Although the loyalty of the monsters I called were a root of an endless questioning, I decided to drop the matter. If I were the one creating them, I could just give a postulate and say they inherently respect their creator. But the matter was much more complicated as I was merely bringing them here from a place they did not remember (and, by the way, none of the new people still remembered where they came from).

In the following days, I tried calling evolved goblins and orcs through the gate, but I was unsuccessful. I assume I am only able to call unevolved monsters with low skills, or the ones I call lose their evolution and abilities when they pass through the gate. Either way, this explains why all the ogres I called could only performer beginner magic despite belonging to a race known for their magical and physical expertise. This also goes to explain why Gobo’s magic was relatively weak in the beginning although he was able to further his skills in a matter of weeks. Surely, if he was able to practice his skills in wherever he came from, or was aware of them, he would already have a much better expertise before being called.

Most of the monsters I called were giths and hobgoblins with only a handful of them being trolls and even less being ogres. Indeed, there were at least 100 giths and 80 hobgoblins, while there were only 9 trolls and 5 ogres. Was it that the rarity of monsters was reflected in my magic or wherever they came from some of the monsters were similarly rare?

All five of the ogres could use magic, yet they all had different types. Only two of them, Lesta and Triste used offensive magic. Lesta was a lean, muscular man with long, messy dark-brown hair. His horn, like the other ogres, was painted in a very dark shade of brown, complimenting his hair. He was around as tall as me. Triste, had similarly brown hair and a horn, yet was much paler than Lesta. She was neither as lean as Lesta, nor was tall. She had a rather sweet appearance, nothing similar to the intimidating look of Lesta.

Both Lesta and Triste were magic users, but that was not all there was to their abilities: they were also fighters. They knew they were fighters like Gobo knew he was a shaman. Though, from their stance and moves, one could only assume that they were fierce fighters. The only problem was that they did not know what weapon they used. Maybe, it was that they had forgotten their weapon wielding skills like they have forgotten their memories and magic skills. Either way, they needed weapons. Once Lesta and Triste got their hands on their weapons, I was sure that they could perfect fighting skills in no time.

Good news came when one of the dark elves entered my room in excitement:

“Chief, we think we found an iron deposit. There is a huge cave to the East of here, beyond the planned area for expansion of Harran. The entrance to the cave is narrow and was hidden, but we should be able to widen it with a little bit of work. What should we do?”

Everything is going good except for the magic exhaustion I keep suffering from. A huge cave should solve most our problems and considering that there is a chance that it actually is an iron deposit. Maybe we should relocate the expansion area to farther East near the cave.

“How big is this cave?”

“We were not able to explore it expansively, but the area we explored should be able to accommodate our entire population. It might be a cave system as there are passages to deeper parts – that is also why we think it might be an iron deposit below.”

“I see, that is good news indeed! But, are you sure it is uninhabited?”

“We were not able to spot any recent traces of movement around the entrance and the passages that lead to deeper areas.”

“Just in case, we need to explore the cave more in depth before making a decision. Take some dark elves who have mining experience, along with hundred goblins and twenty giths with you to help with exploring. Take the trolls too, since we cannot house them in the buildings – they are just too big. They can guard the entrance until the entrance is widened enough to let them pass through.”

“Yes, Chief.”

If the cave is indeed big enough to house our entire population, another good idea would be to send in half of Harren’s population. Essentially, because we have an increasing population, and because Harren will expand to East, it makes total sense that expansion has two originating points: the current Harren and the newly explored cave. Also, if I divide the population into two, I would be able to get rid of the overpopulation problem for the time being while also enabling Harren to develop a trade route. Until we have enough population to found another city, the current Harren and the cave would also function as cities. If they were not close enough to later merge, the expansion plan could be revised as a city founding one. For now, though, I am planning to refer to the cave as the Harren Cave.