"Pudoo! Wha's goin' on!?"
Azura emerged from underground.
She had no idea what had happened on the surface.
At the sight of the traces of battle, the destroyed purification device, and the row of Shadow Girls, her round body bobbed up and down in surprise.
"Come here and let your big sister give you a hug~"
I crouched down and flopped onto her springy body.
"These are your future little sisters in training."
Once they understood what I wanted, the shadows proved highly obedient.
After all, Shadow Soldiers had only ever followed orders.
"Mm, they actually look the part."
I took several sets of women's clothing out of Liuzi's Simulacrum Factor and dressed the Shadow Girls in them. They still had no faces, but they looked more human with clothes on.
"But why do you have so many women's outfits in your Simulacrum Factor? Twenty-five sets?"
Before my crystal was sealed, I probably hadn't even kept that many clothes in it.
"Ahem! There are some very profound reasons for that. You're better off not asking..."
Her evasiveness only made me more curious.
"Go collect darkness. If any of your companions still don't know what's happened, bring them here."
At my command, the Shadow Girls vanished into the night.
"With them spreading out to absorb the darkness in the air and Azura handling purification underground, this is way more efficient than the Association's purification workers, isn't it?"
Liuzi applauded beside me.
"Mercilessly exploiting the little sisters you just took in. You really are heartless, Miss Knight."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
"Of course! You're practically a capitalist!"
Why did that sound sarcastic to me?
Then again, maybe being called a capitalist by a corporate drone really was a compliment...
Having weathered the shadows' attack with more fright than harm,