Before we left the logging zones, not only did I warn the director to minimize logging to three hundred yards to leave a good impression on the bird but those scientists provoked him. At first, I thought he was pissed off or something because suddenly everybody but them and the two of us were suddenly up in the air with all of the machinery. Then they were put down on the ground in a brisk but orderly fashion off to one side of the cleared land.
"No you don't," the director says when I start to run over to ask what he hell, grabbing my shoulder. "This is not a bad thing, they probably just asked it for a display of power until they have the machines to gauge its abilities. Watch."
Once the people and machinery were safely settled and out of the way, all of the trees still standing in the incomplete circle of the logging area sudden keeled over. Their stumps were smooth like a wire cut through soft cheese. Then the felled trees with limbs were suddenly stripped of their branches and clipped of the top twenty or more feet.
Si-Pon then showed his true strength through some form of magic or psychic powers, raising all of the trimmed trees in the logging area to place in neat, fanning, alternating, and growing rows of stacks of five trees apiece. On either side of the portal. Potentially hundreds of tons, a million pounds of wood, as much as four hundred thousand kilograms of hardwood, light wood, and evergreen was neatly prepped to be dragged one by one to Earth. Then the spare biomass was piled up close in the margins between the fanning rows of wood.
"This is probably his way of saying this is all you need," I reminded the director after that. Half an hour later, Poniard and I were leaving alone while the director stepped out of the portal to do some side work for me. Thanks to the work we had done clearing a path earlier it did not even take half as long to go back to camp as it took to reach the portal.
The wire and stake fence around the camp had already been taken down and now most of the carts were loaded instead of just a few. The sentry tower still stood but that was because it would be the last thing taken down since it provided us a decent view of the surrounding area. After returning empty handed I decided to just grab a cart and get to work by drawing it back to the portal.
When I returned from that trip was when they finally started taking down the sentry tower but I once again just started drawing the next cart over to the portal area where most of the trees were already gone. Now, though, there were large parts of partially completed machinery being brought in. once they were put together they were become even larger portable tractors for uprooting all the stumps in the area.
Even if the director did not continue logging beyond the area that Si-Pon finished clearing for us, that did not mean he would overlook the resources he still had access to. There were even dumpsters being brought through the portal for the collection of dirt to be taken back to Earth for agricultural purposes. Three hundred round yards of land was probably much less than his department crews were used to bringing in but it was still a great deal of goods.
After another hour of drawing carts back and forth the camp was picked up and put away while nearly half of the carts had already been delivered to the portal. Thanks to having a friend like Director Carlyle around, I was not worried about anyone touching our stuff. Of course, the director himself would probably go through it all while making his phone calls out of sheer curiosity.
I did not think he would do it for any other reason than curiosity, it just seemed to fit how I saw his personality type for him to just not see anything wrong with going through my shit at the least.
Just as I had thought, as we started passing through the portal before the digging work started we came through to find that not only was the director sitting on my empty cart while looking through everything I took in and out of the portal as well as the tax cart. Seeing me walking up, he simply holds up a finger while listening to his phone. Then, "Alright, Ms. Lucinda, I'll let him know once he gets back to our side. Yes, ma'am, I'll bring him straight there," he adds and hangs up quickly.
Realizing he had done me a favor by stopping me while I was walking up to chew him out, I simply stand a few yards away in silence before abruptly saying, "Well, help me pick this shit up at least. If you can make a mess you can help clean it."
"Are these people you trust or a random party?" The director asks bluntly, unafraid of offending the people whose jobs he actually controlled.
"They're friends, we'll probably become an official party soon," I reply just as frankly, hoping to kiss whatever boo-boos were just made.
Standing up with a brief nod of his head, the director says, "There's a slight change in plans for what I told you earlier. An assistant job came up that an amateur like you would be good for. After that you can finish catching up to your MP."
Resisting the urge to turn around and look at my teammates, which would only reveal that there even WERE implications to what was just said, was a hard fought battle that I almost lost. However, I finally managed to say, "Get off my cart and then talk to me about it."
Rolling his eyes dramatically, Director Carlyle stands up, picks up the heaviest object- my chest of loot from the trip- and tossed it into the back of the wooden cart that loudly protested against such treatment. "Now what do you say?"
"Since it's an assistant job, I shouldn't have any problems," I reply with a shrug, picking up the rest of my belongings with Poniard. "But, it's work, so I can't actually say yes or no without Lucinda here. Ah, by the way. Guys, this is Director Carlyle from Portal Registration. Director Carlyle, my preferred teammates."
"Charmed," the director says, nodding toward my group who were all currently in possession of their personal carts. "Which one is the h- ah, Ms. Gwyn, I was hoping to talk to you about something. Would you mind stepping this way with me?" He asks suddenly, walking away from my cart toward Ms. Gwyn while gesturing off to the side.
This was probably, hopefully, just his way of discussing the team's taking a break for a few weeks while I finished 'recovering' from the operation.
By the time I finished checking to make sure all of my belongings were accounted for, Ms. Gwyn and the director returned to the group with some simple small talk and a couple of laughs. Then, Ms Gwyn happily informs the group, "Guys, we're all going on a partial-paid vacations. My team usually raids once a week but to help support Malcolm's recovery we'll all be taking four weeks off and get paid for two of them. No free contribution, though."
Stepping in at this point, Director Carlyle chimes in with, "If it is of any consolation for the missing two weeks and contribution, the points from the… death ivory, was it? Any way, each specimen of death ivory alone should bring in roughly one thousand points for your team apiece, on top of the rest of the loot and the combat contribution as well as the successful clear, and lack of loss of life bonuses. Despite its E grade, even under previous pretenses the dungeons are extremely risky and unpredictable. With a revenant field, pay only increased. If you don't mind, I can go ahead and take reports and inventory of your person and overall combat and gains to shorten the process for all of you."
Karen, dear sweet Karen who never knows the time or place, leans out from the side of the group and says, "This is how you got your surgery, isn't it?"
"No, my-" I start t say until the director cuts me off.
"That's classified," he says bluntly and slightly loudly, brooking no arguments while obviously screaming yes in their faces. "If you have any further questions, it's classified. If any questions are still somehow unanswered or not covered, it's classified."
"Is there a bathroom nearby?" Karen asks in a nervously humorous way, trying to pretend like she did not step in a pile of something just now.
Leaning slightly to the side in the same way that she still was so that he could evenly meet her gaze, Director Carlyle very simply stated, "That's classified."
"Okay, I can hold it," she responds meekly, standing back in the group and somewhat out of sight if not for the color of her cloak.
As long as the person in question was not somebody like my Lucinda, Director Carlyle was capable of being a pretty intimidating and asinine person.
After twenty minutes of brief questions and answers before finding his way into going through everybody's stuff, the director finishes writing out a report of his own before doing a bunch of surprisingly quick but long math problems on the back.
"Now, then," he says at length, putting away a pair of reading glasses he had been wearing that reduced his intimidation factor by about thirty percent. "Based on individual reports, the team itself can expect to receive around fourteen-hundred points apiece with special appreciation for members such as Ms. Gwyn, Ms. Karen, Leo, and Malcolm for their roles in the revenant field."
"Do I get anything for the bird?" I ask even while raising my hand.
"That's classified," Director Carlyle promptly answers with a tired sigh. "We'll discuss it on the way to your place, put your stuff in the van. I need to have a quick word with your team."
Fifteen minutes after I had loaded the back and back seat of the van with our cart and rucks, Poniard and I were sitting in the middle passenger seat while the director sat in the first row behind Kershaw in the driver's seat. "Classifieds," I say simply and loudly once we started driving.
"Classified ad, someone in the investigation department needs someone to use as bait," the director states simply. "I've prepared a profile for you under an assumed name and we'll be dying or shaving your hair- up to you. The big sword and big gun were not included on the profile, they make you look like you're too much trouble to take down, but the rest of your armor and weapons make you look downright tasty. Your listed MP level will be in the one-sixties and you'll be going on a short trip a nearby D grade territory on a search and rescue assignment with a group known for failed missions.
"On their last mission, the dude you're baiting for tailed them to ensure the mission and recorded them taking out the objective for their loot," he continues in a bored droning. "The same reasons as before, they wanted money. Since it's a direct kill order, I would send you to get experience watching the mission, but the leader is upper C and the lackeys are upper D. Our main operative is a mid C sniper so he needs you to be the objective of a fake mission and present the first shot opening."
"And after that I survive the other two while he picks them off," I finish for his lengthy explanation. "If Lucinda says yes, I'll sign off on it. Most of my training was done through fighting, anyways, so if I just have to buy time it should be fine. Now, identify these for me and then tell me about the bird," I say to move forward, taking out a golden grasshopper bigger the size of my surgically enlarged thumb and a faintly glowing red piece of smooth river rock agate.
"This is the craziest thing I have ever seen," he says simply. "There have been a number of creatures with metallic or metalloid bodies and parts, but they have never been… Earth bugs. This is one of our freaking bugs super sized and gilded. It's upper C or lower B from what I can feel and its weight means it's not gilded or plated. This things exoskeleton is actual metal and the density feels like that of gold. Tap it and it makes this dusty hollow sound so it's been dead for a while. The mana itself is also strange, but its similar to that black ivory you guys had."
"So it's probably from the impure energy manifestations," I muse aloud, "but that does not explain how it is an Earth bug. Is it because of the portal's mana reacting to the natural mana phenomena of the revenant field? What about the rock. They were what the bird and Poniard had found on the hilltop."
Passing both items back to me, he says, "That is a more common and lower grade object like a mana crystal but it has a specific affinity. Most lower grade portals like the one you worked will have plain or neutral mana crystals but the ones with magical creatures will have elementally inclined and so on mana crystals which drew those creatures in that world. That one is fire, a mage can use a small one like that as an accessory catalyst for using elemental magics outside of their elements. Even front line fighters and archers will use them once they can project and express their own mana, electric swords and ice arrows and all that. This one would make a good fire arrow catalyst but it would only shoot a few dozen arrows. Yes, color helps determine elemental affinity and no I dont have anything to test the authenticity or purity of the metals."
"If the insects are that high in grade, I will keep them for exposure treatments. These stones, though, would be useful for the team's new weapon upgrades," I inform him to let him know they had intended purposes. "Now, about the bird. Is it a citizen or an ambassador?"
"WE take in citizens, other countries take in ambassadors," he informs me plainly. As long as something we don't want to happen does not happen, as well, you won't need to be relocated. However, that bird is now a national secret and treasure, so no slinging it around the internet like you did with your goblin. As for benefits… obviously, the bird can provide its own benefits on occasion. However, you will be paid a monthly salary for tending the bird under the premise that its needs comes first. Besides that… you have a companion that's no less than A grade, you can enter most any portals."
"Any portal that Lucinda permits," I clarify.
"As well as some other benefits with the Bureau's departments concerned with the bird, there are some requirements," the director goes on as if he never heard me. "Weekly visits from concerned parties, usually at once for the bird's convenience, some light external remodeling needs to be done to your home to shield from MP exposure, the bird itself will also require exposure treatments of its own for the first couple of weeks. This will be provided to the bird, not you. you're on MP recovery. Even then the bird itself is enough for exposure treatment at your level."
there were a few seconds of silence following his words and I could not help but ask, "That's it?"
Nodding his head while looking forward toward the road, Director Carlyle sates, "For now. After both we and the bird are educated about one another, a role or some such will be decided for them. Since its affinity is mental magic, it would probably be an alchemist like that Karen lady. Stay on its good side."
*