An unpleasant feeling clouded everyone’s face during the next few days.

Elder Rolf had told the other villagers about the situation we were in, so now they had to handle their daily work accompanied by a nagging fear. Nobody knew when or even if the leprechauns would attack, but the suspense made the calm days even more unbearable.

And the same was true for me.

My to-do list was sheer endless, full of thousand minor details, and I had nowhere near enough helping hands to deal with every item. Deadlines always sounded horrible, but they allowed for a clear timing. But now I couldn’t plan for a week-long preparation. And I couldn’t use all farmers either, in fear their fields became unattended for too long.

Hence I concentrated on the two most important things - experience points through hunting and weapons for the villagers.

We neither had enough time nor enough game to raise everyone’s level, so I concentrated on my own. Level five became my immediate goal, as I would have to shoulder the main burden. And another level up would drastically improve our chances for survival.

But the continuous hunting had taken its toll on the forest, and most traps remained empty. Not enough easy experience points for another level. The only joyful finding was Thea’s level, who, according to her strength, had reached level two during her own hunting trips.

The two of us still continued to lay traps, but we didn’t expect much. Instead, our daily hikes doubled as simplistic scouting routes.

The rest of the day was divided into two main parts. Cutting down trees and digging ditches, tasks I had long mastered in this new world.

The trees provided planks and rods for our equipment, while the new ditches became our primary defense. Four semicircles around the hut’s entrance, each followed by a small earth wall. All together, the height difference didn’t even reach a meter as the militia would have to scale it during their retreats. But it was enough to slow the leprechauns down and protect our ankles.

Those simple tasks became my new routine until Elder Rolf called me during the fifth day.

The first villages had answered.

And their answers proved to be… mixed.

Some nearby villages agreed and even sent a handful of their able men, with the rest still working on their fields. Others disagreed and berated us. Because according to them, Gladford would send help if there really was a threat like this.

Fifty-three young men. Almost ninety if we added our own. The entirety available to me. Less than the recruits in the city, most of them with no fighting experience, with all of them level one. Nobody here would survive a head-to-head confrontation with a single leprechaun. A rather disappointing force, given the hundreds of men working on the southern fields.

But a welcome surprise came when Elder Rolf introduced one of them with the simple words this is Torphin.

He bowed.

A middle-aged man with short dark brown hair and a slender build stood in front of me. He wore green and brown linen clothes, covering most of his skin. The visible parts were weather beaten, with hands full of calluses. But his striking feature was the bow he wore on his broad back. He was a hunter.

I was ecstatic.

Not only would his bow allow for long-range attacks, and not only was he a capable scout in the forest, he also had killed hundreds and hundreds of animals over the years. So his level should be higher than mine, adding another card into my hand.

But for now I sent him and two other men further south-west. After all, we could only react in time if we knew the leprechauns’ position in advance. And scouting took its time.

There was no cell phone, no SMS, no Internet. News only traveled as fast as the messenger’s feet.

So even though a single man would outrun a squad, our own troop had to react in time and march to its destination. So the scouts had to make up for that time during their escape. They needed to find a small group of child-sized enemies in the endless forest, make up multiple days of march while returning, and we still had to rush towards the likely destination and defend it.

Honestly, it was a giant gamble. Other villages or even Gladford itself might burn to the ground before we even heard of it. While we would still waste our time and prepare our defenses. It was laughable how eyeless we were.

And so I froze in front of the first tough decision that presented itself before me.

I came here to save the villages and to follow up on the sword maiden’s promise. To defend and save all of humanity. But I didn’t even have enough men to cover the area in front of the few villages who supported us, let alone all villages. And the bigger the area was, the more improbable the gamble became.

In the end, we decided to cover a rather small area in front of the supporting villages. The others had to pray and survive on their own. I ran away from the wise behavior, only to stumble during my first decision. It sucked.

But unlike my mood, our preparations changed for the better with the help of one hundred additional hands. We soon stockpiled enough planks and rods, and the walls were raised in record time. Each of them covered with multiple mud layers to allow for a firm foothold.

Afterwards their daily task became mind-numbing training. Simple trusts with the rods, climbing the walls backwards without falling or turning around, moving in sync. Without enough time to concentrate on their strength or stamina, unity was the key to victory. Every step, every thrust, every breath needed to be in sync.

“A newcomer is looking for you,” Thea interrupted our training. “Looks like a bear.”

“A bear?”

“Taller than you and twice as wide,” Thea began her description. “Black hair and -”

This was the moment I had waited for. And I ran towards the village’s entrance before she could finish.

A mountain of a man stood there, sweaty, with two massive bags to his feet.

“I’m here, leader,” Drew announced with an enormous grin on his face. “I fulfilled my duty. And I got everything.”

“That’s great!” I laughed, a gargantuan load off my mind. “Let me see, let me see.”

“Leader? Who’s that?” Thea interrupted us from the side. “He isn’t from the villages.”

“That’s Drew,” I introduced him to her. “He is the strongest man in my troop. Although he’s probably also the only man I have left now.”

“I’m Drew.” A crude bow. “I’m greeting leader’s wife.”

Thea and I looked at each other, astonished, as laughter escaped my lips. What a weird thought to have.

“She isn’t my wife,” I corrected the bewildered Drew. “Thea’s living in this village. She only found me when I was struggling through the wilderness.”

“I understand.” Drew nodded with a serious expression. “I apologize for my words.”

“Hey, what’s in the bags,” Thea cut in, changing the topic. “Show me.”

I nodded and opened the first bag, displaying long loops of rope and a smaller bag full of nails.

“For our shields,” I explained. “We can hammer two layers of planks together and reinforce the edges with rope. We can also use it for the straps.” I estimated the entire content. “This should be enough to fill our walls with shields.”

“And here we have…” I opened the other bag. “Spearheads. They are coarse, but enough to arm every villager with a weapon.”

I examined them. They were small, unshaped, and rough, clearly a quick and dirty work. Not what you wanted to use in battle, but exactly what you would get for a broken necklace. And despite their uneven looks, all of them possessed sharp edges that cut with ease into the skin. Master Ansgot had given his all to create nearly a hundred small spearheads in a few quick days.

The remaining day was spent in focused activity as we assembled one hundred spears and ten massive shields. Some farmers wore thick linen clothing as armor, while others wielded additional knives or axes. But overall, our standard equipment comprised a handful of chopped trees.

But it still was the first night I closed my eyes without worry.

We finished the village’s defenses, we created our equipment, and everyone knew the basic plan. It was a far cry from perfect, but the minimal preparations were done. Every additional day meant more time for training. Every additional day would raise our chance of survival. But even if we had to fight tomorrow, we could do so.

Now we only needed to wait for the scouts’ return and discover the leprechauns’ target.

And five days later, in the deep of the night, Torphin returned alone.

He stood between the huts, screaming between his deep breaths, describing everything he had seen during his trip.

And the village plummeted into an endless dispute.