Don observed several dogs staring at her, her hands wrapped around a large chest. She had to hurry up and get a totem again because the last one ran out immediately.

In the meantime, she looked at the new settlement's statue page.

Attribute Status Settlement Name Dontown Population Overview Goblin Workers 26 Goblin Warriors 15 Goblins 2 Troll (Leader) 1 Resource Status Food Limited provisions Water Limited supply Shelter Simple settlement housing Defensive Measures Walls None Guard Posts None Infrastructure Housing Basic shelters for inhabitants Markets None Farms None Community Welfare Health Facilities None Education None Economic Activities Trade None Crafting None Current Events Recent Attacks None Diplomatic Relations None Upcoming Events None scheduled

Don visiting various places, using her connections to help bring some much needed provisions for the settlement's early phases. She got plenty of crops that she immediately had planted.

It was easy like eating freshly cooked meat on a summer day.

Her issues now were a lot, but for now, she would be talking with the individuals in her settlement to clear out any confusion.

She met one of the goblins, Zupupu, directing him toward a log.

"Do you know anyone here?" she said.

"Hmm... No—of course I know everyone!"

Don shrugged. "Okay, then, how about this? Do you know who you are?"

Zupupu's eyes lowered. "I know myself more than anyone else, but what I want to know is why the heck are you asking me these questions!"

Don gave a thumbs-up. "Okay, next question, I want to know if you've been eating anything."

Zupupu ran away.

Don wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Looks like this'll be a hard one."

After interviewing each goblin, she then headed to the city and talked to an adventurer party called "Saero," which included familiar friends such as Jared, Kloe, and Algae.

Jared stared at him. "Don, what's up?"

"I was wondering if you guys need any help. I'm not really forcing you, but I want to help. I want to help because my settlement needs more people, so if I was thinking that if I help, then more people would come."

"Incomprehensible logic there Don, but that's better than nothing. Come on let's go!" Jared said, heading out and showing Don a dungeon.

"Okay, so if you hit this dungeon really hard," he explained, "It will explode."

Don knew that, but she couldn't communicate well enough. That was her struggle.

Later, Jared showed Don various different items in a shop. "Okay, before we head out, I was hoping to show you this. Get one of those clubs, alright? You like that?"

Don nodded, recognizing the power in sheer mass. "This doesn't fit my size."

"Yeah, but I can get someone that'll make one of those."

The shop keeper looked at him with a squint that said, "You come here just to look at my items and leave?"

Anyway, the adventurer party and Don left to a tower where they met a bubbly little princess-like woman who showed them birds and various monsters in cages. "W-why are you..." she said, daunted by the size of Don. She was a female bird-man herself with a bird head, but even she found Don intimidating because of her gigantic stature. "...here?"

Don glanced at Jared, who said, "We need a club. I know you have one of those. You use it to help the feedery."

"Stop calling it a 'feedery'," the woman said. "It's a feeding area, idiot!"

"I like calling it that, Marshall." He turned to Don. "Her name is Marshall, okay?"

Don nodded.

The woman, Marshall said: "I see now that you're trying to reveal all my details! I see now. You're trying to extort me and blackmail me, that's it! Mom!"

A dragon appeared outside through a portal, transforming into a bird-man and then slowly climbing the tower.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

After Don, the adventurer party, and Marshall awkwardly waited, the bird-man climbed the tower and entered the room. "How are you guys doing? Want bibingka?" said the mother of Marshall, carrying bibinka that she bought from a group of goblins. "I was wondering if maybe we should visit the Leroy sometime. It would be nice to see it again, what d'you think?"

Marshall, the daughter, nodded aggressively. "Of course, I want to see it Mom, but Mom, they're trying to reveal my information to the public."

Mom snorted playfully. "It's fine, dear. They're just playing around, and they probably want something, don't you boys?"

Jared nodded, saying yes slowly.

Mom laughed. "I guess we can just leave then. I'll give you the club, and we'll be off. Toodle-oo!"

When they climbed down the tower and went outside, she opened a portal and took out a giant club from her dimensional storage, handing it to Don.

"Don, it's nice to meet you. What do you think about Marshall? Hope she's not bothering you too much!" She and Marshall, who was trying to shush her about revealing details about her, left.

Don and the adventurer party left, heading to a dungeon. "Okay, this is where we kill things," said Jared, starting to bother Don.

Don might have been a troll, but she didn't like getting treated like she was unintelligent. Being bad at speaking and having a unique perception of life didn't necessarily mean that she was dumb.

At the dungeon, it was quiet, water dripping.

Don saw lush vegetation overcoming what was supposed to be a rocky cave floor. It smelled and felt like a bouquet with its freshness.

The wind moved flavorfully through the cave tunnel.

She went down the steps, accompanied by the small figures below her. These figures were the adventurers, who still had to be very careful around the giant Don, who was still a giant troll, no joke.

Well, after they all finished up walking the steps, it was bound for them to encounter one of the wraiths who spawned in the cave. It was a big place after all.

Don struck one of them, only to find her physical body passing through the wraiths, leaving it to the adventurers to try to fight it.

However, none of the adventurers had magic, so they decided to book it.

Don and the adventurers left the cave and looked for another place to enter that didn't have wraiths or ghostly figures. It scared them so much one of the adventurers peed himself.

It worried Don to see such fear from what were supposed to be adventurous fellows. She guessed that people like them struggled to relax in dungeon environments if they didn't have "a perfect plan" already in place.

The ghosts absolutely demolished their preparations.

Don arrived at one of the junctures between several points in the dungeon. Her voice was deep and menacing. "Hey guys," she said. "Where are we going?"

She didn't actually know what they were supposed to be doing there, and Jared wasn't the type to betray her. So she wanted to ask only now just in case Jared thought she knew where she was going.

Jared said, "I don't know exactly, but I know it's around here—"

"Treasure?" said Don, excited at the idea of finding treasure now that she was with Jared. This cave was big enough to fit her, but often times, she found tunnels that led to places she couldn't fit. And often times, these tunnels led to treasure chests.

"Yeah, we're expecting a rare bow at least!" he emphasized that like it was festivities.

Don said okay.

It was not difficult to follow Jared, Kloe, and Algae, because they were very open around her.

Jared said, "I shouldn't be peeing here!"

Kloe said, "I will! I already did! Too late!"

Algae burst into laughter.

The fact that they did this made her wonder if this world cared about them doing this so openly, or if they were they just weirdos.

It was hard not to hate people like these.

Inside the cave, the tunnels felt like they kept expanding, each leading to what felt like an eternity of doom and darkness.

They finally encountered an enemy, but it wasn't ghosts this time.

It was a bunch of rock golems, and that would have wiped out the adventurers if it wasn't for Don just blocking them with her body.

The golems were only 5 feet tall, so it wasn't a fair fight.

Don smashed them and didn't give the adventurers time to hesitate and make changes midstream.

"Finally," she said, watching the surprised adventurers.

They never got used to seeing her beat up things effortlessly, huh.

Well, she accepted that, realizing that this world rested upon her shoulders for her to take. People like her got what they got, and it was only natural for them to expand and develop the world.

As the fight ended, she noticed her XP increasing and her next level inching closer.

Level 15 | 2.00000000001/37 XP

It was only a 0.00000000001 XP increase, but she was feeling optimistic.

She noticed some of the adventurers starting to get confident. Well, happiness loved company.

She raised her arms in victory; hitting the cave ceiling and astounding the adventurers. "Whoops!" Her voice was even scarier.

The adventurers kept their distance, leaving Don to stare in silence. She felt embarassed, but it wasn't automatic for her to scratch her head or do some gesture indicating so. She was just bad at communicating.

But the adventurers managed with it, walking back next to her.

Jared redirected them to their reason for being here: "Okay, so I know there's a treasure around here. If not, we can just go back. It's chill."

Don said yes, quietly this time.

When they turned the corner, the wraiths in the distance was enough to dissuade them.

"Okay, let's leave everybody!" said Algae.

"Alright!" said Kloe. Woohoo!"

"Guys, be quiet!" said Jared before screaming as well, "Let's go!"

They were screaming for screaming's sake at this point—a bunch of hyper-excited man-children, but in a good way.

Don adored that side of them, her voice chirping affectionately like a demon with how deep it sounded: "You guys..."

After they left, Don parted ways with them and returned to the settlement, happy that her day was productive. "Ahh... 0.00000000001 XP..." she moaned in satisfaction.

The goblins glanced at her before returning to work, passing by a board that read all the problems of the village listed by the [System.]

No. Tropical Rainforest Challenge 1. Harsh Environment 2. Disease Outbreaks 3. Limited Clean Water 4. Resource Scarcity 5. Infrastructure Challenges 6. Wildlife Encounters 7. Isolation and Connectivity 8. Cultural Integration 9. Sustainability Practices 10. Natural Hazards

Even now, it was hard to pretend that everything would go perfectly well.

[One of your goblins had gotten sick! Go to them immediately!]

Don ran and hired a healer from a nearby district to save the goblin.

The goblin didn't die, but that meant something moving forward.

Don decided to have healers at the city; however, she came to a problem.

She lacked the funds. Even if she had the goblins, who chose to follow her, that didn't mean anyone else would do the same. The healers she wanted in Dontown didn't care for her or the settlement.

In the end, she had to let go of this issue this one time.

If things went awry, it would become even worse than the situation now.

She had to pay attention, or else.