Ashley slept well knowing that the two children who had called her ugly and looked down on them for taking elven forms had been paid back in full with interest for their snotty attitudes.
'That's what you shitheads get for thinking you're better than others.... ah... it's kids like you that need to be removed from this world. And your parents are no different. Samantha told me what they were thinking, but I could already tell. They were trying to use us... charging us double prices because of some sort of prejudice... tsk tsk...'
'Well, not that I particularly care about the prejudice. But their mistake was being prejudiced towards US. Heh heh... Ah... I kinda want to watch that movie again... the scene where the man was trying to shove the door open but lacked the strength to... it was beautiful watching that...isn't that how life is? No matter how hard you try, you can't get into the one place you need to be... you can't save the person you want to save.... and if you try to force your way in, you meet a knife in your neck. I wonder what that woman is doing right now? Heh heh... I knew she was a good person... yes.... she understands better than any of these regular people.... we still have to be careful of her, but we can use her insanity. She isn't different from us. We are one and the same.'
After each taking a shift during the nightwatch, the antiheroes all rose early. Being a dictator was hard work, and they couldn't afford to waste even a moment sleeping in.
Samantha was the last one on watch, and one by one she shook each of the others awake.
She leaned over to Trevor's ear and whispered into it.
"Wake up... the stock prices are about to fall... you had better sell quick or you'll lose a lot..."
Trevor jerked up.
"WHAT!?! How could they fall?! I predicted that they would continue to rise for another 3 days!!"
Trevor looked around confused to see Samantha smiling and laughing.
"Ah... you sure are a real piece of work. Scared of being wrong or something?"
"You certainly have an odd sense of humor, woman."
The other two were slowly getting up as well from their sleep after hearing Trevor make such a ruckus.
"Uggggggg"
"Grrrr...."
"Come on you slackers. If we don't get out there early and seize the opportunities of this day, we won't be able to maximize efficiency.", Trevor said, swiftly getting up and ready.
"Yeah yeah... gimme a sec", Garett said while slapping around trying to find a place to hold onto in order to get up.
"The first thing we should do is get back to the Dictatorship and check up on everything. We need to design and build a dungeon area to contain and entertain that woman so that we can hire her... it's a bit optimistic to do all this before actually confirming that the investment is worth it, however we will need a dungeon area either way if we are to function as a country. Gary, this is your responsibility."
"And we need refrigerators for the meat. Lots of em.", Ashley noted while licking her lips thinking about that woman's cooking.
"Heh heh.... if it was anyone but us they would call you creepy, Ally.", Garett joked.
"But it's just us, so I'm good right?"
"I suppose so."
Trevor used the fast travel ability to teleport the four back to the throne room, where Coran and Berith were standing near the thrones waiting for the arrival of any guests, however they did not expect the antiheroes to appear.
They were of course armed in the steel thread armor and Coran had his bow on his back and his blowdart at his side, whereas both Coran and Berith bore their spiked armaments on each of their spiderlike limbs. They both looked delighted and concerned to see the antiheroes.
"Your excellencies? Is something the matter? You have returned much earlier than expected. Is your mission already completed?", Coran asked in a grating voice.
"Not quite... we have come back to take care of a few things before heading back out. Please continue to perform your role as if we were not here."
Coran of course did not want to ignore his master, but he willingly obeyed with a "I understand", and continued standing on guard.
The group of antiheroes made their way to the first floor where Garett begun digging.
He used a drilling tool which changed size based on the task, which he had unlocked when leveling up his handiwork skill, and before they could even blink an entire stairway and basement had been dug out underneath the giant heart which made up the building.
Following this, the party then made their way to the quarry area where they loaded up multiple carts of materials, while ordering the goblin workers to assist them. The materials were transported back to the area and the foundations for the basement were laid.
Now, if this were a regular building this would have caused collapse, however the building was actually supported by the ribcage on all sides of it, and so there was no need to worry about that.
After obtaining the materials and transporting back and forth, the foundation for the dungeon was laid.
The group then went to the metal processing sector and along with Iotar, Garett molded many metal gates and bars which were fit for a prison. The bars were twisted around in a spiral pattern like licorice, and quickly many of the gates and cages were formed.
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These were then also loaded onto carts before being transported to the dungeon, where they were installed. Of course, the goblins were the ones to do the heavy labor here.
Next, there were the tools.
The antiheroes had temporarily set up a kitchen in a storage room near the throne room, however with the help of some goblin workers they soon relocated and redesigned the lower level to have an even more extravagant and ghoulish kitchen- one that was chilling and filled with tools of torture and ghastly designed plates and silverware.
Finally, another large room was excavated. Garett used his craftsman skills to build a giant refrigeration area- one large enough that hundreds if not thousands of bodies could be stored in.
"Ah.... it's beautiful...", Ashley said while gazing at the grim and dark dungeon, filled with cages, tools of torture, and not a beam of light to illuminate the location, as if she were a girl staring at a diamond ring.
"This is.... I'll call it my present for you. Heh heh....", Garett crackled. "But it isn't completed yet. We still have the centerpiece to arrange in it."
"We certainly have worked hard to provide a satisfactory workplace for that woman. I hope she appreciates it.", Trevor noted while chuckling.
"If she doesn't then perhaps we will simply subject her to its use?", Garett suggested.
The antiheroes simply laughed.
The entire day had passed. While it was true that they had gotten a lot of work done, they were now one day closer to the attack on the fishmen village.
"I assume the Determined has already left for the fishmen village? She hasn't contacted us back. I hope everything is going alright.", Samantha pondered.
"Ah, she left right before you all arrived. She seemed to be psyching herself up to leave... something about... 'It better not be some weird place again'. I'm not sure what she meant by that though.", Coran noted.
"I see. Thank you, Coran.", Trevor stated.
"Well then, we had better head back over to put on a show... it might take a real performance to get that crazy woman to come over to our state...", Garett stated.
"Indeed. I have been considering that for quite a while now. Just what are we going to do to convince her... I have a few ideas..."
"I'll follow up with whatever I can using my mind-reading, but in the worst case I could just mind control her."
"That's true, however as you said, there is no point in simply mind controlling people if we're not in a pinch. We don't want to hire people who are merely empty shells, incapable of thought. Furthermore, we haven't tested whether there is a time limitation or a distance limitation, and we don't exactly want to find out because we tried to mind control some psycho and then all of a sudden they're running loose in the dictatorship.", Trevor responded.
The others agreed, and looked at each other after checking their surroundings one last time.
"Well then... are you all ready to go?", Garett asked.
The other three nodded and Trevor used fast travel to bring the three to the farmers hut from before.
It was time for Trevor to put on a presentation with the audience being someone who had lost her mind.
----
Coran returned to his duty on standby in the throne room.
He turned to his sister, who was also diligently waiting to see if any reports came up. The other members of the punishment force treated him like a king since he was the chosen one of the antiheroes to lead the Dictatorship in the absence of the Determined and themselves.
It was the highest obtainable ranking within the Dictatorship.
How truly fortunate Coran had been to stumble upon something like this.
"You know Berith, every time I see our masters I think that they have become more and more impressive. It's like they are continuously breaking their own bounds. I sometimes wonder just how far they will go in this world... just look around. Who else could create such a fortress like this in only a few weeks? Who else could unite all these intelligent monsters under one banner? Only their excellencies."
"I agree. Do you want to know what I think about them?"
"Hm?"
"I think they truly have what it takes to defeat the monster kings and take over the world as the new demon lords. How wonderful it is that we came under them before that happens.", Berith said in a slithering tone.
"Given what they have achieved thus far, and how overwhelmingly powerful they are, I don't doubt that in the least."
The two remained standing by the thrones as the three birdmen marched in through the sinisterly designed front doors.
"Sir Coran, Lady Berith, we have completed patrol around the wall as you ordered. Hiru, Arlo and Oraguth along with Rithargus are posted at each of the four cardinal posts, and there are no signs of abnormalities."
It was Yirald who said this.
"Very well... then, allow me to show you three to a position which their excellencies themselves assigned to the punishment force. Since you three are members in training, it is only natural that you are shown the ropes. Berith, remain here in the case of any reports. I will show these three to their primary post."
Coran walked forward, beckoning the three birdmen to follow him down the stairs and into one of the side rooms inside the central building.
The walls to the room were made of bones which were locked into each other like a jigsaw puzzle.
On opening the door, which had the joints of knee bones as hinges, an ectoplasmic fluid covered the entire interior walls of the room, including the walkway.
On getting closer to the entrance, the ectoplasm retracted, providing an entrance almost like an automatic door.
"What's wrong? Get in here if you all don't want to be deemed as useless."
The three hurried inside the room despite being clearly disgusted and concerned. As they entered, the ectoplasmic fluid once more covered up the entrance.
"This is the viewing chamber, created by his excellency, Gary himself. Apparently that is not his real name, but that is what he said he will be going by."
Coran walked over to where a control pad was, which was also made of an ectoplasmic gel, and pressed a power button. The ectoplasm on the walls lit up like a screen, and surrounding the group was a complete 360 degree view composed from the collective image of every single camera instilled into an eyeball on the wall. From this room, they could see anyone approaching the dictatorship from miles away.
Not only that, but when they looked onto the floor they saw an above view of the entire dictatorship, which looked like a map off of google earth. This map was produced after Ashley used an ability called [Spiritual Infusion] to place a spirit inside each of the blocks on the walkways throughout the city. Combined with Garett's crafting skills, they were able to have each spirit float above the coordinates of their respective blocks and create a camera like image for them to have an above view of everything going on.
Yirald was shaken at seeing this room. He had never seen anything like this before, but it only confirmed once again just how overarching these beings were.
They saw everything.
There was nothing that could be hidden from them.
"Your jobs are simply to keep watch over the city, and report any abnormalities to me immediately... ah yes, here. Take this."
Coran handed Yirald something that looked like a withered branch, curved into an arc with a padding on one end and another withered branch connected to the other, with a smaller piece of foam at the end of this one.
It was a pair of headphones with a mic attached- dictator style.
"What is this? What do I do with it?"
Coran pointed to the piece of foam in his ear.
"You... put this on like this...", Coran said while placing it on the head of Yirald. "And whenever you speak, I can hear everything you say. This is another one of his excellency's contraptions."
'It's like he can make anything', Fergo thought. Fergo was the intellectual among the birdmen, and he had never seen anyone be able to make such contraptions, even with magic. That being said, the birdmen were not exactly an intuitive people. Fargo was the smartest one among the birdmen.
"Now then... I'll be getting back to my position. Don't mess up, or the antiheroes might decide to fire you from your positions as slaves."
The three gulped and nodded before Coran left.
'What a terrible thought.... to be fired from our positions as slaves....who knows what cruel torture would await us? We absolutely cannot afford to mess this up...'