Chapter 95. Gorgon problems

[My love... That's the least of our concerns.]

"Yeah. A Gorgon on the farm wouldn't really be a good idea." Zeldi seemed afraid.

Voras almost seemed to shrink in on herself after realizing the landmine she just stood on.

"Soooo I'm guess from your reactions the whole turning to stone when you look in their eyes is real. But we're protected on the farm right?" I tried to defuse the tension.

"And what an our children?" Zeldi quickly snapped back at me. "What are they to do?"

Oh. Yeah that could be a problem.

"Could she wear a blindfold?" It was a pathetic excuse but it was all I could think of.

[Not really a good alternative my love. It would be the same as leaving one of Dríade's poisonous fruit just lying around. Sure we could warn everyone and put in place things to stop anything from happening but if we make even one mistake... The price is just too high. I would not be able to forgive myself for letting it happen or this Madu for being the cause of it.]

"I forgot about that." Voras mumbled before looking up at Tarakona. "She is blind if that helps. Our previous Deed owner removed her eyes to protect herself so she can't turn anyone to stone."

"And you think Master here is not going to try healing her when he hears a particular sob story?" Zeldi deadpanned back at the spider woman. "He has offered to heal your eye after all and I do love him for his kindness, I almost don't want it to be offered this time and that just sounds unfair. Part of my job as a head mare is to make sure the family can live with each other."

I bit the inside of my lip as I tried to come up with an alternative. The girls were both right in every regard because our children would not be protected by the lands immortality and if they accidentally look at this Madu at the wrong time it could spell disaster.

The girls continued to bounce ideas back one after another but it was clear that no matter what Voras said the other two weren't having it. The conversation was finally brought to a stop when Zeldi hit a particular sore spot on Voras.

"Okay then Voras. What would you do if you suddenly woke up one morning and your own child had grown curious about the curse of the Gorgons gaze and snuck into her room to peak under her eyelids?"

Tarakona and I both stayed quiet about the fact the rooms couldn't be snuck into as that wasn't the point.

Voras deflated. She had no comeback and she knew it.

I could be of service in this regard.

Oh. How?

Simple. I could give the Gorgon herself a reward that limited her gaze.

That could work. Could you just remove it entirely?

Possible. But would you want to? It would be like asking your Dragon if she wanted to lose her frost alignment. Doable but why get rid of it entirely?

Because no one would agree to let her stay if she could just turn it off and on. Like Tarakona said about Dríade's fruit. One mistake could cost the life of someone we don't want to lose. Could you make everyone on the farm immune to it?

No. That would require too much of an investment on my part. What if it was only active if she left the farm? That should cover the difference.

Could it? This Madu would be left on the farm as no one would want her to leave.

Exactly. It would be your choice if she left. Then there would be no accidents as you yourself have to allow her to leave and thus have her petrification back.

Could that work?

I stayed quiet just contemplating what Purple had said. It wasn't wrong, that plan could work. If the girls agreed.

"So we do have an option." I finally said bringing myself back into the conversation. Voras had tried to come up with a few different things but both Tarakona and Zeldi had shut all of them down.

[My love, please tell me you are not siding against us?]

"No. I agree that I'm not risking our children but I want to offer a suggestion that you are all free to deny if you don't think it'll work. What if she didn't have her petrification while she was on the farm?"

Voras immediately perked up at the offer but she stayed quiet.

"How?" Zeldi asked when no one immediately answered me.

"As her first quest reward the Deed can give her, it can take away her petrification so long as she's on the farm." I answered.

There was a bit of thinking between the girls as everyone went through their own thought process. Surprisingly it was Voras who was next to speak.

"That would be great wouldn't it? If Clovek simply waits for Madu to finish her quest before he heals her, then that solves everything."

[It would. So long as she doesn't leave the farm. We know from my experience that he can allow temporary freedom and if this Madu is currently a Deed owner of the land you have mentioned then she would have to be okay no longer having that freedom.]

Voras bit her lip as she thought about what to say next. It was obvious to everyone present she was going to try and argue for her friend, how she was going about it though?

"She will want the temporary freedom." Voras started but continued before anyone else could say anything. "Not for herself but because she is territorial. Whereas I'm more, set up traps and plan she's very aggressive. If she takes to Clovek like I think she will then her first order of business will be to get rid of the Kobolds. And that will require her to be able to leave."

Zeldi opened her mouth but closed it as she fumbled with her words.

"Couldn't you get rid of them now?" I asked Tarakona. She did have the temporary freedom right now.

[No my love. They are a tunneling species and have created many intersecting caves around your farm. I have tried to freeze a few of them but they go too deeply for me to do anything substantial. If we were to truly get rid of them it would require entering the tunnels and finding where they go. A task neither myself or Voras could accomplish due to our size.]

"And if you were to trap a few of them with webs they would just create another opening." I sighed to myself. This explains why they were still a problem even though a bloody Dragon was on our side. It was like playing a game of whack a mole without knowing how many holes there were.

"I'm slightly annoyed you didn't mention me at all." Zeldi growled Tarakona and my Dragon almost seemed to shy away.

[Apologies sister. I didn't think you were interested in the more violent side of our life, you seem better suited to creating a safe and happy environment around Clovek as our head mare.]

The compliment worked as Zeldi immediately agreed.

Tarakona had Zeldi down to a T.

"So she needs to be able to keep her petrification in order to defend the farm even though we have a Dragon and potentially a Dryad army." I started but Voras interrupted.

"The Dryad's will take some time. Dríade has to persuade  them that she can protect them and part of that is safeguarding their trees in the journey from wherever they are to the farm. Chances are we will see some rather strange forms from her as she shows them what she is capable of."

[And a Dryad needs substantial resources to create these forms as well as time for them to develop. Both things she has in abondance here but like Voras said, not an instant thing. Part of why Grove mothers are so rare, they need lots of resources for themselves as well as the Dryad's they're trying to gain.]

"Hmmm." I mumbled as I thought it all over again.

The Kobolds had been a problem and one we really needed to take care of. But I was only now realizing how annoying of a problem they were, add the fact they're this world's version of a ninja and it only makes them that much harder to get rid of.

There were a few ways we could deal with them now though both the options I could come up with I knew were going to get a no from the girls.

I could go into the caves myself as a sort of suicide stabber as they could just revive me every time I died.

Or, we could send Dríade with a similar plan as she could revive or in her case create multiple bodies.

Not the best ideas I know but Voras wasn't really an option and Zeldi I refuse to even consider letting her leave for any reason. Tarakona could work but her Draganoid form would put her at a disadvantage in a fight and it's not like we could ask the Kobolds to make their tunnels big enough for her so she can come down and kill them in her Dragon form.

"So we don't want to completely take away her petrification but we also can't force her to stay because she will be one of our best ways of dealing with the Kobolds." I said our problem aloud. "I mean if she only has her gaze when she leaves and she's restricted like Tarakona is wouldn't that be good?"

[Potentially. We should discuss it more with her when the time comes so that she is aware and can either accept or deny it. I won't lie there are some benefits of having a Gorgon around but if the risks outweigh them I will be the first to refuse.]

There was an agreement from all the girls including Voras. The spider woman seemed to be fighting between helping make her friend look good and agreeing that she didn't want a stone statue of her children.

[We will discuss it more when the time comes as Voras still has to get our permission before anything like that happens. In the meantime I am done with this hole and am requesting the bath that was promised to me.]