Taking over the Abyss

41- Sweet and Sour

You busied yourself with loading the wooden crates onto Beidou's ship, followed by a plethora of Resistance soldiers doing the same. Ever since the events back at the tent, they'd been following you around like baby ducks. You were worried that your Abyssal Authority had activated as an accidental side-effect. Permanently modifying the way the members of the Abyss Order thought of you was one thing, mostly a necessary thing for them to be freed of that corruption. With ordinary, uninvolved humans it was different, since their minds hadn't been corroded by the Abyss.

You had tried to test whether or not they were forced to do your bidding by asking them to help you move the boxes, but you really couldn't tell if it was from the kindness of their hearts or if they had no real choice in the matter. Regardless, it shouldn't matter too much. You didn't plan on staying too close with the Resistance after the Vision Hunt Decree was abolished. You'd let the assorted group of white-haired men help you out if they really wanted to, since it just made everything easier in the long run.

The only person who took any sort of offense to it was, as expected, Leiptr. Although he was more than happy to assist you- even outright taking one of the wooden boxes from your hands and telling you not to 'dirty your hands with menial tasks'- he was very annoyed by the soldiers. So much so that he'd taken to muttering darkly under his breath, walking past you with an annoyed scowl on his face while carrying away a stack of boxes.

"Is there anything else we can do you for you, Captain?" One of the soldiers asked you, more than eager to help out. You glanced back to see that most of the boxes were all loaded up, with Osial stretched out on a stack of crates trying and failing to nap.

"No, I think that should be it," you trailed off, trying to recall if there was anything else, "Oh, the dummy boxes! Have those been prepared?"

The soldier's eyes glimmered, hopeful for praise, "Yes, Captain! We've marked them like you asked, too."

You smiled and nodded, "Good. Then that should be it. Now we just have to wait, so it's important that you make sure you've rested properly in the meantime."

"Yes, Captain!" The soldier gave you a firm solute before briskly marching off. You sighed once he and the others left. You were grateful for all the help they've given you, and glad that they were alive, but it was a bit much. Kokomi had played an extremely crucial part of their recovery, too.

Dusting his hands free of human taint, Leiptr strode up to your side. He watched the soldiers wander off in the distance with muted satisfaction, although he still wasn't happy given the lack of his typical eager-to-serve smile. "Those humans are awfully noisy."

"They almost died," you reminded him patiently, "Anybody would be happy to escape from a fate like that."

"Ah, my apologies," Leiptr's eyes widened slightly, and he turned to face you, offering his full attention with a curt bow, "I did not mean to undermine your work. Your dedication to both these humans and we of the Abyss is, as always, simply astounding."

You laughed at his antics, "It's fine, no need to worry about it- I think it's a bit much, too. But, I like hearing your thoughts."

Leiptr cleared his throat, reaching up to readjust the v-neck of his Lector uniform properly to hide his sudden flustered state, "... if it pleases you, milady."

"U- um... sorry to interrupt," you felt a tap on your shoulder, as well as a familiar voice. When you had first asked Sindri to keep watch on the Narukami Shrine, you were definitely surprised to see that he lacked a human form even after all the time that had passed since you'd last seen him. Your best guess was that staying in the Abyss had slowed the progress, or he was just slow. You'd pumped less of your resistance into him than you did with Leiptr.