Chapter Ninety-Two Festering Evils and Mixing Faiths (Patreon)

Nelli slipped into the Master’s office. It was time for her to make her report on the sick infants. This was the big report, where she also would inform him about which infants were failing to get their allotted amounts of food as well and which ones got chilled due to mana shortages. Rather than the usual check them off as okay reports, this one was the one where she actually had to give meaningful data.

The Master smiled as she came in. “Good Morning Nelli. How are the babies today?”

She smiled, “Mostly okay.” As she placed the detailed report down on the desk. She wrote this out rather than care for the babies earlier. After a proper pause so that he could start looking it over, she started on the ones of note, “First is number three, she has gotten far less food lately than she is allotted. I even took some from her and gave it to seven. She has lost about a third of her fat but is otherwise healthy. Right now I have her in the no action needed category.”

“She’s doing okay with no food? Hmm, let's drop her allotment. Don’t bother feeding her.” said Master while reviewing her entry in the more detailed written report.

Nelli nodded, “Understood Master. Would you like me to monitor her starving?”

“Don’t go out your way to give her any special attention, but when you do check on her give me an update.”

She considered asking if there was a goal with this, but obviously Master had decided that little number three just needed to eat less. “Okay, next baby of note, is number seven. She was chilled recently and has gotten sick. I’ve given her extra food since then and she has been chilled again for a few hours while sick. Other than filling her pod with more milk than I usually would, I have taken no action to treat her illness. Seven’s health is deteriorating. Would you like me to mark her down in the no-action needed category?

Her Master was silent for a moment and then nodded, “She isn’t worth much, go ahead. Take notes as she deteriorates as well and let me know if she starts to die.”

“Understood. Now next up 14 she got sick more recently and isn’t as bad as seven. I’ve taken no actions to treat her just yet.”

“Treat her. I’ll prepare something for you to start giving her tomorrow and in a week we will check to see how she is responding to the treatment.”

She nodded, “Moving on. 22 is also on the sick list. She ended up chilling around the same time Seven did. I’ve been able to keep her from getting a second chill, but she did run out of food a couple times. She isn’t doing too well, either. Shall I place her on the no action list?”

He shifted, “We already have one sick baby in the no action list. Let’s warm her up instead. Increase her pod temp by fifteen degrees each day and reduce her milk allowance. No milk for the next three days. If available I want you to give her half her usual on the 4th day. If not no milk and we aren’t going to give her any milk for the following three days either. As usual no deviations Report to me how she is doing at the end of the week. If she gets close to death let me know right away.”

She nodded, “22 will be baked and starved. She is only allowed a half allotment on day four, if available. If not, she just gets to starve more. Understood.”

Master smiled, “Glad you are so diligent. Go ahead and pick two other babies to receive the same treatment. Make sure they are healthy.”

She nodded and moved on to the next one. “Last sick one I found is 38. She got sick earlier today. A recent chill. No action taken yet.”

“Turn her pod off, we will let her chill for the next week. I’ll also prepare a treatment for her, that you will start tomorrow, it will replace her milk allotment.”

“Understood. Now for the last one. Number 15 has finished her brain treatment and is responding nicely to the increased milk allowance. I’ve had to reduce what every other baby is getting to meet it, but she hasn’t missed a single feeding this week. 15 is a bit listless again, but otherwise fine. Her brain seems to be growing nicely. Body wise she exhibits no change from last week.”

“Good, I’ll be increasing her milk allowance again and you are now allowed to miss one feeding a week with her if needed.”

She nodded. Nelli was happy to be allowed to miss a feeding with 15. It made things a little easier with her. With the usual baby, she was allowed to miss as many feedings as she wanted. Something that made scrap distribution so much easier, since she could just keep not feeding a specific baby to free up milk for another.

Nelli went over the treatments and got ready to leave, when the Master got a call. Laki appeared as an apparition over his desk. The other pet smiled, “Good Morning Master. I’ve finished the outpost and am ready to transport babies as they are collected.” she took a breath, “I also went out to meet the sisters and their Mistress. Um, she is interesting. Likes to eat brains and babies, but is more than willing to work with us. I, uh, think she likes me too, she, uh, offered to feed me a bit of her pet’s uh... pussy brain.”

Master interjected, “If she feeds you, best to accept. She will like you more and don’t be afraid to tell her if you don't like it.”

“... Uh, understood. On a different note, she did agree to help with the baby farming, but I do want to mention that she poisoned the mother of those girls.”

“Perfectly normal with the Atarli. As you noticed they like to eat babies and the brains of young girls. They don’t have much use for adult females. They often get rid of the adults in a family they are targeting, poison and sickness is a common method with them since they like slow lingering deaths. Females that have been cultivated by them from a young age are often frozen aging-wise once they reach a prime age, and are much more useful to them. They also rarely cultivate males, either as breeding stock or food. Usually, once they have sufficient females bred and trained that is. Atarli don’t need that many girls but towns near an established nest often have large families with many young girls, and few boys. Along with a lack of adults.”

Laki nodded, “Yeah I got the impression that she wanted the mom out of the way. Dad was easy since apparently, he had a Mistress. Which the mom recently found out about. No one said it, but I suspect the Atarli Mistress had a hand in that.”

“She may have, separating the family would give her more control over the kids and more time to cultivate the girls. Adults often get in the way and can be more resistant to programming. So her kind often try to get rid of them given the chance. Anyway, I want you to keep her happy.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Great! Now anything else?”

Laki nodded, “When I got to town, I overheard two guards talking. Apparently there is a new dungeon up north, in the Borderlands. Also the brothel is apparently infected with some kind of brain fungus. The local church branch is supposedly involved. I plan to look into it more”

“Oh? That sounds interesting. I’ll have to send a pet to keep an eye on her then. Thanks for the notice. As for the brothel, do be careful.”

She smiled and then signed off. Master turned back to Nelli. “A dungeon, sounds interesting. Being young, maybe there is a chance to corrupt her? Hmm, nah. Not worth it. Just keep an eye on her and leave her be. Dungeons are often good neighbors if you don’t disturb them.”

“I take it you want me to find someone to go up there?”

“Go ahead. It will save me effort. Now if you will excuse me I need to check on 53.”

She allowed Master to leave and went to her duties. Reki was with the other young kids right now and she was planning to help. They needed plenty of attention afterall.

53 shifted and looked up. The door opened and Master came into the room. She smiled.

“How are we feeling today?”

“Good, but a little warm. Could we lower the temp? I prefer really cold rooms,” she said. The room was just below what she previously would have thought as normal. Her body told her she was perfectly fine, but she did want the room colder. She was more comfortable in the cold.

“Of course sweetie,” said Master as he came closer and began to examine her body. Since her fever had run its course, she had been growing faster. A lot faster, she was already a head taller than she was just a couple of days ago and she had breasts. They were small, but they were proper breasts. Master said if she kept growing like this she would be mature in a few months. That was really good cause her breasts ached to be used.

She smiled, “Thanks Master!”

“Great, I was going to have a couple of babies placed with you. Mind keeping an eye on them?”

“Not at all. I’ll make sure they enjoy a lovely chill, anything else?”

He smiled, “Great. I’ll be giving a couple of them a dose of your blood and the rest nothing. Just let me know how they are doing when I check on you. Don’t bother with actually caring for them, they are just worthless babies.”

“Will do! Master.”

She agreed about the worthless, they weren’t her kids. Only kids of value were hers. Maybe Master would let me bite them? I’d like to see them die. She blinked, old her wouldn’t have thought that way. She frowned and thought it over. Oh, that’s why. Her mind flashed as her blood informed her that other girl's babies just need to die for the sake of her own kids. For a moment she wasn’t sure why but her mind soon supplied more knowledge. Idly she fingered her teeth finding the slightly sharp fangs she had missed before. They were meant for biting babies and other females, specifically females not of her kind. Once bitten, another female would mellow becoming more subservient to her. The process also sterilizes the target rendering her unable to have kids of her own. In addition, a bitten female would let her bite her babies as well. Bitten babies would die soon, while older kids would either take longer or end up like mommy. Depending on how old they are.

More information flowed in, telling her about how she had special eyes and magic that would help lull victims so that she could bite them. It seemed her venom had a different effect on males, they too would become very docile, but instead of sterilizing them, her venom acts to enhance their fertility. In addition, it serves to enhance their ability. Her kids were going to need food and she would need partners. Males could help with both, while females would serve to help care for them. She also felt her venom could adapt to do more if she needed.

Her breasts ached again as she thought about it. Now she was really wishing she was finished growing. She only had to wait a couple more months. She let out a breath. At least Master was giving her some worthless babies to play with. Might be fun watching them die to the cold.  As for the ones Master was going to put her blood in, she was going to watch them more closely. She was kinda curious what that would do to them. Likely change them. Maybe she would get sisters?

In the meantime, she let Master study her. She smiled to herself, soon she would be able to start a nest and have her brood. She just needed a few more months and then she would go out.

Laki walked down the street. She had left Qerni at home and was heading up the road towards the brothel. She figured it was about time to do some investigation. She knew about the brain fungus, but that was about it. There was likely more there. Rounding the corner, she came into view of the rear entrance. Where she spotted something interesting.

It seemed a few brothel girls were meeting with a young woman in the garb of a priestess. Not local theocracy priests, she was of a different church. Laki would recognize it anywhere too. Strange bunch. The church of Cynari was a little different. She knew a bit more than the average person. Especially since her mother converted to the faith. One of the reasons she left home.

The church was more widely known for their vows of chastity. Women in the faith vowed to never touch a man. Some like her mother vowed not to touch a man again and were blessed with a second hymen as a mark of the vow. What was less well known were their views on fertility. The church has a strong belief in sterility. Girls in the church went to a special ritual where their eggs would be extracted. Rendering them sterile. Something her mom went to after converting, and honestly she didn’t really agree with that. Worse, Mom had wanted her to give up her eggs as well.

Still this was interesting, so she approached. As she came near the priestess noticed her. “Oh hello there. Can I help you, young lady?”

She smiled, “Hello I’m Laki. A representative of someone interested in this town. Doing some research for them. I was wondering about this brothel. All the local girls and female travelers seem to be pointed at it when they try to do anything in this town. It seems I’m not the only one. What interest does the Church of Cynari have with a brothel?”

The priestess smiled and asked the girls nearby, “Do you care to talk with her, or should I?”

The nearest girl seemed to be looking her over and then sighed, “You belong to another don’t you?”

“Oh you can tell?”

The girl nodded, “I can. Anyway, we invited the priestess over to sterilize our new members. The masters in the church don’t like fertile girls, but they agreed to let the Church of Cynari handle the sterilization.”

The priestess nodded, “We don’t exactly approve of the Church of Aurous, but the deal is convenient. Our goddess has decreed that we increase our efforts to gather eggs. These donations are much appreciated.”

“Ah I see.” she turned to the fungus infected girl, “And how do you feel about this?”

“We would like to breed actually, but the theocracy only tolerates our presence. They find us useful, but they don’t want us breeding. Its sad really.”

“I agree.” she stretched, “It seems some changes would be needed around here.”

The priestess sighed, “Um good luck with that.” Then she turned to her cart and started towards it, “Anyway I am done here, so good bye. Um, much luck with your plans to change the town.”

Turning to the fungus girl, she smiled, “So what can you tell me about the brothel?

The fungus girl smiled, “A fair bit. Do you really mean to help us have babies?”

“Sure, but my Master is going to want a cut of them.”

“Oh sure. They are just babies. Fun to have and play with, but...” she paused running a hand on her stomach, “We can easily end up with far too many. We sometimes overbreed our hosts if you know what I mean.”

“Oh? Interesting. That will be great. Master is looking at turning the town into a baby farm and you girls sound like natural baby-makers. What do you usually do with the extra babies anyway?”

“Oh that? Normally we would infect them with spores and leave them on the doorstep of a family. They adopt it and get infected. The perfect way to spread.”

“Oh interesting.”

“There is more, but you asked about our little brothel. Do come inside. I’ll show you around.”

Laki headed inside and was soon shown around. The upper halls seemed normal. It wasn’t until the basement that things got... interesting.

“And here is where the little girls are kept. They aren’t ready for the floor, but they were brought here for training and infection.”

She stepped in and noted the area. There were several rooms in this part of the basement. She noticed the little girls all got shelves on the wall, and not beds. Ducking into a side room, she noticed a little girl strapped to a table, naked. Not unusual, most of the girls here didn’t wear anything and not one of the little girls was clothed. What she did notice most was the apparatus around her head. She also seemed surprisingly calm, as the device pulled her eye out of its socket. Slowly raising it, while a bit of flesh remained attached to something inside the socket.

She frowned, “So um, what are you doing to her?”

“That is one of the new arrivals. We didn’t infect her and we don’t show the priestess this. The church lets us experiment on the younger girls they bring us. Apparently, they aren’t worth anything. We disagree, but it’s fun to experiment on them. If they die, they just make good food.”

“Oh you eat them?”

“Yep, we cover the corpse with special spores to break it down and then eat it later. Very efficient.”

“I see, so what are you doing to this girl?”

“Removing her eye, so we can experiment on it. Eyes are such interesting things. You big flesh bags have them and they are so useful.”

“I see. I guess that means you are going to remove her other eye?”

“Not yet. We are going to play with her empty socket though. Have a few fun things in mind. As for the eye, we are taking it apart. Got to figure it out properly, and build our own version. It will be fun.”

Turning to the girl, she watched as the eye was strategically detached with a blade. It was then placed in a nearby box and a second girl walked off with it. While the first woman started removing the apparatus. The girl wasn’t released though, as a moment later the woman reached towards the other eye. Only for it to close. She sighed, “I’d really like to touch your other eye sweetie.”

The girl replied, “I’m sorry I can’t hold it open. It just does that on its own.”

“Hmm, interesting. Some kind of protection mechanism perhaps? Might be a way to disable it.”

Laki looked to her guide, “So...?

Before she could finish the other girl said, “Ah children can be rather difficult at times. Experiments are injected with a little something special. It takes control of her and keeps her nice and calm. Also makes her very obedient, which helps a lot with experimenting on their interesting bodies. So much to explore!”

Laki glanced over and noticed the other woman was already doing something with the girl’s empty eye. “I guess this isn’t the only experiment you are conducting on the kids?

“Oh no, we do all kinds of things. All the girls in this room are being controlled for experiments.” She then pointed at another girl, who looked a little dazed as she stumbled towards a shelf. “I think that one is getting close, we’ve been testing a brain-killing toxin on her. So far its looking good. Our latest toxin seems to primarily target higher functions, I think in a couple more days she will be about as brainless as a host.”

“Oh? What’s this about brainless?”

“Ah, well, we don’t usually tell, but we will make an exception for a corrupted Abyss creature like you. We have a certain kinship with them, even if we aren’t Abyssal. Our infection and feeding process starves the host brain causing higher functions to die. This in turn gives us complete control of the body, but the host is nothing more than a drooling mess and lump of flesh after.”

Laki looked around, “I see and I guess you have plenty of kids to experiment on.”

“We do. Although we don’t usually show the experiments. Not even the church knows everything we do to the kids. Speaking of the church, the local lord has been moving some interesting girls lately.”

“Oh?”

“Slave girls being moved isn’t that weird. These girls however are different, we aren’t even supposed to touch them. Just care for them, until they are picked up for the next leg of transport. So naturally, we did some investigating.”

“What did you find?”

The other girl, smiled and leaned forward before whispering the answer. Laki blinked, now that was interesting. The other girl stepped back, “I’m afraid we don’t know what they are doing with the girls. As for the local lord, he has us send him a girl every day. She usually comes back needing healing and sometimes we even lose the host. Which is very annoying. Good hosts are valuable.”

Laki shifted that sounded important, “Oh? Any way I could go instead then?”

The infected girl frowned, “You want to?”

Laki nodded, “A chance at the lord? Of course, “ she spread her legs a little, “Master made this into a wonderful tool. If I can touch him, I can control him.”

“Well good luck, we’ve tried to control him before, but he has pesky purification artifacts. Nothing we put in him can take root before it’s purged.”

Before long they were making plans on the lord. Laki left about an hour later. Heading back to her little outpost to rest for the night. She had a couple of things to do before she went for the lord. As for the fungus girls? If they were that into breeding, they would definately be a big help for the baby farm plan. Between the Atarli and the fungus this town was proving to be far more interesting than she thought, and both of the other groups could be useful for ramping up production here. She would need an in with the remaining local girls. She had only started on a handful of those. If she got the lord though? Laki figured she would be able to move more openly with him. Such thoughts continued in her head as she slipped into her outpost.