'It's a good thing I got the All Language Comprehension skill. I was worried about how tough this would be when I only knew English, but now it should be fine,' Rose thought as she cleared her throat and made sure that her laptop was properly set up to translate what she said to those that could read but were deaf, which were thankfully few in number.
"As I promised you all during our telepathic conversations, you will all be given proper shelter, three meals a day, entertainment, and, most importantly, equality. Like I told you though, this does not come free. You must all pledge your loyalty to my brother and swear an oath under a contract created by the system as a show of faith." Rose glanced between all of the gathered espers, and seeing no one disagree, she felt relieved.
She reached under her laptop and pulled out a few sheets of paper. "Daz, can you give these out? They're for the people who can't hear properly. They're labelled. I can't go over everything properly in this briefing induction, so that's just to fill them in on important things I don't cover right now."
"Hmm? Sure," Daz replied as he took the papers from her and began handing them out to the appropriate people.
Rose coughed softly to regain everyone's attention then said, "Again, you will be treated as equals here. You are people. If you ever come under any form of bullying or discrimination, please, let a soldier know. They will tell Daz, who will look into your case and judge it fairly."
A young girl who was perhaps six or seven and whose face was covered in scars raised her hand timidly.
"Yes? Do you have a question, Jody McGlashan?" Rose asked in a kind tone which was somewhat foreign to her.
"Um... C-Can you really help us... w-when we awaken? We... We won't die?" Rose found the young girl's Irish accent a bit odd, but it reminded her a bit of Madison's English accent, which instantly made her even more sympathetic towards the girl than she already was. The fact that the girl was also blonde and had green eyes may have contributed towards Rose's feelings too.
Rose smiled at the girl and tried to be as friendly as she possibly could.
"Yes. We have a handful of healers who can help you keep your bodies from giving out under the pressure of your internal energy growing." Rose then pointed at the large - and still black - main body of Rimmy that was casually sitting a few hundred feet away from them. "That golem over there also has a powerful passive ability to heal wounds, so we will all be heading towards him to heal any non-esper-mutation-related injuries that you may have after you've all signed your system contracts."
"Ah... Um, t-thanks," Jody replied sheepishly then shrunk back. Clearly, she wasn't a fan of being looked at by so many people.
"Are there any more questions? If not, we'll wait for the audibly impaired to finish reading their information sheets then we'll move on to drawing up and signing your contracts. For those of you that cannot access the system, my brother Daz will buy the upgrade for you that allows you to communicate with the system mentally," Rose claimed, surprising many people.
"I-Is that okay? Won't that be expensive?" A boy in his late teens with a massive lump on the left side of his head asked.
Rose shook her head. "I know that a lot of you think that you're worthless thanks to how your families treated you, but, again, for the third time, you are equals here. And besides, Daz is ranked second for how many merit points he's collected overall in the whole world. Letting all of you talk to the system isn't a big deal. If any of you have any other specific requests, feel free to voice them, but, do keep in mind that you will all get 100,000 merit points upon becoming Daz's official citizens."
Seeing that some of the gathered esper children were confused, Rose explained. "I guess you guys never heard Daz's speech during the auction? He has a deal with the manager of the bank in the base behind me. Any new citizens of his get awarded with 100,000 merit points and access to a bank account that has an interest rate of 20%. I know a lot of you aren't aware of how valuable this is due to your lacking educations but don't worry, we also have a school and I've arranged for you all to enrol in it and be taught basic common sense as well as basic English, maths, science and a single subject of your choice."
Seeing that she'd only caused even more confusion, Rose scratched her head and smiled wryly. "A-Anyway, just trust me. You'll be well looked after, I promise."
----------------------------------------
19 of the bloodline-lacking espers couldn't access the system on their own, so it had cost Daz 190,000 merit points to give them the ability to do it mentally.
Buying the system integration system upgrade was an even 5,000 points per person, then, as per usual, it was another 5,000 to apply the upgrade to another host.
After that, Daz issued each one of the 64 espers with a contract sanctioned by the system. They were to never betray Daz or his lands, and, in return, Daz offered them protection, equality, and a promise to help each and every one of them when they inevitably awakened.
He made no promises to fix their mutations or cure their disabilities since Rose had sworn an oath under the system to do that herself for those that wished for it.
After they were finished with that, the youths were brought over to Rimmy by Rose so that the golem could heal their scars and the internal injuries that had formed over years of physical abuse and neglect.
Quite a lot of the children had been beaten or sexually mistreated, while many were on the brink of death due to anorexia or immune-system deficiencies. Some had even practised self-harm, so the giant black golem was a godsend to them due to his Restorative Aura.
Considering that it would be a while before all of the ones that Rimmy could heal would be healthy again, Daz returned to Fort Skip's residential area and immediately grabbed a load of metal and cushions before he gave them to the gnomes in the smithy.
"Items?"
"The dark lord brings gifts?"
"Dark lord smell less evil, but still evil!"
"Dark lord is good dark lord!"
"Dark lord bring materials! We build for dark lord?"
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"What dark lord want? You want, we forge!"
The handful of blacksmithing apprentices in the smithy smiled wryly at how the gnomes were so affectionate with their king.
These apprentices had been forced to pay a sum of cold hard cash to be trained by the gnomes and they had to ask very politely to get anything forged, so it was a bit frustrating for them to see all of the gnomes treat Daz like a god and accept his materials happily while almost begging him to request something from them.
"I missed you, little guys," Daz said as he leaned down and petted the master blacksmith gnome's head. "Do you guys know what a wheelchair is?"
"We know!"
"Rolly thing little dark lord sits on?"
"We can makes that for the dark lord!"
"We makes it for you, but only for chestnuts!"
"Yes! Gives us chestnuts, we make for you quicker than quick!"
"Gnomes is fast forgers with chestnuts in bellys!"
''Little dark lord'? I see Rose has more than one nickname, huh? First Hotwheels, and now little dark lord... Ha-ah... Truly...' Daz sighed mentally as he chuckled faintly.
He waved his hand and purchased a bag of the highest quality chestnuts that he could get for the low cost of ten merit points.
Confirmed. The total merit balance of the host is now: 119,776,990 [-10].
"I'll be back in about 30-minutes. Will you be done by then? I need nine wheelchairs from these materials," Daz said.
The gnomes excitedly ran along Daz's shoulder length and between his legs as they shouted and yelled about their agreement. Clearly, the bag of chestnuts had gotten them all motivated.
Daz left as soon as he got a coherent affirmation from the master blacksmith gnome that the wheelchairs would be done by the time he returned.
After exiting the smithy, Daz returned to the central fort's residential area. Once there, he found a decent spot that was close to the school but also wasn't too far away from Bobby's Trashy Cookhouse.
Nodding as he held his chin, Daz mumbled, "Yup, here'll do. System, I'd like to buy an Average Dormitory Complex, please. One that can house upwards of 100 people and that also includes a large shared kitchen and a separate bathroom for each individual bedroom."
Of course, just that much wouldn't be enough. "Make sure each room can cater to the needs of the disabled as well, please. It shouldn't have any stairs, but an elevator is fine since I don't really want this building to take up too much lateral space. Oh, maybe it can include a robot or something that can take care of disabled people and cook for them and check in on them to make sure they're healthy and haven't, y'know, killed themselves? Let me know if something like that exists."
Confirmed. 17,232,123 such buildings exist.
Daz scratched his head and sighed softly. "Figures... Well, I guess I should narrow down the criteria a bit, huh? System..."
----------------------------------------
20-minutes later, Daz had finally decided on a dormitory that would work perfectly for the bloodline-lacking espers.
Physical Base Upgrade [Average] Dormitory Description
Not quite special enough to have a unique name, so you can put your shitty naming sense to the test and give it one yourself. But yeah, this isn't a bad building. You made a good choice this time, you goofball.
... What? I have a soft spot for those in need.
Upgrades Increases the loyalty of all of its residents by one rank so long as they own a dorm room. Increases the recovery speed of mental illnesses by 25% when inside any of the building's 5 recreational areas. If slept in, there is a 10% chance to remove hurtful memories (optional). Price 1,000,000(250,000) Merit Points. 50,000 Base Points.
It wasn't an expensive building by any stretch of the imagination, but it had everything that Daz wanted if the system was to be trusted. The description was lacking, but so was the description for all other buildings, making this somewhat irrelevant. He knew what it could do and what facilities it had thanks to his inquiries.
"Confirm the purchase, system," Daz said.
Confirmed. The total merit balance of [Fort Skip] is now 12,054,200 [-250,000].
The total base balance of [Fort Skip] is now: 1,043,800 [-50,000].
Thankfully, it would seem that the new influx of citizens, as well as the now far higher average merit points per person, had both helped in contributing to increasing the amount of taxes earned substantially.
Regardless of that, with the herald of a thunderous earthquake, a building easily the same size as the keep sprouted forth from the ground.
Unlike most of the other structures in Fort Skip, the dormitory actually looked quite modern, futuristic, even. It was covered in glass and white-painted concrete and it honestly looked very stylish. Only the main hall of the building had see-through glass, and through it, Daz could see several very handsome and beautiful 'people' moving about and working.
Stroking his jawline, Daz nodded. "These androids look completely different from the ones in the auction... Anyway..." He waved his hand, returning the death energy that was maintaining his first clone, Alpha, to him.
Waving his hand once more, he summoned the clone. "I'll leave explaining this to you, Alpha," he said as he gestured to the curious citizens that were grouping up and gawking at the dormitory.
"I'll do so, Original." Clearly, Alpha didn't mind being interrupted from whatever he was previously doing.
"You having my memory sure is handy," Daz said with a smile then left the clone on his own.
The reaper was back outside of Fort Skip shortly thereafter, however, now he had both Beta and Gamma by his side. Once the three of them had reached Rimmy, Rose, and the esper youths, naturally, almost every face turned to look at them.
Without saying a word, Daz and his two clones took out the wheelchairs that the gnomes had just finished crafting for them.
A few confused children asked Rose timidly why there were three Daz's, so while she answered them to the best of her ability, Daz, Beta and Gamma set about helping all of those that couldn't walk or that had difficulty doing so.
As soon as that was done, Daz nodded towards Rose.
Clapping her hands softly and using the system to send a message to those lacking any vision and those with hearing impairments, she said, "Well, now that everyone's all healed up, those of you who can walk and see perfectly fine, please help those in the wheelchairs and the blind. We'll be bringing you to your new home now where you'll be properly taken care of. By the end of the day, we'll have tools to help all of you the best that we can, like canes for the blind and specialised tools for those with issues eating or going to the bathroom, so please be just a little bit more patient with us, okay?"
Not a single soul had a problem with that, so after being waved goodbye by Rimmy's main body, everyone left.
"Rimmy!" the lumbering giant happily said to the children and young adults he'd just spent the better part of an hour healing.