POV Mari
It hurts me to do this, but the truth is too dangerous to be revealed lightly, even to Chiyo. I minimised the straight out lies and simply didn't tell her anything beyond what she was allowed to see.
It is fantastical on its own and a little bit of embellishment helps in explaining our discovery and the reasons for keeping everything a closely guarded secret.
A very finite amount of healing water, that needs centuries of studying and protection, sounds much safer compared to, your sister is putting her life on the line fighting all-devouring monsters and exploring an alien planet. She must not find out more.
The shock factor of seeing the actual healing process must have dulled her reasoning a bit, as she didn't scrutinise the situation too much. It also helped that I needed to have father made presentable again. It provided Chiyo with another distraction and an excuse to send her away after we were done with the useless parents meeting.
Father has obediently provided me with a set of files and a contract, all related to the woman he has brought here.
If I thought that my mood couldn't get any worse, I would have been surely mistaken. It has once again become a situation in which I couldn't lash out at the ones causing me a headache, and I can't reach out to the dead, unfortunately.
'Even if I can see the logic and benefits behind this, it doesn't mean I have to like or accept it. Father deserves reprimanding and punishment, even if it's in name only. Haaa… Why must life be so complicated? This necessitates a meeting.'
The last people to respond to my emergency message, calling for a group meeting are Anna and Tai. We finally get all together in the evening, over dinner.
I can't find it in me to downplay the situation and present all the facts I have at hand to the group, holding nothing back. I've done much without any input from the others and I leave the judgement in their hands.
"Anna: I'm honestly conflicted. If you ask me to go down and tell the woman that healing her was a wrong thing to do, I'd probably slap you all the way to tomorrow. I know it's risky, and another unknown in our already complicated plans, but I'm just too weak to do that. I say we accept the contract if she wishes to follow it to the end."
Tai, Risa, Hana and Yumi, all agreed with that opinion, while Kate plays the devil's advocate.
"Kate: If you look at the facts, your father is quite ruthless in picking the best candidate. One proven to have a good character over her years under the company. One with strong feelings of loyalty, for the help in her darkest hour. One who has her children held hostage, if she'd ever think of betraying us."
I feel sick to the stomach hearing that, too ashamed to lift my head, too tired to voice anything in my defence. 'There are no defenses to begin with. Only the guilt.'
"Meiko: What Kate is trying to say, is that Miss Juliana has experience none of us has and is 100% safe to be trusted. This is the best of the worst situation we could possibly have on our hands."
Meiko is trying to put it into milder words. Though, I suspect that she is mostly happy to have another person dedicated to my protection.
It truly is the best of the worst, and everyone understands that this picture can't be painted in only black and white if you include morals in it. 'Kate has the most correct approach here, or impartial is more accurate. I still feel like the lowly trash myself for thinking so.'
"Kate: In conclusion, we have 7 votes in favour of agreeing to the presented contract. Mari has abstained due to the obvious reasons and … let's just say that Mr. Valentine is unavailable at the moment."
When the discussion started leaning towards accepting the contract, he had become increasingly erratic and unstable. Almost like a mad beast lashing out at the world. "Valentine: Slavery! This is Slavery! You demons dare!" It got to the point that Meiko had to gently knock him out.
'By the Gods! I can't even refute that. Are we no better in his eyes than the demons that tortured and experimented on him?'
I hate this doubt. I know that I have done a good thing by healing the woman and Juliana is fully aware of the danger and is still willing to help, out of her own free will. His accusing eyes and shouts still tear at my soul.
'He is wrong. For the sanity and wellbeing of us all, he must be made to be in the wrong.'
Time will show that he is wrong, I will make sure of that. Even if his words ring true at the moment, I will make damn sure that it isn't that way, as soon as humanly possible.
"Anna: Ahem. Right. It is decided then. It might be…safer, to let things cool down for a week or two before we ask him to add Miss Juliana to the system. I'm sure that she will need time to adjust and spend some time with her family, before risking her life again."
"Yumi: Hai! Hai! The new student councils also need some time to work through their workload and let us not forget that the term-end exams are creeping up on all of us. How about we three take charge of this, just like old times!"
"Tai: Mm, I agree, we need to slow down and forget about the extraordinary things for a while. Too many things are happening at once, we are stretching too thin … some of us may break from the stress."
We have all seen the problem, but there was little we could have done about it and even less now after what has happened.
"Kate: … `Sigh. A mini vacation, if you can call it that. We will gratefully accept your help. Right madam President Mari?"
"Mari: Yes. Thank you for your help."
The decision has been made.
Princess Mononoke - Mononoke Hime // Grissini Project
POV Valentine
I am scared for my life. The "all men are trash" stalwart believer is presenting a slavery contract for another woman like it is the most mundane thing in the world! And the rest are fucking agreeing?!
'They have gone mad! Insane! The Demonic Entity must have mind fucked them all! If THIS shit happens?! Then what about me!?!? The one she sees as a piece of absolute, third rate shit, that doesn't deserve to breathe the same air?!'
As soon as I regained consciousness, I scrambled to check if I was chained to a wall or locked in a smaller cage. 'Not like I can escape far from the HQ. Soon. Soon they will come, bringing a pretty collar for me. If they have no problem to enslave one of their own… what is there to stop them?' "Power corrupts absolutely."
"There is no running away. I must change, I must either get down to the sixth floor and gain power to protect myself or find a way to become indispensable… Yes. Play the obedient dog and bide some time. Hehehe… they don't know that I can relocate the whole HQ to another planet!! I just need 1M… mana and 1K Ep… It's hopeless, I will stay as a dog for a bit longer."
The cost for every little fucking thing is unbelievable!!! "IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED DEMON?!?!? SENDING ME HERE TO SUFFER?!? FUCK YOU!!! I WILL FUCKING GET TO YOU!!! ONE DAY!! I WILL GET TO YOU AND FUCK YOU TO DEATH!!!!"
I need options. I need more options. I must unlock everything, upgrade the system and find a way out. 'All the while obediently licking their feet.'
"I don't have a foot fetish! Fuck! The hell am I even thinking?! It's their fault! Making me massage their feet and all! I'm fucking blue balled here! Those inhuman demons! All of them! I'm stuck in a fucking young, hormonal body! I HAVE NEEDS AND LIMITS!!!"
There is only one place for me to vent my frustrations on, while being productive about it. The fucking DUNGEON.
It is the middle of the night, but I don't give a damn, I need physical relief and the second floor doesn't cut it anymore. I gear up for the third floor, this time going full stealth. 'I must learn how to deal with this shit on my own. There must be a way for me to progress.'
I take a pistol for emergency firepower in addition to my standard layout. Once I get out of the cave, I grin hard enough for it to hurt.
"There is a cycle, storm and calm. Mm…I can work with this."
The ever fucking lasting snowstorm is very quiet right now. There is but a light snowfall. I can finally see clearly on this floor for the first time.
"No more fucking ambushes on my ass, time to exterminate the hell out of you little shits!"
I must determine how each monster operates. I already know that the trap-berry is easy to deal with at a distance. What about the apple zerg? Are they always moving as a herd? Can I draw their aggro one by one? What is the next monster here?
"All very valuable information and they don't have the free time to test it out by themselves. I smell a business opportunity … and a possible trap if it ever comes down to it."
First, I walk towards the fruit tree to check on the large group of apple zerg. The pocket binoculars are getting some use after a long while.
From so far away, the group looks like an outpost with the tree at the centre. A detachment of lookouts and a large group resting.
'They must have some special sensory organ to notice and attacks us during the snowstorm. Are they always chilling here? Don't they move around?'
I take my time to observe everything while the snow isn't blocking out my sight. 'They really feed on the fruits. Too big and strong to be bottom feeders in my opinion, ughh, the difficulty curve is shit in here.'
The situation is unchanging, save for the lookout rotation every 15 minutes. Bored with the same thing happening for over an hour, I try going for the experimental approach. And by that I mean throwing rocks at them.
"Ok, I can aim around the middle ground. Let's see how they react to sound and sight."
I have a way out if the whole herd starts heading my way, I'm somewhat sure in my escape to the concealed foxholes I've dug out.
The results of my tests determine that their lookouts are fucking shit! I have to move closer, leaving up to 300m between us. When the rocks start landing closer, the lazy shit notices and walks over to investigate.
Every 50m I have to bait it again for it to move farther. 'I'm running out of supplies, and I need to get something to burn.'
It is plain to see that the lookouts are half blind and completely brain dead. I believe that they may rely on infrared vision to see in this environment. "It sure would explain how they can detect us in this fucking blizzard. Ok resupply and return."
I have to cover everything in bags to not let it get too moist. I severely lack any type of fuel, resorting to paper, thin clothes and towels.
I make several more foxholes to hide in for when the monsters get nearby. The first torch is lit around 300m away and has no apparent appeal to them.
I channel my inner soldier of Krieg, get on my belly and start crawling closer. I assume that some 80m were covered before I start making another snow bunker with my little shovel.
I make sure that I can cover the entrance into the hole with a deep enough layer of snow to completely cut off any escaping heat.
Lighting the torch, I scramble back to observe. As soon as it started blazing, the swarm stirred, violently.
"SHIT. Too close."
I dive deep under the snow, pulling the lid over me, as a group of six apple zerg rush the torch. It's been a long time since I've had to pray for my life, but I've managed to stay unnoticed.
I feel the commotion die down very soon, probably after the fire was completely extinguished. I carefully crawl back, halfway to my previous position and prepare the same setup. This time, I try a smaller flame.
With only my head sticking out of my hidey hole I observe as only one scout breaks into a run towards the target.
'Yeah, that makes some sense. No need to send out the whole group after one small enemy. Hehe. I can bait and kill them one by one. Mm, first get one to move towards a small decoy target a bit further away from the group, at the same time I move into position and wait for it to notice me.'
It's a shit strategy that wastes resources and doesn't account for the possibility that they may have some kind of long-range communication.
I play it 200% safe. I have made more foxholes and positioned myself by the rock wall. I can end it very fast and retreat like a rabbit if things don't go according to plan. "ROUND 1"
I move as soon as it does. The torch is shown no mercy and soon the apple zerg turns towards me. I see no movement from the group. "COME little idiot, there is a nice, hard rock wall for your ugly face right behind me."
This fucking time, I clear the jump easily and quickly get to chopping its head of.
"Haaa… This approach sucks balls. It does provide a lot of valuable information on them, however. Some petrol can serve as an easy distraction. Did we get any flares delivered? Ok. Round two."
I spend the rest of the night clearing out the monster herd. I ended up pulling two monsters on several occasions, and the getting the fuck out of the way, became more desperate at times.
Two car sized bugs are heading my way, side by side, ready to intercept me regardless of what I do… And I do what I do best, I move out of the way.
100 meters. I do side jumps, confusing the shit out of them, making them shift their bodies, munutely adjusting their angle of approach.
50 meters. I run a few metres to my left, making the right zerg practically a tangled mess with its friend.
5 meters. I feel the shift. They're going for the turbo boosted charge. I am already one leg in the air, and they have no chance to correct their angle this late in the game.
The boom behind me is very satisfying to hear, but I have a job to do first.
The damaged and disoriented mess of bug legs proved no danger to me, and my axe gets to work. A few scratches on the shield are the only damage I've sustained.
The rush of adrenaline and the satisfaction from bashing their heads in are dulling my more rational thoughts, making me continue my slaughter until every last one of them are turned into loot.
'The women have their strength, the advantage of ganging up and overpowering the monsters. I… I have the strength of the weak. Using everything to my advantage.'
I have my battle experience, honed by putting my life on the line a countless many times. I feel how the monsters behave and act during combat.
"Those brutish women won't get this gut feeling by slapping every monster they come across. You need to be in constant danger to develop this instinct. Hehe, the weak have their own strength. Just you wait."
By the time I finally finished my monster extermination, the snowstorm had started picking up. 'Around 3 a.m. Hmm? I'll check what time it dies down tomorrow. Haa… Night shifts, damn, need to rearrange my routine for the time it will take to get this floor explored.'
