—Dms: Cain and Bob— (2ms)

Cain: Can you snatch all of the treasures from the castle?

Bob: Understood.

--------------------------

Cain and Aurora walked out of the portal, Aurora turned behind to take one last look at that dreaded castle then followed after Cain. “So how are you going to gather the village heads?” She asked while nearly skipping in joy from being freed. “Like this.” Cain stated then turned back to face the castle.

“Disappear”

Cain used the magic circle that was still underneath it to create roughly 115,000 magic circles spanning the entire area of the walls and progressively going up. There were even some in the ground, down to 10 meters deep. Then he used SRI to open a portal to the Mana Storage slightly below each magic circle. These magic circles were visible for everyone to see, causing some residents near the spot Cain and Aurora were standing to come out of their houses.

One by one, from top to bottom, each of the 114,800 magic circles converted each section above it into mana. The magic circles were divided evenly by how much mass was in each section; all though the estimates were very rough. This prevented too much of a strain on Cain’s soul since he could only control roughly 25 million mana at once, as of today, without any magic circle.

However this also caused each magic circle to take roughly 1 millisecond to convert their respective sections into mana. Cain used the magic circles of each section to direct each stream of mana into their respective portals. The magic circles of each section only dissipated once it directed the newfound mana into their portals. Thus the entire process took roughly four minutes to complete.

This was plenty of time for the chiefs of the village to see what was causing the commotion. “What the hell is happening?!” A gruff, buff, and rough looking demi-human that appeared to have wolf ears approached Cain while yelling at him. “I assume you’re the village chief? Read this.” Cain tossed the bearded demi-human the official documentation.

The village chief caught the rolled up papers and read through them thoroughly. “So you’re our new lord?” He seeked confirmation from Cain after reading them. “Yep.” Cain replied while trying to gauge how much mana he got from the estate. “Then why did you destroy your estate?” The chief asked Cain, thoroughly puzzled but also trying to get a read on this unknown human.

“You really wanted me to leave that filthy place be?” Cain turned around to face the chief while speaking. “Anyways, I’ll be building a new place for myself so it doesn’t matter what I did with that dump. Call all of your elders or other people in charge. I need to meet with all of them to get a firm grasp on the situation. I’ve got to be back an hour before sunset though, so I’d prefer if this was done now.” When Cain was done talking, Aurora had just recovered herself from the shock of seeing the estate just disappear. The village residents were still in the process of recovering their wits.

“O-ok. Luckily they’re all here right now.” The village chief handed the documents back to Cain then roamed around the crowd, waving his hands in some of the elders' faces and shaking others violently. “Follow me, please.” The chief hurried back to Cain, with the elders in tow, and escorted him to what could be called a city hall. Although it was just a thatch house slightly larger than the rest. The only furniture inside was a large, rectangular table.

Cain sat at the head of the table on the far end from the entrance, Aurora stood behind him. The village chief sat on Cain’s left and the rest of the elders filled the empty seats with no particular order. Cain looked up at Aurora, but could hardly see her face due to the size of her peaks and fluffiness of her nine tails. [You know you can sit down if you want.] He transmitted to Aurora, nearly making her heart skip a beat from the shock. Dresil made a chair slightly behind Cain with no back, in which Aurora cautiously sat in.

—Dms: Cain and Bob— (3ms)

Cain: How much mana did we get from the estate?

Bob: Roughly 286.84 trillion.

Cain: Amazing…

--------------------------

“All right. I won’t bother with most of your names yet since I need to leave soon and won’t be back for a few months. It sounds rude, but meh. Because of some idiotic nobles, I’m pressed for time.” Cain broke the silence with his blunt introduction. “I’m Cain and the new lord of this territory and the neighboring territory. Since there’s not a lot of time, I’ll just take the Village Chief’s name, state my ground rules, then leave Aurora, the fox next to me, in charge.” Cain gestured towards Aurora at the end.

“I’m Behemoth, a wolf demi-human.” The village chief introduced himself then patiently awaited Cain’s next statement. “Sweet, moving on to the ground rules now. First up, no murder, rap*, human or demi-human trafficking, stealing, arson, and any other crime. You guys can fill in the rest as we are pressed for time right now.” As Cain spoke, Rex created the words in the air using fire. Although Cain could do the same, he does not know how to write their language since Dresil has been translating for him.

“Second is that you must prioritize the welfare of the citizens. Third is that I don’t care about your power struggles and other mundane events. You can perceive me as a shield that will protect you guys from what you cannot handle. This doesn’t mean I won’t interfere at all, and that’s what the fourth rule is for.

“Fourth is a bit tricky as this is more of a system than a rule. You may ask me for anything, and I mean literally anything. It could be building a wall, a castle, making food, literally anything you guys can think of. However you must have the means to support the request.

“Go ahead and give me an example of something you need right now.” Cain paused while waiting for a suggestion. The elders and leaders looked at each, unsure whether or not they had the right to do so. The feat of making the lord’s castle disappear was still in the back of their minds and creating a psychological barrier of fear, wonder, reverence, and many other emotions that prevented them from speaking their minds.

“How about building a wall?” One middle-aged racoon demi-human offered, only to be on the receiving end of almost all of the elder’s glares. “Simple. I like it. What’s your name?” Cain asked the racoon demi-human. “Erucon.” Cain raised an eyebrow, intrigued by such a unique name since Dresil usually translated them into an English form.

Cain asked for his name despite saying he wouldn’t ask for the others’ names to show that those who speak up will be noticed. He was aware of their current mindset about him and the psychological barrier creating a communication divide. As such, he asked for the suggestion in order to bridge this gap. He asked for Erucon’s name and complemented his idea to show the elders there is no harm in breaking the barrier, and it is preferred that they do.

“Erucon… So, do you guys have the manpower or the funds to maintain such a wall?” Cain asked the elders, who shook their heads. The answer was obvious just from looking at the state of their village. Cain picked up on this and offered a different route. “In the case where the answer to this question isn’t obvious, I would ask you to demonstrate that you can by having you build a smaller wall and maintaining it for a few months or show it can be done. Then I would build a bigger wall and either keep the smaller one or repurpose it for something else.”

The elders nodded after Cain was done speaking. It was a realistic way to ensure both sides didn’t waste any effort or resources keeping something afloat just for it to fail later. Cain created a communication magic circle on the back of each of their wrists, similar to the ones he made for the party. “If you channel some mana into that, you can contact me anywhere at any time. Just try to keep messages to the bare minimum during the night. I like my sleep.

“It would be best to use this during emergencies, otherwise I may just end up giving you some advice and have you solve your own problems. Even if the situation seems hopeless… say if the sky is falling or the water rises above the land, I want you to contact me so I can deal with it.” The elders all nod once Cain pauses.

“Lastly, are there any underworld organizations?” Behemoth shook his head. “We were too busy trying to survive and worrying about our next meal.” Cain nodded then declared, “If any pops up, let me know. Other than that, Aurora will stay here to make sure you guys don’t go too crazy. And now for my parting gifts…”

Cain folded his hands and put his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his hands. He pulsed his mana several times to create a magic circle that spanned the entire territory. Millions of mana were consumed by his brain as he created an AI on that magic circle that scanned the memories for anything human or demi-human trafficking related.

It also issued harsh punishments to anyone who even thought about rap* and even harsher for those who tried to perform it. This magic circle was mainly used as a precaution for new immigrants, refugees, or humans seeking “work.”

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (21ms)

Rex: You got something against rap*?

Cain: Ye, idk why but I just get insanely pissed whenever the thought of it happening occurs.

Rex: huh…

Bob: :thinking:

Cain: Bob, help me out on this next bit.

Cain: I need you to shift the land each house is on so we can reorganize this housing setup.

Cain: The way it is now, it’ll be a pain in the future to make roads or anything of the such.

Bob: Understood. Give me a few minutes to halt the progress of the Star Dimension to a safe point.

Cain: Ok, good name btw.

Bob: :nod:

Cain: Can you open the Mana storage dimension in the ground under me real quick? It needs to be massive.

Bob: Understood.

--------------------------

Cain then took his time creating a temporary task on that magic circle. It converted the walls of each thatch house into a 2-layered wall. The outer wall was concrete and the inner was made from wood. Plywood planks layered the inside of each wall to give it a flat surface. The magic circle also made a foundation of cement that was conjoined with the outer walls. In other words, the cement was all one piece.

The ceilings were converted into mana then mana was pulled from the Mana Storage to make a proper inner roof structure using wooden beams. Plywood planks were once again used to make a flat surface, but this time clay tiles were laid on top of the planks. Cain quickly added a chimney structure so a fireplace could be built later. The heat from the fireplace reminded him to make some cotton fluff to stuff in between the 2-layered walls.

—Group Chat: Cain, Bob, Dresil, and Rex— (40ms)

Rex: So… explain to me where you learned all of that?

Rex: Pretty sure you were studying to be an Aerospace Engineer, not a Civil Engineer.

Cain: Ye, so I learned the wooden structure layouts such as the walls and ceilings while watching new houses get made in the neighborhood.

Cain: As for the outer wall and the foundation, that was an idea I came up with on the spot since I don’t have enough time to get soil samples to build a proper foundation.

Cain: Even if I did, I wouldn’t know what to do with them until I spent a few months researching it.

Cain: Thus I used the perks of creating things from mana and made it all one piece. That way if it does slip due to wet soil or something, some major cracks or shifts will change in the house which would be very hard not to notice.

Rex: Interesting… Yeah, I only understood about half of that.

Dresil: Damn… I was expecting a quarter.

Bob: :laughs: So when will I get those puns, riddles and brain teasers?

Dresil: Give me a bit to come up with some?

Bob: Okay.

Rex: …did you guys really bet on that?

Cain: Wow… I’m disappointed…

Cain: That you didn’t include me in it.

Rex:

Dresil:

--------------------------

When Cain was done with the program, he double checked it to make sure it was self-sufficient. Once that was confirmed, Cain executed the program and Bob started moving the houses around. The magic circle transformed each house in a clockwise pattern, with every revolution the radius of its effect growing bigger until it updated every house. The city hall Cain was in was used as the starting point for the transformation, thus massive shifts and rumbles could be felt.

“Wh-what’s going on?” Some cries and shrieks of shock and fright echoed across the village. “Relax.” Although there was no associated task when Cain spoke this mana amplified word, it boomed across the entire territory, providing some reassurance this was intentional. Roughly 15 minutes passed until things calmed down.

“I just upgraded your houses and arranged them so it’d be easier to develop in the future. I recommend you go calm your people. Also try getting some type of pelt rug or something soft for these floors.” Cain tapped the concrete floors that were now under his feet. “I’ll be heading out now.” Cain stated then leaned in to whisper into Aurora’s ear, “Make sure no one disobeys the ground rules and contact me if you have any questions.”

“H-huh? Ye-yeah… ok.” The stupefied Aurora managed to barely get out before Cain vanished into a portal opened by SRI. It was connected to the meeting room Cain left the party at.