,,˙I ǝlᴉssᴉW ɔᴉƃɐW,,

The magic missile floated, like a polished stone sliding across a frozen lake, along the dungeon corridor. When Walter pointed his finger, the orb moved as if bumped.

Tightly fitted masonry unveiled under the pale glow. The original dungeon heart classified as a Mockery. Since it was on the property, the original landholders expunged the core, dismantled the structure, and sealed up the entrance. However, while the land was deserted, an Undead dungeon heart rooted inside.

"Looks like the same bricks used in the perimeter walls," he failed to work a finger in the cracks, "They got them from here. It's odd seeing a dungeon that isn't stripped out."

"It used the abandonment to rejuvenate," Elin said.

Walter grunted in compliance.

,,˙Λ ǝlᴉssᴉW ɔᴉƃɐW,,

'Magic Missile V' created ten projectiles. Walter arranged the orbs single-file, with several feet separating each. Five stretched before the two, and five trailed behind. The spaced dim lights worked in tandem, illuminating twenty feet in both directions. When Walter walked, the line advanced and centered on him.

"It astonishes me you control ten entities at once," Elin said.

"Eleven. I still have the original." He lifted his palm to show her. His fingers plucked it from the air, and he held it like offering a ball.

"It won't explode if I touch it?" she asked.

"If you crush it or break it, then it will. Handle it like you would a piece of bread."

Elin brought the sphere to her face. "The texture is like glass." The tiny spark of mana in the center pulsed. When she released it, the orb floated back to his palm. "How do you split your attention like so?"

Walter's free hand scratched his chin. "Well, I am, technically, but I not, not really. The spell's AI simplifies the work. As far as I can tell, the missile itself has two modes: pathing and targeting. When I generate them, I imagine a path and think of a target type, or they'll shoot forward and select threats, independently. The ones in front of us are playing 'follow the leader' and tracking each other as their pathing program. My numinous body can reassert control, sort of like catching a baseball, but I can't reprogram them. Being a beginner's spell, it's fitting, because it makes you consider--"

When Elin stopped, he turned to meet her deadpan stare. She raised her hands in defeat. "Walter, I don't understand."

"Sorry."

Walter's face tightened, and he looked forward. The frontmost sphere vibrated.

"What is it?" Elin asked and gripped her sword handle.

"Targeting mode, it's trying to strike. There's a single skeleton up ahead."

"So, they're useful for reconnaissance, as well."

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Walter started to say, "I'll let loose the front one--"

All ten glowing orbs raced forward, the front one pulling the rest as if tied together, as the established program dictated. Ten pops echoed in the dungeon, one after the next, combined with the rattle of shattered bones. Elin felt fragments bump across her boots as the dismantled skeleton slid in all directions.

In the unexpected smaller radius of light, Elin cleared her throat. "Walter, it is best not to fumble in the darkness for monstraculture."

"Yeah."

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While they remained vigilant, harvesting continued stress-free. With programmed magic missiles canvassing their immediate area, the undead could not take them unaware. Elin volunteered, assertively, to slay the monsters they discovered.

Logistics restricted them more than combat. Bones, while light, still weighed between fifteen to twenty pounds a set. Each sack they prepared held three skeletons, which they dropped at the entrance. They dragged out each zombie as they defeated it.

"It's amazing how expensive this stuff is."

"Keep in mind," Elin said as he dropped another sack, "People risk their lives to obtain these materials, and some can't be collected another way."

Walter said, "I understand they grind skeletons into bonemeal, for fertilizer, but what about the zombies? Is it a bounty?"

"Are you mentally prepared? Bear in mind, they were never living, initially."

"Please tell me they're not made into jerky."

Elin rolled her eyes. "What? By Gaia, no! What's wrong with you, Walter? Their bones work like a skeleton's. Fat is repurposed into candles, and the boiled meat is--"

"Look, I get they have to be processed, can't afford the waste, but, you know what, I'm not that curious, after all."

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"It would be nice to get some adventurers as bondservants." Walter pointed and recounted a stack of bones, before marking a notation on a folded sheet of paper. "Then, they could clear the dungeon for us."

Their barn filled with goods and Elin's satisfaction warmed her.

"Not possible," she said, "Guilds are centered around a royally-awarded monopoly. Encroaching upon them is ill-advised, and may result in fines or worse. Adventurers, experts on harvesting monstraculture, and selling it, are exclusively managed by their guild. The nobility will get anxious if we raise an army."

"So the Mage's Guild has exclusive rights to magic?"

"Well, no," she said, "Everyone calls them a guild, it is easier to do so, but they are simply a university dedicated to magical knowledge. They possess a charter but no monopoly, and it is the same for the temples. I should point out, the Alchemist's Guild is an organization that, as a whole, is signed to the university charter, and they enjoy a monopoly on potions. Another example is the Order of the Witness, subordinated to the Temple of Gaia. They maintain the Lineage Testimony."

"What about things like milling flour or weaving cloth? Are those restricted to a guild?"

"No, we can make it ourselves. As a product of commerce, we can't sell it until we join the appropriate guild. That restricts us as landholders since that's our goal. We could monopolize and hoard it over our bondservants, through a bylaw."

"This is so complicated I might get a headache." Walter lowered his hands and stared at the barn wall. After a moment, he said, "Wait, doesn't this make Sister Lora our bondservant?"

Elin raised her eyebrows. "Because she sought our protection? Verbally, yes, and Laira, too, but it's hardly enforceable. When, or if, she returns, and you draft a charter, I will request their signatures. She did wish to earn her keep. More likely, they will offer negotiations themselves."

"Is it okay to make a child a servant?" Walter said.

Elin's eyes moved over his concerned expression. "Why would it be a problem? If you believe it wrong, then we will not. Consider this: being serious about protecting them means defending their legal status. The reason, most likely, Priestess Evelyn delivered Laira is for this reason. It is presumed, as a matter of national security, to retrieve an oracle and confine her. As a bondservant, they have to go through us to collect her. Knowing this, what is your decision?"

Walter scratched his head, more dramatically than intended, while he forced his brain to overlook the morality of child labor. "Okay, fine. Let's obtain some bondservants."