Warning: Sophia's actions might be... well, extreme for a lack of term.
______
The prophet who was following my gaze in the direction in which Bakunawa was coming from squinted his eyes and started nodding with a satisfied smile.
"A Hero Prospect as a servant, not bad My Lady, your ambition seems to be at a great start."
I looked at the prophet whose name I don't know with squinted eyes as we started to descend.
_Dude, I can blow this city out of the map with a sneeze and you tell me my ambition is off to a great start just because of some snake I beaten up and have taken fancy and made into my slave?_
[Eleanor has not confessed yet and you already have your eyes on a second wife?]
Why are you always pushing me to the harem route, are you stupid?
I did not wait for [Guide]'s reply and looked at the slowly approaching destroyed road as I ordered Bakunawa whilst saying a "Thank you" to the prophet.
_Come here, at the fifth layer, I'll introduce you to someone._
However, upon hearing my order, Bakunawa who seemed to be still in a somewhat dazed state flinched and shouted, in my mind of course.
_Who are you to order m- GWAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHHH!_
Not only was the shout heard mentally, but even the whole forest was startled and the birds who started to settle down in the forest once again scattered in the sky one more time because of the shout, the goblin executives smirked a little from their frowning face, they must be reliving the memories of me enslaving them temporarily. We finally descended to the ground and could visibly see the not-so-favorable faces of my construction team leader.
He did not even smirk when she heard Bakunawa's scream and probably has only one thing in his mind as of the moment, this place is beyond salvation, certainly, he does not have any idea what undeads are capable of after all he can see on the living corpses were their stiff movements, he probably never imagined that these useless pieces of rotting meatbags will have any use, thus his conclusion that the city cannot be a city anymore.
Well if I were to guess, only me, the prophet, and Eleanor have an idea of how the undeads can drown nations if I ordered them to, so I ignored the frown from my construction executive and once again ordered Bakunawa.
_Bakunawa, before you seriously injure yourself, stop resisting and accept your fate._
I can hear Bakunawa grinding her teeth as she shouts once again.
_No!_
And as expected another ear piercing shout was heard.
"UGWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHAAAARRRRGH!"
I squinted my eyes as I muttered once again.
_Come here._
Bakunawa did not even resist this time and just dashed as fast as she could, though I could hear some slight sniffs from time to time, it seemed like she started to cry because of the pain, but more probably because of her shattered pride, now I kind of feel bad.
[Enjoying yourself?]
Wha-!? Of course not! I immediately refuted [Guide], of course, I was not enjoying myself, there is just no way I would awaken that kind of kink even though I do doubt why isekai protagonists can stay righteous despite the ridiculous power dump on them... Yeah, that's right, there's no way...
I was surprisingly shaken when I was given that kind of suggestion, after all, I am planning on making Eleanor my wife so if I...
I was starting to imagine things but was interrupted when we finally descended and alongside us was a Bakunawa with a charred face, she was glaring at me with her eyes that reddened obviously because of crying about her fate, but I am pretty sure she would come in terms with it soon, I just ignored her rude behavior and started to introduce her to the prophet who is the closest person next to me first.
"Well, I am pretty sure The Prophet over here already knows your existence, but let me do this for formalities, Bakunawa this is The Prophet, the one who announces the will of his lord to the mortals of his race, and Prophet this is Bakunawa, my servant."
I tried to grab Bakunawa's hand to shake it with the Prophet, but she refused by pulling it immediately and slapping mine with her other hand.
_This motherfu..._
Some veins bulged out of my forehead as I tried my best to conceal my irritation, but surely, this bitch has done it now.
"Bakunawa, how about you say hi?"
Bakunawa, The Prophet, and Eleanor snapped their eyes towards me, Bakunawa was the first to react as she shouted.
"I don't want to receive another order from you- GRRRRRAAAAAAAARRRGGGGHHH!"
Of course, I knew that she would refuse I unconsciously grinned as I saw her shaking her whole body hard because of electrocution that seemed to magnify its effects depending on the person enslaved, thus doubling the damage that it inflicted on Bakunawa, she fell into her knees and continued to shout and as it subsided, the whole place went silent and only the drops of tears from Bakunawa's eyes can be heard as well as the sniffs from her nose that seemingly tries to hide her sobbing but ultimately failed to do so.
"...Hello... sniff... sniff..."
She muttered softly but all of my people were still staring at me
Did I just...
"...Erm... I'm sor-"
I tried to offer her a hand but she just slapped it again and this time, I did not feel irritated but instead guilty, I thought I had gone too far, and as I was thinking of such things, a voice filled my head.
"As you thought earlier, she is just coming to terms with becoming your soul-bound servant, thus she will reject most of your orders and will end up hurting herself, but don't worry, monsters are adaptable beings, after a day or two, I assure you that they will become as obedient as a domesticated dog."
The Prophet comforted me, seemingly reading my mind when I got worried about my actions, but I am not this irritable nor do I enjoy other's demise when I am in my previous life.
[Well, you did question how isekai protagonists maintain their sanity, so...]
Urgh... You're right, more so when I came from a country that values authority and hierarchy so much, I might have been influenced by my Filipino self.
_Isekai is bad for Oriental people._
I jokingly said as I deviated my thoughts to other things and looked at Eleanor.
"Can you repair the castle?"
Eleanor who seemed to also be quite perplexed by me playing around with Bakunawa's current status as my slave flinched and immediately said: "Y-yes!" with a slight stutter. Well, I shall disregard my guilty heart for now because finding a place in which we can settle is the main priority here, in this case, the castle will be the most optimal place because... well that is the center of command of the city, this will help me so that I can easily command the bigger picture.
I can just fix this whole city on my own, but the undeads as you can see are like stiff rusted animatronics that cannot perform a function properly, obviously, I need to stimulate their muscles again so that they will become functional as their old selves. The prophet went with Eleanor in front of the castle seemingly wanting to instruct her on what she should do, maybe he has a photographic memory too and can remember the intricacies of the castle well.
_That's good._
I said so to myself as I started to build the community structure of the undead. I have to allocate the military-civilian ratio, at first I thought that I should model the undead structure from the "Living" structure, the 60-40 civilian to soldier ratio but upon thinking things further, I decided to make it a 50-50 civilian soldier ratio simply because undeads cannot die for they were already dead, so this is a better arrangement so that I can maximize the working force and battle force at the same time.
One should remember that undeads cannot rear living being because they don't have the same needs, for example, Kabuto will disrespectfully shout at the ears of all my sleeping people that one time with Eleanor, why? Because he doesn't know how important sleep is to living people, plus he is using me as a reference he will think that sleep is an optional thing. That's why I am planning to allocate the undead to the textile creation, transportation, construction, and other departments that don't require care for the living.
They will become the centerpiece of the fine motor skills sector of my nation, going back, the living however whom I designated as the traders, rearers, and growers of anything alive and anything that is being ingested by living creatures, will have their city built in the first layer as they will be the one who will also trade the items they will produce, of course, they will also be the traders of the things that the undeads produced.
Oh and finally, the leader and the deputy of the construction team, or now I should call them the construction department will be the ones responsible for the design of the two cities, they have already educated themselves enough through my not-so-reliable injection of knowledge to them so they should be fine.
_Well, there are still things lacking in careful planning, but because we are still a budding country, that should be fine._
After thinking so I hurled my orders toward the executive in front of me and by the time I was finished ordering people around, Eleanor started waving her hand as she shouted "Sophia! The castle is repaired!" The repair went on for just about 30 minutes and as I strode forward, I could see the slight glint in Eleanor's eyes.
[Will she... Even after she saw what have you done to Bakunawa?]
I ignored the creepy guy inside my head as I smiled a little, well I could just do what Eleanor was about to do but this was a more important matter for her, after all this was her first step in destroying the shackles she had put into herself.
[3rd Person POV]
Sophia's figure went closer and closer until she was already in front of Eleanor.
_Now... say it..._
She said so to herself, after all, she had rehearsed this thing over and over again after she pondered and gathered her feelings together. At first, she was conflicted, after all, the person she had fallen in love with was a child, and she was afraid of what kind of monster she would become if she pursued such a path. No matter how mature Sophia was at that time, she was still a child.
She knew that Sophia could evolve from one phase of life to another, thus she waited so patiently at the same time, that she made sure that her feelings for Sophia were true and not just because... well she's attracted to children.
_Good thing is, I am not._
Eleanor heaved a sigh of relief at that time when she affirmed her feelings and in impulse, she decided to confess.
_Now I just have to say it..._
"Ngh..."
Only a grunt came out of her mouth, her hands started shaking and her knees started to feel weak, she closed her eyes from shame for she who had finally gained courage once again cowered, but a warm feeling enveloped her hand, and as she opened her eyes to see the source and it was Sophia smiling at her and slowly walked towards the castle. Dragging Eleanor with her.
_She's always like this..._
Giving her strength to walk on her own, giving her power to pursue what she liked, upon the castle gate's closing, they were left alone once again and Sophia let go of her hand, she looked at Eleanor and then once again walked without waiting for her.
_Ah... I should say it... I love her..._
She opened her mouth again and just when her hands were about to reach out her hand to Sophia's, she halted.
_What if I was rejected?_
She draws back her hands and puts them in the middle of her aching chest.
_Does she like women too, in the first place?_
At an early age, Eleanor was given the sole purpose of being a healer, even though she was curious about a lot of things, she was treated as nothing but backline support, and that caused her to have an inferiority complex, by all means, researchers are not neglected, but she who is restrained by the people and by her mothers herself, she thought that maybe she was not needed in that field and just dedicated herself in the field that she is needed the most without exploring herself.
And when she finally discovered herself and learned that she loved women, the further she sunk into the abyss of her self-doubt, after all, the most powerful lesbian on the planet is her mother and she can woo any woman she likes because of her prowess and charm.
_But I am not her... I am not a Hero..._
Sophia must prefer someone as strong and dashing as herself, not someone who wants to hole up herself inside a laboratory and research things.
_Ah... Shall I give up after all?_
Her steps halted and looked helplessly at Sophia's back, however when she thought that Sophia did not notice her, Sophia stopped and looked at her smirking, she looked directly into her eyes making Eleanor tremble.
Her face flushed red as a realization got into her.
_Could it be!?_
Sophia immediately ran when Eleanor's face blushed red, Eleanor chased after her immediately.
"Hey tell me! Do you... WAIT FOR ME DAMNIT!"
Eleanor started to get angry, she could not believe that her feelings were so obvious that Sophia learned about it, she had to ask her, she had to ask why and how she knew it.
She started to use magic and created tentacles in the whole corridor, Sophia sluggishly yet effectively dodged all of them and continued to run, Eleanor also continued to to run, but she was weaker in stamina and slower in speed than Sophia, she tried, to catch up to Sophia but she can't
"...Why... just when I thought that you were near..."
Sophia finally stopped dodging and let herself be caught, the tentacles made her whole body turn around and look at Eleanor directly.
"No, I think the question should be 'Just when I got the courage, I feel like sinking into my preconceived notion about myself.'"
Eleanor stared at the person she loved without saying anything, she was at a loss for words as she processed what Sophia just said.
"Not all people think of you like how you think yourself is, actually I will bet that no one on this planet thinks that you are inferior, that you are not a hero, Eleanor you saved their lives, my wounded people, and everyone you touched with your delicate hands..."
Sophia paused as she was dragged in the eyeview of Eleanor.
"Stop doubting yourself."
Eleanor's eyes started to tear up, they flowed like a river as she sniffed up, finally, she heard the things she wanted to hear so badly but was not aware of, she finally saw the problem, why did she restrain herself and tried to please others, but now, she doesn't care anymore.
_If she's straight then I'll kiss her until she's gay...!_
"I love you, Sophia."
Eleanor said so, the glint Sophia saw from earlier was finally back as she grabbed the small cheeks of Sophia and kissed her lips, Sophia was stunned for a moment but closed her eyes as she savored the ardent show of love from her beloved, she started to coil her tongue and explore Eleanor's mouth.
This time, it was Eleanor's time to be surprised, she immediately separated her lips from Sophia's, she looked at Sophia with a flushed face and ragged breathing, Sophia licked her lips while she smirked, she broke out of the tentacle and said.
"I love you too."
Sophia then floated in the air and grabbed Eleanor's hand, this time coiling her other hand into Eleanor's waist, and plunged her lips into her beloved's own.
Warning: Sophia's actions might be... well, extreme for a lack of term.
______
The prophet who was following my gaze in the direction in which Bakunawa was coming from squinted his eyes and started nodding with a satisfied smile.
"A Hero Prospect as a servant, not bad My Lady, your ambition seems to be at a great start."
I looked at the prophet whose name I don't know with squinted eyes as we started to descend.
_Dude, I can blow this city out of the map with a sneeze and you tell me my ambition is off to a great start just because of some snake I beaten up and have taken fancy and made into my slave?_
[Eleanor has not confessed yet and you already have your eyes on a second wife?]
Why are you always pushing me to the harem route, are you stupid?
I did not wait for [Guide]'s reply and looked at the slowly approaching destroyed road as I ordered Bakunawa whilst saying a "Thank you" to the prophet.
_Come here, at the fifth layer, I'll introduce you to someone._
However, upon hearing my order, Bakunawa who seemed to be still in a somewhat dazed state flinched and shouted, in my mind of course.
_Who are you to order m- GWAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHHH!_
Not only was the shout heard mentally, but even the whole forest was startled and the birds who started to settle down in the forest once again scattered in the sky one more time because of the shout, the goblin executives smirked a little from their frowning face, they must be reliving the memories of me enslaving them temporarily. We finally descended to the ground and could visibly see the not-so-favorable faces of my construction team leader.
He did not even smirk when she heard Bakunawa's scream and probably has only one thing in his mind as of the moment, this place is beyond salvation, certainly, he does not have any idea what undeads are capable of after all he can see on the living corpses were their stiff movements, he probably never imagined that these useless pieces of rotting meatbags will have any use, thus his conclusion that the city cannot be a city anymore.
Well if I were to guess, only me, the prophet, and Eleanor have an idea of how the undeads can drown nations if I ordered them to, so I ignored the frown from my construction executive and once again ordered Bakunawa.
_Bakunawa, before you seriously injure yourself, stop resisting and accept your fate._
I can hear Bakunawa grinding her teeth as she shouts once again.
_No!_
And as expected another ear piercing shout was heard.
"UGWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHAAAARRRRGH!"
I squinted my eyes as I muttered once again.
_Come here._
Bakunawa did not even resist this time and just dashed as fast as she could, though I could hear some slight sniffs from time to time, it seemed like she started to cry because of the pain, but more probably because of her shattered pride, now I kind of feel bad.
[Enjoying yourself?]
Wha-!? Of course not! I immediately refuted [Guide], of course, I was not enjoying myself, there is just no way I would awaken that kind of kink even though I do doubt why isekai protagonists can stay righteous despite the ridiculous power dump on them... Yeah, that's right, there's no way...
I was surprisingly shaken when I was given that kind of suggestion, after all, I am planning on making Eleanor my wife so if I...
I was starting to imagine things but was interrupted when we finally descended and alongside us was a Bakunawa with a charred face, she was glaring at me with her eyes that reddened obviously because of crying about her fate, but I am pretty sure she would come in terms with it soon, I just ignored her rude behavior and started to introduce her to the prophet who is the closest person next to me first.
"Well, I am pretty sure The Prophet over here already knows your existence, but let me do this for formalities, Bakunawa this is The Prophet, the one who announces the will of his lord to the mortals of his race, and Prophet this is Bakunawa, my servant."
I tried to grab Bakunawa's hand to shake it with the Prophet, but she refused by pulling it immediately and slapping mine with her other hand.
_This motherfu..._
Some veins bulged out of my forehead as I tried my best to conceal my irritation, but surely, this bitch has done it now.
"Bakunawa, how about you say hi?"
Bakunawa, The Prophet, and Eleanor snapped their eyes towards me, Bakunawa was the first to react as she shouted.
"I don't want to receive another order from you- GRRRRRAAAAAAAARRRGGGGHHH!"
Of course, I knew that she would refuse I unconsciously grinned as I saw her shaking her whole body hard because of electrocution that seemed to magnify its effects depending on the person enslaved, thus doubling the damage that it inflicted on Bakunawa, she fell into her knees and continued to shout and as it subsided, the whole place went silent and only the drops of tears from Bakunawa's eyes can be heard as well as the sniffs from her nose that seemingly tries to hide her sobbing but ultimately failed to do so.
"...Hello... sniff... sniff..."
She muttered softly but all of my people were still staring at me
Did I just...
"...Erm... I'm sor-"
I tried to offer her a hand but she just slapped it again and this time, I did not feel irritated but instead guilty, I thought I had gone too far, and as I was thinking of such things, a voice filled my head.
"As you thought earlier, she is just coming to terms with becoming your soul-bound servant, thus she will reject most of your orders and will end up hurting herself, but don't worry, monsters are adaptable beings, after a day or two, I assure you that they will become as obedient as a domesticated dog."
The Prophet comforted me, seemingly reading my mind when I got worried about my actions, but I am not this irritable nor do I enjoy other's demise when I am in my previous life.
[Well, you did question how isekai protagonists maintain their sanity, so...]
Urgh... You're right, more so when I came from a country that values authority and hierarchy so much, I might have been influenced by my Filipino self.
_Isekai is bad for Oriental people._
I jokingly said as I deviated my thoughts to other things and looked at Eleanor.
"Can you repair the castle?"
Eleanor who seemed to also be quite perplexed by me playing around with Bakunawa's current status as my slave flinched and immediately said: "Y-yes!" with a slight stutter. Well, I shall disregard my guilty heart for now because finding a place in which we can settle is the main priority here, in this case, the castle will be the most optimal place because... well that is the center of command of the city, this will help me so that I can easily command the bigger picture.
I can just fix this whole city on my own, but the undeads as you can see are like stiff rusted animatronics that cannot perform a function properly, obviously, I need to stimulate their muscles again so that they will become functional as their old selves. The prophet went with Eleanor in front of the castle seemingly wanting to instruct her on what she should do, maybe he has a photographic memory too and can remember the intricacies of the castle well.
_That's good._
I said so to myself as I started to build the community structure of the undead. I have to allocate the military-civilian ratio, at first I thought that I should model the undead structure from the "Living" structure, the 60-40 civilian to soldier ratio but upon thinking things further, I decided to make it a 50-50 civilian soldier ratio simply because undeads cannot die for they were already dead, so this is a better arrangement so that I can maximize the working force and battle force at the same time.
One should remember that undeads cannot rear living being because they don't have the same needs, for example, Kabuto will disrespectfully shout at the ears of all my sleeping people that one time with Eleanor, why? Because he doesn't know how important sleep is to living people, plus he is using me as a reference he will think that sleep is an optional thing. That's why I am planning to allocate the undead to the textile creation, transportation, construction, and other departments that don't require care for the living.
They will become the centerpiece of the fine motor skills sector of my nation, going back, the living however whom I designated as the traders, rearers, and growers of anything alive and anything that is being ingested by living creatures, will have their city built in the first layer as they will be the one who will also trade the items they will produce, of course, they will also be the traders of the things that the undeads produced.
Oh and finally, the leader and the deputy of the construction team, or now I should call them the construction department will be the ones responsible for the design of the two cities, they have already educated themselves enough through my not-so-reliable injection of knowledge to them so they should be fine.
_Well, there are still things lacking in careful planning, but because we are still a budding country, that should be fine._
After thinking so I hurled my orders toward the executive in front of me and by the time I was finished ordering people around, Eleanor started waving her hand as she shouted "Sophia! The castle is repaired!" The repair went on for just about 30 minutes and as I strode forward, I could see the slight glint in Eleanor's eyes.
[Will she... Even after she saw what have you done to Bakunawa?]
I ignored the creepy guy inside my head as I smiled a little, well I could just do what Eleanor was about to do but this was a more important matter for her, after all this was her first step in destroying the shackles she had put into herself.
[3rd Person POV]
Sophia's figure went closer and closer until she was already in front of Eleanor.
_Now... say it..._
She said so to herself, after all, she had rehearsed this thing over and over again after she pondered and gathered her feelings together. At first, she was conflicted, after all, the person she had fallen in love with was a child, and she was afraid of what kind of monster she would become if she pursued such a path. No matter how mature Sophia was at that time, she was still a child.
She knew that Sophia could evolve from one phase of life to another, thus she waited so patiently at the same time, that she made sure that her feelings for Sophia were true and not just because... well she's attracted to children.
_Good thing is, I am not._
Eleanor heaved a sigh of relief at that time when she affirmed her feelings and in impulse, she decided to confess.
_Now I just have to say it..._
"Ngh..."
Only a grunt came out of her mouth, her hands started shaking and her knees started to feel weak, she closed her eyes from shame for she who had finally gained courage once again cowered, but a warm feeling enveloped her hand, and as she opened her eyes to see the source and it was Sophia smiling at her and slowly walked towards the castle. Dragging Eleanor with her.
_She's always like this..._
Giving her strength to walk on her own, giving her power to pursue what she liked, upon the castle gate's closing, they were left alone once again and Sophia let go of her hand, she looked at Eleanor and then once again walked without waiting for her.
_Ah... I should say it... I love her..._
She opened her mouth again and just when her hands were about to reach out her hand to Sophia's, she halted.
_What if I was rejected?_
She draws back her hands and puts them in the middle of her aching chest.
_Does she like women too, in the first place?_
At an early age, Eleanor was given the sole purpose of being a healer, even though she was curious about a lot of things, she was treated as nothing but backline support, and that caused her to have an inferiority complex, by all means, researchers are not neglected, but she who is restrained by the people and by her mothers herself, she thought that maybe she was not needed in that field and just dedicated herself in the field that she is needed the most without exploring herself.
And when she finally discovered herself and learned that she loved women, the further she sunk into the abyss of her self-doubt, after all, the most powerful lesbian on the planet is her mother and she can woo any woman she likes because of her prowess and charm.
_But I am not her... I am not a Hero..._
Sophia must prefer someone as strong and dashing as herself, not someone who wants to hole up herself inside a laboratory and research things.
_Ah... Shall I give up after all?_
Her steps halted and looked helplessly at Sophia's back, however when she thought that Sophia did not notice her, Sophia stopped and looked at her smirking, she looked directly into her eyes making Eleanor tremble.
Her face flushed red as a realization got into her.
_Could it be!?_
Sophia immediately ran when Eleanor's face blushed red, Eleanor chased after her immediately.
"Hey tell me! Do you... WAIT FOR ME DAMNIT!"
Eleanor started to get angry, she could not believe that her feelings were so obvious that Sophia learned about it, she had to ask her, she had to ask why and how she knew it.
She started to use magic and created tentacles in the whole corridor, Sophia sluggishly yet effectively dodged all of them and continued to run, Eleanor also continued to to run, but she was weaker in stamina and slower in speed than Sophia, she tried, to catch up to Sophia but she can't
"...Why... just when I thought that you were near..."
Sophia finally stopped dodging and let herself be caught, the tentacles made her whole body turn around and look at Eleanor directly.
"No, I think the question should be 'Just when I got the courage, I feel like sinking into my preconceived notion about myself.'"
Eleanor stared at the person she loved without saying anything, she was at a loss for words as she processed what Sophia just said.
"Not all people think of you like how you think yourself is, actually I will bet that no one on this planet thinks that you are inferior, that you are not a hero, Eleanor you saved their lives, my wounded people, and everyone you touched with your delicate hands..."
Sophia paused as she was dragged in the eyeview of Eleanor.
"Stop doubting yourself."
Eleanor's eyes started to tear up, they flowed like a river as she sniffed up, finally, she heard the things she wanted to hear so badly but was not aware of, she finally saw the problem, why did she restrain herself and tried to please others, but now, she doesn't care anymore.
_If she's straight then I'll kiss her until she's gay...!_
"I love you, Sophia."
Eleanor said so, the glint Sophia saw from earlier was finally back as she grabbed the small cheeks of Sophia and kissed her lips, Sophia was stunned for a moment but closed her eyes as she savored the ardent show of love from her beloved, she started to coil her tongue and explore Eleanor's mouth.
This time, it was Eleanor's time to be surprised, she immediately separated her lips from Sophia's, she looked at Sophia with a flushed face and ragged breathing, Sophia licked her lips while she smirked, she broke out of the tentacle and said.
"I love you too."
Sophia then floated in the air and grabbed Eleanor's hand, this time coiling her other hand into Eleanor's waist, and plunged her lips into her beloved's own.
