I got to read this comment together with Gavel VIA discord, and you should have heard the noises he made at seeing your comment, haha. It was perfect.
Thank you so much for all the kind words and the support! It really means a lot to hear all of that, as a lot of love is being poured into all of this. Not just the project, but the whole world too, so I'm really thrilled to hear all of that!
As for Mandilitrio, there -is- more content to him, and I'll be working on making that more clear, but he has an item that you can give him as a gift that you might be missing (there's a special mushroom you can find in the Grotto to give to him). It's in the main cave where you enter!