"You seem awfully cheerful today, sir." Zoe grinned, smoothing back her waves of dark curls. The originally blonde hair was dyed a new color to match her new identity, but her mismatched eyes still sparkled with mischief.
Faust grinned as he sank into his comfortable chair. The office of Professor Bishop was spacious, comfortable, and above all else, completely secured against enemy infiltration. It occupied an entire floor halfway up a tower in the corner of the Seaside Academy's campus, fortified with various arrays to protect the structure from any professor's wayward experimentation. Each floor was assigned to a different interim professor, so there was a lot of soundproofing to prevent bothering their colleagues.
He allowed himself to recline on the chair, propping his feet on an ottoman beneath his heavy work desk. A gentle evening breeze shook light curtains hanging loose over an open window, the shimmer of a protective soundproof array like a soapy film on the glass panes. "Well. My little disciple hates me."
"Eh? What did you do to cute little 44?!"
"Li Mei," Faust corrected, holding up a finger. "She definitely hates me. Her gaze has turned especially sharp! Maybe she's planning to kill me? Good choice, with the mythal limiting my ability. I wonder if she can sense my real strength, she was so cautious before..."
Zoe sighed, rubbing her temples. "And this makes you cheerful... Why? Sir?"
"I'll have to move up some plans to accommodate her. Hm... Have you got in touch with Doel?" Ignoring the curiosity of his subordinate, Faust pulled out a clean scroll and started scribbling away with a magitech pen. Words flowed with ease, long paragraphs appearing in the blink of an eye.
Puffing out her cheeks, Zoe turned her attention to the tablet in her hands. As someone who penned stories and poems as a hobby, she really envied and hated Faust's ease with the written word. "Yes, sir... He is awaiting your response to set a date. His tone isn't very cordial, but he's dealing with 'Professor Bishop' after all, so I suppose it can be understood."
"Mm." Faust tapped the magitech pen against his chin, then continued scribbling. "Her arm will be healed in a few weeks... The day before registration at the Academy should be fine, she won't try anything so long as I stay away. Can't kill me if she can't find me, after all."
"Sir... Why do you look so pleased about your impending murder..." Zoe muttered, shaking her head. She leaned over to glance at what he was writing, only to drop her tablet in surprise. It clattered to the ground, the noise surprisingly sharp in the sudden, deafening silence.
Faust merely smiled and put a finger to his lips, then continued writing.
[https://i.ibb.co/t8p9D1d/Divider.png]
Protection array, security array, signal array, shrouding array, mana gathering array.
Li Mei frowned as she sifted through the alerts listing the protections on her house, dismissing them along with the notices that their patterns were saved to the Archive. She was informed every time she entered or left an array even if it was her own home, though luckily the notification faded quickly so it didn't obscure her vision.
The descriptions of the active arrays were short. Simple but powerful effects, and nothing stating Faust could see or hear anything on the premises! Scan confirmed the magic on her wrist would only inform him if she was in danger, he couldn't use it to spy on her.
She used Mana Sight to look over her friends, checking for lingering enchantments or magic spy spells, but they were all clean.
'It's kind of irritating that he doesn't even consider any of us a threat... But it works out in my favor. More importantly...'
-----
[Spring Cleaning]
★☆☆☆☆
Your new house requires tender love and care before it's safely habitable.
Dust and ectoplasmic film coat every surface. Mold grows in the walls and between the floorboards. Mildew haunts every scrap of cloth. The entire place is unsanitary, living in such an environment can cause damage to the lungs and immune system.
Clean the whole building from top to bottom with your friends!
(Bonus): A house's exterior and yard is the first impression guests receive. Tend to the lawn and wash the outside of the house for an extra reward.
Time Limit: 3 days
Reward: 200 EXP + ?
-----
Ever since she cleared her debt with the Interface, Li Mei stopped receiving as many Quests. Her daily 0 star Quests continued as usual, but the ones with more stars dropped severely in frequency and EXP value compared to before.
It was really disheartening!
'I miss getting thousands of EXP as rewards, even if it was eaten right up by the debt...' Li Mei sighed to herself. 'So the Interface forced an upgrade to save my life, put me into debt for it, but definitely helped me get out of debt again using copious amounts of Quests with generous rewards. That seems a bit circuitous. Is Lina restricted by rules of her own? And then using loopholes in those rules to help me out anyway? Hehe. What a good girl she is.'
"All done!" Otto's excited voice interrupted her thoughts, accompanied by the heavy thud of a packed box hitting the ground. He wiped sweat off his brow with a previously clean sleeve, only to receive a scathing glare from Hana for his lack of decorum.
She took their etiquette lessons very seriously, after all. Her withering stare forced Otto to slowly pull a handkerchief out of a pocket and dab at his face with short, jerky movements before she'd look away.
Li Mei unloaded a bunch of things from storage, packing the small and dusty room to the brim. All she had left of their packed goods from the forest were plants, kept pristine by the storage stasis effect, and various personal effects such as chemicals and the jade data chips. Bao sneezed as the room filled with disturbed clouds of dust, backing back into the hallway with a displeased expression.
"Alright, before we get started. Otto, Hana, hold out your bank cards."
Once they extended the metal cards, Li Mei guided a very long thread of mana into each. They went from red to dull indigo, while the children's faces went from confused to very, very pale.
"Boss... Miss Mei, what... What color is this?" Otto asked, his hands trembling.
"Indigo."
"Indigo..." The last vestige of color left Otto's face. He wobbled in place, the hand holding his bank card shaking violently. "That's... The lady said... That's more than 15000 mana, isn't it?"
"Technically." Li Mei waved a hand. She only gave them 300 mana each, but it translated to around 15000 in the bank card thanks to her mana quality. "From now on, bring me your bank card every morning. You're working for me, so I'll be paying you appropriately now that we're not in the forest. That money is yours to do as you wish. If you use it to purchase supplies for the house, make a note of how much you spend and I'll reimburse you. Bao, you don't have a bank card since those people suck and won't serve Fera, so I'll pay you in whatever you like. Cores, meat, purple apples... If you ever want anything, just let me know."
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The Fera's eyes lit up at the mention of his favorite food. He pranced in place, nodding vigorously to show his assent.
Just to be safe, she prepared three simple Contracts for them to sign. Follow simple orders such as for errands or during combat so long as she wasn't intentionally putting their lives in danger, do housework, handle everyday affairs and keep her secrets in exchange for protection and payment. In the event they ever wanted to leave her service, they'd be required to sign another Contract agreeing to never share her secrets or information with others. Any money or goods they earn and save up until that point was wholly theirs.
"Basically, if you want to save a bunch of money then go live comfortably somewhere else, that's completely fine." Li Mei grinned. As much as she appreciated their help and enjoyed their company, if they ever wanted to pursue their own happiness she'd support them in any way she could. "Now, clean up a room to sleep in for the night! We'll start on the rest of the house tomorrow."
While Hana and Otto got to work choosing a room to clean, Li Mei pulled paper out of a box and opened her map, positioning the Interface screen over the paper and changing its scaling with a pinch of her fingers. She copied down the basic map details twice, drawing out a clear route from their new house to the bank, and then to various shops of interest in the high end market street. 'I want to check out the poor side of this city, but... It'll have to wait until my arm isn't broken. It'd be a pain trying to hide such a big weakness when I already look so weak and cute. And I want those kids to develop some independence, so I'll...'
Once the maps were done, Li Mei followed the sounds of mayhem to find Otto and Hana covered in thick layers of greasy dust, fighting valiantly against a filthy floor with plain dry hand cloths. They chose a sitting room with several couches, and hadn't pushed the furniture aside or rolled up the musty rug or anything!
She bit her cheek to keep from laughing out loud. 'Oh no. In the forest our furniture was mostly stone, and we took care of what we had so it rarely got dirty. They've never had to seriously clean anything other than dishes or clothes before!'
Li Mei sifted around in her storage, and through some of the packed boxes retrieved from the traveling cottage. She grabbed a lantern with plenty of petroleum fuel sitting in its base, a bottle of water, and a small jar of table salt.
Dismantle allowed her to break materials down into finer components. It could be as simple as turning a corpse into several chunks of edible meat with the inedible parts set aside, or as complex as separating atoms on the molecular level. The bigger the state change, such as turning frozen juice into a collection of atoms in gaseous clusters, the more mana was required.
Synthesize then allowed her to take those components and fuse them into other materials. Again, the bigger the change, the more mana it cost.
'Someday, I wonder if I can combine the functions of Dismantle and Synthesize into one spell?' Li Mei thought to herself as she broke her gathered materials down. She paused for a minute to circulate mana, recovering lost stores since her reserve was running low, before activating Synthesize.
Carbon from petroleum, sodium from salt, hydrogen and oxygen from water, combined into NaHCO3 - sodium bicarbonate, commonly known as baking soda.
"Shame we don't have any vinegar, or lemon, or scrubbing sponges..." Li Mei muttered as she created a barrier, shaped it into a bowl, filled it with hot water from the somehow functional kitchen faucet, then mixed in a small amount of baking soda. She carried it with her good hand into the room where the terrible battle was being fought, setting it on a table near the door. "Alright you two, I'm gonna teach you how to get rid of grease and clean properly. Take off your nice coats and push up your sleeves! Hana, let me show you how to pin up your hair first."
The flurry of activity was renewed, and they spent a little over an hour moving furniture to the corner and scrubbing the walls and floors so they could lay down blankets and sleep together in a comfortable pile.
Early the next morning, they ate a quick breakfast using mostly snacks and raw vegetables from Li Mei's storage. The kitchen wasn't clean yet, and Li Mei refused to let the others cook a meal in such a nasty environment. While they were eating, she considered tasks for the day and made a plan for tackling the Quest of cleaning a formerly haunted house.
Li Mei couldn't be seen doing chores herself, the eyes of passerby were sharp and she was a young noble, so she assigned Otto to landscaping duties. When he learned he'd be tending the garden, the pure delight shining in his eyes probably could have powered an entire city for a month. Blinded by the light, Li Mei gave him one of the hand-drawn maps and pointed out a store she thought might have tools for sale.
"You won't be gardening yet! First you need the appropriate tools, and some work clothes. Your task for today is to go familiarize yourself with the shops and surrounding area. See what goods are for sale, and the prices. Pay attention to how other customers act and speak, especially the attendants of nobility! We had to do it ourselves yesterday so now it's your turn. Be home before sunset, and if you lose your bank card I'll let Hana punish you."
Otto scurried off with the bank card carefully tucked inside his clothes, a panicked expression on his face. Li Mei chuckled, then turned to Bao. "Can you go with him? Make sure he doesn't get into trouble. We'll stay in the house and clean up until you both get back."
Bao scoffed, pressing his muzzle to Li Mei's cheek in a gentle gesture before he left to follow Otto. In their entire group, even including young little Hana, Otto was the weakest in combat and most likely to mess up due to his lack of confidence and general cowardice enhanced by a naturally mild personality. The Fera could sense protective barriers around the house, so he didn't worry about leaving Hana and Li Mei to themselves for a day while keeping an eye on their gentle friend.
"I'll be counting on you today, Hana," Li Mei said.
The little girl nodded seriously, clenching her fists as though she'd been waiting her entire life to hear those very words. She pinned her hair with wooden sticks like she'd been taught the night before, and pushed up her sleeves in readiness.
[https://i.ibb.co/t8p9D1d/Divider.png]
"There's so many people..." Otto whispered, walking closer to Bao. The Fera's calm demeanor, along with his sturdy body, made the boy feel more at ease even with all the stranger's eyes turned his way.
At the Oriole facility he was raised in, everyone moved with a purpose. To classes, to training, to labs, to the cafeteria, to bed. Entertainment and luxury wasn't really something they allowed even for the higher ranking officers, and was a concept Li Mei had to explain many times over before Otto understood.
But in the city of Ashwick, things were a much slower pace. There were more people than he'd ever seen at any one time in any one place! Some rushed about in a hurry, while others dawdled and paused at every opportunity to chat. There were no vicious monsters hiding in the shadows, no poisonous plants underfoot, no yelling drill instructors or strict schedules to keep.
Without a schedule, Otto felt lost. He glanced at the map in his hands, memorizing the clean lines and carefully marked buildings. Thanks to training from Faust, memorization of information was something all four of them could do easily.
Well, Li Mei was good at memorizing things from the start, though...
Otto sighed, turning his gaze to the clear skies. He was so excited to get a Core and be more useful to the little Boss, but in the end all he got was a weak puppet skill. Li Mei insisted it was a good one, but he couldn't help feel his already feeble confidence shaking a bit more. "Hana has fire creation and control. Boss has those scary strong barriers that she shapes and molds. Bao is Bao. All of them can fight, too! And I... I make toys, and cook meals. That's about par, isn't it?"
Bao glanced at the boy from the corner of his eyes, then snorted. A weak boy indeed, but mostly in the spirit. The Fera tilted his head, then grabbed onto the back of Otto's coat with his sharp teeth.
Despite Otto's surprised flailing and embarrassed protests, Bao dragged him through dense crowds all the way to the main market street, dropping him in front of the restaurant Li Mei chose the day before. While Otto scrambled to his feet, Bao grabbed a rock from the ground and held it between two claws.
The restaurant had the nicest smells coming from its kitchen, the servers were friendly and professional, and the environment was clean. Bao nudged Otto's shoulder, nodding to the door. Taking the hint, Otto followed him inside.
The waitress who led them to a table didn't pause or stutter upon seeing a Fera taking the lead. Instead, she gracefully led them to a wide table, replacing two chairs with cushions on one side so Bao could kneel beside the table in comfort.
She recited the menu, took their orders, then left after bowing respectfully to both of them. Otto blushed from all the attention, staring with interest at the clean table surface to avoid meeting the gaze of other patrons. Though delicious aromas permeated the air and curiosity burned within at the thought of what everyone might be eating, he couldn't bring himself to look around.
Bao sighed, tapping his claws against the table to get Otto's attention. Once the boy hesitantly looked up, the Fera met his gaze then pointed his claws to the customers enjoying their meals.
At one table, a large and wealthy family was enjoying their breakfast. Cheerful smiles and laughter were abundant. At another table, two people ate in amicable silence, sharing heated glances over a shared plate. Several children pooled their allowances to have a plate of fruit in a far corner, the oldest cutting small pieces for the little ones to eat easily. A young lady sat by herself at a small table, scribbling away in a book as she paused to enjoy a towering dessert between paragraphs.
Bao used his claws to write words in the rock he picked up outside, sliding it across the table for Otto.
The writing was small, cramped and messy as it was carved with clawed feet, but the words etched into both sides were still legible. 'Food is strength. Good food is happiness. Making good food is making strength and happiness.'
Otto smiled, clutching the rock tightly in his fist. For some reason, he felt a gentle warmth spreading from within the awkwardly carved stone. "Thanks, Bao."