MV – Chapter 14: Minor Villain Cleaning

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A base is important.

But a useless base would only pull your leg. And so, Lanpeach decided to grasp the current situation first.

A 3D map of a giant apartment complex was shown in front of his eyes. The Status of the base was displayed by the side.

——

Lanpeach Complex

A former mall and apartment complex of 8 floors.

Population: 334

Combat Power: 0

Production Power: 0

Defense Power: 0

Facilities: Generator, Water Purifier.

Skill: Artificial Spirits (Combat Engineers) Creation, Artificial Spirits (Gun Soldiers) Creation.

——

It is a former mall and apartment complex, so the Lanpeach Complex is pretty gigantic.

Combining around 4 multi-family residentials would get you around this much of a size, and the corridors are blocked by things like rubble, so it is basically like a dungeon.

He was impressed at how he could make a place like this his base, but the details shown disappointed him more than the amazement he had, and he ended up sighing.

It is a result that could make an adult cry.

He could understand the Production Power. He didn’t want to, but he could.

“So the children are not counted as Combat Power. I did imagine that, but it is funny that it went so much as expected.” (Lanpeach)

The Lanpeach Complex has 334 residents. This doesn’t mean they are in the team, but that they are people who are living in the rooms and paying rent.

It is called rent, but it is more like you have them pay sometimes and at times retrieve it from them by force though.

There’s a ceiling and the team will at least protect you, so it is treated as better than sleeping in a back alley of the slums.

And so, he directed a straight face at Libra, and she laughed in amusement, saying ‘isn’t that obvious?’.

[They obviously are not going to be counted as combat power unless they are at least level 1 and have a combat skill. The children don’t reach that bare minimum.] (Libra)

“I understand that the residents of the slums are not counted as combat power, but a level 1 is a competent soldier, you know?” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach forcefully obtained the method to utilize guns. That has been installed in the brain of Lanpeach that level 1 is the result of 3 years of training.

Level 2 is a veteran, 3 is a genius, and 4 is a master. 5 is a combination of genius and master, and 6 and on are powers beyond human intellect.

Residents of the slums that have trouble to even obtain the meal of the day wouldn’t have such power even if the skies were to fall.

“At least there’s an electric generator and a water purifier, huh. Well, it is pretty easy to obtain electricity and water in this world after all. Even so, it would have been pretty tough to prepare it for a building of this size.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach praised the past Lanpeach for doing well, and Libra pointed at the map with a grin as if finding something funny.

She was pointing at a pretty low part of the building.

[Too bad. It seems like the electric generator is pretty old and is in the basement. See, this part around here. It seems like it has been flooded. It wouldn’t be strange for it to stop working at any moment.] (Libra)

“Let’s not speak out loud about things that would jinx me.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach frowned, but it is as Libra said.

He had a closer look at the map and there certainly is a big apparatus set there. It is the generator and the water purifier. It also shows that water is accumulating there.

He only had a bad feeling about this.

Lanpeach knows what kind of quests appear within games in such situations, so his face warped, and Libra was grinning as if finding this event fun.

But he shook his head, telling himself this isn’t the time for that, and began to operate the map with the Artificial Spirit combat engineers on standby at a corner of his vision.

And then, he saw the electric cables and pipes that exist in the complex like a net, and clicked his tongue.

“90% of the electric cables and the water supply and sewage system are damaged and can’t be used. Also, there’s way too much rubble blocking the corridors. The rubble is definitely on purpose.” (Lanpeach)

They probably carried the rubble there to route any enemies. It was either Lanpeach who thought about doing this to increase the defense when enemies attack or something the previous boss of the team thought of.

[It is a good barricade. You don’t have troops, so isn’t this a gimmick you can use?] (Libra)

“Don’t wanna. Just keep the homes with rubble for artists. I want my house clean.” (Lanpeach)

Libra was speaking with a tone that was clear she was teasing him, but Lanpeach operated the board with familiar motions while showing a discouraged face.

He touched the rubble blocking the corridors of the Lanpeach Complex.

[Can retrieve Rubble. Materials: Iron, Concrete, Wood Shavings, Scraps, Pieces of Cloth.]

“Alright. Remove the rubble and use those materials to repair the electric cables and water systems all the way to my room. Let’s see, the way to operate this…” (Lanpeach)

He hasn’t done much base defenses, so he tried to remember what he could while operating the window.

He tapped the relatively close rubble to his room, and chose the combat engineer Artificial Spirits. It is normally humans that would be doing this job while Artificial Spirits would serve as assistants, but the system only sees the children as residents, so it couldn’t be helped.

It most likely won’t be possible unless they have at least 1 level in the combat engineer category. Basically, there’s no way there would be someone like that in the slums, so he will only be able to use Artificial Spirits for the near future.

He had comrades with high level specialized skills in the game but, in reality, they obviously won’t be joining a team in the poor streets of the slums. He chuckled at this and continued operating the windows.

“Use the materials obtained from removing the rubble and repair the water system and electric cables. Also, remodel my room.” (Lanpeach)

The combat engineer artificial spirits began to activate after he finished setting everything. 10 total spider shaped Artificial Spirits.

They can change their size with Spirit Energy, so they can go from 50 centimeters all the way to 5 meters. All-purpose combat engineers that can become big or small to be any kind of machinery, the Taraworkers.

You could say their naming sense is abysmal.

The developers were probably pretty tired at this time.

Their exoskeleton is metallic and their eyes are visors instead. The tip of the front and rear legs can be switched to drills and even tweezers, and the other legs have tires which can reach speeds of 50 kilometers per hour.

The back is dented like a flatcar, which allows them to carry things. They can carry up to 300 kilograms.

The Taraworkers obeyed the orders, spun their tires, and exited the room.

They are pretty silent, so there won’t be any complaints even if they were to do construction work in the middle of the night.

“The work will take around 2 hours with just 10, but let’s just wait patiently.” (Lanpeach)

[Aah, is that really okay?] (Libra)

“The distribution of work? It should be fine to place 8 to remove the rubble first, and one each for the electric cables and water system. It would be easier in the future if we gather the materials first.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach was satisfied about how he had finished a job and Libra was scratching her cheek while finding it hard to say something. Her face seemed like she found it awkward, so he smiled and told her to not worry.

(I have my experience honed from the game. Witness the results.)

But Libra found it even harder to say it after seeing Lanpeach this confident.

[That’s not it…] (Libra)

“That’s not it?” (Lanpeach)

He tried to urge her to say what she wanted to say and…

“Kyaaa! Monsters!”

“Leave to me! One hit!”

The scream of a familiar girl rang outside the room, and then the sound of something breaking rang next.

[See? If you suddenly move so many Artificial Spirits of that size inside the complex without telling anyone beforehand, I thought everyone would be scared.] (Libra)

Libra chuckled at the expected development.

(It was fine in the game. So differences from the game and reality show up even in places like this one, huh.)

Lanpeach clicked his tongue bitterly and went to stop them so that they don’t destroy all the Taraworkers.

He learned that it would take 24 hours to redeploy the Taraworkers when they are destroyed.

◇◇

In the end, Lanpeach stopped Dry from destroying the Taraworkers when she had already destroyed 5 of them.

“Aah, these are Artificial Spirits that I finally managed to create after training. Well, they are used even in construction work, so I don’t think it is a rare sight, but I should have told you beforehand. That’s why the next one to destroy them should be prepared to be punished accordingly.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach grabbed the head of Dry and was explaining a half-hearted excuse no matter how you think about it while making a stiff face.

Chihiro was listening to this while being confused by this mysterious situation.

“Hm, monsters no matter where you look at them. Dry did nothing wrong. And so, should let go of this hand. Hurts a lot.” (Dry)

The new member Dry had her head grabbed as a punishment for destroying the Artificial Spirits called Taraworkers, so she was smacking the hand of Lanpeach to get it off.

It seems like it doesn’t hurt that much even when the muscles of Lanpeach have decayed, so they look like they are playing around.

The people around also couldn’t hide their confusion at what they were told.

The spider shaped spirits were apparently fixing the water system right now. They tear off the concrete wall skillfully, move their front legs closer to the water system, and with its claws that are like tweezers with thin tips like threads, they disassemble the water system and fasten them together with glue.

There’s no sparks flying. The holes were closing as if vines of plants grew, and the water system was being repaired at a shocking degree.

Everyone was watching this in wonder, and a little girl tried to ride the back of a spider shaped spirit with great interest, and a boy hurriedly grabbed her.

(It is true that there are Artificial Spirits in other blocks, but…isn’t that advanced magic? Or could it be that it simply looks expensive for residents of the slums, but it is actually a cheap and common technique?) (Chihiro)

The reality is that Artificial Spirits are used in varied ways when constructing buildings. For Chihiro, even if it may look like a high ceiling technique, it may in reality not be a rare scenery for the people of other blocks and a cheap technique.

‘Is that really the case?’ -Chihiro fell in thought.

The reality is that if people from the Surface District were to see this, they would peel their eyes in shock seeing these Taraworkers that can change their size, and don’t consume Spirit Stones or mana when they are summoned.

They would lean over and ask who is the expert mage.

But everyone here including Chihiro are from the slums and from an orphanage. They can tell it is expensive stuff that people from the slums won’t be able to ever reach, but they misunderstood that this must be cheap stuff for people on the surface.

Lanpeach was included within those people. It is a common technique in the game, so he didn’t question it.

There were also a lot of spider shaped spirits cleaning up the other rubble.

They seem to have high power. They are clearing up the rubble so heavy it would be difficult for a person to pick up, so the corridor was opened up in the blink of an eye.

They thought Artificial Spirits were impressive, but their questions were unending.

But it is difficult to ask Lanpeach.

It is because it would only be troubling if he were to answer that he joined hands with some criminal group on the higher blocks and was provided this technique.

The slums are a lawless zone, but that makes them be used by criminal organizations from higher blocks, and there’s a high chance they would cut off the tail at the end.

They have to be careful about not poking the lion. There’s a high chance they would be left be if they don’t know about it after all.

Lanpeach giving off the atmosphere of a crook was intensifying the misunderstanding of Chihiro, but she decided to smother him with praise despite that.

“That’s impressive, Lan. The building will become comfortable with this.” (Chihiro)

“Right? The water system only goes all the way to the first floor after all. The hassle of going all the way down to the 1st floor—oh, it is already connected.” (Lanpeach)

He was looking at something in empty space and grinned. He then beckoned them over.

Everyone followed him and went into a bedroom and approached a sink that’s not used anymore, and put a hand on the faucet.

“Now then, time to witness the results. Basically, there’s no need for me to go all the way down to the 1st floor anymore.” (Lanpeach)

And so, he turned the faucet and…after a while, red water mixed with rust came out and stopped soon after.

Only droplets came out afterwards and everyone fell silent.

“Uhm, Lan, it seems like the water system is still not repaired. But if we have the Artificial Spirits fix it… Lan?” (Chihiro)

Lanpeach sat down while holding his head, so Chihiro tried to comfort him, and Dry was wandering around and tried to peek at his face.

“Da…” (Lanpeach)

“Eh? What is it?” (Chihiro)

“The water purifier is still broken! Argh, that’s why I didn’t want to talk about that! Damn it. I am going to sleep! For tomorrow! Tomorrow!” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach headed to his own room while fuming.

Chihiro thought his core hasn’t changed that much and that it is at times like this that his lover should comfort him.

She felt bad for Lanpeach, but she was relieved by that sight of his and chased after him.

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