Ultimate Gamer System: Factory Must Grow!

"My lady!"

Despite all the excitement they unknowingly provided for both Theo and Callane, the latter's men only managed to find her a few minutes after the tier one conveyor belt finally brought the coal through.

And quite obviously, it wasn't their achievement of actually getting to find their employer, for they only managed to spot Callane when she followed Theo out into the open part of the cave.

"What are you guys all doing here?" Callane didn't appear to be any happier to see the mercenaries in the cave, even though she was long since aware of their presence here. "Are you trying to piss Theodore off?" she asked, locking her hands over her shoulders while tapping her left foot up and down against the stone floor of the cave. "Or did he approve of you going down here while I wasn't looking?"

On one hand, having her men look for her when she went missing was something Callane felt she should be grateful about.

They were just mercenaries, after all, people hired for the job, not someone like Osman who had long since proved his absolute loyalty throughout years of service, loyalty Callane happily groomed over said years. And yet, even though they were only connected through a monetary link, those people still dared to enter the earth's bellows, desperate to find her!

'That, or they were too scared to return without me in town, given how there's an entire army waiting for me on the other side,' Callane thought, a small smirk momentarily showing on her face.

"The necklace has turned," the leader of the mercenaries stepped out from the group only to then pull out the guide by his hand, only to let go and then point his hand at the man's chest. "We've fulfilled the contract, so it's now time for us to return. Especially with how…" he gave Callane a quick scan before turning his eyes back to her face, "you've clearly found the one you were looking for."

"Can't you see…" Callane started… only for all of them to suddenly jump when what used to be an empty space just beside them suddenly turned into a massive entity the size of a small house.

"Can you get the fuck out of the way?" Theo stepped out from behind the machine, his face full of annoyance. "People are working here, can't you see?"

Now that the group looked, what they took for the appearance of a single machine turned out to be nowhere near as simple. For when they looked past the entity that appeared just now… they saw an entire row of them, with as many as eleven machines stacked one after the other, all perfectly aligned to some imaginary lines.

"What the…"

Startled, the mercenary leader stepped to the back, his hand instinctively seeking the handle of his sword.

"Am I seeing this correctly?" Theo immediately pressed the advantage. "Not only did you enter the place you were explicitly told not to, not only did you keep bothering me with those annoying shouts while I was trying to work, now you are even trying to grab a weapon in my presence?"

Theo didn't need to shout. He didn't need to put on an angry look on his face either.

After the display of his prowess on the surface, he was quite sure those mercenaries had long since learned he wasn't someone they could mess with.

That's why, rather than shouting, rather than making up faces… he simply crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrow a bit, looking at them with a mix of disbelief and the hint of his earlier annoyance.

"We are extremely sorry for bothering you, sir," ultimately, the mercenary guard picked politeness and respect as the two methods for dealing with Theo. "But as you've heard, we really had to get in touch with Lady Callane, for not only would we betray her trust if we attempted to follow our contract and return without her, I'm quite sure it could throw her forces on the other side of the wall into quite the disarray if we were to return on our own, even with the word of her well-being on our mouth."

Theo squinted his eyes a little… only to then decide not to be unreasonable.

For some strange, unknown reason, his mood had reached the positive heights only matched by how he felt during the greatest breakthroughs of his system development!

And with this great mood soothing his soul, he simply found no reason, not even the silliest or most pragmatic one, to argue with the mercenaries.

'If that's their contract, it's their right to seek their employer so that she can deliver on her end,' Theo thought… only for this single thought to instantly rain down on his parade, leading his mood to rapidly sink down.

A change that had to somewhat reflect on his face, given how the mercenaries all, like one man, decided to take a step back precisely at the very next moment.

"Well, I'm merely a host here," Theo ultimately shrugged his shoulders before turning over to Callane. "So?" he asked, leaning his head over his right shoulder while crossing his arms over his chest. "What are you going to do?"

In the end, no matter how much his point of view regarding this woman changed, she was still a free person. And as much as Theo wanted to keep her by his side purely out of his own curiosity, selfishness, and desire to keep a hold of everything even most remotely related to his system…

Callane was still her own person. And not only was she free to make her own decisions, unaffected by Theo's wants and buts, she clearly had a whole bunch of her own obligations to follow.

Obligations that started with her duty towards those mercenaries, stretched out to the alleged army awaiting her return on the other side of the wall… but most likely extended even further, all the way to the core lands of her house and maybe even throughout her entire country!

Obligations that neither Theo's desire to keep her by his side nor her own willingness to stay as close to him as she could had any bearing over.

"I guess I really have to go back," a moment later, Callane's words proved Theo's train of thought as she shook her head before looking away from the mercenaries and over at Theo's face. "So, how will it be?" she asked, with hope openly brimming in her eyes. "Would you be interested in going back with me?"