“Well, that was uncomfortable.” Lia said. “I don’t think I like this whole…aloof ruler thing.”
“You and me both.” Rose replied. “But sometimes a little theater is worth it; we needed to put proper respect into that guy, and this was the way to do it.”
“Are you sure we shouldn’t keep an eye on him and make sure he follows through?” Amelia asked.
“He technically didn’t do anything illegal, just scummy. We don’t have actual grounds to punish him unless we criminalize being unfaithful, so we’re not following through unless we stumble across him again, otherwise we would run into trouble with the gods because we’re abusing our station.” Lia explained.
“We could criminalize being unfaithful.” Amelia countered. “It’s a pretty awful thing to do, why not just…make it illegal?”
“Because that’s messy, open to abuse, and interferes too much with people’s private lives. I get the impression that it’s going to become much less of an issue now that everyone’s more open to polyamory, but if that doesn’t happen and it somehow becomes worse than before, maybe we can look into it. But only if it’s a serious issue.” Lia replied.
“Fine.” Amelia said, though she didn’t look very convinced. “But I bet you’re glad that’s out of the way.”
“Yeah.” Lia replied. “A small part of me was thinking that his behavior had to be exaggerated, but he really didn’t recognize me. I know I’m supposed to be dead, but we dated for months, that’s not an excuse to forget my face.”
“How did you ever get into a relationship with him in the first place?” Rose asked. “You strike me as a better judge of character than that.”
“He sweet-talked me, and only showed his true face after I died.” Lia said. “Though, he probably would have dumped me pretty soon anyway, looking back on it he was always pressuring me for sex and I didn’t even realize. It’s quite a far cry from some lovely women I know.”
“Connie’s right, you’re such a charmer sometimes.” Rose giggled.
“Is Connie this third girlfriend you were talking about?” Mia asked. “We were sort of interrupted.”
“Yes.” Lia said. “She’s an otherworlder who the gods chose to staff the Dimension of Discounts. We hit it off, and decided we’d give it a go.”
“Will we be able to see her?” Gwinn asked. “I’d like to at least meet my daughter’s girlfriend once.”
“We’re working to see if we can get her permission from the gods to come with us here.” Lia replied. “If that doesn’t pan out, I can just take you to the Dimension of Discounts, no big deal. Regardless of if she gets permissions or not, though, she won’t be able to give us much more help than she is now.”
“Good.” Mia said. “We’ll have to make sure she knows what the consequences will be if she plays with our daughter’s heart.”
Lia had to hold back a giggle at the thought of her parents disciplining a god. “Don’t be too rough on her.” She said. “She’s a bit shy about relationships in general, it seems like she has a bit of baggage with the subject.”
“I suppose we’ll go a little easy on her.” Mia said. “Did you need us for anything else?”
“I was actually hoping to speak with you for a bit.” Nailah said. She had changed out of the clothes she had been converted with, exchanging them for an ordinary shirt and some trousers. “Do you have time?”
“Of course.” Lia said. “Do the others need to be involved?”
“It’s probably best. Your parents are in charge of homeland security, right?”
“Yes.” Mia replied.
“They should probably be here for this discussion, then. We will also need the Minister of Finance and whoever is in charge of mapping and exploration.”
Lia nodded. “Mom, will you fetch Lily? And Mary, can you go find Ophelia? Dahlia and Camellia are out, so she’s our next best option. The rest of you are dismissed.”
Mia nodded and left the room, followed closely by Mary. The rest of the homeland security officers, save Gwinn, likewise left, and a few minutes later Mary and Mia returned with Lily and Ophelia.
“You had need of me, my Queen?” Lily asked.
“Yes. Nailah has something to say, and she wanted you here for it.” Lia explained. “Same for you, Ophelia.”
Nailah nodded. “I believe we should begin planning a road from here to Aura and the Glens.” She said. “Currently our only way of traveling back and forth is via Amelia’s teleport, and while it works for small things, it is unsustainable in the long term. If we want to truly start providing aid to our people, we need a way to transport goods and people traditionally.”
Lia turned to Amelia. “Can you create a stable portal to the Glens, like you did with the dungeon?” She asked.
“Not now.” Amelia said. “Not with my Hero power sealed. We could probably substitute it with Blood Money, but it would be quite expensive, and honestly, it’s only a patchwork solution. It’ll pretty quickly become a bottleneck when we have multiple countries’ worth of goods flowing through it, figuring out a way to expand our territory and tame the Spine will be better in the long run.”
“Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done.” Nailah replied. “We need a real plan if we want to make this route even remotely safe.”
“The main problem is that this road is going to have to accommodate merchants and other noncombatants.” Ophelia mused. “And I’m not sure there’s a way we can get around that. Even if we methodically hunt down every monster in the area, more will come in from other places or generate from the ambient mana. At the very least, though, we can probably make sure there are no extraordinarily powerful monsters in the area.”
“We will likely have to resort to discouraging regular traffic and sending periodic heavily guarded caravans.” Lily said. “But I would also suggest fortified rest stops roughly a day apart. Having somewhere safe to sleep will make the journey much more bearable.”
“I don’t think we have the manpower for that currently.” Mia said. “Those rest stops will require stable sources of food and water, people to maintain whatever wards we put on the building, scouts to make sure they keep abreast of what threats are in the area, and enough people to ward off said threats. That last one can be augmented by converted monsters, but I think we’re going to have trouble finding enough people who are willing to stay in such a dangerous place on any sort of long-term basis.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“I can probably deal with the food.” Rose volunteered. “I’ve been experimenting with crops, trying to increase the yield of crops without making them harder on the soil. That hasn’t been going as well as I would have liked, but I have managed to make some crops that, when nature magic is poured into them, will grow rapidly and convert themselves into nutrients for the soil while leaving behind two seeds, so you never run out of them.
“Though they are technically edible, they’re not really for eating, but as long as you have someone proficient in nature magic to guide their growth you can be harder on the soil with other crops if you periodically plant these seeds. I can’t do quite as much about the water issue, but I’m sure we can dig wells or something, and with the aid of a water mage we should be fine.”
“Before that, though, how are we planning to build these rest stops?” Nailah asked. “We run into the same issues there when transferring materials and protecting the builders.”
“I can help with that.” Amelia offered. “We don’t run into a sustainability issue with me teleporting people and materials to the sites we’re building these stops on, we’re just limited by how much Mana I have. And yes, I have a ton, but with this stupid binding and reduced stats from my conversion I don’t have enough to teleport a whole fort’s worth of stuff at once.”
“But we still need to make the road.” Lia pointed out. “It’ll probably be easier once we have rest stops up and running, but those are pointless if we don’t have an actual road.”
“Which is where I come in, I assume.” Ophelia said. “Chrys should be back tomorrow, so if we want, I can send that body back and work on making a map. I was gonna send it out to look for a cerberus anyway, and that direction is as good as any other.”
“You’re serious about that, then?” Nailah asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Of course I am!” Ophelia said. “I know you’d love it, and I’m sure Titania would too!”
“I definitely would.” Titania said. “It would be great to have a part of you that I could force to relax and make sure you’re not overworking yourself. From everything Ophelia’s told me, it seems like pure upside after you adjust to it.”
“Like I said, if you find one, I have no problems going through with it.”
Ophelia grinned. “My locator Skill is close to evolving, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to use it to find a cerberus. You’ll be like me before the month is out, mark my words.”
“B-back on topic, how detailed of a map do you think you can make?”
“Assuming I’ll be taking my time and roaming about a decently wide area for a better picture of things…a pretty detailed map. It’ll take months, probably, but I don’t think we need to rush this.”
“You don’t need to worry too much about being detailed.” Rose said. “Just give us a general lay of the land and your estimate of what the easiest route is, and we’ll send more people to fill in the details later. Once we have a general heading and an idea of the terrain we’re dealing with, we can begin making plans, so the faster we get it, the better.”
“That works too.” Ophelia said. “I’ll prioritize speed, then.”
“Thank you, Ophelia.” Rose said. “While she works, I believe it would be prudent to make a quarry, and set up some sort of tree farm, using the World Tree as a growth accelerator. We might also need to consider what sort of compensation we might offer people to live in dangerous conditions like this, because I doubt many people will volunteer for it.”
“I have been checking the maps that Dahlia and Camellia have made, and I have identified a couple of locations that might be suitable for a quarry.” Lily said. “We will need to send workers out to survey the locations, but it is a start. Likewise, cordoning off a section of this valley and growing trees there should not be a problem.”
“What about the composition of the roads?” Nailah asked. “Do you believe we have the capability to make proper roads the whole way, or will we have to make do with dirt paths?”
“That should be no issue whatsoever.” Lily said. “I’ve ordered several tests for roads, and modeling wax produced by burrowers that have eaten rocks makes a remarkably suitable material for them. If you would like, you can follow me, and I can show you…”
----------------------------------------
“It is good to be back!” Chrys said, pumping her fist once the disorientation of the teleport wore off. While she had been looking forward to the trip, it hadn’t been as nice as she had hoped. It wasn’t that the travel was too much exertion or was too boring, it was mostly because of Izumi.
She was just so…insistent. She always wanted to talk, and while she would stop for a while after Chrys asked her to, she would always come back with a different topic, only some of which Chrys was interested in. Admittedly, when the conversation did move to something Chrys liked, Izumi made a good conversation partner, but only then. The rest of the time, she came off as an annoyance.
A flirtatious annoyance, at that. It was a bit of an odd experience for Chrys, because she had never had anyone so openly try and make passes at her, but it also wasn’t an experience she fully disliked, either. It was surprisingly gratifying to know that someone found her attractive, that she wasn’t being looked at as simply a tool to gain political power.
Or…probably not being looked at as a tool to gain political power. She technically occupied a position of power, but she didn’t think Izumi much cared about that. Still, she didn’t think she was compatible with Izumi, so she’d have to let her down gently, make it clear that Chrys was not interested in being some harem member. If Izumi wanted Chrys, she would have to be content with either being part of a harem or being exclusive.
That would probably be enough to keep Izumi away from her. Izumi wasn’t shy about her desire to have a harem, something Chrys just couldn’t understand; it seemed like so much work to be in charge of it all, juggling the needs of multiple people who were only held together by a shared affection towards one person. In that sense, what her mother, Lia, and Amelia had was significantly better. There was no need for one person to be the glue that held the entire relationship together, it just…worked.
“I thought you liked being out and about?” Izumi asked. “Is it really that nice to be home?”
“Of course it is!” Chrys said. “Being away makes coming back all the sweeter. It’ll be nice to see my family again, sleep in my bed, eat my favorite meals…”
As she spoke, her mother emerged from the portal. “Chrys!” She said, racing forward and catching her in a hug. “How was it?”
Chrys struggled in her mother’s much stronger grip, eventually managing to get her head free of her mother’s chest. “A-air.” She wheezed.
“Rose, you have to remember that you’re…bigger than you used to be.” Lia said from somewhere behind Rose, a smirk audible in her tone. “You’re smothering her.”
“What? I…oh!” Rose pulled back, blushing fiercely. “Sorry about that.” She said embarrassedly. “I was just so happy to see you that I wasn’t thinking properly.”
“It’s fine, Mom.” Chrys said. “I’m happy to see you too.”
Rose gave Chrys an affectionate pat on the head and looked up at Ophelia. “Ophelia, thank you for escorting these two, we really appreciate it. Go make sure you give that body a good rest before you send it back out, okay?”
“Yes, Mistress.” Ophelia said. “I have already rested my other body up and am in the process of sending it out.”
“You’re way too eager for this.” Lia said, shaking her head in a bemused way.
“Of course I am! It’s only natural to want your best friend to have nice things, especially when she’s been depriving herself of them for so long. This is just so perfect for her, and I’m already looking forward to watching as she realizes just how nice it is.”
“What’s this about?” Chrys asked.
“I’m going to find a cerberus and make Nailah like me!” Ophelia said excitedly. “Then she’ll finally have time to do everything she wants to and relax!”
“Just don’t overwork yourself.” Lia said. “Take breaks, take care of that body.”
“I will!” Ophelia promised.
“We’ll be checking in on you every day.” Lia said sternly. “So don’t even think about pulling all-nighters or something.”
“I-I wasn’t going to.” Ophelia said, looking away.
Lia sighed. “Just…take care of yourself, alright? You’re always talking about how Nailah works herself too hard, and I’m not going to let you make the same mistake. That aside, Chrys, we’re going to have to borrow you for a bit. Go ahead and take a shower, nap if you need, but we need you after. It’s nothing bad, don’t worry, but it’s something we should get out of the way sooner rather than later.”
“Um…okay?” Chrys said. “I won’t need a nap, I’ll just go take a shower real quick and be ready.”
She gave her mom a quick hug, then hurried off towards her house. She had been able to take a quick bath in the village, but nothing quite beat out a proper shower. It’d have to be a quick one, she was dying to know what they needed to tell her, and she wouldn’t be able to properly relax until she did. But, whatever it was, they hadn’t told her via Ophelia, so it couldn’t be that big…right?