Aidan updated Flora on the invaders.
They were all members of NightBash, a clan for hire if you wanted to kill another player. Although they had no direct connection to the SwordOfMichael, their services were open to the highest bidder, so that didn't exclude the CoCC as culprits.
The invaders were between level 23 to level 89. Aito could only get additional information about the paladin, the shield-warrior, and the mech-suit operator.
The paladin, Brave Bandaid, had won two prestigious healing competitions on Sports and Boards and ranked high in the 3versus3 PvP A-league together with the shield-warrior.
The mech-suit operator, Notalady Ironfist, was level 49 and dominated the single-player PvP circles of the tier 2 A-league and had the qualifications to enter the S-league. Although she was in a 3v3 team, it wasn't as successful as the paladin's.
Flora opened up a video conference with the invaders.
Currently, the song Cotton Eye Joe was blasting out of the sound system. Half of Flora's guests sat listlessly on the floor. The redhaired mage danced in the background or had an epileptic episode; Flora wasn't familiar with what moves counted as dancing for the kids these days. Brave Bandaid and Notalady Ironfist faced the camera standing. The black man looked collected, but the opaque helmet prevented Flora from inspecting the mech-suit operator.
Flora nodded to them and lowered the volume.
The paladin flushed red and looked at his feet.
Although Flora was curious about the mech-suit operator's face, she didn't plan to force her to reveal her countenance. After watching the fight's replay, Flora's anger at the humiliation of being used as a doormat had reduced. The mech-operator did what she had to do. All was fair in love and war. Flora was impressed with the fighting style and tenacity of the woman. She was one of the most difficult opponents Flora had faced.
While Flora inspected the bunch, they started to fidget. Some blushed, the female rogue gaped at her, and the mage fell down, only the Notalady Ironfist remained stoic.
After the silence grew awkward, Flora figured out the problem. She had forgotten to don a bathing suit. To make up for the (over)sight, she decided to be nice and take the first step.
"I thought you wanted to negotiate. Do you have anything to offer?" Flora asked. Her tone was kinder than her words.
With difficulty, Bandaid raised his eyes to meet hers. "We'll give you 100 VirDos per person for our immediate release."
Flora pondered the offer while playing with the water of the Jacuzzi. If you compared the money to her wealth, the amount was laughable. If you would ask yourself how much money would you pay not to hear the playlist for another 11 hours, it was also too low. However, around 70 Euros for beating up some kids and 15 min of repair work was pretty good.
"Aidan, how much does the toxic waste cost? I want to refit the turrets with it and have a few other ideas."
"1.2 VirDos or 3200 Credits per kilo, Milady. The price has risen due to the low supply. Clan Riverstones must have bought up everything for the Training Hut."
"I want 1000 kg of toxic waste," Flora demanded from the NightBash members. "Or a similar higher-tiered substance."
After the haggled a bit back and forth, they agreed on 500 kg of toxic waste and 1000 multitools from the Groom the Doom Moon scenario.
Flora had neglected her quest to find more followers for Evailyn, but promised to do better the next days. She sent a link to the Multitool-Scepter-Shield of the Goddess Evailyn to the paladin. "This could be yours if you convert to Evailyn. With the ability to repair mech-suits via prayers, you can bring your teamwork with Notalady to a new level."
After they signed the contract, Flora let them go.
Exhausted, she sank deeper into the pool.
"I'm foolish." She mumbled.
A part of her wanted to throw everything, like the quest to gain 100 new followers for Evailyn, that she hadn't focused on for some time and only remembered when she noticed the missing synergy between the two strongest attackers. Running around to gain more classes and skills and watching her stats grow were things she enjoyed, but she had overdone it. The worst thing on the list was church politics. She didn't want to deal with the CoCC nor with the church of Evailyn.
Quest: Set My House In Order (Evailyn)
Description: Powerplays are disrupting the operation of Evailyn's church. Corruption and selfishness are running rampant. Identify the unfaithful council members and evict them from the church.
Temporary Power: Excommunicate. Description: Severes the formal ties to a church.
Possible Rewards: Reputation gain with Church of Evailyn, Faith
Possible Penalties: Reputation loss with Church of Evailyn, Loss of Faith
Time-Limit: 1 week
Difficulty: B
The quest wasn't completed even though the pope was dead, and that slimy bishop, Hannes Dysian, excommunicated. Maybe she kicked the wrong bishop out of the church? But who could it be?
Flora had met Afstira Nomizo first. She was an older Woodling and came across as narrow-minded and carried an attitude of no-nonsense. Nonetheless, she had believed in that wild conspiracy theory that Flora had faked her champion class. On the one hand, Nomizo was the first to bow out of the fight with the pope, but on the other hand, she helped Flora with crafting the metal-armor, which led to his downfall.
The paladin captain Tomos Ceart was the first who believed in Flora and defended her against the other council members. However, the way he handled the attack on the shrines was disappointing.
"Aidan, check the mail if there is any news concerning the attacks on the shrines."
"No, Milady. Dave Lupin sent a letter with a preliminary status, but it doesn't include any new information."
"Hmm." Flora was unsatisfied with their results, but she reminded herself that it was only today that they had freed Deriga, although it felt like it had been a week ago. The time dilation was messing with her.
Flora went over what she knew of the next council member, Ellaciel Zander. The Metalling seemed cold and uncaring, but Flora appreciated her contribution in the fight with the pope. She was the only one who protected the bystanders. Without her barrier, the church would have lost a big chunk of the clergy.
Last and in some ways least was the Abbot Mino Irden. He was the most likable of the bunch. However, Flora could only shake her head when she thought about the fight with the pope. His punches contributed nothing to the outcome. She had never seen a more pathetic melee, and she had been forced to watch a lot of fights when Robby competed. Burned toast and stale jam, those little rascals in the primary school division had better fighting instincts than the well-fed abbot! Additionally, his record-keeping was such a mess that even her AIs couldn't make sense of it.
Flora had tasked each member of the council to come up with candidates for her entourage. She hoped that this would reveal another traitor. Using herself and the champion competition as bait was her best idea at the moment.
Flora sighed and looked over her second divine quest.
Quest: Grow the Church (Church of Evailyn)
Description: Convince 100 people to join the Church of Evailyn.
Possible Rewards:
- Faith
- Reputation
Possible Penalties:
- Loss of Faith
- Loss of Reputation
Time-Limit: 1 week
Difficulty: C
Status: 6/100
To her astonishment, six people had already decided to join the church. Maybe because of the quest to repair the shrines? What else could she do to provide Evailyn with more followers? More quests? She still hadn't used the Spring Coins the church was producing, and the Multi-Tool Scepters Aidan had been printing.
"How many multi-tool scepters do we have?"
"289 Milady. The S-rated printer is currently producing 3 per minute. We have the materials for 836 more."
"Are all the orders for the Riverstones and my personal debts to my clan members finished?"
"Yes, Milady. RadLana has fetched the Pool Boxes and the items for the clan store. I have sent the other coins via mail to your creditors."
"Excellent, Aidan. Put ten of them in the auction house for 800 VirDos and ten in my shop for 1000 VirDos. Monitor the sales and refill when necessary. I want ten in both venues until we have sold half of the stock. Let's find out whether supply-side economics works." Flora said. Although the term was used by people who focused on lower taxes and how that effect would trickle down to the whole workforce, there was an aspect that when you had zero demand but an innovative supply, you could generate the demand. For example, nobody knew how desperately they needed a smartphone before they had been invented. Flora hoped that people would realize how nice it was to heal machines. "And make ten forum comments per day to promote the multitool scepter. Get Aito's recommendation of fitting threads."
Flora considered hiring an advertising company, but they would need days for creating a campaign, and at the moment, she was too tired to decide on one and give them instructions. Instead, she pondered what else she could do before getting some rest. "Print out a low-quality golly, give him Refine and some mana-reg skills, and let him refine high-quality materials, primarily stone and wood, for better golems."
"Refine is an art and not a spell, Milady. Golems can only learn spells. Please forgive my incompetence, but I'm not able to order the golem to do such a complex task."
"But isn't the title of my favorite book '1000 Homemaker Spells'? Art is the word for the crafter mana skills, right? So is Clean an art as well?"
"The book provides the diagrams to cast the skills as arts and as spells, Milady. However, the auto-mode always casts them as arts. Maybe you can convince the System to assign the arts if you know the corresponding spell diagram. The spell for Refine is in the book 'The Art of Refinement'. We have copied it from the library of the garage."
Flora logged into Deriga's workshop and enchanted a Golly. To her relief, she didn't have to argue with the System. It was enough to concentrate on Refine's spell diagram to transfer it to the golem. After she animated a second Golly, she provided them with a pile of A-rated stones, jewels, and trunks for refinement and detailed instructions on what to do.
Of course, Flora had to watch her two potato-brained companions for a while and correct them a few times, like when one of them picked up a jewel the other had already refined. When she was satisfied with the workflow, she logged back into her bedroom.
Exhausted, she fell into her bed.
Nine hours later, Flora woke up with a splitting headache. With difficulties, she opened her eyes but was unable to focus them.
"Burned toast… boiled brain." She mumbled, and her words echoed in her skull, inducing another wave of pain. Also, she was hurting, her fatigue was more potent, and she fell back asleep.
In her feverish dreams, the activities of the last day repeated themselves and mixed in strange ways. She did the obstacle course again, but this time, driving in a batticle. Instead of shooting targets, she fired at zombies. Her mind assigned Aidan's golem, the leader of the SwordOfMicheal, to her. She tried to form the clay with her wrenches because she couldn't use her hands, destroying its face.
A few hours later, she woke up again, shivering. Her head felt hotter than a toaster after a family breakfast.
"Aidan, bring ice. Brain boils." Flora mumbled. When she stood up, the world spun, and she gripped the pole of her canopy bed to steady herself. With her eyes half-closed, she staggered to the hot tube. Although her head was burning, the rest of her body felt cold, and couldn't stop shivering.
An Octopussy brought her a bag with ice, and Flora put it on her head, but it slid down. Groaning, she felt for it until a tentacle fetched it out of the water.
"I'll hold it for you, Milady. Are you ill? Can I do anything else for you?"
"Silence. Brain boils. Speak hurts."