The chickens looked like they'd been through a blender. Seriously. Patches of feathers missing, one was dragging a wing that healed wrong, another had this weird bald spot that made it look like a tiny vulture. They moved around the grain store with that twitchy paranoia you see in people who've been mugged too many times.
The smell was... Christ, it was like someone had been using this corner as a latrine for months. Maybe years. I tried breathing through my mouth but that just made me taste it, which was somehow worse.
When I crouched down, my knees popped and ground like old door hinges, reminding me of every year I'd been alive. The birds didn't come closer but they didn't scatter either. Just watched me with these beady little eyes that said "prove you're not here to fuck with us."
Elder Hadeen was practically vibrating behind me. "You sure about this? Those things put Mira's boy in bed for three days. Vicious little—"
"Yeah, that's exactly what I need."
Guard chickens. I know how it sounds. But subtlety matters in ways those power fantasy stories never mention—you can't just wave your hand and summon a dragon without someone asking uncomfortable questions.
I pulled up the interface, trying to look like I was just... I don't know, thinking really hard or something.
[Entity Group Selected: Feral Desert Fowl x12]
[Current Status: Hostile, undernourished, high stress]
/stat_modify str+50 agi+50 int+30 hp+200 mp+200
[Warning! Modification exceeds baseline by 1500%!]
[Confirm?]
My finger hovered over 'yes' for way too long. This was either brilliant or the dumbest thing I'd ever done. Yeah, definitely both.
The changes weren't dramatic. No golden light, no sudden growth spurts. Just... better posture. Sharper eyes. Like they'd suddenly remembered they didn't have to live scared. The lead hen rolled her shoulders in a way that made my spine straighten in sympathy.
[Passive: Innkeeper's Bond activated] [Territory-bonded creatures gain loyalty modifier]
One hen stepped forward—bigger than the rest, moved like she'd been in charge of something once. She looked at me for a long moment, then gave this little head bob that felt weirdly formal.
"Henrietta," I said without thinking. "You're in charge of security."
[Named Entity: Henrietta (Security Chief)]
[Ability unlocked: Tactical Coordination]
{
Name: Henrietta
Species: Enhanced Desert Fowl
Status: Security Chief
Level: 1
HP: 210/210
MP: 220/220
STR: 51
AGI: 51
INT: 32
Special: Tactical Coordination
—Hive Mind Within Pack
}
Hadeen made a noise like he was choking on sand. "Did that bird just... did she understand you?"
"Birds are smarter than people think." Which was true enough—though not usually to this degree.
Three days later, the first real test came. Building the inn was like playing a really expensive game of Tetris where every piece had to look completely normal.
[Item Creation: Construction materials x5]
[Item Creation: Gold currency bundles x10]
The gold bags hit the ground with a heavy thud.
"That's... that's a lot of money." Hadeen's eyes widened in shock.
"We're going to need good people for this job. Your people. Triple wages, hot meals, and they keep all the skills when I'm gone."
Word got around fast. By evening, half the village was knocking on my door with hammers and measuring rope. The other half showed up to watch the first half work, which is pretty much human nature in a nutshell.
Yusuf the mason squatted next to me while I sketched plans in the dirt. My lines were crooked and the proportions were probably off, but he nodded along anyway.
"Windows positioned for overlapping sight lines," I explained. "Stone thick enough to stop arrows."
"Expecting trouble?"
"Pretty much, yeah." I rubbed out a line and redrew it. "But if it looks tough enough, trouble usually finds somewhere easier to go."
The chickens—Henrietta's crew—took to patrol duty like they'd been waiting their whole lives for a real job. They set up these weird little formations around the construction site. Watched everything. Made these soft clucking sounds that I slowly realized was them talking to each other.
Third night, some coyotes decided to test the new security system.
I woke up to what sounded like a small war happening outside. Screeching that made my teeth ache, the whoosh of wings, and something wet hitting stone that I didn't want to identify. By morning there were paw prints in the sand and some... other things I didn't look at too closely.
[Experience Gained: +156 - Successful Defense]
[Henrietta: Level 1 → 3]
Nobody made jokes about the guard birds after that.
The inn took five days to build, which was either a miracle of efficiency or the most obvious magical construction project in the history of obvious magical construction projects. Two stories, stone walls that would laugh at anything short of a catapult. I'd worked the chicken roosts into the design so they looked like decorative elements. What appeared to be innocent gaps in the masonry were actually perfect angles for defensive fire.
From a distance, a quaint desert inn with decent architecture. But up close, a fortress disguised as hospitality.
[Administrator Level: 8 → 9]
[System Alert: Construction anomaly detected]
{Administrative attention: Moderate escalation}
{Pattern analysis: Suspicious resource generation detected}
Shit.
The system's monitoring algorithms were definitely taking notice. My stomach dropped. I'd been so focused on building, I'd almost forgotten about the surveillance protocols analyzing every unusual activity.
Our first guest was this merchant who looked like he'd been burned by every con artist between here and the coast. Dusty boots, suspicious eyes, the works.
"Ten silver," I told him. "Room, meals, security included."
"Security from what?"
Henrietta shifted on her perch above us, fixing him with one yellow eye.
"Whatever decides to test us, I guess."
He looked skeptical until the bandits arrived an hour after sunset. Six riders, classic raider tactics. They probably thought they'd found the easiest payday of their lives.
Henrietta's battle cry could have shattered glass. Her entire flock launched from the roofline like feathered fury, and what followed was... well, it wasn't pretty. Chaos. Absolute chaos. Horses screaming, riders cursing, feathers everywhere and that wet sound of beaks finding their targets.
The formation broke apart immediately. By the time the dust settled, they were gone, probably rethinking their career choices.
The merchant stared up at my security team, who were now preening on the roof like nothing had happened.
"Your chickens just fought off armed bandits."
"Well, yeah. That's what the ten silver was for."
[Experience: +234 - Bandit Deterrence Successful]
[Achievement Unlocked: Defense Against Bandit]
A week in, and we're getting travelers who weren't even headed this direction originally. They'd arrive laughing about "fortress chickens," leave with a lot more respect for proper security planning.
Sunset on day seven, Hadeen joined me on the front steps. He leaned on his staff, watching Henrietta run evening patrol drills with military precision that would've impressed a sergeant.
"Other villages are asking questions," he said quietly. "About what happened here. What changed."
"What did you tell them?"
"That a stranger came with gold and ideas." He paused, studying my face. "But I've been alive long enough to know when someone's only telling half their story."
I waited, listening to the soft cluck of the evening patrol checking perimeter.
"What I think," he continued, "is that you make impossible things look normal. And in my experience, that never lasts long."
{Administrative status: Enhanced monitoring active}
{Threat assessment: Escalating concern level}
He wasn't wrong, and that was the problem. The system had me flagged, tagged, and probably queued for administrative intervention. The question was how long I could maintain legitimate-looking activities before cosmic IT decided direct contact was necessary.
But looking around at the thriving inn, the hopeful faces, Henrietta's disciplined flock running their evening security sweep, I realized I might have found something better than just staying one step ahead of the system. This place mattered. These people mattered.
And maybe that was exactly what I needed the cosmic administrators to see.
The system might be watching, but I was creating value. Sometimes the best defense against getting fired is making yourself indispensable.