“Forty-seven… Beware… Forty-seven…”

“Be careful, Oliver…”

“Mom? Dad?” Oliver looked around the dark, dusty tunnels after hearing his parents’ warning him as always. Then the familiar rocky walls started seeping blood! Countless green eyeballs emerged as the stone turned into pulsating flesh…

“Ollie… Why?” He looked down at the wall he was ‘mining’ before and saw Peridot’s crying face fused into the meat, “I loved you… But you killed me.”

“I’m so sorry! Peri, it was an accident! I didn’t know!”

“You knew… You always knew… Ollie… I’m scared…”

“No!”

Jade opened her eyes and looked around the familiar dark bedroom while hyperventilating. She felt like her whole body was stiff and sore. Lifting her arm from under the thin white sheet, she blinked a few times and realized that her skin wasn’t made of stone anymore!

“This is what you wanted, right? To be human again…”

“Papa?!” When she looked over, the little brown-eyed girl saw the handsome man sitting on the edge of the bed. He reached out his right hand toward her face and smirked, “My perfect masterpiece… The perfect material! The key!”

“No!” She reached out and plunged a chisel into his chest, “I’m not just some statue you sculpted!”

“Ow~! What the hell!” Oliver’s pained voice caused the stone girl to really open her eyes, “My ass!”

“Oh no! Ollie! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?!”

“Is that… Is that a chisel?! Mmmn~! Ow… Ow… Mmmmnpf~! Damn it, Jade~!”

“I-I-I just… I had a nightmare, I’m sorry!”

“Klein is gonna be… So pissed, hahaha~! Ow…”

Well, Oliver wasn’t wrong. Klein glared at the two of them when he walked into the ‘Doctor’s Office’ early in the morning. Especially when he saw the ‘injury’ that had to be treated…

“I ain’t gonna kink-shame you kids, but don’t you think this is a little too extreme?”

“Screw you.” Oliver yawned while laying on his left side. There was a big stone chisel stabbed into his right ass cheek.

“I just… Had a nightmare…” Jade started crying again, “Is Ollie going to be okay? I didn’t hit an artery, right?!”

“It’s not that deep. Just went through the muscles and fat a bit. He’ll be fine. Don’t pull it out. This is a conjured item, right? Get rid of it.”

The moment the chisel disappeared, a lot of blood spurted out. But then the muscles, skin and fat closed up for the most part. The damage was still pretty bad, however, Klein was a lot stronger than he used to be. He injected something similar to glue inside of the wound, which had an adhesive effect, but also improved the healing to a speed that was visible with the naked eye. Although the wound was still sore and he also put an adhesive bandage over it, the ‘surgery’ was basically over in a matter of seconds.

“I’d normally charge a few gold for something like this… But since I watched you kids grow up, that’ll be a thousand gold.”

“A thousand gold?! For that?!”

“No! For waking me up this early in the morning and having to look at your hairy ass!” Klein shouted at the two of them, “Now get the hell outta here! I wanna get back to bed!”

“Oliver?!” A surprised voice came from the doorway, “Wow! Ollie and Jade! You’re alive?!”

“Shh~!” Klein glared at the little girl and whispered, “Don’t tell anyone. They’re still missing. Presumed dead… Got it?”

“Yes, Doctor Klein!” The short and cute girl had black hair, brown eyes and slightly tanned skin. What stood out the most though, was the small tattoo on her left cheek that said: ‘Nurse I’.

“Ivy? You became a Nurse? I thought you wanted to be a Doctor?” Oliver stood up off the bed and conjured new, undamaged boxers to cover himself up quickly.

“I like helping people. Although I would love to be a Doctor, it seems the world thinks I’m more suited to be a Nurse.”

Ivy smiled and then hugged the two of them, though with her height of 150 cm, she still looked like a child. Of course, she was actually about the same age as her husband Barilo, 14. Although it might be considered a bit young in the city, it was a normal age to get married and have kids in Verde Village.

“Congrats either way, Ivy. I’m happy for you.” Oliver snickered and ruffled her hair.

“Stop it. I’m not a kid anymore, Ollie.” She swatted away his hand and complained, “Even if I was a kid, that’s still annoying.”

“Haha~! It’s still funny though.” Klein couldn’t help remembering not that long ago, when Oliver was even shorter than Ivy… Then he shook his head and sighed, “Alright. I’m going back to bed. Ivy, let me know if there’s an emergency… A ‘real’ emergency. If anyone gets stabbed in the ass, you can handle it yourself.”

“No problem, Doctor!”

“Whatever.”

“Daddy~!” Hearing that high-pitched cry, Klein grinned and lost his tired appearance. He practically teleported over to the bedroom upstairs and saw his almost 2 year old daughter rubbing her eyes by the stairs, “Daddy… Pee!”

“Okay, Sweetie, don’t worry. Daddy will help you use the potty!”

“Mmmn~!”

The little girl had blonde hair and green eyes like her mother, but her facial features were closer to Klein’s.

Oliver snickered as he looked up the stairs at the tall man picking up the little girl and taking her over to the bathroom, “When I was that old, I didn’t need anyone to help me go to the bathroom. Klein really spoils his kid.”

“Ollie, don’t be mean.” Jade smacked him on his sore ass and he jumped up, nearly hitting his head on the ceiling, “Ehah-ehah~!”

“I’m not being mean. I’m just saying-”

“My Papa spoiled me too. At least… Until I was five, when he started teaching me. Then he… Changed.”

Ivy smiled wryly, “My father was an abusive piece of shit. Especially after he got older and sicker.”

“Yeah…” Jade sighed and nodded her head.

“My parents were always really nice. Even after they died, they still loved and cared about me as ghosts.” Oliver shrugged his shoulders and the two girls glared at him, “Okay, we should probably start packing our bags and get ready to leave now. We’re still ‘missing’ after all.”