I crawled out of bed and it was already sunny outside.

The windows were closed though. No. It was dark outside and I left the lights on. There was no utility bill though. I'm the one powering it so, who cares? I opened the window and it was still dark outside. I was mentally tired from lack of sleep but my body was okay. I tried but couldn't go back to sleep even after I shut down the light by removing the eye. I needed to devise an on-off switch. Without a choice, I started my day earlier.

I didn't hate Mondays, but it wasn't too late to start.

"Sandra?" I heard Belle's voice from outside. I went to the window and saw her straining to carry a big bag of flour. "Hey, good morning. I saw a light through your window, were you reading?" I guess she read my emotional state through my face, "Is something wrong? Hold on, I'm coming in."

A few minutes later, both Belle and Arwia were at my door. I let them in.

Arwia rushed to hold my hand and looked deep into my eyes. "What is wrong, Sandra?"

I gave in to my inner shitty manipulator and sniffled with a puppy face to get a hug. I got two. The girls held me and got touchy-feely with emphasis on the touchy part.

"Sandra's sleeping clothes are the best. So soft!" Arwia said.

"And they shine on their own! The fabric is so light it seems something woven in heavens!" Belle added.

I had to agree, my satin babydoll was nice to wear. But these hands had to go.

"Okay, time out! Off with you two. I have things to do. Belle, I bought a lot of things yesterday, they should arrive this morning. Store all things in the annex room I am using as storage. I'll be with the scribes in the morning, then in the smithy for the rest of the day."

Belle nodded. "Leave it to me. By the way, will you make donuts today?"

"No. Not today. You can't eat that food all the time. You'll get fat!" I fought the urge to slap her butt.

She blinked. "Getting fat!" She said with a dreamy voice.

I had no idea what they thought of fat people. Maybe it was a sign of wealth or health? Enshi the Uncle was the only obese person I'd seen, so maybe that's it. I had no idea and I didn't want to ask. I turned around and saw Arwia with one of the lampshades in her hand.

"These sculptures are gorgeous! Is it a vase? No, It seems solid. A weapon? No, it is too delicate to be a weapon. Do they do anything?"

Why would a sculpture have to do something? Or is it because I did it and I only do functional things? So confusing! Better explain it straight.

"It is a light fixture. You take one of the goblin eyes Nanna enchanted and then lift this part here, and put the eye on this little cup here. Then you lower the top to hold it in place. Here, you do it."

I gave her one of the eyes from the box and we lit up the lampshade.

"That's why your room was lit up during the night. It is such a strong light," Belle remarked.

I wondered how early she got up. Damn, that girl worked hard! I fought back the urge to brag about the one hanging from the roof.

"I'm going to wear the gray dress today. Help me put it on," I told them.

The gray dress was stylish but austere. It had a lot of straps and was meant to enhance a lady's figure. The straps would also allow me to adjust the dress to fit the chainmail underneath. It came with a corset that needed to be adjusted on the sides and tied up behind. I didn't even need a bra with this dress as it had some cups to hold the breasts up. Long sleeves that flared up at the wrists. It had a V neckline but it was closed with a softer cloth, raising the actual neckline to the neck. I felt ready to impart knowledge to some brats, like Maggie Smith.

The skirt was straight but it had enough room to balloon up if I spun. There was no choice for shoes though. Since I went with a dress, I wouldn't ride Penny and I went with the sneakers. The skirt's length was adjustable by pulling the fabric up then tying the belt over it.

I retrieved and stored the eye but I left the lampshades and the ceiling fixture behind.

I ate breakfast, kefir sweetened with glucose, courtesy of Decompose, flatbread with some tangy bean paste mixed with olive oil and crushed mint, a piece of meat jerky, and fresh apricot. I was walking on sunshine, excited to see the exotic ores Aran bought. I was almost salivating at some possible candidates. I strapped my falconry bracer over the dress sleeve, called my non-sardine-eater bird, and walked to my estate alongside Penny.

I didn't ride because skirts but it was good to have her with me. Even though the posh people of the neighborhood gave me glances on the road like 'why aren't you riding your horse?' but I knew the guards around here already knew me.

"And if ye don't know me, ye shall be MADE to know me! My name shall be engraved upon your very soul!" I shouted in English like a mad wizard.

Soon I was at the gates to the ministry of agriculture and development temporary base. The carpenters were already working. I could hear the banging and sawing going on. I nodded at the guards and went inside.

Instead of going to the villa, I went around the main building and talked to the carpenters. I found the one that was leading the group and talked to him.

"Hello. I was wondering if you could help me with a project."

"Yes, milady. Whatever you need."

"I need some boxes with a good waterproof varnish or resin. Let me show you how they should be."

I summoned the plastic bag with the lump of silicon I carry in storage and took a chunk. Then I shaped a cubic box that should be around twenty centimeters across. The box was split in the middle, forming two rectangular compartments.

"This is what I need. I need at least fifteen of them, waterproof on the inside."

I handed over the model to him. "What thickness do you need?"

"Any thickness that can hold water inside. I don't care about the wood so long it can hold water without leaking."

"If it is just cutting the board and nailing the wood together, we can get it done before lunch, milady. But the resin takes a long time to dry."

That's where I'd use my power to speed up the resin's curing process.

"That's acceptable, sir. Would you deliver the boxes with the reason applied to masters Samus and Aran's smithy this afternoon? This takes priority, add it to the house renovation tab."

"There's no need, milady. I can do this as a special service for the lady."

Now, I had a choice to make. Did I want to go that way? There was no OGE [1] in this world, but where did my crumbling XXI-Century-Earth morals go? I'd already violated my two previous commitments, I weaponized chemistry and murdered a person. Even though it could be considered open warfare as he was the officer of an invading army. Was this a slippery slope I wanted to slide down? Would a ghostly Friedrich Nietzsche float over me to tell me I shouldn't look down? Nah. He would tell me I was a fool for being compassionate. Or was it pity?

I summoned my handbag and took a silver mina. I handed it to the carpenter. "Would this be enough payment for the boxes?"

"Absolutely, milady. Your boxes will be delivered a hand after midday."

"Make sure they do," I said and only after the words came out of my mouth I noticed it could be interpreted as a threat.

Yes, Lord Acton, you were right.

I went to the main building where the scribes should be. I was received by a huge pile of scrolls. It seemed these guys were not loafing on the job.

"The minister arrived," One of the guards shouted.

I had no idea if I should be glad or angry that he was singling me out like that. On one hand, it was respectful, on the other it would give whoever was doing something naughty time to hide their evidence.

After a few minutes, everyone gathered in the sitting room. I noticed that the cushions were new. And I was worried about some stupid wooden boxes. Know what? The house renovations and whatever else I commission are hereby my salary as the minister. I was going to save the whole city from famine, dammit.

Slide, slide, slide down the slippery slope... I heard some stick figure blonde bard singing.

"Gentlemen. Are these the copies of the land deeds?"

"Yes, they are milady. What should we do with it?"

"You will give each one of them a serial identification number. Let's call it SIN for short. The number will have eight digits. We will start with a two, then the next two for the year of the Enshi's reign, or 201 in our case, the next digit will be the district the property's located and the last four a sequential. This will help us locate a deed faster later on."

I checked if they understood the system. We went to the map and divided the city and the outskirts in ten districts. Four inside the walls and six outside.

"This will be your tasks for today. A team will draw blown-up copies of the map for each district. Another team will go through the deeds and give them a SIN. As you mark them, go on the map and add the SIN to the district. You'll make ten piles of scrolls with the deeds. I suggest writing the SIN on the outside of the scroll on two sides so we can find them easily.

"You can call on the guards to help. The best would be if you scribes had to move the least possible as you go on your jobs. The division of labor is important to productivity! You know your strengths and all of us either succeed or fail together. Including me! So do your best or I'll be disappointed. Get the soldiers, make a line, the scrolls pass, the notary team assigns the number and district them without moving, communicate to them to the mapping team so they can assign them to the map.

"Don't worry about making mistakes on the map marking. We will make mistakes, that's a given. That's why we will go out on the field and confirm the claims. Then we will update our map."

Bur-Batolo raised his hand. "We could use clay to make the map so it is easier to erase later. If we make a big enough tray, we can make a big tablet."

"Awesome! Let's do this. That's your assignment for today. I'll be at the smithy if you need me, but please don't. On the other hand, if there's something critical, then do. Toodles!"

Unfitting for my responsible self, I dumped the work on the scribes and left to see that sweet loot Aran got for me. Damn. He didn't get it for me! Or did he? He was surely profiting from my powers. Yes! Let's go to the smithy and volunteer to clean up everything.

I felt I had to go there. Like, right then.

You see, Tarhun. It is not that I mind being your janitor and cleaning up your badly irradiated planet for free. I mind being FORCED or TRICKED to do that against my will.

I looked up and asked, in English. "Would it kill you or somehow wound your godly macho pride to ask nicely? Asshole."

Dime also looked up with his fierce raptorial stare, as if there were some threats from above. I forgot that our feelings were shared through our bond.

"Easy, boy. Now, go and sit on Honey Cake's saddle. You are too heavy for me to carry you on my arm all the time."

We left our neighborhood and entered downtown Es-Kina. If a horse without rider drew attention, a horse with a sky-lord on top drew even more eyeballs. I kept my chin up but I was fearing some sort of attack. Maybe I should've brought a guard but I wasn't thinking I'd be in danger. Things would surely change once the soldiers recruited from Marduk's remnants arrived, but I thought that was still a few days ahead.

I only had eyes for the smithy and after I reached there, I could relax a bit. The sound of hammers falling down would feel quite calming. I knew that there I was valued and protected. I had no idea why I was being so skittish. It felt as if something was out to get me. I felt like one of those dreams where you are naked in the school play and you can sense every eye on your skin. I was being watched from beyond.

It was pressure at the back of my head, like... exactly like when I jumped the pit. I called Dime down, stopped Penny. I focused and tried to be mindful of myself. Feel my magic pool. Topped. My surroundings. The streets of downtown Es-Kina. My purpose. Go to the smithy. Just like some shonen anime where they bleed as much as me, I tried to flare my inner cosmos.

The pressure vanished. It was like taking analgesics when you have a headache. Now, who was using magic on me? I had not a clue. It wasn't as if I had a radar for sorcerers. I couldn't even pick them apart in a crowd. There was nothing I could do except to be mindful of these seventh-sense premonitions. I checked with my animals, especially Dime. They didn't sense anything out of the ordinary, so we went on our way.

Nothing else happened as we made our way to the smithy. I guess whichever magician was doing its thing on me, he got some backlash from the spell being forcefully interrupted. And just as I thought, the column of smoke rising from the central chimney, the sounds of hammers pounding on metal, the light of the sparks and the glow of the hot metal, and even the scent of the coal burning and, I must admit, the men working their muscles, was calming, relaxing, and enticing at the same time.

Soon I found my way to where Samus was working on my chainmail. He had several small rectangular U-shaped pieces he was painstakingly linking together and hammering to clip them around the edges of the suit of armor. He'd put a new piece biting over one chain ring and over a groove on the last one, pin a rivet through the top of the ends of the U and hammer the rivet shut. The finished work looked like one of those fictional chain-swords that were made of links joined together. Or a conveyor belt in a factory. I could see that they gave the edge a nice finish. It would be even nicer once the wooden boxes arrived.

"Master Samus. Greetings!" I called him out of his working trance.

He stopped with the hammer up and looked at me. "Sandra! Welcome. You are early, I didn't expect you this soon. Your armor is not done yet, I'm sorry. I'll get it done soon, would you like to go with Aran to the warehouse check on the ores?"

I smiled and nodded. "I'm the one who's sorry for interrupting your work, master. I'll do as you suggested, many thanks. It is gorgeous," I finished pointing at his work. "I look forward to wearing it."

"I'm flattered, milady," He bowed his head. "I'll make sure it is up to your tastes."

"It is already. Bye!"

I didn't find Aran. He found me.

"Sandra! You are early! But that's great! More time for us to process the ores! Come, come!"

He was excited and eager to go to that warehouse. They weren't getting a bad deal. I could process and purify the ores to a degree unthinkable. Like ten sigma of purity. Or almost perfectly pure. For free, without clumsy crucibles, bellows, without wasting time and materials. I'd keep the exotic materials and any gemstones found inside the ores.

"Aran, if you don't mind, let's go through our deal again. You'll keep the iron, copper, tin, gold, and silver in the ores, I'll keep the rest. Is that it?"

"I don't think there's much gold in these ores, but you can keep the gold. The Enshi is paying very well for the weapons and armor we are crafting."

And indeed, the smithy looked like a kicked anthill. Even some soldiers were there helping the smiths and probably keeping an eye on everyone. Aran opened the doors to the warehouse and I could see inside. The warehouse was about six by twenty meters and four meters from the floor to the arched roof beams. It was a barn, so to speak, but without the hay and farm tools and livestock, you'd expect to be in a barn. Instead, it was full of piles of rocks of all the colors of the rainbow, wagons full of ore and...