Stress was anyone's worst enemy, and Rino admitted that he had terrible stress management skills. In his previous world, even the king refused to talk to Rino when the messenger informed him that the ex court magician was in one of those dark ages.

The magician tower will be declared as a temporary state disaster zone. Nobody was allowed in a two hundred kilometre radius, and many adventurers were employed on patrol duty to ensure that no unsolicited visitors entered the magician tower.

Apart from magicians who lived in the tower, contact with the outside world was forbidden when Rino was stressed. The magician council insisted on this after the first time Rino experienced a mental meltdown.

Thinking about it, the incident felt so long ago, even if it was something that happened only two decades back. Rino was working on a new theory. He was so close to finding the breakthrough he needed to prove the theory of mana acting like a dust particle. However, that last push he needed just never came. In a moment of pent up stress and anger, Rino did not know what he did. 

After recovering his sanity, Rino found himself standing thousands of kilometres away from where his room was. The massacre around him was unpleasant, and Rino wondered what prompted him to take his anger out on a swarm of deadly plague crawlers. He was at the very edge of the empire, and when the patrolling border guards found him, they sent an emergency back to the kingdom for S-class knights to be sent as reinforcements. 

Overnight, Rino was mistaken as the plague lord born from plague crawlers. He was put under quarantine for a month and given meticulous mental health care under the watchful eyes of his previous teachers. The magician tower was assigned to ensure that Rino never hits that kind of mental meltdown ever again after discovering Rino had no recollection of what he did.

The level of destruction caused by one man due to stress terrified the king so much that the law was passed quickly, classifying their court magician's state of mind as a national emergency when Rino started showing signs.

They weren't wrong about it. However, Rino hated how they kept his stress in constant check just because they needed him to work more. His feelings don't matter, and Rino felt like some kind of expensive machine that was made to work constantly without a break or a breakdown.

Thankfully, that horrible world was no more.

Now, he was stressing a little more than he was allowed to in the previous world because of anticipation. His minions might not mind seeing their king slack off. In fact, his shadow army were pro party supporters. When it came to relaxing, Rino could seek advice from the fairies who knew the best way to enjoy a hot spring, host a feast or just kick back for two hours while watching potatoes grow.

It wasn't a bad kind of feeling. Rino wasn't close to wanting suicide or world destruction. However, it kept him on his toes, trying to anticipate and counter whatever those shitty gods wanted to toss his way. He did not know who the god or gods were, but Rino had a feeling there were at least two. How else could he explain their mixed motives and methods?

Rino had little issues with the quest assigner now simply because the deadline was reasonable. The tutorial explanation was also well put together for his understanding, although the information was better for his crafter faes to follow than for him. Rino hardly did anything by himself now apart from the foundation work like setting up the mana web array in the swamp now.

As Rino laid his swamp mana web array, he recalled that there was still someone he forgot to appoint. Back then, he was too preoccupied with wanting to eat that toad leg stew, so he shelved it. Now, he could not help but feel that it was important.

That's right! Rino wanted to slap himself when he recalled who he forgot to appoint. Crafting was the most important sector for his kingdom development once he started expanding the territories aggressively. Taking over the swamp was just the first step for his conquest. Rino felt like a moron for not remembering this earlier.

It was evening now, and Rino looked at his work. The treehouse was completed, his first boat was delivered, and the mana web array was finalised. The best part about working in the swamp was how it did not feel tiring. Rino was still full of vigour, but he was still lazy even after hooking the teleportation pad's mana power to the web array linked to the Cypress Ghost Tree.

Hence, there was only one solution.

"Mutt!"

The dutiful sabre tooth alpha wolf materialised and bowed. He shrank his size to take up less space in his master's newly built treehouse.

"Summon the gnomes and brownies here for me," Rino told the overgrown dog and watched as Mutt wagged its tail before disappearing in the shadows to do his bidding.

The eight gnomes who were about to change shift arrived with the brownie siblings on Mutt's back. Rino felt slightly sorry for them when he saw their trembling bodies and traumatised faces. Mutt must have travelled too quickly with the little faes clinging onto the shadow fur on his back while the overgrown dog sprinted.

Mutt looked like he was expecting praise for delivering the crafters in record time, but Rino only bopped his head in reprimand.

"Look at these terrified creatures," Rino chastised, and Mutt's ears drooped. "Treat weaker comrades with more consideration. Not everyone is as strong as you."

Hearing that his master thought of him as strong, Mutt felt a conflicted sense of pride and duty. He might not be praised this time for a job well done, but he wasn't too depressed. Knowing that his master acknowledged his strength made the wolf in him proud. The high expectation motivated him, and Mutt howled in response before bowing his head low and thanking Rino for the lesson.

The lich blinked invisibly at his hound's reaction. Was Mutt a masochist? He looked somewhat happy even after getting scolded. Whatever. Rino never claimed to understand dogs very well.

"Tonight, I will appoint a crafting manager. This person will manage all crafting projects and meet the production demands from all over the kingdom as it expands. I want to ask all my crafters to nominate someone fit for the position."

Rino's abrupt and direct request stumped the ten little crafters as they looked at each other, unsure if they should nominate themselves or each other.

The lich simply waited and dismissed his shadow hound. This will be interesting.