Yorushika - "Say It."

POV Valentine

"This is definitely a new development. It wasn't possible to do on the outside, neither with the dungeon ingredients, only with these. Hmm..is this a concrete fact or am I lacking in ability?"

'Probably the later. Tch, I need more training in mana control.'

I've been mostly left alone by everyone, in part because I said so, in part because they now have their little followers to worry about. It's back to the good old days of training in seclusion, and training is sorely needed to get my body back into shape.

"Ok, add to the list: plant more rice, more of the main veggies, and throw out the useless... everything."

Getting access to the admin functions really helped me to finally get to managing the HQ. I have even figured out how to direct mana to the crops in the farming area! Not the unprocessed chaotic stuff that comes out of the dungeon, but the good, purposefully managed mana.

The resulting harvest has been extremely satisfactory. I felt a connection to the ingredients like never before, my instincts screamed at me to get to work. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough practice material.

"I need to farm more produce to sharpen my skills in making foods that bestow buffs. All the way until I become skilled enough to utilize the dungeon loot in the same way."

It physically pains me to look at this.

'Why would anyone in their right mind spend mana on growing normal trees is beyond me. Just plant a single tree if you have to!'

"Haaa... Right, I'm writing this off as training. Heh~ good old days of swinging an axe, sawing trees into logs and lifting weights!"

This whole area is a damn mess of "samples" grown by those people. In other words, a total fucking misuse of the available land. I'm kicking myself for being too frail to work this area and letting them do as they please. It will take me a week to remove all this garbage off my crop fields, then another week to prepare the soil for planting, then another week of waiting for the harvest.

I shovel the soil, removing all the roots that I encountered to be later thrown to the compost pile. I could be cooking, or training, or watching a movie, but I'm shoveling instead of doing any of that. Only the promise of getting my hands on the final product keeps me from throwing in the towel.

... .. .

If I compare the difference between working with the dungeon loot and my crops, it ould be like home cooking and making high class cuisine. One can fill your stomach just fine during your whole life, but the other one is a pain in the ass to make and is good only under specific circumstances.

The complexity of taming the ingredients from the dungeon is sky high. I need to work in three dimensions using my shitty mana control through my tools. I simply lack the skills for such picometre precise control of external mana. I NEED to practice on the easier ingredients from my fields. Only, "my fields" are choked up with grass, trees, flowers, weeds and anything else they've got their hands on. None of them is a farmer, so the fields got completely overgrown in weeks.

'Small mercy here is that there are no insects as far as I can see. Otherwise, this would have become a living hell for me.'

My new daily routine is exhausting like never before. However, there is progress made every day. I just need to keep going at it and master my skills, body and spirit, or make food that can boost my stats a hundred fold and smash everything in my way.

"Perhaps a week was too optimistic, I can't work here the whole day and these roots aren't coming out. 'Sigh. When did farming become this difficult?"

... .. .

"Yumi: It seemed like a good idea at first glance. I mean, cramming a bit of culture wouldn't have hurt you."

'Perhaps in a slave harem story, it would have been acceptable.'

"Valentine: Try imagining our genders in reverse and then say that to my face. ... Tch. I can accept playing the role of a cook, butler, manservant or whatever because I know that my situation is shit. BUT! MIND RAPE is a step too far! I don't even have a fucking body of my own, and you were trying to take away what was left of my mind! It's NOT the negligible damage caused that pisses me off, but the fact that you were WILLING to go through with it. FOR YEARS!"

I shudder to imagine myself being "educated" for two years. It would have probably broken my mind or replaced my fragmented personality completely.

She has the decency to lower her head and not speak up after this. Silently attending to the tasks at hand.

"Risa: ... I've told them that the salon was too much. I hate going to those places too."

"Valentine: ...I know. Thanks for speaking up in my place."

I've invited the extra help to get rid of the large nuisances that have roots tens of meters long in every direction. In addition, I've asked Risa to fulfill the role of a chainsaw and a bush cutter.

After broadly outlining the work needed to be done today, we got down to business. A lively tune being the only company as we work.

.. .

The workload that would have taken me half a week was done with in mere hours, leaving only the little things to be sorted. Which is the most time consuming and monotonous thing to do here.

'Perhaps I can starve the weeds to death by cutting off the mana supply? How much time would that take?'

There is no data on this, because they don't have the admin clearance to do that. It would be safer not to get caught doing anything out of the ordinary and prune the whole area by hand.

'Hmm.. actually.. the fat chickens could be of use here. I can spare some food for getting an extra pair of beaks to help me out.'

I know that chickens like to dig for worms, and I'm hoping that the crows can do the same for me. Except that I'll be paying them with normal food instead of worms. It's worth a try.

"Risa: Should I take the timber up to the storage room? ...Is there space for it?"

All the trees were sliced with ease into straight logs and the rest went to the compost pile. A bit of mana driven decomposition will take care of all those things.

'Shoud I keep the wood? Hmm..It could come in handy down the line, maybe.'

"Valentine: No, Mari has the large storage crammed full with your stuff. There must be thirty people's worth of things in there now. ...Stack the logs over to that corner."

Seeing both girls overpowering the trees with ease is stinging my manly pride. Some of those trees are naturally wet, and I couldn't lift them because the logs were too long and heavy. When a young girl with a lithe physique can do it like its nothing, I feel the instinctual desire to compete, ignite within me. Then again, they are cheaters.

"Risa: ...Um, anything else you need help with?"

It's obvious that they barely broke a sweat, while I can be rung out like a wet towel. I survey the open fields around me, looking for anything else to work on. Finding nothing here, I mentally go through the whole HQ.

"Valentine: Eh, it's fine. Go ahead and relax in the hot spring. I'll wash off the sweat with a quick shower and make you two some dinner from the things that we have collected today."

'`Sigh. I'm tired. It was stupid of me to try to keep up with them. I think that I've lost a couple IQ points to the void.'

I use the damaged ingredients to make a small dinner for three. I eat in my room to not spoil the mood for anyone.

POV Mari

'This danger level reference scale needs more examples and a few more images.'

I'm looking over the lectures for our new juniors. It's time to give them what they want and for us to put in the effort to keep them safe.

Food production dungeon:

-- -- --

Floor 0 - Forest area. Danger Lv 1.

Environmental danger level 0. Monster danger level 0-1. A minimum of two combatants and one combat proficient helper are required to traverse the floor. Note: refer to the list of poisonous berries before ingesting any. Safe water sources and vegetable areas are marked on the map.

-- -- --

Level 1 - Mountain area. Danger Lv 2.

Environmental danger level 1. Monster danger level 0-2. A minimum of two combatants and four helpers are required to traverse the floor. High cliffs experience deterioration and landslides. Low concentration of spices are present in the soil and air. Note: Refer to relevant maps for hidden monster locations.

-- -- --

Level 2 - Winter biome. Danger Lv 4

Environmental danger level 4. Monster danger level 2-4. A minimum of two senior Lv 3 or above members must be present at all times. Ambient temperature reaches negative 20 Celsius, strong winds and low visibility are prevailing for 19 hours a day. Possible encounters with groups of 20-30 hostile entities. Note: Adhere to the equipment check list and the safety rules. No exceptions are allowed.

-- -- --

"Mari: What do you think Meiko? This should be a concise enough summary. I will be going into further details from each of those points."

"Meiko: ...Lady Mari, you've been going over these lectures for a whole day. I don't think that adding any more theoretical knowledge will be of any help. We will need to fill in the blanks on-site. ... Please don't blame yourself for everything. It was just an unforeseen chain of little things gone wrong. We were unlucky to get those results."

'Bad decisions, horrible timing, compelling reasons, a need for drastic actions, inexperienced, lack of attention, etc. So many excuses to make... .'

"Mari: You know, I've always wanted to be a strong and reliable person. For Chiyo and myself. Always leading by example, being able to make the right decision in any situation. Being better, so that the world around me becomes better. Then...then life gave me a slap on the cheek, and I've turned away from half of humanity."

'It is a matter of fact that we take away any decision-making from a weak and tortured lab rat. It is only right that he works hard to repay our help. It is expected of a man to risk it all in a fight. It is for the best to change in my hands than remain a typical man.'

Closing my eyes, I imagine a woman being in that situation and my reasoning takes a 180 degree turn.

'It is a matter of fact that we provide support and counseling. It is only right that we ask for nothing to repay our help. It is expected of a weak woman to be protected. It is for the best to help her remember who she is.'

"I've grown complacent, rigid in my thinking, unfair and biased. It is so integrated into me that I've unconsciously become blind. `Sigh. I still wish to be better. That hasn't changed. ...Kate was correct about one thing for certain. I need to take my time and think rationally."

Meiko is smiling bitterly at my words. It must have been an apparent flaw from another's perspective but never caused problems in my life. So it was left to be as nothing more than a personality quirk. A harmless, little, peculiarity.

"Meiko: I apologize, Lady Mari. I've also made the wrong calls and focused my priorities on other aspects. ...We.. could blame it on getting our period, a man wouldn't know better."

"Mari: ...A man wouldn't know.. indeed."

"He~he~He~" "Haha~ha~"

'What a lame joke, it even got a stupid laugh out of me. Haaa... I must be still out of it, for me to laugh at such a crude joke.'

Interacting with him is unavoidable at the moment. We have almost depleted the mana reserves, so even if we wanted to move the HQ units around it would be impossible. I must patch up our relationship to a tolerable level, so that it wouldn't cause problems for the others.

"Mari: I'll ask Anna to mediate...no, I'll first try to apologize by myself. After a good night's sleep, I'll be mentally prepared. Meiko, please don't accompany me tomorrow."

I'm not sure if there will be shouting involved, so it's better to leave the overprotective Meiko behind.

... .. .

flora cash - You're Somebody Else

POV Valentine

'Well shit. Is this anime logic or do rich women think on a different plane of reality? Who the fuck comes with a contract to give an apology?!'

I can understand the first part perfectly fine. Coming alone to explain yourself and spinning a compelling sob story are standard practice. BUT! Right now I'm looking at a multi-paged contract and feel lost.

'Did I lose my common sense? Is this some mind game to.. confuse me? It certainly achieved that objective.'

I don't understand why she is radiating a sense of pride from shoving pieces of paper into my hands. It's as if this paper is a magic item that grants wishes.

'Do I sign this and all my problems disappear? Is that how it works? I'm hella confused.'

"Valentine: Umm..yeah.. I'll take my time with this."

"Mari: I've marked all the negotiation points. You can reach out to me once you've decided on them. There is a section for counter-proposals and your own terms."

'This is giving me a headache. Someone needs to physically manifest common sense and beat her over the head with it.'

I reluctantly flip the pages to her directions and scan the deluge of text. It's a comprehensive compilation of promises to treat me better, provide benefits, respect my basic human rights, etc. In other words, it consists of things that a normal person would not think to address because it's something to be expected. There are parts that I think are of use and parts that I can benefit from in the long run, so I keep my cool for now and read further.

This whole thing is soaked in "reflection" on the past and "determination" to do better. I try not to cringe at times when I notice more private points mentioned. Even my sexual life was dissected into a dozen points. I'm tempted to bring it up and discuss the matter for an hour, just so that I can get a reaction out of her. On the other hand, it would be an hour of time down the drain when I actually don't have the time to spare.

'Whoever you end up with in your life, I'll pray for their soul. Unless it's a masochistic boot licker... BLAH! Now I have that image stuck in my head!'

I've done this to myself, imagining BDSM shit. Now I really am in need of bleaching my mind. I stop her insistent explanation before my mind wanders to some other unspeakable place.

"Valentine: I've heard you out, like I've promised to do and you've prepared this... apology letter. I won't mind your not so little group coming and going, just let me know in advance. Haa... I need a few days to carefully go over this and write my own thoughts down. I won't say that everything is water under the bridge, because the bridge was nuked to oblivion and there is only a radioactive crater left. All I can say is to do better."

'Better at earning me mana, money and everything else. The faster it's done, the faster I can fuck off to a cat girls world. I need a dose of cuddles after your abuse.'

"Mari: Yes. I will do better. Please excuse me."

I nod while thinking about possible consequences of going to other words. I haven't noticed any biological protection options being available. Stepping into an alien ecosystem would probably caused a pandemic or something without proper protection.

"I need more Ep. The damn system is asking for 900 points! It's maddening how expensive it is becoming. I'll need to wait for a year to collect enough points! Or..or.. open up my restaurant in earnest. There were around a thousand clients sitting just next door, and if the upgrade after this one costs 2700 then that would be my only option."

'You give me a blank page in a contact? Well, let's add some little, tiny, insignificant and completely innocent terms.'

I have the best clarity of mind in spirit form, so first thing first. I run over my checklist for the day, and in high spirits finish up all the chores. Including feeding half a hundred crows for their help. They eat twice as much as I remember them to, causing me to curse my decision and the lack of foresight. Getting into my bed, I quickly knock myself out and start working out the numbers. Considering how random the functions were unlocked, I must assume that more than one upgrade will be required to come across the right thing, perhaps more to upgrade the function itself.

'If this plays out like I want it to, then I'll sweep half of my attitude under the rug. I won't suffer to be stuck here for a decade.'

My current arrangement is too limiting. Even at full capacity of 15 registered users it amounts to insignificant gains each month, if we talk about thousands of points needed. Looking further into the future is even worse. At some point, I'll need to have whole cities, countries, planets, etc. work for me.

'They are inefficient, a replacement will be required. Users must act as my representatives to further my influence.'

I continue to run scenarios, crunch the numbers and make plans to get the most of my limited time here.

SCP-6747 - Chaos Theory