Chapter Sixty-Eight A Pet, Her Master, and the Young (Patreon)

Nelli walked down the hall. Since her sister was busy in the other room with the young girls, she figured she would help out by checking on the babies in the nursery. Well, really she was only going to bother with checking in on number 15. That was the special one that Master had asked them to actually pay attention to. It was a remarkably easy task taking care of 15, she never cried, and never threw a tantrum when they pulled away. The girl was amazingly docile and cooperative. That one was the dream child, of course, a large part of why was because master killed half her brain. The girl had been quite listless the first couple days after that, but there had been more life in her eyes lately. Even seeming genuinely happy to see them, when they popped in.

In fact, 15 was the highlight of the nursery. Speaking of the nursery, she had learned quite a bit more about it now that she was keeping an eye on it. More importantly, the pods that did most of the work for them. They were clever devices that kept the infants at a perfectly comfortable temperature and would feed the babies milk according to a set schedule. In addition, they served to monitor the baby and calm her if needed. All of these functions drew resources that must be supplied to the pod. The calming mist required special components that must be harvested and supplied. Something the master had explained could get costly, which is why he wanted them to discipline the girls if they noticed a tantrum.

The previous tentacle lashings she had seen the pods perform, were not something the pods could do on their own. As that was actually one of the manual functions of the pod. It wasn’t the only one. 15’s special procedure was also something that required the master’s personal attention. The only things the pods would do on their own, is feedings, maintaining the environment for the baby inside, and spraying a calming mist when needed. She had also learned that the pods didn’t really do much to monitor the babies. Not that they needed much watching, they were just babies after all. It was the older kids that needed a closer eye.

Ahead the nursery door came into view. As she approached, she reached out with her abilities. As a corrupted, she had new powers and now that she was head pet she had extra permissions. It took her only a moment to interface with the nursery. As usual, the environment there was rather cold. No one was there, aside from the babies and the nursery was technically in the basement. Why waste energy to keep it warm? The mana based system that Master Asar used to keep everyone comfortable needed to be recharged with mana daily or it wouldn’t work. It cost mana to heat up a place, but it was much easier to cool a room down. In fact, it was so cheap to cool a room that it was cheaper to keep the nursery cold than to leave the system off in the room. Nelli wasn’t entirely sure why.

She didn’t much care anyway. Besides the babies wouldn’t be affected by it anyway, their pods kept them warm. Well as long as they were properly charged that was. The temperature controlling mist required both the right resources and a certain amount of specially tuned mana. If the pod wasn’t charged on time, it might run out and the baby would be subject to the normal cold temperatures of the nursery. Master said that wasn’t much of an issue and that he could fix anything it did to them. So she didn’t bother to be too diligent in making sure they were charged and gave more priority to make sure that the older kids got their beds properly charged. As they got the same function and the same was true of her own bed. Of course her bed also had a bunch of extra functions to make sure she was comfortable, that the young kids and the practically worthless babies didn’t get.

With a thought, she told the nursery to warm up, and while she waited she decided to check the pods and see if any of them had run out of anything. She quickly noted that about half of them were out of milk. Not a big deal, there was a bit of a milk shortage at the moment, and she didn’t have any to give them. She ignored that, and checked other resources. Where she noted two pods had run out of mana, and the babies were cold. Nelli sighed, she would have to recharge those.

Noting that the temperature had reached normal, she stepped inside. Her gaze glanced over the little ones. They looked healthy enough, she passed them and headed for bed seven. Glancing in, she she saw the familiar form of the young girl the master had deigned to feed early that first day when he was showing them the nursery. She had lost a little fat since then. Her pod wasn’t putting out any mist either, and she had been in the cold for awhile. Not only that but her pod was also out of milk. Nelli ignored the second problem, she had known about it already. As the master said it wasn’t a problem if they starved for a day or two. She’s only been starving for two days.

Nelli started recharging the pod, and took a moment to better access her health. Quickly noting the fever, number seven was sick. Not a big concern, and expected since she got cold. Nelli made a note to include this in a later report. She had to wait a while for that one though, she was only supposed to report any sick babies she found at the end of the week. Since it was the start of the week, number seven would have to wait.

Once her pod was charged she moved on to number 22’s pod. As that was the other temperature failure. A quick check showed she was sick too, but her pod still had milk. She hadn’t missed any of her feedings yet. Nelli paused to think while she was recharging the pod. 7 hadn’t eaten anything lately and she didn’t have any milk she could give. 7 was only a baby, so she was only entitled to whatever scraps were available. 22 had scraps, but 7 didn’t. Both were sick. Hmm? She glanced at the other pods. Nelli locked onto pod 3 and smiled. Three had plenty of food stocked for her pod too. Nelli smiled and made her choice.

As soon as she was done with 22, she proceeded to reallocate what milk 3 had to 7. Since seven was sick, the food should help her. They were both babies, so let the healthier baby starve. It fit what she had been told and both had theoretically equal priority. Which was about nothing, but she figured it would mean something later.

Problems solved, she made her way over to 15 the most important one in the lot. For a moment she just watched her. 15 was sleeping and looked quite cute. Nelli smiled, and then did a quick check of her pod. Mana levels were pretty good, but Nelli topped them just in case and then checked her milk. Looks like she ran out and missed a feeding as a result. No big deal. She was special, but a missed feeding was a missed feeding. The rules remained the same. They get a preset amount of milk at scheduled times, if no milk is available they don’t get any. If they missed a feeding, as a result they won’t get more at a later feeding. If milk becomes available before the next feeding after a missed one, they don’t get an early feeding either. Just as master had told them on day one, the girls are fed on a schedule with no exceptions. The slightly early feeding 7 got the other day was a special case. Speaking of special cases, she was allowed to feed them her milk directly, but they were just babies. It was better if the pods did that, she might mess up the amount.

The pods were designed to make sure they got exactly the right amount of food. Her breasts weren’t. Now if she gave them too little, that wouldn’t be a problem, but overfeeding was bad. Better not to risk it. With that in mind, she hooked her boobs up to the side of the pod. They weren’t full, but she did have some milk in them. Nelli had undergone treatments to ensure she was lactating. Since she was helping with the care of young kids, she needed to be able to supply milk. 15 given her higher priority was going to get all the milk she currently had.

Filling the pod this way was fairly simple, it deployed milking tendrils and drained her breasts of milk. Nothing more complex and it felt good too. Just not as good as letting Reki drink from her boobs. They had both found joy in drinking each other’s milk. Master even found it cute and gave them belly rubs every time he caught them doing it. A fact that made the activity even more attractive. It also played into the current shortage of milk among the worthless babies here in the nursery, but they were just babies. Pets came first and if they wanted milk they got it. She knew the pets consumed most of the milk produced by the ones who were lactating. Nelli thought the figure was around three quarters. What was left then went to the kids who consumed another fifth of the total, leaving only scraps left for the babies. It varied a bit from day to day. Today had rather high consumption among the pets and kids, so aside from what she had saved here for number 15 there was nothing left for the babies. That seemed to happen often. Master said that it was a sign production was still too low. He said things would be about right when the babies are consistently getting just barely enough for their needs or just below what they needed. It didn’t matter which. He did say that it was waste if more milk then they needed was getting to the babies, as that was a sign of overproduction, which would lead to having to throw out milk. It only lasted so long. If that happened he would have to encourage more consumption or something to get the amount reaching the babies down.

It took only a few moments for the pod to drain her and refill its reserves. It wasn’t much, but she noted that the pod was now telling her it had enough to get its charge through the rest of the day. Little fifteen would run out before she would get here to refill it tomorrow, which was perfect. Below fifteen stirred and her lovely eyes opened. They looked around dully, but lit up when she saw her. Nelli gave the girl a smile and interfaced with the nursery again. A tentacle shot forth, and pierced her own left breast. In moments she felt it begin to fill. Not with milk, but a solution the master taught her about. It was perfect for breastfeeding the babies if she wanted to. Since it wouldn’t interfere with their feeding. The substance was a kind of fake milk, it smelled and tasted like it, but it was really more like water. It had no value, aside from making the baby think she was getting a meal. Doing so had the benefit of making the girls more docile, as well. It was perfect. It also let her enjoy nursing them without worrying about overfeeding them.

With her breast filled with fake milk, she roughly lifted little fifteen out of the bed. Bring her to a breast. It was going to be awhile before the pod fed her away, she had only missed her last session by an hour, so there were a few hours before the next one. 15 apparently needed more food than other babies, as her pod was programmed to feed her once every four hours. It varied but most girls had at least double that period between feedings. Not only that but fifteen got three times the milk per feeding other girls got. Master said something about it helping her get ready for her next brain alteration and that he would need to increase her feedings after that.

It took little fifteen a moment to find a nipple and she began to eagerly suck away. Just as 15 was starting to nurse, the door to the nursery opened. She glanced up from cute little 15 to see Asar entering the room. She blinked. Master didn’t often come in here. She considered asking him, but quickly decided she didn’t need to know. As it would turn out she didn’t need to ask anyway.

He came on over and stopped about a pod away. “How’s our special 15 doing?”

“She has a little more life in her today. And she missed another feeding.”

“Ah, that’s okay.” he replied, getting closer and running a tentacle over the little one’s small form. Nelli even noticed the probing magic. “Hmm, yes she is doing quite nicely. I think she will be ready for the next step soon.”

“She will? That’s great!”

“I’ll need to work on your milk production, she’s been given mainly yours right?”

Nelli nodded, “yes, and sometimes my sister’s milk. Along with anything we can take from the general supply.”

“And it’s not quite meeting her needs, which is fine right now, but won’t be when I start the next step. I’ll see you both in the workshop tonight, for breast modification.”

Nelli smiled, “Of course master. May I ask why it won’t meet her needs then?”

“The next phase requires removing the useless dead tissue from the first phase and then hyperstimulating new growth. It will take a lot of nutrients and interruption isn’t good for that. It will also take a few days.”

“I understand.”

“Good, now finish up here. Then meet me upstairs later. I have something else I would like to talk to you about, but not here.”

He then pulled out a container with some black fluid in it and moved to pod fourteen. She watched as he added it to the pod’s resources reservoir and then he moved to another, also giving another girl’s pod the fluid. She watched him for a few moments, considering if she should ask when he told her. “Don’t worry about this. It’s just an additive I was developing for the babies. It will be added to their milk, each time they are fed. Its not tested yet, but it should be very good for them.”

She nodded and let him work. If this additive didn’t work out well, it would be alright. These were just babies. With that in mind, she focused on little 15. Watching her cute little face as she suckled. When she was done, she transferred 15 back to her pod. She watched the little one for a moment, before she slipped back into slumber. Nelli stepped away and glanced at fourteen, who was sleeping peacefully as tentacles wrapped her little head, a couple tendrils wormed their way into her ears. She watched it for a moment. This was another function of the pods. It was interfacing with little fourteen’s brain. The master said this was the pod helping them with their mental growth, but never told her the details. Only mentioning that helped make sure the little ones didn’t learn how to walk while in the nursery. As that was something they weren’t supposed to learn until they were ready to leave. It wouldn’t do if they were climbing out of their pods, afterall.

She only watched the girl for a moment before making her way out. Passing master as he was reloading one of the pods. Pausing only briefly to tell him that she would be waiting for him in his office. It was upstairs and it was a nice private place for a conversation. Not only that, but it would keep her out of the way while the master was working. It wouldn’t do as a pet to get in his way, even if she was head pet.

The masters office was located upstairs with wonderful sight lines. It gave a really good view of the main areas and the entrance to the nest. The rest of the town wasn’t yet a proper part of the nest. She watched a few pets leave to carry out their duties in town. Master had a lot of work he had planned for the town. If one looked outside the eyesore that was the former lord’s manor was already gone. Nothing but some gardens and clean dirt left where it was. It wasn’t the only building gone. Now that the town belonged to the master it needed some rearranging. So they were taking down the old buildings, working on the fields and prepping sites for the sub-nests.

Building a proper nest took time. The main part of the nest was the master’s nest. It was here that the master resided, the young babies and kids were taken care of, and the most valued pets lived here as well. The sub-nests were where the worker class pets would live. Those pets would spend their days producing for the nest and would be praised by the master for their work. It was also where the defenders would take up residence and where most of the dolls would be kept. Beneath the sub nests would also be a network of cells.

Surrounding the nests would be the defensive perimeter and the fields. The master had shown his plans. A ring of towers and walls, that would keep them all safe. There would be a number of changes and fixes made. So the current town walls wouldn’t work. They would need to be repurposed. There was a lot of material to work with. Material that needed to be moved, reshaped and corrupted. Nelli figured it would take a few more weeks to get everything into proper order. As head pet, she had been helping with that.

Nelli slipped into the office. Like the other places in the nest the walls were alive here too. The master had his desk and in the corner there was a bed for her and the other pets to lay on. Since she was going to be waiting, she splayed herself out on the bed, belly up and let her mind wander.

Thankfully she was not left daydreaming for long before the master showed up. He settled in behind his desk and looked her over for a moment before going all business. “Nelli, I have some tasks that would require a pet to leave the nest for an extended period. She won’t be able to spend a lot of time with me. Do you have any pet in mind that might be able to do it? I would prefer her to be industrious, able to defend herself, and have experience with travelling if possible.”

Nelli paused for a moment thinking. She could think of a few people, but one name stood out. As head pet she had started to get to know the other pets and their skills. Among the pets was a young adventurer who had gotten pulled in when they had done the capture ritual. A mousekin girl with some demon blood and a strong affinity for lightning magic. “I’d go with Laki. She was an adventurer, rank B. I’m certain she could handle being away from the nest for a while and as a lightning mage, she has plenty of spells to protect herself with.

Her master nodded, “Sounds perfect. Fetch her for me will you?”

Nelli nodded and left to get the girl in question. She didn’t know what she had volunteered her for, but it wasn’t her place to ask. Instead she made sure to get things done.