“I appreciate the forethought there. That gives me an idea, though. Can you bring all of those nails out real quick? I’m guessing you have them in some kind of bucket?” Arthur asked.
“Yeah, just a second.” Rowan walked into the shop and brought out a bucket full of iron nails. Arthur smiled and hoped this was going to work. He accepted the completion for both of the orders of nails he had assigned to Rowan already and immediately recreated the order and reassigned them to him. As soon as that happened, he accepted it again and repeated this three more times until he had assigned ten of these work orders to Rowan and acknowledged all ten for completion.
Rowan’s eyes bulged a bit as he was sure the man was just sent a mini flood of experience for this. Arthur was thrilled because it meant that the items could keep getting turned in as quickly as it was assigned as long as the same things had not been redeemed yet. This should work for anyone. Some people could greatly benefit from this. The tanner and Daniel for one. Daniel would be a bit harder since the food had to be accepted for completion before him handing it out for someone to eat, but they could give all the hides to the tanner, and when they brought them back, he could keep reassigning work orders as they were handed in until he accepted them all. That would prevent them from having to wait so long between turn-ins and work being completed. Arthur just needed to put out the word with these people.
Arthur put the cart back where Rowan usually kept it and bid Rowan farewell. It was getting late in the evening from all of their travels today, and he was tired. Entering the inn led him into the evening crowd. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought half the village must be in here eating. It was always a plus to see everyone together here. A few people came up to him and handed in some work orders, so he went ahead and reassigned new ones. He didn’t have time to mess with anything because he was dead tired. He walked into the back and took a quick bath in the old washtub. He cheated and used a bit of his weak flame to warm the water.
You have gained 30 experience in Fire Magic for successfully casting Weak Flame.
He got himself as clean as he could with a quick scrub and made his way to his room. His shirt and his boots came off before he passed smooth out on his bed.
Chapter 23
A Wall to Build
Arthur woke up the next morning feeling great. He made his way downstairs and saw the inn was once again crowded with people. The crowd was full of energy as he made his way through visiting with people. Corianne’s presence in the room was a relief. He walked up to her to discuss the hide situation with her.
“Hello, Corianne. How are you today?” Arthur asked.
“I am doing good, Arthur. I should have your first set of skins ready today.” She told him.
“That is fabulous news. As a matter of fact, I wanted to ask you about your process. If you did a lot of skins at once, would it slow you down any, or is a lot of your work just wait time?”
“I can do a lot all at once. Each one requires a bit of prep time before it can undergo the tanning process, but all in all, it would take about the same time for a whole group.” She explained.
“That is fantastic news. I found out yesterday that I can rapidly assign and accept work orders for completed work all at one time. For instance if I wanted to hand over a large bundle of furs to you and have you tan them all at the same time, when you bring them to turn them in I can create multiple small work orders and you can hand them in as I accept them or I can just assign one work order for all of them and accept them. As long as the skins have never been turned in for a work order, I can accept them as payment. I would like to give you all of our hides so you can get all of them going at once. I have one special hide that might take a bit longer, but it is for me.” Arthur told her.
“I can agree with that. I would like to build up a large influx since the time won’t take me any longer. What do you have for me to work with?” Corianne asked.
“I have six Timber Wolf furs, eight Night Stalker hides, and a Primal Night Stalker hide. The Primal is for me. I also have an assortment of smaller hides as well. I can give them all to you after you finish up your meal here.”
“That is a lot of hides to take care of, but I look forward to the challenge.” She told him.
“I look forward to getting the ones you need to turn in today. We are going to get to work on some fur clothing and leather armor.” He told her.
He waved to her as he walked from the table. Arthur decided now was a good time to address everyone in the room. He went to the bar and turned to face the crowd.
“Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” Arthur yelled.
Everyone around started to quiet down. Arthur took a quick scan of all of them and continued.
“Ladies and Gentleman. I appreciate all of your hard work to help bring this city back to life. We still need a lot of resources but are quickly working on getting what we need. I know many of you have been doing work orders already. I want to explain something about them. You can stockpile items to turn in. I can create custom work orders for you to turn in for larger amounts of the items, or I can keep assigning the same order over and over and accepting them as you hand them to me. The only stipulation is the items can’t have been turned in for any other work order. I also encourage people that have trade good of other kinds to approach me about it. If it is something I think the village can benefit from, I have no problem creating a work order on the spot so you can turn it in. Everyone keep up the good work and don’t hesitate to approach me if you have any questions.”
Arthur waved everyone back to their food and went off in search of Daniel. He found the man in the back tending to a big pot of boiling stew. Both of his apprentices were scurrying around gathering items and cutting up vegetables and meat to add to the food.
“That was a rather rousing speech, Arthur.” Daniel joked.
“I do try. How are things going for you?” Arthur asked.
“I am busier now than I have been in months. I am not sure whether I should thank you or curse you.” He told him.
“I am sure it is probably a bit of both. Need any help with anything here? I think I am going to focus on getting the wall started outside the village today. I was able to increase my mana pool a decent amount since I leveled up twice yesterday, so I plan on putting it to good use.” Arthur told him.
“That sounds far more important than anything I could ask you to do around here. Good luck with that. Do you have a few minutes, though?” Daniel asked.
“Of course, what do you need?”
“I did hear your speech, and I have a large pot of stew here that is ready to serve. Could you get us the experience for it?”
“Sure, let me get the original work orders for your apprentices turned in first.”
He had both of the apprentices serve up their meals and accepted theirs.
“How about I assign one work order for the whole pot and give it to you. Then the next one I assign to one of the girls and so on. It’s easier than one meal at a time and would give you large batches of experience.” Arthur explained.
“That sounds perfect.”
“How many servings of soup do you think are in that pot?” Arthur asked.
Daniel eyed it for a moment and told him, “I think there are around fifty in there.”
Arthur thought about it and created a work order for a cauldron of stew with fifty servings in it. He assigned it to Daniel and then accepted its completion. Daniels’s eyes widened a bit, and a smile crept on his face.
“I’ll be damned if that wasn’t a good amount of experience. Thank you, Arthur. That even helped me get a level.”
“Glad I could help. Let me know when the next fresh pot is ready and which girl will be getting it. I have to head out and get to work.”
Arthur made his way back through the inn and out the front door. Allendria was waiting for him outside the front of the building. She approached him and waved.
“What is the plan for the day?”
“I plan on getting to work on the defenses today. You are free to do whatever you want. I don’t think you have earth magic, so I doubt you can help.” Arthur told her.
“Do you mind if I tag along anyway? I don’t have anything that needs to be done here in town, and although the town is coming back from the edge of death, they are still not very warm to me yet.” She explained.
“I would never turn down your company Allendria. I just don’t want you to feel as if I am bossing you around. I still want you to do things that you want to do, I just might need your help and advice from time to time.”
“I truly appreciate it. This is what I would like to do, though, so let’s go. We have a long day ahead of us…well, at least you do.” She said with a chuckle.
Arthur didn’t want to continue that conversation because he knew, in the end, she would still win the quip war. They both took off down the road that led them northeast out of the city. That was the general direction the bandits were suspected of coming down, so he wanted to start his work here. He would need to start on each side of the road and see if there was any way he could make some kind of gatehouse. He wasn’t sure he could accomplish it, but if he could at least get the sides up, they may be able to use some wood and stones to make a makeshift top.
They made their way about two hundred yards out of town and decided it was far enough to start the wall. Arthur was hoping they could grow this town into a truly remarkable village, so he wanted to make sure they had enough room to expand inside the walls. He wasn’t sure this was the best plan, though. Starting closer to the city would help finish the wall a little faster. They could always build another wall further out in the future, but he wanted to do it right the first time.
He determined that he wanted the walls to be six feet tall. He genuinely wanted them ten feet or higher, but he knew that the walls would not be strong enough, structurally, made of dirt at that height. He would have to wait for the ability to work with stone. He created the bottom section of the walls by using three earthen wall spells side by side. He needed the base wider to hold the weight as the structure got taller. Due to this, he added another layer to the base for strength.
You have gained 360 experience in Earth Magic for successfully casting Earthen Wall (x6).
He was now looking at a section of the wall that was three feet deep, two-feet-tall, and three-feet-wide. Arthur thought it was a rather respectable-looking base. He decided to finish this section by doing two layers, two spells deep, and topping it off with one-layer of Earthen Wall. This would give him a piece of wall that’s base was three foot deep, and it slimmed to one foot wide at the top. It wasn’t a perfect wall, but it would be a way to delay people. The best part is he could always easily add layers on the back in a step fashion to increase its strength, and once he was able to use stone, he would be able to stack stone in the same manner and could even leave the original dirt wall inside for solidity. He decided to hold off on worrying about his talent points.
You have gained 360 experience in Earth Magic for successfully casting Earthen Wall (x6).
This first section of the wall ended up costing him 240 mana total. That was for one three-foot part. At that pace, he would never finish this wall. It took him about ten minutes to get it all laid out, so he had already regenerated around 170 mana. This was still going to be a slow process. He decided to lay a base for a more significant part of the wall and start laying out where the wall was going to go. He decided he would just do a single spell and link them together to form a short foot tall section. Once he had the wall laid out for a distance, he could regenerate some mana and come lay another layer beside it until he finished each piece of the wall. He was able to get nine more Earthen Wall spells cast in an unbroken line away from his original finished piece. It was a twenty-seven-foot span along the field that was only a foot tall and a foot deep, but it gave him a sense of accomplishment.
You have gained 540 experience in Earth Magic for successfully casting Earthen Wall (x9).
Congratulations, you have reached level 6 in Earth Magic. Increases the effect of your earth magic spells by 15%. Not tired of this skill yet?
Congratulations, you have unlocked Mastery level 2 for Earthen Wall. The mana cost for this spell has decreased by 5.
That was more welcome news. Arthur wasn’t entirely sure what affected the mastery level of a spell but was sure it had something to do with the number of times it was used. He wouldn’t complain about the spell cost being reduced because it would help him cast even more spells.
He looked around the area and admired some of his surroundings. The place itself seemed pretty barren with yellow grasses everywhere. He hoped this was the dry season, and this place was in the dead of summer. It would be nice to see it lush and green. He turned to Allendria, who had been watching him and admired her as well. She was looking toward the forest to the south of them. The sun on her face perfectly reflected in her eyes. Her hair was stunning as it shimmered a dull gray.
“Allendria,” Arthur called to her.
She turned to look at him, “Yes, Arthur?”
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but would you tell me a bit more about yourself? I know you are only here to repay a debt and settle an agreement between us, but I would still like to know you better. It also is a pleasant way to pass the time while I wait for my mana to regenerate.” Arthur said.
“Oh, so now I am just a way to kill time for you, huh? Is that all you see in me? Is all I am good at throwing fireballs and wasting downtime?” She said to him with heat in her voice.
Arthur stumbled for a second and stuttered out his first few words, “No… of course not… I did not mean to upset you, Allendria I just truly wanted to chat.” He said quickly. She looked at him for a moment with a fierce look on her face, and then a smile slowly crept onto her face, and she burst out laughing.
“I am sorry, Arthur, I couldn’t help but do that. It was too good a chance to pass up. Of course, you can ask me anything you want.”
“Remind me never to truly upset you. Your mock anger was bad enough. I just wanted to know why you were in the forest alone when we found you, and once you were saved, why didn’t you want to return home?”
She looked disturbed for a moment and let out a sigh. “I suppose it won’t hurt to tell you a bit of the story, at least. My Uncle is a cruel man. The Dark Elves have been going through some very rough political infighting recently, and it has caused much stress on our people. My Uncle has been trying to influence this to favor him pitting him directly against my father and me. I fled because my Uncle had all but secured his victory, and I knew it would spell bad tidings for me. I do not wish to go back to how things are there now.”
“Is there anything I can do to help? I know I don’t have much to offer in this small village, but I will help if I can.” Arthur told her honestly.
“I appreciate the thought Arthur, but you are correct in saying it isn’t much you could offer. Right now, you are doing exactly what I need from you. You are giving me a place to be with a purpose. I have needed this more than anything.” She told him.
Arthur decided he was going to go for broke here and take a shot. Taking a step toward her, he reached out and tucked a stray section of her hair behind her delicate left ear and whispered to her, “If you ever need the knight in shining armor, I will be there for you.”
The idea of going in for a kiss was dismissed. Arthur didn’t want things to go wrong if it wasn’t received well, so instead, he reached down, grabbed her hand, and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it.
Her skin turned a color shade Arthur wasn’t sure was possible in what he could only assume was a blush. The purple color of her skin marked with a flush of red turned her an almost magenta color. She lowered her eyes and told him, “Thank you, Arthur. I might take you up on that offer one day.”
The feel of her hand in his made his heart soar, and he didn’t want that feeling to end. Instead of making a fatal mistake
, he decided to start a slow walk around the area, but he kept her hand in his as they walked.
He pointed out different locations and his ideas for different places and what he wanted to do with the town. They had been walking around for a bit when he was surprised to realize he was back to full mana again. He hadn’t even realized it because the time had flown by with Allendria.
They made their way back to the area he had started, and he turned to her and asked her to give him a moment, and they would resume their trip. He decided to start laying the single line on the other side of the road with his current mana, so he set about walking the meandering path the wall would take while he cast his spells. With the time it took him, he was able to get a full twenty-two earthen wall spells off before he was out of mana again.
You have gained 1320 experience in Earth Magic for successfully casting Earthen Wall (x22).
Arthur was thrilled about the idea of accessing talent points for his Earth Magic now that he had even more of them, but when he turned and looked at Allendria, her smile made all thoughts of that fly out the window. He decided that he could wait because he was not going to lose the chance to spend time with this beauty alone. She already had her hand out toward him as he approached her, so he took it quickly, and they resumed their casual stroll.
They talked about little things here and there. Arthur learned a few details about the Dark Elves, most of it revolving around their aggressive and magical nature. Allendria had a younger sister, and her mother had died a few years before. Arthur told her about being an orphan but being adopted by a kind family who treated him like their flesh and blood son. He spoke about some of his adventures as a kid but was careful to avoid anything that might give away the fact he wasn’t from this world.
Quicker than he expected, he was back to full mana again. They went back to the wall he had worked on last time and connected a second row to the first one to make the wall two-foot deep now. He did this for another full twenty casts of the spell.
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