Chapter 88 - New Fields

*( mood song: "Imagine Dragons - Working Man")

He kept walking and eventually arrived at a plaza in the middle of the small village, here he saw a bit more of activity, some of the females seemed to be pregnant with eggs from already long ago, and others from recently, with some trying to talk to the guards or a warrior guard going hand by hand with a hybrid, making Erik smile 'looks like I won't have to worry about their population'

Then he observed what they were eating, in one side of the plaza he saw one eating mussels and clams, and coming from between 2 houses he saw a guard give a fish to a feeble and delicate looking hybrid crab woman, making Erik sigh 'damn, there's already corruption starting to appear here, I better get them to live and protect themselves, if the octopeople get used to giving orders while being here, they might go back and try to do the same things back at the city... what a headache... but one thing's clear, they need new food sources...' he stopped a nearby guard "guard, I would like to know the feeding arrangement for the crab village"

The guard saluted "as you command Fifth Elder" and quickly went away, coming back minutes later with a scout, bowing to Erik, and going away to continue patrolling.

Erik looked at the scout that was only as tall as his chest and asked "so, what food are the hybrids given?"

The scout seemed confused and said, "none, Fifth Elder, the First Elder's orders were to leave them time to themselves after farm work so they can scavenge for food themselves..."

Erik facepalmed "so they grow and care for our staple food sources but receive none in exchange?"

Scout: "that's right"

Erik held the bridge of his nose in frustration "sigh.... yeah, so we motivate our workers by keeping them hungry... do the crabs have a representative?"

Scout: "no Elder, they don't seem to have one, should we organize a votation?"

Erik: "Nah, I have someone in mind already" he was thinking of appointing Anhuka as the leader, as he had the feeling she would do a good job 'but... maybe feeding the test subjects is already enough work... I'll have to ask her later...', "what foods do we have available here in the village?"

Scout: "named by you Elder, we have oil algae, wrapping algae, lettuce algae, frying algae, as well as chicken clams, mussels, and other scavenged foods like the barnacles and limpets growing around the village on the village wall and all the cliff area, there's also the wild crabs, fish and small abyssals that bite the palangres, but in winter not many abyssals come up here"

Erik thought about it: 'algae is a must, and maybe some of those sweet algae and other things from the tunnels, most won't grow in cold water though, but the sweet algae might, as long as we plan it on fertile mud...' he looked at the scout "that is all, please call all hybrid crabs for a meeting on the plaza in one hour"

The scout bowed "as you command Fifth Elder" and went away.

--- 1 hour later ---

Erik stood in the middle as dozens of octopeople guards and all the hybrid crab women congregated around him. He spotted Anhuka in the crowd and waved at her to come near him, and she did with an embarrassed face.

Once she was close he said, "Anhuka, there's something I've been wanting to ask you..."

Anhuka's got flustered hearing that '...could it be?! his mate? to bear his children? YES! YES TO EVERYTHING!' she was almost jumping in place with excitement and just yelled "YES!"

Erik stopped and chuckled "wait, let me finish, I want you to be the leader of your people"

Anhuka: "YE- HUH?! why?"

Erik: "you see, you are the crab woman I trust the most from all this village, no one could be better for the position, if the work is too much just tell me anytime and I will assign you some helpers".

Anhuka was stunned, and then delighted at his words 'he trusts me... HE TRUSTS ME THE MOST!' "I WILL DO IT! ANYTHING YOU ASK, I WILL DO IT!"

Erik smiled "well then, tell me what you used to eat while you were on the caves?"

Anhuka thought for a moment: "algae, small mollusks, glow worms, anything that smelled good"

Erik nodded: "good, and your favorite?"

Anhuka: "well, my favorite were the wall huggers, their meat is chewy but tasty"

Erik: 'well, that's a literal translation right there' "wall huggers? what do they look like?"

Anhuka: "well, their shell looks like a rock, and they are big and have poisonous tentacles with stings at the end, if you look their way they stick their shell to the wall and you will never know they are there, but if they see your back they will ambush prey at any opportunity"

Erik was a bit weirded out "and what's so good about them? everyone likes them?"

Anhuka looked down: "no... but they were tasty and... my father used to hunt them and bring them home so... I like them, since they were hard to hunt it was seen as an honor, my f-father was t-the b-est hunter so... *sobbing*" she started crying

Erik quickly stepped in front of her so she wasn't seen by the still waiting crowd "It's okay, that's enough, now take your time to compose yourself" he then turned to the awaiting crowd while thinking 'guess they ate her father in front of her, I wonder what she would say if I bring her one of those giant scary avalon's ' his face got serious as he upped the volume on his speakers "Greetings, as some of you might already know, my name is Erik, also known as the Fifth Elder, we saved you from the caves down below and gave you some work experience, but I'm here today to address your food problems" he saw the crowd getting excited while some guards frowned "you already know how to care for crops and animals from our farms, but now I wanna teach you how to start your own farms, so follow me outside the village"

everyone followed him as he stepped on the sand outside "first i would like to say, and this goes for the guards too, that you should never build atop sand, and also its not really good for planting, some algae like the kelps you have been taking care off, they just need a surface to hold on, so a boulder or a rope work perfectly, and others will grow on mud and slowlier but also grow on sand, like algae lettuce and sweet algae, there are sure other types we can grow out there, but those are the ones we have for now, search for a couple dozen boulders by tomorrow and i will have someone bring you ropes with kelp on them to tie to those boulders, just tie them and wait for them to grow, that's it, and for the land growing algae remember to plant them separated by... 1 arm apart, also you will receive some food untill you can grow your own" he made a pause and saw all the excited faces around, then waved to Anhuka again, who came in front of him, now with a better face, as Erik signaled to the crowd "now, this is Anhuka, she will be your new leader from now on, she's proven to be resourceful and quick witted, so be sure to tell her if anything worries you" he turned to her and said "now you said some words too... Leader *wink*"

Anhuka blushed and stepped forward, looking at the crowd as her face quickly turned cold and serious, saying with an authoritative tone "now I've been appointed as your leader by our savior and my lord, under his rule and wisdom, we shall have boundless prosperity, for those who dare betray him though... I will kill them with my own hands! are we clear?!"

The whole hybrid crab crowd nodded at the pressure that Anhuka gave at that moment, soon dispersing as she turned around to Erik with a smile "how did I do? was that good?"

Erik nodded impressed "yeah, that was perfect, in fact, I believe you deserve a reward, come with me back to my house" inside thinking 'I will cook her something simple, maybe some ribs... or a potato and onion omelet...'

Anhuka was delighted "it will be my honor my lord!" thinking 'yes! I will finally be bred!'

--- Back at the base ---

She was impressed back at the base, she was soon excited but also disappointed as Erik just cooked for her.

With a cold looking octoperson looking at her coldly from the other side of the table the whole time, that kept eating most of the food 'hmm... I wonder why she is in Erik's house...' Anhuka wondered and finally decided to ask "may I know what's your relationship with Erik?"

Inky smiled widely and replied, "He's my wife-"

Erik: "husband"

Inky: "He's my husband for life, and you?" with a smug smile.

Anhuka froze, as the news shocked her deeply 'my lord is married... n-no... it can't be...no... I can't give up yet...' she put on a good face and said "oh really? I help him with his work, what do you do for him?"

Inky frowned but then smiled "we love each other and help each other, we give massages to each other, cook for each other..., make love... you know... the usual..." and smiled in victory.

Anhuka looked defeated and continued eating silently.

Erik by the side was a bit nervous by the strange atmosphere and changed the topic "Inky, why don't you show her some movies and shows you like later? I bet she will be really surprised"

Inky: "Okay..., but won't you come too?"

Erik: "no, I need to check on the chickens, and also the sheep should already be almost ready"

--- Third Floor ---

Inside the Third floor, it was hot and sunny so Erik took his power armor, and also suit off, going in just his underwear as sunlight would do him good anyway.

Since wearing the suit and armor all the time he hadn't noticed, but seeing his body naked and feeling the grass under his feet he noticed more scales like the ones he got after eating so much of the shark snake, they were small and scarce thought, in an almost translucid white color 'fascinating... did it react to the DNA of something else? I'm not a fan of scales though... I would prefer a slimy skin like Inky better...or like a hippo maybe?'

He arrived at the chicken coop, easily noticing a big change in the chickens at first sight, they had gotten at least a third bigger, and looking at them closer, they seemed to have developed a tail 'it's like that project long ago were they turned chickens into small dinosaurs... impressive' he opened a chickens beak, seeing inside rows of sharp teeth 'wow... the shark snakes DNA has replaced quite a bit of the chickens DNA... really impressive' he released the chicken and started thinking 'if the chickens have mutated like this... a pity the sheep are herbivores, I bet all beings on this planet can eat meat one way or another...'

He then checked on the chestnut trees and they seemed to be growing remarkably fast, he had frequently added seaweed near them as fertilizer, as it would also feed the boletus edulis fungus under it, and grow faster together.

--- kitchen ---

With the inspection done he went back upstairs and saw Inky and Anhuka watching a show and excitedly talking about it, thinking 'I'm glad they got along in the end, I better not disturb them' and went to the kitchen.

Unknown to him though, Inky and Anhuka were actually arguing who the protagonist of a live show should end updating.

Inky: "obviously he will end up with his childhood friend, they know each other since longer"

Anhuka: "exactly, they will be tired of each other already, I'm sure someone new would be more exciting..., don't you think?"

Both narrowing their eyes, as they soon started arguing again.

Meanwhile, Erik arrived at the kitchen ready to make a traditional roman sauce he had found on the database while looking for fish dishes that didn't require many ingredients, coming along a roman sauce called garum, he wasn't sure he would like it, but at least he would try making it, there was a slow and a quick receipt so he chose the quick one for just a taste, not like he could leave something rotting for months in his base, as it would make the entire base smell.

He first boiled some seawater to get a salty brine, until one chicken egg can float in the salty water, he then added some smaller whole fish from the refrigerated room to the pot, letting it boil for 40 minutes and mashing it with a spoon every 10 minutes, then when it was all dissolved he let it cool down and filtered it 4 times, the end result being a clear yellow liquid 'hmm let's have a taste...' he took a small sip and spewed it instantly 'damn... so salty... let's dilute it first' he mixed it with 4 times fresh water and took a sip 'well, maybe this was the Romans equivalent of soy sauce... a fishy clear yellow soy sauce... let's try' he cut some sashimi and lightly dipped it on Garum 'yeah, it's good... bet the others would like it' and silently ate an entire Kg of abyssal meat as sashimi dipping it on the garum while thinking on his future plans.

A sniffing Crabina soon coming through the door "Daddy, what's that smell? what did you make?"

Erik chuckled, patting his lap "I made some sauce, wanna try it with daddy?"

"okayyyy" Crabina almost teleported as she quickly climbed his leg, looking at the cut fish slices wanting to grab some.

Erik stopped her "wait sweety, let me teach you" he dipped some abyssal meat lightly in garum and fed it to Crabina "so? is it tasty?"

Crabina loudly cheered "it's tasty daddy!"

Erik patted her smooth head "awww you are just so cute" he dipped some more "Here, have some more!"

The meat quickly diminishing with 2 gluttons eating happily.