With the kitchen alteration finished, Regis left the inn and headed over to the smithy where he repeated the process with the forge, turning it into a brand-new arcane variant.

“Looks good,” Amanda noted as she returned along with Sophie. “I knew you took enchanting seriously, but this looks far better than I imagined it would.”

“How strong is it?” The sun elf asked the important question.

“I started with a ‘trash’ grade for now, along with a hollow arcana stone that can hold a hundred points of arcana. It has three settings you could use, so you’ll have to experiment with it first to see how it feels. It’s supposed to be able to smelt iron on the highest mode, but you’ll have to experiment with it a bit later on. If you think it’s too weak or want it to be able to work with higher-grade metals, I’ll upgrade the enchantment and the crystals later on.”

“Thanks,” the tall blacksmith said as she walked beside her forge, taking a better look at the faintly glowing runes. “I’ll try it out as soon as I get some materials to work with. As for the walls…”

“Quentin suggested we’d get a carpenter, so we could get some woodwork done. I do have a skill book for that, but I’m not sure if they work the same. Once we get someone capable, they’ll make the wooden beams and roofing. I could create roof tiles from sandstone or Bray might make them from clay.”

“Okay,” Amanda nodded with a surprisingly gentle smile. “We’ll see how it goes later. You should take a breather though. You look worn out.”

“I’m fine,” the dark elf waved away her concerns with a huff. “I just need a minute to clear my head. Nothing a bit of meditation wouldn’t fix.”

“If you say so,” she sighed. “Just don’t overwork yourself.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t get rid of me that easily.”

“We should go back to the others,” Sophie noted as she kept looking at Amanda and Regis. “The sooner we can make the crops mature, the better.”

“Go on then,” Regis turned and walked away. “I’ll just take a small nap beside the Landwaker.”

“Okay. See you later.” The sun elf chirped as the two walked away.

Regis walked over to the barrier and opened it for a moment to cross over it. He sat down on the ground beside the mystical tree that was now almost as tall as he was. He used his remaining arcana to cast the ‘growth boost’ spell twice on the tree before he began to meditate. Sometimes later when he opened his eyes again, he felt refreshed, his mind clear and rested. ‘I guess you already have some benefits.’ He thought as he looked at the young tree.

After burning through his arcana reserves once more to cast the ‘growth boost’ spell several times, he rested a bit more and left the village so that he could continue working on the outer wall. The gate was already finished along with another section, so he only had to focus on adding to the wall. hours trickled by with the monotone process of raising condensed earth walls, and then turning them into granite.

By the time the sun was about to vanish behind the mountains, another sixty meters long section got built, proving that his slowly increasing mastery over his spells did indeed make things go faster. With the sunlight waning, Regis headed back to the village, finding his friends gathered around the Landwaker that was at least a head and a half taller than when he left. Its leaves glowed with a faint light that seemed to switch between a myriad of different colours, brightening up the market square in the process.

“Looks like our master architect decided to finally come home.” Cruz said aloud as she noticed the dark elf approaching.

“It was getting too dark to keep on working,” he remarked. “I see you lot found yourself a new evening group activity.”

“Most of us have already mastered the ‘lesser growth boost’ spell,” Sophie explained. “And we managed to evolve it into a ‘minor growth boost’ spell. We figured that it would be for the best if we spent an hour or so helping the Landwaker grow every evening.”

“It sure grew since the early afternoon.” Regis noted as he joined his companions, sitting on a still empty spot on the ground beside the tree.

“The bigger it gets the slower it will grow,” Fabien sighed. “But at least we can offset that a bit with the higher-ranked spell.”

“We will have to do this for at least a week or two before the tree can start bearing fruits.”

“Hopefully it will begin channelling arcana into the air before that,” Osmond expressed his feelings. “We need that doubled arcana regeneration to be effective around here.”

“I would already be happy if it started growing fruits,” Mary said with a yearnful look in her eyes. “What kind of tree is it anyway?”

“It's an apple tree.” Letty stated.

“It kind of reminds me of an oak tree to be honest.” Valerie admitted.

“The shape of the tree might resemble that of an oak’s,” Regis looked at the branches and the glowing leaves. “But it will still bear apples.”

“Magic apples at that,” Fabien added. “I wonder what special effects an apple pie made from the Landwaker's fruit would have.”

“We’ll first have to see what effects the fruit themselves will have. I used an arcana and a health regeneration potion during its creation along with plenty of arcanite stones. If everything goes well, the tree should have the trait that allows it to grow fruits with regeneration boosting effects.”

“The fruits would work as an arcana or a health potion of sorts?” Sophie asked.

“They should also satiate one’s hunger and make them feel rested,” Osmond noted. “That’s supposed to be something that all Landwaker fruits do.”

“Now we just have to wait and see.” Quentin sighed as he cast the ‘growth boost’ spell on the trunk of the tree.

“Are the crops ready for harvest?” The spell weaver turned the conversation toward the important matter.

“They are,” Letty said with obvious pride. “The alchemical plants even grew a bit bigger than their normal counterparts would. “After we harvest them tomorrow, I’d like to take as many seeds and roots for planting as possible. Could you...”

“Upgrade their quality?” Regis finished her question. “Sure. Just remember that it's a five-for-one ratio when it comes to quality enhancement. You might end up with low numbers.”

“The ‘growth boost’ spell might make them grow faster and a bit larger, but it won’t affect their quality,” Osmond noted. “You should upgrade them once and the seeds taken from the next harvest would stay the same quality, right? Then Letty can get those and you can upgrade those further.”

“That way we could end up with ‘excellent’ quality crops in a few weeks,” Quentin deduced. “Clever.”

“High-quality crops are the basis of high-quality food.” Fabien reminded his friends.

“It can also be sold for a lot of money if you find the right buyer.” Amanda added.

“I doubt we’ll be able to do that for a while,” Fabien argued. “Just feeding our group takes a lot of supplies, let alone providing for another dozen or two.

“We’ll see about that when the time comes,” Regis sighed as he looked at the slowly growing Landwaker. “Let’s just enjoy the moment of peace, shall we?”

“Someone turned sappy.”

“Is it that bad to want to sit down and enjoy this a bit longer? We’ve been fighting and travelling for a while now and hell knows what’s ahead of us.”

“This is nice,” Letty agreed as she cast another ‘growth boost’ spell on the tree. “I can’t wait to see what the tree will look like when it fully grows.”

“Without your camouflaging spell? I guess it will be majestic.” Quentin praised the prismatic tree.

“Alright, that’s enough for tonight,” Cruz stood up from the ground. “We should get something for dinner and turn in for the night.”

“Agreed.” Osmond followed her example.

The outlanders headed back to the inn where a simple meal of smoked fish and cooked vegetables awaited them. They ate in a surprisingly sombre mood, finishing rather quickly before taking turns in their makeshift bathroom.

“If we’re going to live here,” Valerie sighed. “We need to make a proper bath. Using that tiny wooden tub is awkward.”

“We’ll have to build a lot of things,” Fabien noted. “At least I got my arcane stove.”

“Night everyone.” Regis said as he left for his room, collapsing on his bed right after taking off his clothes.

He woke up with a start deep into the night, clutching at his chest with no air reaching his lungs. Finally, the agonized gasps went by as his eyes gained clarity once again, the phantom pain in his chest easing up as air finally filled his nostrils.

“What the hell?” he muttered, the memory of his death back in Hunor resurfacing in his mind as he remembered the fragments of his nightmare. “I haven’t dreamt about that in a long while.”

He couldn’t make any sense of why the painful memory would resurface now of all times, but as he fell back onto his bed, he started thinking. Was it a premonition of sorts about them returning to Hunor, or was it just a suppressed trauma resurfacing due to him thinking of going back there? There were no answers, only more questions, but he was too weary to keep thinking. Regis fell asleep soon as he stared at the ceiling of his dark room, only to soon wake up as someone knocked on his door.

“Rise and shine your lordship!” Amanda called out to him from the other side between two not-so-gentle knocks.

“I’m awake damn it,” he answered as he sat up. “Don’t break my door!”

“It won’t break from just...” the tall woman tried to reassure him, but the unnatural creak of the old wooden door made her stop for a moment. “Okay, I guess it could actually break. Anyway, get your ass moving. The others already ate and headed out to the fields.”

Regis was left alone finally, giving him the mental strength to get out of his bed and get dressed before heading downstairs. A plate with some smoked sausage, ham and cheese waited for him at their usual table, not lasting more than a minute as the dark elf practically shovelled down the food before heading outside. The morning air was fresh and brought the scent of grass and wildflowers with itself, a strange combination in a cobblestone-paved village.

It was a stark contrast to the gloomy atmosphere the outlanders felt when they arrived at Thorn Vale. ‘I guess life really did return after the corruption get cleansed.’ He thought as he headed towards the village gate. The path to the farm plots set up by his companions felt short, the sight of the lush and sizeable crops making him smile involuntarily. Orderly rows of vegetables were now being plucked for their worth by his friends who held baskets, crates and sacks.

“Morning everyone!” He greeted them, receiving a slight nod from the others.

“Morning.” The short answer came as the outlanders kept plucking and pulling the ripe vegetables.

“Could you help bring this sack over to the left side?” Sophie asked as she waved him closer.

“Sure,” the dark elf agreed. “Beautiful potatoes. I can’t wait for Fabien to roast some later on.”

“You should see the tomatoes,” Valerie hummed. “Those are the real beauties.”

As she said that, the infernal woman gently tossed over a fist-sized bright red tomato and Regis caught it before examining it.

“It does look nice.” He noted as he cast charlatan’s wisdom on it.

{Tomato}

{Plant rarity: common}

{Plant quality: ordinary}

{Crafting material/ Consumable}

{The juicy fruit of a tomato plant. Can be consumed as is, cooked or harvested for its seeds.}

“It’s hard to believe that it’s only an ordinary ‘quality’ fruit while looking at its size and looks.”

“You mean vegetable.” Amanda noted.

“Please don’t start it,” Osmond sighed. “That argument is old as fuck.”

“But it’s clearly a vegetable.” The tall woman argued.

“From a purely botanical standpoint,” Letty stopped the argument at its root. “A fruit would have at least one seed and would grow from the flower of a plant. With this definition in mind, tomatoes are classified as fruit because they contain seeds and grow from the flower of the tomato plant. As a matter of fact; not only tomatoes, but also squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, peppers, and eggplants are also fruits. I know it’s weird to compare them to apples or peaches, but that’s the scientific standpoint.”

“Yeah,” Regis hummed victoriously. “That's right miss Letty! Science!”

“You just had to do it,” Fabien facepalmed himself before everyone burst out laughing. “And don’t worry; I already have plans for those potatoes. “

“Do you think we can set up a distillery?” Cruz asked the others. “I mean, we can fast-grow vegetables, so fruits shouldn’t be a problem either. We could plant some berries or a couple of fruit trees.”

“And make moonshine out of them?” Osmond looked at her, intrigued by the idea.

“This mountainous area is perfect for vineyards,” Valerie stated. “We could make our own wine. I could have my own vineyard. I could have my own wine.”

“And then we could distil it into some high-quality brandy.” Quentin added.

“Regis?” Everyone looked at the dark elf with hopeful eyes.

“Don’t give me that look,” he sighed. “I never seen a distillery up close, so I have no idea how it works.” “I do,” Amanda said with an obvious pride. “My uncle worked at a whiskey distillery, so I got to see the entire equipment and process. I could draw up all the parts and you could craft them with your transmutation alchemy.”

“We could try, but I’m not making any promises,” he agreed. “And no black market bootlegging. If we do this, it will go by the book.”

“A central distillery with records of everyone’s creations.” Osmond deduced as he heard the spell weaver's warning.

“And likely a share of the profits.” Cruz added as she rolled her eyes.

“Or at least a sample.” Regis said with a smile.

“You're really getting into the whole ‘Lord of Thorn Vale’ thing, aren’t you?” Valerie asked with a slight chuckle as they hauled over a couple of crates and sacks to the place prepared for them.

“Where are we going to store these?” Letty dragged everyone back to reality as she looked at their harvest.

“There’s a warehouse near the back gate of the village right across the stables,” the dark elf noted. “It’s not too big, but there should be more than enough space in there to store these.”

“Lead the way, your lordship!” Amanda goaded the spell weaver as she hefted up two full sacks as if they were nothing.

“After me, peasant!” Regis retorted as he too lifted up two sacks, albeit a bit slower than the blacksmith did.