Wendy considered Karl's advice, then nodded. "It's a bit of a niche usage case, I suppose. For most people, the Gargoyles would be the obvious choice, since they don't need his class skills, and keeping them in the house to work is the desired outcome."

Karl chuckled. "The Gargoyles are also more obedient. The clones are clones, and they've got much more personality."

Wendy shrugged. "You say that like it's a good thing, but I'm not sure that he will see it that way. If the clones start to complain about being overworked as much as he does, we might actually just be causing more headaches for him." Karl sighed. "You're right. I forgot to think of that when I was planning the coolest way to give him a gift. But it's not too late for me to alter this. I'll just make them look like clones of him, while being based on the Gargoyle spell so that they don't object to being treated as wage slaves."

The thought of Immortal Rank Wage Slaves made Wendy laugh.

Surely, there were actually some like that in the world where Karl and the others had gone, but they were so overwhelmingly powerful in her world that the mere thought of it was ridiculous.

With the less complex spell substituted in, and the item designed to simply make the clones mimic the caster, and not actually take on the majority of his skills, Karl was finished much faster than he had intended, and now he just needed to find a painting to mount it behind.

"Now, who do we know that has a large painting ready?" Karl asked.

"We've got painters here in the Tiny World.

I'm sure that one of the ladies has something that's the right size, and their work is incredibly good. We've been selling some of it in Drodh, so that they feel more like they can paint all day and still be contributing.

Not that anyone would accuse you of being broke and unable to support your members, but you know how the older ladies are." Wendy replied.

"I heard that!" Someone shouted from somewhere behind them, followed by the sound of struggling and hatchling giggles.

It must be one of the beast rangers, or perhaps she was on duty with the others helping keep track of the grassland clutch of the new dragons. Either way, she was definitely struggling with the little one, who wasn't saying anything, but who wasn't going wherever she wanted it to go.

Then, it broke loose, and Karl saw a small brown blur rush for the smashing posts near him as the Sand Dragon managed to escape its confinement.

"{Hi, Mister Karl. You should see her paintings. They're really pretty! I snuck into her room last night to see what she was working on, and she was painting a pretty lady. You should buy that and give it as a gift. Anyone would like that.}"

The Druid looked somewhere between annoyed and embarrassed as she caught up.

"That one is a private commission, we can't sell it to Azov. But I do have a few others that are close to the right size if you want to sell one of those instead?" "Sure. The painting will be on display somewhere in his office, so it isn't going to be some national gallery. But I do hope that it's something that he will like." She nodded. "It's actually a landscape scene of the inside of the Tiny World, looking across the lake at the forest with the mountains in the background. I think that as a gift from the Darklight Host to an Immortal, it's perfect."

Karl smiled. "Oh, that does sound absolutely perfect. If it's of the Tiny World, everyone who sees it will wonder where it is, or if it's from someone's imagination.

But he will know the truth, and he will remember us every time that he activates the clones to help him with his work. I've got the backing for the painting all ready now, so we just need to mount it."

The druid nodded. "I can take it to the sculptors, and they can make something out of magical metal to hold it to the painting? That will add a third category of Guild Crafters to the process.

The more the merrier, right?"

Karl smiled. "Alright, take this and your painting to them, and they can mount it into something that is going to last for the ages.

The sculptors should be able to make a sealed enclosure for the painting so that it doesn't degrade with age, even without magic. If it's done that way, then even if it sits forgotten in a storage cupboard for a few decades before he remembers to try it out, it will still be fine and just as lovely as the day that we sent it to him."

"I will take care of it for sure.

Lady Sapphire will finally relax and stop snapping at us every time the topic comes up too, which will be great," she agreed.

"Sapphire is getting stressed out? I might have to bring her here for a visit, let her take a few days off from organizing things. Perhaps give her a book from the Immortal World's Library as a present for all her hard work."

She was a blue dragon, after all.

No matter how stressed out they were, letting a blue dragon sit and read a new book, just for the sake of reading a new book, was enough to put them in a

good mood for days.

And that was why they were such great administrators, they didn't let the stress build up like the Bronze Dragons who were the avatars of the God Of

Laws did.

Cara appeared beside him, and held out a small book.

"Here, give her this. It's not from the Immortal World's Library, but it's something new that she's never seen before, it should be enough to get her started until we have time to find her the perfect title.

Do you know what Fundamental Rule she is working on?" The badger inquired, her tone entirely too politely professional for her not to be up to something.

"I'm pretty sure she's following Lightning. It's her Elemental Affinity, and the Fundamental Rule of Knowledge is well known to be a dead end, apparently. You can't learn enough as a Mortal to use it."

"Perfect. Then I know where to get what she needs. Carry on!"

And then Cara vanished back into town.