Lance was led to a large building made from what looked like meat, flesh, and bones.
Well, all the buildings in this village looked like this.
It was beyond grotesque, yet Lance did not feel queasy when he saw this. Rather, he was inspired by the creativity of the design, and the well engineered structures.
'This is amazing....'
On entering the building, he saw a laboratory filled with all sorts of test tubes, flasks, herbs laid out on tables, machinery, and even a large forge-like oven. There were two people inside, and both seemed to be concentrating on a concoction they were making up. One was a person who seemed to be made of gel- a slime person. The other was a child of the lizardman race.
On opening the door, the slime person seemed to go cross-eyed, keeping one eye focused on the test tube in his hand, which he swirled about, while looking toward Lance and the group with the other eye.
"Gotek, take this. Don't stop swirling it for the next 60 seconds.", the slime said while keeping each eye focused on their respective task. He handed the test tube to the lizard child, who continued swirling it steadily, and then turned his focus to the group who had entered.
"Lady Berith, is there something you need from us?", Iotar asked as he genuflected before her.
"Yes..... well, their excellencies have acquired a new talent, and he is to be trained and eventually work as the head alchemist here. Sorry, Iotar, but you're being bumped from your position. Do your best to work well with him."
Berith then used one of her spider-like arms to push Lance forward, and Lance caught himself, standing up straight and prepared to introduce himself.
"I am Lance, an alchemist from the Vythguard Empire. I have submitted myself and my skills to their excellencies, and look forward to working with you."
Iotar did not look jealous of Lance, but rather smiled despite the fact that his position had just been robbed.
"Oh!!! A new alchemist!! How kind their excellencies are to be allocating more people to our department. Gotek has been a great help, and with another new face this will take a great amount of pressure off myself and his excellency, Gary. Please, allow me to show you around the facilities."
There was no room for jealousy for the people of the Dictatorship.
They had given their lives as slaves to their rulers. Their entire purpose was only to serve, and no more. If a position was given to another, it was merely a failure on their part to live up to the expectations of their masters. Therefore, hatred among peers was nonexistent.
Lance nodded with a smile. "Ah, but there was one thing that his excellency, Gary asked of me before I came here. He wanted us to begin a project to create a concoction which would prevent the rotting of flesh.... which I don't really understand, as the buildings seem to be made of flesh themselves.... but that is what he asked of me."
Iotar turned to Lance with a laugh.
"Haha! Ah, these buildings are not made of actual flesh! They only seem that way due to the genius of his excellency. This is actually a wooden substance, which has been altered through his strange magic in order to have the same properties and feel as flesh, while keeping the same structural strength of the wood. Feel it, why don't you?"
Lance walked over to a wall, and touched it.
It was fleshy and soft, however if he applied more pressure it became stiff and strong.
"This is... just how was this done?"
"I have no idea.... his excellency holds strange skills and methods that put my knowledge as a scientist to shame. No matter how much I try, I cannot even come close to replicating the contraptions he has come up with. However, we must do our best to be of use to him, even given our obvious limitations, for that is what it means to be a scientist, no?"
Lance felt warm at hearing the words of Iotar. He reminded him slightly of the doctor who had taught him at first, and he was excited to get to work.
"Well then, shall we get to it?", Iotar asked.
"Of course."
----
Berith then led the three remaining mercenaries outside the town, down the path which was lined with the ghastly tiles. They passed many lizardmen who seemed to be filing into places and many had begun assisting the goblins in their work, whether it was transportation of goods, the farming of the land, excavation in the quarries, or the construction of homes or other production facilities.
Through the guidance of Claire, it was determined that more factories needed to be introduced in order to produce weapons, armor, ammunition for the defense systems, and refined materials.
However, due to a lack of labor, this was nearly impossible. Now that 200 lizardmen had entered the village, the goblins who had been made aware of these intentions started to put the plans into action, which Claire had already prepared ahead of time, expecting that there would be an increase in the labor force in due time.
'Her eminence truly is wise, to be able to predict something like this, and their excellencies have been able to match expectations so perfectly....', one of these goblins thought, as he directed a group of lizardmen into the quarry to extract materials.
Arlo and Hiru were currently standing atop the wall, checking the cannon-like devices which Garett had created in order to ensure they were prepared for action at a moment's notice.
Berith waved over to them and called out.
"Arlo, Hiru. Their excellencies have another task for you both to take care of."
Arlo looked up from what he was doing, and the two rushed down the stairs before kneeling to Berith.
"Lady Berith, what is this new task?", Arlo asked submissively, barely able to keep a grin hidden at the thought of doing something for his masters.
"These three are skilled warriors among the humans, however they are only as strong as the average lizardman. Train them to become skilled warriors, so that their excellencies may later send them on missions to perform on their own."
"Will do, Lady Berith. Anything else?"
"That is all."
Berith turned to the three.
"Try your best to survive. Do not disappoint their excellencies. Well, not that they hold any expectations for anyone in the first place."
Berith left with a sinister chuckle, however the three were not irritated by her attitude.
On seeing the treatment towards Berith by all the other people of the village, they could tell that she was of a high ranking- much higher than they were.
'Perhaps we too should be treating her with more respect?', Charlotte wondered.
Arlo and Hiru stood up.
"Well then, I suppose you should start by going on patrol with us to see how things work. Only after that will the real training begin."
----
The antiheroes exited the basement after having tortured Kota for quite a while.
"Hehehee..... it always feels good to make a self righteous jerk understand well that his justice is nothing more than a one sided excuse....", Ashley whispered with bloody hands, smearing it onto her dress.
"It's always fun to spend time with you, Ally.", Garett said with a smirk.
Ashley gave him a shy smile back.
"T-thanks..."
"Well then... now that our chef is making preparations for a celebration, I think we should include all our subjects. I'm going to send out a message to everyone.", Trevor stated while he ran his fingers across the screen and selected the message option.
After choosing the recipients to be everyone currently within the slime village, he sent out the message which said [There will be a celebration tonight at the dining hall. Participation is not mandatory, however your masters will be there, and delicacies will be served.]
"That should be about right. Now let's head back to the throne room, and we will work with the Determined to continue the progression of our nation."
The four walked through the hallways and up a flight of stairs, where they saw Claire continuing her work alone.
"Determined, we have returned again. I presume you received that message."
"Ah, yes! I think a celebration would be a great idea. There has been so much going on, and I'm sure everyone is tired. I certainly am... I'll be looking forward to it, but can you all take your seats and help me out with the rest of this before the end of the day?"
Trevor led the group and sat down first with a nostalgic smile.
"Back to management. Let's get this done."
The other three sat as well, and started looking at the paperwork.
As Garett took one paper which detailed the current inventory of gemstones, he remembered something he needed to do.
"Ah, let me take a look and see what I can do for enchantments on these things..."
Garett took a gemstone out of his inventory, and Ashley filled it with her mana before he held it to the necklace with the fingers of Caspus.
The gemstone disappeared as the energy flowed into the necklace, and on analysis, the necklace read the following:
[Necklace of Appendages]
[Effect: Inspire terror, +10 Charisma when intimidating others]
[Enchantments: 1/3]
[Lucky: Things tend to go your way more often]
Garett chuckled as he read the enchantment.
"Luck, eh? As if things haven't been going my way this entire time..."
----
Bella couldn't be happier right now.
Those people had given her everything.
She could peacefully live with her children, while spending her days cooking for others and having them help her.
She no longer had to toil all day long doing the heavy farm labor on her own.
And finally, her husband had returned after such a long time.
It had been so long.
Too long.
She never believed a word she was told that he was dead.
So many people tried to convince her.
Too many people tried to convince her.
Countless people... she didn't even remember all the people who told her that her husband and children were dead.
She showed all of them.
Those people all clearly knew now, that her husband and children were not there among the dead.
They were right in front of her.
As Bella finished sauteing some meat, she loaded it into a pot and put it on a low simmer, before leaving her spot in order to get more ingredients from the fridge.
"Come on, honey! Kids! We're going to get some ingredients, and I need some men to carry them!"
Caspus and the two children followed her, trembling as they walked at a distance behind her.
Bella opened the door to the vault, and steam exited as she did so.
"It's a bit cold in here, so you might want to snuggle up.... ah, but we don't have any jackets... well, that doesn't matter! Just tough it out like men!", Bella shouted while making a muscle as she entered the vault.
The four entered, and Caspus and the two kids froze as they looked around.
Inside the freezer, there were ingredients such as frozen vegetables in one area... however that was not what they were focusing on right now.
Body parts.
Everywhere.
Hundreds.
No, thousands.
They were all neatly sorted onto shelves and containers, frozen and ready to be used for cooking.
Bella walked over and grabbed a torso.
A human torso.
"Ah, this looks like a good one! Here, darling! Hold onto this for me!", she said as she ran up to Caspus with a light skip, and plopped the torso into his arms.
It was heavy. It was so heavy that Caspus almost fell over just from receiving it, despite the fact that this woman was carrying it with such ease. However that was not what he was concerned about.
He stared at the torso in his hands. The arms had been ripped off, and the blood was congealed on the ends. Nerves, blood vessels, and muscle tissue hung from the bottom, where it had been disconnected, and he could even see the lungs peeking out from the bottom.
It was something that he had seen every day as a commander on the battlefield, but to hold one in his hands was something else.
'No... no... this is.... this is one of my men....'
The children looked at it with fear and horror as well.
A single tear came to the eye of Faux, however Durst wiped it away.
"We... we have to be strong, Faux.... we can't be scared...."
Durst walked over to the pile of body parts where Bella seemed to be scavenging, looking for the best picks.
He grabbed an arm.
"T-this one looks good, mama!", he said with a fake smile, hoping that she would be proud of him.
"My! That does look like a good one! Please hold onto it, Durst!"
Faux walked up, trembling as well, and grabbed a leg.
"W-what about this one?? Is this good??"
"Of course, Faux!! You two have such good eyes for these things!! I should teach you all how to butcher them!! Mama would be so proud..."
"Y-yes! Please teach us, mama!", Durst asked in fear.
"Please teach us!", Faux repeated.
Bella smiled and gave her children a nightmarish smile.
"I will teach you all well.... you too darling.... don't you want to learn???"
Bella grabbed a lower body to fit the set.
"Let's start with these.... we have a whole lot more cooking than just this to do for the banquet tonight...."
----
"We should assign 5 workers to this facility to refine any metals we excavate, and 10 to this lumberyard to produce, replant, and refine lumber specimens, which Gary can then convert into our personal materials for building.... we should also consider adding more sections to the walls. Currently, we have a single wall engulfing the entire city, however if we wish to expand we should build a larger wall around that, and separate the areas into different districts. Farming district, central district, mining district, industrial district, and a commercial and tourist district. Gary, do you mind creating a quick map of how that would look?", Trevor asked.
"Will do.", Garett replied as he pulled out a blueprint from his inventory, and began writing on it with an excessive speed. In just a few moments, an entire design for the expansion of the walls and new sectors was created, based on what already existed.
In the center was the wall which already existed, which would then become the central district. Surrounding the farming plots which were to the south, a wall would be erected which would then become the farming district, and similarly for the quarry to the North, a wall would be erected which would then become the mining district. In between these two districts to the East would lie the industrial district where production would occur, and to the West would lie the commercial and tourist district.
"This is looking good. It's a long term plan, but with your help and with our large labor force... well, we should be able to finish this in a week if we push for it.", Trevor said while calculating estimates of resources used, and the speed at which they could expect progress.
"If we expanded the walls, we would also need to build another layer of defenses and move the moat of poison outward.", Samantha suggested.
"No, we can keep that as is. We can just have that act as a second line of defense, and build another one outside the new walls, right?", Ashley commented.
"Yes, that's right.", Trevor agreed. "We can never be too careful, so having a second wall for defense to fall back to in the case of attack is crucial."
The group agreed, and continued planning.
"Then, what about the other cities which we've taken over?", Claire asked. "Shouldn't we be managing those as well?"
"Yes... I have allowed Ploritan to do as he wishes with the rebuilding of the fishmen village, and Rocko to do the same in ruling the lizardmen for now, so their status quo hasn't immediately changed, however I would like to have some discussions directly with them regarding expansion, defenses, and production, as well as establishing trade routes with our own cities.... perhaps we should create a form of subway system underground connecting our cities.... yes, that sounds like a good idea. Gary, can you begin to draw up plans for that as well?"
"On it.", Garett stated as he began drawing up blueprints for rails, carts, and engines, as well as a map layout for the location, depth, and other features of the railway system.
"Ah, and one more thing I was thinking about.", Samantha pitched in. "I think we should create a flag, or some sort of way to recognize us. Now that we've taken over cities that are outside of our Capital here, we need a way for people to understand that those cities are under our control so that they will understand exactly who they're attacking. We don't need insects trying to destroy our property anymore. If they try to do so, knowing that we've marked our territory there already.... well then...."
Samantha licked her own fingers.
"I suppose there's nothing that can be done to save them."
"I like the idea. I'll put it on the to do list.", Trevor replied very calmly.
The group continued to plan their expansion for the rest of the day until the night arrived. As dictators, the amount of work was endless, and even if there were 5 people working simultaneously, there was not enough time to finish.
"Let's take a break and head down to the basement... I can smell some of the food that Bella has been preparing, so we should take it over to the dining hall.", Ashley suggested, while licking the drool off her lips.
Claire sniffed as well, smelling the cooked meat.
"Mmm... that does smell good. Let's call it a day for now."
The group all got up, and Trevor told Claire to go ahead and head over to the dining hall.
"Don't wait for us. We will meet you there."
"Ok."
The group headed down to the basement, and when they opened the door, the smells of meat and the laughter of Bella filled their minds.
"Hehehe!!! You all are doing wonderfully!! That's right!!! Well done, my sweet children!!! Come on, darling! Follow their lead, and chop up the meat. Take it one slice at a time. See? You must be a natural with a blade! Look at how clean those cuts are! Did you learn this in the military? I suppose all those years that you were gone were worth something, right??"
"S-something like that...."
The group headed down to see an entire line of cooked dishes on the countertops and tables, steaming hot and ready to eat.
Soups, salads, burgers, hotdogs, steamed vegetables, coldcut sandwiches, pastries, and more lined the table.
"We've come to collect this food. Please continue cooking, Bella. You and your family are doing great.", Samantha said in a sweet tone.
"Thank you, your excellency.... now, come on.... pluck the teeth out from this head, will you? We can use those in the soup to give it flavor. Here, take these pliers, Durst. Go ahead. Show your brother and father how to do it. Your father seems to not know the slightest thing about cooking, but he has skill with a blade, so we can teach him!"
Crack. Crack.
"Well done! You do it so cleanly, without breaking them or leaving any pieces behind! Perfect. Now, go on darling... you try as well."
Crack. Crack.
"Ah, you don't seem to be ask skilled with the pliers as our son here... you're putting too much pressure on the tooth... are you nervous? Here, let me fix this..."
Slice. Squish.
"There we go. I cut out the ruined sets of gums. Now try again, honey."
The antiheroes walked off, as Ashley lifted up all the plates using her magic so that they floated above her.
As the basement door was closed, and the family was left in the darkness, Trevor smiled.
"It looks like that woman has been a very successful investment."