"Low on Mana," Tazo said, feeling the energy fizzing through her fingers as a blue tinge crept into her vision. "Might need to switch people soon."

A volunteer darted forward to crouch beside her and maintain the spell. "Here; is this working? We need to make sure."

Slowly Tazo released her magical grip. The monster feinted but kept back. "Good."

Urika called out toward the mine entrance, "Are we safe outside?"

"All clear!" said Kotta.

Someone said, "Can we kill this thing at range?"

Tazo said, "I could manage one fire burst with the sawdust method."

Urika said, "A fighting retreat. But no, we need the rail. Young fox, do your trick once the front guards have ducked."

They coordinated. Tazo took a pouch from her belt and hurled it over the guards' heads, then flicked her claws and detonated it on the monster's body. Flame burst out from the goo, more harm than such a little spell would normally cause. The blue of Mana exhaustion blinded her for a second. "Down to 1 Mana!"

"Dislodge the rail."

Tazo used her last trace of spell power to break the bit of Geomancy holding the rail to the stone floor. Two men who'd been poised for that moment grabbed the metal and yanked it back, scraping noisily. Tazo's ears flattened. The monster rippled, still burning and trying to flow to extinguish itself.

The guards stepped back, shields raised, retreating while everyone else backed off. Soon they were outside the tunnel, and all they had to do was high-tail it away from the wounded blob monster while carrying a heavy iron rail.

It didn't follow them too far. They got back toward the village with not just the rail but a cartload and several sacks of ore. While everyone caught their breath and regrouped, Urika said, "This trip proves the concept, and your bravery. Sorry for the danger."

"Danger?" said one man, laughing in relief. "That was bad enough, but last time we tried that we didn't have the rail."

The village headman said, "You didn't need to go in there yourself, Urika."

"I needed to see, not to have pretty girls bring drinks while I relaxed outside."

Tazo asked, "Will that load be enough to make more railing?"

One of the Miners was already preparing the stuff for loading into their smelter, a sturdy stone furnace. "It should be. So then we'll make more rods like the first one, enchant them, and link them up, right?"

The Mage had recovered enough to hobble over to the group. "You all did well, I hear. I can take care of the enchantment if there's a reliable way to join the iron pieces."

"I'll show you how," said Urika. "And then, you'll be able to extend the magic so that the rail runs from a safe place at the entrance, to deep within the mine. The trained volunteers can keep the Mana flowing by taking turns."

Dad had been talking with a lot of people since they arrived. He told the Smith, "The other villages around here have been struggling too. Think you could help them resolve the bandit problem?"

"Me?" said Urika, furrowing his brow.

One of the locals told him, "They're not just bandits. They were kidnappers, and it sounds like Kolm was behind them to kill people." The man spat. "So we caught a few of the bastards and got them to talk, but now what do we do with them? There's been an argument we haven't settled."

"Well. The fox family with me sent their boy to testify in Grandbridge. You could go there too with the prisoners, or take a shorter trip to meet with Baron Bogstep and have them talk in his presence. That's almost as good. Better than just killing them, yes?"

"Has anyone seen Kolm or his Necromancer lackey since the disaster?"

"Not that we've heard."

Dad added, "Weren't you in this area during the war?"

"We traveled through here, briefly. We stopped by the fort at what's now the border and defended the fields. Why?"

"So that was your unit," said the village headman. "Master Urika, you've been a great help already. Since we can't get you much iron until we build up more railing, would you mind staying for a few days? We could use someone who's in good standing with the nobility to explain our tax situation to the Duke."

The Kobold looked flustered. "I must get back to my shop... but as you say, it's largely idle. I can help produce more of the rail system."

#

They stayed all day and made another trip into the mine, where Dad helped guard while Tazo and the healer ran the enchantment. "We know what we're doing, now," said Tazo as she took a break and left the work to the volunteers.

"Do you?" asked Polestar, who'd been antsy. The two of them kept watch outside. Over time the dungeon would shift the mine tunnels around, but it sounded like that would mean some amount of ore regenerating. If not always in a convenient place.

Tazo nodded. "We'll have people lay down the rails each day to create a protected area that repels monsters, and once there are a few of those we can have the casters do their work from a good way back. Switch out workers for recovery, gradually build out more standard rails to increase the reach."

The Centaur scratched one ear. "That's great. So what are you going to do when Urika moves into Baron Kolm's mansion and starts ruling from there?"

"What?"

"It's what your Dad's pushing for. Seen that kind of work elsewhere. I'm not sure whether he's doing it to put you and your brother in full control of the shop, or what."

"That'd be a terrible idea. We need a great Smith. And Vonn told our Baron we won't ditch Urika."

"I'm not sure your brother is savvy about these things." Polestar scuffed one hoof against the ground. "Is Urika a good guy?"

"He is, once you get to know him. And I guess he's run things in the past, like a war workshop. And some of the bridge and dock maintenance teams. So maybe he'd be good at this. But he's not a Lord class."

"I wish there weren't a designated group of people with a supposed divine right to boss people around."

"Why?" asked Tazo, squinting into the distance but seeing only a bird. "There are boons to everyone for what they do."

"I guess if there's one thing I can accomplish by being here, it's to let people know that's not the only way to live."

He shut up after that, worrying aloud about saying something heretical. Tazo thought back to Vonn and Selen's stories of empires without kings. She couldn't see how that worked. But then, the other world had such different assumptions that maybe things that worked in one land might be impossible in the other.