Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?-Chapter 1523: Checking on the horses.

<Well, that went better than anticipated,> Pathos commented to Logos as they watched Slug-at-arms and Shellvalier continue to play rock-paper-scissors through Zhen LIu’s eyes. <I figured there would be a bit more drama over whether or not the Neo Storm Knights would still listen to Zhen Liu due to their loyalty to Jin Fang.>

=To be fair, the only time that was an issue was when we had those twin lords who had a massive fallout, remember? =

<Oh shit, right...man, that was a fucking nasty civil war.>

=It was.=

<Huh...now that I think about it, what were the general archetypes for their Kaijin again? >

= If I recall, they namely used Kaijin that usually worked in herds or hive minds. =

<Right...wait a minute...>

...Alright, back to Zhen Liu...

After he had assigned the task of scouting Echoing Valley to the Neo Storm Knights, and his clanmates, Zhen Liu was more than ready to return to the Library and get ready to meet with a group of recently minted kaijin on the other side of the world. However, he still needed to address one other thing.

"Do you really have to go back right this minute?" Jin Fang asked with a slightly doe-eyed look as she grabbed Zhen Liu’s arm. "You could just spend the night here...or a week."

"I would love to," Zhen Liu answered honestly, "but I still have to do Kaijin Lord things...a lot of kaijin lord things."

"I’m aware, but still..."

This clingy behavior was somewhat unusual for Jin Fang, but there was a good reason for it. Up until a couple months ago, Jin Fang and Zhen Liu were living under the same roof. She had been there to see him and the kaijin practice practically every day, and she had been there to see him madly poke his nose through the library’s books at almost every waking moment.

However, due to Jin Fang’s sudden inheritance, Zhen Liu’s teleportation accident, and a whole mess of other reasons, the two of them had turned into a long-distance couple like Zhen Yue and Santiago. Granted, that particular couple was about to resolve that long-distance issue soon, but that was a story for later.

Either way, once Zhen Liu assured Jin Fang that he would be back again, with presents and friends no less, the newly crowned princess of Undertow allowed her lover to return to the library.

...

"Okay, after this business with Smoking Mirror and maybe Buzza, I’m taking a fucking holiday," Zhen Liu declared as he closed the warp door behind him and released a massive sigh. "That was the most relaxed I’ve felt in a while."

<Was that because you were away on another continent or because you were reunited with your first love after the bullshit that was being forcefully separated via a teleportation accident? >

= Maybe it’s both? =

"Neither, because I’ve come to realize that Dozing Salamander is fucking hot and humid all the goddamn time," Zhen Liu answered to both refute the claim that he cared for Jin Fang more than Rianna, Alicia, Bellona, and Jinju Ren. "Seriously, how the fuck did I not notice that until right now?"

<=You’d be surprised about what most people will ignore when they’re dealing with death on a near weekly basis, or when they’re worried about looming threats,=> Logos and Pathos pointed out with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yeah, fair enough."

Zhen Liu let out another sigh as he realized that he should’ve probably acted more ruthless with his enemies as opposed to sparing their lives, but it usually worked for most of his opponents. Hell, he had even witnessed firsthand how some of them changed their lives for the better.

Speaking of changed lives, though, he still had to go back and...wait a minute.

"I’m still connected to the Gallop brothers, why the fuck did I think I needed to go and physically check on them?" Zhen Liu asked aloud as he realized that he was about to do something wildly inefficient. "Aether above, I really do need that vacation."

Once he realized that there was an easier way of doling out his tasks, he immediately sat on the ground with his legs crossed and his mind focused on the kaijin that he had left in charge of the former Mines of Malevolence.

"Granted, I think they started calling the place the [Mines of Hope]...whoa."

...

When Zhen Liu left the Mines of Malevolence behind him, he had left the Gallop Brothers—Railhorn, Pegasoar, and Depth Strider—in charge. He had done so not just because they were originally a trio of brothers who had once cared for their people, but because he had faith that they knew what they were doing when it came to improving the conditions for their fellow former slaves. That and he figured that since they were connected to the library, they could make use of its vast knowledge to turn the place from a giant pit of human rights violations into a somewhat livable domicile, and the fact that they were basically invincible monster warriors would make it very hard for any opportunistic former customers of the previous administration to cause trouble.

Evidently, he was proven right.

Through the eyes of the Gallop Brothers, he could see that not only had they done a massive renovation of the mine to make it significantly less dreary, such as removing all of the decorative human remains and burying the murder pits, but they had also implemented several life-improving facilities that turned the place into a bonafide underground town.

Zhen Liu could make out that the arena had been converted into a school of sorts, where the orphaned and younger slaves could go and be educated about the finer things in life...as well as learn several deadly aether arts needed to protect themselves from the worst things in life.

The weird cursed forge where the pseudo-lord made his [False Cores] had been turned into a proper forge where the people of the mines could get their ores immediately processed into ingots and other goods that could then be traded and used at their leisure, and not at the whim of others.

And at the center of this mine-turned-town was a surprisingly sun-filled plaza. Zhen Liu didn’t know when or how, but the residents of the mine had somehow managed to turn the giant hole that Captain Gallop had made when he sent Dante flying into the stratosphere into a giant skylight that was protected by a surprisingly large and elaborate stained-glass dome.

Needless to say, that particular improvement was definitely done by the handiwork of the kaijin.

Speaking of, when Zhen Liu had decided to poke into the heads of the Gallop Brothers, he had actually popped in at a rather interesting moment.

Apparently, a bandit lord that would regularly exchange poor-quality slaves for piles of [Malevolent Gold] had somehow learned that Dante and his merry band of fake kaijin had kicked the bucket and had decided that he was going to be the one to take over and profit from the miserable riches that came from the mines.

However, he didn’t expect to get absolutely rolled by the Gallop Brothers, despite outnumbering them ten-to-one.

The aftermath of this terrible decision had led to at least half of this idiot’s men being embedded into the side of the nearest rock wall like they were pegs in a board, the other third being buried up to their necks in cursed earth, while the rest were basically passed out on the ground with most of their teeth missing and covered in bruises.

As for the bandit lord himself, well... his head was currently being used as a soccer ball between Pegasoar and Railhorn while Depth Strider was sitting on the bastard’s body like it was a couch cushion. Weirder still, Maggie was right there and cuddling up to Depth Strider as if he had performed the most romantic act in the world.

[You know, if we were still human, I’m pretty sure I’d be more disgusted by this,] Pegasoar commented to his brothers as he kicked the "ball" back to Railhorn. [You think it’s a problem that we’re acting less and less human?]

[Speak for yourself.] Railhorn retorted as he bounced the "ball" off his leg and began to bounce it between his knees. [I consider this to being turnabout at best. Didn’t you hear what this guy was bloviating before big bro took his head.]

[Ah yes,] Pegasoar said in a mock tone of formal speech. "Once we take over the mines, we shall see who amongst the enslaved have the nicest bottoms and train them to be proper bedwarmers." [Seriously though, I had never seen you be that fast with your spears before. Like a fucking pair of scissors, no less.]

[I saw how he was looking at Maggie when he declared his intentions,] Depth Strider replied in a manner as calm as a still ocean. [No way was I going to let that actually happen.]

"Oh, you..." Maggie happily chirped as she cuddled closer.

’...’

Evidently, Zhen Liu kept forgetting that his kaijin were still rather violent to their cores.

’...whatever, let’s just assign the tasks and get over it.’