Dealing With It

Chapter 104

After staring at the communication stone for a moment, I picked it up. It was a small glossy black stone with a communication glyph on it. Feather-light normally, but just then it felt heavy.

“Mistress 42,” Mira said politely.

“Mira, how can I help you?” I asked. I turned my back on Dawn as I did, not wanting to get distracted. Something that happened rather too easily with me, even when I wasn’t flustered.

“We wanted to discuss what you brought up before, about building a town,” Mira replied. I felt my lack of a stomach drop. It was the expected topic, but still uncomfortable at the moment.

“I’m going to send you a contract offer to consider,” I started. There wasn’t an easy way to do this. So, as Dawn had said, it was time to rip the wound open because this sure as fuck wasn’t a band-aid situation.

“Very well?” Mira said, sounding surprised.

“While you do, you should think carefully about… I told you before that I don't work for the dungeon master,” I said only to hesitate.

“You lied?” Hetcha’s voice cut in. She didn’t sound surprised and I couldn’t help a sigh at that. It probably would make more sense on some level to them.

“No, I didn’t. Look, I’m not… social generally. So when you asked that question I answered it but not fully explaining was its own kind of lie, even if it was unintentional. The conversation got away from me and then I was too off balance to tell you what I should have at the time,” I explained. It felt kind of cathartic to just tell them honestly that I sucked at peopling. It didn’t help anything really, but it was a load off my mind at the very least.

I heard some argument in the background and what might have been the stone being dropped. The connection cut at the very least. It resumed a moment later though.

“Alright, so what is the truth?” Mira asked calmly.

“The truth is I can’t work for the Dungeon Master, since I am the Dungeon Master,” I said. Part of my brain unhelpfully supplied I could if, I decided to consider myself self-employed. I told that unhelpful part of my brain to go sit in a corner and think about what it had done. The bad one, full of imaginary spiders.

This time when the call cut I didn’t hold out hope it would resume in a few minutes. I was going to be lucky if they weren’t frantically packing and running for the stone maze. Feeling a not entirely unexpected surge of depression, I went and slumped down on the couch.

Dawn patted me on the head and I felt pathetic enough to lean against her side and let her keep doing so. It certainly wouldn’t do anything for my dignity as a Dungeon Master, but I didn’t care about that at the moment. I felt like shit, and her stroking my hair like I was an overwrought toddler felt nice.

“I’m pretty sure I just fucked that up completely,” I said after a few moments.

“Quite likely,” Dawn offered simply. I sighed, irritated but ending up laughing at the end. I really had and it was no one's fault but my own. Still, it was kind of funny from a certain perspective. If I squinted.

“Well, it's not like I can’t still build a town. I mean, I’ve been planning it for a while. Having them to help get new settlers would have been nice, but it's not like I don’t have other options,” I said, though if it was to inform Dawn or convince myself was unclear.

“The boy, Elim, could do as much,” Dawn offered.

“True,” I agreed.

“You’d rather he didn’t though. Why?” Dawn asked. How exactly she’d picked up on my reluctance with me barely saying anything was a vexing little mystery, but one that would have to wait until later I suspected.

“I’m not totally against it, it just wouldn’t work quite the same. The La’Durin need a place to stay so rehoming them here probably wouldn’t be hard. Particularly with Hetcha doing the recruiting,” I started.

“Elim’s human and… Well, I don’t know how well they’d respond to him even if he’s willing to do it,” I continued. Stromholt’s human population had enslaved the La’Durin. I wouldn’t blame the lot of them for not trusting him given what happened. That was traumatic on a scale I was comfortable with admitting I didn’t have a grasp on.

“There's also a strong possibility of a plague outbreak happening soon. If I were in his position I wouldn’t want to be separated from my family for long and definitely would want to settle them somewhere safe before I went anywhere,” I continued.

“That does make sense, but you could order him to do it I believe,” Dawn replied. I sat up at that suggestion, not happy but less with Dawn and more with the situation. I liked the security that magic contracts afforded me but I couldn’t shake my disgust with that aspect.

It was one thing to strike a deal and have it be followed by both parties. Nothing I’d asked for was particularly terrible and the rewards were reasonably generous. What I didn’t like was how far that compliance could truly be pushed with the right wording and a degenerate mind.

“That's true but… I don’t want to force him to do things. I’d rather talk and convince him or figure out a compromise,” I said after only a brief moment of contemplation.

“Offer him the farm then, I doubt there are many places where his family would be safer,” Dawn offered. My orbs fluttered at the suggestion. It had actually been on my mind for quite a while. So long in fact, it felt weird to hear someone say it.

“That's… not wrong, but don’t you think it would make him uncomfortable?” I asked, wanting to agree but unwilling to rush. I’d already fucked one relationship up today, I didn’t need to try for a double.

“Truly, who wouldn’t resent being offered a small palace surrounded by unflagging guardians to safeguard their family,” Dawn said dryly. I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it.

“I’ll think about it,” I said, hesitant but a little excited. As I sat wondering what I should do, if anything, about the situation with Mira and Hetcha I got a notice. Andrea and Mina had both agreed to the secret-keeping pact formally.

Presented with a new and interesting option I checked on the farm. Mira and Hetcha hadn’t left yet. That worked nicely for what I was thinking about doing. I started quickly sketching things out and pulling items from my inventory.

“You look like you have a plan, Mistress,” Dawn said with a smirk.

“Half of one, but what the hell,” I replied, only giving her a fraction of my attention. Since everyone knew what I was anyway, I didn’t have a specific reason to keep Andrea and Mina prisoner in the dungeon anymore. Sadism wasn’t my thing. I grabbed the communication stone matching theirs and waited for one of them to pick it up.

“Mina, Andrea, how would you guys feel about having dinner with Mira and Hetcha?” I asked before they could identify themselves.

“Bad that they ended up stuck down here?” Mina replied after a slight pause. I could have kicked myself but decided to just rebound instead of wallow.

“Let me restate that. Since you agreed to the deal, you're both free to go, but it's late in the day. Mira and Hetcha are both staying in a house in the valley. I thought I’d let you all meet up and give you some gear while you talk over what you want to do next,” I said quickly.

Releasing prisoners wasn’t exactly a grand gesture of goodwill, mostly because I’d had to keep them prisoner to release them, but it was something. It was probably ill-advised to hope for anything, but I thought they might change their minds after a decent meal and getting to talk. If it failed though, they’d all be safer together than apart.

“Let us out now!” Andrea said sharply. Rightfully, she didn’t like me and had only mellowed marginally after the issue with the food was cleared up. She sounded a bit panicked at the moment rather than purely upset though. Hearing she could leave but still being stuck was likely doing a number on her.

“Andrea, chill!” Mina hissed at her friend.

“No, that's fair… Uhm, this might feel weird. I’ve never done it to non-monsters before,” I said.

“Done what!?” Andrea demanded. Rather than explain I just went ahead and moved them from the safe zone-come-prison to the area directly in front of the farmhouse. I heard a pair of frightened shrieks and opened my security feed. Both girls were clinging to each other and freaking out pretty good at the sudden location change.

I didn’t think talking to them would help the situation so I busied myself with the other half of my plan. I dropped a table a short way from them and then put the best of the food and dessert options, according to Elim, I had in stock on said table. After a moment's hesitation, I also added in some booze. Wine, cider, and ale joined the rather haphazard collection of food.

This was not my best work from a presentation standpoint, but it would have to do. I cobbled some lanterns on sticks to sub in for tiki torches and lit the area up so it would still be comfortable once it got fully dark. Chairs were the last thing to go in, because I'd honestly forgotten about them until that point.

Nothing happening was fancy, and I rounded it out with packs of equipment. I was going to keep my word and let them bolt if they wanted to with proper gear. I didn’t want them to, but I was going to if that was what they decided.

“What in Ula’s-” Mira and Hetcha had appeared in the doorway. They took in Andrea and Mina for a moment and the other girls looked back at them. All four were in shock for a moment. Belatedly I realized I’d forgotten to mention the dinner idea to Mira and Hetcha which was a pretty gross oversight on my part. I wasn’t even sure if they wanted to see Mina and Andrea.

My concerns about a fight breaking out were dispelled when they started running toward each other in the dimming light of the day. It was a bit awkward because they all were crying as they embraced. They were glad they were all alive to reunite and feeling awkward about my role in the matter I closed my security feed and left them to catch up.