Surprised by the offer of the man with the cold appearance, Vanroc replied with relief: "I will work hard! Thank you very much.

He didn't expect his problems to be solved so easily for the time being. He seemed to have completely misjudged Reg, as he didn't make it unnecessarily difficult for him, but possibly helped to solve his problems.

If he had met Shaia and Reg under normal circumstances before or at the beginning of his journey through the forest, he would have completely distrusted them. The scars of the villagers' sudden betrayal were still too fresh for that.

Even though Vanroc had told his story to the young lady at the river, he only did so because he had lost himself.

The cold nature of Reg and his demand for food and a bed in exchange for work made it easier for Vanroc not to distrust him with every word. In one trade, one did not owe the other anything. So it was easier to accept a deal than to remain a friendly and unconditional invitation.

Vanroc was aware of this. However, he rejected this logic when it came to Shaia.

Shaia had saved his life without demanding anything from him, yet he was not suspicious of her.

However, this had nothing to do with the fact that he developed feelings for her, but with her past. During her conversations Vanroc had asked if she lived alone on the farm with her father. There he had learned that her mother and her older brother had been killed in an attack by monsters.

Since then she has been helping anyone who needed her help. She didn't want to see anyone die in front of her eyes again. This was also the reason why, without hesitation, she helped Vanroc. Furthermore, it was also the reason why Reg accepted his daughter's request. Since that day she was often sad, but when she helped others she had the smile back which he missed so much. He wanted his daughter to be happy.

Before, when Shaia helped others, it were mostly children who had hurt themselves running around. But Vanroc was the first one she brought to the farm to help him.

After Vanroc had thanked Reg for the offer, he asked him: "What should I help with? And why do we need the tools on the wheelbarrow?

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Vanroc had suspected that based on their conversation, it would now be easier to talk to Reg. This assumption was quickly refuted by Reg's answer: "Build a fence."

Even though it was a short answer, it contained the information he had asked for.

The remaining way, as before, they walked silently.

After a while they came to a field that was 15 meters wide and 30 meters long. The field was recognizable by the loosened earth and the grass that bordered the field.

On the field lay wooden bars and poles stacked on top of each other.

As they reached the field, Vanroc heard the voice of Reg again: "We are building a fence around the field to keep monsters away."

Vanroc was then to follow him to one of the corners of the field where he had already set up a few meters of fence. There Reg showed Vanroc how to set up the fence on his own, so that they could both set up the fence in the opposite direction.

Vanroc became curious as he explained how the fence should be built. He had always loved to learn new things from his grandfather. Even though he was distrustful towards others, he did not want to do without acquiring knowledge.

The special thing about this fence was that the wooden planks were not simply nailed to a fence pole from the side. First, the poles were dug into the ground at a certain distance and depth. The poles were angular and had a wide diameter.

At fixed heights there were three holes pierced through the poles. These holes fit exactly with the wooden planks so that they could be pushed through the holes.

To build the fence, the poles were connected by pushing the wooden planks into the holes. In both wooden poles were the ends of the wooden planks inside the holes. These were fastened there from the outside with a nail.

After Vanroc had understood how the building system worked, they began to build the fence around the field.

It took several hours to finish.

As they looked at their finished work, Vanroc asked: "What monsters is the fence supposed to stop? Is a simple wooden fence even capable of doing so?"

After asking the questions, Vanroc thought he had seen something like a light smile for a short moment under Reg's beard.

Since there was no direct answer to his question, he also said: "While crossing the forest, I met a group of monsters. Based on my observations, they wouldn't have a problem knocking down that fence."

Vanroc wanted to explain with his statement why he doubted the effectiveness of the fence.

Instead of answering his questions, Reg asked a counter question: "What monsters did you encounter in the forest?"