Chapter 135: Fruits of Labour
Kalli was saved from a long explanation by the entrance of the dungeon team, which included the two bodyguards, who went straight to the statue and received Common Grade mystery boxes.
"Four hours of continual skilled labour," Yara laughed.
Right, soldiers being on duty guarding a VIP or Officer counted. Kalli had totally forgotten that was even an option, as their heroes were not considered employees.
They didn’t have the rank structure to consider it a job, and completing other quests together apparently didn’t count.
Perhaps because they were already being rewarded for the missions?
"Fleet Admiral, we have reports prepared. They will be updated to the database in the morning."
"Give me the summary."
"You need one strongly defensive warrior with a shield, three damage dealers and a healer as the basic group. Riflemen are effective, but the distances are extremely close, so knife skills are also invaluable.
The targets are much smaller than human, so mostly, you are aiming downward.
There are some legacy resources available in the dungeon. We got fifty kilos of cornmeal in two sacks, plus equipment from the completion. Our allies allowed us to keep it all, as a welcoming benefit."
The Fleet Admiral looked shocked, but Kalli shrugged. "We allow the heroes to keep everything that they pull out of the dungeon, but few of us cook for ourselves, we just use the mess hall. So, all the food usually goes to the cooks.
For your team, you can do the same, I’m sure that nobody will object to cornbread on the menu, or whatever else you’ll make with it."
The Fleet Admiral laughed. "We’re technically already over capacity on people, so they’ll appreciate anything that we send them. However, most of our rations are currently nutrient paste packets. They’re made of spirulina algae and a few other ingredients, easy to mass produce, and the upgraded ships came with a production facility.
Honestly, they’re pretty nasty. But the amount of actual food that we can produce is limited, and every sort of whole food is rationed. We’re not going to starve, but the nutrient paste is not particularly appealing when you’re eating it for at least one meal a day."
Yara looked horrified, while Kalli could only sympathize, as she knew their pain. Nutrient paste was nasty.
"Don’t tell me that it’s like the nutrient bars in liquid form?"
"Think slime. It’s not quite a gel, not quite a liquid. The slippery texture is supposed to make it easier to swallow because they’re definitely not relying on the taste for that."
The healer held both of the Captain’s shoulders, while she gave him a heartbroken expression.
"In that case, take these. I’m never going to need them, I only kept them in case of emergency. At least they just taste like nothing."
She handed him a whole case of nutrient bars, and Bert chuckled at the shocked expression of all the soldiers.
"Are you sure that you can spare this?"
"Oh, most definitely. It’s the food source of absolute last resort here. Unless you’re injured, bedridden, out of all other food, AND lacking a friend to bring you something to eat, nobody eats these more than once."
Bert nodded. "I’ve seen people trying to feed them to the tuber plants as fertilizer, and the plants throw them back."
Kalli knew that wasn’t true. The tuber plants were actually quite fond of the nutrient bars. They were nothing but compressed fertilizer to the plants. So, if you crumbled one and spread it down the row of tubers, they would not attack you for a few minutes, while they pulled it into their root system to be absorbed.
Though, the ones planted in the field and the row inside the wall were becoming noticeably less aggressive, as long as they were regularly fertilized.
That might change when it came time to harvest.
The two groups sat silently for a moment as both Kalli and the Fleet Admiral read the constant stream of updates that were coming in from the teams completing their missions.
Kalli, more than the Admiral, as she was also reading his reports as they were uploaded to the ship’s mainframe.
The fleet appeared to be quite content with the new methodology, as they had arranged for the rear cargo bay to be opened, and hundreds of people were fishing off the back decks of the arks.
And they were doing well.
The fish in this world might not all be the usual sort, and you sometimes had to fight them once you had them hooked, in more than the "reel them in" sense. But there were enough of them that even with so many lines out, they were still getting bites on most of the lines every half hour or less.
The teams from Marimgar who went to the beach had their fishing mission completed for the day. Using shark innards as bait worked amazingly well in the shallow waters. They had loaded up on fish, and had only caught one small shark this time.
Finally, the Fleet Admiral looked up from his tablet.
"Coordinator Kalli, would it be possible for you to assist us with a small supply of those tubers to add to our gardens? I believe that we have a secure enough garden bay to attempt to grow them."
Kalli took out a small bag full of them.
"Cut them into sections, with an eye on each, just like potatoes. Keep them fertilized and watered, and they will grow within days. There is no season long growing for these, but I suspect that they’re actually going to deplete the soil at a disturbing rate.
We just haven’t had the time to do soil studies yet.
I’m sure that you’ll figure out something that works for your people, but I can say for certain that using them to make soup is infinitely better than nutrient packs.
Not just in flavour, but effect as well. You’ll understand once you eat some.
Did we have anything left from lunch?"
Kalli directed the last bit at Bert, who was the last to join the group.
"I can check. If not, I can have Gerry make some in just a few minutes. Nobody’s in a rush to leave, are they?"
The Fleet Admiral shook his head. "I am waiting here for the teams to finish their kill quests, and then I intend to take the Coordinator to them, so she can let them complete the quests."
"They can also do it at the statue, even though these quests are from Marimgar. The System doesn’t discriminate."
The Admiral sighed. He had left guards on the area, but that was an issue he would have to deal with when he got back.