The next early morning came by as quickly as the previous day had passed. Gharna, Azhul, Oinna and Yenna were getting ready with backpacks and cloaks over their usual attires, Urla, Runhar, Rok, Zurra and Michael standing with them at the front gate, that stood closed.

"Alright. Hopefully, if you sell the peelers we can get enough money for limestone and more iron. Still, I know there is need for other essentials so make sure to cover those first. Also! I realized we could cut back on costs for food if we can grow our own stuff so make sure to buy some common vegetables that we can plant about. I am not great at it, but I got a bit of a green thumb from my grandpa." Michael said with a smile and chuckle.

"Y-... you know your thumbs are not green, right?" Runhar added with a snort as he pointed to Michael hands.

"It's a saying from back home. It means to be good with plants." Michael replied back with a slight groan.

"Ah. So your grandfather was a druid? You said your people didn't have mana." The guard captain retorted confused.

"No. He likes to do farm and garden work. The saying literally means he was good at tending crops." The young man said with an exasperated look towards Runhar, not necessarily for him not getting the sayings, but more that he has to explain them each time he uses them.

"Ah. Right. Right." The swine said nodding as he then turned to look at the four checking if they have everything they need. "So. Prepared for the road?"

"About as good as we could." Gharna said as she gave her backpack of supplies and her two hand axes at her hips one last glance over.

"Yes and with a bit o' luck we won't have to deal with Hay-yens during the trip. Still. I took some measures." She said with a satisfied oink as she looked down at herself, her usual attire covered now with some extra leather armor in places.

"I will try my best to keep vegetables, and anything else that can rot, in good condition. Some ice spells will make short work of that." Oinna said as she had a spare empty bag rolled and strapped to her backpack.

"I am still really sorry about the whole ice and your conduit breaking..." Michael said as he could feel himself cringe inside when the talk about ice is brought up.

"No worries. We couldn't have known, a-and it wasn't the main one I use... it was the first ever one I made... a-and... that I kept for its sentimental value..." Oinna said trying to put a nice as possible tone, although her voice did choke up slightly towards the end.

The young man simply squinted and sucked in his lips, biting slightly on them. 'Băgami-aş picioarele. Orice aş zice nu o să facă situația mai bună.' ('Fuck. Anything I say, won't make the situation any better.') He groaned mentally. "S-sorry." Is all he could muster out after nodding lightly while listening to Oinna.

"Why did I have to go, again?" Yenna groaned as he finished last preparations as well, wood chiseling tools and a handaxe hanging from his belt as well.

"Because we need an extra pair of hands and a forth person to keep watch at night while we sleep. That way everyone can rest the same amount of time, blood brother." Gharna replied slightly annoyed at him, as they basically needed to have Urla to order him as village elder to go.

"Aaand I did promise you to give the phone fully charged to browse my references. It will be yours until the battery runs out." Michael did say as his mood slightly improved.

Yenna let out a long drawn low oink. "Agh. How one must suffer for their craft..." He huffed as he looked at Michael and the mystical artifact he was holding between his slender digits.

Zurra let out a small snort and laugh. "Hah. Might as well become a bard with such theatric on ya boy."

Before Yenna could retort, which he was about to do, Urla cleared her throat. "Although, it truly does pain me to interrupt a fun conversation, you must be on your way as soon as possible. Make use of this sunlight." She said in her usual monotone voice as she then looked at Runhar and Rok. "Would you kindly open the gates?"

At this prompt the two swine nodded and got the wooden gates open just enough for people to pass outside. Rok took a bit of time to peek outside and give a few glances about the forest. "Looks clear to me." He would also snort at the air lightly. "And no smells of the Hay-yen. You should be good to go, but do be careful." He said as he pulled his head back inside.

The two groups then said final goodbyes, those remaining wishing good travels and farewells to the others leaving and hoping to see them well when they returned.

As the four Tuskir then left and the gates got closed, their steps could be heard slowly dissapearing into the distance.

Michael looked a bit lost at the gate, as one would when you knew dear people would depart on a decently long journey. Still, that somewhat trance like state wouldn't last as he could feel a few light taps on his shoulder. Turning around he saw Urla approached him quite close and had just tapped his shoulder with her staff. "Y-yes, elder Urla?" He said formally, mainly due to his habit of addressing elderly people in a more formal manner.

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"I believe this is for you. I was told of your unique interactions with mana so I believe wearing this along with the first amulet you have, shan't be a problem." The woman said holding a carved stone, with talismans of a fang and fur of Hay-yen origin hanging from it, a metal loop at the top of it.

"Ah! Thank you, so much for your work! I will put it to good use." The young man said with a kind smile as he took off the medallion he had, undoing the string and sliding the second stone on the string through the loop. He would then tie it back and put it back on. "Alright. That should do it. Agh- damn it!" He groaned holding onto his temple.

"It will take you a moment to adjust to it. Don't worry it shouldn't be as bad as your first time." Urla said as she looked at Michael seemingly having a sudden migraine.

The young man held onto his ears and temples as he could hear loud cackling, laughing, growling and yapping echo in his ears, which seemed to slowly fade away. "I don't think I will ever get used to that..." He mumbled as he took in a deep breath.

Runhar, after waiting for Michael to be done with the new amulet, would clear his throat. "I wished to talk with you about something important. You said you could help with improvements. Well, I wished to inquire about how we could improve our defenses. I have been pondering traps laid hidden in the woods, but the concern of our own or travelers falling in them was my main worry about that. With Hay-yen possibly creeping about the place, may the Brood Mother watch over us against them, I thought it might be a priority." The guard captain said in a concerned yet stern voice.

"I have actually been thinking on that. We'll need Zurra's help with this though, for some of my ideas. To better secure the outside, we could check the surrounding wood around the immediate vecinity and check where naturally people would travel. If we can make those areas more open and akin to a funnel we could have nice spots that are subconciously to someone more visible to travel, which results in safe spots for nearby travelers and bottle necks for attackers. Areas with harder to traverse vegetation and that people could sneak through towards us, we can trap with pitfalls. Normally I would suggest, spikes at the bottom, but I feel like there might at some point someone dumb enough to fall in one by accident so instead, pits deep enough to break legs and twist ankles should be enough. If we check them regularly, nobody should die in them either."

Runhar nodded listening along as his eyes sparked with clear interest. "And we could use additional foliage besides the natural one to mask them. If anyone wanders through that are either incredibly dull or attempting to sneak up to spy on us. Lovely!" The swine captain said with an excited quick squeal. "Anything else? You said something would involve Zurra?"

"Aye. Ye did, and none o' the pit making has anythin' to do with me so, whatcha got pinky?" The older sow smith said with a snort and huff.

"Well. In my world when we wish to secure a fenced off area we put above walls something we call barbed wire. It is formed of a main looping or straight wire with small segments of it twisted around with pointy ends in places acting as barbs to sting the climbers." Michael said while looking at Zurra who seemed to be thinking on it while listening to the young human.

"Agh, truffles. It is doable, but it will be a pain. I'll have to grab a piece of metal and make different sizes holes into it and then while the metal is hot, it needs to be hammered through the bloody holes going for a smaller hole each time. We can do it, but I'll be havin' yer ass in the forge with me, boy. I'll need that heat resistance of yours to help make the process quicker by having an additional pair o' hands that won't pass out on me from heat." Zurra said with a huff as she looked at Michael.

"Gladly! Oh. Nearly forgot. As a longer term goal. To secure territory for further growth we could also make a second wall around the first one with two gates and separation walls. In case of an attack, as the situation dictates, we can have the flexibility of locking off certain segments of this inner area without surrendering it entirely and with an additional exit in one of these segments, although it is another risk, it also results in another exit an enemy has to cover, so making it as far as possible from the first one, can prove to be an advantage." Michael added rather enthusiatically.

"That... doesn't sound too bad either. A prospect, although hard to achieve, I would say worth pursuing eventually. By the Brood Mother, this place will be an impenetrable fortress by the time we are done with it." Runhar said with a truly excitedly snorting chuckle.

"Gods. That means there will be even more wire makin' in me future? Great." Zurra said with a groan and sigh.

"Right. I'll get to scouting the area for those funnel spaces we can put in place. Michael join me, please!" Runhar said as he seemed about as giddy as a boy scout about the shit show he is helping create for any future to be attackers.

"Ay. Make sure ye don't hog him all tha yerself. I'll be needing him later in the forge after I prepare the place to help me on makin' wire." Zurra said as she looked towards Runhar sternly.

"I'd say with Rok always being on guard duty up in the small observation tower, he could also give us good insight on the matter." Michael added looking over to the Tuskir guard.

"Me? Really? I don't know if I'd kno' anything worth on this. I ain't exactly the strategic type." The shorter tuskir male said awkwardly, not yet used to talk to Michael.

"Maybe not, but all insight can help. So please, don't underestimate yourself, before you give it a try. I do that, too, all the time." Michael said with a kind gaze and warm tone, which seemed to have eased the guard's nervousness. "Alright. You two go ahead. I actually wish to pass by the Hay-yens' holding place and deliver their food. They must be waitin' for breakfast. Now i can talk with them too, hopefully. I will join you as soon as I am done and later on help out smith Zurra." Michael added looking at the group with a confident gaze. 'God... that will be back breaking work by the end, but better than doin' nothing.' The human thought to himself.

"Still don't understand why you were insisting we don't starve em, but alright, after ya shat out those good ideas I won't question your weird antics, at least for a bit. Everything else, sounds like a plan. Let's get to it." Runhar said confidently as him and Rok began going for the gate, assigning someone else to guard it while they were busy.

"See ya later at the forge, boy. We still don't got leather equipment for ya, but we'll see what we can make for you, eventually. Until then, me spare gloves and apron will be waitin' for yer tender touch." The older woman said with an oinking laugh as she spoke in a jovial tone while walking off.

Urla had already left while they spoke so Michael took in a deep breath and he went on to help prepare food for the Hay-yen before going to confront them.