Cliff
CLIFF headed to Chest Island’s Flank Beach Market with the armless Gandolf. He finally arrived at a familiar building after his long walk—the Akizu Company barracks, where he worked part-time.
The lights were still on inside. Cliff knocked on the armored door and waited until the sleepy owner Akizu opened it while rubbing his eyes.
“Oh, it’s you, Cliff… What’s up? I’ve closed up shop for now.”
“Boss, I need a favor of you!” Cliff pointed back at Gandolf towering behind him. Akizu’s heavy eyelids peeled back as he gaped at the giant.
“Huh. Yer Golem started moving? But it’s armless.”
“Please sell me the materials to fix these arms! I’ll definitely pay you back someday!” Cliff entreated.
Akizu carefully studied him until he finally said, “Wait here a sec,” and vanished inside the barracks.
Several minutes later he returned pushing a cart. Loaded in the back were two somewhat rusty but complete Iron Golem arms.
“You can use these, boy.”
Cliff stared at Akizu’s face, stunned. “But isn’t this merchandise?!”
“Ya worked for free last time. No need to worry ‘bout the price,” Akizu replied, sniffing. Things were going so smoothly that Cliff struggled to put his gratitude into words. He settled for a deep bow instead.
“…I will absolutely pay you back once everything is over.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. But ya better connect the arms in the garage. Watch out for them Rabbis,” Akizu advised, waving to Cliff.
Cliff bowed a second time and pushed the cart around to the garage.
He made Gandolf lie down inside, then pulled out his tool set and went about attaching the new arms. The metal arm parts were far too heavy for him. He persisted regardless, working up a sweat as he tackled the task in front of him.
“…You look just like yer pa when yer at work.”
Cliff turned around at the sudden voice. Akizu was standing in the garage doorway, lighting a cigarette.
“Boss, you know my old man?” Cliff asked before he knew it.
“Sure do. He often came here to wangle parts outta me.”
“Huh? …He did what?”
“Ya know, yer pa tried to become a Golem Tamer when he was young too. He gave it up when his wife became pregnant though.”
A tool slipped out of Cliff’s hand. Pregnant with…me?!
“Things got harder on him when his wife ran for it,” Akizu said. “He became a miner to put food in his belly, but he was the kinda man who couldn’t give up on things. Once he figured you could live on yer own, he quit his miner job and went away somewhere. They say he left the archipelago for the mainland.”
“……”
“In reality, what matters to humans is the other things: havin’ a woman, havin’ her leave you, makin’ children, dotin’ on those children, workin’ at a job, gettin’ fired from said job, and so on. It’s more important to secure yer meal for the next day than it is to blindly chase after some dream ya never know will actually succeed… That’s how the majority of us live. It’s the norm. That’s why I believe yer pa was a big idiot.”
Akizu puffed out tobacco smoke and fixed his eyes on its trail. Then he quietly commented as if talking to himself, “But y’know what? I think it’s a good thing you finished that Golem. Golems mean squat to me, but I believe it’s a good thing you didn’t throw it away.”
Akizu tossed the cigarette butt on the ground at his feet. He stomped on the tiny flame with his tattered leather boot, smothering it, and then turned to leave.
Cliff asked his departing back, “…Boss. Why did my old man give me this name? What does it mean?”
Akizu looked over his shoulder and pondered the question with a distant look. He spoke as he retraced his memories. “He said somethin’ about it being some saint’s name. He told me it was the name of a saint from ages ago, who created a Golem and fought with it to protect this archipelago.”
Akizu walked away after he answered. His words made Cliff remember the name he had seen at the Church the day before yesterday.
“Saint Clifford” had been written under the Church’s stained-glass window.
Cliff had received the same name as that saint from his father.
“Dad…” Cliff softly murmured. He thought back to his past with his dad.
It was around the time he was seven that Cliff went to pick up his dad from his mining job. He loved his dad back then. Though his dad had no hope of getting ahead in the world, he was the type of dad who rarely got angry at his son. Living together in the cramped apartment room hadn’t been half bad.
Cliff wanted to see his dad working too. That was part of the reason why he went to Heartbreak Hill, where his dad worked.
But as soon as he arrived, he heard angry yelling. “EVANS! Ya aren’t even capable of carrying this small load of rubble?!” What came into view was the site foreman railing on his dad. “Ya can’t make a Golem, and you’re not even strong! We ain’t got nowhere for the likes of you here!”
The site foreman fumed, and his dad bowed his head. Before long, the bell signaling the end of the workday tolled. The site foreman grumbled a final remark and spat over his shoulder before stalking away.
Cliff dumbly stood there without knowing what to do. Eventually, his dad noticed him. He shuffled over to Cliff with a vague smile.
“Did you come to get me?” Cliff didn’t say anything as his dad patted him on the head. There was a pause before his dad sighed and said, “Let’s go home.”
On the way home, his dad mumbled, “If only I could make a Golem too…”
Cliff mulled over those words. Dad was yelled at because he can’t make Golems. So, I’ll become a Golem Tamer and protect him.
The young Cliff harbored those innocent thoughts. He never mentioned them to his dad—because he thought it was the one thing he should never say.
But his dad disappeared a short time later. “I’ll be home soon,” he said before leaving the house, never to return again.
Cliff had searched nonstop for him. He walked all around the mine tunnels, brought home the scrap materials he picked up inside, and combined them into various shapes.
After spending an uncounted number of days following that pattern, he successfully combined the scrap metal into a tiny doll. It was around that time he realized his dad was never coming back. The doll was guaranteed to be motionless, but it was the first “Prime Body” Cliff ever made.
Six years had passed since then, and his memories had been forgotten with the passage of time. He had lost the person he wanted to protect, and by extension, lost the reason why he started building Golems in the first place.
But Cliff continued to create Golems, despite forgetting the reason he started. Now he finally remembered why he did.
I always wanted to protect somebody. I wanted to gain the strength to protect somebody through building Golems.
With that realization, Cliff shouted in the direction Akizu had left, “Boss, thank you! I mean it!”
Whether he was heard or not, Cliff had to say it. He wanted to be grateful to everyone, from Akizu, to Lovel, to the street children, and even his father.
He despised this island. Chest Island’s garbage dump had been Cliff’s entire world. He had thought the only reason he made Golems was to claw his way out of there.
But he was wrong. And he found somebody to protect.
Cliff’s Golem had moved for that reason. And now the girl who activated Gandolf was the Church’s captive.
I’ve been making Golems until this day in order to protect her. He ran his fingers over the red cube in his pocket. I have to bring this back to its rightful owner.
Cliff picked up his tools and properly faced Gandolf anew. “I’ll definitely fix you… Let’s save Lovel together,” he said to his comrade in arms and threw himself into fixing him.