New Year’s Countdown

Chapter 42

For an entire week, I had a lovely workflow going. I had one of every base class represented for humans and a couple of the specializations. The fellas had been in the lead at first, but I'd balanced them out on the third day. Since then, I'd been buying in pairs.

The first, but not last, lady was Dawn Hyacinth Iliac, a cleric. She'd selected a golden yellow for her eye flames while the paladin, Heather Elain Patella, who'd been summoned alongside her and their male counterparts, had chosen silver.

It was nice to have a plan and still have time for side projects. With all of the needed crypts set up for the moment, I was working on one, carving a small disk of stone. I'd been playing with embedding mundane crystals into it and was starting to get a look I liked.

A musical chime informed me I had a message, and I opened it excitedly.

[Mistress,

I've encountered another village, so I've taken the opportunity to purchase more of your requested items.

Your servant,

Elim]

Looking into my inventory, I found the new goods and felt ecstatic. After meeting some trouble on the way, Elim had made good time to the post town and was already well on his way home. Unfortunately, supplies were coming in rather slowly.

Elim had done his best in the post town, but there had only been so much he could spend without drawing attention. Since then, he'd been discreetly buying goods at every stop as he hurried home, for which I was grateful.

After some quick upgrades, I was off to the necropolis. Most of the things that had arrived were requests from the skeletons. There had been some initial awkwardness about asking me for them. Fortunately, the veterans were helping the new arrivals get comfortable, and the requests were flowing steadily now.

Twenty-six crypts total now lined two walls of the room. Unlike the initial alcove set up, they were all now rooms with unique entrances based on the occupant's preference. I would have smiled if I had a mouth.

I distributed the newly arrived goods into the delivery boxes all the skeletons had with a few mental commands, but didn't send the usual group text to alert them. I'd requested they remain inside for two hours, and everyone was playing along.

In a few hours, it would be the new year according to system time, which was about a week earlier than the local New Year's Day. With my tithe met and my dungeon growing at a healthy clip every day, I'd been in the mood to celebrate. That was what my side projects had been devoted to for the last couple of days. Getting ready for the party.

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?" I sang softly to myself as I worked. Snatches of the lyrics of Auld Lang Syne mixed with humming the tune as I placed tables and hung banners.

I worked fast, draping tables, laying out games, and even placing cups. It would take a bit of work, but my cans of chaos beverage would refill themselves, so I distributed them to the tables. That the skeletons could drink them was something I only found out after finding Chris lounging in my chamber of machinations with a picture book in one hand and an empty can in the other.

I chuckled at the memory. He'd been entirely disinterested in reading until I made some picture books myself. The local offerings were rather dry and difficult to read as compared to what I was used to. He'd been completely taken by surprise by my knock-off Goodnight Moon.

"For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne! We'll take a cup of kindness yet for days of auld lang syne," I sang as I finished distributing drinks. Next up was the part I'd been most excited about. At each table, I placed a poker tray with custom chips and cards.

The cards were solid black with gold filigree on the back and the numbers and suits drawn in jewel tones. The chips were likewise black with an embedded crystal dome colored to look like my core in several colors with the year painted behind it but visible. On the other side were portraits.

The portraits included a styled version of myself, the second a skeleton, the third the lava hounds. We were wearing party hats and the skeletons' eyes colored at random, so all the base classes were represented. It had taken some fiddling to make the denominations easily recognizable despite the amount of black, but I felt it worked out in the end.

"Is that the song you sent us, Mistress?" A rich voice inquired, causing me to jump. Turning around, I found myself looking at an amused assembly of six Bards. Angelo Joseph Humerus was in the lead and had addressed me.

"Is it already… I lost track of time. Yes, that's the song," I said cheerfully. I'd set it up so they'd come half an hour before the festivities were supposed to kick off. Everything was technically ready after the first hour, but I'd been fussing, trying to make things as festive as possible.

"Hum the tune for us, and I'll note it down," Caspar Andases Humerus offered cheerfully. He was a pleasant man in general but had taken a particular shine to me after showing him my world's music notation system. They had all used different rather complicated ones between the six of them or just played by ear.

Dutifully, I hummed the song, and he made his notes. I didn't doubt the lot of them could already play it without issue, even without the sheet music. Caspar was the most passionate about it, but they all enjoyed adding to the small library they were building between themselves.

A formal library, that was another worthwhile project to add to the necropolis. I added it to my to-do list.

"The stage is yours tonight, but feel free to take breaks and whatnot," I said. The group gave me wry looks before heading over to set up. They had debated the color of their flames intensely for the first few days before settling on a pumpkin orange. I had a suspicion they would ask me to change it seasonally.

I also had a strong feeling they would be Henry's best customers. Not all of the skeletons had taken to the idea of wearing clothing, but those six had with gusto. A fact which amused me to no end because it was like realizing a certain cartoon duck didn't wear pants. The other skeletons were naked, and I couldn't unsee it.

I was laughing at my own dirty mind when finally, it was time. Everything was as ready as it was going to be, and the bards warmed up. From the crypts, the other skeletons started emerging, only to pause at the colorful scene. I'd chosen black and green with silver for my colors.

The tables quickly started to fill, though not many opted to put on the supplied party hats I'd made. I expected that, however, though I was wearing mine, the ribbon tied neatly in a bow under my chin.

Music began playing, drinks were flowing, games were played, and I felt awkward as hell.

An unexpected complication I honestly should have seen coming. No one was rude or unwelcoming, but as I approached a table, its occupants would invariably start to quiet down, and I felt like I was making it hard to have fun.

An idea that seemed increasingly plausible as I considered exactly what I was to them. I was their boss, not a coworker. Shit.

I hovered a while awkwardly, feeling like the skeletons were all discreetly staring at me. Thankfully it wasn’t long before everyone was distracted by Chris tying a party hat to his face and doing an impression of some kind of bird. That took the edge off and I rallied.

The return of my resolve didn’t last terribly long. After putting in some effort to make sure I greeted everyone pleasantly and tried to be social, I snuck out. It wasn't hard, since I picked my moment carefully.

The skeletons were all fairly engaged with various card games or drinking chaos soda. I felt like no one would notice me but made sure to be particularly discreet.

What was a little tricky was figuring out where I wanted to go. The new year and refresh wouldn't happen for another hour. I didn't feel like working on a project or visiting the hounds. They were asleep at the moment, and I didn't like to bother them when they rested.

"Mistress?" Henry called. His voice followed a moment after the liquid sound of passing through the mirror.

"Yes? Can I help you?" I asked, fumbling a bit as I tried and failed to cover up my unease. I'd been outside for a while but hadn't expected anyone to leave the necropolis. Like the bards, Henry was dressed, his clothes expertly cut to fit his narrow fleshless frame. Glittering black thread picked out a ribcage design against the jet fabric. He'd leaned into the differences between his form and a mortal’s, accentuating it.

"Not as su-such. I was feeling a b-bit… overwhelmed," Henry said awkwardly. I nodded, understanding how that could be. Even without feeling like I was making things uncomfortable for others, I hadn't really been okay.

I liked planning the party and mingling at first, but the excitement had waned quickly. Without more experience, I couldn't be sure, but I suspected I had a bit of social anxiety. Not the worst hang-up to have, but still rather inconvenient.

"Care to take a stroll with me then?" I asked on impulse.

"That… S-sounds nice," Henry said, hesitant but not unwilling. Unsurprisingly, given his usual manners, he offered me his elbow, and I accepted it. It was a bit of a walk, but soon enough, we were at the chamber where the descent into the dungeon proper began. I raised a ramp and led Henry up to the little sitting area I'd been fiddling with overlooking the valley.

"This is… out-outside?" Henry asked, awed.

"I made a lucky mistake and learned I could buy exterior tiles too. I plan on converting the valley into part of the dungeon over time," I explained simply.

"Have a seat if you like," I added, after depositing myself on the bench. It had started as a plain bit of stone, but I'd carved it to look like filigree at this point. Henry hesitated but joined me after a moment. A companionable silence fell over us as we looked out over the landscape.

"Th-this place, it's just somewhere you like to sit, isn't i-it?" Henry asked after a while.

"Yeah. I supposed I should make it more accessible, but… I enjoy having the odd place to myself sometimes," I admitted. My chamber of machinations was semi-private by design rather than fully. This spot was probably the only one that was just mine for the moment.

"N-nothing wrong with that," Henry said and chuckled. We lapsed back into silence as the night wore on. When the new year arrived, it was without fanfare.

"Happy New Year," I chirped to Henry.

"H-happy New Year, Mi-Mistress," Henry replied. Though we didn't speak further, I started to hum Auld Lang Syne just as a message tone sounded. Only for a change, the message just appeared in the air before me, rather than waiting to be acknowledged.

[System Notice]

[Tithe collection complete.

New Tithe amount: 50 points

Congratulations on Surviving, Newbie!]

Seriously? I scrubbed my face with my hands as my laughter dissolved into a frustrated sigh. I was sorely tempted to make a new year's resolution about punching whoever was responsible for the system in the dick or other analogous anatomical structure.

"S-something wrong?" Henry asked.

"No, not exactly. I just got my new tithe amount, and it's fifty points… It's not really a lot since I have a year to get it, but it kind of is since it's not like people are guaranteed to show up," I explained. It wasn't like I didn't have plans to lure people. They just felt much more immediate, urgent, now that I had a hard number I needed to reach.

"I don't don't know much about that aspect s-so, u-unfortunately, I have no ad-advice," Henry said, looking away from me.

"Don't worry about it. I appreciate any advice you do have, but this bit is my job," I said simply. There wasn't much else to add to that, and we lapsed into silence.

"H-How lov-lovely," Henry commented. Confused, I looked over to find something sparkling in the moonlight a moment before it fell on us. Unable to feel cold, it took a couple beats for me to realize it was snowing. I laughed, I wasn't sure how long it would last, but I was enchanted.

During the day, the valley below was a mixture of pinks and oranges with bits of green. Now, under the light of the pale moon, it was bathed in blues, violets, silver, and black. I was honestly a little giddy to think of seeing it coated in silvery white. Despite everything, this felt like a good omen for the new year.