He spent the next week focusing on profits and dealing with the store.
His new trade network helped with some of that. Jessib from Double Sight Pest Control was quite interested in the acidic liquid that Dr. Muriler created for The Mutagen Tank. She placed extensive orders all throughout the week, happy to pay with both gold and the corpses of the pests she killed.
Some of which were far less normal than others. The worst was a nightmarish ant-wolf hybrid that, even while dead, didn’t stop twitching. Though its loot comprised a metallic skeleton and a fair amount of meat.
Mark, one of the Sewer Dwellers, had agreed to try it. He’d given a good review, and Arthur was willing to defer to his judgment on the matter. Though he was happy to achieve level seventeen off the purchase.
It wasn’t only gold and loot he was receiving through his networks. Bumarthian snapped up any Slagsoul jars almost as soon as he put them in the box. The Fae traded three to five books at a time.
Arthur didn’t ask questions, happy to watch his collection of books grow. They ranged from military history to science fiction about cybernetic cats. He devoured them all whenever he had free time.
Also during the week, the Mutagen Tank returned to its regular pace in the basement. A fact that excited Dr. Muriler even more than the bed they’d squeezed in there.
From what Arthur could understand from the squeaking and gesturing, they’d not simply fixed it. No, they’d upgraded it. The proof of which was all the various monster parts the knights dropped off now being fed into the machine.
As he worked, so did Nyssa. Almost any time he needed to speak to her, he found her in someone’s home, paintbrush in hand. Splotch was on her shoulder as she decorated the blank white walls that the dwellings had. Her smile was infectious as she talked to people about what they wanted, charging a pittance for the work.
He did his best not to distract her.
Augustus, Leo, and Theobold were all busy as well. Any downtime they had, they spent training. What few books on combat he had, they studied before going out and smashing each other around on the street.
Occasionally, people from the community joined in as well. They’d spar with Augustus, or watch Theobold’s demonstrations. While not an expert, the horse mutate had some training,
Billy was a frequent member of the training group. His large knife in hand as he did his best to match what the others did. To Arthur’s relief, Theobold did his best to keep the boy from hurting himself.
On the last day of the week, as he watched them train, he fiddled with the coin in his hand. Arthur knew a small percentage of the people training wasn’t all going into the sewers. That was fine with him. He didn’t expect everyone to want to risk themselves like that.
Still, it posed a problem.
“If they aren’t working, they can’t pay me.” He thought, and he flicked the coin into the air and caught it. “That needs to change. The question is, what do I want to hire them to do?”
Several options came to mind. He pondered everything from sending them out as scavengers to different sections of the city to acting as street cleaners. Some of them would prefer that, but as he watched the ones before the shop fight, not all of them would. They’d want harder quests.
His thoughts moved back to something Pydes had told him about quests. That he would have access to more types with an HR department. That made him wonder.
“Does that mean I can set departments? Or am I limited?”
Briefly, he considered asking Pydes but opted to try it himself instead. Arthur envisioned an organizational chart, and to his shock, he received one. There was little to it. He sat at the top, and everyone else was below him in a jumbled mess.
That wouldn’t do. Arthur spent some time organizing and setting up clear departments with the department heads he had. He smiled as he promoted Nyssa to the head of marketing, even if it came with a twenty-penny pay bump.
With that set, he looked at his list of departments and the people in them.
Arthur chuckled to himself at his naming conventions. Human Relations didn’t seem right, not with most of his workers being non-human. Still, that left him with two spots to fill, and he wasn’t sure with whom.177Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXL9M5vv7k1
Jemima, George, and Jeff came to mind, but none of them he knew wanted to leave the sewers. With a sigh, he left it blank. That was one of the smaller problems that cropped up this week. The biggest of which was that none of the people who’d taken his Smite quest had returned.
“The question is who I send out there to look for them.”
No sooner had he finished the thought than there came a knock on the door. When he looked up, he saw the same young man who’d been talking to The Explorer during the last attack. Though he was far less crispy now.
“Knock, knock,” The Hero said as he strode into the room with a sword on his hip. “I’m here to pick up a quest.”
***
As they drew closer, the feeling he’d seen the man before hit Arthur like a truck.
From the stubble across the perfect jawline to the windswept blonde hair, he reminded him of the type of man from movie posters. That slightly too handsome, airbrushed look that made his eyes hurt to see in real life.
“Are you getting the feeling you’ve seen me before?” The words were casual, but there was a hint of humor to them.
“Yes, actually.”
“Good, that’s normal. Don’t worry about it. So, I heard you’ve been having a demon problem. I meant to come talk to you earlier, but never got the opportunity. Due to, well, being dead. Sorry about that.”
“No problem?” Arthur said, unsure. “Shall we go into my office?”
“Of course, lead the way.”
From his spot inside, Augustus looked up and squeaked to stand near the counter. It was the best spot that would allow him to see the entire store.
In moments, Arthur sat behind his desk as the young man smiled at him from the other side. The familiarity was driving him up the wall, but he shook it off.
“So, what did you need to talk to me about?”
“Demons.” The Hero’s smile faded. “They’re exclusive to this city. Though, as the first place to explode, that’s not surprising. I mean, don’t get me wrong. You aren’t the only ones with unique monsters. Do you know there’s a city out there with a mutant frog living in a sewer plant? People worship it. Crazy.”
Arthur blinked. “What?”
“I know. I’m pretty sure it’s a huge but normal frog. It’s one reason I wasn’t too worried about A Iocus Daemonium. I figured they were nothing but a new cult. Still, The Explorer said The Sage claimed you needed help. I expected something simple. Not whatever weapons they had.”
“They have an interdimensional backer. How much do you know about me?” Arthur gripped the coin in his hand.
“You have a goddess backing you up. Same thing for them?”
“Theirs is a little lower down. Still, I’m not going to say no to the help. A few of my people went hunting for demon corpses and haven’t come back. Do you think you can find them? I was going to ask The Assembly, but if you’re here to help anyway…”
The Hero nodded. “I can do that. The idea to send The Assembly is solid as well. Captain Swordsman is a clever leader when he wants to be, and Lady P is no slouch either.”
“You’ve worked with him before?”
“Once. We cleared out a Slagsoul Chimera that attacked a scavenger group together.”
Arthur almost dropped the coin as he looked toward The Hero, who continued talking about the fight. He interrupted with a whisper, hoping it wasn’t what he thought it was.
“What’s a Slagsoul Chimera?”
“Hmm? Oh! Annoying things. Slagsouls can leave goop behind that can bond with living organisms and take them over. Weird mixtures of things. I wouldn’t stress; they’re found almost exclusively in The Pit.”
“Ahh. I see. When you say living organisms, you mean?”
The Hero shrugged. “Anything with a nervous system. No plants or anything. Can you imagine?”
“Haha, yeah,” Arthur laughed as he tried to hide his nervousness. He still remembered Dr. Kunibert talking about his missing rats.
“Now then,” The Hero said as he stood. “We’re off-topic. Demons. You want me to find your missing people, and what else? Bring back the corpses?”
“Yes. They have rare materials I can use. When can you start?”
The Hero shrugged. “I can start today. What else can you tell me?”
“Let me get some water; that’s a long answer.”
***
Arthur stood at the door and watched the man leave.
It’d gotten late while they talked. The Hero often paused him to tell stories as he listened to Artur explain what he knew about the demon’s capabilities.
From her spot behind the counter, Nyssa called out to him.
“Do you think he can help?”
“I have no idea,” Arthur admitted as he moved back inside to take over from her. “Any trouble?”
“No, though the rush hasn’t fully started. Are you taking over?” She looked excited, and so he waved her off.
“Sure. How do you find your pay raise?”
“In all honesty?” Nyssa shrugged. “Not as exciting as the position. That was something I wanted to talk to you about. If I’m head of marketing, what kind of advertising would you even want?”
Arthur paused. “A sign?”
“Helpful,” Nyssa snorted.
“Well, it’s not my department. You’d know more about this than I would. Maybe you can go tag the wall again.”
“It wasn’t tagging!”
Splotch yawned from his spot on her shoulder at the sudden uptick in volume, his small tail flicking out. She reached up to pat him, and he settled back into his nap. A smile crossed her face as she turned back to Arthur.
“It wasn’t tagging. I did legitimate art, not scrawling swears on walls.”
“Ok, fine. Well, can we do something about that? We have those Scooters now, and some of them have fuel.” Arthur gestured toward the alleyway. “If you had some protection, would you be interested?”
“Hmm.”
For a moment, he watched as she fell into her thinking pose before she reached over and grabbed one of the few blank canvases she had. Then she pulled out a pencil.
“I didn’t buy you that.”
“I know; I paid Jemima to trade for one with Frank. Dr. Kunibert.” Her tone wavered as she corrected herself. “She didn’t say it was for me.”
Arthur nodded, not pressing, as he watched her quickly sketch out the outline of a simple image. It didn’t take her long to finish the simple image, but he still liked it. The design was the same rat with the hat and cane displayed on both the side of the rickshaw, and new banners.
It sat on top of the words—Apocalypse Assortments, Food, Work, and Shelter Available.
“Yeah, that works. How quickly can you get them up?”
“That depends,” Nyssa said. “I don’t have spray paint, which is annoying. If I did, I could make a stencil for it. Plus, we’ll need to know the best places to put them. There’s no point in me putting in all the work if no one sees it.”
“True. Well, we’ll think about it. There has to be someone in our little community who’s been around the block. Ask around and tell me before you go. I’ll make sure you have protection.”
“Yes, boss,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll make a few more mock-ups. See what resonates with people while I’m here. How goes finding the Genomian woman?”
Arthur sighed. “Not well. No one has heard from her at all. I’m hoping Captain Swordsman will have something for me when he drops in next. Recruiting her to deprive them of demon cores is my only actual plan at the moment. If they can’t make more...”
“Cheer up,” Nyssa said as he trailed off. “It’ll be fine. We know where she hangs out now. So, let’s focus on what we can do.”
“Yeah. Alright, the people from the sewers will come up soon. I’ll take it. You go work on that.”
Nyssa nodded as she picked up her canvas. “You’re going to need to hire someone else to cover for me. Well, provided people keep commissioning me at this rate.”
“Have any suggestions?”
“Someone’s got to have the aptitude. Maybe, I don’t know, try hiring for the position. Worked with me.”
Arthur laughed. “You know what? I might. Besides, I have two more departments to fill out. I think it’s time we expand.”
He leaned back in his chair as Nyssa walked away to try more designs.
“She’s right,” he thought as the first people started arriving, carrying crocodiles and Slagsouls alike. “I can’t wait to be able to delegate this.” 177Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTp48nxsjup
