Adam Smasher, Level 1 Adventurer, Hestia Familia
Predictably, the brats slowed the overall pace of their daily murder sessions by a somewhat noticeable degree. Not enough to outpace the potential value of getting them trained up and murdering on their own, but enough to make him grumble. Were it not for the share renegotiations with the Supporter Squad, they'd be making less money today.
Well… They were making less, but not substantially so. That spell from the foxbrat had saved quite a bit of time clearing out the pantry.
Fortunately, triggering ant swarms made the rest of their delve much faster. Every time an injured ant triggered a swarm in a new region of wall, the wall was depleted instantly in order to spawn as many ants as possible in order to swarm the target. This had a twofold advantage.
First, it made clearing out hallways for safe fallback points substantially faster. Second, it ensured that the monsters that would spawn from the walls would be ants, and nothing else. He didn't need to worry about fighting any other kind of enemy except when he came across the occasional roaming band of assorted meats.
No moths, no butterflies, no rabbits. Just swarms of ants that weren't quite strong enough to bite through the steel plate that he was covered in. The only injuries they could inflict were to his feet, and basic awareness was more than enough to keep them from getting him there. These advantages working for him, he had managed to get all the way to floor nine during the midshift, without most of the brats to slow him down.
Turns out, everything from the previous floors shows up again on floor nine. The diversity of meat there was even better than the pantry. Most of them were a bit faster too, but not nearly enough to be a threat.
Pipsqueak wanted to keep going through the midshift, so she was on crossbow duty to handle the moths while he dealt with the ant swarms and assorted meats. He had to go back up to floor eight to link up with Scrappy and the other two at the end, but they'd be ready to hit floor ten tomorrow.
'Orcs', 'Imps', 'Bad Bats'. He didn't know their exact capabilities yet, which meant they were potentially dangerous. The Pigs were noted as strong, the Imps were noted as tactical, and the Bats had disorienting screams. The strategy there was pretty obvious.
Imps to distract, harass, and manage targets, Bats to nauseate and disorient, Pigs to bag the kills. Those three combat platforms were designed to work together to take out targets well above their individual weight classes. It was pretty textbook in execution, but it was also the most clever thing the murderpit had come up with so far, so caution was the correct move until he had a personal grasp of exactly how threatening they were.
Rabbits were also there, but they were rabbits. He already knew they weren't a concern. Packs laden with loot once more, the band of nine made their way back towards the surface once more. He had spent much of the trip counting the loot and dividing the shares out in his head. Giving the barnyard brats a partial share was the most complicated part and giving him a headache to work out, but that was better than giving them a full share for a partial job.
"One million, two hundred and forty one thousand, nine hundred and twenty five is the total profit for today." Adam began, being interrupted by whoops of joy and excited wiggles from the barnyard pair. He frowned at them until they quieted down, which only took a few moments, and then continued. "Supporter Squad, new share of ten percent final profits is one hundred and twenty four thousand, one hundred and ninety two valis. Split that among yourselves as you wish."
"Thank ye, Mr Adam. Glad to be of service again." Halflead spoke for his fellows again, Halfchain, Halfred, and Frecklehalf all nodding or humming in agreeable satisfaction.
Adam grunted in response before moving on. "Foxbrat, Bunnybrat, your shares are about one hundred and twenty four thousand, each."
"Hehe~ I can't wait to tell Coco-han about all of this, she's gonna be so jealous!" Bunnybrat mischievously chuckled. Foxbrat turned and admonished her, raising a finger and wagging it at her friend.
"You can't unless I'm there too, okay?!" It was not an admonishment after all.
"Scrappy, Pipsqueak, our shares are about one hundred and eighty thousand each. The Familia account share is three hundred and ten thousand after cutting their pay. The guildmeat can handle the precise numbers like normal." Adam grumbled out, remembering that fancy calculator-looking thing that guildmeat had behind her desk. A big boxy thing that made a bunch of wooden clacking noises whenever she used it, but it also handled the fiddly numbers for her.
"Ah man, I don't even know what I'm going to spend all this on. I've been treating everyone whenever we head to the Hostess, but that's not making a dent." Scrappy spoke to himself, raising a hand to his chin and rubbing it. There was a frown of consideration on his face. "I didn't think I would have this much any time soon."
"Weapons and Armor." Adam grunted out, stating the obvious.
"New clothes?" Foxbrat tried, face tinting pink as she turned to see the lipstick still on his face. She needed to get over herself about that, her hemming and hawing was annoying him.
"Potions that don't hurt so much." Bunnybrat grumbled out spitefully, having taken a bite on the leg, used one of their stocked potions, and spent the next few minutes crying on the floor. It was annoying to listen to, but great for luring wandering groups in, so net benefit was a wash.
"Maybe a gift for Hestia-sama?" Pipsqueak suggested quietly, shuffling a bit as Scrappy turned to smile at her.
"Oh yeah! I was planning on doing that! Thanks for the reminder Lili-san!"
Pipsqueak rapidly nodded her head in reply, accidentally knocking her helmet against her poleaxe and staggering briefly.
"Get a bigger bag for yourself while you're at it." Adam grumbled out, staring at the fanny pack that Scrappy was still using, its carrying capacity completely insufficient for any substantial amount of loot. "You need an upgrade."
He needed an upgrade himself soon enough, commissioning a proper set of armor for his legs to make his kicks less risky. Maybe a primary melee weapon too, at a certain point his fists weren't going to cut it on their own, and he'd need some other method of attack.
He had a good idea of what he was going to order.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Scrappy replied, checking his bag again.
—
"See ya later Senpai!"
"Bye-Bye Senpai!"
"Goodbye Adam-sama."
The brats waved at him as he split off, moving to another road that apparently led most directly to the 'Demeter Compound' outside of the city walls. Apparently nestled up against the hills to the north of the city proper, about an hour of walking away. The abstractions of distance using meatbag level speed was annoying, but something he'd just have to deal with in the end.
Fortunately, this path diverged significantly from catmeat's patrolling zones, so he wouldn't have to worry about being followed. He would re-enter the city from another gate though, just to be sure.
The northern road was where he had first wandered up following his nose, the street partially crowded by any number of primitive fast food stalls, foodstuffs that he recognized and didn't recognize all being peddled by any number of old mustachioed men or busty young women. There wasn't much variety here, looking at it. Those were the only two choices of salesperson.
There was a clothing store here aimed at travelers and outerwear, coats and boots from the looks of it, a place he took note of to check out when these boots finally wore out on him. A number of inns and taverns all advertising open rooms with prices set at nightly. A handful of open-air diners along the main path, a handful of open regions where old fashioned plays were currently being performed, and other tourist-trap nonsense that he didn't care for.
He stopped by a novelty stand and bought a comb, a little tower emblem on the side. Merchandise, but more importantly, something to get his old look back with. He took off his helmet and hooked it on his belt, going through the process of getting his hair back into his classic pompadour. Not anything to grease it up with on hand, so he'd need to check on the local brands later.
Oh, would you look at that, an old-fashioned castle near the gates. One, two, three, four… That was a good five stories in the main keep with a few random towers that went higher or lower. Off-white walls with red clay roofs, and little in the way of active defenses that he could see.
He snorted and kept walking, brushing his hair up and back as he went.
"H-hey! You were totally looking down on the Twilight House, weren't you!"
His path was impeded by a child… short woman with red hair tied back in a ponytail and squinty eyes. She was pointing rather dramatically at him, and directly in his way. Dressed in heeled boots, black stockings, booty shorts, a tube top over her completely flat chest, and what he could only describe as the sleeves and hood of a hoodie, but nothing else.
He felt his face scrunch up in mild disgust. That outfit wouldn't look out of place in modern Night City, seeing it next to all this fantasy crap wasn't doing it any favors. She narrowed her already narrowed eyes and readied a rebuttal to whatever he was going to say.
"Your aesthetics are dogshit." He rumbled out with a glare.
"That's right! I'm- what?" She began to declare bombastically, before cutting herself off with a question and a briefly confused face.
He kept walking, Flatmeat following him with a baffled and offended expression on her face. "Wa-wa-wait a minute mister! You don't get to insult me and walk away, you're gonna explain yourself!"
"All this medieval shit around and you decide to dress like a joytoy? It clashes horribly. Don't know who the fuck told you it looks good, because it doesn't." Adam grumbled, checking to make sure his hair didn't flop over again, then getting back to combing it. He had a few knots he had to work through.
"I think it looks good! It shows off my great ass! See!" She dashed ahead, walking with a deliberate strut, torso twisted around so she could point at her own rear with a deep scowl and glare. She harshly jabbed her finger towards her scantily-clad posterior a few times for emphasis.
"I don't pay for sex, advertise to someone else, fuckmeat." He grumbled, rolling his eyes and moving his comb over to the other side of his hair, working on it next.
"Fuh-fuckme-woah!"
Flatmeat tripped over nothing, losing her balance and landing on her face with a satisfying smack of meat on stone. He kept walking, stepping over her on the path and finally getting the second side adequately combed over and down. The gates loomed ahead, a small detachment of guards on either side watching them from a distance, a few of them chuckling and pointing.
Thankfully, Flatmeat had apparently decided to give up, because she didn't try catching up with him. Victory was his. He approached the guards, one of which was doing his best to contain his amusement as he raised a hand. There was quite a few of them present, each one inspecting each cart of goods that came in or went out, and briefly stopping anyone who tried to pass through.
Standard customs then.
"Heh, Halt for a moment, would ya big guy?" The man wearing chainmail and a kettle helmet let his hand drop as Adam stopped. "Name and whatnot?"
"Adam Smasher, Level 1 Adventurer, Hestia Familia. Heading for the Demeter Compound for bulk ration negotiations." He grumbled out his name, faction, and reason for leaving as normal.
The guard scratched at his head with his polearm. "Sounds to be in order, you coming back through later tonight?"
"Planning to."
"Alright, they'll be just down the road see, there's signposts at regular intervals, you can't miss em. Maybe when you come back through you can tell me what you said to make Loki-sama over there decide to lay on the road."
Adam glanced back. Flatmeat was in the same spot that she fell, laying face-down in the middle of the road. A cart had to go around her, carefully making sure to not run her over. He grunted disinterestedly. "Her sense of fashion is garbage. I informed her of it."
"Pft, pft-hahahaha! Oh that's great! Go on through, Smasher, you're all good." The guard laughed heartily, waving a hand and stepping aside to let him pass.
"Hold a moment." A voice called out from the side. Adam frowned and turned his gaze in the direction. A blond meatbag with well-groomed facial hair was the source, standing next to an empty cart pulled by a reasonably-muscled horse and wearing bronze-shaded plate armor covered by a green sash and cloak, one of the few he had seen thus far to also have proper protection. "You're heading up for the Demeter Compound for business, I overheard?"
"None of your business, is what you heard." Adam growled out with a suspicious glare. The greencan waved a hand with a reassuring grin.
"I'm heading up there myself, if you'd like to have a ride." He offered. "Company makes the time pass faster, and Gringolet here can certainly pull more than just I and my cart."
Adam narrowed his eyes, scanning. "...You try to pull something and I slaughter you, got it meat?" He negotiated briefly.
"I don't have much to gain from it, I'm afraid, so you'll go unrobbed by I." Greencan chuckled, waving a hand and climbing up into the front of the cart.
Adam grunted, negotiations complete, and moved over to climb into the back. After he had set down, the horse began to move, pulling the cart with a small jerk before settling into a slow pace of about five miles per hour. The shadow of the walls was upon them for some time, immense structures of stone blocking out the sun. Maybe a few hundred feet high and thicker at the base than at the top.
Judging from the conspicuously flat terrain surrounding the city, covered by massive fields of recently-planted farmland, and the surrounding hills and mountains, it was likely that the entire surrounding region was flattened digging up the stone required to build the walls. Then, once the walls were built, covered over in new soil and converted into farmlands with the several artificial canals he could see running through the terrain like veins, fed by immense stone aqueducts that led for about as far as he could see.
So five kilometers at least, that's about how far the horizon was from sea level. Seemed like a strategic weakness to him, but the defense of the city wasn't his business and he didn't really care.
"You said you were heading up to the Demeter Compound for business right?" Greencan attempted to start a conversation.
"I wasn't talking to you." Adam growled out, rebuking the fellow driving the cart.
"Oh, yes I suppose that was rather impolite of me, wasn't it?" Greencan hummed to himself, raising a hand to cup his chin. "I'm sorry about that, friend."
"We're not friends either." Adam rumbled, leaning back and crossing his arms.
"Hah! My mother always told me, 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet!', I try to live by those words." Greencan gave a smile back at him. "My name is Gawain, pleased to meet you."
"Sounds like a good way to get fucked over, Greencan."
"Well yes, but that's what a sword is for." Greencan indicated that he wasn't completely naive with a more serious rebuttal and patting the blade on his belt. Then he huffed to himself. "Though that's another person getting my name wrong, I really should start keeping track of that."
"I'll say your name when you earn it, Green Can."
"Oh? Oh! Hah! Green Can! It took me a moment, friend." Greencan took a moment to laugh to himself, before responding. "So… you're that kind of fellow then? That's not a bad thing by any means."
Adam didn't really care about the meatbag's assessment of him, so he grunted and turned his eyes to the surroundings.
"Alright then, I'll be quiet the rest of the trip, a silence with two is better than silence alone." Greencan nodded to himself, a smile on his face as he turned back forwards and focused on the road ahead. Took him long enough to shut up.
Adam kept careful track of the signs they passed by, making sure they were indeed going to the Demeter Compound each time. So far, Greencan had chosen life over death, a more boring but probably more practical option.
Eventually, they made their way up a more private road. Adam could tell because the road turned from more roughly placed stone to somewhat fine yellow tiles of smooth layering. The sides of the road planted with short shrub-looking things and flowers, marked with regular intervals with tiny signposts and little clay statues.
The road led up to a more immense marble stone wall, the apparent compound being more like a private village from the scale, guards stationed at the gates and waving to open the steel gate at their approach. Just letting them in? Either their security was pathetic or this one was known to them.
"Who's that with you, Captain?" One of the guards called out, a man with a green poncho embroidered with golden leaves along the edges. Apparently it was the second option, the man was a 'captain'.
"A fellow here on simple business, nothing worth getting too worked up over." Greencan replied with a smile, moving the cart through the gates and into an inner courtyard, hopping off once he reached the center and meeting with several men and children who ran up to his legs.
"Not right now, alright? Your father has a bit of business first, okay?" Greencan spoke to the small gaggle of children briefly, before turning to the men and nodding his head over at the cart and horse. "Can you get Gringolet unstrapped and put things away for me? I have a bit of negotiations to get to."
"Can do captain." One of the men declared, after which Greencan turned back towards him and smile, pointing a thumb at the main keep.
"Welcome to the Demeter Compound, stranger. Would you like to get to the negotiations inside? I'm sure we can have some snacks prepared."
Adam grunted. "Fine."
Greencan led him towards the door, which opened as they approached.
A short honey-haired woman with fat tits stepped out, practically bumping into Greencan. She blinked and stepped back, before smiling happily and throwing her arms around his neck in a full-body hug. "Wawen-kun! I didn't know you were back already!"
Another woman was standing behind Fattits, holding two immense bags of potatoes over her shoulders, and clearly struggling with the weight. She blinked, looking at him.
Adam gave a flat look towards his Employer, who had apparently decided to come out all this way to buy food instead of just setting up an ordering and delivery system.
"O-oh, Adam! W-why are you all the way out here?" She questioned with a confused look on her face.
"Bulk food negotiations." He rumbled in reply, staring at her wobbling knees and strained expression. Any second now…
Her legs finally gave out, collapsing under the weight of the vegetables she was carrying.
He stared impassively, even as Fattits bounced over with a worried expression, kneeling to check on his employer, who was now half-concealed below a mound of tubers.
She didn't even rent a cart? She was planning on carrying it back?
Adam almost sighed.