Their first milk operation.

Somehow, Maple hadn't envisioned it going quite like this; spontaneously, in the backroom of an inn, with her girlfriend acting as the pump for a crowd of busty milkmaids while also providing...bonus services.

It obviously wouldn't be what they did every time—Maple would simply need to obtain more pumps—but at least for today, Emma was enjoying herself. She was in her chubby form, and had quite a bit more mass.

Despite the glutton's efficiency, it still ended up being a multi-hour event. Maple hung around and socialized as she felt she should. That mostly involved meeting the milkmaids and answering the same questions about the future of the dairy over and over. The answer to all of them remained fairly static.

"I don't know yet, but I'll let Betty know once I do and then you can ask her."

There were a lot of them, it was dawning on her, and this was only the regulars from SuQ Dairy's main facility. There had been other small collection centers spread throughout Syber, according to the milkmaids, which were also now gone. It was a gaping hole in the market that Maple could fill if she managed to expand fast enough.

Or maybe her mind was just being dirty.

Her environment certainly wasn't helping with that, as most of the milkmaids did opt for the bonus services Emma provided. Maple had only sipped at the free prana in the air, but temptation still tugged at her.

Several of the ladies currently around Emma were making it rain on her, and—Maple looked away. Milk really just wasn't her thing, so she stayed out of it.

That the milkmaids were so easily enticed was only natural. They were all from the main facility; the only one to incorporate sex so heavily into their daily operations. This group had been distilled for maximum horniness.

It ground her gears a bit that no one had thought to mention the non-horny collection centers to her, but it looked like it would work out in the end. Maple felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Betty. The cow beastkin leaned in close and talked in a hushed voice. Maple's first thought was that Birdy was upset with them after all.

"Do you have a minute, Maple? I was talking to some of the other girls in the know about things, and well—first of all, how much money were we talking? For your loan."

Maple had ended up explaining Charlotte's deal in-depth at some point, leaving out only a few details, since it seemed relevant to when they'd be up and running.

"Ah, I'm not sure yet. Mainly we need to rent a building, and then equipment. It'll probably be like...at least a dozen gold coins to get started? I don't know..."

It felt like she knew nothing. If she could just search the web for all the information and prices she needed...

"Right, that doesn't sound too bad. So the girlies and I—six of us including myself, we're the ones doing most of the management for that pool I told you about—we said, what if we helped fund the dairy? If that loan you talked about is already in exchange for some of your ownership, well then, why not let us own some of it instead? So I said I'd talk to you about it. It's okay if you don't want to, or if you don't think it's doable, but—what do you think?"

Maple inhaled deeply. If they were just after her profit—well, what difference did it make if it were them instead of Charlotte? Maybe it'd be better to divide it among more people. Charlotte probably wouldn't mind if Maple didn't go through with her deal, and it'd feel less like cheating through getting a small loan of a thousand gold from a rich aunt.

Betty popped a fried pickle into her mouth, and continued.

"Not just the six of us, but all of us producers. We should all have some stake in the company and benefit from it doing well. Prevent another fiasco like SuQ happening, you know?"

"You mean run it collectively, like some kind of...co-op or something?"

"Well I don't know all the fancy words for it, but yes, I assume so."

Maple didn't know the fancy words for it either. She remembered only a single major co-op offhand, and had maybe seen them on TV before, but the idea was simple enough. A collectively owned dairy.

Making it a co-op wouldn't benefit her at all. If done properly, she'd give up a lot of control, and potentially limit her own income. That was her first thought, tempered slightly by the next, maybe it'd relieve some of the pressure and responsibility on her.

Ignoble initial thoughts, and it'd be embarrassing if Thera, for example, ever saw how selfish she could be. Fortunately, her thinking didn't stop there. A dairy owned by the ones producing the milk was a fine idea, and why should she, or anyone else, get to skim from the top of such an enterprise for their own disproportionate gain?

Because she wanted money. And Thera could also be mercantile, as far as Maple was aware, if that was the standard she was going by.

That aside, Maple let a slow drink of water give her time to think. She did like the idea on principle. Certainly, if she were a regular seller of milk, it's how she'd want things run. Again, she lacked information.

"It sounds like a good idea, but I can't really promise anything until I do some research on all of that, and the price of things. How much did you all have pooled, or do you think we could put together?"

"Well, the six of us could do at least a few gold, and it'd be pretty easy to get a few silver each out of almost everyone else. If we recruited from the other branches, that'd be even more."

Maple herself still had a few gold she could put in, and Emma also might want to invest something. They might just be able to make it work. Another idea came as she thought about how they'd offload their first batch of milk.

"Rather than making all of the girls pay, what if, we had a membership fee for the customers? We could start collecting that now, and have a refund at the end of the year based on how much milk they bought."

That was a concept she was familiar with from several stores from her world. Tried and proven. Importantly, it was immediately actionable. She wasn't sure how the laws in Syber worked when it came to structuring an organization and its ownership, but Betty seemed happy to let Maple do whatever.

"If you think they would go for that, deary. Let me know if you want any of our help."

Maple strategized with Betty some more, postponing many specifics for later, but ultimately leaning toward pursuing a more collective scheme. It'd been a surprisingly productive day, and now they just needed to drop off the milk Emma collected.

This first batch wasn't tracked individually since that wasn't very viable yet with Emma acting as the pump, and instead any income was just going to be returned to the pool they had going. Emma would get her cut as well. The [Soapy Helper] had milked them all and was sitting in a glossy-eyed daze when Maple approached

"Hey cutie, did ya have fun?"

She glanced up at Maple, gave her half a nod, and nearly pulled her off her feet as she went for a kiss. Her tongue went deep and Maple was taken aback by the sudden fit of passion. Emma's hands went wandering and Maple pulled back, laughing.

"Jeez. Tonight, okay? Wanna go drop that milk off to Mirkham?"

Emma nodded with a woozy grin.

"Okay, remember not to mention the you-know-what. He doesn't like that kind of stuff."

They were a few steps from Mirkham's door, and Maple was remembering the dwarf's one condition for working with them. That, along with the amount she guessed Emma had within her had her a little worried. Emma knocked first, with her own squishy fist, and then turned to Maple with folded arms.

Maple chuckled and used her knuckles to knock. Mirkham opened the door and raised his eyebrows when he saw Emma. She waved with a big grin, her thicc form jiggling proudly.

"Eating well lately, are ya? Hello, you two. To what do I owe the visit?"

Emma slapped her belly and gave a double thumbs up. Maple smiled politely.

"We have a lot of milk to drop off."

Mirkham looked pointedly at their empty hands, and then followed Maple's gaze to Emma. She stood proud, with a silly expression on her face.

"Portable slime storage, eh? I suppose your insides are all sanitary an' whatnot. Well, come on in. How much have ya got?"

They followed Mirkham into his home, and Emma made several gestures. Maple was about to interpret for her, but Mirkham grunted.

"Almost a barrel's worth? I hope ya've got a barrel on hand, then!"

He looked accusingly at Maple. His hobby equipment was clearly meant for smaller batches. Maple winced guiltily, but his expression softened after a few seconds.

"Hmph. I'll make do. Got the girls all milked then, did ya? Bet you had some fun while you were at it too, huh?"

Mirkham elbowed Emma with such a knowing look that Emma had no choice but to admit it, giggling at the memory. Maple bit her lip, and Mirkham pointed to the inside of a metal pot with gauges and ports on the outside.

"Relax, I don't care how much fun big blue had getting the milk. Go ahead and fill this up to start with."

Emma obliged, turning her arm into a hose. It would take a few batches if this was the pot they were using. Maple stood back and watched.

"It's just, your condition, for helping with the dairy..."

"So long as I'm not around it, lass. Hm..."

He was staring at the milk flowing in, and Maple spotted the potential problem herself.

"It's...blue. Is that—okay?"

Just a tinge. At first it just looked like Emma's reflection, but it quickly became clear that the milk itself had taken on the color. Emma's eyes were wide in apologetic surprise, and she grew a couple arms to write.

I don't know why?! Sorry...

"It's okay, cutie. Now we know, I guess. Is it...salvageable, Mirkham?"

Their first batch of milk, and it was probably ruined. Maple's fault, for having met Betty so unprepared. And it'd hardly been reasonable to have Emma help to that extent to begin with, though she had wanted to and volunteered. Maple was already thinking of how to word this mistake to Betty and apologize.

Mirkham looked up, mumbling Skills under his breath.

"—sense]. Salvageable? [Detect Impurities]. It's more than salvageable, girl—it's pure. This is good stuff, and for just a hodgepodge..."

Mirkham activated more Skills, stirred it, dipped a finger in to taste it. Emma finished filling the pot and watched him work. Maple put an arm around her. Of course her cutie could only have improved it. The [Cream of the Crop Milk Master] looked up at Emma with a gleam in his eye.

"How do you feel about learning how to make cheese?"

enjyanai

Hello chat. Would you be upset if I said that 60% of the reason the dairy plot stuck around is because 100 chapters ago I wanted to do a blue milk breaking bad parody? Well it's true, and it's inching along. We'll even have MM initials (WW upside down)!

Idk, this story is silly and fun.

In author news, I got some tests done and my red blood cell count was a tiny bit low. Vitamin deficiency is a safe assumption so I got some liquid vitamins and will test again later.

Thanks for reading!