Chapter 111: Goddess Problems
[Null POV] Year 5, Day 207 (Night)
Null walked toward the Maid House.
Her senses located the courtesans easily.
Courtesan 2 and 3 together with Canary and siren-Flower. In the same room. Someone had allowed visitors—Bunny probably. If they were willing to sign, Null thought it was fine.
Courtesan 1 in one of the meeting rooms. Together with two other maids. Probably under watch. Making issues apparently. Whatever those were.
[Easy parts first. Get signatures. Then deal with problems.]
Null headed for the Maid House. Get the easy signatures first. Then deal with the problem dryad.
She entered the Maid House through the main entrance.
Stopped.
The main atrium.
All five dead maids' pictures against the wall—simple paintings but clear who they showed. Flowers placed beneath. Candles lit.
Perhaps thirty maids there. Drinking. Crying. Sending away the first lost.
Bunny among them.
[Memorial. Grief. Processing loss. Should I interrupt? Should I tell them about Lina and Upsilon? About souls staying? About merger?]
[Comes out eventually anyway. Might as well be now.]
Null stopped. Knocked hard against the table.
Everyone looked.
"Announcement."
Attention secured.
"Lina and Upsilon. Not really dead. Well—dead. But not gone."
Total silence.
[They don't understand. Need to explain.]
"The seed connection. When you die, there's a choice." Null struggled to find words. "Go wherever souls go. Heaven. Reincarnation. Processing. Whatever happens after death."
She let that settle for a moment.
"Or stay. With me. Forever."
She let the weight of that sink in.
"Lina and Upsilon decided to stay."
The silence somehow deepened.
"Don't really know what happens after. But can feel them. Inside me. Resting." Null tried to explain. Struggled with it. "Monitoring shows improvement. Minor. Slow. Dying wasn't pleasant probably. But they're here. Still here."
The silence stretched. No one moved. No one breathed.
Finally one maid spoke. Null had seen her with one of the three who didn't stay. Close. Friends maybe.
"So Theta is no more?" Voice breaking. Almost crying.
Null repeated. Clearer. More direct. "Theta, Gemma, and 12 decided not to stay. They're probably in Heaven or somewhere now. Went to the cycle. Returned to divine processing. Chose differently."
The maid who'd asked walked to one of the pictures. Theta's portrait.
Tore it to pieces.
"Traitor."
Others joined. The other two pictures—Gemma and 12—got similar treatment. Ripped. Destroyed. Eliminated.
Null read their minds clearly. Those three names—erased. Never to be spoken. Rooms cleared by morning. Belongings burned. Like they never existed.
[Harsh. But understandable. They chose to leave. Could've stayed. Could've remained. Seen as betrayal. As abandonment. As rejection of family.]
One of the Letter girls approached. Hesitant. Hopeful. "Is Upsilon okay?"
[How do I answer that? Don't know. Is soul-sleeping inside eldritch horror "okay"? Better than death? Better than Heaven? No framework to judge. No answer to give.]
Before Null found words, another maid spoke. Kitchen worker. Often with Lina. Friends.
"How about Lina? You two were close."
Null concentrated on Lina's memories. Searching. Finding relevant information.
[Oh. This girl has birthday next week. Lina actually prepared a gift for her.]
Null couldn't answer the question properly. Didn't know how.
Instead walked toward the door. Direction of Lina's room.
The entire group followed.
Lina's room had no lock. Like all the rooms in this house. Easy entry.
Null went directly to the dresser. Second drawer from top. Small box inside.
She took it. Turned. Gave it to the kitchen maid.
"Lina prepared this for you. For your birthday next week." Pause. Honesty. "Sorry you lost her because of me."
The maid looked confused. "What do you mean, because of you?"
Null decided on honesty. "Spent time with Lina. Hot spring trips with the courtesans. Got to know her better. Made her a gift—shield artifact to keep her safe."
The harder part came next.
"When the attack happened, she was far from the gate. Could've run. Could've escaped." She hesitated. "But she ran into the mob instead. Wanted to prove herself to me. Show she wasn't worthless. Shield artifact blocked fatal hits until it finally failed. Then she was beaten to death."
The kitchen maid's voice was firm. "Lina was not worthless."
"I know."
Another maid. "Not your fault. Gifts aren't mistakes."
Someone from the back. "Lina hadn't trained since arriving. Liked the slow life. Peaceful work. Probably panicked. Tried to help. Bad decision in the moment."
Bunny hugged Null from the side. Warm. Comforting.
"Mistress, don't feel bad. Once Lina's back—one way or another—we'll laugh about this together. She can teach us about not panicking. About making better decisions under stress."
She considered something.
"Should probably make training mandatory though. Too many like the slow life. Gets them killed when things go bad."
Voices agreed. "Yes." "Makes sense."
Bunny asked while still hugging. "Are they inside you? Right now?"
[They're part of my form. And I'm in human form currently. So... yes? Technically? Maybe?]
"Yes."
Instant hug from the other side. Letter girl grabbing her. "Upsilon! You're fine? Be strong. I'm sure Mistress and the Divine One will find a way for us to meet again properly."
Null started panicking slightly.
[Not sure I like where this is going. Can hear ideas forming. "Goddess Null" variations appearing in multiple minds. This life-after-death thing clearly broke few minds here.]
[This house has fair amount of zealotry already. If someone like 22 or Alpha—who's really good at that—puts spin on this? Could be declared goddess in no time. And Void who usually keeps extreme things controlled wouldn't even stop it.]
[Wait. Don't even need 22 or Alpha. Have my own personal messiah already in the premises. Flower. Siren courtesan. Spent most of the week before Central flight with Flower and Canary. Both think I'm literal goddess. After I told them I didn't like it, they scaled down. But only in words. Not in belief. Not in devotion. Not in action.]
[And Flower knows how to say the right things. Seven centuries in the business of pleasing people taught her everything. She'll definitely put spin on this. Just question is what kind.]
Null decided to stop this here. [Can't think about it more. Can't process more complications. Can't handle more problems.]
"Sorry. Business needs solving. Will let everyone know if any news about Lina or Upsilon."
She looked at Bunny. "Can you come please? Need to sort this courtesan paperwork."
Then left quickly. Bunny following. Happily others got the hint to give space.
Null arrived in front of the room where Flower and Canary had stayed the last two weeks. Detected four people inside.
"How long have Courtesan 2 and 3 been there?"
Bunny answered. "Since the day after news came we'd get signatures. Flower prepared what to say—they agreed instantly." She continued. "After that they asked to visit. Flower and Canary were alone, so we agreed. Didn't want them leaving during all the confusion though. They've been here since."
Null noticed Bunny watching her. Reading her hesitation.
"Is there an issue?"
"Not with current situation."
Bunny waited. Patient. Clearly wanted more.
Null said it. "Flower has brainwashed those two. Totally. All four in there waiting for goddess visit."
[How did she do it? Can't talk about seed stuff outside the network. She's using empty words somehow. Making believers. Making converts. Loyalty lock will be instant and absolute once I use seeds on this foundation. Professional conversion. Centuries of experience showing.]
Bunny thought a bit. Then said it. "But you are a goddess."
Small pause. Professional smile holding.
"It's clear Mistress doesn't like this kind of worship. Same as Spy. So don't worry—we won't do it. And I'm sure Flower reasoned out the same. She's not stupid. Just made what was best to solve this issue."
[The way Bunny just said "you are a goddess" while keeping that professional business smile was almost horrible. Can feel it in her mind too—this presentation earlier broke something. Changed something. Too professional to ever show it out. But there. Permanent. Absolute.]
Null decided not to continue this. [Can't process more complications. Can't handle more goddess worship. Just get signatures. Close this problem. Move on.]
She opened the door. Bunny followed.
All four sat around the table. Clearly waiting. There'd been announcement in the seed network that Null and 22 arrived. Expected visit at some point.
Null gave no one option to talk. Pulled four contracts from her item box. Placed them on the table.
Bunny took over immediately. Fast. Professional. "Okay, ladies. Let's get these signed before anything else happens."
She pulled out ceremonial knife. "Who wants to be first?"
Flower volunteered. Cut finger. Blood signed the contract.
Then Canary.
Then Courtesan 2 and 3 followed. Fast. Professional. Done.
While it happened, Null watched Courtesan 2 and 3. Curious what Flower had told them.
Results weren't that interesting. Both about four hundred years old—similar age as Canary. Both with horrible contracts. One had serious debt. Clearly smiling and pleasant under extreme stress.
Flower didn't even have to try that hard. Both desperate enough to take almost any positive news. Both knew Flower for centuries. If she promised something good would happen—they believed it. Classical desperation of those who lived past natural lifespans.
If Null is goddess who fixes all their life issues? Null is goddess. Simple as that. And not really secret some kind of gift is given to all maids here.
One more issue came out from their minds. Both wanted names. Like Flower and Canary got. Didn't like their old hooker names or numbers.
[How do I name a lamia and a dark elf? Do they have racial naming patterns? Should I just pick something simple and fitting like last time?]
Bunny asked. "Where do we do the seeding?"
Null thought about that.
[Dome would be perfect. But currently occupied by Green and Pink plus six bags of dragon hoard. Pink's actually woken up somewhat. But those two are future problem. Plus Beta keeps them busy force-training Green as healer. Saint who doesn't know healing magic is sin that needs fixing—at least Beta sees it that way.]
[Can't do it here either. Delegation of high-level mages literally in the next house. Chance someone feels something? Too high. Too risky.]
"Everyone follow me. We're going somewhere more secure."
Null walked out. [No idea what would actually be secure enough. But can't stay here.]
In the end, headed toward the dome.
Flower and Canary looked happy at least. First time outside their room in two weeks.
They arrived at the underground dome.
Six tables with six bags of dragon hoard visible in one corner. Untouched. Waiting for 22's paranoid checking to complete.
Other corner had makeshift living area. Two beds. One table. Functional setup.
And goats. Five goats.
[Why are there five goats? Actually—not that hard to figure out. Blood on the floor around them. Healing exercise probably.]
Pink was sleeping. Null had heard she was up like two to three hours a day, slept the rest. Both 22 and Beta confirmed this was fine. Probably. Should improve with time. Probably.
Issue was nobody really knew much about true dragon soul damage. Only guesses. Only hopes. Only "probably."
Green jumped up instantly when seeing them. Ran their direction. Clearly very happy.
"Welcome, Mistress Null!"
Null glanced at the goats. "Training materials?"
Green looked embarrassed. "Yes. I'm rusty. There've been some losses."
Null tried to sound positive. "At least there's something to cook after then."
Green smiled. "Yes. However, not sure what Beta actually did with the corpses."
[Don't want to know. Don't need to know. Beta's methods are Beta's business.]
Null turned to the rest of the group who'd followed. Bunny. Flower. Canary. Courtesan 2 and 3.
"I will give you gifts now. Just accept them. Only good things will happen."
Flower added from the side, speaking to Courtesan 2 and 3. "Remember what we talked about. Trust Null. All will be fine."
[Can feel worry from both. But also hope. General hopefulness. Better than last solo seeding—that one resulted in emergency meeting an hour later. Hopefully this goes smoother.]
Null transformed part of her hand. Pulled the seed out so they didn't see where it came from. Making it look as divine as possible. Actually getting good at hiding what was what.
She pushed the seed to Courtesan 2—lamia—directly to the belly where mana center sat.
Then repeated for Courtesan 3, dark elf.
The transformation began. Seed worked. Quite slow, similar to how Canary and Flower had transformed.
Lamia shifted from human form to snake lower body. First time Null had seen her do it. Lamia were as exotic as sirens here—rare, beautiful. The snake part took on beautiful black coloring.
Dark elf already had black eyes and hair. True, her irises weren't black before—those transformed too. Otherwise change wasn't that visible. Probably smallest transformation Null had seen. But her nails turned black—nice dark black, like nail polish.
When it became clear the promises were true—healing, transformation, gifts, everything—loyalty locked instantly to Null. Absolute. Complete.
Lamia actually kissed Flower from happiness. Gratitude for providing this opportunity.
[Names. Still need names.]
Null pointed to Courtesan 2, the lamia. "Coral."
Then Courtesan 3, the dark elf. "Violet."
She looked at Green. "Oh. You don't have a name either, right? Green is just nickname?"
"Yes, Mistress Null."
Null pointed. "Green."
Green beamed. "Thank you, Mistress Null, for making it official!"
Null glanced at Pink, still sleeping. [This one can never get proper name. Oracles can only have nicknames. Proper names mess up their abilities somehow. Both Void and 22 warned me repeatedly. Never try to name Pink.]
She looked at Bunny. "Let's go talk to this annoying dryad."
Null noticed Flower—the siren—watching. She'd detected something. That both Green and Pink's loyalties were to Null. Only a handful of people managed to detect that kind of thing.
Null looked at the courtesans. "If you want, keep Green company a bit. Boring down here probably. Coral and Violet need rundown for things anyway."
All four bowed. "Thank you."
Null left with Bunny following. [Time to go and resolve this Courtesan 1, the annoying dryad contract.]