Chapter 94 - All Grown Up

Gren rushed back when he realized that Letta was still waiting for him. Shenzi led the way back to the fort but the sun started to set when they finally arrived. Annie was waiting by the hole that they currently used as the front entrance. The actual front gate was on the other side of the fort--completely covered with thick vines and unable to be opened.

Annie had her palm on her face and was staring up at the sky. "Don't say it. I can tell what you're going to say by what you're hauling and the fact that you have a silly grin on your face. Just don't say it and I get to pretend that Ahk did it all." Mimi ended up telling Annie about everything so she knew that Gren wouldn't be so happy if he only found the eggs; he wouldn't get those points without killing things. Jessica would kill her if she found out that Gren helped kill a lesser dragon. Four eggs was a good haul since each one could be sold for a fortune. Annie looked back towards Gren's haul and noticed something else with the eggs. "Wait, is that a girl?"

"Yeah, we found her near the eggs after I... Ahk killed the dragon." Gren nearly spilled the beans. She only had to tell Jessica about his actions if there was no doubt that he did it. Jessica was able to tell when they were lying somehow and she didn't even need Mimi's ability.

"But you're the one that finished it off." Why didn't Shenzi read the atmosphere? "Ahk just weakened it so that it couldn't hurt you."

"I see, so it was COMPLETELY HARMLESS when Gren finished it. Jessica will be okay with it then." Annie wanted to make sure that Shenzi picked up on what she was saying before moving on to the important topic. "So, how did you just find a naked girl?"

"She was in a temple that the dragon used as a nest. There was treasure all around her so it didn't feel right leaving her behind." Annie didn't know what to say about his explanation. "She might look dead but she's actually in a deep sleep that's induced by the crystal."

"Okay." Annie decided that her time would be better spent making sure that everything was ready for their departure in the morning. Gren's actions were rarely ever explainable; usually you would leave a mysterious person in crystal alone unless you were a trader and planned on selling them. She looked cute so she'd probably sell for a good price as a work of art but she was still a child--or at least looked like one--so the buyer would have to be a weirdo. "Before you go in. You forgot to tell Jasmine that you were leaving so she seems a bit angry."

Gren forgot because he didn't see her. He didn't even know what she was doing when he woke up. It wasn't entirely his fault... but she wasn't going to recognize that. It would be best to just admit that he was in the wrong. "I'll go check on Letta before I meet up with Jasmine." He could already imagine her hugging him and not letting go until the morning.

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Letta was in the infirmary; Sachi and the older woman were in with her, caring for her. Gren came in just as they were feeding Letta and felt that he was stupid. They had crushed up fruits and vegetables into a paste before mixing it in to water so that it would slide down her throat. His purpose for going hunting wasn't necessary, in the end, but the results were great so he wasn't going to complain.

Gren found out where Jasmine was and went to go meet with her. She was currently setting up the stable to be used for the larger mercenaries. "There's my beautiful dragon wife." Gren greeted her from the doorway to get her attention.

"Gren!" He was glad that he was wearing his armor because she gave him a bear hug. "I was worried about you. Annie said that you went hunting but you never asked me to go with you." She relaxed her grip on him but pulled him in to one of the stalls. "I wanted to go with you."

"Sorry, Jazz, you know that I care about you but I just get distracted easily. It's my fault that you were so lonely. To make it up to you, I won't leave your side until we're ready to go. How does that sound?" Gren had no reason to leave her side since he was currently unlocking the Metalloids research project. He needed five hours for it to finish. The Simple Mechanics research project would take twenty five hours, according to the AI, since there were blueprints involved.

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Gren and Jasmine didn't separate until the morning when Gren needed to store everything away. There was a bunch of equipment and supplies from the bandits that he added to his pocket dimension, including ancient-looking weapons and armor that were behind a locked door to the arsenal. The next twenty five hours would leave him without his system so he decided to have everybody wear backpacks filled with the next two days of their supplies. He'd take advantage of the fact that they needed an entire day to walk through the forest to reach the destroyed village of Gigget.

The women and children that they were bringing back with them were separated into two groups. The innocent ones and those that joined the men in commiting atrocities. With Mimi's ability, they couldn't hide their wrongdoings. There were more of them than Gren had expected, nearly half of the women had helped the men harm others.

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When they reached Fort Togo, Annie handed the criminals over to the guards. Gren had been preoccupied so he let her deal with everything. The system was finished with the Simple Mechanics research and he could now build firearms but he didn't have any clue about where to begin. The only time he used a gun outside of acting was at a range and that was so that he could learn about the revolver that his character used.

None of the weapons even looked familiar to him. There was no M16 or AK-47 and there were no attachments. If it was a gun from Earth he might have been able to figure things out by using his limited knowledge but these just looked generic. {Are these the only blueprints available?}

<Blueprints from specific worlds can be purchased as long as they are in the system>

{How much would it cost to purchase the blueprints for Earth? I mean the planet that I was from.}

<Error: Planet not in system>

<Sending request to Administrator>

<Request accepted>

<World designated as Tommy-1>

<A complete collection of blueprints from Tommy-1 costs one research point>

That would still leave him with seventy research points. He had gained many from that fight with the dragon. There was no reason not to go through with it. After buying it, Gren needed to wait another hour.

The mission was reported as being completed so Gren paid the mercenaries. Only five mercenaries not in the FMC decided to go back with them; Cammie, Dill, Zell, Rory, and Nina. The others went to Sekaton or stayed to do missions in Fort Togo. There were people talking about the Duke returning to Adierton so mercenaries wouldn't find as much work there anymore.

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The journey to Adierton was taking a lot longer without the draft horses to pull the carts. It took days to reach Jellen since the pregnant women needed to take breaks often and they were traveling on foot. Gren stocked up on some carrots from the beastman woman's farm and they took a small rest there.

Reaching Adierton took weeks but there wouldn't have been enough draw horses to allow everyone to get in a carriage. There were a couple hundred women with them. If Gren didn't have so much food stored away then they probably would have starved. Getting them into Adierton wasn't difficult since the soldiers at Fort Togo had gone through the trouble of contacting the soldiers in Adierton.

Although Gren planned on having the women and children stay in homes that he bought, Gabriella decided to bring them to the church as long as they were willing. Only four of them stayed behind; the muscular woman, the doctor, the wife of the leader, and the beast tamer. With so few of them staying behind, he didn't need to purchase a separate place for them to stay.

The beast tamer--Tahlia--was taken in by Gren because he was interested in the way they could communicate with animals. At first they were aggressive but, after Gren let them bite his arm as he stroked their head, they began to get along with him. Now she was another adopted daughter candidate.

The doctor--Quina--decided to open up a small clinic and Gren helped her get started. She only chose to help the bandits because she wanted to provide help to the women and limit the number of casualties. Gren bought a building on the edge between the shopping district and the slums that had two floors and a regular basement; it didn't have any access to the underground passages below. He would still own the building but she got to keep the profits in exchange for her paying the taxes on it. Sachi wanted to study underneath the doctor and Dill went to live in the clinic with the two of them. Due to Dill receiving a serious injury on the job, Gren gave him a salary as an active guild member.

The muscular woman--Raine--was no longer reckless with her life. Gren convinced her to try living and told her that if she couldn't find it in herself to raise the child inside of her that he would take care of them. She used to be a guard for a merchant caravan that her husband was part of so she accepted Gren's offer and became a member of the FMC. She didn't seem happy with the fact that Gren banned her from drinking alcohol.

The pregnant elven woman that had been abandoned by her husband--Cyntasila--was depressed before speaking with Gren. She believed that the elves would start a revolution and bring about equality between the different humanoid races. Gren convinced her that a violent revolution wasn't necessary and his guild was proof of that. Things wouldn't be so easy but if there was an understanding between the different races then a peaceful solution would be possible.

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The women at home were glad to see Gren's group return. Jessica got Gren caught up on everything that happened. Her own pregnancy was stable and their child was growing properly. Without so many people to coordinate with she was able to get a good amount of rest. He would need to find her an assistant to help her out so that she didn't need to do all of the paperwork herself.

Estella gave birth to four children but they were all different colors; a pitch black girl, a completely white boy, a girl with the same pale green as Estella, and a darker green girl that was close to regular goblins. It was normal for there to be regular goblins and hobgoblins in the same litter but nobody knew why two of the babies had such weird skin tones. Gren proposed that one of them was albino and that the other had the same condition as Kuroa. Nobody else had a better explanation.

Ruby got herself into trouble and beat up a few children in the neighborhood. She said that they were being mean to Sasha but Jessica still needed to pay a fine. Gren was supposed to scold her but he just warned her to stay near the adults from the guild next time and that if someone was mean to Sasha again then he'd send Ahk to speak with them. She didn't need to take matters into her own hands.

The shop was given permission to sell weapons but Gren needed to supply them with some. He didn't want people to have weapons that could beat theirs for now so he built a bunch of iron weapons and placed them in storage. Each weapon had a serial number and a logo of a gun on it so that people could identify their weapons if they got stolen. Gren picked the gun since it would be immediately recognizable as one of his creations and he didn't want people running around with the FMC logo on their gear.

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Gren started off with two rifles and a revolver. The first rifle is a modified M14; the larger bullet compared to the M16 would be necessary for taking out animals like the boar and automatic fire would be good against swarms of rats. The other rifle was originally an anti-materiel rifle named the M82 but, since the firepower wouldn't be enough against something like a dragon, Gren increased the size of the round by fifty percent and added twice as much gunpowder to each cartridge. The revolver was the only gun he had fired in his past life: the S&W Model 3.

Gren began training with the guns shortly after he arrived back in Adierton. He didn't use them outside in combat until he was used to the peculiarities of each gun. The Model 3 was the easiest to get used to and, with the system handling reloading on the fly, it was easy to use it in combat. The M14 wasn't that difficult to use but the enlarged M82 broke his shoulder the first time he tried firing it. It wasn't for a few months and Gren had grown up that he was able to use it properly without getting injuries. The recoil was still a bit much for him though.

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Gren's body went through a drastic change over the course of Jessica's pregnancy. He looked like a proper man now so there was nobody mistaking him for a girl anymore. He didn't need to let his beard grow out anymore so he started shaving. It was no longer just Tahloh that had a crush on him; more and more women started to notice him and Jasmine started showing signs of jealousy.

Jessica gave birth to an adorable little girl; she had Gren's eyes with Jessica's hair. Jessica said that it was her easiest birth so far. Gren's children that he had with Estella were growing up quickly due to their goblin blood so it felt nice to have a child that wasn't running around again. She was so well-behaved that it was scary; she didn't cry and only made noises when she needed something or saw Gren using magic.

Estella and Gren didn't have sex since she first discovered her pregnancy. After giving birth, she said that she no longer wanted to get pregnant ever again. She was left being overweight after the children were born but had slimmed down considerably since then. Running around after four wild kids was good exercise, it seemed.

Jasmine no longer had to fear the cold. Gren found a gem from the treasure that he got from the Elven temple and it helped to regulate her body temperature. He used the system to build a necklace around it so that Jasmine could always keep it close to her. It wasn't all good news with Jasmine, however. They kept trying to have a child but Jasmine wasn't ovulating so they were always unsuccessful.

Jasmine was getting depressed but Ruby saved the day when she started calling Gren's wives 'mama'. It was unknown why she started doing it but it was most likely the influence of him having the other children. Ruby was closest to 'Jazz-mama' since they were both red and had horns. They joked around about Gren having a horn as well since the bump he had on his head from that headbutt didn't go down.

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The only major thing that wasn't going Gren's way was that guild's requests were dwindling thanks to the increased activity from the Duke's Army and, besides the strong mercenaries like Ahk, most of them just couldn't find work. It didn't hurt them much since the store was helping keep them in the black now that everybody was contributing; Arachne silk clothes, wool socks, and dryad sap were the most popular products besides what Gren produced. Dryad sap was a popular lubricant, it seemed, and Gren couldn't help but wonder if people knew where it came from. They were producing a lot of it ever since Gren began to help with its extraction.

The lack of requests led to Gren creating his own requests for both the members of the guild and the independent mercenaries that checked out their board. The pay for them wasn't that high but Gren created a system where independent mercenaries could earn better equipment by completing the requests. The goal was just to supply them with weapons but just giving them away continuously would arouse suspicion. The younger mercenaries were given basic tasks like shopping and delivering products within the city; Gren wanted to keep them out of harm's way but they needed income so that was Jessica's solution.

Gren was content with how things were going but his mother was still in the process of healing. The wounds on her body were nearly gone but her heart wasn't beating and she wasn't breathing. His magic control made a small amount of improvement and he could use more second tier spells but he still couldn't regenerate limbs or cure Letta's paralysis. Gren managed to cure Carrie's cancer but his skills were only barely at the level to do so; his magic caused her intense pain as the tumors were removed until he was able to heal the wounds that were left behind. Although she didn't say anything to him about it, Gren felt that he should have waited longer before trying to heal her.

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The guild was now running smoothly without him so Gren was planning on going out to hunt large monsters. He needed automobiles if he was going to be traveling around the country opening up new branches of the guild. There was also the problem of selecting the right guild members and teaching them how to drive so that he could set up a trade route for his equipment. If everything went as planned then his guild would be able to replace those run by corrupt merchants and criminals. It was a bit early to celebrate but Gren decided to buy a bunch of alcohol and hold a party.