~ 2 months later ~

Gubu Forest

Everything was peaceful, the air was warm and still in the late afternoon and the sun was slowly descending on the horizon. The ambient calm was disturbed by a slight rustling, shadows came out of the thicket moving quickly, a group of 5 men in total moved together in tight formation, they were all draped in black capes and progressed in silence, communicating by simple gestures.

They all seemed very well trained, and one of them spotted Ran resting quietly on a high branch, he was alone, and above all, he had no weapons visible.

They all converged on him, each armed with a modified crossbow, and they all seemed to know how to use it perfectly by the way they were handling it.

When Ran saw them, he quickly jumped to the ground and walked towards them without hesitation.

"It's about time! I was going to go home without you!”

“Sorry chief, the tetra-bear gave us more trouble than we expected.”

The one who seemed to lead the troop then handed him a storage ring.

“Impressive, you can defend yourself now, that was your last test."

Ran put his hand on the man’s shoulder.

"Congratulations, Sergeant.”

The man’s face betrayed an expression of happiness before straightening again.

“Thank you, sir”

The men who had stayed behind proudly puffed their chests, smiling inside.

“Let's go home now.”

They all answered in chorus

“Sir! Yes, sir!"

Ran's military training had paid off, as soon as he returned 2 months earlier, he had decided to train and properly equip new recruits, with this group, the new militia now had about twenty members. They had become soldiers, as well as very good hunters, they could hunt large groups of animals... or men.

During all this time Ran had feared retaliation from the nobles, but nothing had happened, so he had enough time to get the village back on its feet.

On the way back, Ran saw the large fields that now surrounded the village, the previous ones were disparate and poorly organized, so Ran had grouped them into 4 large sectors and had set up a 4-year crop rotation, with fertilizer, the harvests already promised to be wonderful.

He had even procured livestock, cows and pigs could be seen grazing peacefully in their pasture.

Finally, they passed a large wooden watchtower and greeted the guards posted on top. This tower was a great asset, with a clear view on all sides, they were no longer at risk of surprise attacks like previously with the wolves.

Speaking of them, the wolves had proven to be very useful for both hunting and defending the village, the inhabitants had quickly become accustomed to them and they only needed the remains of hunted animals to feed themselves.

Ran had tried to find more monsters to tame, but no animals seemed agreeable to the idea so far, either attacking him or fleeing on sight.

Once inside the village, he observed the inhabitants, they all looked much better than when they first met.

But even though living conditions had improved greatly, Ran still had a big urban renewal project, but reality was hard, and money was short.

Transforming an entire village was not that simple and was very expensive, even hunting, all his profits were quickly eaten up and he didn't have time to wait for the

cultures to grow, he wanted to make the most of the tax-free year that the princess had granted him.

So he had to find a new source of income, using the memories of his old world he created a product that would surely sell very well, but there was still a problem.

Innovations had always been seductive and everyone coveted them, Ran was sure that many people would try to take advantage of his idea to get their finger in the pie.

What he needed now was a trusted dealer.