23) To work [ Here comes the neighborhood ]

  Now that the yelling was done, I felt the need to correct some mistaken assumptions.

  “Viola,” I whispered.

  The Fairy whispered back. “Yes Fell.”

  “I was not crying.”

  My Guardian nodded slowly. “Not on the outside. But I could feel your inner tears Fella.”

  Hrmph.

  Let it go Fell, let it go. It’s not like it's the first time the Fairy has been way off about something, and like most of the other occasions, it’s not a hill worth dying on.

  And I still had a Ratling to speak with.

  “It's pretty much like I said. I have a Domain which grows with my Level, and is currently… one hundred and ninety two feet around, except where it hits a pillar of the Gods, and it would be forty eight feet tall except it's hitting the lower floor of someone’s building directly above me.”

  Well, directly above my library anyways.

  Malico nodded along as I spoke. “Is the drainage tunnel part of your Domain?”

  Hrm? “Yes?”

  The Ratling stared at the floor for a moment, then shook his head. “If you can not claim the territory of a god, or Humort’s cellar, then you should not be able to claim the drainage tunnel. It belongs to the city.”

  ...Hrm. “Maybe that which belongs to the city belongs to everyone in it?”

  The one eyed Ratling shrugged. “I guess. So, is there enough room for my people inside this Domain?”

  “Yes, kind of…” I explained how there was space, but that a lot of it was full of rubble, some of which looked to be load bearing.

  Malico shrugged again. “We can move what is loose, and we are used to tight quarters. What about food? Water?”

  I sighed. This was a bit of a tough part. “I can offer you shelter, and in return, I would ask you to protect my Core from anyone, and anything, coming for it. But since you will be reliant on my Core staying safe, it will be in your own self interest.”

  As would be taking control of my Core himself. But taking my Core and forcing me to do anything I didn’t want to do were two different matters.

  Seeing the Ratling beginning to sneer, I continued before he could object. “As for water, have you noticed how clean it is in here. My Domain is… infused with Purity. Which means that any water you… Oh, I guess even any water you want to drink, even if it came right out of the drainage tunnel, is good to drink. At least since that much of the drain became part of my Domain.”

  Below my outer corridor, the water running through the drainage tunnel was entering my Domain, looking rather… lumpy. And discolored as well. But within moments of flowing past the edges of my borders, it was turning clear… and the more solid bits were breaking apart and falling away into a thin sludge on the bottom of the channel that was being carried along by the current.

  The one eyed Ratling walked over to the top of the shaft that led down to the tunnel below and began shouting down at the other Ratling to check the water. After they reported back to him, Malico returned to the bottom of the stairs.

  “We will still need to eat. If you can’t provide, I will need thirty points of your magic to send out my people to find work, or to hunt the tunnels below the city. As well as the alleys and parks.”

  Hunting? Hrmmm. That sounded interesting. At least some of the things they might end up killing might have Cores.

  Viola flew down the steps and hovered in the Ratling elder’s face. “Ten.”

  - But I want them to go out hunting Viola. Cores. They can bring me Cores -

  Without even looking back, the Fairy threw back one of her hands, palm out, towards my Core. - Hush Fell. Adults are talking, and we can’t let him dictate all the terms now, can we?”

  We can’t?

  Hrmmm… Alright, I can see how that would be bad.

  Ultimately, we, or rather Viola, and Malico agreed on twenty five points of my Magic being locked down on sending out Ratling, but eight of them would be staying close to my Domain to stand guard on the various approaches to my home. Six of the guards would be down in the tunnels, while two of them stayed up top in the alleyway that the shaft going up from my outer corridor went to.

  An alley… So that’s what was up there.

  With an agreement struck, Viola called up the stairs to my Core. “Fell. Send down Miser Boneyparts to shake hands on the deal. My hands are too small.”

  I sent down Nemo. There is no one named Boneyparts here that I know of.

  The Fairy sighed. “I’m going to win on this Fell. I called, naming the Skeleton first.”

  Hrm?

  After a hesitant handshake with my Undead Summons, Malico and his people set to work.

  First heading back down the shaft to the drainage tunnel, the Ratling sent off some of his people ona mission. “Butler one, take four workers, three warriors, and two scouts, and go collect the Master’s… Torb’s belongings from his lair. Wait until the Mas… Fell, or his Fairy, tells you that you are safe to leave his Domain.”

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  Looking up the shaft, the Ratlign called out, “Viola, either you or one of Fell’s Summons needs to show me how far his Domain goes up and down this Drainage tunnel. And I want to bring some of my people to where we can start clearing out some of these rooms he talked about.”

  Hrm? Oh, yes. I guess I do need to let them in past my outer borders, no matter how creepy the thought of these things, or rather people, creeping around inside my Domain, in my library, makes me feel.

  Within hours, I had a chain of Ratlings passing carefully selected rocks from one to another until they were dumped in a pile before the entrance to the short passage the Mother of Madness had entered my Domain. Several more Ratlings were taking turns filling some ragged looking sacks with stone and dragging them off somewhere down that tunnel, a considerable distance outside of my Domain.

  Which means they were no longer my problem. So, all good.

  Then the Ratlings, which had been sent out to recover the dead Tamer’s belongings, returned.

  All ten of them, along with the walking chair, were burdened with sacks, trunks, and furniture. Accompanying them were more Ratling. It was only another seven of them, mostly older ones, and all of them just as burdened.

  Ah good. More mouths for them to feed. I hope some of what they were dragging into my Domain was their own food.

  As it turned out, since I could see inside their sacks and other containers, what they had was not food.

  It was instead Goblin sized clothing, a tea set, books, writing materials, and various tools.

  All in all, there are seventy four, now eighty one Ratling and one chair coming and going about my Domain. All of them, at times, end up being berated for walking past the borders of my Domain when not infused with my Magic. Until at last their one eyed leader finally posts a Ratling at either edge of my Domain in the drainage tunnel to turn back the uninfused.

  I noticed Malico had stopped them well short of my true border, deliberately. As if he wanted anyone coming after his guards to be well inside my Borders before they struck.

  Thoughtful of him.

  So he’s efficient and smart, which makes him as much, if not more, of a danger as an asset.

  Some of the older Ratlings, who had showed up with the Tamer’s belongings, seemed more skilled than the rest of them as they set to checking on the rubble before the rest of the Ratlings yanked the stones free. It was then that I realized that most of the other Ratlings were very young, for what that was worth.

  I wasn’t entirely sure how this, partnering up with these Ratlings, was going to go. But I was fairly sure that if a group of a mere four Adventurers tried to pull a fast one on me, a horde of Ratlings running to defend their landlord might change the Adventurers' plans.

  But with only a couple of handfuls of the Ratlings being able to leave at anytime, and me not being willing to waste any more of my Magic on them, keeping them fed might be an issue later on.

  So, as always when I was desperate for an answer, I asked Viola.

  The Fairy pressed her fingertip to her lips. “Well, I still have a lot of Fairy powers for plants, so I could get some edible plants growing. All we need is soil, which the Ratlings can haul in, fertilizer which we can get for free from the drainage tunnel, and sunlight.”

  Hrm. “There’s some sunlight coming down the shaft... For a few hours a day... When it isn’t raining.”

  Viola smiled. “No silly. You just need a Core from something with the right kind of Light Core.”

  I waited a moment for the Fairy to tell me where I could get a light Core, and after a moment, I realized how unlikely it would be for her to solve all my problems. “And where can I get a light Core?”

  The Fairy nodded. “Buy one.”

  Hrmmmm… Let's ask all the obvious questions at once and spoil her little game.

  “With what money? And where? And How?”

  Viola began to count off on her fingers. “In reverse order, at the grand market, with the Ratling, and get them to sell off Torb’s stuff to get the money. It’s in their own interest, and you get another Summons out of it.”

  The Fairy spun around in the air with her arms upthrust above her head. “Everybody wins.”

  Hrmmm… “As long as the Ratlings agree. And if Torb’s things are worth any money. And if there are any Cores from creatures that had some sort of Sunlight Affinity…”

  Viola shook her head at my Core. “I’m sure it will all work out. And if not, I will come up with some other sure fire plan. Trust me Fell, I is smart.”

  I sighed. “Fine, let’s talk to Malico.”