Year 2, Fall, Third Month, First Week

Reiner almost choked at the man’s question, everyone working around them stopped and discretely (visibly) waited for her answer. For the Origin, she had been corned by the polite blacksmith and now she would have to answer him or risk confirming his suspicions without any kind of explanation.

“We’re humble people Mister Arnold, but weren’t stupid, we wouldn’t throw away our lives fighting against the Kingdom… However, we’re done living under their oppression, giving up our children as slaves and dying to support their luxuries. Before the month ends, we will be leaving the Kingdom.”

“But that’s just being naïve…”

“Why? Do you see anyone out there watching us? We’ve been doing all sorts of things here for almost two years, yet nobody stopped us. We already live at the borders of the Kingdom, a few kilometers east and even the Kingdom wouldn’t dare following us…”

Arnold was about to explain how much she was wrong and how naïve they were being, but the words didn’t appear. She wasn’t wrong, nobody was here to prevent them from leaving. They clearly could face the beasts, their daily meat meals were enough to prove that. Then, he remembered the magic barrier, if they could keep beasts and people out of their village… All the questions about the beasts, the Kingdom, the magic poisoning started to die before they could be voiced. He realized that everything happening in the village was a preparation for it, they had a real chance to escape from the Kingdom. Should he leave with them?

“Ahen… I’m sorry for questioning your decisions mam. I was just a little nervous about being away from my forge for so long… I know it concerns your plans but if I followed you, would I be able to return later? Keller seemed to think I could, he’s planning to do more deals with the village, but now…”

“I understand your concern… If you decide to go with us, you would have at least another opportunity to leave after winter… It’s your choice, but I hope you decide to come with us… Let me tell you some of our ideas related to blacksmithing…”

After talking with Reiner for almost an hour, Arnold decided to follow the villagers, he was ready to risk his life and everything he had for a chance to be part of their glorious future.

***

Kanin entered the Council pavilion still cleaning the sweat out off his forehead, after pouring himself a cup of water-infused tea he sat and they finally started the meeting. He took a sip from the tea and felt his body relaxing, but was then interrupted by Omero, who annoyingly chose him to start the reports, probably some kind of silent punishment for delaying the meeting.

“Ah… I’m sorry for being late, I was supervising the harvest and transportation of the last crops… Which brings to my report, as for now, we officially finished the harvest. Aside from a few green vegetables and some roots that can last for two weeks, everything was moved to the camp. Yesterday, I traveled there and confirmed that the crops are being handled correctly, everything is gonna be properly stored, and a good amount of seeds was separated from both the common and magic fields. We could use a few more Grain separators to finish processing the wheat in a week, otherwise, we would need two weeks… Either way, I can’t free the farmers until we finished processing everything. We could delay the processing for a few weeks, but that would make transportation more difficult…”

This time, Kanin’s speech was much more calm and fluid. Finishing his tasks helped to improve his mood and confidence. Also, when he talked about the crops, the amazing scene of hundreds of healthy plants being carried by the happy villagers resurfaced from his memories, making him feel hopeful for the future.

A quick account around the present members was enough to decide to move the farmers to other departments. Once, the farming department was the most affected by magic poisoning because they worked outside the village the entire day without any special protection like the hunters had. However, the situation started to change when other departments had to be sent to the camp and even to the outpost. The initial suffering also helped the farmers to build a strong resistance, so they would be a welcome reinforcement to the other departments. Next to talk was Katlyn. Kanin didn’t miss the tiredness on her face, even the energetic and practical woman would suffer if pushed too far.

“The Hunting Department is going through a difficult time… We already lost six members, which is offsetting our achievements and lowering morale among the hunters. Diana couldn’t even come back for the meeting. The only thing keeping them from losing it is her presence… But even so, we’re still doing our job. However, we can’t keep up with trips between the village, the camp and the outpost, two times a day is already stretching our numbers too much. I think we need to anticipate our schedule and move all the villagers by the end of the week, otherwise, we would need to use other villagers for security…”

After Katlyn dumped her ultimatum, the members became restless. This was the most important and delicate time for the village, their actions would decide if they lived or perished.

If they placed untrained villagers in the hunting teams, the deaths would probably grow exponentially, but what could they do to relieve the pressure on the hunters? Until Keller sent the last delivery with the materials needed to build the magic barrier, moving the elders was out of the question. So, the only possible solution was to decrease the trips, which also meant putting more strain on the health of the villagers.

The trips’ purpose wasn’t just moving resources, actually, most of the resources had already been moved to camp. So, they continued with the trips to take the workers where they needed and help the villagers get used to the high levels of energy. Even though getting used to the energy levels might appear secondary, it was essential to avoid deaths and sickness in the future. Once they decided on the solution, Old Bill stepped forward to talk.

“Since Alfeur is dealing with the construction at the outpost, I’ll be handling the matters of the Crafting Department. Our last report was two days ago, we’re a little behind the schedule because of the lack of workers in the outpost. We planned for 200 workers, but our numbers dropped to 90. However, we’re only two days behind. If we could use some farmers, something around 150, the delay could be solved in a week…”

Mary also stepped forward before the Council decided to give all the free farmers to the Crafting Department. After almost a year leading the Health Department, she was much more forthcoming and quick-witted.

“Our department could also use more people. If we want to keep the deaths to a minimum we need more people going around and checking on the villager’s health, 50 more would be enough…”

Fortunately, the Farming Department could spare 200 hundred villagers, which would be distributed immediately after the meeting. Finally, it was time for Reiner to make her report.

“The Alchemy Department is also facing a lot of problems to keep up with the schedule. We didn’t expect so many tools would need to be crafted, pressure from the other villagers also doesn’t help… But even so, we’ll be ready when the time comes. Karl has been testing and improving the barrier’s design as much as he can without the rest of the resources, we can only hope Keller delivers them on time…”

***

Two days after the Council meeting, a caravan appeared on the horizon and moved with hasty towards Caiset. The delivery was finally here!