Harem of Moms and Milkers

The hag spat a joyful laughter. “Guests?! After all these years! Oooh, you even brought wine too!”

She walked with tiny steps, dragging her feet and chains at a quick pace. “Come, come… Have a seat.” Her voice beckoned the party deeper into the room.

“A resident of the rift?! She can speak our language?” Viola stammered.

“Yep, she was born here. Don’t worry, she doesn’t carry any weird disease.” Asdel dragged them through the door.

A grand sight welcomed them. A towering spiral of stairs wrapped around a well of light. The walls were entirely made of bookshelves spaced with stained glasses.

Standing at the bottom floor, the party was dwarfed by the immensity of the archives. The awe-inspiring height took Viola’s and Severine’s breath away. How many secrets and discoveries awaited them in this grand library? Perhaps they would need hundreds of years to read everything and another thousands of years to understand.

Asdel watched with a deadpan face. This grand library was nothing revolutionary for an earthling used to skyscrapers and computers. ’It must be a real pain to manage. It wouldn’t even take that many USB sticks to store everything.’

Before he could take a seat, the granny lunged at him, startling the party.

“This smell! A young boy, huh? Aaah, I’m dying to have a taste. Let me have a biiiite!” She sniffed Asdel all over his neck. The hag put no subtlety into acting like a perverted creep.

[+5 favorability with Magdalena (5/100)]

’What? I get favorability just for being young?’ Asdel was happy but sweated a little. He didn’t check his favorability level in his everyday interactions, in order to stay true to himself instead of only seeking approval of others. But the hag was different. Each point of favorability meant that he could obtain a precious reward from the old librarian.

“What the hell, grandma?! Stop it!” Severine tried to block the granny, slapping her repeatedly to no avail.

“Eeep! Eeep!” Amaranth menacingly stood on Asdel’s shoulder.

Eventually the hag gave up, but her heavy panting didn’t stop. “Kehehehe… Sorry, I lost myself for a bit. How about giving me a taste of what you brought?”

“Alright, I brought this gift because I wanted to do business together.” Asdel barely took the bottle of wine before the hag snatched it. He wore a nefarious smile as the hag guzzled everything directly from the bottle. ’That’s right, get drunk so you will agree to all my conditions!’

[+10 favorability with Magdalena (15/100)]

The bottle struck the table with a thud. The hag swept the trickling fluids from her chin. “Alright, that was great.”

She straightened up from her seat, as if her blindfolded eyes could see the depth of Asdel’s soul. “I am Magdalena, the librarian of the great archives! But you seem to know me, even though it’s been thousands of years since the last visitor. Tell me, guests, what can I do for you?”

Asdel never cared about following the dialogue options of the game, instead he cut straight to the chase. “We come from the world that is currently connected to the Grave of Flesh, Hekal. We want to learn alchemy, pharmacology, and magic from you.”

“Hehe, I’ve been pretty bored lately. Choose anything in this library catalog, I will help you study it.” Humongous books floated towards Magdalena. They made an inventory of all the books on specific subjects.

A system notification summarized the list of knowledge Asdel could learn from Magdalena and the cost in favorability.

“I don’t see arcanes in the magic catalog. Can you also teach some of them?” Asdel asked.

“Arcanes?” Viola looked through the list of spellbooks. Most were elemental magic that she was familiar with, but she had never heard of arcane.

Magdalena grimaced, conflicted by Asdel’s request. “It’s not that I can’t teach you, but they are the secrets of the Church of Extirpation. Moreover, arcanes led this world to ruin. Don’t pursue this path unless you want to turn into an aberration!”

Indeed, the Grave of Flesh wouldn’t look so disturbing if the arcanes they pursued were so good.

Asdel glanced at Viola. “Arcanes are powers of monsters. People drunk on these powers often aspire to become aberrations to unlock greater powers.”

“What the hell, that’s so scary! I don’t want to turn into a monster.” Severine shook Asdel’s shoulder.

He comforted her with a pat. “It’s only the case for obsessed people who want to access higher level arcanes. I only want a couple of arcanes, like the rituals to brew experience-boost potions or the ritual divination to find treasures.”

They were easy to learn and were the most useful during his period of growth. He absolutely needed to get at least those two. He had recipes, but the game omitted the finer details of the process.

Magdalena sighed. “Alright, I will teach you but I have a request...”

[Quest: Free Magdalena

Description: The worshipers in the Grave of Flesh ascended and turned into aberrations through the ritual of Extirpation. It consisted in removing their intestines, entrusting them to a sacrificial host. It symbolized the removal of their mundane self, keeping only the transcendental part of their essence.

Magdalena served as a sacrificial host for the ritual of extirpation. Naturally, she was heavily restricted so that she would not escape her duty. Defeat the priests to release the restrictions on the sacrifices.

Remaining priests in Grave of Flesh: 6/7

Reward: Unlock Magdalena as party member Maximum favorability with Magdalena]

“So you want us to kill the priests?” Asdel nodded. “Alright, but we’re too weak right now. Teach us until we grow strong enough, and we will free you without fail.”

“Huh… You want me to invest in you. But what if you run away after you’ve learnt everything you wanted?” Magdalena frowned.

“How about this? We want to open a drugstore, but we lack workers. How about I hire you as an employee? This way, we can’t abandon you even if we wanted.” Asdel’s eyes gleamed with predatory capitalism, as he was determined to turn Magdalena into an automatic potion dispenser. It wasn’t possible in the game,

“But I can’t leave this place. How can I work for your shop?” The flustered hag sensed danger from the nine year old boy. ’Did I imagine it?’

“No problem, we will bring raw materials along with snacks so you can craft medicines and drugs. You will be bored whenever we leave. Fortunately, you can get a job and you will be paid with food, books, or wine!” Asdel wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

Magdalena was an obedient nun who was once raised to be a sacrifice. Besides, she was too scared that Asdel’s group would abandon her after waiting for millenia. In a way, working together reassured her. “A-alright.”

That was how the powerful mentor-like NPC became the breadwinner of the Lucky Slime shop.

…

After a week of regular visits at the Grave of Flesh, the group obtained the first batch of Magdalena’s products.

Asdel, Viola, Severine, and Amaranth left the rift and reappeared in Hekal, greeted by a vast field of wheat that swayed under the sunset. They attracted quite a bit of attention as Viola transported crates of concentrated powder with telekinesis.

Although the party mostly visited to exploit the old hag, everyone gained valuable results from their training.

For instance, they all learned the most basic arcane ritual of Insight, Light of Truth, which removed phenomena related to illusions, misdirection, or stealth.

Asdel hated that ritual though. 'This is the kind of shitty game mechanic that makes the player uselessly paranoid and cast it every few meters in case there's a hidden easter egg, but it turns out that it's only relevant once in the entire game. I bet I'll use it twice and forget it for the rest of my life.'

At the exit of the rift, the encampment of adventurers grew lively as the day ended. The tired raiders gathered at the stalls filled with barrels, drinking their worry away.

Some parties were joyful after a bountiful hunt while parties with missing members drank somberly. Yet, no matter their spirit, they will repeat their exploration the next day in order to pay the taxes demanded by the Kivar kingdom.

Some carriages departed from the encampment en masse, just like school buses poured out of school at the end of the day.

Indeed, rifts spawned near concentration of population, as they were attracted by the sweet soul essence of intelligent beings. It meant that Eplit's residents could return home in no time, while the foreign adventurers were stuck behind.

In fact, the amount of foreign adventurers increased disproportionately during these days. Most of them traveled to the northern forest to join the campaign against Rampart.

…

In the yet-to-open ‘Lucky Slime shop’, Asdel diluted Magdalena’s powders into potion bottles, laughing madly at the calculated profits.

“Asdel! Time for dinner.” Viola served food that she had synthesized from soul gems through Magdalena’s alchemy technique.

The old hag had lived on synthetic food for millenia, forcing her to develop countless techniques to vary the taste and texture of the food. It was incomparably better than the standard alchemy food paste.

“Are you going to open the shop soon? How are you going to promote it?” Severine, already seated at the table, asked.

“Hmm… I guess I should use my connections and pay a visit to Luciella.” Asdel thought about using Luciella’s name without asking her. He had a certain leeway thanks to using his young age as a pass card, but then he remembered that he taught Severine the Heroslayer style without asking permission.

“Severine, we should go together and ask her for a training session. I haven’t mastered all the techniques of Heroslayer after all.” Asdel planned to drop the news on Luciella that she has a new disciple.

“Alright, but how are you going to train if you have to stay behind the counter all day?” Severine asked.

Asdel looked surprised, as if it was obvious that he relied on women and never on himself.

“Ahem. In case you forgot, I’m only supposed to be Loreley’s maid, not your employee. Don’t make me attend your shop.” Viola glared at Asdel.

“Alright, we should visit the slave market first.” Asdel was too paranoid to hire a normal employee, fearing that they would steal the recipes and know-how.

In addition, he had the feeling that his quest to return home would force him to turn his back against everyone, including the Congregation. Although there was no mind control magic to brainwash slaves, Asdel could use drugs or keep the family of his slaves on a tight leash.

But the real reason was that he just wanted to lay his sticky hands on a slave.