I took my party to the anchor square on the Hill and moved back to the chamber to pick the dwarf. Noornor was calmer now.

"Well, Noornor, for better or worse, I will take you to your new home. I can promise you all the inhabitants there are friendly, albeit a little strange. Don't worry. All the monsters are friendly... {Teleport}!" I teleport with him. From the chamber to the hill there are about a day of hiking in the mountains and crossing forests. Two hours if there were a level, plain road. But the mana I spent was enough to ferry ten people to Colchester.

We arrive on the stone slab that hides the copper magical formation of the permanent anchor underneath, to be greeted by a lot of smiling... faces.

The dwarf kid was only able to answer after the transfer, "What monsters?"

"Welcome to my friendly monster village!"

He was more bewildered than scared. "Oh, these monsters. Right. By the beard of the Forgelord! Monsters!"

"You might think it never gets old, Beowulf, but please explain it before bringing people here!" Marcy scolds me.

Helen runs to greet the young dwarf, "You must be Noornor, right? Welcome! I'm Helen and this is Willow Hill! You are safe here."

"And there are monsters." Said the fixed-minded dwarf.

"Not only monsters but mostly monsters. The other lady over there is Marcy, and the one with the white wings is Zahariel."

"And this is Lady Shraaizar. She is my right hand here in this settlement and your guide. Yes, she is a Crested Naga."

"Noornor, we of Willow Hill welcome you. Ressst assssured that we mean no harm. Come, I will introduce you to our inhabitants and show you where you will live."

"But Beowulf..."

"Noornor, We have to go and cover up for you. I will come back tonight to talk to you. Be brave and breathe in the air of the Hill with open eyes and heart. Shraaizar, get him a card. Everyone, it is time to build a fort." I wonder why am I making a stone fort for a guy I don't like while my own home has a wooden palisade. Well, maybe I'll make one for myself too.

We wave Noornor goodbye and teleport to the outskirts of the hive. The place I taught Marcy how to make magic arrows. "The fort will be southeast from here in a way to intercept demons attempting to reach the dungeon. I will go to town to meet the Count, please clean the area of monsters and start flattening the terrain."

Marcy moves to demand a kiss and tell me these parting words, "Right. Don't forget the gold!"

"Don't worry. I'll make you swim in the thing." And I instantly regret saying that. Marcy is one to bind me to the wildest promises. "Teleport!"

From the warehouse to flying invisible to the Count's estate. There was no wait this time. I was soon brought to the Count's presence.

"Beowulf, it is terrible!"

"Count Colchester, what happened?" As if I didn't know.

"The demons slaughtered the transport that was bringing the boy and killed everyone. Only a handful survived from over fifty men!" Someone is lying somewhere.

"Well, I think it is indeed bad, but not terrible. But if I am going to cover for the loss of the boy, we have to renegotiate the price. I will have to use a unique artifact I found in my travels."

"The soldiers are scheduled to arrive in five days! The king must not know of this failure. What is the price for that unique artifact?"

"I had it appraised for ten thousand gold coins. It is a relic from the ancient god war. The bloody thing has over seventy hundred years of age. But it is well worth it. It can function as a guild for the troops with the aid of custom cards, and control the magic levels too. I think it was the core of a fort for the ancient war, as it depicts some scenes. It is quite the work of art in itself."

The count bites his fingernail, "Ten thousand is too much. It is almost..."

"I can make six for my friend Colchester."

And then he tries to bargain a bit, "Five, please. It is the most I can spare."

"Deal. Five thousand for the artifact besides the gold for the fort. And once it is activated, it cannot be moved."

The count squirms and grimaces, but in the end, the gold is paid. I think it can't be made into a swimming pool, but a bathtub. I place the gold bags in my rucksack and from there to the item box. It looks like as if the rucksack is bottomless.

"Please Beowulf, you have to finish it in time. Where is the artifact?"

"It is in my safe house. I'll go get it and tomorrow we will go there to inaugurate the thing. I'm going to the construction site now, excuse me. Time is of the essence."

"Yes! Farewell, Hero!"

I teleport back to the warehouse. I need to make a small announcement. I get a barrel of honey and go to the Merchant Association. It didn't take long to find Borus.

"Beowulf, welcome. I hope you did not come to snatch more merchants away. We have very little people."

"No, Borus. I am here to sell my last barrel of Dungeon Golden Treasure. We are moving the dungeon goods storage to Mirfield. From now on, anyone that wants to buy this honey will have to visit Mirfield." Some merchants hear my talk and prop their ears.

"It is very unfortunate, but with the fortress, there is a chance that the fifth level can be reached and your monopoly, broken. I'll take it for the standard price."

"I did not intend to rip off an old friend. We have a deal." Borus took a bag of gold, took a few gold coins from it and passed it over. Appraise money told me it is 200 gold coins.

"Borus, do you deal with weapons?"

"I deal with the profit. The shape profit has before becoming coin is of little concern."

"I have a gift for you then. I have these weapons here, I'd like you to have them." And I dump several of the more grim-looking demon weapons on him. Not literally. I am a mindful monster. There are about thirty swords. "They are as ugly as a drunk's ass, but the craftsmanship is superb. Use them as you will."

"Indeed they are terrifying. But where did you get so many weapons." The attention of everyone in the association is on us.

"I slaughtered a demon army that was crossing north past Barnsley. They were aiming for the dungeon for what nefarious purposes I cannot fathom. But until next time, my most excellent business partner."

"Farewell. I'll profit greatly from your gifts!"

"So are my wishes friend. Good profits! {Teleport}!"

I fly up and toss some lava bombs at random bug hives on the way. The building doesn't use too much mana, just time and focus.

I reach the place and it was already cleared. I'm using Fort Gehenna as a model because I have no idea how a medieval structure should be. Instead of a hexagonal wall, I'm going for a pentagonal one. On each corner a round tower with three pavements. The wall will be ten feet thick with a crenelated walkway on it. Inside a keep and barracks for 400 troops, a mess hall, and stables. Four barracks for 100 soldiers measuring 170 feet wide, 30 feet long, and a slanted roof going from twenty feet to twelve feet tall. It might get cold in winter, but a proper airflow will improve living conditions. The stables will have accommodations for fifty horses, each in a luxurious five by eight feet bay. All in all the stables have roughly the same size as the barracks. Each building will go near a wall, with room to maneuver. The walls will be 250 feet long each section. And in the middle, a two-story keep measuring sixty feet on each side. Each building has latrines and a bath chamber.

Even with the experience of working on the guild, it took us two days to finish it. And just in time.

"Well, Count Colchester, I hope the fort is to your liking."

"It is splendid! But the accommodations look too big for just four hundred soldiers."

"I think the troops that will be risking their lives should have room. But your wisdom surpasses mine."

"And the artifact?"

"It is here. I take a dodecahedron from a chest. Come, we should install it in the basement."

The Count and I move through a staircase I will block later and reach a small ten by ten room. There is a pedestal there and I place the crystal.

"I will activate it now." A big lie. It is already active. I will just set it up.

Fortress Core (S):

Generates an ellipsoidal field with a small radius of Magic x 4 feet. Fortress is one of the foci, dungeon entrance is another.

Drains ambient magic to the bare minimum in this field.

Areas exposed to the open sky are always illuminated to a low-light-level equivalent of a full moon.

Creates a pillar of light 400 feet tall over any demon that enters its field, unless it is in a party or possessed by Grendel.

Allows those with synched fortress cards to change jobs freely.

Restricts list of available jobs (customizable).

Increases hardness and HP of fortress walls and stone foundations by 10x

Repairs fortress walls using MP.

Periodically drains 1 HP from any fungus or bug inside the field. Converts to MP for the core.

Casts {Flash Freeze} on any creature attacking the core, the companion slab or the outer walls.

Casts {Healing} on any member of people races with less than 20% HP.

Casts {Cleanse} on any member of people races with [Disease] or [Poison] abnormal status.

Drains the MP necessary for the casting from the recipient of the spell up to just before Exhaustion state. Uses own stores if drained MP is not enough. The drain is resisted by Magic in the case of Flash Freeze.

Drains 5% of max MP from any creature inside the field whenever the MP pool is full.

The core is indestructible and unmoveable. Soulbound to Grendel. The whole field acts as a permanent anchor for Grendel.

Any demon trying to sneak within one mile of this fortress is bound to have a nasty surprise.

"Amazing. I can feel the power." No. What you can feel is the core draining small amounts of your MP because your pool is full. But I won't correct your bewilderment. One good thing is that nobody stationed in this fortress will have athlete's foot, the bane of medieval armies.

"Yes, Now we should leave this room." And I go behind you, transmuting all the air in the room to earth. And seal the passage using more stone from the walls. One foot thick. The core is unmovable but I can take it into my item box if relations with the human realm get sour.

I get a crystal slab that is an accessory to the core and place it over a pedestal in the entrance hallway. "This crystal slab should be used by the commander of the fortress. You can use these cards here to issue a badge to the stationed soldiers with a drop of blood. Like this, take this pin. Now place the card over the slab and make a small puncture on your finger. Smear a bit of blood on the card."

The count does as asked and the card glows. "What should I do now?"

"Using the card, try to change jobs just like the guild's job-changing crystal." The list of jobs available can be customized, but I restricted it to the jobs up to the 4th tier that is available in the normal guild.

"Amazing. The list of jobs appears!"

"I have 50 cards here. They are reusable, so just hand over cards to high officers. The soldiers and adventurers should just come and use the card on the slab. Also, if you pour MP on the slab it will display the jobs of all cardholders in sight. The commander can use it to manage the jobs of his troops."

We move to the balcony of the keep overseeing the courtyard and the Count is amazed, "Wonderful. This is more than I thought it would be. As expected of such an exquisite ancient artifact."

We stop to look at the soldiers that arrived. Colchester brought several woodworkers and carts of lumber to build the furniture and the doors required to make the place habitable.

"And with this I consider my job done. It is time for your speech to the troops."

I leave the Count to make his speech and teleport out.

Four more loose ends tied up. Getting merchants interested in going to Mirfield, guarding the dungeon against the demons, getting a foothold around Ascot northern kingdom's nobility and making them forget that Noornor ever existed.

A ton of others to go.