Chapter 92 – Anticlimactic

"So... this is the location then?"

"Surprised no one ever came across it before"

"They did say it was a dungeon jackass, would've been killed for entering"

"It better be safe now"

It's been several days since we first returned to the three islands and we've been continuing our plan, the people speaking are several of the workers we hired before taking a ship across this small channel. In total, there's about ten of them, all have been promised high wages comparable to this place in exchange for either woodcutting, mining and keeping silent.

Spoke a lot to that kid about this, name was Jaxon about everything we might need. Basically, it's a lot simpler than you might expect, good money for encouragement, wood for supporting the mine and an inventory full of food and water being brought over when needed. Also did buy a lot of booze for them, need a way of passing the time after all since they can't be working every minute of the day.

Actually getting the workers here was easier than expected, all we needed to do was put up a job listing in the marketplace giving a rough description of the job and wouldn't you know it, ten people came about. Jaxon did give a rough estimate on how much a miner might earn; it was basically next to nothing but that is based on my parents skewing my knowledge on money after all.

Seriously though, could easily afford to pay these lot for months before really needing to worry and even then, parents aren't exactly far away if a profit isn't being made. As for their wages, decided to go for double what a normal miner might get paid, simply because all of them had to sign a deal of secrecy, even if not all could read or write.

It's pretty simple really, none are allowed to obviously steal from the mine, discuss with outsiders the contents of the mine and talk about my species with them as well, haven't actually told or showed them my bird form yet but did make sure they understood that I'm not human and that should be obvious just looking at my hybrid form. If they find out and If any of them do reveal it to someone who could be considered an enemy, then the punishment is basically extreme debt, they'll owe me more than they'll ever earn down here. No need to mention Petra, she shouldn't even need to change form but can always add that in if needed.

The thing is, I'm still not that fussed about it being public, just that there will be people out in this world who don't like such a thing. Oh, even forgot about the church, they apparently dislike any species that aren't human especially the beastfolk. Apparently, it goes against God's view on how there is only one true righteous species. They already dislike same sex stuff, imagine their reaction at finding out I'm not human as well, going to have to deal with them at some point but for now, let's just focus on the mine and the workers.

Honestly, none of them really seemed that bothered about potentially selling their lives away at the sake of loose lips, I'm guessing being paid double is a very attractive benefit? Also, I'm pretty sure most of these were unemployed to begin with so the chance to earn a living smashing ore is clearly attractive, it's a very good thing we came across Jaxon though. Despite his young age, he knows a lot about mining so even if most of these lot struggle at first, he might as well already be the manager of this place.

Anyways, onto the present, me and Petra are currently leading the ten plus workers into the giant dungeon and have just arrived at the huge part, made sure to keep it a surprise to see their reactions first hand.

"Fuck... me"

"Understand why you want this place kept a secret"

"At least we know where our payment is coming from"

"Yeah, that's a lotta gold"

Those four do seem to be the more vocal out of the lot, think one of them is female as well. No point mentioning what they're noticing, anyone can tell what gold looks like at first glance.

"Jaxon will be taking up command and assigning you duties. He has more experience than all of you combined so don't dare give him any shit or you'll regret it"

Huh, Petra's laying down the law so to speak, I guess you've got to be pretty firm with them since this is our mine after all, even if that seemed forced a bit. That could be a play we do to these lot though, Ikarus good cop and Petra bad cop, I'm just getting distracted now.

"Thanks ma'am... everyone! We need to sort the schedule first, split up work shifts so some of you will be outside gathering wood, others will be mining. Then we'll switch it up every week or so"

That's going to be pretty backbreaking work dragging logs down here but that's what I'm paying them for after all, none of the workers really look all that bothered about taking orders from the kid, that's also a good thing. If they start giving him shit though, made sure that he can dish out punishments. Nothing physical of course but wages can be docked if they start to lack about.

I am trying to be a decent boss believe it or not, just being a little cautious about the whole thing, this is our mine after all.

"That's agreeable"

"As long as I don't have to sleep in a dumpster again, I'm more than happy"

"Stick me down here first, this place looks mint!"

"Sure, I've got some more questions before though..."

While those lot and speaking with their new mine master, Petra nudges me about something.

"Ikarus?"

Petra just says my name like that, almost as if she was asking me a question... ah right, that.

"Ah, nearly forgot then... here's all the supplies you'll need... better make this last a month otherwise you'll starve"

I pull out a LOT of stuff from storage, so much in fact it makes a pile as tall as me. In truth, most of it is dried food that can last a hell of a long time if you store it in a salt barrel but there's a lot of other stuff that have been picked up in the capital or just bought from the fish market here. In truth, I can get rid of most my storage food because months' worth of food isn't exactly needed unless we go dungeon spelunking again. Ah, can't forget about the pickaxes and wood cutting axes I've dropped.

Also did bring a few storage barrels as well, don't say I never think ahead after all. Just need to make a freezer and we'll be set, unfortunately only the dwarfs know how to do that sort of thing without needing large amounts of ice. I wonder if they'd be willing to share that technology but doubt it, no other place has technology like theirs. Enough about this though, I'm getting bored listing of the crap I bought in storage.

It does appear the workers have something to say about the gigantic pile of varied food and other stuff though, I'm guessing some of these have never had things like cake as well. I mean, it's none of the really good stuff but it's at least varied, most of them probably have to eat fish every day since that's the island's specialty. Sure, fish is nice and all but not for every meal, would get boring pretty quick.

"Don't take this the wrong way but... could you two adopt us?"

"You're such a dickhead"

"He's got a point though; this is like a noble's feast!"

"I swear this will probably go bad before we can even eat it all"

At least the atmosphere down here is going to be good, we'll let them get on with it and return every now and then to see what's going on, it's not exactly like it would be impossible to get back to the settlement by themselves since the island gap is more the size of a river, not exactly difficult to row across or even potentially swim.

"Want to head back then Petra?"

"Sure Ikarus"

And now it's time for some alone time, there's something we haven't done in a while and now it's break time...

__________

"Ahhhh... this place is still like heaven"

"Heh, would've thought you might have bad memories Ikarus"

"Why would I? They're all dead now and you're alongside me... no issues left in the world whatsoever"

Of course, we're back at the lush hot springs under the starry filled night sky, we're like proper business owners now slacking off, get all the peasants to work for us while we sit back and relax. For the record, that's a joke, we're going to go back there most days to see how they're getting on, mostly down to safety reasons.

We did have a quick fly about checking beforehand but unsure if that island has anything dangerous on it or not, mostly tried checking for wolfs and things like but couldn't find anything so our job might not be needed if it's like that. If it's already safe, then that's a bonus but it's not exactly like any of them are terrified children worried that the big bad wolf will come eat them up.

"So then Petra..."

What should we chat about? We're in here alone once again, people don't tend to bathe this late so it's always a good time to come here. Also, could just book out the whole place to ourselves but that seems a little much, is it a little weird if we're mostly silent in here though?

"... Erm... you got anything to talk about?"

"Heh, we can just relax in silence Ikarus, don't always have to make small talk"

She definitely has a point but sometimes it's better to just have some noise, even if it's just in the background. Also, I do always love to be around and speak with Petra.

"Sure, we can... but I like hearing you speak though, it's always nice to hear your voice"

"Heh... as do I"

Oh, that wasn't really much of a teasing response there, expected a playful thing like she normally does. I guess even she does seem pretty relaxed in this spring with me right now, she really is beautiful even laying back like that... hmm...

My mind has just gone to something completely random, now I'm thinking of what happens next between us again. Kissing is great and all but I'm pretty sure there's not that many steps before something big happens...

"Petra... hypothetically speaking... what would happen if we did share a bed?"

Not in that way! Erm... my thinking was that ONLY sleeping alongside each other might be a step that we could make sooner rather than later but even without me trying, I swear I'm like subconsciously trying to get her to tease me or something, that really says it all...

"Heh, I'll be nice since you really don't help yourself at times..."

Even she realizes that was too easy to respond there, she is right, I really don't help myself.

"... I'm guessing cuddling would be fine with you? It's not exactly like I can't control myself... although, you do make it difficult not to pounce though"

Damn it! She really couldn't help herself as well!

"Listen Petra, I love you and all that but that's not even funn-"

Sighhh... I'm just having one of those days today, I'm not taking it back this time around since that would be a pointless lie and I'll probably just make it worse; she doesn't seem to have much of a reaction though...

"Heh, love you too Ikarus"

...

Hang on... did she just confess!? I mean, I wasn't going to take back what I said but she's just said it so casual like, is this actually not a big deal then? Have been kinda getting the feeling we both feel the same but to think we've both said it like that, even if mine was accidental, could she have made a slipup too?

"Wait... you know what you just said Petra?"

She does realize what we both just said, right? I know I said it didn't feel like that big of a deal but it's still an actual love confession, it is kinda a big deal.

"Of course Ikarus, felt that way for a while now so it's not that much of a surprise, also know you've felt the same even longer"

She is pretty perceptive, even if I've accidently said it twice already now. I'd say it might be a little soon but considering how slow the relationship has actually developed, it really isn't.

"But still... it seems a little anticlimactic, it's not even like we've admitted we're a couple yet"

"Wait... are we Ikarus!? Had no idea, thought we were just friends after all"

Seriously, her smile when she's messing about is just out of this world, even if this time around it's because of sarcasm.

"You know what I mean, no need to be sarcastic about it... I guess we both l-l- fuck! Why the hell can't I say it?"

It's like a mental block, why is it hard to say when doing it on purpose? It's just a single word, no need to stutter on it.

"Heh... here, let me say it, then you can follow me up..."

Then Petra slowly moves closer up to me, now we're face to face in this steamy hot spring and looks straight into my eyes. Urgh, romance, please help this poor bird's heart.

"... So, I love you Ikarus..."

I can't take this; it's too freaking much! You're too much Petra! The way you said that has given me a slight shiver down my spine, not like that's a terrible thing...

"... Now it's your turn, it's not going to kill you to do it"

Damn her beautiful cursed smile! It might kill me, might even make me melt into this water. I do want to say it but it's just so difficult to do so.

"Heh, come on Ikarus, you can do it"

I've got to do it, I owe her this much, she's given me her heart so it's only fair to do the same even if I don't using that sort of thing. Like seriously, how can you give someone your heart? I'm being way too literal but forget it though, I'm doing this now.

"I-I..."

Come on, you stupid fucking bird! It's just one simple word that you've already said out loud twice, stop making this stupid and just do it!

"... L-L..."

This isn't like the first time like when you learnt to speak; you can say the word so just say it!

"... L-L-Love you"

As soon as I manage to get the troublesome word out, another voice comes from within causing me complete and utter shutdown.

[<Aesa is proud of -user->]

"Fuck off! You stupid piece of shit AI! Why do you have to ruin everyth-"

Ignoring my rampage at my system, Petra goes in for the kill. I'm never going to turn this down even while pissed, she's like the best kisser ever...