Demon's Virtue
chapter-671

671 Sweet-Spot

Partax glared at Gobo, quickly taking the Hobgoblin's words as both an insult and a challenge, "What are you calling 'fragile', here?"

Rolling his eyes, Gobo looked at the old halfling and tapped his finger on the table next to him. He was starting to get annoyed. He didn't really like people all too much. Since Eiro was trying to have them all integrate with their society, Gobo was trying to give them a chance at least, though it didn't help if they were as naturally unsufferable as Partax clearly was, "Of course, what else would you call it? If a few monsters can just destroy the whole thing that easily, without even actively trying to, it has to be pretty fragile, right?"

With a slight grunt, Partax moved over to the table. He pressed his palm onto the surface, and then lifted it up, leaving a small metal cube the size of a gambling-die behind. Quickly, the cube started unfolding, turning into what seemed like a simple building. Gobo was impressed by what he saw, since this was a new sight to him. Sure, it wasn't anything that could compare to the extravagant feats of power that Eiro tended to display every once in a while, but it was unique. Gobo liked unique things.

"Alright, so what's this?" the hobgoblin finally asked, since Partax for some reason wasn't saying anything for a while. The halfling huffed and crossed his arms. One of the mechanical arms attached to his moving seat approached the miniature building's door. It was too big to fit through it, though, and very obviously at that.

"Take a look. It won't fit inside, but it has to somehow get there. So, to it, the most natural solution is to do this," Partax started, and the hand quickly forced its way through the door, damaging the structure around it. Pieces crumbled down onto the tabletop, and small cracks began to appear throughout the walls. Soon, the hand pulled back out, rubbing against the edges of the now broken, unnaturally expanded doorframe, breaking it down even more, "You see this? This is exactly what you're doing to this city. You're damaging it, hurting it. And the more it happens..." Partax metal assistance quickly continued on, intruding through the windows, the small balcony, the chimey... basically anywhere it could, it entered through, breaking the building's integrity further and further. That was, until the hand tried to push through another possible entrance, and the whole miniature building broke down.

"Sooner or later, the whole thing crumbles to pieces," the halfling explained, before snapping his finger. By his command, the structure rebuilt itself back to what it was just a minute ago. Meanwhile, Gobo was watching, quietly. While he didn't want to admit it, it seemed like Partax was going somewhere with this.

"The house isn't built for the hand. That's why it has to force its way through, damaging everything else around it. But what if we made it so that it didn't have to do that in the first place?" Partax suggested, and as he said so, the door expanded on its own. It became taller and broader, and while the rest of the building stayed the same, it was made to simply accomodate the size of the hand and nothing more. The least amount of change needed to make sure the hand didn't need to break anything anymore. And then, the hand simply pushed through that new door, and nothing happened. It fit through normally and without issue, "Do you get it now?"

Gobo thought about it for a moment. He looked at the small house and at the metal hand, before letting out a slight sigh. Immediately, Partax showed a triumphant look on his face, as Gobo admitted defeat, "Fine. It's not that it's fragile, it's just that this place isn't made for us monsters... is that it?"

"Exactly. I thought you'd have been able to understand that earlier, but from how it looks, you were practically raised amongst people, right?" Partax asked, and Gobo instinctively flinched, "How did you... Did my Lord tell you?"

"What, you think I need to be told something so obvious? Pah!" the halfling scoffed, and shook his head, "Listen, it's the same for me. The majority of people in this world are well... around your size, I guess. There's some exceptions, of course. Some are smaller, some are bigger, but the most of them are like you. That's why everything is made for them."

Gobo raised a brow. He had an idea where Partax was going with this, but he hadn't really considered it yet, so he wanted to continue listening. And so, the halfling continued on, patting the metallic, spider-legged platform he was sitting on, "Before I built myself this new pair of legs, I left the village I grew up in, and made my way to the 'big city'. And well, that name was right in more than one way. I had to stand on my tip-toes to reach doorhandles, buy stools to reach the counters in my own kitchen. The clothes I bought were in childrens' sizes, and you'd be surprised to realize how few people actually look down as they walk the streets. The world isn't made for people like me, or ones on the other size of the spectrum. You have to fit that specific sweet-spot. Now, you lot live in a place made for 'people'. Not only does the actual minority of you fit that 'size' sweet-spot, this place was built to fit many, many other of those as well. Do you think the mole-men 'want' to burrow all day long? If they could, they'd avoid it too, but for monsters that are practically blind, walking around somewhere where they could be crushed by one of those stupidly huge trolls is scary. And the trolls aren't much better off, I saw how some of them live, in buildings where a whole wall was torn-off, with ceilings so low they have to crouch. No wonder they don't want to bother with you lot, if my back hurt from crouching in my own home all day long I'd be pissed off too!"

The hobgoblin slowly sat down. He looked at Partax, and soon nodded his head, "I... see. That... is a good point. But what are we supposed to do? Tear it all down and rebuild it?" "What? Of course not, you fool! Just rebuild the parts you need to! Add onto it all! Reserve all the buildings with high ceilings for the trolls or tear out some ceilings and floors for them. Give the towers to the harpies and take out the windows so they can nest somewhere that's protected from the rain and winds. Build some proper, permanent tunnels for the molemen, and for the love of the gods, plant some flowers and get rid of all that trash, even my nose is about to fall off, I can't even imagine how the Kobolds are feeling!" "But..." Gobo started to rub the bridge of his nose, realizing just how much work was really ahead of them, "How are we supposed to do this in time? I guess this would help keep your 'circuit' intact, but we can't possibly finish all of that by the time you want to have the circuit done..."

Partax rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Obviously not, that's why you don't have to. The circuit's already been designed in a way to run through the most stable areas of the city in the first place, but some unstable parts just can't be avoided. Focus on the ways I tell you in those parts, and you'll be fine. That's exactly what I was trying to tell you earlier, but I guess there was a bit of a... well, language barrier," the halfling responded with a scoff, looking Gobo up and down with a roll of his eyes. The hobgoblin could feel basically all of his positive feelings for Partax vanish with that passive-aggressive comment aimed at him, but he still knew that Partax was right. They had to solve this somehow, and the support of that circuit would make this city so much safer for everyone here, so he simply held back for now.

Even then, Gobo still didn't feel like just letting it be, "...Right. Can you note down everything you can so that even a stupid Goblin like me can remember everything we need to do?" he asked with a slight glare, pushing down a notebook while trying to stop himself from yelling at the halfling. Seemingly without even being aware of Gobo's annoyance, Partax nodded his head, "Obviously, that was the plan all along. Though I'm glad to see how aware you are of your own limitations, at the very least."

Gobo sighed and ground his teeth, a sound that made Eiro slightly smile as he was walking down the stairs after returning from Boju's office. Even if they weren't getting along, some banter like this was certainly a lot better than active fighting. The fact that Gobo was even trying to hold himself back in this situation was a great sign. Partax was long beyond the point of no return, so Eiro couldn't even try to fix his behaviour, even if he really cared to. The way Partax acted was annoying, but at least it was somewhat predictable, and that was a quality that Eiro much preferred over someone being kind but random in their behaviour.

Things were coming together well. Now the only part left was to get started with the construction of the circuit that would protect this city, as a test-run before Eiro did the same thing to not only the academy, but his own manor as well.