Collide Gamer

Chapter 181 – A fluffy Monday 1 – a not so fluffy start

When John awoke the next morning, both Aclysia and Momo were gone already. Not much of a surprise there, Aclysia was usually out and about by the time he was waking up. When she wasn’t, it was only because she prioritized her ‘maidly bedroom duty’ over making breakfast.

As for Momo, she was either bothering or helping her, depending on the support’s mood. Anyway, John got dressed and then headed down the stairs. He was only the second to arrive at the breakfast table. The residence’s stern owner was already there, checking the news on an e-reader. Legs crossed, one hand on the handle of her teacup, wearing her uniform, she checked all the usual boxes. If one swapped the e-reader for a normal newspaper she would have looked like a military officer of past times. Although those past times would have needed to accept women in their military, so maybe she was just a powerful princess of a secret society with a weird preference for uniforms. John was no one to judge.

“You wake up early, John,” Lydia commented without looking up from her reading. “I expected you to slumber for an extended period of time.”

“I sleep almost exactly 6 hours every night, another perk of Gamer’s Body,” John explained and sat down. A moment later Aclysia, happily humming, brought him some peculiarly formed, small bread buns. They had a thicker crust than the ones he was used to, but John already knew that the Germans apparently loved these things.

“That sounds helpful; despite partly consisting of elemental magic, I am still bound by my biological needs, unfortunately,” she sighed and took a sip of tea. The plate in front of her was already empty, and so Aclysia took it away. “How much work I could do in the hours I waste sleeping and eating.”

“From a reliable source -me- I can tell you that elementals can sleep for a loooong time,” John said as he cut open the bun to throw some salami and butter on there. The reason he said that was a quick look inside his head, aside from Undine, all of the elementals were still asleep. The mending elemental isolated herself from his thoughts, however, so he took the hint and pulled back, instead concentrating on his breakfast.

Momo, back in her usual poncho, was also at the dining table, reading a new book John hadn’t seen before. “Where did you get that book?” John wondered.

“Bought it off the auction, with your money, of course,” the support drily answered and handed him a receipt.

“You did what?” he asked, flabbergasted. The receipt only said 150$, but that was still his money. ‘And there it is,’ John thought as he realized he had just titled 150$ for a book as ‘only’. ‘My sense of value has completely departed from normalcy.’

“You use me for physical pleasure, I use you to buy some intellectual stimulation,” Momo stated, turning a page, “sounds like a fair trade to me.”

“Okay, first off, don’t say that like you didn’t enjoy having sex, second, you could at least ask me first,” John commented.

“You were sleeping, and I was bored, but I’ll keep it in mind for next time,” Momo willingly conceded.

Alone with two reading girls and his breakfast, John had no other choice but to concentrate on the latter. A question about current topics only resulted in a three minute long, and very one-sided, discussion about the rising prices of mana batteries.

“With those values, I am almost tempted to just stick you in one of my mana factories and have you pay back your debts that way,” Lydia admitted.

John got a bit of bread in the wrong part of his body and started coughing violently. Aclysia quickly brought him a glass of water, and he rinsed his throat. “Thank you, Aclysia,” he groaned, before turning to the princess. “You have a mana factory?”

“I have one I control directly, and two are run by my vassals,” Lydia answered without a care. “Is that of interest to you, John?”

 “I was told mana factories are horrible places people get sold to just because they ran into the wrong guy,” John explained, causing the princess to annoyedly blow air out of her nose.

“The American situation must truly be terrible if that is all you were told,” she commented and finally looked up from her e-reader. “Standard philosophy question: Is a horse evil because Genghis Khan rides on it?” she asked.

“No, and you need to say no more,” John sighed. Just because bad people used something, that something wasn’t evil by default. “What do you need a mana factory for then? How do you operate them?” John probed into more interesting territory.

“Same thing you would need a power plant for, energy and money. Germany is the fourth largest exporter of mana. Third are the Chinese, second the Koreans and first the French. What mana isn’t locally consumed is stored in mana batteries and sold on the Abyss Auction or in private deals. I usually sell my overproduction to the Hanse or the Netherlands, whoever bids higher.

“For your question about my employment: It is a job pretty much everyone can take up, and is akin to donating blood; you get paid by the amount of mana you produce and can go about your day. Regulars get insurance, can become part of some of my daughter organizations and so on. To put it simply: mana factories are how we keep the lowest class citizens employed and from scrapping for dominance in some outskirt town. Even the most untalented and weakest member of the Abyss can still contribute some mana to the cause, after all.”

John nodded, that sounded logical enough. “And there are no private mana factories or anything?” he asked, his American business blood smelled an opportunity.

“Mana factories of the required scale to produce tangible amounts of mana batteries are not supportable by a private individual, and any organization that would be big enough to compete with Rex Germaniae in this field would get crushed by force,” Lydia explained with a straight face. “Control over the mana factories gives us control over the floor of the economy. What the alchemists, smiths, enchanters and all other sorts of private people create is out of our hands. They can join the great organizations that run provinces, join the collegiums of their respective universities, or aim for a career on their own, that is their choice. Either way, those crafters are under the protection of Rex Germaniae, citizens of our land. Competing mana factories, however, would undermine the base of our power. We only allow smaller generators for private use.”

John chewed on his bun and swallowed that amount of information. “So, you keep economic control over the country?”

“No,” Lydia denied, “that is a mere part of it. Primarily we stay in power by the legitimacy of being the strongest.”

“That sounds like barbaric logic,” John spoke his mind.

“For you, born and raised as a mundane person it must look that way,” the princess shrugged, “but the Abyss is a place where the strong reign. Weak people somehow arriving at the top will get toppled once the strong are fed up or be otherwise killed when a dragon decides to rampage. Europe has a long tradition of a warrior and a merchant class. The former protects, the latter amasses the wealth to support the protection. That system evolved in the real world as times went on and threats became rarer, until the warrior class became obsolete and was replaced by militaries armed with guns. In the Abyss talent and raw power is still the deciding factor, and the threats are as present as ever. In a world like this you don’t get to speak out about morality if you don’t have the power to enforce it. However, I do admit that the meritocracy in Germany is in a sorry state; my reforms aim to change that, but for that I need to become empress.”

“Pragmatism is king, I see,” John nodded. “Thanks for enlightening me.”

 “All in a day’s work,” Lydia waved off and went back to her literature.

“Heavy topics in the morning, I see, I see,” Rave yawned and sat down on the table.

“Slept well?” John probed.

“Like a baby. So, how was your first time, Mono?”

“Momo!” the support corrected, “and: Degrading, John is a bully and a dick.”

“Well, he is the former and has the latter,” Rave agreed.

“If anything, it is: Master is a bully and a dick, Momo,” Aclysia, putting more of the buns in front of Rave as her breakfast, corrected her fellow Artificial Spirit.

“Yeah, no, not calling him that,” Momo denied.

“Totally going to make her scream that later, aren’t ya?” Rave whispered into John’s ear.

“Who, me? Never!” John whispered back with a wink.

“I can hear you,” Momo reminded them and tipped her head, “we are -and don’t take this in the romantic way you creep- connected by the soul.”

“Yes, yes…anyhow, Lydia, do you have any plans for us today?” John turned to the princess again.

“I have to catch up on paperwork, therefore, no,” Lydia stated. “Tomorrow at 10 AM, the vote will be held. We meet here at 8 AM, same day. Until then, I only ask that you do nothing that would embarrass me.”

“Great, so, John, you have any ideas for what we can do today?” Rave looked at her boyfriend, waiting for suggestions.

John awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “I kind of wanted to go out with Aclysia,” he said.

“Sounds great, where are we going?” Rave probed further.

With a heavy sigh John added, “Just with Aclysia.”

“Oh,” Rave furrowed her eyebrows, not in an angry way, but that could probably switch pretty fast if John didn’t navigate this right.

“I promised her a date, she missed me as much as you did, and she wants some alone time with me,” John stated, “and I also think that she deserves that.”

“No, no, I get it,” Rave said, “just, would have appreciated it to know beforehand, ya know?” She turned to Aclysia, “Ya can have him for two hours, sounds good?”

“Four,” Aclysia surprised everyone with her hard tone. She looked Rave dead in the eye as she continued, “I will have Master to myself until noon.”

“Ehm, sure?” Rave looked at the clock, “Man, I’ll be bored until then, don’t appreciate it…will probably play League or something. No clubs open at this hour.” Rave maybe would have haggled more at other times, but both Aclysia’s adamant tone and the fact that they had been separated because the techno-lover had wanted the guardian to stay with her gave her little room to argue. “But, yeah, fine, have him. Just bring him back on time.”

John noticed how Aclysia’s grip on her salver relaxed ever so slightly and her lips curved into a smile. “Thank you, mistress Rave,” she said with a bow. Breakfast went on without any further complications, and when they were done, John helped Aclysia bring the remaining plates into the kitchen.

“So, have anything in mind?” John asked after putting everything into the dishwasher.

Aclysia started babbling, having just waited for that question. “I can do anything, Master, as long as it is with you. Like, maybe go to the market or just wander about for a few hours or see a movie. Only if you enjoy that of course.”

“Slow down, Aclysia,” John laughed and patted her on the head, which wasn’t quite as great as it was with the other girls, because she was his height, but succeeded in calming her down.

As his hand brushed over her silky hair over and over again, Aclysia looked to the ground and blushed a bit. “I am sorry, Master, I have just been hoping for this for a long time,” she admitted.

“That’s fine, you have earned it,” John told her. “Aside from Jane, you are the one who has been with me the longest. I think this should have come way earlier. But with everything that hindered my life, the Bloodfallen, Thana, all of that… stuff...” He shook his head. “This date will be all about you, a thank you for everything that you have done for me. Of course, that’s not enough to repay you, but it is a start.”

Before she could say anything that would play her role down in all that happened, he kissed her. Aclysia was always there when he needed something, she was a nice girl, not only because he made her to be one, but because she had chosen to be. She was bigger than anything he could have ever hoped for, the second most important person in his life, and that was a very close second. It was important for John that she knew all of that and words couldn’t properly convey it, so he just hoped that this kiss would do.

When it broke, the way her eyes were slightly wet by a storm of happiness inside her, he knew that his feelings had come across. “I love you, John,” Aclysia whispered.

“I love you, too,” John answered and a moment later, they were kissing again. This time, after the kiss broke, Aclysia had resumed control over her emotions, although John still felt a warmth radiating from her that was hotter than her Inner Fire could produce.

“Master, can I ask about a selfish thing first then?” Aclysia carefully asked.

“Whatever you want,” John answered, she deserved to be spoiled today, that was his firm conviction.

“I beg you to not be angry with me, I know how important cosplay consistency is to you, master,” she nonetheless continued in an apologetic tone, before taking a deep breath and stating. “I need new clothes.”