The dark elf looked around the still-empty greenhouse, imagining the line-up of the different planters and boxes it would hold later on.

“I guess the ‘arcana’ and the ‘darkness’ boxes can go downstairs, while the other three should be put at the far end of the main floor?”

“Yes,” Letty nodded as she watched a piece of quartz grow above Regis’ palm. “It’s beautiful. I know you mentioned that you’re able to grow crystals before, but seeing it is different. Can you grow other things besides quartz?”

“I can grow elemental energy infused ones, but that’s about it. I haven’t mastered the evolved version of the spell yet, so I don’t know if it can grow any further. For now, this is all I can do.”

“It’s still very useful, and pretty. You can use it for fighting too, right?”

“I could, but rune magic is much more versatile. Every enchantment, every runic fragment I learn increases my arsenal with possible mods and whatnot. I’ll keep crystal magic for the more craft-related tasks.”

“Good idea.” The wood elf agreed, taking the finished crystals over to the transmutation circle.

While the spell weaver cycled between growing and transmuting crystals along with some meditation, Letty used the condensed earth stairs to climb up to the roof of the greenhouse, walking atop its frame to slot in the quartz sheets into the grooves. Regis joined her from time to time to seal the sheets into place and add a few crossbeams. By the time the sun began to set, the roof of the greenhouse was finally done and they could focus on the enchanted grow-boxes. For the ordinary eyes, the grow box looked like a three-tier cabinet made out of marble with sliding doors that were made out of quartz sheets. Each shelf had several elemental crystals embedded onto the top part that would radiate their energy down on whatever was placed inside the cupboard. Regis had to fiddle around with the runic diagram for quite a bit before he found a stable way to disperse the energy at an even pace instead of forming an upside-down furnace, but the result was worth it.

“So, what do you think?” He asked the slack-jawed girl.

“Amazing,” she said with a beaming smile. “You even made each section separately controllable. I could grow three different kinds of herbs this way.”

“Just remember to recharge the hollow arcana stones and be careful when opening the sliders. They might be fire resistant now, but they will still heat up to some degree under constant exposure.”

“I’ll use a mitten or something.” Letty promised as she fiddled with the control runes of the three shelves.

“Now I just have to build four more of these with different elemental stones and you’re all set.”

Building the remaining three grow boxes proved to be easier said than done. The arcane furnace was based on the runic spell variant of the ‘scorching touch’ spell, but that ended up being quite wonky when the rune of fire was replaced with the rune of nature. Regis had to add a few runic fragments to further modify the diagram, making it stable enough for extended use. Similarly to the nature-aligned grow box, the one based on the darkness element first became akin to the ‘entropic touch’ spell which would kill off any plants instead of nurturing them, so he had to use the modified diagram again to make it viable.

The light element box turned into a well-lit cabinet at first, requiring quite some fine-tuning before it was working as intended. Not willing to risk it, the spell weaver went straight for the modded version with his last one, making it emit a nauseatingly dense raw arcana inside the confines of the cabinet.

“Well, I guess this is it.” Regis sighed as he stretched his limbs.

“This is amazing. Thank you!” Letty practically squealed as she jumped forward to hug the dark elf, giving him a peck on the cheek before turning red as a tomato upon realizing her actions.

“Do you want to head back?” The spell weaver offered, receiving an all too eager nod from the wood elf.

The two of them left the greenhouse, Letty slightly ahead as she awkwardly walked with hurried steps. As they neared the farmhouses, the site of the already finished wooden roof frame and the busy villagers greeted them.

“Hey there,” Jody waved them closer. “Glad to see you, milord. Did you come to help with the roof tiles?”

“Were the ones Quentin brought back up to the task?”

“They would be,” Bertram spoke up from the side. “They only need a slight adjustment, sire. Your pale spell caster friend told us about a kind of tile that has grooves in it to make the pieces snap together.”

“There is, I just didn’t want to overcomplicate things first. Let me show them to you.”

As he said that, the dark elf looked at the ground a few steps to the left and focused his will on his ‘terraform’ spell. The ground shook slightly before a one cubic metre sized condensed earth cube rose from it. Straight horizontal lines began to appear on the cube before it turned into sandstone. Regis stepped beside it, pulling off two tiles, each the exact size and shape.

“Here you go,” he said as he showed the new tiles to the carpenter and the farmer. “As you can see, there’s a groove on one side and a protrusion on the other. The hook is always at the middle top area of the bottom side. All you have to do is put them next to each other properly and the protrusion of the first tile should fit into the groove of the second one.”

“Seems simple enough,” Jody nodded. “How much do you reckon we would need to cover the entire building milord?”

“It’s hard to tell just from looking at it, but I’ll conjure up ten cubic metres worth for starters, plus the angular pieces for the top.” He stated before he began to summon the condensed earth cubes, reshaping and solidifying them.

Once he was done, the spell weaver let out a weary sigh.

“That should do it for now. If you need more, you can find me at the inn.”

“Understood,” the farmer nodded. “And thank you for your help, sire.”

“You can thank me later by making sure that we don’t starve.” Regis said with a smirk before leaving the group of villagers to their work.

“You’re taking well to your new titles.” Letty remarked while the two headed toward the village gate.

“It’s not like I can do much about it. They aren’t wrong. I am ‘technically’ the lord of Thorn Vale. Quentin reminded me a few times that I should start taking the job seriously, although I don’t have any experience with this kind of thing. I would rather study magic and tinker away with my enchantments, but that will have to wait.”

“You don’t have to do everything alone you know. As cringe as it sounds, we’re all in this together. I’m sure that Quentin would be more than willing to uphold the law while Osmond would revel in the idea of doing the political stuff. Just don’t let Valerie become our treasurer or we’ll go broke before we know it.”

“We’re already dirt poor,” the dark elf sighed. “How much money do you think we have if we add everything we have together?”

“Everyone received a gold back in East Fork and we all have a couple of silver coins with at least a pouch or two full of bronze.”

“All of that would barely amount to what, fifteen gold maybe? That’s way too little. We would need at least a hundred gold to be in the green.”

“That’s a lot of money,” the wood elf noted. “How do you plan on getting it?”

“A couple of magic rings and scrolls almost got me a gold,” Regis said as he opened the gate wide enough to let the young woman through. “I could try to net a few enchanting contracts from the army in East Fork or Rust-well Keep. With the war taking its toll on them, I’m sure they wouldn’t say no to an upgrade.”

“With all the herbs I’ll be growing, I could also brew a few dozen potions for sale. I’m sure they would be willing to buy those as well.”

“What are you two trying to buy?” They heard a familiar voice as Amanda appeared at the edge of Landwaker Square.

“We were just talking about what we could craft for sale to gather some money for the village treasury. Regis thinks that we need at least a hundred gold to be financially safe for now.”

“A hundred gold,” Sophie walked out of her house. “That’s a lot of money. What do we even need it for?”

“We’ll need it for materials, supplies and to jump-start our economy. This isn’t a communist utopia after all. The people will want to receive payment for their work sooner or later.”

“He’s right about that,” Osmond butted into the conversation as he and Cruz left the inn, joining the group. “We will need to think about a solid economic structure for our settlement.”

“And a name. By the way, did you manage to finish the greenhouse?” Cruz turned toward her sister.

“We did,” Letty smiled. “It’s spacious and sturdy, not to mention that it also has a basement too. I should be able to grow everything we need without having to worry about rodents and whatnot. Regis even built a bunch of grow boxes for me. I can’t wait to try them out tomorrow.”

“Why not today?” her sister asked. “It’s still not too late to plant them.”

“I know, but I already asked Regis to upgrade the seeds I want to plant. That way we can start with the best possible quality right from the get-go. I don’t want to waste time on quality control planting.”

“So, back to our money problem,” Osmond cleared his throat. “Do you have any plans to solve it?”

“I figured a couple of enchanted weapons and armour could do the trick. The soldiers at East Fork and Rust-well Keep should be interested. If a few rings and scrolls nearly got me a gold, I’m sure a bunch of equipment could do better.”

“And I could also brew healing potions and antidotes for sale.” The wood elf added.

“That does sound like a good idea, but we can’t do too much of those in the short term or they would get suspicious. Not to mention that providing an abundant supply would lower the prices.”

“I hate to be that girl,” Amanda sighed. “But we could use an expert’s opinion on the matter. Negotiating prices can be a cut-throat business.”

“From what I know,” Sophie spoke up. “None of us here went to economics school.”

“We need a local trader with experience,” Cruz stated. “Didn’t Quentin mention meeting someone like that back in Hunor?”

“Now that you mention it,” the half-giant blacksmith hummed. “We did meet with a couple of merchants that had to leave their homes behind. I’m sure one of them would be more than happy to join us.”

“We need someone well-versed in arcane wares,” the pale youth noted. “Probably someone with little to no ties to Ecragurne.”

“Most of the refugees are from Harmarond, so anyone would be fine.”

“We could go back tomorrow morning to try recruiting one,” Osmond noted. “Unless you already have other plans.”

“It’s best if we wait a few days. I already asked Norma to spread the word to her fellow guardsmen about the possibility of coming here and she asked for a few days,” Regis said before turning towards Letty. “I’ll head back to my room. Will you bring over those seeds you mentioned?”

“Of course. I’ll be there in a minute.” She nodded fervently.

“Looks like they’re getting along nicely.” The dark elf could hear Osmond’s hushed remark while waking away.

Back at the inn, he noticed that the main floor was a lot brighter and cleaner than before with the windowsills wide open and fresh air wafting in. He barely got back into his room before a gentle knocking resounded at the door.

“It’s open.”

“I brought over the seeds as promised,” Letty said meekly as she opened the door, holding a satchel. “Thanks again for doing this for me. I know it’s a lot of work but I promise it will make a huge difference once it comes to brewing those potions.”

“It’s okay,” the dark elf waved her closer, taking the satchel from the wood elf. “I know we need this in the long run. What about the tree seeds you mentioned before? Have you decided on which guardian you’ll choose?”

“Gold dew willow,” she stated with slight uncertainty. “I’m not exactly combat focused and I have all of you to protect me, so I’ve decided to go for the extra healing and magic boost. It should also help me grow plants faster as well.”

“Did you bring those seeds along too?”

“They’re in the pouch with the red cord.”

“Alright, I should be done with this by dinner time.”

“I’ll come back in case you don’t show up at the table.” Letty promised as she turned around and left.

Regis let out a sigh as he walked over to the small desk someone brought over to his room while he was out. ‘It looks simple but sturdy. I guess Fabien asked Jody to put one together for me.’ He thought as he touched the surface of the table, shaking it slightly to make sure of its stability.