#herbaon

[MBM 133]

It’s been over a year since the last comic, hasn’t it.

Welp. Still not motivated enough to start doing this weekly again.

Anyways. There are a lot of characters relevant to the endgame with names starting with “H”, aren’t there?

You’re not quite sure how long you’ve been trapped in Adrian’s palace.

You sauntered in here one day trying to look for treasures, but you now rather regret that. It’s not like you can get back out, with all the sheer drops and the weird platforms.  So that was a horrible idea.

Luckily, you’re not alone.  There’s another person here - a Nasod, with golden hair and pale metal making up his entire body.

Unluckily, even after what seems like weeks, he still isn’t inclined to talk to you.

“What are you doing?” you ask for what must be the fiftieth time.  Herbaon huffs.

“Does it matter?  Go away, annoying human.”

“I’m being annoying because I’m bored,” you tell him.  “I have literally nothing to do.  Need help with anything?”

“If you knew coding, I might.  You do not know how to code, and therefore you are useless.”

“Well, that’s not nice,” you mutter, staring at the back of his head.  “Fine.  Teach me to code, then.”

Herbaon stops whatever he’s doing on those golden screens of his.  That must be a good thing.  You’ve never gotten him to stop before.  He turns to look at you.

“Are you being serious?  You want me, a child of Adrian himself, to teach you to code?”

“Um… yes?” you offer with a shrug.  Herbaon evaluates you for a moment before huffing a sigh.

“Ah… this is…”

Herbaon freezes as Ciel picks up a poopang. It waddles helplessly in his arms, much to Ciel’s amusement. It’s hands struggle uselessly, its tail wagging like a dog.

“I-it’s far more useful than it actually looks-!” Herbaon quickly rushes over towards Ciel. “I mean, I know it’s kinda not threatening at all, but-” “They’re glorious.” Ciel finishes, eye glittering at their tiny figure. “They’re a bit heavy, but… you’ve designed them well.”

“It’s okay,” you coax Herbaon, who is currently hiding behind you like a little kid behind their parent.  “He’s harmless, I swear.”

Herjuno smiles and nods, holding out his hand.  “Don’t be scared.  I’m like you,” he says.  Herbaon blinks.

“Father said you disobeyed…”

“I did,” Herjuno admits, before you can say anything.  “But Father’s not always right.  Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

Herbaon hesitates, but he finally edges out from behind you and reaches for Herjuno’s hand.  Herjuno gently pulls Herbaon out to stand on his own.

“Thanks for bringing him to me,” he says, looking away from Herbaon to smile sweetly at you.  You grin back.

“No problem.  You two deserved to meet,” you say honestly.  “Do you want me to leave you alone, or-”

“No!” Herbaon bursts out.

“No,” Herjuno echoes, and stretches his other hand out for you.  “I want all of us together.”