Finally, I was able to go back to my Cave.

I assigned one of my clones to the hotel. Since he just has to stay in this room, and can lazily read all the books he wants he accepted without any problems.

“So you’re good?”

“Yeah.”

“Message the librarians at Data-House if you need any books transported.”

“I know.”

He has all my memories so of course, he knows. It should be fine. He's just here in case someone knocks.

I teleport to the base of the mountain, near the entrance to the Cave.

The Cave entrance is usually closed by a giant rock that splits open when I say ‘Open Sesame.’ But today the secret cave entrance is wide open and Stella is there directing summoned NPCs to move some lions. Lion Statues covered in green moss, underneath it, it’s gold.

I want to ask what she's doing but… something about today just makes me want to crawl up in my bed. I don't know why it's like this, some days I want to rule the world and other days I just want to find a good branch and hang myself.

Stella approaches me instead.

"Master Verra, you've returned. I have taken upon myself to instruct the men working at Mizar, to move these statues to the Cave's storeroom."

Island Mizar, the one we recently occupied, before the Cave was completed. I put all of the treasure we found in the lost city of Mizar in the Cave's storeroom. But I ignored everything that was outside the city's treasury. There were gold statues right in the middle of the city, even some buildings had jewels impeded on them.

"Do we have room for this in the storeroom?"

"I instructed them to bring everything we can fit, but to bring everything that’s in the city we'll need to move some things into the House treasury, or create another Cave. How shall I proceed?"

No, don’t proceed; you could have done nothing and left them there, to begin with, but now that you’ve already done this much.

"Leave whatever you can't fit in the Cave's storeroom alone. And start melting these statues to make gold ingots. If you need Deman’s help for that, ask him."

"Right. I will instruct them so."

"Um. More importantly, how is the harvest?"

The Mizar Island grows this amazing fruit called Tholos. The juice inside it has a citrusy taste, and it’s like a coconut except the mesocarp is more like an orange or lemon that you can just scoop out and eat. It has a similar flavor to the juice but feels like eating green grapes without the skin.

"Yes, it's coming along well, but..." She looked a bit disgruntled. "They’ve not finished their reports, so I can only estimate the amounts stored in the warehouse."

"Isn't the reports due tomorrow? It's fine, I already have paperwork piling up."

"I'll instruct them never to do it again and to at least have it finished 3... No, a week early."

"No, no, there is no need for that, just leave it alone." Is she one of those horrible bosses that are plain insane? She does do a better job than Rosey, but I think that's because of her settings. They’re probably all good at what I intended for them to be good at, it’s just been too long since I made them. "If you have everything settled here, let’s go to my office."

"Yes. They should be fine on their own now." Then she turned to them and shouted. "All of you, I'm going with Master Verra. Work to die!"

"YES!!"

They all kneeled down on one leg, while still holding a statue. They're too high level, to find them heavy.

She turned around with a bright smile.

"I'm finished here."

"Um. Okay."

▼▼▼

The files have really piled up; they're comically obstructing my view. I'll try to finish a hundred today.

"By the way, did we get a report back from Derraacs?"

All my clones have a different name so we don't confuse them. Well some of them have two, for meeting different people. It was dispatched a few days ago. All my problems started after that. At least that clone listened to me.

"No Master Verra, but I believe they should have reached Nolybab by now."

"Hmm..."

Then why isn't he reporting back?

♦♦♦

"Mr. Derraacs Dlab... From the independent Violet estate..."

The soldier was looking over our documents, reading bits and pieces out loud, probably pieces he thought were important.

The other soldiers were going through our baggage, and searching our personal carriage.

I watched the soldier examining my cane, it was just a normal cane but he was spending a lot of time examining every detail of it.

The soldiers standing behind the one reading my documents were examining me from head to toe, gauging me.

When they first saw me step out of the coach, I remember they took a step back. This form is quite large even though it’s human. I thought with the makeup all over my head covering all the scars I looked less intimidating, but I suppose it's still too much. I tried growing my hair before I came here; an experiment. It wasn't possible in the game, at least I think it wasn’t. The original never let a clone like me stay out for months since he never played that long without logging out. The hair did grow, but there were too many large scars on this head that it looked funny with hair. So I went back to being bald, with scars all over my head. Since hair didn't work, we used makeup instead, as long as I don't scratch it, it should be fine. I still wore a Panama hat, just to have something cover my head.

"... So you're coming here to start up a new pharmacy branch..." He said nodding his head in approval.

"Yes, Sir."

"…. NewLife… I hear a lot of good things about them."

He shut the document and stamped it. It had some kind of magic, which made the ink from the stamp glow. Then he handed it back to me.

"Have a safe trip."

"Thanks."

I had to take the cane back from the soldier who was still examining it.

We got back in the coach, and I told the coachman to head to the hotel. He looked at the map our spies made of the whole kingdom, grasping an understanding of the location he commanded the horses forward.

♦♦♦

The Kingdom of Nolybab is the most southern part of the continent of Iacta. The Kingdom is known for the Omron Church and the Casinos.

"Master Derraacs, should we not sign into a hotel."

"Didn't we already sent Iru to take care of it?"

Will that girl be fine? If master trusts her then I suppose it should be fine.

"May I ask where we are headed?"

It's not my right to ask these things, but apparently master has been telling a lot of NPCs to express their opinions and even praised Stella for it.

That girl... personally I don't mind but jealousy can drive people mad.

"Well, I want to check out the Casino, and the condition in the slums around here."

Perhaps asking ‘why’, would be going too far? My reason to be is to simply serve the Master. If he wishes to go to the Casinos and the slums I should assist to the fullest degree without out hesitation.

But what my Master said next surprised me, to say the least.

"Aren't you going to ask ‘why’?"

"I-I didn't... no. I don't think I’m worthy."

I spoke the honest truth, I am not worthy.

"There is no reason to think like that, for a matter of fact, I can use your insight. Matters concerning the Casino... are still... You could say I am just going to observe or have some fun."

Could it be something Master Derraacs came up with himself, I heard the clones sometimes rebel.

He is still my Master and I should listen, but... maybe…

Would persuading Master Derraacs to follow Master Verra's plan make Master Verra praise me?

I'm old enough to know I shouldn’t be playing with fire.

"But at the slums, you might be of great help to me Simon."

"Yes!"

Anything to help the Master. Yes, that's right, I should follow my orders without ulterior motives. It is utter treachery to do so otherwise.

"Energetic, good. Let’s go to the slums first then."

Master led me to the slums using god’s magic, only players possess, it seems they see some kind of map in front of them.

The slums are at the northwestern corner of this kingdom, meeting the shorelines to the west, and barren land to the north. It covers a quarter of this countries landmass. It's an area of land covered by houses made of gray bricks. The land loses altitude as it reaches the ocean, the waves eroding some of these people’s homes. In 1000 years perhaps all of this will be underwater.

As we entered the slums, Master told me about the reports.

"The reports we got back from my previous clones, ninjas, and spies show, that most of these children either join the mafia-"

"Mafia!"

I let my voice leak, my memories of our previous world came back to me.

"Not the same as in the game. I mean it in the sense of a gang or yakuza, or a group of thugs. Whatever you want to call it."

Master corrected my misconception right away. I offered my apologies for shouting, and Master merely waved it off.

"They're called... It's best not to mention them by name here." He said having glanced at a man that has been staring at us from the corner.

The man was slumped over on the dirty floor, chewing on a cigarette bud. Tattered clothing, lifeless eyes, dark dirty skin, that's when I noticed quite a lot of eyes were drawn to us.

I was a precisely dressed butler, with no facial hair and combed black hair. Master wore a beige and elegant coat which went down to his knees, and a tie and suit to match underneath. He also carried a cane which could be considered expensive by this world's standards let alone in the slums. Suffice to say we stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Don't mind them too much, it's good that they're staring at us," Master said to me, who was staring at these poor unfortunate souls with pity, while he looked ahead. "I like their eyes full of greed and envy."

He added, with what seemed like a smile. I couldn't quite tell being a bit behind him, but for a moment I thought the master was smiling evilly.

I can feel nothing but pity for these people. The windows and doors are broken, I haven't found a home that seemed even a bit livable. I could see the families inside, even in this country with so much magic technologies, they still light their fires with sticks and stones.

It was just one of the many things I saw; you would never see anything like this in Otnorot.

Then suddenly a boy came before my Master and went for his shoes. For a moment I thought of stopping him, but then I saw that the boy was trying to clean it, with some ragged cloth he seemed to have found somewhere. No shoe polish or the proper brush that needs to be used. I wondered if the master was angry. When I looked up to his face, I couldn't discern any emotions from it.

Then when the boy finished he stuck out his arm. Master took out his pouch, giving the boy a silver coin.

What!? 1 silver coin is 100 copper, with that he could live for a month in comfort, a much better life than in these slums. For the people of these slums, it's too much. He will merely become the target of little thieves.

The boy stared at the coin in amazement.

My Master bends down and cleans the boy’s face with his hands, rubbing off some of the black dirt from the beautiful boy’s cheek. After which my master walked on, I followed behind looking at the boys back, as he ran deeper into some corner of the slums.

I hope he stays safe.

"Will that be fine?"

My thoughts slipped out as we left the slums. Questions like ‘why did we come here’ and ‘are we just going to leave’ came to mind. As if he had read my mind, Master answered me.

"I have done what I came here to do. Now let’s go to the casino."

♦♦♦

I'm almost finished with this; 100 reports. I wish they would do the summary properly so I don't have to read the whole report.

Oh- I'll never get used to this, message icons just popping up right in front of your eyes.

'Rosey: Master Verra I finished the report on all the Lukluk people. When should I drop it off?'

She doesn't need to waste her time, coming here, I'll just have Stella pick it up.

'Verra: I'll send Stella over to pick it up.'

A knock came from the door as I send the message.

“Come in.”

It was Stella and Zwanzig with my tea.

"Master Verra we brought you, your tea." She's smiling too much.

Isn’t this kind of late for tea? Not that I mind.

"Thanks."

I don't know how they do it, but this tea is the best, much better than the ones back on earth.

"Stella, Rosey finished her report on our new citizens, the Lukluk people." You remember them right. "Pick it up when you're finished with the tea."

"All shall be as you command Master Verra."

She gulped down the tea really fast and bolted out.

You didn't need to rush. Wasn't it hot? What were her classes again? They might provide protection against heat.

I'll finish a few more reports and check out what they're cooking in the lab.

♦♦♦

"Where's Rosey, Skullgen?"

"She's with Didi, Madam Stela. Enjoying her time with the Lukluk. Discussing things about the village under construction. In the house Master gave her. They are sitting in there somewhere. In a room talking, and possibly enjoying snacks. By a window or some kind of lighting. In front of a-"

“That’s enough. Lead the way.”

It’s good that Zwanzig hasn’t spread the word. If everyone stopped calling me 'Madam' it would be horrible. The girl has been absolutely rude since then.

"Yes, as you command. If that is your wish. I will-"

“In silence.” Thank you.

Rosey you have fallen so low, having to toil around with these lower life forms.

He he he, I shall learn from your mistakes. So teach away, teach away.

So this is where she's been living. Master was kind enough to give you one of his treasures, wonder if he'll give me something.

Of course he will, if he was willing to give something to the likes of her, a failure, then I am sure to get a much greater reward.

I see this 'Girl House' is larger on the inside than the outside.

What!? She even has a maid, the only one who should be granted a maid is the Master. And maybe Cybel, but she is an exception.

"You look like you're having fun."

Having tea with this Lukluk. Hope you’re enjoying yourself because I will not be giving this position back to you. I will stay beside the master for eternity.

"Stella, here's the report."

No ‘Madam', and right to business. I see, you want me out, the moment I'm here.

"Want some tea, the maids are also making some cookies."

I guess not. Well... Good.

"Would love to." He he he.

"Madam Stella I would also like to give a word of thanks to the master."

This Lukluk, why is she sitting on the same level as me? Rosey has been too kind to her.

"I'll have to talk to the Master if you want to meet him."

Please be quite, you're ruining the tea.

"Yes! I am aware, I wrote a letter of thanks and a request myself. If you can present it to Master Yug, you have my sincerest gratitude."

"Hmm... Sure."

This tea isn't so bad, is she using the Master's supplies or outside sources.

"What kind of tea is this?"

"I also wrote that in the report."

Why is she smiling?

"Madam Stella, this is a special kind of tea leaf we Lukluk people brought along. It is an ancient plant passed down from generation to generation. I must thank Master Yug again, thanks to his kindness we have been able to grow it without worry of attracting the mountain beasts."

So they're farmed. Aren’t tea plants usually grown in large mountain ranges.

"Yeah, Stella, you must have seen it right? The farming area we're building. We're almost finished the villagers' homes too, and I'm even thinking of expanding it, to turn it into a city."

"I see. I'll make sure to tell the Master your good work."

Like fat chance, rot here forever.

"Don't worry I'm writing the report on Lukluk technology and culture. I'm sure master will be interested."

Do whatever you want.

"Good for you, work hard."

"Ms. Rosey may I be excused. I am really enjoying this, but I am growing worried about leaving Juju alone."

"Oh- Yeah sure."

With the Lukluk gone I can finally talk normally.

"I see that Master gave you some parting gifts."

This house is pretty nice.

"Sigh*, do you really think I was demoted like the others. I thought you were smarter than that Stella."

This girl, what is she trying to say.

"What do you mean?"

"This job is important too, Stella. Why do you think he wanted me to create a report on each of the Lukluk." A question mark must have appeared on my face because she was acting very arrogant. "Master doesn't care about who's working the closest, to him; only the results."

"Of course, results are important."

"To tell you the truth I'm glad I'm not working as Master's assistant, I don't mean to say I didn't understand the profundity of being his right hand." Yes, what are you saying? Being close to him is everything. "All I'm trying to say is, be careful."

What? That's it. What does that even mean? Are you just going to sip your tea, without explaining any further? Well, it doesn't concern me what you think if you don't want this position back, all the better.

I'll even tell master you're enjoying this job very much, a lot more than when you were with him.

He he he, all that matters is securing my own place, so I won't be tossed out like you.

Maybe she’s just putting up an act for me, it truly does make me want to laugh. Only her, she's the only one that makes me want to laugh, so much.

▼▼▼

"Master I'm bac-"

It's just the maid, where is Master Verra?

"Oh- Stella, Master Verra went to the base, he wanted to see how the lab was progressing."

"Is that so? Then I'll go to him."

"That's not necessary. Master Verra told me to tell you that you could leave the report on his desk and take the rest of the day off." Why would he tell you that; is what I want to say to that grinning face of yours. But… "I see."

So Zwanzig you are against me as well, but why. Do you think a maid like you could replace me?

"Then I'll be in my room."

I'll have to send a message to Master, if he needs me he'll have to know where to find me. Call or message; I think I'll call.

♦♦♦

Out of the 3 floors this one's my favorite; the Lab.

The Otnorot City is pretty good too but I expanded parts of the city randomly. When finished, it was going to be good, but increasing the space over and over again till parts of it was filled with half-constructed buildings and empty barren land makes it look kind of shit.

Only the center was developed, I was going to add more NPCs and turn the whole place into a more modern environment, but it's too late now.

This floor, on the other hand, is finished, though I could add more rooms and departments, it has a finished look to it.

It had the design of a futuristic research center. If you went in without a map you would get lost in the maze. Moving walkways, everything is platinum coated, and large rectangular windows with 4-cut corners looking into the weird experiments going on. Robots and weird doohickeys everywhere.

It was made so that players invading would get lost, and depending on the area they ended up in different attacks would be launched on them. Physics department has gravity ray, lasers, and other stuff. The Chemistry department has poison attacks, acid attacks, gas attacks and all that good stuff. Each department has their own specialty. The departments are split up into even smaller sections too.

It’s pretty much a large maze. Even though I built it I still need to activate my map if I want to go to some places; the place I'm going to today is one I memorized over repeated visits.

The moment I enter the Physics department I’m rushed by a sudden wave of scientists. All of them have questions, and too much enthusiasm to show me their work.

"Master Verra do you think this design or-"

"Master Verra I believe I worked out the issue-"

"Master Verra I might need another-"

"Master Verra the power plant you want designed-"

"Master Verra about the temp-"

"Master Verra I finish-"

Every time it’s the same, bombarded with questions and reports.

"Please everyone, one at a time. For now please go back to your sub-departments, I'll be visiting everyone in time."

"Of course, our deepest apologies."

"Yes, I have been rude. I apologize."

One after another they gave me their apology and went back, it would be better if they just didn't rush me. Today I'm trying to see if we can get electricity running. Or how far we are from it.

"Professor Electon how is it going?"

"Master Verra, I have them testing out different methods I came up with after reading those books you brought from the Grand Library. So far we have built a small scale model for the waterfall and the wind turbines using the book's designs, but it seems we don't have some of the material for solar power. I am trying to get the chemistry department to look at it. Also, the architectural department is currently working on the actual designs for the large-scale power plant. But right now all I can show you is the small scale models we have been working on."

Wow, he said a lot really fast. Is he nervous or is he just like that, it didn't sound nervous, just fast.

"I see. No need, as long as you can apply the theories it will be fine. Make sure to work with the architects properly so there aren't any problems installing the turbines and generators when the time comes."

"Yes, I am personally overseeing the whole plant design. No needs to worry, Master Verra."

"Alright. I trust you."

"Thank you."

I have no clue what half of them are doing but it looks serious.

"Oh- Dexman what're you doing here?"

"Ah- sorry… I-I wanted to see if I could build something."

So timid, well he's 12 years old in his settings. Head of the computer science department, since there were no computers in the game I gave him a whole department with no subordinates.

"No reason to worry, what're you building?"

"Am- Ah- it's this." What's this, looks like a huge box with numbers on it, a safe? "Y-you use it like this."

He put it down on the floor and turned the crank. What is this, a jack in the box? Well, it looks like it, if you turn it like that.

It's a calculator, a simple calculator.

"I see, I see. Let me try it."

"I-I can spin it... for you."

"Oh- thanks." Thus he spun the handle and I pressed the numbers and on the small screen numbers lit up. Addition and subtraction, no multiplication or division yet, but it’s still amazing. "This is really good if you can reduce the size it would be great!"

We're getting closer to the modern era. A small but important step.

"I- I had to use some magic crystals b-but I think I can replace them with what the book said. I-I'll trying building them."

"Is that why you were here? Well, this is still a bit too early to be built, hopefully, in time we can build it without magic." Yeah, it can't be helped, I can't tell what's inside but even building this with magic is pretty good. A new magic item that didn't exist in the game if nothing else. "Thank you for showing it to me Dexman."

"Y-you're welcome. No- i-it was my pleasure Master Verra." I should give him some subordinates, I already know NPCs can gain levels in this world, if he can teach them about computer science, then any of the uselessly large number martial artists could become a computer scientist. In this world, their high levels in combat are useless right now.

Ring* ring* ring*. Who's calling me?

Answer.

I can hear it right in my head, I hate this feeling.

“Did Zwanzig not give you my message? You can leave it on my desk.”

Please don't shout in my fucking head.

Hmm...

“I'll be staying the night in my room, is there a problem.”

Sigh*

“No.”

That was just a figure of speech, all I said was let’s talk later. I can't say no, can I?

It just wouldn’t be a nice thing to do.

Maybe I should get Rosey back.

“Sure.”

“No y-“

Ou Don't have to rush I wanted to check out the genetics department.

“Haa~”