Days passed, then weeks, then months.
The crude settlement transformed rapidly under the hands of pathwalkers. What took Esperrians years to build took them months. The tents receded with each passing day, replaced by orderly stone houses and organized roads. The methodical structure of the growing town followed Alice's blueprints to the letter, which meant everything had its place and stayed there.
With thousands of men acting as laborers, hundreds of buildings stood completed by the end of the third month.
Workshops… Marketplaces... Houses… Every type of structure appeared in its pre-designed sector according to function. Homes went to the residential district. Structures that housed trades such as forges, carpentry shops, brickworks, stoneworks, and sawmills filled the exchange district.
If the three outer districts formed a triangle around the settlement's perimeter, a fourth district existed in circular form on the inner zone. It wasn't the innermost area since that space was reserved for future expansion, including the lord's eventual mansion. This fourth district was recreational, called simply "the Park" by the locals.
A massive garden accessible from every other district had been built and planted with flowers, grass, and shade trees. Benches lined the walking paths. Water fountains stood in the four directions, their constant flow serving as the park's ambient sound. The work was mostly Seraphine's doing, who had transplanted the trees and flowers from nearby forests with help from the newly established ranger corps.
But that wasn't her most significant achievement.
What truly made her the beloved Saintess of this territory was the vast fields that now produced consistent harvests. Fava beans, cabbage, onions, carrots, potatoes… the plentiful yield made all doubts about her purification skill vanish entirely. Her fame among the army matched Ashen's own. She was the one who fed them and healed them, all while wearing a smile on her face, so the outcome didn't surprise him.
Alice wasn't as famous, but she was deeply appreciated. The population wasn't blind to the security measures she'd tirelessly installed. It was her efforts that let them sleep peacefully in the middle of nowhere, her surveillance network that reduced patrol casualties to almost nothing, and her designs that turned empty land into a functional town.
When both women had to leave, one after another, the residents mourned their departure.
But the progress didn't slow. If anything, it accelerated. The former Pit residents worked even more diligently, embodied by growing hope that things were actually working out. They had security. They had food. They had been here since the start, when this was still deserted land, and everything built and grown had been by their hands.
The homes were theirs. Their livelihood was tied here.
For most people, that was enough to create belonging. For criminals granted a fresh start they'd never dreamed of having, it was more than enough. There were bound to be bad apples in any gathering of former prisoners, but Ashen had picked carefully during his Reserve Army Theater days. After all, he knew their stories from his time as the Idle Chronicler.
Conflicts still arose, but they lacked the fuel to ignite further when the lord knew every subject's history.
The fourth month saw the same rate of progress, with the birth of a new district outside the growing city on the far side of the mountain.
It was the military district, and it housed the permanent garrison, training grounds, armory, and barracks in organized blocks. Soldiers started living separately from civilians but close enough to respond to threats.
By the fifth month, the farms, granaries, livestock pens, and mills had been consolidated into their own agricultural zone. Furthermore, in the recreational district, a small temple appeared.
The last addition was not by Ashen's order, but by the residents' initiative. They were grateful to the Saintess and didn't know how else to express it. The shrine was their answer. Ashen was certain Seraphine would be delighted when she next visited.
When the sixth month arrived, Ashen found it necessary to add two more sectors.
The first was sanitation and utilities. Tanneries, waste processing facilities, waterworks, charcoal burners… these structures that served essential functions but were deliberately placed downwind for very obvious reasons. There had been patchwork efforts before this, with everyone helping to manage waste and water treatment as the settlement grew, but this was the permanent solution with workers assigned specifically to maintain them.
The second addition was an administrative building, erected right next to where the lord's mansion was planned.
Conducting meetings and planning in random tents or his temporary lodging had become a genuine chore, especially as his retinue grew. It also looked unprofessional to discuss territory affairs in cramped quarters.
The need for a civic district was clear, but Ashen saw no point in something grand when they were still small. A single large building sufficed for now.
And currently, inside that building, another meeting was taking place.
⁂
Seravelle Continent, Wrath Domain, Northwest Territory, April 5, 2027
The administrative building's main meeting room was spacious but minimally decorated. The walls were bare stone, and the floor clean but unpolished. Everything about it announced itself as newly built.
A circular table sat at the room's center with regular chairs arranged around it. No throne or elevated seating was provided. Ashen sat among his retinue in the same type of chair as everyone else, wearing a simple white shirt with black military fatigues and boots rather than formal attire. Most of the others had followed his lead… each coming in their work attire.
The only exception was the maid standing dutifully behind Ashen's chair.
Sabrina's frilled uniform, white stockings, and platform heels would have drawn stares in most settings. Here, no one commented or looked for too long.
They knew who she was… the Wrath Lord's second-in-command, a title that clued them that she was far more dangerous than her appearance would suggest.
The leather-armored man on Ashen's right didn't even glance her direction, and it wasn't because she was the right-hand woman of some distant lord. No.. He knew her under another identity: their demonic instructor. Ashen had asked her to train the soldiers, and the results had traumatized an entire garrison.
The man had been elected as the garrison's representative, but he still looked traumatized.
The man on Ashen's left was in hunter's attire, and he didn't look exactly afraid. His expression carried more awe than fear, likely because he'd witnessed Sabrina's occasional hunts and the corpses she brought back never failed to impress.
On the soldier and ranger's sides sat two other men, and they showed easier demeanors, sparing the room from a completely frozen atmosphere. Their duties allowed them less interaction with Sabrina, which helped.
One oversaw building projects, watching for complications that might arise from rapid construction. The other supervised the trade district, leading a team of guards who prevented theft and ensured fair dealing. He was also responsible for pricing goods and presenting the final lists to Ashen for approval.
The last participant sat directly across from Ashen. She was an old woman with wheat-colored hair and was the one who oversaw the agricultural sector. She managed the yield and harvest for now. After the land's complete stabilization, Ashen planned to hand her planting responsibilities as well. Her Thema was well-suited for farming, letting her glean all kinds of details about soil, crop health, and growing conditions.
Finally, there was Ashen himself, who was responsible for the settlement's overall direction, supervising the population's state and reacting to their needs.
He looked around the table once, then began.
"Alright. Let's start with construction." He nodded toward the man on his left. "Chief Gavin, any problems this week?"
The chief builder straightened in his chair. He was a stocky man with stone dust permanently embedded in his calloused hands.
"Nothing we can't handle, my lord. Progress is steady. Roads are maintained, foundations are solid." He paused, then added more carefully, "Issue is materials… Specifically stone. We're running dry. There's enough left for road maintenance, but no rapid expansion until we establish a quarry."
Ashen nodded. He'd expected this. "Understood."
He turned slightly, addressing Sabrina without looking back. "The stone deposit we found last month… how's the survey going?"
Sabrina's posture leaned in slightly, bringing her mouth closer to his ear. "Master, preliminary survey is complete. The mineral outcrop can sustain our expansion rate for at least one year, provided other materials keep pace. No major monster tribes in the vicinity. A Great Beast serpent was present, but I eliminated it. After an initial sweep, the site can be converted to a quarry with minimal guard presence."
The temperature in the room dropped fractionally.
Ashen seemed unbothered. "Good work. Thank you."
The others had varying reactions. Chief Gavin's expression went carefully neutral. The chief captain of the guard looked like he'd swallowed something sour. The ranger chief's eyes lit up with what could only be called admiration.
To talk about the death of a Great Beast with such nonchalance… they got updated once again on how fearsome this "maid" could be.
"That settles it, then." Ashen looked back at Gavin. "The quarry is our next project. You'll be responsible for setup and operations."
"Understood, my lord."
Ashen shifted his attention to the leather-armored man. "Chief Captain Rodrik, you'll cooperate with the quarry's protection. Assign one unit with a captain to be stationed there."
Rodrik nodded stiffly. "Yes, my lord."
While his voice carried the roughness of someone harsh and easily irritated, he was competent and loyal.
So even though he was always visibly uncomfortable being this close to Sabrina for extended periods, Ashen had still elected him as garrison representative.
"Next." Ashen turned to the man overseeing trade. "Chief Darrow, anything this week?"
Darrow was thin and sharp-eyed, with the smooth manner of someone who'd looked more like a swindler than the dignified role Ashen had assigned him. He smiled easily, which made him good at his job and occasionally insufferable in meetings.
"Everyone's well-behaved, my lord. Following the rules." He gestured with one hand. "There are always a few fools who try to act smart, of course, but they're dealt with swiftly thanks to Chief Captain Rodrik's efforts." He nodded toward the garrison chief, who grunted acknowledgment.
Darrow paused, his smile turning slightly apologetic. "If there is one thing… while I can't call it a problem since it's more of an inconvenience, it's the lack of variety in tradable goods. It's always the same people with the same goods, week after week. This routine is bound to get stale. But it doesn't affect essentials; it's more of a comfort issue. We can live with it."
Ashen considered that. "I see. Thank you for the observation, Chief Darrow. All we can do is wait for our immigration efforts to bear fruit. Once we free more men from labor and recruit them back as soldiers, we can form a proper escort brigade. With that, we establish a trade route to the Ashbastion." He leaned back slightly. "If we reach that stage, we open the Seravellian market to our little trade district. Variety won't be an issue by then."
Darrow's smile widened into something genuinely pleased. "My lord's vision is as grand as always—!"
"Enough with the flattery." Ashen waved him off with mock annoyance. "Next."
He looked back at Rodrik. "Your turn, Captain."
The garrison chief shifted in his chair, his awkward smile briefly surfacing. "Not much to report, my lord. Especially with you training alongside the men daily in formation drills. Morale is high. Discipline is solid."
He hesitated, then added more carefully, "If there's anything, it's... the men are restless. Too many peaceful days. Patrol and training's getting monotonous."
Ashen's lips twitched. "They dare complain about peace?"
"They're soldiers, my lord." Rodrik's tone suggested he agreed with them despite himself.
"Alright. I'll take them out to clear the region's perimeter. Narkals are slowly returning anyway..." Ashen said it casually, but something ominous in his tone made Rodrik nervously gulp.
He felt a vague sense of foreboding about what "clearing the perimeter" would entail under his lord's command.
"Aunty." Ashen turned to the old woman last. "How's the food situation?"
The woman whom everyone called Aunty Mira, and no one remembered when that had started, beamed at him with warmth.
She was someone who had raised children and now treated everyone under forty like they still needed looking after.
"Oh, sonny! Food's plenty. Meat, vegetables, dairy… good on all fronts!" Her voice carried a rural lilt that made everything she said sound comforting.
Ashen wasn't surprised. The initial supplies had sustained them through the first four months, giving time to stockpile their own harvest and expand the farmland. The original two thousand hectares had grown tenfold after the initial success, covering over two hundred square kilometers and producing enough vegetables and cereals to feed everyone comfortably. Add the protein from meat, eggs, and milk from five thousand head of livestock, and they had genuine food security.
"No pests?" he asked.
"Nope!"
"Livestock diseases?"
"Neither!"
Ashen let out a long breath. If this were Esperra, all kinds of problems would have emerged by now, from blights and parasites to maybe even infections. Here, with twenty thousand pathwalkers possessing varied Thema, there seemed to be a solution to any problem. All he had to do was assign the right person to the right task.
"Good work, Aunty. But don't get complacent." He leaned forward slightly. "In the coming days, a Bloodwall division will pass through here. They might camp for a few days. That's another twenty thousand mouths to feed temporarily. Also account for the immigrants we're expecting."
Aunty Mira waved a hand dismissively. "No worries, young lord. Our dear Saintess purified another ten thousand hectares for us before she left. Next harvest will be even more plentiful!"
"Then I'll leave it to you." Ashen smiled and sent her a grateful nod.
He straightened in his chair. "That's everything. You're dismissed."
The chiefs rose one by one and filed out of the room, each offering a brief nod or word of acknowledgment as they left. Gavin first, already mentally planning quarry logistics. Darrow next, still smiling. Rodrik moved after with a disciplined gait. The ranger chief, who had barely spoken the entire meeting, departed quietly. Aunty Mira was last, pausing to pat Ashen's shoulder as she passed.
When the door closed behind her, Ashen stayed seated.
Sabrina, of course, remained at her post since her master refused to move yet.
The room was silent for a moment.
Then Ashen leaned back, closed his eyes, and spoke inwardly with a tone of someone addressing an annoying relative who owed them money.
'Alright, my dear big brother. It's been six months already. Where are my promised riches?'
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