173 Strongest Deterrent

As the battles ended, everyone chipped in with moving the inventory while Aida and Lackey 1 went around to collect more vehicles to drive back. The amount of food far exceeded the amount of space they had in their trucks and buses, so they would need more.

Soon, a total of 150 containers carrying food and other essential supplies drove back to the base. They had found more vehicles, but there weren't enough drivers so Aida's solution was to put things into containers with wheels and they could drive it back that way.

Everyone had grown exponentially more experienced with fighting off Reapers and Enrageds, and successfully fought them off. The number of times Aida and the others had to intervene during critical moments had decreased significantly.

Arriving back at the base, there were many people who were out building the walls or cleaning up the streets to make it look more inhabitable. When they saw the many trucks entering the base, their jaws nearly dropped to the ground. Usually, when an adventurer's group or the stronger members of the base went out, they would be lucky to even arrive back with one truckload of items. Yet this time, they departed with 50 trucks and returned with 150 trucks! This had a very direct impact on the survivability of the base and everyone knew it.

They all began to cheer, greeting the brave individuals who went into the city with unprecedented zeal. In the past, this task was practically akin to suicide so they had initially written off these people as dead people. It's not that they were underestimating their new base leader, but that the scars from having lost many people to those trips into the city had been far too deep.

As Aida and her two tails leaped off the truck, everyone gasped with horror. She looked exactly like a blood soaked demon, which overlapped very well with their memory of her burning all their drugs. Ignoring the looks, the three of them calmly entered the building and went to wash off all the blood.

Lackey 1 didn't follow along but instead directed each of the members to help with moving the food into storage to prevent it from spoiling. Everyone chipped in as they helped move the food. With Aida as the strongest deterrent, no one had any thoughts of embezzling the food.

After her shower, she went back to the penthouse to be greeted by three wide eyed lackeys. Their looks of admiration unnerved her and she had the impulse to turn around and walk out the room. Suppressing this feeling, she walked mechanically towards her desk and sat down without looking at the three lackeys.

Looking up from her desk, she saw they still hadn't moved. Coughing to bring them out of their reverie, she asked, "How are things on the base?"

Lackey 1 rushed to report first, "We have stored all the food into the refrigeration area and have the ice and snow elementals maintaining the temperature while we repair the refrigeration. Based on the inventory, it should last us for a month."

Aida nodded. There were many hidden gems in this base that had previously been underutilized, but that would no longer be the case.

Lackey 2 was next, "Using your categorized list of infrastructure issues, we have begun addressing the bigger problems while sending notices to all the smaller damages so the residents can handle them."

"What about the wall?"

"We are making progress. The foundation had been built by our previous leader, so now we are reinforcing and growing them. The earth and strength Variants have made the process much more efficient. What would've taken 6 months will now only take a couple weeks," Lackey 2 reported in awe.

He inwardly shook his head at their previous base leader's poor decision making skills and unnecessary oppression and discrimination. In just a few days, his new boss was able to turn everything in the base around and create a nurturing environment. He could only put two thumbs up for this new boss of his.

Lackey 3 was last to report, "The inventory besides food is still at dire levels and our storage of gems is lacking as well. Fortunately, the weather has taken a turn for the better so the need for clothing among other items is less urgent."

Aida tapped her chin before saying, "Most of the major incidents have been resolved. It will take time, but after the people on base are trained up, you will need to employ them to travel into the city for resources and gems."

"We can create a system. For everyone who is willing to be an adventurer and head out to the city to acquire resources and gems for the base, they will be awarded gems in advance to increase their level. If available, the base will also provide them with the gem type that suits their affinity so they could level faster. This can be used to incentivize the people here."

Aida hadn't noticed herself, but she had begun using terms like "we" instead of "this base." She had unknowingly become quite attached to this base.

Lackey 3's eyes lit up and then immediately dimmed right after. It was a great plan, but they were too poor to make such promises at the moment. "Boss… we're too poor."

Aida rolled her eyes before reaching behind her and throwing a bag onto the table. The contents spilled out and they were almost blinded by the shine of the gems. All three of their eyes lit up as they ran forward to determine whether the gems were genuine.

"This… this…" Lackey 3 was so stunned he didn't know how to respond. The quantity of gems here were enough to get the system that Aida mentioned kick started.

Seeing this problem resolved, Aida moved onto the next issue. "We need to build farmland. The resources out in the city will only last so long. Gather some capable farmers and begin tilling the land. No animals have been in sight for a long time, so we need to plan for the possibility of them never reappearing."

All three sat down and seriously took notes on all of Aida's recommendations while nodding their heads nonstop. Through her patient and astute recommendations, they could already see the amazing transformation that was to come.

As they walked out the door, Aida called out and said, "One more thing. Tomorrow, I will take an even larger group out to the city to clear out all the latent dangers and gather more supplies. Then, the day after tomorrow, I will be leaving with the troops."

With that, she returned her attention to the massive amounts of paperwork on her desk, leaving the poor shell shocked lackeys frozen just outside the door.

***