Eminence in Technomancy c9

Marcus looked at another blob of rotting flesh. The trio have returned with loot—another possessed person, most likely a female, and with a chest full of stuff.

“Open the chest.”

Beta did that without question.

The chest was full of gold and other jewellery, from diamonds to sapphires.

“Not bad. I will be able to use these for mass production.” Marcus smiled while saying that. This loot was a great material to print more gems and luxurious materials.

The girls were pleased to hear his happy voice. Then Gamma stepped forward and handed him a thick amount of paperwork.

“This was what we were able to find in the caravan.” The blue-haired elf said to him.

“This was a large operation of some sort. They were returning from outside the Midgar Kingdom; it wasn't a simple trip. The amount of people, the caravans, the large chest, and the possessed person. We have struck deeply into their operations.” Alpha said that with a smile. She was satisfied with this trip.

“Well, we would need a larger, more extensive information-gathering network to know what they did. Maybe this person could tell us.” Marcus looked at the blob.

He lifted his hand and pointed his palm at the blob. His mana roared to life, and energy waves started to bombard the living flesh blob.

Slowly, it fixed itself and formed into a black-haired girl with wolf ears.

“...This…”

“She is a Therianthrope…” Beta said with a curious look.

However, the next moment, this girl lunged at Marcus.

Her long nails tried to cut him down. But she stopped midair and couldn't move.

This girl’s eyes widened as she tried to move. But none of her limbs or body responded to her.

The next moment, she slammed into the ground. Something was pressing her down! It felt like someone was crushing her very life!

“Now that is rude; why did you attack me?”

“...Y-You are strong! Sara will listen to you. You are my new boss!”

For a second, Marcus was confused, and then Beta started to explain.

“My Lord, she is a Therianthrope; they respect strength above everything else.

It appears she tried to establish her dominance.” The silver-haired elf girl explained to him.

“Oh? Did she know?” He crouched down and grabbed her head, making her look at him.

“So I am your ‘boss’ now?”

She nodded her head; there was some reverence in her eyes already. The wolf girl is already worshipping his strength.

“Yes! Boss is my pack leader!” The Wolf girl tried to nod, but Marcus was holding her head.

“I see. That means you will listen to everything I say?”

She tried to nod again to him.

“That means I can train your discipline?”

For a second, she was confused; the word was too difficult for her.

Regardless, she nodded her head.

“Good.” He smiled at her. His smile caused the wolf girl to feel cold.

“Strange, Sara, feels cold.”

Though, she was clueless as to why she was feeling cold!

“Alpha, Beta, prepare a room for her; Gamma, I want you to sort the jewellery.”

“...Understood.”

“...Of course, my Lord.”

The gold and silver duo left while Gamma looked at Marcus.

“How do you want me to sort the jewellery?”

“There are boxes in the aqueduct room. Sort gold away from gems.”

“Okay.”

Once she left, the alchemist looked at the wolf girl; she was just waiting for him. She was like—dog.

When he realised that, his lips twitched from amusement.

“Well, from now on, your name is Delta. My faithful pet.”

The moment she heard that, her tail wagged from excitement. She was happy!

‘She is like a dog.’

Oh, how little Marcus did realise!

It was not a dog but a nuclear dog!

~~~

Claire’s eyebrows twitched as she finally saw what Marcus and his group were doing.

What she found was the Grand Alchemist ‘training’ the group's newest member.

This Therianthrope, a wolf kin, tried to attack Marcus, but as insanely strong as he is, he easily manhandled her. His gravity powers simply crush any attempt.

“What are they doing? Why does it look like he is training a hound?” The red-eyed future Baroness exclaimed with confusion.

“Our Lord is beating out any bad habits Delta has. The issue with her is that she quickly falls into a blood frenzy.

No mindless dog should serve our lord.” Alpha sounded strangely—jealous?

Sure enough, she found out why!

Marcus would pat Delta’s head like a cute dog; she would waggle her tail. He then would give her a slab of meat on a bone.

‘S-She is like a dog!’

Once Delta was doing her thing, the Grand Alchemist approached them.

“Did you girls go over the paperwork we acquired?” He asked while taking his seat.

Sensing an opportunity, Claire ended up sitting next to him.

Alpha and Beta frowned briefly before telling him what they found out.

“There are some interesting details. One is we know that they are harvesting Therianthropes, too. They wipe out entire clans like they did with the Golden Panther clan, or like Delta’s clan, many become lackeys of the cult.”

Marcus pondered on the information.

“One of the Heroes was therianthrope, no?”

“Yes. Alongside Freya, the human hero, and Olivier, the Elf hero.” Alpha explained to him.

“I see. Anything else?”

“Yes. Recently, an elf noble’s daughter developed the symptoms. They exiled her from her family.” Gamma said with a neutral voice, hiding her anger.

“...So, our—sixth member?” Marcus stroked his chin. He still needs to train and weaponise Delta, but it appears they will soon be getting Epsilon, most likely.

“Leave this to us, my Lord,” Alpha said confidently.

“Do as you want. I am returning to my work. Once you are back, I will get you those rune casters for great work.” He smiled while saying that.

His words alone are enough for Alpha and Beta to experience a ‘doki-doki’ moment. They nearly passed out from the sheer happiness they were feeling.

Marcus, of course, notices that. He is pampering them on purpose. Even if they are his ‘warriors’, they are still traumatised girls who need affection and need to be healed from their traumas.

“A-And me?” Gamma asked with a cute pout. What will she get!?

“You already have a rune caster!”

“Yeah!”

The gold and silver duo exclaimed with ‘justified anger’. They didn't want the blue-haired elf to get the upper hand.

“B-But this is for me to fight!” Gamma proceeded to defend herself.

“Relax; I will upgrade all your armours when I finish essential infrastructure.” He calmed all of them down.

“...But we are still getting those rune casters?”

“Of course.” He patted their pair and Gamma swiftly before walking to the workshop.

Claire pouted heavily among them all.

She doesn't even have an armour!

The girl, with a huff, walked after Marcus.

~~~~~~Later, Same Night~~~~~~

As Marcus was finally done with Motherboard, he moved towards making other parts. The hard drive equivalent technomancy style was a liquid runic storage unit.

A box of liquid mana segmented to store runic information in compartments. Then, the equivalent to a graphics card is Runes to Graphics Array or R.T.G.A. This part was probably the easiest, as it was just three circles connected to each other. The reading circle picks up the intention, then the processor and lastly, the projector.

Lastly was the RAM equivalent, but Marcus didn't have time to finish this as the trio returned with more loot.

“Hmm? Boss, what is this smell?” Delta, who was receiving stroking and head pats from Marcus, started to smell something.

“A girl with out-of-control mana.” The Iron Wolf said with a sigh.

“It smells bad.”

She tried to bury her nose in his sleeve.

“Master! We are back! We were able to find some more—” Beta instantly started to pout. But she quickly hides her face under a professional-looking gaze.

“We found more paperwork.”

“Great.” Marcus got up from his chair and walked to the living room; Delta followed him. However, there was a lot of reluctance on her part. The smell was horrible for her augmented nose.

With hand motion, his mana started to bombard the blob; it rapidly reformed and turned into an elf girl with very light blue hair and purple eyes.

“...Huh? I am— saved?” Her reaction was utter shock.

“What is your name?” Marcus asked her as he lowered his hand.

Instead of answering his question, she looked at him; there was some pride in her gaze and how she held herself.

This girl was of noble heritage.

“...Are you the one who saved me?” She asked with a curious gaze.

“I did, I am Marcus Goldman, an Alchemist who holds the rank of Grand.”

“...A Grand Alchemist!!!” She nearly passed out but controlled herself.

Even though she was sitting on the ground naked, she bowed forward, almost kowtowing.

“You have my eternal gratitude, oh great one. My life is yours; this is why I ask you to give me a name.” The elf girl asked with a polite voice.

‘Is this an elf thing? They discard everything of their past the moment their families betray them.’

Marcus pondered on this. He doesn't even know the original names of Alpha, Beta, or Gamma; only Delta called herself Sara before he gave her a name.

“Epsilon, from now on, you are Epsilon.”

The girl slowly lifted her head and smiled at him. There was that specific look he saw in his girls. Even Claire started to have a similar look.

‘Let's ignore this. What can I do if my abilities make them like this?’

“Many thanks! Oh, great one!” As she was about to stand up, she realised that she was naked the whole time!

“Eeep!!!” She swiftly tried to hide.

“Alpha, clothes,” Marcus called for his second in command.

“Already on it.” The blonde was prepared.

She handed over the clothes to the light blue-haired elf, who proceeded to look around.

“Beta, why don't you show her room.”

“On it. follow me.”

~~~

Epsilon looked around. She inspected the walls, the bed, the wardrobe, the table, everything. The girl has never felt such material before.

It was like some sort of universal thing.

‘It's like he doesn't even use wood or metal.’

She even inspected her clothes. It was not silk or cotton. It was something smooth and pleasant to the skin.

‘Amazing…’

However, her awe didn't last long as memories flashed through her mind. She recalled how swiftly her life had ended before.

Rage and hatred flashed through her eyes before she calmed down slightly.

“Are you ready? Our Lord still needs to explain a couple of things, and of course, that is if you wish to join us.” The Silver-haired elf reminded Epsilon that she had a few things to discuss.

“Wish? I already joined. He gave me a name, and on top of that, he is a Grand Alchemist. A legendary existence.”

“More than that. Our Lord is just being humble. He is an artificer, engineer, master swordsman, master strategist, master storyteller, biologist, mathematician, and many more.” Beta explained while counting on her fingers.

“... That's, indeed, humble.” Epsilon agreed; her mouth was slightly opened when she heard other professions he had.

As the pair returned to the living room, Marcus was sitting on a couch. Delta was using his lap to place her head. She was receiving head pats.

“That mutt!” Beta hissed; only Epsilon could hear that hiss.

‘Heh, someone jealous.’

“Epsilon, how much do you know about what happened to you?” Marcus asked the newcomer.

“...Demonic possession? I don't think I know beyond what everyone knows. It's not like I was studying this before it happened to me.” The light blue-haired elf explained with an ashamed voice.

“Demonic possession is when Demon Diablos cells react to descendants of the three Heroes.”

“...Wait…you mean…”

“That story is true. As you can see, everyone here except for me has experienced the same trial.

The cells have been implanted into Olivier, Freya and Lili long ago. Their descendants have inherited it.”

“...What for?”

“To harvest them by the cult.”

“!!!”

“You are basically their food.”