The Small Lake Pact had its centre of operation at the body of water that it derived its name from. Lake Champlain, that was the actual name used by the normal people, was located close to the Canadian border. An actually quite large lake, ninth biggest in the entire country, it simply seemed small next to the Great Lakes not far to the west of it. Nevertheless, it was large enough to have eighty islands of varying sizes inside its blue expanse.

Spread over these eighty islands was the majority of the Small Lake Guilds. They were any size between just two and several dozen people, none of them dangerous on their own but all of them unified under three things: their hatred of the Lake Alliance, their ownership of boats and a common culture.

Their ownership of the surrounding areas was a slowly building thing, as was the Small Lake Pact itself, having formed in response to the Lake Alliance putting aside their own internal squabbles to become the local powerhouse. The Abyssals of this region had been quite happy just bashing each other’s heads in for a couple more decades, slowly going elsewhere whenever a clan broke apart and one half had to leave the island for somewhere not yet claimed.

At least that was how Aclysia understood this area, both from the briefing she had gotten and from the time she had spent here. For over a week now, she had only heard John’s voice sporadically and the effects were… dire. Not that her mood was necessarily bad, or that she was going crazy, but the withdrawal forced her to keep herself occupied in ways that weren’t healthy for the small fortune she had gotten together on the back of John’s monthly allowances.

‘I hope he is eating healthy,’ she thought, taking the broom in her hands and giving the already clean street a good swipe. ‘Left alone with Eliza… if she hurts him in any way, I will forbid her from ever accessing the sweets again,’ Aclysia sighed. ‘Which have been doubtlessly plundered. I can hide them from Sylph, but I can’t keep them away from that nose.’

She had come to this place to the mild surprise of the leadership of the Small Lake Pact. They had gotten the message that John was going to send someone over to have talks, not that she would arrive this quickly, however. Thusly, she had been told to wait, without ever having seen said leader. At first, Aclysia had taken the resulting delay in stride. A week later, she was simply insulted. Not insulted enough (yet) to start a rampage, though.

For the waiting time, they had at least given her a house to stay in, on the largest island in the relative centre of the lake called Grand Isle. It was dominated by farms and forests, which Aclysia found quite pleasant on the face of it. A calm surrounding off from the busy of cities. Not quite as nice as the ground her master owned, an adjustable island was pretty charming, but charming nonetheless.

The area only had a low population, around three thousand people. However, a total of three hundred of those were Abyssals, reaching an absurd density of 1 in 10. That was only the main island as well, apparently all the smaller islands around, often only holding a single house, were inhabited mainly by Abyssals. That made every island its own little fortress, as generations of internal conflicts had made the locals quite adept at using long-lasting trapping spells.

Spells that were quite excellent for the hit-and-run tactics they now employed against the Lake Alliance, covering points of interests in magic that would be costly to remove if spotted and deadly if not. Given this uncharacteristic density and annoying specialization of magic, it was of little wonder that the Small Lake Pact got away with continuously annoying the much more powerful force to the west of them over some plots of lands they both wanted.

None of this excused having her wait for so long, however. Aclysia needed to cuddle her master again and do more, much more, in the terms of skinship if the opportunity arose. Best she could do right now was masturbate three times a day while listening to voice recordings and use up her secret inventory stash of his used shirts. Every time she was done with them, they smelled less like him. It was a sorry replacement from the start.

“John, when can I see you again?” she asked the world, frowning when an attempt to reach him mentally was only met with the dullness of the distance between them. It was like running into a wall of cotton. Not unpleasant, just entirely disappointing. Unable to do anything else, she had taken to cleaning everything around the shelter she was given. It had been a house in a Protected Space that had clearly been left to its own devices for over a dozen years. Ivy had climbed the walls, the grass around was tall as it could grow and even a few spiders had found their way into the barrier. Spiders the size of dinner plates and creating cobwebs that gave off electric discharges, but still spiders.

If it had been just a day, Aclysia wouldn’t have minded, but after her first night in that environment, a night without a loving master to snuggle up to, her cleaning instincts had taken over. At first, she had just wanted to pass the time, but as the days went on and her immense Libido remained unsatisfied, her impatience had caused her to go perhaps a bit overboard.

Every last strand of grass had the exact same height, mowed down by hand. The façade had been cleaned of all ivy, damaged wood replaced, bought on the Abyss Auction, and painted in a fresh dark blue, the colour of Fusion. Had she had the artistic ability, she would have painted the proper emblem, but the flower with the six differently coloured petals, shaped somewhat like comets, that was the simplified version of it would have to do. She drew that on the door.

Soon thereafter, every last spider was chased out. With them went the cobwebs. Dust was the next victim of Aclysia’s cleaning spree, the only interruptions for it coming from her pleasuring herself wherever she was the most comfortable. Also showering, last she wanted was to be dirty when she finally got called to the leader.

Which just kept not happening. So, she replaced faulty parts of the ceiling tiles. Also, she threw out the old furniture and replaced it with mostly leather surfaces of the hydrophobic variety. Although she didn’t cook here, everything inside her urged her to buy proper cooking utensils and before she knew it, she had completely replaced that as well.

All the trash that came about in the process she stored at a clearly designated area on the bit of the street that was part of the barrier. She stacked it neatly by size and material. The run-down house she had been assigned to was now better than new, with being equipped with everything a family of four could need, down to a rice cooker. The only thing she hadn’t gotten to was to replace the flooring, tiles on concrete. To get that done she would have needed to mix some new plaster and that was messy work.

With all of that done, she was now in maintenance mode. Not a lot to maintain though, if the only person around didn’t produce any waste. Nevertheless, she cleaned every surface, even the street, once a day.

“Uhm… wow,” a voice appeared suddenly, belonging to a woman with dark red hair. She was quite attractive, with a slender body and a cute freckled face, even if Aclysia didn’t like the piercings on her nose and lower lip. Earrings were one thing, one that the weaponized maid already didn’t approve of. The Artificial Spirit didn’t like people who had visible metal on their bodies. It was slightly ironic, given her origin, but her appearance was very much natural (if immensely beautiful) - white hair aside.

Despite this aversion, Aclysia would have been more than ready to fuck that woman, using her dick or not. It had been a week and she was getting really quite thirsty. However, doing anyone outside of her master’s approved harem would have been an affront, so the weaponized maid put the broom aside and turned towards the visitor.

“Didn’t think the old crack shack could look like this… fucking hell,” the woman scratched her head. “The boss will see you now.”

Aclysia patted down her somewhat dusty skirt. “I approve of this development,” she let the woman know, and together they left the barrier. Aclysia didn’t even bother with replacing either the maid outfit or her white hair. Those things were done in order to dodge unwarranted attention. There was no harm to come from the few Abyssals around recognizing her and the mundanes could stare at her however they liked, she didn’t care.

At any available opportunity, she would appear as a maid. Her master himself had designed it for her and Beatrice to be worn. From the black and white colour scheme, to the corset, white chest piece combo that pronounced her petite breasts and thin waist nicely, down to the long skirt, open at the side to reveal an immense amount of her long legs, decorated with black stockings and garter belt, with every step. Even that was tight enough at the base to give a teasing of her ass. Just the outline of it, barely anything compared to the invitation that the old mini skirt had been. Much more than many people were used to, however.

Next to her, the redhead in her skimpy clothes looked almost plain. Didn’t help that she had an equivalent amount of chest but nowhere near the ass. Even hotpants didn’t make her a challenge to Aclysia’s unfair levels of beauty. Although being of Asian looks definitely helped in catching attention as well. Not that this was her goal, Aclysia just noted this as they made their way to a boat and then quickly drove over to one of the many smaller islands in the eastern half of the lake.

Savage Island, as Aclysia was aware, having learned the names of all of them over the last few days. Another way to offset the boredom, although one she had invested way less time into. Of those smaller islands, this one was notable for having an airport for smaller aircrafts. That was about it and not really of importance for Aclysia.

“Alright, follow me,” the redhead announced and raised her hand. The other side was much more impressive, with a three-metre high wall surrounding the entire coast of the island. It was clearly made by an earth mage some time ago, visible by the way it was one single stone stretching on and the signs of aging all over its rough surface. A small dent in the wall was where they stood, apparently the predetermined arrival point on barrier entrance. “Yo, I brought the Gamer’s slut, let us in!”

Aclysia ignored that insult and just wished her master was actually here to be a slut towards. The gate opened slowly and the redhead stepped ahead. On the other side stood a yawning blonde, also quite attractive, also pierced. Seemed to be local fashion.

“You should see the old house we made her stay in,” immediately, the gossiping started. “She cleaned all of it up!”

“And? I wouldn’t want to stay in that dirty shack either,” the blonde returned.

“No, you don’t get it, it’s not a shack anymore. I would move into that place and pay you for it! This bitch cleaned everything up!”

The gatekeeper looked at her friend like she had gone crazy, but looked at Aclysia for a second. “Well, shy wallflowers need to be usable for something,” the blonde gave her the up and down. “Although she is hot enough to just stay in bed all day, no need to also be a fucking cleaner. At least the outfit works. The boss will probably like her.”

“Not as much as Kevian,” the redhead pointed out.

“Pro’lly,” the blonde shrugged.

Aclysia let all of this happen without a care, only concentrating on not getting wet while she fantasized about fucking those two together with John. They could each bend over one of them. Better, they could give her master a series of loving compliments and caress his body while she rode him. ‘I really need to get back home and have master take me over whatever surface there is,’ the weaponized thought and therefore spoke up. “I have no intention of being rude. I would, however, ask of you to point in the direction of said boss, if you would be so kind.”

“Hot voice too, you’ll fit right in,” the blonde stated and pointed toward the north end of the island. “See that house?”

Aclysia turned to follow the finger. Only then did she realize how much the surroundings were to her disliking. Outdoor furniture fashioned out of spare wood and old car tires, a hastily made fireplace, grass that was littered with trash, all of it had the aesthetic of a campsite that had been declared permanent home.

Aside from that, there were multiple small homes around, little more than shacks were people could sleep (and cook if they were lucky). Only one house seemed important, however, a two-story building with an almost medieval looking tower attached to it. The latter seemingly predated even the wall, while the house itself had a more modern feel to it, although the plastered walls also had signs of the elements wearing them down. Which, given the lack of wind inside Illusion Barriers, was pretty odd.

Just for completion's sake, Aclysia also looked in the other direction, where a pitch black cube of a building stood menacingly. It was much bigger than any other house around, so she had to ask herself why they wouldn’t put their headquarters there.

“You’ll find the way yourself, right?” the blonde asked almost mockingly.

Aclysia also ignored that. She was here to make allies for her master, that was the mission statement. Well, more exactly, she was here to get support for her master from the Small Lake Pact. To that end, being offended was not useful. More than that, she really didn’t care if they were just attacking her. If it was something John had given to her, that would be another thing.