CHAPTER 174: CHAPTER 173: GETTING SETTLED PART 3

When Carl and the others left, the remaining householders took on a more logistical role, focusing on supply portioning. It was obvious that if it weren’t for the assistance of those who came to their aid, i.e. Gaia and the elves, there wouldn’t have been enough to go around.

Their intervention had ensured that thousands would be fed that they would have otherwise gone hungry, a fact that weighed on them as they created armlets for every one of the Aegis Legion.

"Hey, do you think Carl bothered to name them?" Alysse asked, as she counted out what had been made.

"Are you kidding? No way he named a thousand anything on the spot. I think we should have the occupants of each tower suggest names, then vote on the best and the Aegis Legion assigned to it, can adopt the tower’s name."

Blanc didn’t let it become a distracting discussion, just set Link to work on having that added to the transfer slate system.

"You all need to concentrate, this is going smoothly, too smoothly, I have seen enough evacuations to know there is always problems, important things left behind, people lost, something vital stops working." Noah shook away an unusually dark expression that made the others wonder what kind of beast taming expeditions he had been on over the years.

"I happen to agree with Noah. This entire thing is going well, but is in a delicate balance." Lillim warned, serious despite the fact she was mocking Equinox, when he organised the assembly line.

Gillian and Lillim create them, which was now costing no divinity at all, then passes them to Alysse.

Alysse Counts them into bundles of thirty, then passes them over to Noah.

Noah’s job was to fill them with the supply baskets being put together by the elves who were in turn being directed by Blaine.

Blaine’s beast-keeping experience was proving an unexpected boon and whilst the comparison was likely to offend, he found that putting together the rations for each suite was no different to organising feed for beasts back in his IDC days.

When the thirty towers worth of food had been prepared, Blanc was delivering that that and the corresponding attendant tablet, which he had been creating and programming, to the correct Aegis Legion.

It was a duty that Blanc wasn’t happy with, If any point was going to make a mistake, it was him. The wrong armlet to the wrong tower and somebodies dietary requirements might go unmet, the wrong tablet and the attendant wouldn’t be able to access a room in an emergency.

He was so paranoid about making such a mistake, he was making cases marked by each group of thirty and marking them several times with the destination towers designation.

Thanks to the abundance of caution, things had been going smoothly and the time when Blanc had grabbed the wrong case, it was caught straight away.

When everyone had been sorted into groups, the faction members that had been sorting them were reorganised into a secondary supply team, essentially doubling the speed at which each towers rations were finished.

When all nine-hundred armlets had been finished Gillian shared Blanc’s weighty responsibility, but before he was allowed to go Lillim opened a portal and dragged Scylla back through.

"You can babysit him, your talks with Lycaon can wait."

"But I was so close, I nearly had it!"

"Hush little pup, Gillian needs supervision. Supervision that you are uniquely gifted at providing..." Lillim explained the job he was going to be doing and Scylla stopped resisting.

It was a harrowing couple of hours that followed, the weight of responsibility shaking Gillian to his core the first time he Scylla had to tell him he had the wrong case and that one little mistake would have left twenty people with insufficient food due to species requirements, aversions and allergies.

When it hit two O’clock everyone had been taken to their tower and assigned rooms, the attendants had made the case that Carl’s decision to bring in wyvern defences was unnecessary and Lillim gave permission for them to be dismissed and their roosts be dismantled.

Lillim then ordered that in their place, the attendants should build a new floor split between a private room for the attendant, an administration room and an infirmary where any sick residents could be treated without delay.

Strangely the residents seemed more than a little disappointed so, with a good helping of irritation, she ordered the roosts restored in readiness of Carl producing a unique tower guard for each one.

"Lillim, that’s a lot to promise isn’t it?"

"Ugh, what else was I supposed to do? Those whimpering homunculi were about to cry, but the gravely tone of a wyvern’s voice is grating and risked giving me a migraine."

No one was actually brave enough to say she was being childish, but Tiamat was very nearly stupid enough apparently and was only stopped by her twin.

When it hit three O’clock, All the supplies had been portioned out and thanks to Blaine and Sis noting the daily requirements of every resident, the attendants would be able to handle getting the next days supplies ready.

"You guys have done enough, Sis, you have personal stuff to deal with don’t you?" Sophie said as she gave her a thank you hug.

Sophie wasn’t alone either, they all knew that the MVPs of the day were Blanc, Alysse and Sis, somehow followed by Gillian and his entertainment.

Beyond that, the only thing they could decide on, was that Carl, Klaire, Kyubi and the kids didn’t count.

"I mean seriously, what did those girls do to put their groups in such a good mood?"

"If I had to guess, they gossiped, they absolutely just talked about their happy little lives together. Thinking about it certainly makes me happy..." Alysse trailed off as she sent a shiver down everyone else’s spines.

"Yeah, I’m definitely gone... See you later everyone. Scylla, Gil, Blanc, Sophie, don’t forget you’re leaving first thing tomorrow. Make sure you’re at theirs ready."

"At theirs?" Gillian asked, completely unaware that was the plan, not that it was his fault exactly since it had never been said, but he could tell by the other’s expressions that he was the last to know.

"Did you already forget they can open portals? Who do you think is getting you to each world and realm?"

"Shit, yeah, I’m an idiot. We’ll be there Sis, hope this personal stuff works out for you guys." Gillain finished, offering her a consolatory and grateful high-five.

She clapped his hand and then hugged everyone else before heading home.

"Seriously, their family got all the luck...." Gillian said as he watched Sis disappear, most likely at the hands of Tiamutael.

"Luck? Sis and Carl were thrown a thousand years into the future only to be thrown into chaos by appearing seven years earlier than they should have. On top of that, their Mum and Dad are possibly an elder god and a crackpot aspect who turned existence into a glitchy game and killed the mum, not to mention the other mother that is also de-"

"Okay, I get it, that was a stupid comment... Sorry guys and yes I know I owe them all an apology."

By four O’clock, all the armlets and attendant tablets had been delivered confirmed and double checked.

By Five O’clock, there were five polls waiting for everyone to fill out.

By six O’clock, all had been answered.

By seven O’clock, Everyone was sat around Carl’s kitchen table with a full stomach and giving a full report.

Leanna’s was about facilities. "In short, we need to figure out whether to restructure the school, or wait until our own orbital station is finished. We have collated the results of the recreation centre, but unfortunately it wasn’t so simple and thanks to ties over four-hundred ideas reached top one-hundred. Finally, we need t-"

"Sorry Mum, I think I got it, bare with me though...." Carl rubbed his temples, his vision was still unfocused and his head throbbing gently. "...Look, I think that it’s actually better to speak to Sis about this stuff when she’s free and I trust you all to run it."

"Well given that your grandmother saw fit to volunteer your creation of a unique guardian for each tower..." Leanna turned from her utterly exhausted son, to Lillim and scowled. "...I’d maybe rethink that idea."

"No. It’s a good idea, wyverns were a sloppy and impulsive decision and their voices cause migraines." Lillim smirked when Carl agreed, then cleared her throat.

"Honestly I respect you for acknowledging you aren’t well suited for holding the reins and micromanaging things. Sis has proven herself a good substitute, she handled things today with flawless execution."

"I agree, you’re welcome to tell her, but let her have some time to herself. Nergal has free reign to come at her request, but I want his time here supervised, no room for him to take advantage of my sister’s state of mind."

"Wise, I sincerely doubt Nergal would try anything, but these things must be standard procedure..." Lillim looked at him struggling to stay upright and shook her head. "...Everyone, it’s time to leave. My foolish grandson needs his rest, he earned it I’d say."