Kick the Shere 7 (Patreon)

Kick the Sphere

Chapter 7

-VB-

On a decivilized world whose population have either left or been bombed to the stone age, nine professional gynoid soldiers, one atmosphere-capable “warship” with actual artillery gun, and five ultralight Glasgow-class Knightmare/Mech was not only enough to pacify the immediate area around my new fort but also start drawing in the neutral and opportunistic villages wishing to gain the protection of said equipment and manpower.

In the six months since the eradication of one nomadic bandit tribe and the Black Skulls, I managed to gain an influence over a territory the size of the state of Maine from my first life. Or the size of Ireland. Or Austria. Or South Korea.

I just realized that many countries back in my first life had the same territorial size as Maine. Or was it the other way around? Maine came later than many countries, after all. No, wait, a lot of those countries had territorial changes after Maine was born, so it was that a lot of places had Maine’s territorial size.

Sure, I could likely spread my power over a larger area, but I didn’t see a need to. More area meant more time and energy spent patrolling those areas and fighting to keep the territory. While those enemies would soon be either eradicated or subjugated, I needed to do something else other than roleplay as Napoleon.

Namely, rummaging through the Lantean database for usable technology.

I put the children on that task. They each worked four hours a day, sorting through the database and separating them by the designations I provided them. Of course, there was a chance that they might keep some things away from my eyes, but considering that I promised and gave out quite a bit of candy for those who found things I liked? Even the most disgruntled and suspicious of the children quickly came up to me when they found something very interesting. The current system was the work they would be doing until I purpose-built an artificial intelligence to scour through the massive Lantean database.

I actually spent two hours each day doing just that: building an A.I.

It was, however, harder than it sounded, so the children got paid for their work in what they wanted: food, toys, books, and whatever else I can provide.

With two Resource Generators, this was not a problem at all, but like the Lantean Database, I was quickly running into the same problem: the output was far smaller than the input.

See, there were only ten core members of my company. There was only so much we could do. Even if I let the girls borrow my Omnitool, there were simply not enough things to make or tools we could hand off to others.

Say I make two dozen mechs by scanning and copying the Glasgows. Then what? The girls, sans Janice, could learn quickly because they were literal machines. The orphans? Why the fuck would I give them a chance right now when I didn't trust them? Jarod? He was a literal spy/liaison/laborer with no training. He was having trouble keeping up with the basic infantry role.

I did have some Supplies left to make more T-Dolls but not enough to make a difference.

… the point was that I was dawdling on this issue because I was becoming slightly paranoid about it all. At the same time, I only had them to depend on. So I depended on them but didn’t make any more of them despite retaining the ability and resources to do so.

This, of course, brought me back to the manpower issue.

Who did I trust? What did I make? What did I use?

… I would have to trust the villagers - those who I hired anyway - with some of the low tech stuff. That was the only way to resolve my current issue.

So. I went about trusting people.

-VB-

“You want to hire us?” Mellon, one of the villagers who came to visit me en masse when I left messages about wanting to hire people, asked me with a questioning glare.

All of us currently stood outside of my base (still unnamed).

“Yes,” I said from atop a podium. “There are plenty of jobs on my base and around it. It can be anything simple as janitorial to taking up a gun and soldiering for me. If you show me that you can be trusted, then you might even be able to pilot a mech of your own!”

Here, Rebecca - Negev - waved the hand of the Glasgow she was piloting.

That got quite a number of the men - and women - interested.

“Out there in the stars? They don’t think you’re worth a damn if you’re not a noble, rich… or a mechwarrior! They think all of you are worthless because you live in a world like this!” The Forge pinged me for another 100 points, but I ignored it. “I was worthless like you! A factory worker in a forgotten frozen hellhole, living and eating reprocessed insect bars! I lived deep underground in cities where the best thing in life was if I got drafted to go and fight someone somewhere else!” I pointed at them all. “I was given a chance to be something better! Why should I not pay that forward? To give others the chance to become better as well? To rise above the toil and sweat that will not buy anything more than another of the same meal you eat every day? Why not rise to see the galaxy above you all and carve your names into the history of humanity?!”

I extended a hand. “Join me. Defend what is rightfully yours. Tell the self-righteous assholes to fuck off! When everyone else is too busy plundering each other, killing for no reason other than the next shiny jewelry or ring, we’ll build a slice of heaven right here where we stand!”

Many of them nodded resolutely, but I saw a few skeptical ones.

They weren't the ones that I needed to convince. Once the ones willing to join me returned home to rest with new shiny uniforms,  enter weapons, benefits, and how great work was… they'll come.

-VB-

Once I was alone again (or alone as I got on the base), I sat down on my couch in my private quarters aboard the Cold, and wondered about what I could do with 100 points.

And then I had an idea when I came upon Database Magical.

100 points wasn't a lot, right? But if I bought the Shadow Clone scroll and could somehow use it… I would solve at least a bit of the "core" manpower issue.

Licking my lips, I purchased the signature move of one of the most popular manga from my previous life. With a ring, it appeared in my inventory. I pulled it out and began to study it…