Seeing that we are getting closer, I let Loren off my back and hold her hand while looking around the general area of the cave where I left them in. I need to be careful as even though they are all my equipment, it isn't their fault if I walk into one of their traps to catch food.
The traps they set up were pretty obvious since they wanted animals, not humans to fall in, though humans would be a better source of food. Ughh, I wonder if the mana tanks are still alive?
"LYCAAAA!!! Lyca!!! It's me! Michael!"
Yelling into the forest, all o hear are the cooing of various birds, the light roars of demon boars and other noises akin to those Lyca would would make in bed if I'm particularly stressed. Maybe she is screwing right now with one of the girls since the genitals of the mana tanks have been shrunk or used to its fullest, needing a few months of waiting for them to replenish itself.
"Sniff sniff sniff...master?"
Looking around, I see a woman with nothing on except a torn shirt, some short shorts and some footwear. Obviously, this woman is Lyca but it's quite weird she can tell who I am with scent. Seeing that it was actually, she runs up to me and hugs me as hard as she can.
'Ahhh, seems like she got stronger, no? That's good'
"Hmmmm, I missed you too. I have to introduce you to someone"
"Hmm? Who's that woman?"
"Oh, that's Loren, she is my other equipment aside from you. She will assist you in some of the operations of the entertainment center until I decide a place for her"
After Lyca does a double take and stares at Loren and then me, I know that she feels a bit betrayed and maybe abandonedbut what can she do? If i wanted to, I could just not explain why I got Loren if I so wished but there really is no reason to antagonize Lyca.
Telling her that Loren is her underling and that she still can help me around when she is available brightens her up bit and brings me back to the cave. Thank God she doesn't dwell on the subject in front of me. If she even dared do that I'd need to re-discipline her.
"I'm back~!!!"
""Madam Lyca!""
I saw that when Lyca greeted the women, they all kneeled down in respect. Karl however was standing and lightly bowed his head.
Looking at their structure, it seems that they have made some sort of monarchy with Lyca as their queen. I'm sure she enforced this forcefully, fully utilizing the joint equipment marks that branded these women as property as Lyca and I's property. Anyways, at least Lyca isn't a pushover in this environment.
Looking around, I see that the mana tanks are in the corner of the cave, tied up it seems like they have been force fed with extra food since they actually look bigger than I left them. What a diligent secretary I have, eh? Hmmm, there's about 10 mana tanks; 5 less than before. Maybe the other 5 were too much trouble.
Looking around more, I see some clothes drying next to a bonfire, some fire-hardened wood for roofing and such. All in all, it's a very good settlement for a group of people that have been here for only about month and a half.
Everything is organized and in place, every girl has their own job and most importantly, their figure is much better than when they started. When we started, they were thin and had their ribs showing but now, they has a bit of meat on them and some slight abs which is delightful for the customers in the future.
"Everyone! Let us welcome back master"
To her announcement, everyone claps, tough with reluctant faces. Most probably, they understand what's going to happen if they disobey her. Pain, a lot of pain. And disrespecting me, her master, is a warrant for a new scale on the pain chart. 11/10 most likely.
"Oh master! You came back so early!"
"Yes, everything went to plan and then some. I'll going to relocate you and your girls to Jinjin for a while so you can live a little better. From what I learned, there's still running water and even some demons are still living there"
"Really!?! Thank you thank you!"
Honestly, I don't plan on bringing this up right now but sooner or later, if I want to bring out Loren, Lyca and the others, I need to dehorn them. Dehorning is as it states: removing a demon's horns, usually done to a deceased demon but can be done to alive demons.
But the dehorning has to begin somewhere so I start with the mana tanks. Right now, they can start regrowing some of my moss but their horns will have to go; most likely to be pounded into a powder to enhance the mana water we already have.
Leaving the damp cave with Lyca, her girls and the mana tanks in tow, we walk for about 30 minutes until the remnants of the city come into view. Again, it looks like some sort of video game.
Entering the city and walking around the now destroyed market place, the plaza and the other destroyed sections seems so surreal. And despite all this destruction, despite the red-stained cobble, despite the now-defunct fountain, I still feel the eyes.
All eyes are on me, Lyca, Loren and the other equipment. After all, I'm a human while a bunch of demons are walking behind me. They probably think the demons with me are rats and are about to tell where all the hiding spots are. Don't worry, I need you guys to get addicted to me so no killing today.
After we entered my old estate, I see that it's mostly untouched other than the fyr crystals and the furniture being stolen, the windows smashed in and all the left over equipment like swords were stolen too. Entering, I see that it basically looks the same when I visited while it was under construction.
After visiting, I go back to my estate which surprisingly, wasn't as damaged as I thought. Well, that's putting a bit lightly since all the windows are smashed, my gazebo has been burnt down and the various sheds that held the gardening tools and weapons were all looted and burned.
Entering the house did not surpise me since I expected an empty place and an empty place I got. Cracked wooden floor boards and the stairs to the second floor are all gone. I had to jump over some of the destroyed steps and when I reached the bedrooms, it seems like Lyca and Karl's bedroom were throughly looted and Lyca's bed was quite sticky.
I'm sure there is a totally reasonable explanation for th- and there's her undergarments. Alrighty then. She's not sleeping there. I start assigning rooms for Karl, Loren, Lyca and the girls. The mana tanks will be kept tied and their limbs will be cut and their wounds cauterized to not make them bleed out.
Starting the disassembling process of the mana tanks, immense screams of pain and agony are heard throughout the estate. Obviously, I don't like to waste so I carved grooves into the cutting table to let the blood and other liquids flow into 4 separate bucket which I needed replacements of since the immense amount of blood was a bit much.
After that, I took my 6 buckets of blood using a wheelbarrow to the moss pit I made a couple weeks earlier and started dumping it everywhere. The moss quickly absorbed the blood and you could even see the moss growing onto the walls of the pit; though you'd need to look very closely.
After waiting for about 30 minutes, I take a chunk of the moss for the soldiers, about 225 kilograms out of the 2 tonnes and tied it up with some rope and after also taking a bunch of leaves from the mini forest Lyca planted using the gogo tree, I went back to the estate to start the manufacturing process.
The process is very easy since all the ingredients needed are there, we have the man power of about 30 something workers and each roll takes maybe only 10 seconds to make. 6 rolls a minute, 360 rolls an hour, 5760 rolls a day. 5760 rolls a day times 34+3 (for Loren, Lyca and Karl) is 213120 rolls in one single day.
The rest of my vacation can either be spent hanging out with Lyca or teaching Loren some various tricks like accounting so she can be a suitable CEO or CFO of a burn company to put the blame on. What? She's Loren, not Lyca or Aya, she isn't too important for me.
After watching and making sure the girls do their jobs properly and that Loren properly knows how to roll, I then take a big nap on the floor with thin blankets as comfort. It isn't too easy but I still was able to sleep a sound nap. After I woke up, I saw that the girls were still working at about 10:00 p.m
'Hmmm...let's help them out'
—————————
(A.N) hallo hallo! Another chapter for you readers! Be sure to support with anything. Literally commenting can make my day :)! Thank you returning readers for your continuing support! Hope you enjoyed, peace ✌️!