“Will you marry me, Ashe?”

For the second time that day, the [Throne Room] went completely silent. Lingxin broke the silence. “This is a bad time but my real body is here.”

Everyone turned around to face the door. Ash gaped at the giant creature that entered. It was an earthy color, with a regal grace and flourish. His hairs stood at an end as the dragon landed, surprisingly next to him.

The dragon spoke in a dignified manner. “Greetings to everyone in this court. I am Tian. Like the elf said, I’m very certain that we will survive the wave of beasts that’s incoming. But before I put myself behind you, I want to know what I’m getting into. And more importantly, who has the [Rejuvenation] perk?”

Ash cleared his throat. “Uhm. I have [Major Rejuvenation]. Ashe, I don’t know why everyone – I was told that being affined to your [Castle] means I’d have to marry you, probably.”

Ashe smiled. “It’s.. It’s a problem. But nothing immediate. Do you know about fractures…?”

Ash shook his head, “Not really. But if it’s not immediate we can worry about it later.”

Ash took a deep breath. Everyone was looking at him now.

“I have a plan to defeat the horde. In fact, now that I think about it, this horde may just become the best thing to happen to us.”

There was a moment of stunned silence, followed by an uproar.

—-

“I can help move the forest. We carried the castle all the way using this,” Ashe said as she packed her things, including the glinting object Ash had used to set the castle up.

“Hmmph, I am still not sure about the plan,” Faelenya spoke as she got on top of the horse. “But either way, this should be quick. The horde is still a few days out. The harpies won’t attack us now without the others present.”

Ash was rushing, explaining his plan to the others. “That’s perfect, we need some time to get ready. Arcaena will keep guard with the soldiers in case something attacks. Ecaeris will help me get the others in position. Now go!”

“My, my. You really want the princess out of the way. Ecaeris, be careful of this one,” Faelenya quipped.

Ashe had a twinkle in her eyes as she got on her horse. “See you in a few hours, my love. Don’t do something that you’ll regret!”

Ecaeris and the others started laughing as they rode off.

—

“Nobody’s ever going to let this one go, are they?” Ash said, shaking his head. “Well, we have a lot of work, let’s get to it.”

Arcaena interjected, “Before that, let me introduce you to our greatest archer, Ilyrana. You wanted to meet her.”

“We could see her shots during the harpy attack even from here!” Ecaeris spoke proudly.

Ash was even more excited than the “You’re the one with the [1000 Feet Arrow] perk, that’s perfect!” Turning around he shouted, “Bo, come here!” He continued to the elves, “Bo and his team have been working for some time making this rope. The idea is, once he’s done, you can shoot it to the top of the walls, and the soldiers manning the walls can drop down quickly if needed. Of course, they will be using the stairs to climb up.“

Arcaena was visibly stunned. “That’s why you were so excited to meet Ilyrana?!”

Ash defended himself. “This solves a lot of issues - We can even send food up using the rope! Trust me, it’s a pita to climb the stairs all the way to the top!”

Ilyrana just had a smile on her face. “I can see that you’re unconventional. Very well, I’ll try to help wherever I can. I need to find a tree.”

Ecaeris raised her hand, “What’s pita?”

—

It was almost night by the time Ashe returned. She saw Ash at the doors instructing the soldiers and the elves guarding the gates. Tian was standing outside, cowing before Ash.

“If not dragonfire, can you make the fire blow up on impact?” Ash was asking.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“It’s hard to control it when I put it on the arrowhead. But I can try.”

“That’ll be good!”

Faelenya shouted loudly, “Just be sure not to burn down everything.”

Ash turned around. “You’re here.”

Before Faelenya could say anything, Ashe hushed her. “I’ll feel more comfortable when we’re inside, and the [Castle] gates are locked.” Turning to Ash she continued, “I see you’ve been doing some redecorating.”

“Yeah! I was thinking, let’s place the forest first. The night sentries can hide behind the trees. Some of the elves may work better due to the [Forest] and the [Trees]”, Ash replied.

“Not only the elves, but everyone. Now that Faelenya and the others have pledged to the [Castle] all perks would apply to any citizen working for the [Castle].”

Ash nodded. “That’s good. Oh, and I asked a bunch of soldiers to keep a lookout on top of the walls. A few elves are there as well - good eyesight. The ropes are there to help our sentries if they need to make a quick getaway. The ropes will help pull them to the top.”

Ashe was slightly taken aback. “That’s.. That’s a very good plan, Ash. Let me set it up here.”

Ash ran inside as he said that. “You do that, I’ll be right back.”

—

As Ashe was setting up the [Forest] using the artifact, the rest of the elves that had gone with her had begun disembarking. Some of the other elves had come out due to the commotion. Ecaeris had a tear in her eye. “Home. Our home is safe now.”

Some of the other elves were not so grateful, although they kept their dissatisfaction to themselves. After Ashe finished setting it up, she spoke loudly. “I hereby proclaim this to be the Forest of Noe, part of my [Castle]. Mistress Faelenya, do you agree to help me with the [Forest] and defend it, like you promised to do for my [Castle] today.”

Faelenya was just as formal, replying, “Yes, my liege. I do.”

“Then it is done. We shall continue our preparations for the horde.”

Saying that Ashe walked in to the Castle. She wanted to talk to Ash about his plan. But the castle was not what she had expected. She turned around and shared a look with Faelenya. She went near the bonfire around which people were gathered and found Ash talking to one of the elves.

“Explain what you’re doing, Ash. Is that.. Dragonfire in that basket?”

“Yes! Free light that doesn’t need wood! I’d asked Bo here to make a few baskets and Tian helped us fill all of them. Apparently, they’re everburning and all so we don’t need to worry about fuel. It should make our lives much easier!”

Krisro, one of the elves that had gone with her, spoke up. “But Dragonfire’s sacred!”

“Eh, it doesn’t matter. If we want to be rich, we should do what we can. Maybe we can even sell this to other cities.” Ash replied.

“No selling Dragonfire!”, shouted Ashe. She calmed down a bit, and nodded to Ash. “But I can see that how that would be helpful to us. But I would be careful to ask Tian to give us more Dragonfire. Each and every time he does that, he burns a part of his essence, his being.”

Ash grew thoughtful at that. “I.. did not know that. I’ll be careful. In any case.” He pointed to the elf standing next to him. “Let me show you what I've been working on today. This is Reyrana, she is affined to [Trees] and has [Treespeak]. I’ve asked her to go around to [Noe Forest] and convince the trees to fight with us.”

Ash went around the bonfire introducing people. “This is Bo - his team will be making ropes and dragonfire baskets. This is Iliric. His team has been plucking the harpies and gathering wood all day. He should help boost our arrow inventory. A bunch of people are not here, but I know they’ve been working hard.”

Ashe was looking hard at Ash. He spoke sheepishly. “You’re probably working about their the huts and the signs. It’s just a little something I came up with. Those huts are temporary bases for these people to work – The Bowying Company, The Weaving Company and The Druid Company. I hope these people get affinities for these rooms, it will make our lives much easier.”

Ashe replied. “Not quite. I doubt it’s easy to create a bespoke room, rather than use an existing one. In any case, it will be some time if people do get these skills.”

Faelenya cut in, impatient, “How does this help us with the horde?”

Ash replied. “Ah, yes. My plan is to make the entrance a kill-box. Everything that we don’t like starts dying as soon as it enters. Reyrana can apparently get trees to move. If we get trees to move randomly, we can entrap and confuse some of the beasts. More importantly, she can get trees to grow quicker. So, we can have a much denser growth. I plan to trap some of the beasts and get them to fight for us.”

He continued. “That’s for the Druid Company. You already know a bit about what I plan to use the Weaving Company for. There’s also The Kitchen Company. They’re helping harvesting as many harpies as they can – apparently harpies taste close enough to chicken.”

He now had a glint in his eye. “The Bowying company - they’re making arrows right now. The harpies make for great fletching apparently. And also, they will help us with all the new harpies attacking us with the horde. I’ll explain that strategy tomorrow morning.”

Ash now moved closer to the walls, where there was a makeshift tent. Ashe, Faelenya and a few soldiers and elves entered it with her.

“More importantly. This is the [Control Room]. And this,” he said, activating a perk. Ashe and the others in the room could feel it. “This is [CCTV Feed]. You can see anything happening in the [Castle] with this.”

Everyone in the room was stunned. Ash had opened the feed to the top of the Castle Wall, where they could see a few soldiers lazing about and keeping a lookout. Faelenya tried to will it, and the feed quickly changed to inside the [Forest] where she could see elves milling about, collecting things that had been left in a hurry before.

Ashe spoke slowly.

“This changes everything.”

Ash had a smirk on his face.

“Oh yeah. We’re gonna win. And we’re gonna win big.”