Rory really wanted to figure out what he could do with the Zonal Configuration option, but Viv had pulled him away from the column.

“It’s getting late, and you need your sleep,” she said.

Rory tried to get on her good side. “You’re not wrong, but you have no idea what I just got.”

“I don’t. But I’m pretty sure it can wait till it’s morning.”

“Fine, I’ll explain when it’s my turn to take watch.”

“You’re not on rotation tonight.” Viv had a smug little look on her face. “You, Dez, and the others who went off pulling in more survivors to the palace are getting the night off. You all need a proper rest. Seriously, Rory. The Settlement can wait.”

Rory relented with a small sigh. She was right. There was no point overworking himself. After tonight, they’d still have an entire day left to gather the Sigils they needed. A part of him wanted to waste not a second. Even if he couldn’t obsess over the Settlement itself, he could at least let his mind wander.

“Everything going alright with the new people?” Rory asked as they made their way through the main hall.

What had caught Rory’s attention was that there weren’t that many newcomers here. The only ones tucking themselves in for the night in the hall were the two new families—April’s and Malcolm’s, with their respective pets and children, all of whom were starting to sleep as well. Hmm, it might be later than Rory had at first supposed.

“There wasn’t enough space for everyone here,” Viv said. “So we’ve decided to start renovating the left wing to make it a bit more habitable.”

“Oh, so the others are there?”

Viv nodded. “Dez, Trish, Evelyn and some of the others are staying with the new people. I’ve also allowed all the doctors and nurses to remain there as well. They might not be patients anymore, but since many of them already know each other, it only makes sense they stick together and keep each other company.”

Rory and Viv reached their sleeping spot against one of the columns closer to the entrance. Viv liked the area. Personally, Rory wasn’t so sure about it. He couldn’t feel comfortable this close to the entrance, where they were a little too exposed. But Viv liked it for that exact reason, ready to be one of the first to respond in case something came up.

Ah, well. Rory’s sleep requirements were little. He just occasionally needed Viv to wrap her arms around him, and he was good.

“You look troubled,” Rory said. He hadn’t missed the fact that Viv was once again acting guarded.

She smiled wryly at him. “Just thinking about what I hear about the hospital.”

Rory had been trying to put everything about the hospital out of his mind, had even successfully distracted himself with the Settlement, but now it all came hurtling back. He wasn’t sure he appreciated the reminder. “It was… a little insane. But it’s over. Everything turned out alright. That’s all that matters, right?”

“I’m glad you’re safe. And the others too, of course. But…”

“What?”

Viv sighed where she lay against the column. Her eyes were closed, but she clearly wasn’t even trying to sleep. “Did you know some of the people weren’t ever patients to begin with? And I don’t mean the hospital staff. Some of the people you brought in with the patients and the staff were families who had nothing to do with either of them.”

Rory scratched his head. “They must have taken refuge in the hospital, then.”

“Yes. But the point is, there were more of them. Now… there aren’t.”

Rory let the implication settle in with horrific slowness. Adam had lured Rory in just to sacrifice his entire group to the Dreadraptor. This had happened on the fifth day of the apocalypse. They must have been able to acquire other sacrifices before that. That was the only way they could have survived for that long.

Other sacrifices. Other groups.

Other families.

“I can’t believe this,” Rory said, his voice barely a breathy whisper. It hit him again, that incredible force of betrayal on a scale that his mind just couldn’t properly compute. Someone had willingly lured in other people to their deaths just to keep themselves safe. “I think I need something to drink.”

Almost as though Viv had seen something like this happening, she offered him a bottle of water. Rory took it gratefully and drank down big gulps. His throat felt blessedly less dry than before.

“It was monstrous,” Viv said. “Impossibly horrifying. But bad as it feels to us, how much worse was it for everyone who lived through it?”

Rory recalled just how cowed Jesse was, how downcast and despondent the other staff and patients had seemed. “They’re going to need time to recover. And maybe an eye kept on them, for the time being.”

“Oh, that’s exactly why I’ve got the others with them. But I think that’s enough talk for one night. Time to sleep, Rory.”

“You know, I could go on all night.”

“I know.” She smiled at him, then wrapped him in a hug across his shoulders. “That’s why I’m calling the night done. We’ll resume in the morning. Let’s go to sleep, alright?”

Rory decided to relent and do his best to sleep. He was tired. His brain might be buzzing, but his body was starting to feel the wear and tear of the day, despite Adam’s final wish. It was time he got some much-needed rest.

#

It wasn’t surprising that Rory woke up before just about anyone else. He had even risen before the sun itself, a pink blush on the horizon the only thing that greeted him. Rory could have tried to fall back asleep, but he blamed the anticipation of figuring out the Zonal Configuration for waking him up, so he decided to get it over with.

Carefully extricating himself from Viv, who was still sleeping, he left for the other column, though not before giving his wife a soft kiss on the forehead.

She murmured, looking content and peaceful in her sleep. Rory smiled. She slept well on the hard ground and against the stone column, but he wondered if he could find her something or someplace more comfortable with the Zonal Configuration. Well, time to find out.

When Rory inspected the [Settlement Status] again, he found the spot where he could bring up the zones under the Sigil of Shelter. As soon as he focused on it, the [Settlement Status] disappeared, and a map of the whole palace popped up in its place.

“Woah,” Rory muttered.

He hadn’t realized before just how much of their new home they hadn’t covered yet. There were areas he recognized of course. Besides the main hall, he located the rear parts where they had taken care of the Thundershells’ spawn point, the towers that they used as watch posts, the back where they parked the vehicles, and of course, the grounds all around where Rory had set up all the traps.

But that looked like barely 25% of the palace’s entire area. There were enormous sections of it not just unused, but completely unexplored as well. That settled it. He was going to have to task some of the others to start exploring the whole place more, both to find more usable locations and to make sure they didn’t suffer any nasty surprises.

For now, Rory noticed the different prompts available to him thanks to the Zonal Configuration. Apparently, he could select certain areas within the palace as different kinds of zones that provided different kinds of benefits.

[Zonal Configuration: Tier I]

The following are the assignable zones. Pick the best areas to assign them to. Remember, different areas will provide different boosts to different zones.

Habitation

-

-

-

Storage

-

-

Garden

-

-

-

Infirmary

-

-

Defence

-

-

-

-

Command Centre

-

If there was one thing Rory had learned over the course of looking at his own [Status], it was that all those empty spots meant spots he could fit things in. Ordinarily, he’d assume they were slots for Sigils, but the prompt suggested he needed to pick areas from the map of the palace before him.

Rory decided against taking any decisions just yet though. It didn’t say whether his selections would be permanent, so he wasn’t about to risk choosing without thinking through and conferring with the others first. They might have better input and insight as to what should go where. He had ideas of his own, of course, but it was best to pool all their knowledge together before choosing anything.

“Good morning,” Viv said from behind. “Or should I say, good dawn?”

Rory was startled out of the [Zonal Configuration]. He smiled at her in greeting. “Good morning. I promise I slept more than what it looks like.”

“Right.”

“Now why don’t I believe that.”

They laughed a little together, then decided to have a light breakfast while the others woke up. Rory told Viv what he had found in the Zonal Configuration between bits of his bagel and cream cheese. She looked thoughtful for a moment, forgetting her crackers for a minute.

“Good idea to talk to the others first about it,” she eventually said.

As they finished up their meal, the rest of the group started to rise. Leo and Leanne were the first to get up, rousing their giant elkhound, then their parents. Around that time, Mikey and Jerome climbed down from the tower to get back to sleep. Miles stirred, transferring the still-sleeping Jerky from his lap to the ground.

Rory smiled at them all. There was something indescribably pleasant about seeing everyone so settled, as though this palace really was everyone’s home now. Sure, they were missing quite a bit of privacy, but certain concessions had to be made during an apocalypse.

Someone peeked in from the entrance to the other wing. Rory didn’t recognize the small woman, who quickly disappeared back into the wing. Must have been one of the survivors from the hospital. Rory frowned. Well, almost everyone had settled in. The patients and the staff from the hospital would just need a little bit of time.

Rory had taken Viv to Leo after the kid had finished his breakfast. April was up too. She was frowning, and Rory figured he should have been upfront about the Sigil of Quests earlier.

“It’s alright, mom,” Leo said before they could get into it. “I like being able to give out quests.”

April tutted. “Yes, but that’s not the point. We should have had a talk beforehand.”

“I’m old enough to make my own decisions.”

For a second, April looked like she was about to berate her son. But then she sighed and walked.

“I’ll meet you later,” Viv said, walking after April.

Rory watched them go, feeling weirdly guilty. He shook it off. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry, Rory.” Leo grinned. “Worry, Rory. Anyone ever tell you they rhyme?”

Rory snorted. “What does the Sigil of Quests look like now?”

“It’s at Argent III. So now it can do three tasks per day, each with one minor reward.”

“Not bad…”

Rory and Leo decided to set up some more mundane quests to see what sort random crafting materials and what Sigil it provided. A person could take only one quest at a time, so Rory took on the objective of figuring out the Zonal Configuration with a Sigil reward this time. That of course meant talking to the others while Leo figured out who else to give the other quests to while spreading out the other kinds of rewards.

New Quest!

Assign the zones in your Settlement. You of all people need to know what areas are reserved for whom.

Objectives

Complete Zonal Configuration

Rewards

An Argent III Sigil

After Rory pushed away the quest notification, he joined the others in the ruined gardens.

“Good morning,” Trish greeted with a yawn. She stretched. “Feels so good to get a good night’s sleep.”

“That it does.” Sue was looking meaningfully between Trish and Allen, who stood nearby, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. When they noticed Sue’s glances, they both flushed and moved away from each other. “Doesn’t it?”

Dez cleared his throat and stared at Rory. “Hey man, did you hear there are other families along with the patients from the hospital? Like, hiding right among them.”

“We talked about it,” Viv said, though she didn’t add anything more.

Dez looked like he wanted to say something similar to what Viv had brought up last night, but he visibly changed tack. “I heard from the others there are more of them out there.”

“Of course, there are,” Trish muttered.

Viv nodded. “One of the Ghouls came in last night and warned us there was something to the east. A monster. They weren’t sure what kind it was, but there are people there too.”

That put a damper on the collective mood. They had just returned from a monstrous outing, had only just raised their population by nearly two times their original amount, without adding any extra food or other supplies. Their resources would be dwindling soon. At least the Sigil of Virulent Growth was helping April’s garden get up to speed, so they’d finally be producing their own food for a change.

“We can rotate parties,” Rory said. “The ones who didn’t go out yesterday can go out today and see what they can find.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Viv said, with undisguised relish. She was probably feeling cooped up again. “But we also need to salvage for a lot more food and Mana.”

Rory nodded. “Then I’ll let you take charge of it. Right now, I’ve got another thing I want to take care of first.” He explained the Zonal Configuration he’d found through the System Shop to the others. It was gratifying to see them all look anywhere between impressed and just as excited as him. “So, I need input on what might go best where.”

The following discussion wasn’t as intensive or long as he had feared it might get. Most of them agreed with the ideas that Rory already had.

It was obvious where the defences would go. Well, the options were, at least. They had the gate, the walls, the barricades, and apparently, the towers too, according to April. That took care of all four slots. She didn’t bring up the Sigil of Quests, so Rory figured Viv must have chatted to her about it. Once again, he was quite thankful for his wife.

Since the list was going to be long, Rory requisitioned some pen and paper through Miles. Towers, walls, barricades, and gates, Rory wrote.

Next came habitation. Viv said they ought to cover each slot with one area of the palace—the main hall they had already been using, plus one from each of the wings. With potentially more people coming in, they would soon be needing to make the right wing accommodable as they had done to the left. Rory marked it down on the paper.

April wanted all three garden slots filled with patches of area around the ruined garden. There was some disagreement there. Dez and a few other pointed out that it would be their biggest battleground if monsters infiltrated the area, but April rightfully said this was the most suitable location. The soil here already held an extensive garden. For another, they didn’t have that kind of space anywhere else, not even the at the back.

“The roof.” Sue slapped a closed fist into a palm. “We can move the soil without trouble. Just need to dig it up.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” April said contemplatively. “But it’s a good idea. I know how to make raised garden beds, so we can technically turn any place into a garden, provided we can get an easy supply of water. I was just worried about sunshine inside the palace. The roof takes care of that problem though.”

April and Sue grinned at each other. With that taken care of, Rory decided he’d make the former garden area one giant slot in the Zonal Configuration, provided the system allowed it, and the other two on the roof.

The infirmaries were a little harder to figure out. Evelyn wanted spaces not dissimilar to the hospital. It would have to be far enough from the habitation areas so that people passing by didn’t ruin the disinfection, but close enough to the main entrance so that it wasn’t a hassle to bring in anyone who got injured.

They decided to let Evelyn think on that for the time being, possibly confer with the other staff from the hospital. She grimaced a bit at that but nodded.

Lastly, they decided to hold storage spaces in the towers as well. They were already using one to store Mana. Rory held off on using up the other slot just yet since they still needed to figure out their grocery and cold storage situation. One more headache for him to take care of at some point.

“Where do we put the Command Centre?” Rory asked. “I kind of want it to be close to the entrance, but not too close.”

They talked some more, eventually deciding that it was best if the Command Centre was stationed right above the main hall. Close, but not easily reachable by outside forces.

“So, are we all ready to move out, then?” Viv asked when Rory was done.

He nodded. It was all a minor shot in the dark since they didn’t know what exact bonuses or benefits they would get, but they’d made their decisions. It was time to see what came of them.