After a few discussions we have the general care plan for the whole army of kids worked out. Sister Annette takes over with the whole organization. Under her are all caretakers except Katie. Katie will be still our head maid and train the most able for the specific tasks.
We now have twelve older teens dedicated for the Kitchen… well, 11 and a half, the one kid is a bit younger and dedicated to keeping the kitchen clean. While I am not sure about it, the child itself was happy about it, as it is somehow her passion to clean and learn to cook. So an apprentice? As long as that pipsqueak is happy… Next area.
Eight Maids for sweeping duty of the stairs and floors, while also keeping the sheets of the beds and tablecloths clean by changing and washing them. Why only girls was answered with ‘a duty of being a Maid, boys are not allowed’… How sexist? I just keep it as is, as this World has really strange thoughts about genders… when in Rome… Next area.
I never thought about Servants… Everything that needs hauling, transport, inventory management, repairs and dozens of other things are for those guys. Heavy workforce and greeting Guests. Twelve Teens and Kids in training, eight boys, four girls. I especially forbade any training or even thinking of needing to attend beds or anything other in that regards. We are not a brothel. Luckily Katie was with me in this, as she came from a former Fief which did not like that too. Their reasoning was more iffy, as they do not wanted bastard sons… Well now they had an infighting with their official sons as she told me earlier of the poisoning. Maybe if they were more humane… whatever. Next area.
Gardeners… Nope! We got one, and should not be disturbed. And our flowers can tend to themselves mostly. I might need to tell them about him someday, to not shock them too much, when there comes a time, but right now there is no way I will let someone else tend to the two gardens. Yes, he even tends now the greenhouse as he suddenly just walked over. The monsters leave him now alone, after tasting the strong acid he has as blood. I told the Monsters to leave him alone, but nooo… Next area.
Farmers. All over the age of 11, that still have no job. At first I thought of only over 14 but those were only seven more… So I had to go down and was even encouraged to let them create their own destiny… I am torn… Well fifty three new Farmers it is.
Eighty five now have a job so now there are fewer children right? WRONG! We still have a hundred and sixty three! Only five Caretaker and one head Maid is really low, but they need to keep them in line, good luck!
The Children themselves have their own giant bath and shower place, dining area, sleeping floor, school corner and at first I thought of giving them a dedicated playpen but then Snow was nagging, that we already have one, and forced me to make a direct way to her Floor.
Annette and the others were shocked by my dedication, but they all said I need to be responsible. Now I am, and they are surprised! What do they want?
“We thought of shelter and food. A bit of work to keep them occupied but this… The bath is huge and they can even play in the water with each other, no wonder we are surprised!”
Okay, the Bath is a pool. Not chlorinated, but automatically pumping water up and letting it flow down the drains through the channels for the Labyrinth and the Greenhouse. THIS time I have learned to create a pump which does not massively infuse the water with Mana, but the groundwater itself under the crater is already tainted beyond repair, so… Mana swimming pool… yay… At least no bacteria can survive long inside.
…
The Merchants should come today at evening, but I noticed the Amulet coming near and then directly returning from where they came from. Stampede is growing, huh? Well while I have some work in teleportation in the works I can go out for a day or two.
‘Snow, can you come to me into my Laboratory? We seem to need to go to Halk one last time for a while. Oh, take the Mouse with you, I am switching back to another body.’
“Okay!”
Where she was, was easily found. Obviously playing with the children. She loves to make this her free time activity. As long as she is happy, the whole wrangling of all the little ones is worth it.
“What do you need Null? We are going out? And what is that?”
“That? Oh the first prototype of a Teleporter. Well it does not teleport it displaces space, but same thing.”
“Can I try?”
“Um… no?”
“Why not? Looks fun!”
“Because it is still dangerous? I tested it for now, but we do not know if it works like intended. I will use it and then see.”
“And why are you allowed and I am not? Oh, and why are you running around as BB?”
“She is expendable. I need to see how it works now. Afterwards we go to Halk bringing them some Veggies and afterwards we lay completely low.”
“Why are we laying low?”
“Snow… Orphanage? Raid? Kidnapping of hundreds of Children?”
“Oh… yeah… he he!”
Scratching your head and putting out your tongue does nothing to me you ditsy, little… adorable rat… Well I can not stay angry anyways. Now the test.
Standing on the left Teleporter I scrutinize it for defects. Two rings are stacked onto each other and between them a strong concentration of darkness Miasma with an intent especially manufactured for this test. The platform I stand on is held in the middle by the inner ring and the outer ring is ready for spinning.
“And ignition.”
The outer ring spins sideways three hundred sixty degrees and envelops me with a bubble of darkness. The bubble fluctuates and afterwards pops and I…
“You are still standing on the same platform Null.”
“Yup! Is a sad truth for the Teleporter to only work if you are on the platform once when it is active. Wait for it…”
Going to the right Teleporter I scrutinize it the same and activate it. The sphere envelops me and with a pop…
“It worked Null! You are on the other Platform! Can I do it now?”
Seems to work. No dizziness or discomfort. The body is not torn to shreds or suddenly in a whole different dimension. All the organs are where they should be and I do not turn into some gigantic fly… Nice, it works!
“As I already said, no! Give me at least a few weeks to see if something goes wrong with anything. I do not want to search you between the Dimensions if something happens.”
“Aw…”
Well she is sad, but we can maybe work out some transportation system with them. No one can use them anyways when they did not have been to another one of them. Strange limitation, but seems to have to do something with the spirit being there at least once? That will make the way to transfer back to the other World more difficult. I need more Information!
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
…
“Seventy three!”
“Eighty one, ha you are going to lose Null!”
While going to Halk we get attacked incessantly. When Snow started to count her take downs I started too, now we have made it a game somehow. Still It is annoying to be attacked over and over. Luckily they are just single ones and not some kind of tide, still how many Monster does this Forest hold? There are just about 2,000 km² space. Are they stacking themselves somewhere?
Finally we are out of the Forest, but the stragglers still followed us. When we are close to the Town of Halk the doors are closed and seem to be bolted shut. No way but to go around to the other entrance.
After the last one of the Monsters was killed we knock on the South Gate. No North gate exists, as the Mountain is thoroughly ignored. I mean not all of it is filled with fungal growth or is it? Whatever, maybe I look someday into it.
The door opens and we go in. Afterwards the Door gets closed right away.
“Why are you coming from the south? Are you crazy? Use the East gate next time!”
“Well we came from the Forest, so the nearest was already nailed shut.”
“You WHAT?!”
“Sir Ava! I see you are safe. Why did you come?”
Do I know that Guard? Huh… not really, but I think I saw him once or twice.
“You know that lunatic?”
“Be quiet if you want to keep your head. He is affiliated with the Peddler King and working with Blue Ice.”
“I am sorry Sir. I hope you are fine and have no injuries?”
Wow, one eighty in half a second! That might be some record.
“We are fine. Just passing through, before going home.”
“Sure Sir, tell us if you need something. Otherwise we wish you a nice visit in our humble Town.”
…
“Lord Null? We are sorry, but if you want to ask of our transport, the possibility to bring you wares is right now not possible, as…”
“I know. Stampede is raging. Needed to cut my way through, I did not even had a time to loot. Is Rendlar in?”
“Of course, please wait in the resting area, we will bring you tea…”
“And Cookies!”
“...and Cookies.”
It did not take a long time and Rendlar was already there. Seems like sadly Elane also is with him.
“Lord Null, I am sorry, but…”
“I know! Stampede is imminent. We are just here to bring some last produce. Might be a long time before you have the opportunity to come again.”
“That is wonderful! Some of our customers do not care about the shortage and demand some or pressure us with sanctions. While we always can blame the stampede, they do not want to hear it, as they live cozy in the inland.”
“How about just hunkering down and letting the Monster run through?”
“We could not just…”
“It was a joke Elane. Do not be so uptight.”
“So, where is the Produce?”
“Non… Um… We will talk about that with Rendlar in private please. For now I would like to ask you, why are you here?”
“Ah, yes. A few days ago we got a wanted call for two people with identical names and similar stature of you and your Sister. We would like to ask about that.”
“What? Let me guess, must be Malek? I already got that damn Orphanage in paying me restitution for defaming me! What did they say now? Did we somehow set fire to it, while we are already long gone or did we steal their underwear?”
“Huh? There was a request for you to be found and asked to come to Malek if possible. The talk was about the Orphanage but… what is that about the Orphanage and you?”
I told her about the meeting where we donated three large Gold and even asked to take some Children from them to have a lesser burden, as I needed light workers for just washing and a bit of sorting the Vegetables to store them easier for the transport. They got greedy and tried to frame us by saying we burgled the Orphanage, but had unbeknownst to them helped out with Soup for the poor having Guards as witnesses.
The fine for defaming us was massive and now I believe just they want to get back at us again to get the Money somehow back.
“Interesting. I cannot tell you the whole details but children were Kidnapped. All of them and while this event had unveiled corruption inside the Orphanage, the Children are still not found. Do you know anything about them?”
“Even if I would, do you think I would tell them anything, when they are that corrupt in that Orphanage?” sigh “Just to be official, we left the City right after the disaster. I do not care about their problems and I do not want to go back to a City, where we got incarcerated for something we never could have done, right after helping out the poor AND donating to the greedy Orphanage, which put us on trial. I would have a bad taste in my Mouth going back there again.”
While she is a bit taken back Elane seems to sympathize with me.
“I understand. We from Blue Ice will tell them we met you and asked you about it and that will be your answer. Although I do not think they will look too far into it, but we will stay neutral to the happenings for now and do not tell your official residence.”
Yeah, Blue Ice wants more profit before selling me out. I told about a large transport of Vegetables, so they smell money. At least they are docile as long as the money flows.
“Anything else?”
“No, please excuse me. I will now send the Message. Please stay safe, the Stampede is getting real close, they might not even wait for the Winter to end, like always.”
Like always? So there is something messing with the natural timeline. What could it be?
“Thank you. Please be safe yourself, the whole Forest is filled with Monsters.”
“I will try. ...not everyone is a monster like you two…”
The last was mumbled after the door was closed. I bet she did not think I could hear her. Sadly I did, but I do not even care about her description of me. Finally we are alone.
“Did something serious happen in Malek? I can not help much, but I have some connections still.”
“No thank you. The Orphanage was corrupt anyways. Let us just say the Children are having it better right now anyways.”
“Wait, did you…”
“Better not ask, what should not be asked. The real question is what is with the Merchants in Malek? Someone wanted to visit me for a direct sell of the Vegetables without you in the frame. Do you need help?”
“I heard of it. I am glad you trust me enough to stay on my side. Right now there is some bad Blood in the whole franchise. King is rarely seen in the office anymore and many believe him to be sick. Some think of many different schemes in such troubling time.”
“Are they stupid? What if he just fakes it to see who is working behind the scene? That is a dangerous gamble.”
“While it is possible, risks are always a necessity in our line of job. Somehow I am glad to be that far away from the whole chaos. Sadly this means in a while we will not be able to use the connection with Malek anymore and sell it from here. Many have already traced the distribution route back to the Northwest anyway. Blue Ice is subtly flaunting their Mana intense Vegetables, while not buying from Malek. Simple Idiots.”
“True. Do you have an empty and foremost secure storage? We have about four tons of Produce with us. Hope this will be enough for a while.”
“Four T…! That is way more than enough! We have to pay with Mithril directly. So much Gold do we not have right now.”
“Would be fine. I would love to talk more and buy things, but we are right now in a real hurry and need to leave as fast as possible.”
“You need to? Well please come with me.”
…
The shock of Rendlars face, when Snow just threw tons of Vegetables out of her Shadow was priceless. We made him promise to not tell anyone, and as trustworthy he is right now, he seems to be able to keep it.
Right now we are in a hurry back.
“Why do we need to leave like that? Could we have at least not ate something before we leave? How about shopping?”
“Sorry Snow, next time. We need to hurry!”
“Why?”
“We are under attack at the Crater!”