“Indeed,” Quentin nodded in acknowledgement between two bites. “The rest of us weren’t slacking or either you know. We managed to create a simple farm plot and planted all the seeds we brought back from Escroft.”

“After that, we decided to split the group into three teams,” Amanda added. “One group was spamming that ‘lesser' growth-boosting spell on the crops we planted while the second team did the same with the Landwaker. The third team kept themselves busy cleansing the area on the other side of the river, making sure that it was ready to be used to expand the village.”

“How long do you think it will take for the crops to grow large enough for harvesting?” The spell weaver asked from the wannabe druid.

“With all of us working together I’d say two days at best.”

“That soon, huh? Will we be able to get more seeds out of them though?” Mary looked at the wood elf with an obvious surprise.

“Of course,” Letty nodded. “Leave that to me. I’ll collect enough to grow new crops after the soil gets fertilized again.”

“I could upgrade some of the seeds if you want,” Regis offered. “I doubt anyone would say no to higher quality ingredients.”

“Okay.” She nodded enthusiastically as the group finished their lunch.

“Onto the other important topic,” Valerie cleared her throat. “When do you think we should go back to Hunor to recruit more people?”

“That’s a good question,” Sophie agreed. “We’ll need a lot of help if we want to turn this place into an actual home.”

“It has to be after the first harvest,” Osmond stated, earning a few agreeing nods. “We won’t be able to bring along food supplies as well, since it’s in high demand pretty much everywhere.”

“That leaves us with two days,” Cruz hummed. “Should be enough time clean up and fix a couple of houses in the village.”

“We’ll have to be selective when recruiting,” Fabien shared his thoughts. “We have to decide what’s the most needed kind of workforce right now.”

“A carpenter,” Regis stated immediately. “And a potter.”

“We need someone to help Letty take care of the plants and harvest them.” Sophie added.

“We also need a few more guards,” Quentin reminded the others. “We can’t be everywhere at the same time after all.”

“Do you think the people from the ninth guard squad would be willing to leave Hunor and come with us?”

“Only one way to find out,” the paladin sighed as he turned towards the dark elf. “But before that, you’ll have to prioritize fixing up the market square and the streets first. We can’t leave it like this, especially not if we want people to live here.”

“Fine,” Regis agreed. “I’ll fix them up today. You should clear out the houses you want the new arrivals to move into.”

“All in agreement then?” Sophie chirped with a wide smile as the group stood up from the table.

“Yep.” They noted before heading out to do their jobs.

Regis left the inn with his gaze cast down, scanning the ground to see what needed to be done. There was a lot to do. The ground on the market square was uneven and broken in some areas with basketball-sized potholes. The cobblestone dotting the ground was crumbling apart, not making it any easier for him. He decided to start right from the doorstep of the inn.

Moving on two square metres at a time, he flattened the ground using terraforming while creating condensed earth tiles that made for a uniform-looking pavement. He then turned the tiles into sandstone, giving them a relatively bright colour. The circular area around the Landwaker’s barrier was then paved with larger and more round-looking condensed earth tiles which he turned into white marble. Despite it being a new form of experimentation, the spell weaver still took his task seriously, finishing up the roadwork of the market square in about two hours.

“You sure didn’t half-ass this one.” Amanda let out a whistle as the group returned from fixing up a couple of houses.

“It’s pretty,” Sophie noted as she walked over to where the smithy was, noticing the different coloured stones there. “Why are the stones different here, and why is there a dirt line?”

“That’s where I will raise the new wall for Amanda’s smithy. I figured that she would need some proper hard stone floor.”

“Granite,” the tall blacksmith crouched down to touch the dark stone tiles. “That should hold out quite nicely. The space you marked out would also be plenty enough for my tools and workbenches. What about the walls?”

“I wanted to fix up the market square first and then build a proper road towards the gates. I also wanted you to be here so that you can decide where you want your windows to be.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I guess having an architect mage in the team does have its advantages.” Valerie jabbed the spell weaver slightly in the side.

“If nothing else,” her brother patted the dark elf on the shoulder. “We get to save a lot of money on construction work.”

“Until I hand in the bills.” Regis jabbed back verbally before heading over to the side of the market that led towards the gates.

“Good one pal,” Fabien chuckled before whispering over to his sister. “He was joking, right?”

“I mean, he is the lord of this region,” Amanda shrugged. “It’s kind of his job to keep this place up and running.”

Regis was about to continue with the arcane roadwork when a gentle tap on his shoulder snapped him out of his stoic mind state.

“Are you okay?” Quentin asked as he looked him in the eyes.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know. You just seemed distracted.”

“I have a couple of things on my mind,” the dark elf sighed. “You know, a part of me always wanted to be an architect, so I’m kind of having a blast with all this magic construction stuff.”

“But?”

“I only start to realize it now when I’m doing it that I might have sucked as an architect. I keep making tiny mistakes that add up to a lot I have to fix when double-checking things. It’s a lot of work, and a lot of responsibility.”

“It always is,” the paladin nodded. “But you’re doing fine so far.”

“It’s not the now I’m worried about.”

“And you shouldn’t worry about the future either. None of us can predict it. We can only prepare for it to the best four capabilities.”

“You do know that sounded corny as hell, right?”

“I know,” Quentin laughed. “Anyway; just keep your chin up.”

“You coming handsome?” Valerie’s voice interrupted their chat, earning a wry smile from Regis.

“You better go before the missus starts yelling.”

“The what now?”

“Just get going, dumbass.” He shook his head before the ground ahead of him started to change, forming into unison tiles of hardened soil.

The path towards the original village gate took roughly an hour to build, but the dark elf kept on going toward the point where the new granite outer wall was. Several hours later a single well-built road cut through the land, a weary figure walking along its mild-coloured surface. A sense of pride bloomed in the spell weaver as he looked at the densely packed square sandstone pavement, but there was still plenty to do. Once back at the market square, he headed out in the opposite direction of where he came from, conjuring the same quality road towards the other gate of the village.

It was the first time he had a proper look at the area. A rundown stable and a small storehouse-like building caught his attention first. The gate of the village was broken off its hinges, leaving only a broken arch that lead towards the snowy mountains in the distance. A broken yet still eye-catching carriage stood beside the stables, drawing in his gaze. ‘That should have belonged to someone important.’ He thought as he walked closer. Despite the visible wear and tear, it was a well-made carriage, one that would usually be owned by a nobleman.

There were no family crests present on it, nor did he find anything inside that would provide a clue as to who the owner was. ‘I guess we’ll keep it then.’ Regis thought as he entered the rundown stables. He was sure that his companions had already cleansed the area since he didn’t feel any malicious or corrupted energy, but the dark and damp stables still gave him the chills as he walked about, seeing large patches of ash where the horses once were. The small warehouse on the other side of the road was also empty except for a couple of rotting wooden crates that seemed to have been emptied of their contents long ago. ‘Alright let's just fix the gate for now.’

He sighed as he walked over to the broken gates that lay shattered on the ground. Something big broke through them while trying to leave the village. Regis had no idea what it was, but judging from the claw marks left on the ground, he imagined it might have been a fully grown bear. The poor creature must have braved entering the village, only to get attacked by the wraiths that besieged him and his companions.

The beast must have found it better to flee, smashing apart the already weak gates in the process. He raised his hand towards the shattered pieces while chanting the spell required to mend them. After several tries, a meditation session and yet another round of spells, the broken pieces slowly began floating back to their place where they fused back together. The old and broken arch of the gate also repaired itself and a good hour later this part of the village was closed and relatively protected as well. Regis let out a weary sigh and headed back to the market square followed by the slowly setting sun. When he got back to the square, he was greeted by Mary, the young woman carrying a pair of buckets filled with water.

“Let me help you with that.” The dark elf offered as he took the buckets from her.

“Thanks.” She accepted the help and the two walked over to the inn.

“Where are the others?” Regis asked as he noticed the eerie silence that reigned over the market.

“They went out to help Letty’s team with the crops,” the young woman stated. “Everyone agreed that the sooner we can harvest the first batch, the better.”

“Why didn’t you go with them?”

“I wanted to stay behind and cook a proper meal for everyone. You would be surprised how far a good bowl of soup could go. Not to mention that there’s still plenty to clean around the inn.”

“You seem to like the idea of running the place with Fabien.” The spell weaver teased Mary, watching her blush as she heard the remark.

“It’s not a bad life you know. My mother owns a bread and breakfast place, so I’m pretty much used to the stuff.”

“What about your dream of becoming an artist?” The dark elf asked.

“No one says I can’t do both. It would have been challenging before, but now that I have magic, it’s a whole different story.”

“I can imagine that,” Regis nodded. “If anyone would have told me before that one day I would be able to create walls and other structures just by imagining them and willing them into existence, I would have laughed in their face. Yet today I paved the entire market square by myself, along with the roads leading out of the village using magic.”

“And they look pretty too.” Mary noted with a smile.

“They do,” the spell weaver nodded with obvious pride. “Now I just have to encircle the entire village with the same quality wall.”

“Won’t it be a town by then?” the young woman asked. “I mean, it might have been a village at its current size, but if it gets expanded out to the line you drew up with houses and shops and whatnot, it would be big enough to be considered a small town.”

“I don’t know if we’ll ever have the population size to make it a town, but I do aim to make sure that the necessary amenities and infrastructure are built out properly.”

“So, a small town.” Mary deduced with a smile.

“I guess. Anyway, I should do some more work on the streets around the market square while there’s still some light left.”

“Okay, just don’t forget that dinner will be ready in an hour or so.”

“Sure.” The dark elf nodded before heading back outside.

He spent the next hour conjuring condensed earth tiles on the path that circled the buildings of the market square. He then turned all of it into sandstone to finalize his work.

“Regis,” he heard Amanda call out to him. “Dinner is about to be ready.”

“Already? It wasn’t even an... hour.” The spell weaver grumbled as he realized that it was already dark and the only reason he didn’t notice it before was the small glowing butterfly he conjured along the way.

“Looks like you got into the whole road work thing,” the blacksmith noted as they headed back to the inn. “Will you continue tomorrow, or will it be the wall’s turn?”

“I fixed up the streets closest to the square and the ones leading out of the village, so I think it’s better to focus on the wall now.”

“I know it’s important and all, but you should spare some time for yourself as well. When was the last time you practised combat or magic or just took a breather in general?”

“That’s not the kind of luxury...”

“Making time for yourself is important too. Otherwise, you’ll burn out.”

“Fine,” Regis relented. “I’ll make sure to slip in a few hours off rest between tomorrow’s work schedule.”

“How generous of you.” The tall woman chuckled as they entered the inn, joining the others at the dinner table.

“How’s it going with the roads?” Quentin asked near immediately when the two sat down.

“The market and the street circling around it is done, along with the main street leading through to both gates. How are the crops coming along?”

“They should be fully grown by tomorrow nightfall if we keep going on like today,” Letty answered happily while the others let out a weary sigh. “We should be able to harvest the morning after tomorrow. It would take another day or so until the first batch of potion ingredients grow to their full potency though.”