XXIII
Umbria
『S-Day +166』
『Gates of Umbria』
Umbria, the empire's breadbasket. From what Minervina had told me, Umbria alone provided ½ of the empire's grain. Venezia, another outer wall city just to the east of Umbria, as well as Fortress Healingspring provide another ¼ of grain. The remaining ¼ are grown from around the 2nd ring cities. Refined metal and rock salt mined from the northern mountains also pass through Umbria. Despite its importance, Umbria has the lowest population within the empire at around less than 50,000 non-slaves and is often given little attention.
It was due to Fortress Healingspring that these 3 cities were able to produce so much. Though the natives had little idea as to where the source of Healingspring's water originate, they were glad that it emerged as numerous hot springs in and around the city-fortress. Many scholars had hypothesized over the years that it may be due to a massive quantity of magic stones. They believed this was possible simply because many towns and small villages throughout the empire used 「Water Stones」 as a source of water.
Aside from where the water came from, it was what the water was made of that also helped the grain. The waters offered a restorative effect for anyone and any living thing that consumed or even bathed in it; it also allowed plants to grow faster. This discovery was instrumental in creating the foundations of the empire. Aqueducts were built and sent this important water to the empire's original capital city of Capitoline in the far south. But it was discovered that once the water was exposed to air, the restorative properties would diminish.
For years, it was debated where the new capital would sit. As the southern cities grew and expanded and walls began being constructed, a startling discovered was made. The previous inhabitants of this land, the Gigantoss which were now forcibly extinct, were thought to have crafted an interconnected roadway which tied together 25 cities. What was most striking was that each city and roadway sat within a pattern. A city sitting in the center surrounded by 6 cities, surrounded by 6 cities, surrounded by 6 cities and finally surrounded by 6 fortress-cities. Walls were built and the empire grew.
Minervina likes to ramble.
☘ ☘ ☘
Thanks to the scouts that rode ahead of us, we were able to proceed with less caution and quickly arrived at the barred gates leading into Umbria. Upon our arrival, dozens of archers were seen on the walls ready to loose a volley of arrows. At the gate, we were met by 2 guards.
“State your business!” screamed one of the guards, rudely.
I peeked my head out the carriage window and gave my reply, “Shut the fuck up and open the gate, we're the new owners.”
The guard turned to the other and whispered back and forth, before returning their attention to me, “Mind your words, child. No one passes through these gates without proper passes. We do not know who you are. So we cannot permit you inside the city.”
“Listen buddy, either you open the gate or I do. And if you call me a child again, I will do to you what I did to Propraetor Umbrius.” I said to the man with a glare.
☘ ☘ ☘
Luckily, the situation was diffused… somehow. Not sure how, but it did. And as it turns out, it was all a misunderstanding. The messengers that were sent a month or so prior to our arrival never arrived. The bandit activity had risen to dangerous levels that much of the supplies that were destined for other cities could not be transported. The last messenger they did receive was an imperial decree to send the 19th legion to the northern mountains.
Curiously, the messengers they sent to run along the walls to the other cities were never heard from.
Of course the guards were less than happy to find out that I was responsible for the death of their governor. With their legion and leadership not having a presence, the bandits were able to roam unchecked throughout the farming and forestry regions. The auxilia cohorts that remained within the city were poorly equipped and under-trained to handle the situation and so, the situation had spiraled out of control. It is unclear how many bandits and bandit groups are operating in the area, but hearing of the number of bandits we took out, the guards relaxed enough to start sending grain and mineral supplies out.
The guards were also unhappy at my having crippled one of their own. It was hardly my fault, I had told him to not call me a child and he kept calling me a child. Though I attempted to aim a 《Wind Blade》 spell at his neck, the window of the carriage was a little small and I had trouble fitting my arm out and aiming. He was also lucky that my pistol was knocked out of my hand by the window frame.
At least he's right handed.
While the guards were dealing with the highway security issue, our caravan made its way to the Umbrii estate. Because I had a bone to pick with the Umbrii, I decided to use their estate as my base of operations rather than the imperial villa. Libo Iulius, the man I had met at the Colosseum in the city of Viminale and had been traveling with my main caravan, was to act as the new governor for Umbria. Whether it was temporary or not, I did not care to listen about. He had a relative in the city that he was going to stay with until he could purchase a villa of his own.
Before we separated, I had words with him, “Since you will be the new governor and overseeing the changes to the city, I have a task for you. I need you to gather all the master craftsmen. Carpenters, metalworkers, fletchers, bowyers, masons, engineers and any others that are related to those fields of expertise. Maybe in a week at the amphitheatre?”
“Understood, young dominus.” Libo said as his private carriage left. Strangely, no other carriage, aside from a couple transport wagons, followed him.
I thought those group of girls were with him? …oh, god dammit Alicia.
I forced myself to ignore whatever it was that Alicia had planned.
The Umbrii estate looked to be, if not more than, twice the size of the imperial villa. But it was still a fraction of the size of the imperial palace grounds at Aventine. The estate guards refused to let us pass, but they were relieved of duty (read: fired). The virago contubernium under my command made sure they left peacefully and the imperial letter ensured that there would be no reprisals.
Before leading the caravan inside, we had to dismiss the adventurer escorts. They did a splendid job protecting the caravan and its occupants. It is unfortunate that there were losses from the bandit raid, but it was 'part of the job'. They were given a generous bonus of 5 gold aurei each before they left for the 「Adventurer Guild」 to report the incident.
Now was the issue of what to do with the estate slaves. I technically owned them now that Umbrius has been deposed, but would I want them? Of course, I did not want any loyal slave to enact the 'final task of the first prime' and trying to slit my throat in the middle of the night, so I had Alicia do her thing.
“Alicia, go ahead and do your thing.” I figured she would sort through every single slave and servant and keep whomever was useful. “Ah, any slaves and servants that get rejected can be offered to Libo if he wants, otherwise they can be sold.”
“Sure thing, my darling onii-chan.” she happily said as she hopped off the carriage and walked into the villa along with Illyria. Following her was a group of 3 girls that I had thought we were taxiing for Libo. Following them were many servant-looking girls. I was left confused and suspicious about their appearance.
“Did Ali tell you about them yet?” Veronica asked as she appeared beside me.
“Uh, no. Who are they?” I asked.
She looked at me and snickered, “They're nice girls, you'll like them. Bye mister haremancer~.” she then skipped off to join the group of girls and disappeared into the villa.
The horses, asses and minotaurs were sent to the stables, which already had animals that I now claim, as well as the niter bed and urine pots. It was nice and out of the way so the niter bed can be worked on; the animal manure would be kept in a separate pile for fertilizer. Though I could simply mix it in, I chose not to. The other worker slaves started unpacking and transporting the chests and other materials into the villa storage.
“Young dominus,” one of the virago scouts that had accompanied us approached me, “the princess has tasked us with your protection and to be trained in the new weapons. Therefore, we will require a space to build our castrum. Preferably near this villa.”
Her name is Faleria and she is currently the decanus of her contubernium, which is a something like a sergeant. I decided to take a quick look around the villa with her to find a suitable area as well as see what else was inside the estate. The wall would give us a good vantage point so we made our way up from the gate. The walls were roughly 3 meters tall and 2 meters wide. 4 gatehouses were placed at the center of each side and were 5 meters tall. Each gatehouse had an attached guardhouse.
Already we could see how far the vineyards and orchards stretched. There were also fishponds and numerous gardens spaced out. We walked around the perimeter until we reached the southern end (we had entered through the north gatehouse) and saw a moderately sized empty field. Since it was only 80 virago and their servants, there was not much need for too much space; this was chosen as an ideal location. The castrum would be built in the southeast corner to take advantage of the already built walls.
Faleria gathered the scouts to mark out the areas for the castrum buildings. With the rest of the centuria arriving in a few days, the scouts could at least set up areas for the temporary tents. I also instructed her to have the gates, other than the north gatehouse, sealed and barred. The north gate was chosen simply due to its convenience of having a larger space for large groups to enter. A brazier called a foculus was to be placed atop each gatehouse to help give the appearance that it is secured. As long as people know that we hold the emperor's favor, there should be little to no intrusions.
Upon entering the villa, I made my way to the bath. I saw the same group of girls exiting and when they saw me, they began giggling and whispering amongst themselves. One of the girls turned to face me and removed her towel, exposing her naked body to my eyes. After covering herself back up, all 3 laughed and ran away.
Fuck it, I’m a haremancer.
“Like what you saw?” Alicia asked when I entered the bath.
“Who are they?” I sighed, knowing she is plotting something.
“Another surprise I have for you. They'll be useful in the long run.” she said as she signaled for our servants to undress me. “You don't have to marry them or anything, unless you want to. They were bored living in Aventine and wanted to explore the world.” Whatever she had planned, I would deal with it later.
I had Alicia bend over while I took her from behind. While I was resting deep inside her, she turned her head toward me, “Pull my hair, onii-chan.”
Afterward, I had Saya and Illyria wash my body before they had their turn riding me while I sat on the floor; it had become their favorite position while in the bath. Veronica had taken her bath before us and disappeared into the villa. Alicia knows what we had done and had been teasing Veronica for the past few days. Tomorrow, I want to spend some time with her. Since I am going to set up the stills for potion and whiskey production, it will be a good opportunity. The alcohol produced can also be used as a disinfectant. It was a good excuse to see her.
☘ ☘ ☘
It was currently dusk. Smoke from fires wafted in through the windows signaling dinner was being prepared. And while I was waiting for some delicious food, I was currently feasting on my delicious Sidony. Since I have not been able to get Veronica out of my head, I kept trying to replicate how we had sex in her carriage with the other girls like yesterday in the bath. As usual, I had to do all the work with my adorable fox girl. She rested her head on my shoulder and would purr while moaning. My hands had to work her hips up and down until I came inside her.
While I was still inside her, I nudged her to face me. Her eyes were glazed and there was a bit of drool leaking from her mouth. I peppered her with kisses and slipped in my tongue to play with hers.
“Sidony,” her ears twitched when I called her attention, “do you enjoy what we do?”
Her tail wagged lazily as she stared at me.
“I'll cook you a whole chicken if you answer me.” I tried to entice her.
“...Yes!” she squeaked.
Oh my god, that was the most adorable voice I have ever heard. How can be someone so cute?!
I peppered her with even more kisses and may have thrust my hips into her a bit more.
Uh, wait, did she say yes because she enjoys sex or because she wanted food?
It was when I pulled away from her that I noticed Illyria standing nearby. Sidony was off my lap and I brought Illyria to clean me off using her mouth.
“Have Sidony cleaned up, I am going to prepare her dinner.” I instructed Illyria after she had cleaned me up.
Inside the kitchen was a bit chaotic. Despite the size of the estate and villa, the kitchen was quite cramped. The house servants were frantically trying to cook enough food for all the new people that had shown up; there was even an outdoor roast going on. I ordered them to continue working and searched the icebox until I found a nice big chicken, already gutted, and a good bit of herbs. The herbs were mixed with some leftover butter I had and the chicken was then smeared and stuffed with the mixture. I made my way outside to roast it on the open fire.
Sidony sat excitedly as I entered the dining area with a nicely roasted chicken. She dug in immediately once the plate was placed before her. Sitting next to her, Illyria grimaced at the unsightly act of Sidony tearing apart her meal. Alicia had told me that she was trained to eat properly, so I guessed that she was just hungry.
Suddenly, I felt the table thump next to me. When I looked over, I saw a familiar pink slime wobbling on the table.
“I thought you had run away.” I said to the wobbling Pinkface as I began petting it. It was the first time in a week that I had seen it so I had thought it had taken its chance at freedom. “Are you hungry too?”
*wobble* *wobble*
I began feeding it chicken bones from Sidony's plate that still had bits of cartilage and meat on it; then finally the rest of the scraps. Sidony herself was busily cleaning the juices and grease from her face with her hands then licking her hands and fingers clean. Illyria was not happy with this and finally snapped at her while cleaning Sidony with a cleaning cloth.
☘ ☘ ☘
『S-Day +167』
『Kuroba Base - Umbrii Estate』
Per Alicia, it would take around a week to sort through the house slaves; she is hoping to keep around half. Sooner would be better as I want to organize my magic chests. In the meantime, I could at least help Veronica get the potion production set up. Inside Veronica's room, which was near the inner garden and connected to the vineyard, I saw her setting up the stills. We had over a dozen stills, from the small retorts including the one I received from the quest to the 10 large stills.
“What up, dude?” she greeted me as she lead me inside.
“Just came to offer my help.”
“Or did you come to get laid?” she smiled mischievously.
I wrapped my arms around her waist as she wrapped her arms around my neck, “A little bit of both.” our lips and tongue met for more than a few moments.
When we separated, I could see a glimmer in her eye, “Someone is saying hello,” she reached down below and wrapped her hand around my covered dick and gave it a squeeze, “too bad, that was a 1 time thing.”
“I remember you say that you lo-”
“Opopopopopopuh, that… I… um… it was in the heat of the moment. It just slipped out.” she was flustered, but she was still smiling.
I moved to kiss her once more and when she accepted me, I began slowly undressing her. My hands rubbed against her silky smooth skin and squeezed her cute butt. Eventually we were both naked and I drank in her beauty. Her breasts were what I had expected after having seen the photo of her in a bikini; similar size to Saya and had brown nipples.
“I guess once more couldn't hurt. It would be, um, good practice. Yeah, practice. We can practice.” she said as she laid on her back. I knelt down and began performing cunnilingus. Her labia was noticeably darker than the others I have seen with a reddish-purple color, but inside was pink. My tongue and lips made her moan. “Oh wow, you're better than Cassia.”
I pulled away from her, “You and Cassia?”
“I'm not like that, she just does it in the morning to wake me up. It feels good so I kinda just let her...” she trailed off as I resumed my ministrations.
When I could no longer hold myself back, I crawled up her body and slid myself inside her. We both sighed as I entered her. With me being on top, I was able to work to a rhythm that I enjoyed. It took only a few minutes before I was filling her with cum. I then rolled of her to rest and recover. Veronica then called Cassia to bring her her hairbrush. With the hairbrush in hand, Veronica inserted the handle into her pussy and worked until she had reached orgasm.
Her sweat-covered face turned to face me, “Did you enjoy the show?”
“Never seen that before.”
Veronica leaned in to give me a quick kiss then hopped off the bed to get dressed, “We both have work to do, so… bye Naoki.”
Though I asked her about the stills being inside her room, she assured me that the large size and the windows and the compluvium, the hole in the ceiling, would act as a vent. She also explained Cassia's recent attitude against me as me attempting to steal affection from Veronica. I also learned that she was a 「Cresceremancer」 which was a Temporal-type mage that worked perfectly well with Veronica. Cassia was able to encourage crops to grow and thrive which was how we were able to have so many potion-making ingredients.
When I had finished dressing, 4 high servants entered; ones that I have never met before and were not part of the estate servants. They were handpicked by Veronica to help her increase potion production. Alicia had something to do with it and I would have to add it to my list of things to deal with; fun.
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I kissed her goodbye and left her room.
☘ ☘ ☘
『Veronica's Room』
After Naoki had left the room, Alicia dropped down from the compluvium to the surprise of Veronica, “Jesus Christ, what are you, a ninja?”
“Yeah, kinda, I was thinking of training some girls to be ninjas. Good to set up some spy networks, you know?” Alicia said casually before changing the subject, “So how'd it go, slut?”
“Fuck off, I have no idea what you're talking about.” Veronica unconvincingly blushed.
“Oh please, just admit it. You love getting fucked by my husband. Hehe, my husband. Husband. I love saying that.” Alicia sat on Veronica's bed near a suspicious wet spot. A finger was dipped into the puddle and brought it to her mouth, “I know what my husband tastes like, so unless Cassie over here was getting her oyster shucked, it's obvious who did whom. 'It's just practice, it won't count', Claritia and I heard you from outside, loud and clear.”
“Ah fuck...” Veronica signaled Cassia to close the windows which faced the indoor garden… a little too late.
“Marry him and claim your bronze. I am so close to my goal and you are putting him where I need him.” Alicia face changed to a more serious appearance, “We have enough silphium for 100 girls for a year so we'll obviously need to produce more, but once my plans bear fruit it won't matter. We'll need restoration potions for the virago we have as well. So with that in mind, I'm gonna go around and map out the city; see what's useful and what not. Oh right, I should order tons of grain, there's a little trick onii-chan found that you can use.”
She then turned to Cassia who was sitting nearby, “And Cassie, if you don't check that attitude of yours, I will be 're-educating' you. Understand?”
“Y-yes, Domina.” Stuttered Cassia. She was overwhelmed by Alicia's intimidating aura.
“Good girl,” she returned to look at Veronica to bid her goodbye, “Later!”
Alicia then created shields as stepping stones and disappeared through the compluvium.
“Just use the fucking door like a normal person!”
☘ ☘ ☘
『Peristylium』
As I left Veronica's room, I entered the indoor garden known as a peristylium. It was a large garden that was filled with various medicinal and non-medicinal herbs; unsurprisingly, there was a large amount of silphium being cultivated. A compluvium above allowed sunlight inside. I noticed my pink-haired girlfriend seemingly waiting for me.
“Salve, Naoki.” Claritia said with rose-tinged cheeks.
“Salve, Claritia.”
She returned her attention to the garden, “The guild always taught the importance of supplementing our healing magic with medicines so we trained in understanding the various plants and how to grow them. This one can treat burns and this one for if you had too much wine. This one for pains in the stomach, these for itchiness, this for bad breath and this group is silphium, it can be used for many things other than keeping women without child.”
Her enthusiasm over gardening was adorable. And since I had grown up tending plants, it made me feel closer to her. My arm took her waist and I kissed her. Though I realized too late that I had not yet washed myself from Veronica's lust and pulled myself away from her, “Sorry, I was with-”
“I know, I… I heard.” her eyes pointed to the window, “I could not help but listen and… hearing your noises was… enticing.” she subtly cast a restoration magic on me as she fondle my dick. “My room is opposite of Veronica's.”
We entered her room and had fun.
☘ ☘ ☘
Before I had left Claritia's room, she had told me that Lavinia and Crixus took the bandits and the bandit corpses to the 「Adventurer's Guild」. They took along 2 minotaurs to carry the deceased and 2 virago as escorts. I had intended to do this myself, but since they had taken the initiative, I could check it off my list and focus on my other projects.
Which lead me to where we stored the magic chests.
In a long hallway that lead to 2 rooms, I was met by Delia who was standing guard in front of 1 room. It seems she had been tasked with keeping watch over the chests, but no one had relieved her. She looked tired and had dark circles below her eyes.
“This one greets master.” she said as she bowed.
“Have you been here all day?”
“Yes master, this one has been tasked with protecting master's belongings.”
“Have you eaten?” I asked, concerned about her exhaustion.
“...No” she hesitated to answer.
I turned around and looked for the nearest servant. When I did find one, I had her deliver a meal and drink. I could have just sent Delia away to eat and rest, but I wanted her near me just in case I was in the mood. When I returned to Delia, I handed her a stamina potion from my pouch. I had taken to keeping a magic pouch on my hip at all times that held potions. She was hesitant to take it, but with a simple order, she had drank the entire vial.
“This one offers gratitude.” she, again, bowed.
My eyes turned downward and saw a blanket of cloth and a length of fur. It seems this is where she had slept. The room across from the storage was an office, but she chose not to sleep there as it would prevent her from carrying out her duties. When the food arrived, I brought her into the storage room to eat; a chair was pulled out and a cloth was placed on a chest. While she ate, I pulled out my notes on the magic storage items.
What I needed to research was how to incorporate 「Celerity Stones」 into the magic chests. As it is right now, magic storage would 'freeze' items in a state of stasis. This I was able to confirm when my electronics, that had been stored, began giving me inaccurate times. The prototype time machine I had experimented with was nothing more than a box to contain the temporal field, but did not actually store anything in a pocket dimension. If the box was opened, it would expose the field and lead to potential side effects. Having it function within the magic storage would hopefully prevent this.
I wanted an actual magic storage that could speed up time to accelerate the niter bed, chickpea sauce and alcohol aging en masse. Producing such products would normally take a few months to a few years and I wanted to magic that down to a few days to weeks. If I can accomplish this, then it would open up a possibility of even growing crops in a box.
Before I could start my research, I realized I had to make preparations for the meeting next week.
*buuuurp*
When I turned around at the noise, all I saw was an empty bowl that used to be filled with a lentil and barley soup topped with leftover roasted pig, an empty plate that once had bread and an empty amphora and cup that had wine. When I looked at Delia, her face was covered in shame and shaded red.
“Forgiveness, master.” she begged as her voice trembled.
I reached over to pat her head, “Go get cleaned up then stand guard at the door. When I am done here, we'll go take a bath together.”
“Yes, master.” she took the tray and disappeared.
She's too cute. Kinda growing on me now.
With her out for now, I took out my Grimoire and began the tedious fucking task of searching for very specific materials in regards to my plans with the crossbow and trebuchet. There was enough space inside the storage room for a scale model, so I began synthesizing materials.
☘ ☘ ☘
It was late at night when I had finished synthesizing the components for the trebuchet and crossbow. I had to scrounge for 「Mana Stones」 to convert as it took a good number of stored mana to be able to afford synthesizing. Thankfully there were still many magic stones that was left with Veronica during the ride here; there were also the massive treasure chests from the labyrinth that held an assortment of magic stones.
Stored Mana:
37
I also put away the research data that I compiled for the updated time machine during the synthesis. There was no doubt that I would have to go through a lot of trial and error to make a successful prototype.
Stepping out the door, I saw Delia sitting on her fur bedspread. I offered her my hand and pulled her up to move her out of the way. The bedspread was removed and I went back into the room to search for a bed that I had taken from the high servants quarters at Aventine. Then we made our way to the bath. Because I did not want to leave the storage unguarded, I ordered one of the servants I had also taken from Aventine to stand guard; I will be sure to talk to Alicia about it as they should be on rotation.
We walked straight into the bath along with Saya who had appeared out of nowhere and joined us. The 3 of us were already nice and naked when I realized that the bath was already occupied.
“Salve, young dominus,” greeted the virago Faleria. She was already soaking in the hot water when we had arrived.
“Ah, sorry for barging in,” I apologized to her as I attempted to maintain eye contact.
“Not at all, we are imposing on you until we can have our camp baths built.” though she said 'we', she was the only other person inside the bath. "I had just finished my guard duty and was finally able to take a nice, hot bath." she stretched her arms above her head and I was no longer able to maintain eye contact.
After giving Delia a wash, I noticed she was struggling to stay awake. I wanted to have some fun with her, but she needed to get some proper rest; I ordered her to sleep in my bed tonight. In the meantime, Saya would be enough for a good time. Faleria watched with rapt attention as Saya vigorously rode me. Unfortunately, before I could offer her a turn, she emerged from the bath, dried herself off and bid me a good night; she has a very lovely body.
☘ ☘ ☘
『S-Day +168』
『Kuroba Base – Umbrii Estate』
Crixus helped me set up the trebuchet model. Thanks to my 100 luck, and it would be more if I could find my misplaced trinket, I was able to find a 10 foot tall kit; it was something like 2 meters, I have no idea. We ended up spending all day lobbing amphorae across the field. When it had gotten sufficiently dark, I loaded an amphora with activated 「Bright Stones」 and launched it out. The impact did exactly as I had expected and scattered all the magic stones and illuminated the impact area.
An idea of illumination flares that modern militaries used to light up a darkened area came to mind. Maybe something that utilizes 「Float Stones」 to keep the light afloat and a 「Mana Stone」 to keep it powered for far longer than 5 minutes that an activated magic stone would normally run.
We disassembled the trebuchet after retrieving the 「Bright Stones」 and stored it in the storage room.
I took over the office across the storage room for my research area. I started to work on upgrading my 《Earth Wall Scroll》 to something stronger. A good candidate would be 《Stone Wall》, but I also thought about those concrete dividers that you could find on a modern road and wanted to try making those. Though, to do that I would need to go through the process of using 《Create Stone》 to make limestone, then cooking said limestone and slaking it for cement precursor.
With all the things on my plate, I had to put it on the back burner and stick to researching 《Stone Wall》.
☘ ☘ ☘
『Virago Camp – Umbrii Estate』
Alicia approached from the shadows to the entrance of a tent. Standing guard was a single virago who greeted Alicia.
“Salve, young domina.”
“How many?” Alicia asked.
“2 captured, another escaped.” the virago answered.
“Less than I thought… or fewer than I thought. You're relieved. Go take a rest.” she instructed the guard before entering the tent.
She looked at the 2 men; bound and gagged. Estate guards who had been fired. 「Silent Stones」 were placed around the tent all the while being watched by the 2 battered and angry men.
“With this, no one will hear you scream. Now, I have questions and you have answers,” Alicia knelt in front of 1 man while displaying a dagger in her hand, “firstly, how many more and are you organized?” in the dim light of a torch, a dozen more daggers appeared before the bound men.
☘ ☘ ☘
『S-Day +169』
『Kuroba Base – Umbrii Estate』
The virago arrived sooner than I had expected.
We directed them to the location the scouts had selected; the southeastern corner of the estate. The looks on their faces showed how fatigued they were. They needed a good nights sleep in a bed rather than the tents they had to rely on and a hot bath. Until they were able to get plumbing done in their castrum, they would be allowed to use the bath of the villa.
Obviously, I could not keep myself from imagining water cascading down the naked fit bodies of 80 girls. Faleria looked over at me with a smirk and I could have sworn she knew exactly what I was thinking.
For the virago to construct their fort, they required a lot of cut timber. Using the corner of the estate wall helps in reducing build time so they would only need to build 2 walls instead of 4 and a gate. The timber would be the outer shell of the wall while the interior would be filled with packed earth. I had given 《Earth Wall Scrolls》 to them to hasten their construction. They learned how to place the magic within the shell and line it up evenly. Dirt would then be shoveled in between the earthen wall and packed with a wooden tamper.
I want to mass produce magic scrolls.
☘ ☘ ☘
『S-Day +170』
『Kuroba Base – Umbrii Estate』
Alicia finally introduced me to the 3 girls as well as 30 other girls, but none of the virago save for the 8 scouts. The 3 girls were daughters of the 3 houses I had made agreements with; Bellus, Celer and Carus. She had apparently met the girls sometime during our stay in Aventine and chose them out of however many she had 'interviewed'. It was because of these girls that she knew to introduce me to their family's head.
The Bellus daughter happened to be the one to flash me. She had a cheery personality. The Celer daughter had a quiet personality with a bookworm appearance and long hair, all that was missing was eyeglasses. The Carus daughter had a stoic personality. Her hair was shoulder-length and covered her left eye. She smiled at me before excusing herself.
They had been quite bored with life in Aventine and wanted adventure, but never took the initiative. Before joining us, the girls had registered as adventurers and became excited at the prospect of seeing the world. I have no idea why Alicia would keep them secret from me; Veronica also knew about them and they had gotten close during the 2 month travel and also kept it secret from me.
The 30 girls were an early batch of Servilia high servants. They were still young and under-trained, but each had useful magecraft. Alicia had convinced Minervina to convince the Servilii family to sell them early. It was mostly a mixed bag, but some notable ones were 8 earth-types and 3 rune-types; there were no healers. They would need to undergo a lot of training to be useful.
Illyria and Cassia would be responsible to give servant training while I would give them magic training. Saya would be with me training the rune-types as I want as many magic chests and scrolls as possible. Her own training had been coming along and was able to make simple enchantments. I had her making basic magic scrolls, but it would quickly exhaust her.
To start off their training and to check off another item on my to-do list, I took the girls over to Minervina's carriage. She wanted air-conditioning installed and the girls would learn my method of enchantments; 2 stones 1 bird… or something like that.
I should really learn idioms.
I entered the carriage with the tools I used previously. Saya and the 3 high servants followed me inside, but the 3 girls seemed to keep their distance so as to not offend me. Saya, of course, was always next to me; close enough that we were always in physical contact. With my tools laid out, I explained my process.
“Okay, so the process is fairly simple, for me at least. Firstly, I measure out an area at the forward carriage wall and mark it with a pencil. Secondly, a chisel is used to make a recess that will hold the magic stones. Thirdly, scrapers are used to smooth out the recessed surface along with sandcloth. Fourthly, and yes I did add a -ly to that, a grid is marked that will indicate how the magic stones are laid out.
“Fifthly, once the magic stone positions are finalized, a stamp will be used for the enchantment or simply written out and fed the proper enchantment spell. Sixthly, the magic stones: 「Frost Stones」, 「Wind Stones」, and 「Mana Stones」 are attached with the use of slime-lacquer. Finally, the magic stones are covered up with a fancy art piece or whatever we have laying around, but since this carriage belongs to my wife, we should make it fancy.” as I finished, I noticed all the girls wore a confused look on their face.
I will just write down the instructions. Besides, I would have to spend all day on this anyway. The girls would follow the steps as I instruct them and I would just fix any mistakes made; the best way to learn is through a hands on approach, after all.
As the girls took turns working on the carriage wall, I laid out different sandcloths on the bench. The cloth material was either cotton, linen or hemp. The abrasives were made from powders of pumice, flint and gemstone dust such as garnet and corundum; no idea if diamond dust is a thing here, however. The abrasives were bonded to the cloth with slime-lacquer. It was then passed to the girl whose turn it is to work on the wall.
I think the girls understood my method, or at the very least knew what I intended. The enchantments had to be redone by me due to a few mistakes, but the installation was completed without issue.
It was obvious that each girl was mentally exhausted. We had spent the entire day on this project and we had only eaten a small meal for lunch. Minervina's carriage was locked up and stowed before we headed inside the crowded villa for dinner.
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『S-Day +171』
『Kuroba Base – Umbrii Estate』
The rune girls were given assignments.
In order to have a large stock for future use, they would learn how to create magic scrolls. This would also help me understand if they can make 《Earth Wall Scrolls》 without actually knowing the spell itself. The enchanted scroll was nothing more than words imbued with magic; really, it was closer to a talisman in function. So it would be amazing if the girls could mimic this with ease.
Once they are able to learn this, I can get them working on magic containers. While they were off practicing, I was testing out an idea of 「Mana Stone Dust」 inks. The idea was to mix 「Dye Stone」 pigments with the dust to form some kind of magic circuit. Though I was unable to make it work, it did show some potential; just not sure what, yet. The problem was that the mana would activate any spell as soon as it was written. On the other hand, I was able to discover that having a 「Mana Stone」 atop a scroll during the initial spell casting will have that scroll absorb the mana instead of the caster.
It took around 17 attempts each before the girls understood the hows and whys of scroll making. Next step would be for me to carve out woodblocks for stamping. The day ended the same as yesterday with each high servant was mentally exhausted.
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『Naoki's Bedroom – Late Night』
Alicia watched as her high servant Illyria sat cowgirl atop her sleeping husband. She, herself, was naked with cum leaking from her pussy and enjoying the bliss of post-orgasm. Next to Naoki was a sleeping Saya snuggled comfortably against him. While enjoying the view, Alicia heard a light rapping on the wooden door. She removed herself from the bed and headed toward the door.
The trek to the door was fraught with wobbled legs. Alicia leaned against the frame to keep her balanced as she revealed a young girl standing on the other side. A short-statured girl with short hair that covered her left eye.
“Good evening, Claudia.” Alicia greeted the girl.
“Salve, Alicia. Is it a bad time?” Claudia of the Caruii family returned the greeting while staring at Alicia's naked form.
Alicia swung the door wide open and invited Claudia inside, “I'll be honest, I expected Septima to be the first one to show up. Come on in, you can watch Illyria then you can have a turn.”
Claudia followed behind and stood at the foot of the bed. She watched, entranced, at the high servant vigorously working toward her orgasm while at the same time peeling away her clothes. Illyria stopped her movements as she arched her back; a wave of orgasm flowing through her. She then removed herself from Naoki and backed away toward the edge of the bed. Dribbles of semen leaked out of her raw, red cunt. Claudia's face burned with embarrassment at the lewdness. She watched as Illyria bobbed her head, sucking on Naoki's cock and sucking up as much semen as she could.
“Alright Illy, he's clean enough,” Alicia said to stop Illyria then looked over to Claudia, “Come, I'll give you a lesson in blowjobs and you can lose your virginity.”
Illyria left the bed and returned to the one she shared with Sidony, who was already asleep and curled up into her tail. Alicia instructed Claudia to first kiss Naoki to help her relax and feel more intimate with him. Satisfied, Claudia joined Alicia at Naoki's hip. Alicia demonstrated how to properly perform fellatio then offered Naoki's cock to Claudia. They then took turns taking him into their mouth until Claudia was ready to have sex. With encouragement from Alicia, Claudia mounted Naoki and guided him into her. She felt his cock splitting her and once she settled herself down, she felt a fullness she had never felt before.
“Good, now take your time. He wakes up in a few hours so you don't have to rush. When you finish, the servant outside the door will take care of you.” Alicia reassured Claudia, “Now, if you'll excuse me, I need some sleep. All this sex makes me exhausted.”
As Alicia fell asleep beside Naoki, Claudia continued penetrating herself with Naoki's cock. She enjoyed herself to the point of exhaustion and at the end, she felt Naoki twitching inside her cunt. And as it twitched, she felt a warmness spraying into her. Though her own orgasm never came, she still felt fulfilled.
She returned to her room content.
☘ ☘ ☘
『S-Day +174』
『Kuroba Base – Umbrii Estate』
The messenger I had been expecting finally arrived. Tomorrow, all the pertinent master crafters of Umbria will gather at the city amphitheater.