Story so Far:
* Peanut reveals she can perform Item Boxing.
* Kinu and Kvaris secure a good sum for the Team as well as greatswords for four of the shadow mice.
* The rescued mice are predicted to all recover by tomorrow.
* A TV is installed in the gazebo so the wolian girls can watch the team’s adventures.
* Arek arranges for Ingrid, Philia, and Cecil’s military regalia from Earth transferred over as well as another batch of supplies/
* Iohann is promoted by her church due to certain “good deeds”
* Ingrid and Philia starts to prepare making equipment for the new mice joining the party
----------------------------------------
S03E06
Post-Quest Rigors (Part 3)
----------------------------------------
Ingrid stood up from the head of the dining table, raising a glass in salute.
“Let’s give a toast to our newest teammate, Peanut Mallowcap!”
“Welcome to Autumnhollow, Peanut!” The Whales chorused, giving the little mushroom a toast before dinner began.
Peanut floated up, bowing lightly to everyone “Th-thank you for inviting me to your party, I-I’ll do my best!” The team applauded.
“Peanut, I’m assigning you to help take care of Philia when we’re out adventuring.” Ingrid said as everybody dug in.
Philia patted the little mushroom, who made cute giggling noises. “You really did well, Peanut.”
“Thank you…” Peanut said, snuggling with Philia.
“It’s like I have a familiar again, well partner this time…” Philia said.
“Who was your partner?” Peanut asked, cutely nibbling on her cheesy steak that Chris cut up for her.
“Uhhh.. well…” Philia squirmed uncomfortably… “Taffy he’s like…”
“The Darkness Incarnate.” Ingrid chuckled.
“Huh?” Peanut asked.
“N-no! Nothing like that.” Philia protested.
“He’s literally Mephistopheles.” Cecil said.
“Who?” Iohann asked, she looked around and nobody but Ingrid, Zefir, and Cecil seemed to know the reference.
“Cecil’s comparing my old partner Taffy to Mephistopheles. Taffys a… Nightmare, like a dark unicorn. Mephistopheles is a character from the novel ‘Faust’, where the protagonist summons a dark fiend to grant him wishes. Every wish granted however has a price, a heavy price.”
“But he is loyal,” Cecil said, dipping a tendril down to take another leg of chicken “It’s just that it’s only Philia that he truly cares about, so every time Philia needs something… we all pay for it.”
“I’d be lying if I didn’t miss him.” Ingrid said, taking another huge bite out of her cheesy steak. “He’s charming in a way, and he is friendly to me.”
“Exactly like Mephy-man.” Cecil said.
Philia patted Peanut’s cap “Don’t worry about that, Peanut. You just be you and let’s get better together.”
“Ermm…” Cuddly murmured, gently pawing at Peanut. The cute little mushroom floated down and embraced the adorable Fae Marsh Hare.
Ingrid was understandably squee’ing with delight.
As dinner went on, the Whales exchanged stories of what they did around town, while Peanut related to the adventures of her former team.
“So basically…” Philia said “You want our shadow mice to take advantage of the added protection their Pike-Cleaver greatswords have and swing away, then… just before it fades, they warp behind their golden mice clones and use their shotguns?”
“Exactly.” Ingrid said.
“We’ve acquired a Wyrmscale charm at the dismantling house.” Viel said. “This can add to everyone’s protection, that said, it only protects the unarmored parts of people but still…”
“In the event that something does go through one’s defenses,” Siria continued “it still needs to get through wyrmscale, and wyrmscale is tough.”
Ingrid leaned back. “How’d they get through that guy wearing it then?”
“It was overloaded” Siria said “Nobody here should underestimate the numbers of the enemy of course. But still, this is a good item, and it will work fine with the Rhokalian Dressform. I’ll need a while to have it repaired and recharged.”
“So, are all the mice joining us?” Kvaris asked.
“Definitely.” Iohann replied “One misadventure in the dungeon wouldn’t dampen their spirit. I imagine seeing our little ones” she lovingly patted Charles and Oliver, who stopped eating and leaned into her hand, eyes closed in pleasure “...fighting with guns and it inflamed their will to return to the dungeon with a vengeance
“What are your plans?” Kinu asked.
“Aside from the shadow mice joining the Gold Team which I’ll rename to Santiago, I’ll add four to Montessa and Aviz, increasing the number of our mice on the ground.” Ingrid said “I’ve discussed it with Philia and she’s fine with enchanting the weapons needed.”
“That’s something I’d be doing anyway if I never met Ingrid.” Philia shrugged. “In addition, I got four modern SVD’s…”
“Modern?” Sammy said “...you’re implying this weapon is somehow ancient.”
“It is.” Ingrid said “the first of its kind was built almost a hundred years ago. By ‘modern’, Philia means the weapon is still being built to this very day, but now using modern methods and adding modern conveniences like a telescoping butt stock and a cheek rest I imagine. That’s the part of the gun that presses against the mice’s shoulders. “
The mice, who have been loudly squeaking and having a feeding frenzy, stopped and looked at her with rapt attention.
“I’ll hold a contest of the old and new mice. A contest of accuracy. Two shooters from Montessa, and Two from Aviz will be using these four powerful rifles. Arthur and Charles, you two are disqualified since you two are the leaders and can’t afford to be scoped in.”
The two mice squeaked in understanding.
“So what kind of gun are we talking about?” Siria asked, “You seem to be implying this is a marksman’s weapon.”
“It is.” Philia said. “The idea is that whoever will be using this weapon should be focusing on the most dangerous threat, outside of that, focus on shooting through as many opponents as possible.”
Viel started counting off with her fingers “that’s five shadow mice joining the Gold… I mean the Santiago team. Philia mentioned four Ess-Gee Five-Five-Oh’s and now four Ess-Vee-Dees, so that’s eight new mice joining the One-Eight-Nine, a total of twelve joining us on foot. Montessa and Aviz now have six mice each, and Santiago nine. I’m guessing the rest will join Cecil’s room?”
“Yup.” Ingrid said. ”Unless my math is wrong, that leaves us with five mice. Let them share one portal like Cecil’s. That way Cecil can focus on guarding one side, while the new portal, which I’ll name Lakota…”
“Oooh, is that another tribe of those painted warriors you mentioned?” Sammy said.
“One of the greatest. Chief Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull are revered heroes.” Ingrid said “I’ll tell you about them later.” she wasn’t in the mood to talk about Custer with Peanut around.
Peanut on the other hand was talking about one of her previous adventures.
“A lost city?” Iohann mentioned incredulously, “compared to a dungeon those places are far more dangerous.”
“Lost city?” Ingrid asked, not familiar with the term.
“It’s what happens if a Demon City is abandoned, either due to war, disaster, or the monsters breaking out of containment.” Zefir explained.
“We were supposed to be one of the volunteers to join the expeditionary force.” Peanut said, her voice tinged with sadness. At once Cuddly stood up and patted the little mushroom, causing her lean into the rabbit and pat him back “We traveled here to Teth-Odin as it was along the way and we did need to earn money in order to upgrade our equipment.”
“In case you’re thinking about it, Ingrid, No.” Philia forestalled her “We’re not in any obligation to carry that duty over. Only at our discretion and when we’re all better prepared, and seeing as we didn’t clear the dungeon in one day, we’re not prepared. Hyperbole aside, it’s nothing we need to worry about.”
“How do you even tackle such a problem like that?” Ingrid pressed “I imagine there’s monsters pouring out into the countryside and all…”
“You have expeditionary forces patrol the affected area and have free rein to dispose of any and all monsters encountered.” Sammy replied “It’s a much more dangerous job since unlike a proper dungeon we don’t have a place to retreat to outside of fortified encampments. Some have evolved into Demon City-like towns and are thriving but it’s not permanent, after all, either one of two things happen; either the monster population is eliminated and people start rebuilding the Demon City atop the dungeon, or everyone abandons the area and let the monsters roam and claim whatever territories they want. Fortunately there’s only a few lost cities to worry about. If there’s any major thoroughfares they’ve been diverted…”
___
After dinner, the party gathered at the spacious Control Room where Zefir and Gwen did their jobs as Mission Control. The mice were in a flurry of activity as usual, happily squeaking away as they excitedly tore open their guns for regular inspection, cleaning, and maintenance. Half of them were busily reloading all their magazines.
Ingrid looked at the mice dreamily as she got to work cleaning their armor. She was happy to see that there wasn’t a single dent or scratch in their armor or helmets. Kinu, Kvaris, and Sammy were working on the mice’s glaives, resharpening them. Due to how Cecil’s room works, all the blood, grime and dirt left these weapons the second they were recalled back into his arcane dimension. Even better, due to the golden mice’s clones being constructs of energy, any damage they or their equipment sustained didn’t translate back to the real mice themselves. This also meant that there was barely anything for Ingrid to clean up off of their armor since all the mice at the end of the dungeon run had taken turns jumping into Cecil’s room to clean themselves.
Most of what Ingrid was doing was polishing their armor with some Earth-based, Philia-stolen metal polishing cream. The garm girls and Sammy have had theirs already done at Chapelles.
Zefir, Mink, Roofe, and Iohann were working on the leather pistol belts, tactical harnesses, and traveller’s valises the new mice would be using, using one of the existing ones as reference, Zefir, Mink and Roofe all had tools of their own for the leather trade while Iohann borrowed from Philia.
Philia herself was laying on a couch, snoozing as she had finished summoning Arek’s delivery into the room itself, as there was plenty of space now in this magically enhanced room. She was cuddling Peanut and Cuddly in her arms as she slept, the three of them with happy, peaceful looks on their faces.
Among the things that Philia had summoned in was one big crate of ball-bearings, four Fosstech Origin shotguns in their original cases, and six more for spare parts.
There were also thirty surplus well-refurbished H&K G36 pellet guns included. There was an orange ring around the barrel and a gold stripe around the buttstock and receiver that indicated that these were (retrofitted) pellet guns and not actual firearms.
In view of the influx of new mice joining and the possibility of Cecil opening up a new portal, Arek also included ten FN F2000-S bullpup rifles. Finally, some additional first-aid kits, survival kits, hand-held radios and other supplies that the Whales carried in their travelers’ valises for the new mice, and the regalia for Ingrid, Philia, and Cecil.
Meanwhile, Cecil had just finished tying the Wyrmscale Charm to the Rhokalian Dressform. Kinu tested it out by lightly punching Sammy’s arm (on her own insistence), Sammy didn’t have her pauldrons on, and the charm only worked on unarmored parts of the body, factoring in the Rhokalian Dressform’s carbon fiber-like vest covering the torso. She was pleased to knock her knuckles on a solid barrier.
“How’s the drain?” Kinu asked
“Barely could put any mana into it.” Sammy shrugged.
Satisfied, the girls gave a thumbs to Cecil.
___
The Next Day at the Hospital…
Ingrid, Cecil, Iohann, and the mice smiled as they entered Room 426 and found the mice all walking about, squeaking happily at each other. They turned their heads as the door happened and happily waddled over, hugging everyone.
“Now, doctor’s orders.” Iohann told the mice. “You all still need to take your medicine, and at least one more day of rest…”
The rescued mice slumped their shoulders and squeaked sadly but the felmoon cleric smiled.
“But, you all can come with us now.” she beamed. The mice squeaked happily, jumping up and down in delight.
Siria told her that mice could freely join swarms and leave, so there was no harm in taking the mice in and letting those who wish to leave go. So there was no harm in letting all the mice into the swarm for the moment.
“Please touch paws with Arthur and join our swarm.” Ingrid said, gesturing at her number one mouse. “We’ll show you how our mice fight and from there you can make a decision. Sounds good?”
The mice chirped excitedly, Ingrid held out a hand.
“But first! Let’s have breakfast!” Ingrid and Cecil then took out of his arcane dimension the food they had bought from the stalls just outside of the hospital. She smiled as she saw the mice eat with unabashed gusto, showing that if they have fully recovered yet, they were definitely very close.
__
Their first stop before returning to Autumnhollow was Bvalinn’s. He had just finished the order for eighteen lamellar armor sets for the mice, alongside their little bucklers, helmets, and gambesons. Ingrid made another order for brooches, giving out Lester’s brooch as reference, and drew the letters (runes has everyone else called them) she wanted him to put on them.
Saber and Calico helped the new mice put on the new armor, showing them how it’s done.
"That’s a right load o’ mice! Ye tryin’ tae mak an army, lass? An' ah’ve ne’er seen them wearin’ armor afore. Ah mean, I’ve heard o’ mice wi’ weapons, but ah never thought they could dae this daft thing too!" Bvalinn chuckled, enjoying the cute sight of the mice trying on armor.
“An army of cute mice is a sight to behold, Bvalinn.” Ingrid said “They’ve been excellent warriors.”
The dwarf mhmm’d in assent, examining the brooch in his hands. Looking over at Ingrid he said “Since ye're a'ready here, ah'll gie these tae yer wee mousies fur free. Call it an investment so ye'll come only tae me fur thae wee trinkets ye've commissioned me tae mak by the thoosands."
He laid down like a card dealer several badge-like objects.
“What are these?” Ingrid asked.
"It mak’s a nifty bubble shield that guards the wee mouse’s heids, while allowin’ them to sense freely 'roun’ without a hitch." The dwarf said, he then gestured at the helmets he just made and all of them bore the same badge on the forehead.
“Thank you Bvalinn!” Ingrid said gratefully.
“Aye, jist mind it’s only as tough as their helms!” Bvalinn told her. "Nou gies the helmets ower, lassie. It needs a masterfu hand tae pit them badges on the helmets."
“You heard him boys!” Ingrid said “hand the helmets over.”
As they did so, the new mice took up their new glaives, again Arthur stepped up and after a few moments of squeaking and making his mana flow around him. The glaives vanished in a puff of fairy dust, only to reappear in their hands. Arthur looked over to Ingrid who nodded approvingly, pleased that they were for now, truly part of the swarm.
___
An hour later they were out of the shop and back on the streets, Ingrid called up Philia.
“I got our mice, I got the stuff from Bvalinn.” Ingrid said “The bullets are now in Cecil’s room and Bvalinn’s working on the next batch. I told him to hold off on the pellets for now and just focus on bullets.”
As the two spoked the mice kept rapping each other’s heads, giggling as they did so. Or tried to, as the invisible fishbowl-like force field prevented their knuckles from getting close. Meanwhile, most of the newcomer mice were awkwardly adjusting their scarves and happily touching their newfound badges.
“There’s gunpowder and propellant from Knarru’s shop.” Philia said. “It’s also scheduled for a pickup today.”
“Alright, Neith, can you give me direction? By the way, Bvalinn gave our mice a bit of an armor boost, they now got a protective bubble forcefield around their heads as added protection.” Ingrid said. “How’s the guns going?”
“Turns out I already have some retrofitted Swiss SG 550’s, all mythriled up and calibered for full-power 7.62 milimeter rounds. Six of them, but I’ll just give four to the mice joining the 189. The Dragunov SVDs will be up for grabs later, pending marksmanship testing.”
“When did you have those Swiss SSG’s retrofitted?”
“Back in New Gorpisal when you were moping about. What can I say? Dain works fast. As soon as we got the dirty money from the stuff in Irons, I commissioned him with a rush order for for the more intricate parts for the SG550.”
“Why the SG 500 though?” Ingrid asked, “There’s advantages with everyone using the same gun.”
“That’s because these Swiss assault rifles have already been retrofitted with treantwood, this was way back in my Elion-Nosco days.” Philia replied. “Even with this big windfall, we still need to work towards getting battle effective fast. Besides, a good gun like that will take a while to mess up on us, and long before that, the mice will be doing regular maintenance. Also having the mice do work on different kinds of guns is good enrichment for them, they love learning new things…”
“I agree,” Ingrid said “SSG’s and SVD’s it is then.”
___
Ingrid entered the greenhouse-like shop that was Knarru’s Apothecary. The stork-like bird-folk proprietor inflated his throat crop and cooed as he saw the Nemesis-Stalker dressed as a drow assassin, as well as the sight of so many mice wearing armor and bearing glaives.
“You must be Ingrid.” The stork said. Ingrid nodded.
“I’m here to pick up the black powders.” she said.
The stork warbled genteely as he regarded Cecil. Turns out the slime was telling the truth. He turned to his other bird-folk assistant and spoke a few words to him, and quickly the assistant jogged over to the storage, calling for assistance from his colleagues to help haul in the several sacks of powder that the Whales would be using for their guns and explosives. While they didn’t know exactly what it was used for, everyone in Knarru’s shop knew what a volatile, explosive chemical was and made sure it was stored and handled carefully.
As their order was being brought in, Ingrid was paying the balance. The stork leaned forward.
“We don’t usually advertise these.” Knarru, the stork cooed. “But seeing as you’re definitely not the average human or Nemesis-Stalker and you have so many mice loyal to you, it’s only fitting that I let you in on a secret.”
“What is it?” Ingrid asked.
“Your dryad friend has such an energetic Duskberry familiar, and there mentions of securing fertilizer for a farm. Now, while the dungeon is in a state of corruption, if you can spare any monsters from the dismantling house, you can place an order to deliver some of them to me, I’ll have them converted.”
Ingrid smiled “We do need such fertilizer. How long will it take?”
“Takes about three days to convert them, depending on how much you can spare.”
“Not too bad…” Ingrid said. “I’ll arrange for some to be sent over today…”
___
Chapelles Arms Emporium:
The chimes on the door tinkled gently as Ingrid, Cecil and the mice entered the expensive-looking shop. As Kvaris told her, it definitely looked more like a boutique for expensive clothing than a weapons shop, but the items on display were not fine dresses but armor fit for a king.
A well-dressed one-eyed crocodile smiled and nodded as the small party entered, he made a sound that reminded Ingrid of a bull alligator’s bellow.
“Ingrid Lily I presume...” The crocodile said. “I’m Chapelle, the proprietor of this place.”
Ingrid nodded in greeting “That’s right, we’re here for a proper measuring of our mice for the pike-cleavers. I’d like four of them.”
The crocodile blinked and tilted his head to one side “Yes of course, they’re almost completed, I just need to know the sword’s actual length by basing it off of the mice. Kvaris mentioned four pike-cleavers, which of them will be using these blades?”
The new mice looked at each other, while Ingrid’s mice looked unmoved, as if not expecting it to be given to them nor caring if that was the case.
Ingrid turned to the shadow mice “Usher, Mason, Baker, Archer, these are for you. Come over here please.”
The four mice looked elated and waddled forward cutely. Chapelle’s pretty nereid secretary emerged from the office, taking out a tape measure and began measuring the mice and writing down their sizes, in particular, their height and arm length.
The crocodile looked over to the four shadow mice chosen by Ingrid.
“The swords you four will bear will be huge,” he began “but… it will be very light. As far as others are concerned, it remains very heavy, and therefore, you end up striking very hard.”
With the measurements taken, Chapelle began writing quickly on a pad, working out the recommended length of the sword. Given its weight-negating enchantment and its ability to get out of the way by fusing it with a dagger via a Wand of Duality, he settled for a blade almost twice the mice’s height and an appropriately long enough handle.
As the rest of the mice curiously looked around the shop in interest, Ingrid, Usher, Mason, Baker, and Archer watched as Chapelle resumed work. The swords' blades had already been completed and he now just had to reduce the length on the handle side. Using a mythril hacksaw and file, he cut off the excess length then tapered the end to make a tang, then smoothed out the section near the new tang to make a ricasso.
The handles were next, which were being taken care of by his assistants while he worked on the blade. The crossguards, enchanted pommel and rainguard and others have all been completed on account of the order being made by a family friend. Overall, the process took only half an hour. A few minutes after and the four mice were at an inner courtyard trying out the blades, with Ingrid standing close by.
The results were satisfactory, the blade was very heavy and the mice were able to slice through a log in one chop and swinging it around had no strain on their bodies. The test of the Globe of Protection spell also proved satisfactory, Arthur came forward and tapped the protective sphere around Mason only to find his weapon repelled.
Another few minutes later they were testing the effects of the Daggers of Misdirection and found them confusing enough to reliably throw off any would-be attacker. Satisfied, the mice sheathed their daggers to their belts.
Back at the counter, Ingrid began paying the remaining balance, thanking Chapelle for excellent work.
As they exited the shop, some of her mice squeaked to her curiously.
“They’ll use guns too, don’t worry.”
___
Arcane Pasture, Autumnhollow:
The Whales had their firing range built five miles away from the village, and shortly after their arrival to Teth-Odin. Ingrid had chosen a stretch of gravel and soil to serve as their ground for testing out weapons. Philia already had Hesco Barriers summoned from Earth during her Elion-Nosco days, and all it took was a trip to the far side of the lakeshore for her and Viel to gather up the sand and gravel needed to fill them.
Philia’s summoned excavator dug up the material while Viel stored them in her item box. At the designated area for the camp, Philia used the bucket loader to dump the sand, dirt and gravel into the Hesco barriers while Ingrid helped with tamping down the material. Selphie took this opportunity to sow hardy, deep-rooting plants to further stabilize the newly constructed barriers.
The construction vehicles were stored in a remote location in the Elion-Nosco badlands, a summoning amulet assigned to each vehicle and kept in her traveler’s valise made bringing in these vehicles easy whenever she needed them. This summoning amulet could be charged with mana on a more convenient time and thus require Philia herself to use only a small amount of her own on the actual occasion for her to use it. Once Philia summoned these construction vehicles to the Arcane Pasture she made an adjustment to the amulet, designating the Arcane Pasture as their new storage place.
These vehicles joined the ATV “Sleipnir” at the newly-constructed Garage. Unlike the village of Ram Ranch, the Garage was built with modern materials from Earth, pilfered from a construction site. It was made of Steel beams and corrugated steel roofs. Ingrid had a great workout hoisting the heavy beams while Philia and Zefir quickly got to work riveting and welding things together. The sight inspired the rest of the whales to help with the construction and before long an out-of-place warehouse with a smooth concrete floor now stood in the gravelly patch of ground, the gasoline drums now safely esconced in a better-protected and better-insulated shelf away from the garage as well.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
For purposes of safety, the villagers had been instructed to avoid getting near the firing range. The first was to avoid getting hit with any stray shots or random explosions, and the second was that in the event they were ever kidnapped they would know nothing about what the Whales were truly capable of and thus their captors should theoretically have no reason to interrogate them in the first place.
It was still a good three hours before lunch, so Ingrid took the mice to the firing range. There was a pause as they stopped by the Autumhollow house, the newcomers lined up for hugs. There was little hint of sadness in their eyes, like a tear of joy as these mice realized that they had a new home. Ingrid hugged them snugly, patting their tubby backs letting them know they’ll be alright in Autumnhollow, and with the Whales.
“Welcome home, little ones.” she said, after cuddling with the last mouse. She then introduced the newcomers to everyone present. Philia, Viel, Zefir, Siria, Selphie, Peanut, and Cuddly were busy with the enchanting of the new guns and they all warmly received the new mice with big hugs, affectionate headpats and loving cheekrubs.
“Sorry for interrupting, I just need to hug a lot of cute things today.” Ingrid said as she snuggled Peanut and Cuddly together.
“Oh these? These are going to our sharpest shooters!” Philia said, playfully rubbing behind the ears of one of the foxy mice that sat on her lap. The mouse was curiously looking at the Dragunov rifle which had been taken apart. Selphie, like Viel, was reduced to a giggling fit as the potato mice nuzzled their ears and faces. Zefir, on the other hand was busily tickling the mouse on his lap, causing it to squeak in glee and dart off, only for another mouse to take his place. Siria and Cuddly had identical pleased expressions on their faces as they cuddled the fluffy mice’s soft bodies.
Ingrid let them get the fluffs for twenty minutes, having been distracted by her own mice who wanted their share of affection from her.
___
At the firing range, the newcomers; Umbra, Foxtrot, and Potato squeaked in amazement as they saw Ingrid’s mice demonstrate how the guns work. Some of them had seen them during the battle in the dungeon, but in the chaos of the moment and their own horrible condition at the time, with many delirious from starvation and illness, only now were they getting a proper look at it.
After giving an explanation how guns work, Ingrid then made her pitch.
“And so… this is how most of you will be fighting…” Ingrid said “Ideally, you will be fighting at range, using these guns.”
She paused for a moment and let that sink in. The newcomers were definitely looking excited and chittering amongst each other. The four umbra mice were looking a little left out now that they began thinking of how they were given swords. Ingrid smiled at them.
“You four will be using guns too.” She told them “I plan for you four to only use your swords while your globe of protection is on, but once it runs out I want you to pull back and shoot.”
Mollified the mice squeaked in joy and relief.
“That said, I’ll be having you four use different guns. Gold team! Clones please.”
The gold mice squeaked and pumped their fists, their bodies shimmered with energy and generated their clones, who approached Ingrid and saluted. She returned the gesture.
“Umbra, meet the Golden Clones. They can’t spawn with the guns the real ones are using. However, they can still bring up their glaives courtesy of the ring shared by Ralph.”
Ralph waved at Umbra, showing the ring around his finger. The golden clones summoned their glaives.
“These little ones fight the traditional way.” Ingrid said, waving her hand to their glaives. “They stand between the enemy and our team, your swarm. I know you have the ability to teleport to your swarm-mates but I don’t know if it only applies to umbra mice only. Can you give it a try?”
Mason raised a paw and chirped. He took a step forward, halfway through his step he was now beside one the golden clones.
“Yes, yes yes!” Ingrid said, happily ruffling Mason’s head “was that tiring?”
Mason shook his head.
“Alright then…” Ingrid straightened up. She quickly jogged over to a table where the new Origin-12 shoguns were. Taking one of them, she waved over to Arthur to start teaching the mice how to use guns. The lead mouse saluted in response and let out a loud squeak, and the newcomers huddled around him.
Sammy arrived a few minutes later on Ingrid’s request, needing to teach the four how to properly use a greatsword. Neith’s Oberon drone also arrived, as Ingrid needed someone who could accurately gauge the mice’s accuracy. Gwen arrived since Philia had taught her well on how to use firearms and she had successfully taught Saber, Calico, and Gold in their use. That cat girl maid brought two guns the new mice will be using, one was a Swiss SiG 550 battle rifle, and the other was a modernized SVD Dragunov. Both had yet to receive any enchantments or retrofits but it was a good time to show the mice what they would be using, how to use them, and how to give it their proper maintenance.
For Mason, Usher, Baker, and Archer, Ingrid did the same with the shotgun and an H&K MP-5 pellet gun. The reason being is that she wanted Philia to install a second barrel for pellets on said shotguns, and thus it was necessary these mice also learn precision shooting just like everyone else. Sammy on the other hand taught the mice how to properly use a very long sword. She would then later call in all the newcomer mice and teach them how to use their glaives as well.
___
"Alright, that's a wrap for now!" Ingrid called out "Lunch time! Let's get back to the house!"
Her words echoed across the makeshift training ground, bringing an end to the pattern of gunfire, clashing swords and polearms, and energetic squeaks of the mice. Rather than a frantic scramble to leave the firing range and a stampede into the house it was a flurry of quick paws efficiently opening and checking breeches, stowing away ammo, and clicking of safety catches. Even the newcomers understood the value of firearm safety. The way they saw so much destruction from a single pull of a finger told them that double-checking was never enough.
The mice all tightened the slings around their shoulders and squeaked their affirmatives, with that, Ingrid, Sammy, Gwen, and the mice quickly jogged from the firing range, past the town of Ram Ranch, and back into the safety of Autumnhollow.
A grand lunch was awaiting everyone back at home to celebrate the arrival of the new mice. As the others were busy it was Zefir and Selphie's turn to work on the stove.
Zefir was no stranger to cooking for many; football night; old school LAN parties, chili cook-offs, potluck parties, and superbowl Sunday barbecue bashes were an almost-weekly affair back on Earth. The world of Terragalia had a preference for eating with their hands, occasionally using a knife or a fork. The Teth Valley that was half of the city's name preferred their grain quick-baked into a flatbread known as Valaam, it was simple to make with the only main difference being a scattering of chive and parsely-like green just before the batter solidifies on the pan. This gave him the idea to make Birria Tacos. In between enchanting work, he and Selphie, who had the lightest load, went back and forth between the gazebo outside and the kitchen.
But tacos alone wouldn't suffice for a welcoming feast, their new gunslingers needed more. The fresh fish caught from the lake was like salmon. These he breaded into fish fingers while Selphie worked on the dip according to his instructions, a creamy blend of homemade mayonaise with a touch of the local hot peppers.
Tacos, fish fingers, he needed something now on the plant side of the spectrum. Again, he made batter, but thinner this time, so that the wheat wouldn't overpower the zesty vegetables. As he had finished wrapping the last spring roll he looked blankly at the huge onion in front of him. Then his eyes wandered to the breaded fish fingers and a lightbulb went off in his head. Fried onion bloom.
As the mice arrived, the newcomers quickly fell in line as they watched the veteran mice clamber up the kitchen counter to quickly but throughly wash their paws. A third table had been added to the dining room which once again without anyone's intervention had expanded to accommodate them all. A third table had been laid out the night before, bought straight from a furniture store and while Gwen, Peanut, and Siria were on their way home from shopping yesterday.
As usual the mice were in a gleeful feeding frenzy, their excited squeaks filled the air as they devoured the tacos, fish fingers, spring rolls, and the crunchy golden onion bloom. Ingrid couldn’t help but smile at the sight of their tiny paws grabbing bits of food, just watching the once-sick mice now so lively healed her soul and soothed her heart. As was the sight of Peanut, the adorable little mushroom had grown on Philia, who was fussing over her like a big sister. Cuddly sat beside Peanut, patting her as well. He had been a calming effect on Peanut considering her grieving state.
"How was the practice, Ingrid?" Kvaris said as she and her sister unknowingly ate in sync.
Ingrid finshed off the last of the birria taco in her hand before answering "The Potato mice are excellent shots, Kvaris. I'll assign Pat and Tucker to Montessa, while Alvin and Troy go to Aviz. They'll have the SVD Dragunovs. They're the best candidates for those long-range rifles."
The four mice mentioned squeaked happily, waggling their ears cutely.
"Now the shadow mice..." Sammy continued for her "They've had no trouble swinging around the long blades of their greatswords," Sammy said, "Their fencing still needs works but make no mistake, with the huge weight of those swords and their ability to use it easily thanks to the weight charm, fencing against them is going to very difficult, most people will just end up having their weapons knocked away or straight up sliced off."
"We'll have their fencing skills squared away, don't worry." Ingrid said "That said, we're not doing any strenuous exercises yet until they're all fully recovered..." she narrowed her eyes and looked accusingly at the newcomer mice "...so make sure you little ones take your medicine."
The mice looked at each other with wide eyes and nodded rapidly, their paws held up and squeaked an affirmative.
"It's for your own good guys." Ingrid said "I know the taste isn't good, but being sick just sucks, you know how it feels like."
The mice nodded their heads vigorously. Being reminded of the pain and weakness they had felt served as a strong deterrent for skipping their medicine.
"Meanwhile, how's it going at the dismantling house, Kvaris?" Ingrid asked.
Kvaris took a sip of coffee before speaking "Very good, more buyers showed up to purchase the carcasses. They bought their portions at our asking price without haggling."
Ingrid nodded in satisfaction. More gold in case the party had to take more days off.
"I also set aside some carcasses for Knarru as you requested." Kvaris continued "We should now be able to speed up the growth of our farm crops with Red Moon fertilizer."
There was a collective sigh of relief from everyone as their farm could finally get a much needed boost.
"On our part." Philia began, "We've outsourced the production of the new mice's Traveler's Valises to a local leathersmith on Kinu's recommendation."
"Hector Jones." Kinu added, Ingrid quickly stifled a laugh. She immediately knew that Hector was an orc. Only an orc would have such a mundane, Earthly name in this fantasy world. "He was an acquiantance of father during his wartime days, started out as a blacksmith's apprentice and then worked on horses. He made it big making saddles. He decided to settle in Teth-Odin so he could outfit every travelling orc tribe that soujourned here."
"He's got a good reputation." Kvaris agreed, "Father claims his saddle from Hector has been around since the Battle of the Thomoon Pass a hundred and sixty years ago."
"Right..." Philia said, continuing her report. "Hector said he can have those eighteen little valises completed within a week considering his busy schedule. On account of Kinu's recommendation, he shortened it to three days."
"Afterwards," Siria spoke up, "I will take the valises to a local Atelier. I know one here owned by a talented ogre..."
"A real thorough bunch." Kinu giggled under her breath. She wasn't wrong. Ogres due to their huge size and living in a society where everyone was smaller than them had given them all an eye for the finest details. There was nothing more frightening than having an ogre storm a castle not with a sword or club as an invader, but as an accountant or Minister of Gold with a sheaf of documents, angrily demanding what these anomalous figures in the books meant.
The garm sisters had a smile as they remembered their father quaking as he opened his books to his ogre accountant, who frowned and pointed out the many losses that incurred without him even knowing about it. And those smiles turned to frowns as they remembered their ogre tutor circling so many red marks on their school papers. They were even taught to fight by ogres, who imparted to them the value of using as little energy as possible. These lessons served the sisters well as they grew into the warriors they were now.
"...the initial storage-enhancing enchantment will be done there," Siria continued "It's quite a laborious process after all. After that, I'll bring it back and Philia can add more instances of the spell. I'd say five days."
Ingrid leaned back on the chair. Five days doing nothing...
But she knew that wasn’t true. All the mice, both the veterans and newcomers needed to sharpen their skills. What they witnessed in the dungeons below, the fact that Peanut was a member of a group of experienced adventurers that got massacred was a sobering reminder of the harsh reality of the dangers beneath this town.
What did she call the new group that would be in Cecil's dimension? Lakota? The same Lakota that defeated General Custer?
She would be damned if her group ever got into a situation like Custer and his men. Philia, Cecil, and Zefir looked at her and she could tell they were thinking of it too. The Battle of Little Bighorn.
Ingrid shook her head and resumed her lunch.
"After lunch, Peanut, I'd like you to join me and the mice. I'll be teaching the newcomers the things we carry in our EDC, that's Everyday Carry. You'll be learning what's inside and how to use the things stored in our survival kits, first-aid kits, radios, flashlights, the works."
"That works." Philia said. Peanut was no slouch in the field of magic, but it was important that the little mushroom was brought up to speed with the team's modern survival gear.
"Okay!" Peanut squeaked excitedly.
"Mink? Roofe? How's the business at the canned goods store?" Ingrid asked. The two adorable dogs looked up at her and politely wiped their snouts.
"Business is picking up much faster." Mink replied, "we've heard some rumors from our customers that some potentially troublesome folks were eyeing our store hoping to cause trouble and extort us, but when you came over...well, let's just say seeing us as friends to a really smart and talking Nemesis-Stalker caused them to reconsider their actions."
Ingrid couldn't help but laugh at that. "I'm not the one they should be worried about." she glanced at Philia, who raised her mug and an eyebrow. "I punch people," Ingrid chuckled. "Philia puts people in a wood chipper alive."
Sammy and the garm girls chuckled darkly, noting the door to the basement was just close. A basement where more than a few guileheads met an ignoble end at the hands of the former villainess.
"Not that we're running out but we need to consider selling other products as well," Roofe continued for Mink "considering that Philia at the moment is currently saddled with a lot of things to enchant, we need to consider the possibility of running of canned goods if the rate of sales pick up even faster. Now we've been talking to Cataline regarding this issue but she says she's still low on material to make any potions that are profitable. Could we have a look at the monster carcasses in the dismantling house? Maybe she can derive some ingredients from them."
Ingrid nodded thoughtfully "Kinu?"
"Sure." The garm replied. "It's not realistic to be able to sell everything anyway, we will have to turn some in for the kingdom's government so yeah.. let's have Cataline have a look."
"Iohann?" Ingrid asked.
The Felmoon priest nodded solemnly. "The fallen adventurers are ready for their final rites. Funeral pyres will be lit tonight."
"So about the thing I asked...?"
Sammy shrugged "The Church of Saint Ygris lets mourners enact their own customs within reason."
"Ingrid was asking about the 21-gun salute. It's a custom in her world in honor of those who made the ultimate sacrifice." Iohann explained "I've asked the Curate and he allows it, you should see orcish funerals. There's a lot of loud war cries and clashing of drums to welcome the valiant fallen into the Golden Abode."
"Thanks." Ingrid said "I just wanted to show my respect for their bravery."
Iohann nodded her head in understanding. Philia gently patted Peanut's back, the little mushroom had been quieter since the mention of the funeral.
In an attempt to dispel Peanut's sadness, Ingrid quickly went back to discussing what the team would do with their five days of off-time. "Alright so, our mages will be enchanting, I got mice that need training... Kinu and Kvaris will be handling the consignment of the spoils we got... Sammy, Gwen and Cecil and I are handling the mice's training..."
"Actually about that..." Philia added "Please hand over the M-14's I'll be upgrading them to EBR's; Enhanced Battle Rifles."
The mice squeaked in excitement at the mention of their new toys.
"I'm free after tomorrow." Iohann said, sipping her tea "I can help spar with the wolian girls and work on my staff fighting."
"Ermmm..." Cuddly murmured, happily munching on a spring roll.
___
Cecil joined Ingrid, Sammy, Neith, and the mice at the firing range. With the mice that will join the 189 decided, that left Rykard, Otto, Trent, Orlando, and Owen to enter his dimension.
"Anytime you're ready, Cecil!" Ingrid said "But don't push it! Just see if you can make one portal, that's all we need for now!"
Cecil, feeling confident after two slimes in the dungeon had gifted him with themselves, took a deep breath. The mana around his baby blue translucent body swirled and grew in luminescence, just like the first time Ingrid had opened up this dimension and reunited with her beloved slime familiar, a bright blue dot appeared in thin air. It then grew to the size of an apple before flattening out and expanding until it took a rectangular shape and grew until it was the size of a 50-inch flat screen TV. Colorful motes of fairydust gently drifted down an inch or two before fading.
Cecil had his back to Ingrid from his usual Dialog Window portal, and he had opened up this new portal from behind her. As a result it created an "infinity mirror" effect. Cecil then moved this portal away and called for the mice that would form the Lakota Team.
"Rykard! Orlando! Otto! Trent! Owen!" He called out. The Foxy mice looked up and waddled over.
"Come in!" he said. Tentatively the mice hopped into his dimension, into the Roof Deck that served as his dimension's "battle stations."
"Rykard, you're piloting this portal" Cecil said "You five will form Team Lakota now."
The mice squeaked their acknowledgements.
Just like his "seating arrangement", Cecil had set up the Lakota team's room-side portal facing a coffee table. That way Rykard, the pilot, would sit in the middle, his back to the coffee table. The other two would sit on either side of him, while the last pair would be perched atop the table, which was the highest point they could easily reach.
A PKP Pecheneg, the same light machine gun that Cecil, Zefir, and Philia used during the Battle of New Gorpisal sat in front of Rykard's place.
"Sit here, Rykard." Cecil said, patting a squishy tendril behind the machine gun "This will be your gun while you pilot this portal."
Cecil wagged a tendril at Rykard however. "When we go into battle, I need you to hold fire until things get really serious. This is a powerful gun you see, and we need to save the bullets for when we really need them."
The mice nodded. The slime then crawled over to a crate where a set of guns were propped up against. It was the H&K G36 pellet gun.
"In most situations. We will be using these pellet guns." Cecil explained. "Don't underestimate them. First of all, this carries 4000 rounds. Originally 2000, but because of Qhethar's Blessing all forms of storage that enter my dimension get doubled in size..."
Cecil continued to orient the mice regarding their weapons.
Rykard being the pilot would focus only on the Pecheneg, again, only when heavy firepower was needed. Otto and Trent, if they needed additional firepower would use M4 Specters; an Italian submachine gun with a built-in foregrip. When higher caliber bullets were needed, they would use the Belgian FN F2000's, a bullpup assault rifle known for its excellent handling even on full-auto.
The two potato mice Orlando and Owen were given the same as Otto and Trent, but Cecil gave them a special mention.
"You two given your excellent aim will be snipers." The slime held up the big H&K G3SG/1 marksman rfile. "This will be your primary weapon. In battle, I want you to seek the most dangerous target and take it out first. The rest of you will provide cover fire. Understood?"
The two mice nodded eagerly, their eyes glinting with excitement.
"Now fly!" Cecil said, "let's move this portal!" he added happily.
The mice squeaked and squealed in a combination of fright and excitement as Rykard, the designated pilot, willed the portal to move and slowly climbed into the sky. Ingrid and Sammy watched with bated breath as the floating window to Cecil's dimension ascended. The mice's little paws gripped tightly onto whatever they could grip, themselves, each other, the edge of the table, but the floor they were on was rock steady. There was no interia felt in Cecil's room. emboldened, Rykard began to soar through the skies of Autumnhollow, the mice squealing in delight.
___
Church of Saint Ygris:
That evening, Iohann and a few priests of the Church made the final prayers for the fallen adventurers. The ceremony was held behind the church, in a big colonnaded courtyard held for such solemn rites. In the middle of the courtyard, a grand pyre had been built from seasoned logs and fragrant herbs. It was a traditional way of sending off those who had passed in this world to the next, especially for warriors who had fought valiantly.
Peanut was quietly sniffling as she laid flowers on her fallen friends, the little mushroom's eyes quickly filling with tears while Siria cradled her in her arms, a hand stroking her velvety cap for comfort.
Ingrid and Philia attended in military regalia. Despite the sorrow in the air, Zefir had to put some effort wiping a smile in the knowledge that the two were cosplaying characters from a Shojo Kantai; a well-known gacha game featuring "ship girls" i.e. anthropomorphized real world warships in the form of cute girls. But it was still military and official-looking enough and the medals, especially the purple heart were no joke. It was a somber reminder that Ingrid and Philia made the ultimate sacrifice back on Earth.
The woolly gnu priest that Zefir saw yesterday was once again making his deep, guttural throat song as made his final prayers for the dead. There was a moment of silence before he gestured it was now time for the others to enact their own funeral customs. The orcs raised a loud war cry, congratulating the spirits of the valiant dead, attesting to the Gods that they were worthy of exalted places in the Golden Abode. Garms and kobolds howled loud and deep at the rising moon, the wolves from the surrounding forest joining in.
There was a pause for Ingrid, Philia, Zefir, and Cecil's turn.
Ingrid and Philia sharply turned and barked out their commands. The mice marched in step, their guns held to their chest. They formed a line and aimed their guns high.
Another command and the mice let out one after the other a 21-gun salute, making a loud squeak as they did.
It was now Zefir's turn. He was part of the scouts back in Sarasota and he picked up his borrowed trumpet and played a mournful Taps. Even though they were in another world everyone could tell this was a mourning call; a lone trumpet, the painful poignant pauses between notes cutting through the air like a knife.
As the congregation broke up and mingled with each other, Ingrid quickly glanced at the mice, some of them quickly moving along with Cecil to pick up the spent pellet shells.
Among the mourners were acquaintances of the Grand Haloes, as Peanut was a rather recent addition, she didn't know much of them. Siria kept the little mushroom cuddled to her chest, whether it was to soothe the grieving Peanut or to shield her from any reproach by using her reputation as the Legendary Solo Adventurer, nobody knew. Ingrid must have sensed this as well as she also kept close to Peanut as they mingled with the others. Seeing Siria next to such an intimidating Nemesis-Stalker would surely halt any unpleasant interactions.
Philia on the other hand kept close to the mice. They hovered closed to one pyre, where their own was being carried away by the flames. The mice took out their rations and tossed them into the flames. Cuddly, in a moment of solidarity, chucked his carrot as well.
The mice saluted by the fire. Philia considered approaching the mice to pat them but stayed her hand, and simply stood by, telling curious on-lookers with her eyes to leave them alone.
Gwen shyly approached Philia and they embraced. She understood now what she did back in the border of Veles and Elion-Nosco, when she had emptied magazine after magazine into the air after killing her own maids. As cold as her reasoning was that they would not keep their mouths shut, she genuinely grieved for the girls who had raised her.
___
Dinner back home at Autumnhollow restored everyone's spirits. The mice gathered around the grill in a circle, swaying back and forth in unison as they squeaked their mouse songs. Ingrid let the mice handle the barbecue tonight; something to help keep their minds off the grim events. Putting Peanut and Cuddly to work preparing the vegetables was like putting a seal to work in a sushi joint as they kept eating half of their prep work, the root crops were a lost cause thanks to the hare's appetite.
Meanwhile Cecil and Zefir were working on pasta. The Muse Box in Cecil's room was predictably blasting "La Donna E Mobile" as they sang along and made the meat sauce. They originaly thought of adding meatballs but as the mice were already making the barbecue and two big salmon-like lake fish were currently testing out the new smoke house, the ciltran and slime decided to skip the meatballs for tonight.
"That's quite a song!" Kvaris said, giggling with amusement as they and Kinu chopped up the veal they would use for the ground meat.
"Correction." Zefir said "It's opera... it's a kind of play where all lines are sung, not spoken, so it's not just an 'opera song' it's an entire scene!"
Cecil chuckled "Yeah, well, in most movies whenever La Donne E Mobile is playing, someone is always getting beaten up in the background. You know what... let's finally get some videos rolling later..."
Sammy and Gwen returned from the market, having bought enough ale to keep the party going all night as well as wheels of zesty cheese. Kinu returned from the Arcane Pasture, having given Cataline the various flowers they had taken as gifts. The Maiyea witch beamed with pleasure as she recognized some of these flowers were quite valuable ingredients for her potions.
They had their dinner not inside the house but in the front patio of the house, with Ingrid radioing Farlan to call in all the villagers. Everyone had made too much, she said and it was long past due that everyone had a good feast together.
"I would be remiss as a landlord to have put this off for so long..." Ingrid said as she raised her glass "but it's about time that we all here in Autumnhollow had a proper feast. I know it's late, but once again, welcome to Autumnhollow, welcome to Ram Ranch..."
The Whales suppressed their giggles as they remembered that "song" that got everyone laughing last time.
Ingrid continued "We're also holding this feast for three other occasions. One is to welcome Selphie and Kirtus to our home. I would like all of you to know that Selphie has proven such an invaluable help to our team during times of battle. Her floramancy has time and time again held back the onslaught of enemies that would have overwhelmed us. And Kirtus, your courage in the face of danger allowed us time to step in and rescue these fine folks from the Guileheads..."
Ingrid paused to let the villagers and the Whales applaud the minotaur for his selfless bravery.
"Another reason for this feast is to welcome Peanut Mallowcap, a survivor of the Grand Halos. Tonight they have been welcomed to the Golden Abode with all the due honors."
The little mushroom floated up and bowed as everyone applauded her.
"Last but not least, to our brave new mice, who have never given up hope. We have rescued them from the clutches of the Dead Eaters that have infested the dungeon. They will be joining our party and with their help, we will once again make the dungeons of Teth-Odin set to the odds of us adventurers, and not the monsters."
The new mice, Umbra, Foxtrox, and Potato stood up on their seats and squeaked cutely as they took their applause.
"Oh and let's not forget... we're making a killing on the market!" Ingrid said "To Mink and Roofe's canned goods store, and Nod's talent in fishing you three are heroes to our humble village of Ram Ranch." The two dogs and garm-folk shly stood and took a bow as everyone clapped.
"And also, let's not forget the services of Cataline, your potions have made the raid on Irons a success, thanks to you, casualties have been brought to an absolute...minimum!"
The Maiyea witch stumbled a bit as she tried to stand and take a bow, her cheeks flushing red with the unexpected praise. Some of the Whales, including Philia, Kvaris, and Cecil glanced at Ingrid, there was a flicker of regret in her eyes telling them that she still was troubled with the Sarin attack she had ordered on the town, but she kept herself under control.
___
Rather than a traditional, stuffy dinner setting with set seating arrangements, and due to her desire to have people mingle, Ingrid had instructed her team to set up tonight's dinner as more of a potluck style gathering. The dishes were all placed on a central table but the seating was scattered across the patio. People shifted about and chatted with one another as they swapped stories. One by one the villagers came over to thank Ingrid for her generosity.
"Well, it's not really a generosity... it's a give-and-take" Ingrid reminded them.
"So how's the boat going, Nod?" Ingrid asked.
"We just finished caulking the seams," Nod answered, "I just need it to dry and soon I can start rowing out to the deeper waters."
"Good, good," Ingrid beamed. "The fish in that lake are so tasty... it's no wonder they're selling so well in the market."
She patted his shoulder. Part of her still had her suspicions about him but in the end, he was a hunted man by the Guileheads and had nowhere else to go.
"I'll stay..." Kirtus said as he walked up to Ingrid "There's no such thing as too many farmhands, and Selphie mentioned Red Moon fertilizer, it'll go to waste if it's not used in time..."
Ingrid smiled "you're like a father-figure to Selphie, she'd miss you if you left, you know?"
Kirtus made a gruff bovine rumble "Erm, I know, I know... I just don't want to impose."
Sammy was regaling the group with tales of the team's battles "You should have seen how strong Ingrid was.. one swing of her fist and POW!" she made an uppercut gesture, causing the villagers to gasp "Over fifty Dead Eaters were sent flying into the air like ragdolls!"
The mice, Cuddly, and Peanut were being showered with affection by everyone, their eyes closed as they were patted by various hands. Even Iohann's Nyx Fish Yogzolom floated about, gently darting at the table to sample terrestial dishes one couldn't find deep under the sea.
___
It was well past noon when everyone had gotten up, Nod was hurrying tight-lipped to his stall, he and some villagers hauled yesterday's smoked catch onto the wagon as Gwen hitched the Aurochs for their daily journey to the market. Mink and Roof opened up shop with a slight hangover, wagging their tails and chuckling amongst themselves at the memory of Ingrid drunkenly singing loudly of a "Photograph" which they later learned was a portrait painted not with a brush but with light. Her singing sounded quite out of tune, but it seemed that her otherworlder companions were more amused at her choice of song rather than her singing prowess. Still, it spoke of nostalgia and joy, a good omen for the day ahead.
"I miss that town, I miss the faces
You can't erase, you can't replace it
I miss it now, I can't believe it
So hard to stay, too hard to leave it..."
The song in question was playing in the Control Room. Ingrid was idly spinning her glass on the table. A cold jug of ale rested on the table, condensation rolling down and onto the table's surface. Philia downed her drink and signaled for Neith to begin. She sat opposite Ingrid on the table while Cecil floated between them.
"Are you sure about this?" Arek said.
Ingrid looked out the window, at Peanut playing with mice. The memories of Peanut breaking down in the dungeon when she pulled back the sheets and confirmed that those who lay on the stone cold floor were indeed her friends were still fresh in her mind.
"Yes..."
Arek sighed and left the room.
There were sounds of footsteps, human feet this time, as someone climbed down the stairs into Arek's basement.
Philia, Ingrid, and Cecil uncomfortably couldn't meet the gaze of Cindy before them.
“Before you say anything, Cindy.” Philia said “We ARE dead. On Earth that is. I had to start from day one as an infant, Ingrid and Cecil came in barely a week ago.”
"I can't explain how we're here. But we're not returning even if there's a way." Ingrid said. "We're needed here. That’s what Starchasers do, that’s what heroes do."
"I see...but why tell me this?" Cindy asked.
“Because little Cecil was parroting everything I was saying.” Cecil said regretfully.
Cindy sobbed a little, but there was relief in her voice.
“I’m j-just glad you three are okay.”
“We’re dead!” The three chorused.
“Y-yeah, on Earth… So you three have been Isekai’d or something… but, why did you have to tell me? I mean it’s good to know you’ve found a way to breach dimensions but…”
“Cindy! Me and all the Starchaser familiars have been pulled out from another dimension.” Cecil reminded her. “It shouldn’t be a leap in logic.”
“Okay, so why?”
"Just a few days ago a friend of ours lost someone important to them. We've kinda forgotten what it's like to see and hear someone grieving. It must have been painful for you folks, but the reality is, we're dead. Philia, Cecil, and I are dead. This would have never happened if I was such a loner back on Earth. It cost us Philia, it cost us Cecil, and it cost us me. There's no sense trying to bring us back. Move on… also as thanks for giving the little Cecil to Arek for safekeeping."
"About that…" Cindy hiccuped a little, "some of the Starchasers are starting to think whatever he said might have been connected to the real one..."
"Ignore it." Philia said "You know how this works, denying only makes it worse. And, whatever you do, you cannot let Taffy know about this."
There was a pause as Cindy sniffled and wiped a tear from her eye.
"Athena's been going back and forth to Taffy's place..."
"Wrench her out of it." Ingrid said firmly. "Focus on Melrondia's successor."
Philia groaned, slumping back in her chair "I knew I shouldn't have thrown that annoying brat off of a cliff..."
"Alright..." Cindy said.
"Sorry for whatever I said Cindy." The slime said but Cindy sniffed and wiped another tear.
"No, I don't have a right to protest about that. You've stepped up where all other familiars were too afraid to-WHAT IS THAT!?"
Some of the tixi mice waddled into the room and curiously chittered up to Ingrid, Philia, and Cecil, Ingrid and Philia picked up a mouse and laid them on their laps, cuddling them to their chests while Cecil's mouse patted him down like a mochi ball.
"Why we can't leave." Cecil said, his voice melting as a second mouse climbed in and pattycaked him.
"If anyone dares take us out of this world or mess with it, I WILL tell Taffy to burn Earth to the ground." Philia said as she cuddled her mouse.
"I WANNA PAT THEM!" Cindy cried, tears of envy in her eyes as she pressed herself to the screen.
----------------------------------------
Party Information
* Mice upgrade to “bubble helmets”
* M-14 upgraded to EBR’s
----------------------------------------
Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com [https://storage.ko-fi.com/cdn/kofi2.png?v=3]
INDEX: The Whales Party Sheet