44 – POV: Worker Ant II

Lori and Claire returned from their adventures maybe two hours after Ari and Renna ventured out to continue theirs.

Silvana paused her digging, hearing their clanging footsteps echoing through the hollow space.

They looked tired, and beaten up, but not horrendously. It was an inevitability that monster-hunting would leave them with scrapes and bruises, and like Silvana’s abstinence from their stock of stamina potions, Lori and Claire weren’t eager to use the red counterpart, either. Better to ration their limited resources. That, at least, was a nature shared between all of them.

“Welcome back,” Silvana said, nodding at her two returning teammates.

A smile split Claire’s face, and she waved in greeting. “Thanks! You’re seriously making some progress, here!”

I’m going to die. How are her eyes so big? “Well. Uh. It’s my job, you know?” Silvana repressed a wince at how lame the response was. Maybe life as a worker ant had been easier; she hadn’t needed to worry about awkwardness, or stumbling over words because of insanely cute her team members were. “But thanks.”

Lori, at least, produced no awkwardness from Silvana. She strode into the in-progress main hall, tail swishing and purveying the room like she owned it. She nodded, once, as if finding Silvana’s efforts satisfactory. “Ari will be pleased.”

“That’s the goal.” Silvana couldn’t speak for all of them, but she was pretty sure each of her teammates liked their red-headed leader. While the dynamic might be poorly defined, even confusing, each of them wanted to prove their worth in her eyes.

And not only because failing to do so might mean a sudden … cessation of their benevolently granting sapience. It might not be something Ari was hanging over their heads intentionally—she was too sweet to do that—but it hung nonetheless. Silvana didn’t know if Ari could reverse their contracts, but odds seemed high. And a reversion from ‘sapient’ to ‘not’ wasn’t dissimilar from death. Just an indirect sort.

Silvana doubted Ari even knew the idea loomed over them. Or … was it just her? Silvana doubted she was the only one with the thought. Lori and Claire—and Renna—probably unconsciously held the idea in the back of their heads, if not outright at the front as Silvana did.

Not that she thought it would happen. As long as they proved themselves useful, they’d be fine. And Silvana could be useful. Was her whole point of existing, really.

Silvana noted how her teammates eyes lingered on her body. Though, she couldn’t imagine why. She’d chosen to work naked to keep her clothing clean, but by this point—after hours and hours of work—she wore a shirt and pants made from dirt and grime. With such a thick layer of dust covering her, Lori and Claire couldn’t see much of interest.

But the idea still titillated her. The idea she was standing there, naked, for them to admire. A day ago, the idea of ‘naked’ hadn’t even existed. So it was a bit weird. But she still reveled in their lingering eyes. Claire’s, especially. Though she appreciated Lori’s gaze, too.

I wonder when the next time we get to … have fun, is.

Without a practical excuse of ‘combat’, as required by Ari’s class, it might be some time. Though, with Ari moving in, maybe group activities would become common. Silvana had been happy at the announcement just for knowing she’d get to spend more time around her—but the other implications, like this one? Made it even better.

She, of course, pretended not to notice how their eyes stuck to her exposed chest and crotch. Keeping control of her biological reactions wasn’t the easiest thing, but she could. Just took some effort.

They didn’t stick for long, anyway. They tore their eyes away, pretending it hadn’t happened at all. Silvana tingled with satisfaction—the idea her body had elicited that reaction. She repressed a smirk.

“Has Ari been back?” Lori asked.

“Yeah,” Silvana said. Time to broach that topic, she supposed—“There’s a new member.”

They’d had their backs turned to inspect the room, but now their attentions returned to Silvana. “There is?” Lori asked.

“A wolf,” Silvana said. “Renna. The two of them stopped by to say hi. I’m assuming they’ll be back, soon.” Ari’s expeditions didn’t normally take long; Silvana was surprised Lori and Claire had made it back before her.

“What’s her class?” Lori asked—at the same time Claire said, “What’s she like?”

Which, Silvana thought, was a microcosm of their personalities at large. Lori cared about Renna’s practical use to the Menagerie—Claire cared about her personality, how she’d fit in socially.

Silvana addressed Lori first. “Didn’t say. You’ll have to ask her when she gets back.”

Lori sniffed.

Silvana turned to Claire. “Didn’t have much chance to talk,” she said. “But she seems fine enough.” Silvana shrugged. “She’s tall. Gray hair, ‘bout to her mid-back. Busty.” Claire probably hadn’t meant by her question what Renna looked like, but Silvana didn’t have much to say about her personality. Their conversation had been all of two minutes—brief introductions, that was it.

“Huh,” Claire said. “Well, I can’t wait to meet her. I hope she likes us.”

“Will they be back soon?” Lori asked.

“I’d assume so.” Ari’s adventures didn’t take long, for good reason. Silvana could break rock apart all day, but Ari’s wicked, playful extraction of pleasure had left Silvana wiped out in a way she’d never experienced. That woman is a devil. A devil Silvana very, very much appreciated. “How were the adventures? Did you get it?”

Silvana had sent Lori and Claire off with a specific hunting grounds in mind. Not that she had the authority to be bossing either girl around, but it contributed to the base’s production, and so they’d been more than happy to aid her. It wasn’t like Silvana’s work here was a selfish thing. Lori might not seem to care much for a consistent place to call home, but Ari did—and Lori deferred to Ari’s goals, the same as all of them.

“We got it,” Lori said with a nod. She shrugged off her backpack, setting it to the ground and rummaging around. She withdrew two items.

===

Murky Adhesive

—A thick, viscous material that seals together materials of any sort.

===

The gray sludge came in a jar. The stuff had been used frequently during dungeon construction, if not in this convenient form, though she hadn’t known exactly where it’d come from. It seemed Lori and Claire had tracked it down. Her assumption that it originated from monsters near the dungeon must have been correct.

The next:

==

Golemchip

—Extremely durable.

==

An ideal material to build a chisel out of, and other tools. Silvana had been using her pickaxe to smooth out the walls, but a chisel would allow much finer work. This item, at least, would have been easier for them to track down. The monster’s name was in the item—‘golem’.

“Perfect,” Silvana said, pleased. She’d been ready to work without either of the items, but it looked like Lori and Claire’s adventures had turned out fruitful.

It would speed up construction of their base. Silvana’s [Improvise] skill could allow all kinds of shenanigans when it came to impromptu creation, but only so much. The more materials she had on hand, the further she could push her skills. “This’ll make—“

“Hello?” a voice called down the stairwell. Three heads pivoted. “We’re back!”

Ah, Silvana thought. Fortuitous timing.