AN: ---

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The hunters gives their farewell to their comrade before ending his life. We move straight toward the hunting cabin, and on the way I find an iron deposit as we take a break at a place where rocks emerge from the ground. I mark the place for the future.

Back at the hunting cabin, my wound is properly cleaned and bandaged, then we directly leave for the base. Since we are close enough, I don't want to wait for the next day to get back. I believe being in the Command Center will help me recover.

“... Master?” As I enter my room, I wake up Adelia. “… You're back already?”

“Yes, I'm back. Sorry to wake you up.”

“No, it's fine” she says as she stand up and comes to me. “I'm glad you're alright” she says while hugging me.

“... Well, I'm not as fine as I look, but there is nothing to worry about.”

The hug she is giving me is too strong and it hurt my wound. Seeing my expression, she tilts her head to the side with a questioning look, then her eyes open wide and she takes of my clothes.

“Master! You're hurt!!”

“Yes, I know.”

“I'm sorry, that's not what I mean. No, yes, I mean...” Adelia is confused and flustered, and tries to regain her composure. “I'm surprised you got hurt. Even thouh you look fine... Did I hurt you earlier?” Blood drain from her face as she look at me with a bit of fear in her eyes. In the end, I'm still her master, and she can't allow herself to be too familiar with me. “I-I'm very sorry master Kain, I didn't know, please forgive me.”

“... Because you were happy to see me again, I'll forgive you” I say, as I spank her round butt. I take the rest of my clothes, and lie on the bed on my back, my little dragon ready for action. “I'll feel a lot better once you've taken care of me” I add as I point toward my erect member with a smirk.

Adelia look at me in surprise, then she blush while wryly smiling. She comes atop of me, and ride me until we're both satisfied. Because she did most of the work, it didn't hurt me much, in fact the pleasure drowned the pain. And I needed it. I needed to get the death of my subordinate out of my mind, along with the fact that it could have been me. After that I was able to sleep peacefully...

“Master, how did you get hurt?” Adelia ask me in the morning, before leaving the bed.

“We encountered a weird monster that was quite good at camoufflage. I was hurt when we fough it. One of the hunters was killed in the process.”

“I'm sorry about that master...” she says with a pained expression, but it soon change into an anxious one. “But, since you were hurt and had to come back, it means you won't be able to find ore anytime soon right? What are you going to do?”

“It's fine. On the way back, I found a vein of iron. It's about a day away from here. As for what I want to do. I will make a cabin and a defense tower where the vein is, and I will make another tower and cabin half-way between the mine and the base. It will be a checkpoint for the miners, to avoid long travel. It will also be a checkpoint for the patrols between the mine and the base.”

“Then, once the mine and the smithy are done, you will be able to make better buildings?”

“Yes. This place is going to turn into a flourishing village soon” I say, then I frown.

“What's wrong?”

“The monsters. They are starting to show up. Our wooden weapons are too weak against them. We need to mine a lot of ore and turn it into weapons and shields before the monsters start to swarm us. I need the smithy to be active as soon as possible. Not only will it give me access to other buildings, I will also be able to improve the current ones. Stronger defensive walls, stronger defense towers.”

“Then you should get to work soon, master” she says as she leaves the bed to get ready for the day.

I go to the office and recruit 20 people. Any more and we will be troubled with food. I already recruited nearly 60 people 2 days prior, and they will consume our stocks of food until the new farms become fully productive.

Concerning the people I can recruit, it seem like the range increased. The place I'm in is at the south-west side of Grandia continent, an area mostly inhabited by humans. Thus most of my recruits were humans. Among the 60 people I recruited before, 15 of them were dwarves, elves and demons. Among the 20 I choose to recruit, there are 4 dwarves and 2 demons. The amount of non-human I can recruit is rising.

I order those 20 people to construct the checkpoint, under the protection of the 5 hunters and 5 milicians. These 20 people will be the miners and smiths of the village. As they move, the hunters and milicians also help with the transportation of the materials.

The first day was used to bring the materials there. I had them continue the material transportation until late in the night. Then I have them rest on the construction site, camping. The following day is spent building the defense tower, and the 5 milicians are able to use it by the end of the day. The next day, they move to the vein location and build the second defense tower. The following day, after building the defense tower, the milicians stand guard while half of the workers build the cabin and the other half start mining the ore. The hunters move back to the base to gather some supplies for the group.

As the mining went to work, I had the masons and carpenters stop their work to build the smithy. The construction is faster because they are familiar with the materials. Carptenters and masons naturally make good builders. As the mining group finishes constructing the cabin at the vein location, the smithy is completed and their builders go back to their original job. As for the hunters, they made the cabin at the checkpoint.

I have the miners work in shift. When one group is mining ore, the other group is transporting it back to the base and work in the smithy. The first thing I have them forge are spears and shields. The spears don't require a lot of iron, and the shields are mostly made of wood, just reinforced with a bit of iron. 1 week after finding the mine, my smithy is now completely active.

“Finally, we can advance!” I rejoice in my study. “Now I can make a shrine for believers, a tavern for drinking and travelers, a workshop for fabrics, clothes and jewelry, an atelier for mechanical tools and machines, an apothecary for cosmetics and medecinal supplies, a marketplace for trade, and the best part, barracks to train soldiers!!”

After a little moment of joy, I sight. I can't recruit anymore people because there isn't enough food. I have to wait for another week to stock on food and materials. But it's also necessary to further the training of the future milicians. They will have the hard role of protecting all of us. I will need to build the barracks as soon as possible to train them into proper soldiers. After all, the jobs earned give perks to my people, and a soldier get a better fighting ability than a milician. It will be necessary to deal with the increasing number of beasts and monsters.

“What's wrong master?” Adelia ask me as she bring our evening meal. “You look more anxious than usual.”

“It's because of the land” I answer with a grim face. “When I first came here, I had a good look at the land. The land was poor, the herbs that were growing were short and weak, the trees looked ill as well. There weren't many insects, and the animals were rather rare. In short, the land had suffered from something and had been weakened. I theorised that there must have been some kind of epidemic.”

“A-are you saying that... This decease will come again?” asked Adelia with a terrified expression.

“No, I don't think so “ I replie, which makes Adelia sight in relief. “The land is looking good with the coming of spring. I think, the land has recovered from whatever had happened in the past. The ground, the plants, the trees, they look quite healthy. If the land is fertile, the animals will come back as well. And so will the predators. And it coincide with the period when the monsters are the most active...”

“... Then, are you saying we will be in danger?”

“... Yes. I think we will be swarmed. There will probably be a lot of damages and some deaths...”

After I said that, we continue to eat in silence. The mood is rather heavy. It's frustrating to know that trouble is coming and you can't avoid it. I know my farms will be attacked by beasts for either the crops or farm animals, meaning I will lose some food. Hunting and ressources gathering will become more difficult as well, exposing my people to predators. I wish I could use an editor or a cheat code to deal with it.

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3 farms with 32 people led by Nathan & Marta, 2 fishing cabin with 10 people led by Elise, hunting cabin with 5 hunters led by Dramar, masonry with 8 people led by Harris, sawmill with 7 people led by Marco, defense tower with 38 people led by Guss, 20 people working in shifts between the smithy and the mine.

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AN: Because it was already partially done, I quickly finished this chapter.