We take a gate back to Earth after finding a secluded spot in the woods. The noises of the wild are replaced by civilization in no time. Lina and Envie go out shopping for groceries while Alice and Pip who is still carrying Mu and Fu head down to the bakery. Me and Laura change into comfortable clothes and rest on the couch.

Cheshyr looks restless and eventually asks me something.

Cheshyr 「 You wouldn’t happen to have a space for… training? I just want to brush up my fighting. If someone could spar with me, that would be better. 」

Becca 「 Yeah. There’s an area next to the crafting room for trying out gear. The walls are covered in concrete I mixed with mana to reinforce and soundproof it. For sparring partners, I guess I could just make some? 」

I bring out leftovers of the mana infused concrete mix and mold them into a human sized doll. I create a skill and call it, Life Aura. The skill allows me to wield the essence of life and instill its aura into objects. I bring the doll to life without instilling individuality or will, just giving it the functions to move and accept commands.

This is easier than trying to create sophisticated robots or artificial intelligence. Am I playing god too much?

The doll has a few commands memorized. Hearing “training mode” makes the doll attack the designated target but hold back short of inflicting lasting damage.

Becca 「 Training mode. There, now this doll should help you out. I can make copies of this with Crafting easily. How many you want Cheshyr? 」

Cheshyr 「 Let’s start with, 25. 」

Becca 「 Okay … done. They’re follow your commands and if you say “cease functions” they’ll go back to lifeless dolls. 」

I initially set these dolls to be level 10 all across. Cheshyr escorts the training dolls to the crafting floor. Laura decides to hop into the large bath area that the bakery girls use, leaving me alone.

I spy on Cheshyr and see her sweat and fight against the 25 dolls with magic and sword. She seems determined, and it’s not hard to guess why. During the duels, she was the only one who ended on a clear loss so she must feel frustrated. She won’t say it, but I guess even she has her pride.

I could just make her stronger, I’m sure she knows that, but she wants to get stronger on her own I see. Well, I could design a kind of skill fit for her training spirit. Let’s name it, Determination. In proportion to her determination, she can increase levels and acquire skills easily. I place the skill in her Status quitely and let her continue training.

I go down to check how the girls are and how the bakery is. Oh, the bakery is packed full of customers. A rare sight. More surprisingly, the ratio of men to women is different. Last time I was here the customers were primarily men in the older gentleman range, likely drawn in by our beauties.

These girls were troubled youth picked up by dubious men for their looks after all, so it makes sense that the kind of customers they drew in were lechers.

So when I see that the store is filled with young girls and wives, and not many men around I was puzzled. I call out to one of the workers and ask them to fill me in on what’s been going on.

Baker 「 Owner! This? Oh, I guess it has been a while since you checked in on the store. I don’t know, maybe it was just lucky? 」

Luck?

Baker 「 A morning television show interviewed our girls and asked them the secret to our good looks, and the girls just replied that it was the bread. Since then, word of mouth has it that eating our bread has an effect on your skin. I don’t think that’s true, but I have noticed my skin has been kind of smooth lately. 」

That reminds me, didn’t I leave behind an enchanted talisman in the bakery that raised luck? I wonder if that caused something to change in the bread or the girls. Either way, more work is always welcome and the girls look happy to be busy finally.

Baker 「 Owner, actually there have been offers from magazines and agencies for our girls to visit some photo shoots. What should we do? 」

The baker girl looks at me nervously, waiting for my answer with anticipation.

Becca 「 Tell the girls they’re free to do as they please. I’m only hiring them for the bakery since they asked for it. If some of them want to be models in their free time then I’m fine with it. Just make sure you’re cautious and bring around some of these dolls when you girls leave. 」

Baker 「 Dolls? 」

I craft some more training dolls in small hand sized forms and pretend to bring them out of a nearby counter. These dolls are programmed with the orders to protect the girls when they sense distress or danger. The dolls can grow to human size and are stronger at level 30 so they should be fine against any average ruffians.

Becca 「 It’s a good luck charm. Keep these close by and you girls will be fine even if I’m not there. And if anything happens I’ll know immediately. 」

Baker 「 Thanks, Owner. I’ll let the rest know. Can I get you anything? 」

I wave the girl away as she returns to work. Taking a look around, I notice a security camera in the corner. The girls must have installed that at some point. They are looking out for themselves even without my intervention, but I better make sure nothing goes wrong.

After all, my class is officially hero now, so I should expect trouble to show up in all kinds of places. Before anything goes wrong I’d better strike first. In the security footage room I review the past footage and note the faces of those producers and magazine people. Even if I can’t see their identities clearly this should be enough.

Let’s create the skill Clairvoyance, which lets me see and hear a target’s current situation from anywhere, like spying with an undetectable drone. The people I check in on seem to be from official stations so it all checks out.

Except for one. Found a rat, just like I was worried about.