Florista has invited you to the guild Emporium! Would you like to Join?

“Yes!” I said with a nod.

You have joined the guild Emporium, your rank is set automatically to recruit.

At that time, suddenly a guild chat appeared and from it, a flood of comments.

[Welcome!] [Congrats on joining the future masters of the continent!] [Who are you?! Newbie! Go get me a soda!] [I want cookies!]

[SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!] Max suddenly roared in the chat.

Josh Maximus has changed your ranking to Officer.

[What the hell?!] someone suddenly shouted.

As soon as the message traveled the guild, all the newbies began to rage. The guild followed the traditional guild set up. Guild Leader, Vice Leader, Commander, Officer, Member, Recruit.

The last two are the ‘unknown’ people in real life while the officer and up are all company employees as well as several other very talented people Max seemed to have found.

[All of you be quiet, he is one of my inside men, there is no point in leaving him as a recruit so stop whining.] Max said.

[Is it okay to put me instantly at a higher rank? I mean… I’m level 25?] I ask.

[Don’t go spouting nonsense! You’re a breeder class, 80% of your strength comes from your beasties.] he replied.

I just smile wryly and leave the recruits to their complaints as we head to a much different building compared to the warriors guild where Levi learned her Lancer class and met Mary.

The building was actually a church, specifically, the Church of the War god.

It made me a bit wary because of the bounty from the Light Church.

When we walked in, to our shock, a Celestial being was floating at the back and Mary walked over and dropped down to her knee. “Great Celestial one, I have come with a request!” she said.

The eyes of the celestial opened revealing bright glowing yellow eyes that seemed to shine. “Speak, daughter of the master.” he said.

“I request a training exertion for Battle Maiden recruits under my administration.” She said.

The brow of the celestial raised and looked at me. “Your request is accepted.” he said and a light shined and blinked out of existence. After a moment, several dozen shined back.

“I have acquired 340 recruits from all chapels. Within 10 minutes they will be teleported into the chapel for you to take charge.” the celestial said and closed his eyes and the lights began to flash slowly some blinking into and out of existence as it accomplished its duties from this place and position.

“Thank you, holy one!” She bowed and stood before turning and calling us outside. “Just wait here and I will soon bring them out.” She said.

She returned inside and we waited, after 10 minutes, Mary appeared and behind her, countless girls, some even smaller than her, walked out and she whistled. They quickly ran into place and got into military lines with their lance planted on the ground with their shield on their back.

“Oi, are these older than 18 or all brats?” DD asked rudely.

“Their all children, their age ranges from 6-11 which is the age range we recruit from.” She replied.

The brow of several older girls twitched and their eyes glared at Dark Droso wanting to burn a hole through him for calling them brats.

“Alright you all, from here you will follow this man. Similar to Druids, he possesses an inner world but it's savagery is many times greater than you know. With a wide range from level 60 all the way to level 180 there are countless areas with different terrain and survival requirements that will test you mentally and physically. That said, unlike the common training where you have a huge chance of dying, this time you will have him watching and pulling you out at the brink of death but don’t rely on this frame of mind though because you will have to fight and feed yourselves in there.” She said.

“Yes ma’am!” they shouted and looked at me, a hint of disdain could be seen and it frankly pissed me off.

Floating behind me, DD was sneering openly and muttered, “Get your hand or educational paddle ready because you're about to become the babysitter of over 300 bitches!” he said.

I couldn’t help but agree but I was glad that they were still children because Educational Strike worked on children, not adults.

“Alright, let's go.” She said and nodded to me and Levi.

We opened a newly formed room in the palace to bring them all in and they rushed into the portal after their shock was over.

We didn’t notice the eyes of the celestial open and watched the event from inside before closing it as Mary, Flor, and I left.

“Alright kid, they are in your charge, my best suggestion is quickly level up so they can respect you, their fighting habits are extremely high so you will have your work cut out for you to quickly level.” She tells me.

“Papa, if you want, i can travel with Flor since I can fly on my own and you can train in the Hive!” Levi said.

“It’s alright, you are too easy to track, the Central region has an even larger presence of the Light Church so we need to be even more careful from now on.” I said.

“It’s good you're careful. The Light Church people are rather brutal. Even after the Celestials took over, the bounty wasn’t taken down so you can tell that things don’t end at this point.” Flor said.

“Yeah.” I nod and turn to Levi.

“Right, I was able to obtain this.” she said and pulled out a large rough stone about as big as my head and glowing a blue white color.

“This is…?” I asked.

“It’s a mana stone, unlike magic crystals, this is pure mana, when i was walking around and saw the structure of your hive, i found that you had magic crystals but no mana stones, this is concentrated mana so by adding it, your mana will solidify and should allow more mana to be compacted into your body.” She said. “This is your advanced payment.”

“Oh! Right…” I said and took it and quickly had to fix my posture to hold the heavy and dense rock. A portal opened under my arms and I let it drop into the Hive where it was stored.

“Okay, I’ll take care of the kids after leaving and setting up camp at night, i will let them out and all that.” I said.

“It sounds like you're talking about dogs and cats.” DD said.

“Don’t be afraid to beat authority into their bodies, only that way will they obey properly.” Mary said ruthlessly.

I smile wryly and nod, “Thank you for the help and I will return once the Battle Maiden are level 100.” I said and waved.

“Bye bye master!” Levi waved and spread her wings and entered the Hive while me and Flor headed to the gate to enter the Central region.

***

In the chapel the celestial kept floating there as Mary returned.

“Daughter of the master, this traveller, is he the one who the Church of Light has hunted?” it asked suddenly.

Mary froze and bowed, “Who is hunted?” She asked.

A light shined around the celestial and a bounty formed and floated to Mary who caught it and she read it as her face turned into a scowl, “This…” she said in shock.

“I see, so it is.” the celestial said.

“Holy one! I have been with him and those around him, they are far from cultists!” Mary said.

“I know, send a notice to all branches to inform them of this man and send a warning to the Church of Light to retract the bounty. He is taking care of my lord’s Daughters so he will receive our protection!” he said without opening his eyes.

“U-understood, Holy one!” Mary said and quickly ran off to go spread the information to the other branches.

***

Bzzz~!

I look at a farm some hundred meters away.

After entering the central region we found many more farms and roads as well as villages and people. Besides deep in forests, there are rarely high level monsters. Not like I can say anything since i am low leveled so they are still a hassle.

Anyway, the farm I am looking at is a common one except for a very specific reason. Along the forest, there are known to be an incredible number of bees. This is both monster and common. The farmers live a distance away from the forest that the monsters live at, have domesticated several bee hives to use to make honey and to pollinate his farm. These are very smart people

“Let’s get one of those hives!” I said as I looked from afar.

Obviously the hives weren’t like modern ones made in boxes. They were wild hives built in trees.

The best part about Honey Bee is that they are like ants and have a stable and specific food source. They develop when everyone develops so it makes for a very easy to raise creature, much more so since they are honeyeaters so it isn’t hard to feed them as long as there are flowers.

“Ahaha! You want to steal one?!” DD asked with a glint in his eye.

“That is hard, openly entering would easily alert anyone slightly skilled or those dogs.” I point out the farm dogs.

“Leon, why do you want to steal someone's farm bees and not get a wild hive?” Flor asked.

“It's obvious, domestic bees are better, they have been bred much better than wild bees. Also it's less dangerous after all. Would you prefer to face a swarm of monster bee in the forest to get a hive of common bees or would you want to get ‘one’ hive from a farm with several?” I asked.

She took a moment to understand and nodded in agreement that my thought process was in the correct place.

“How do we get it though?” She asked.

“Obviously, DD will get them since he is an undying creature and can easily move the hive closer to us after chopping off the spot that holds it to the branch.” I said.

“You fucker!” He roared, “You think I don’t feel pain!? Also how will I cut? This is an accessory, remember!” he shouted waving the tiny Glaive around.

“Rip it out then.” I replied.

“Asshole! You fucking Jackass! You go get it and get stung by all those bees!” He shouted.

I sigh as I wonder how to get this idiot to do this.

“If you want one, why not that one closest to us and furthest from the farm.” Flor said pointing to one that was some 100 meter away but like all of them, they were in a clearing.

“Oi! Jackass! Just send a steel arm Mantis, they can easily cut the hive wax like a hot knife through butter! Or Blinking Crystal Beetles! They are so hard that it would take a hammer to crack them open!” DD said.

“That’s actually not a bad idea.” is said.

I sensed the interior of the Hive and soon a Mantis appeared. It was 40 cm long with a set of wings on it's lower part while the general shape was that of a dark greenish blue colored praying mantis. The only difference was that the inner part of the arms possessed a glittering blade as well as the arm of the mantis having formed shoulders. It had moved to the side of the body instead of the front allowing it a wider range of motion including horizontal slash.

“Go and obtain that Bee Hive.” I pointed.

WOOSH!

It's wings opened up and it suddenly flew off. It wasn’t excessively fast but as a bug, if anyone saw, they would think it was a monster attack.

The bees instantly reacted and began to hit and try to sting but there was nothing common bugs could do to true monsters like Steel Arm Mantis.

Then as it reached the hive, it swung one arm chopping the base of the hive off and another swing caused it's sickle arm to stick inside before it turned around and flew back.

I open the hive, “Throw it inside!” I said.

There are two kinds of portals, one is called a blank portal and the other a habit or terrain one.

The blank one is what is used to transport animals into the wilderness, or transport untamed bugs into habits they can live in.

As soon as the hive was inside the Mantis followed in and the swarming bees also flew after it but I quickly moved in front and grabbed a worker and quickly moved it away so that it doesn’t sting me and run away from their frenzy.

“Tame!” I shouted.

You have tamed a Worker Yellow Honey Hornet.

A new Habit has formed, Beehive.

Because of the presence of Yellow Honey Hornets, the hive has developed flowering habits and plants will flower more often.

The bee flew loose and I sent it into the hive and ran back to the others.

“Let’s leave quickly and find a place to enter the hive and get the Battle Maiden fighting.” i said and they nod.

I call some Vampiric Mosquitoes and we fly off away from the farm without them realizing the hive was stolen.

As we find a good place to camp, the hive portal opens and we enter into the palace room where the Battle Maiden were and walk in. To the shock of us three, all 340 of them were in a complete mess. Several were fighting, others were sleeping and some were just plain bored.

“What is going on here?!” I shout.

They all stop and get up. “Finally! You weak man! Let us battle!” One of the older girls shouted.

“Yes! Weakling! Open the door!” another one shouted.

From the age range, one could tell these were more leadership figures due to age. The size of the children still increases while in their young age before stagnating.

Soon, 34 bratty girls were standing and shouting while the others looked at each other and just left it at that.

“34… in other words 34 groups of 10 girls and 34 leaders.” I thought but there were veins appearing on my head.

Suddenly the oldest one slammed her lance down, “You, smelly male virgin! Send us to hunt or we will teach you your place as your masters!” she shouted.

Snap!

Something seemed to snap in my head, as well as DD because he was grinning with a red glint in his eyes while my eyes turned blank as I looked at them. A red glint appeared in my eyes as well.

“Drone, restrain all 34 of these girls and remove their weapons from them.” I ordered.

“At once!” The drone said and 34 clones of the drone appeared and suddenly grabbed the girls and flipped them into the air, disarmed them and grabbed their arms with one hand and one hand under their neck locking their head in place.

“Let me go!” one shouted followed by all of them shouting.

Another clone appeared in front of me, “I have restrained them.” She said.

“Good, that one, the last one to speak, bring her forward.” I said.

I then looked into my inventory and pulled out an item I casually crafted from hardwood from the Hive. It was in the shape of a paddle that was 50 cm long with 10 cm of handle at one side.

This was an educator's paddle, as I call it.

“Let me go! You can’t do this! I am a Battle Maiden of the War god!” she shouted.

“I can.” I said coldly, “Mary gave me full authority to beat you for insubordination. You are all under my command from today on so you will all listen to me and not command me around.” I said.

Po!

The girl spat which hit my face. I slowly whip it off and look at her coldly, “Drone, turn her around with her rear up, lower her pants and face all the others with her in that pose.” I order.

The drone does that and restrains her in a very humiliating pose of a child about to be spanked.

“I’ll kill you for this! I’LL KILL YOU!” She shouted.

“This is a warning, for anyone that acts unruly.” I said as I lifted the paddle and brought it down.

Educational Strike has activated.

PA!

“AHH~! I’LL KILL YOU!” She shouted.

PA!

“STOP!”

PA!

“I’LL MURDER YOU! I’LL KILL YOU!”

This followed for almost a minute when she started to cry but she didn’t learn her lesson.

“Oi, this isn’t working.” DD said, looking at the swollen bottom with disgust.

“Yeah, she is stubborn.” I replied.

At this time, Levi appeared.

GRRR~~!

“Papa~! I’m hungry! I want some of your cooking!” She complained and suddenly looked around. “What’s going on papa?” She asked.

At this time, my ear caught the sound of a number of growling sounds which made many girls start blushing as they gripped their stomach.

“Oh ho~!” DD suddenly grinned, “That’s right~! These brats are all gluttons like the hag brat.” DD said.

Grr~!

The sound rumbled from the stomach of the girl with a swollen bottom.

When the two heard this, the same grin appeared on their faces, “Drone, tie these 34 up and put them at the edge of the room. Then arrange this room as a dining hall and at the center make a large kitchen.” I said as I pulled out cauldrons and other cooking tools that were taken and the room began to change.

The 34 girls were taken by the drones and with braided Topaz Spider silk made into rope, they were heavily restrained with their arms and legs locked and put sitting at the edge of the room.

The rest were made to sit at the tables confused.

“Only today i will cook for you all. No… after this time, I will reward my cooking with a ranking we can decide later.” I said and pointed at a drone. “Give me a list of all the spice herbs, seasoning herbs and meat we have in store.” I said.

After a moment, a sheet of paper was pulled out and I looked at it.

“You get these herbs, you get this meat and you get these and these…” I began to give out orders and DD floated around and randomly shouted to the Drones.

We were mentally connected so even without seeing, he knew what i just read. Soon the drones gathered the ingredients and I began to instruct them each with detailed instructions. Amazingly, my level Basic level 6 skill leveled up after three orders.

DD also gained cooking himself as he began to shout at them and then stored the Glaive as he took several roots and began to chop with a cooking knife.

All the girls looked confused at the mess but just remained there watching.

As meat began to hit the pans their nose twitched and their stomachs began to growl louder. The cauldrons were filled with water, herbs and meat.

As they combined, the smell grew and the girls began to drool, including Flor who was looking.

A large project with the drones took almost an hour and the first plates began to come out and put on the tables but the girls were told not to touch.

Next to each girl was a Drone with a wooden paddle like my own and they were told to smack any hands that tried to take the food.

Having seen how painful it was for the leader figure, who has high tolerance to pain, suffered they didn’t take their chances but they were drooling as the few different plates and dishes were placed in front of them.

The 34 tied up we're drooling even more at the smell.

When I finally finished I sighed and looked at them with a smile.

Cooking skill has leveled up 6 > 9

Your familiar has gained the Cooking Skill.

Cooking skill has leveled up, 1 > 5

Seeing with a smile the effect, I nod, “Alright, now you girls can eat.” I said.

At once they all jumped at the food and began to exclaim at the taste. I took a plate and prepared it for Flor, DD and myself as well and we ate as well. I peeked over at the 34 who were suffering while everyone ate.

After 10 minutes, everyone had eaten and I had them brought to the center.

“This is a warning to all of you, anyone who is disobedient, will be tied up while everyone is eating, they won’t get to eat my food.” I said and ordered the Drone to grab something.

They appear with 68 smoked balls of meat that had only some basic salting.

“For those who are disobedient, this is all you get to eat to survive. Smoked meat with minimal salting preservation. You eat this or you will starve because I will let you out only tomorrow.” I said.

They all began to cry as they took resentful bites of the meat to survive but the bland smoked flavor was a far cry from the heavenly smell of the food I gave the rest of them.

When they finished, they didn’t dare look at me.

Your Educational strike has Leveled up. 2 > 5

Your skill has developed a new method of ‘Striking’ and educating.

Educational Strike

Basic Level 5

A Strike that completely abandons the strength stat and will not cause damage to the target. Instead it would cause only the pain equal to the force used on the target.

This strike can only be used when using it with intent to educate any beast with high intelligence to understand or any child.

You can now educate by ‘mentally’ striking them by using methods besides physical means to effectively educate children.

Pain when using skill will be amplified by 1.6 times and will cause the target to properly think of his or her actions and learn from mistakes. If using food punishment, hungry children will grow many times hungrier during punishment period.

This Strike ignores the defense of the child so that very powerful children can be properly educated by the parent.

“Alright, now that you are all properly obeying, Drones, prepare a barrack like room to bunk them all and prepare a large bath area so that they can wash up.” I ordered.

“I understand.” She said and the drones began to lead the girls away while I left with Flor as we headed off through the Central region once more and took advantage of the coming night.