A Village is Born

"My name is Yunie, and I used to be a Moderator. Before the world fell, the gods - if that is truly what they are - sent messages to me to secure the future of humanity. They called them 'Daily Quests', and I did them every morning without fail. But one day, shortly after the apocalypse began, my Daily Quest was to kill one hundred goblins. I only made it to sixty-two before they killed me and ate me. And when I woke up again, I was one of those hideous things. All I wanted to do was eat and kill. Kill and eat. Sometimes at the same time."

Barns makes awkward eye contact with one of the bloodied humans standing nearby. 

"Right. The important part. I volunteer to be our leader and liaison with the great hero Barnacles. Entrust the welfare of humanity to Barnacles alongside me, and I shall take charge in helping to rebuild civilization alongside my Daily Quests!"

One of the people coughs. "Can I just get some clothes?"

On that note, Yunei takes charge, scouting out ideal places to build homes along the beach. Within the hour, all seven of the humans have successfully placed a house, and a small beachside village is created. They conveniently leave the part of the beach with the remainder of the foamy corpses alone.

Each house contains two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room space, and other niceties like a bathroom, working plumbing, and electricity. Barns doesn't question how it works - it makes his job easier. 

Each of the houses also carries an acre of 'Protection from Monsters', so the immediate area is safe. It lets everyone take a load off.

Fresh clothing and food is also part of the house package, and so everyone takes a chance to clean up and reset. One of the newly resurrected villagers is kind enough to give Barns one of their outfits and let him take a shower - he was covered in blood, after all.

That night, they have a bonfire and roast fish that King Crab graciously plucked from the sea. Each house contained some alcohol, and they decide to drink to their new future. King Crab imbibes most of the alcohol.

"BARNACLES. VICTORY DANCE FOR HUMAN FRIENDS!"

Barns blushes. "Not right now," he says dismissively. "I don't like dancing in front of people."

"SHOW THEM THE CRAB DANCE!"

King Crab starts doing his sideways step back and forth, raising his claws into the air and clicking them to the beat of an imaginary song. Barns sighs and joins in, spreading his legs like a crab, putting his hands in the air, and making little snipping motions with his fingers. 

Later that night, an uninhibited King Crab attempts to solicit Yunie into a romantic encounter, which she politely declines. 

"YOU. ME. NAKED. FOAM."

"Oh, I appreciate the offer, but I'm actually into women."

A rejected King scuttled into the ocean and sat underwater for several minutes.

After that, Yunie made sure to make her true feelings known to Barns.

"Mostly into women. I consider myself the legendary hero type, too," she winks.

If Barns were a crab, he'd have been foaming at the mouth, too. Yunie was a pretty girl - soft brown hair, big, bright green eyes, and a great, fit body. She was also the only girl he'd seen in sixteen years. 

There's one other woman resurrected that day - an older lady who keeps her head wrapped in a scarf. Barns hasn't heard her speak since they all settled down. 

Finally, as night approaches, some of the villagers begin to retire to their homes to sleep. Barns and Clancy have no house, so they remain by the fire.

Yunie is one of the last to go to sleep. "Need a warm bed for the night?" she whispers into Barns' ear. 

He digs his feet in the sand to restrain himself. "I can't do that to my man Clancy," he says with a smile. "Bro code, you know?"

Yunie walks off somewhat disappointedly, but Barns does some damage control.

"But, you know, Clancy's memory is only good for about a week tops. So maybe…"

Yunie laughs at him. "You can come over whenever you like, legendary hero."

Barns checks to see if he has a nosebleed as Yunie disappears into her beachside home. 

He lays down in the sand, and looks up at the stars. It's the same sky he's stared at every night for the last twelve years, even as he lays down on a distant shore. 

"Maybe I can have a harem."

"WHAT BARNACLES? YOU SPEAK QUIET."

"Nothing, King. Good night."

"FADE TO NOTHINGNESS, BARNACLES. I HOPE WE BOTH WAKE UP."

On that note, King Crab is immediately asleep - dormant and completely still. He'll be like that for the next three or four hours and then jolt back to 100% consciousness in an instant.

…

Meanwhile, at Osmond's Castle…

"Mmfmff."

Maria wiggles around, trying to speak. Osmond reaches around her neck and removes the gag from her mouth. 

"What's the matter, sweetie?" he asks.

"Just not in the mood tonight, I guess…"

Osmond rubs her shoulder supportively. "It's okay. I only have fun when you're having fun. We can stop for now."

He spins the wheel that Maria is suspended on, moving her right side up instead of upside-down. He places the cattle prod he's holding on the table and begins unstrapping Maria from the machine.

Maria steps out of the wheel, scantily clad but without a bruise on her pristine skin. She had an S Rank skill that prevented her from suffering injury, but not from feeling pain. Ever since she realized this, she's found herself engaged in a variety of unique proclivities. 

Maria sits on the bed and opens up a system menu. Maria was once a Moderator, too. She knew how to navigate and read the system as well as anyone else, but she also knew about a glitch in the system. She could use that glitch to read the 'System Logs', so she had a running list of every system message that went out.

Maria's used this power many times. With it, she's been able to keep a watch on the entire world to an extent. 

She scrolls through the logs. Several people were resurrected, it seems. They've even built a village with some auto-generated homes. How quaint. 

"I have an idea, Osmond," she says, looking up at the ceiling and tussling her hair. Their bedroom ceiling was a giant mirror. Osmond wanted it because he 'likes to see everything from different angles'. Maria wanted it because she likes to imagine it falling on her.

"I'm a human, so I can pull this off. I'm going to visit the boy hero. See what he's all about."

Osmond leans in, worry in his eyes. "Maria, no," he says quickly. "That's far too dangerous. We should never be separated, especially not with humans like that around. Wait for him to come to us. We can kill him here with my power, easily."

Maria laughs. "Oh, when you hear the plan, you'll be all over it. We're going to kick the roleplay up to eleven."

Maria laughs maniacally as she tackles Osmond to the bed and details her nefarious plan.

"We're going to have ourselves a crab boil, Osmond. Hope you're hungry."