists!” Peridot shouted on the side, “Greenstone Castle is at the center of Greenstone City, the capital of Greenstone Province… Where we live.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Oliver patted Verna’s bright red head and complained, “It’s not your house anyway. It’d be Jade’s. Speaking of which… Jade, I’m sorry about selling your stuff. I’d offer to try and buy it back, but that’s basically impossible at this point.”

“I… I understand.” Jade sighed and looked down at the empty glass in her hand, then she started shoveling more mashed potatoes into her mouth!

“Are you angry?”

“I’m not angry.”

“You look kinda angry.”

“I’m just hungry!”

“Hahahaha~!” Peridot reached out and slapped Oliver on the back, “Looks like you’ll be sleeping alone from now on!”

“Wait, Ollie, are you two married?!” Irving shouted in shock, “What about Peri and Verna?!”

“I’m not married!”

“Mmmnmmmn~!”

Oliver and the stone-girl with a mouth full of food, retorted at the same time.

“You’ve just been sleeping together for the past two years.” Peridot grumbled as she glared at the two of them.

“Pft~!” Myrtle spurted her orange juice across the table and hit Forest in the face. 

“What the hell?!” Barilo was the one who yelled though, “Ollie, you lying bastard! You said you were a virgin!”

“Bari, first of all, shut up, secondly, why do you care?!”

“Hyahahahaa~!” Verna started laughing loudly and deafened half of them, “Aww~! Poor Bari~! Ollie broke his fragile little heart~!”

Jade looked around the table at the ‘little kids’ yelling at each other and smiled gently. She looked over at the other tables with lots of other people, some were laughing, others were crying, some drank and others smoked, but there was still a sense of ‘closeness’ that she never felt before. She reached out and held Oliver’s slimy hand, then she giggled and held Peridot’s greasy hand as well.

“We’re friends, right?”

“Of course.” Oliver nodded, “Best friends.”

“We’ve been living together for two years.” Peridot snickered, “I thought you were a creepy haunted statue for most of that time, but I still stuck around. So… Yeah, now we’re friends.”

“I’m willing to be more than friends.” Verna giggled and winked at the stone girl, “Why don’t you marry me? Then we can move back to Greenstone Castle together…”

Jade rolled her yellow crystalline eyes, “Sorry. I’m not thinking about getting married for now.”