Chapter 9 : A place to call home (2)

You wouldn't know a man until you have a fistfight.

That's a quote that my best frenemy said to me. Funny how he first started as a demon lord, and then got exiled, came in contact with the hero party, and perished as a hero in the end.

but that's a story for another time.

Right now I'm in the middle of negotiating with the financial department about purchasing a home or a plot of land somewhere around here.

"Forgive me, Mr. Colombus, but wouldn't it be better for you to stay at headquarters?"

is what the Finance manager said. She's a milf with glasses, bob cut hair, ample assets and a beauty mark below her lips. Her name is Adela Page. she's a returnee, she worked at an adventurer's tavern.

She's very good and efficient with her work, and she received a blessing which nearly quadrupled her processing speed. putting her on par with calculators? maybe? i don't know the metrics of this things. but she said herself that as if there's four of her inside her head. Whatever that means. Her soul's perfectly normal though so split personality is out of the question.

"Unless there's adequate accommodation for Eli, I would move out."

"... Understood. What accommodations are we talking about?"

Hmm it seems that her motherly instinct kicked in there for a second.

"I wouldn't know what a 10 year old would want... Could I trouble you to list out a few things for me? If it's about money don't worry--"

"I have to cut you there Mr. Columbus, there seems to be an excess spending on Mr. Smith's card that have yet been evaluated, so spending more is a no no especially when we're tight on cash..."

"Oh yeah... how do we earn... money exactly?"

"Currently we use International Dollars, as we don't have the stability to print our own money... yet.... and the way we earn them currently is by buying raw unprocessed materials and selling high quality goods or products... but there's only so much we can do with our resources."

As a ruler, knowing your source of income and your liability is a must.

"So can you walk me through our biggest spending and our biggest income source?"

"It'll be my pleasure..."

I was taken into a room with a projector, it seems that there's going to be a meeting or had been a meeting here recently, as the slide has already been set.

it seems that our annual GDP is from exporting our processed goods such as electronics and automotive. On the other hand other countries are selling us their goods at an alarming price and it keeps on rising year after year...

Another point of interest is energy. It seems that even with Ethan's advanced technology, it would require two more years to fully change into solar power, as the problem now lies within its storing method.

Ethan's technology requires an ore that conducts mana like none other, and it seems that there's none of that here. and thus a substitute material needs to be synthesized.

An ore that stores mana huh? I wonder if organic material would work. Dragon's corpses and remains can store them quite well. if I remember correctly.

So Even though we have an advantage on everything else, we still rely on oil to supply ourselves with energy, and knowing that, other countries are trying to rob us of our technology with oil.

"That'll be all Mr. Colombus."

She stared at me expectantly hoping that I could relieve some of her burden. Can't say that I can but...

"Tell me Ms. Page, where's the RnD section?"

====

And lo and behold there's a secret underground facility for RnD. makes sense... I mean if you're going to have technologies from all across realities you would want a secure facility to keep it.

Looking at the 'lab', well it would be more suited to call it an evil lair. it's wide as hell I wouldn't be surprised if the lair covers the whole underground of the city. The ceiling is at least 50m tall. and There are countless busy bodies through and through... and is that a mech in the distance?

Accompanied by Ms. Page I was led to a section of the lair that is working on some kind of generator(?). I'm no engineer but I can tell that that thing can output a lot of mana, maybe just enough to blow up the town.

"Rufus!"

"Ah, Ms. Page, not here to slice my budget again are you?"

"..."

"You're not going to, right?"

===

Rufus is a short chubby man, he has a goofy smile, and messy brown hair. and apparently he went into a mage-punk like world, and was amazed at the technological advances that magic can bring.

"Rufus, I'm not going to cut your budget ..."

A happy smile formed on his lips

"... yet."

the smile fades.

"But... if you can show me progress, that's another discussion entirely. enough about budgets, today I'm bringing Mr. Colombus to meet you. I'm sure you've heard about him."

"Ah yes, the one who annihilated those aliens and UFOs right? their technology is still way off Ethans, but because of those 20 odd UFOs we can extract just enough material to make on of these."

as he points to the mana generator.

"it converts solar flares into Mana. keyword Solar Flare, meaning it's useless to us unless we can fly close to the sun's orbit."

wait wait wait hold up.... Solar flares? no scratch that 20 UFOs? I remember only throwing one.

"As excited as you are about your current research, I think Mr. Colombus here has something to share with you."

"Nate is fine, and do you have a store room of sorts? preferably an extra large one that can go sub zero if needed."

They both looked at each other before asking me to follow them.

and follow them I did as I expected.

===

It appears that the RnD section is not the lowest floor, there's another floor that's being built right now, evident with images on both sides chanting spells to widen the area, and shrink space.

Ah so that's the trick, they use space expansion enchantment to give themselves more room to work with.

"What area is this?"

"It's supposed to be an area for RnD but this time it's for alchemy and spells. we have the Science and Technology Rnd on the B1 and B2 we have Alchemy and Magic."

Ms. Page answers professionally.

"Then is there a head mage here?"

"I'm glad you ask"

A voice came from behind me. I was not surprised, as I felt her mana as soon as I entered this... Domain.

"So... you're the man who covered the entire planet with a domain... Should I call you master? or teacher? or even D-a-d-d-y?"

a witch with a flat chest greets me, she wore a witch hat, black dress, and WHAT IS THAT IS HER HAIR SENTENCE? every piece of her hair contains individual souls... and they resemble hers...

I can't imagine it's a happy accident hence I'll keep it to myself.

"Ah Meds, glad you could join us."

"Of course Ms. Page, Wouldn't want my budget to be cut."

Money makes the world go around.

"Ah where are my manners, Witch of the damned Meds at your service. O-n-i-i -chan"

Pfft---

"Heh so you're into that huh Onii-chan, then I shall call you that from now on." she said with the smuggest smile I had ever seen.

"Meds. focus."

"Hai hai.. Anyway, what brings you here today?"

"We need storage. a very big one. and a sub-zero one."

"Would stasis work? If so I myself have a space ring, 1kmx1kmx0.2km "

She asks Ms.Page, as Ms. Page turns to me for answers.

"Yes, it'll fit but it does not meet my requirements. I need a space where I can place all my loot, and you guys can share it between yourselves. I would prefer it not to be bound to a single person and that person has a monopoly over it."

"Tch... found out huh. fine... do what you want!"

As soon as she said that, I poured my mana into my surroundings. all the mages that are working stopped to look at me.

I influenced the space around me as it folded upon itself.

Then I Shaped a section of the wall and floor into shelves that will fit books. as mazes upon mazes of Shelves came to life and organized themself.

This is going to take a while...

===

As I'm finishing up I finally realize that there are rows upon rows of shelves that are in front of me in a circular pattern. I casually swipe my fingers, and the shelves, like spins, move in the direction of my finger's gesture.

I swiped my finger up, and The shelf that's on the forefront, immediately levitated and presented itself in front of me. good. just as I wanted it to be.

and then when it's finally done... I grabbed the pendant around my neck and poured a bit of my mana in it as a portal opened beside me. I coated my hands with mana and I reached inside it and one by one... I start emptying the contents.

===

"Hey! Yo! Is that A chromatic dragon!"

"Look at that A Beholder, no Beholders damn there's a whole species."

"Is that a Qilin...? who the hell would kill somet--"

Cheers of magicians finding new toys echoed around the cave, as after emptying the corpses, I threw them into the shelf, the shelf 'caught' the corpses, contained them in bubbles, and finally landed on one of the rows in the shelf.

After emptying the corpses, I started taking out ores and gems, then herbs, then weapons, armors ... and so on and so forth. until all that remains are my highest tier items and those with sentimental values.

Since when did I amass all of these? oh yeah it's Vel's huh. She always says that the dead would not need their items any more and I should use anything that I can. Hence the corpses that we came across are always stripped and decomposed.

And after quite a while I finished organizing the items and finally looked back. and to my surprise behind me, is a crowd.

as if on their first trip to the museum, the crowd of sweaty researchers are surely a sight to behold.

I'll leave this in your capable hands then head researchers, and Ms. Page.