After talking with the budding druid of the team, Regis spent the following two hours conjuring and enchanting the new grow boxes for the second greenhouse. They were roughly located at the same spot where he put them in the other greenhouse, but this time everything went faster and smoother.

“Regis,” he heard someone calling out to him as Letty showed up at the entrance of the greenhouse. “We’re heading back to have lunch. Do you want to join us?”

“Sure. I already finished here anyway.”

“Already?” The young wood elf asked as she looked around.

“Yes, but you’ll still have to get the planters and whatnot later.”

“That’s okay. We should get going. Lunet’s stomach has been growling louder and louder the past half hour.”

“Teacher!” The little girl squealed in embarrassment as the three of them headed out.

Thornfell seemed busy even with less than a hundred villagers. The sound of hammering could be heard from Landwaker Square, singing about Amanda’s heavy swings. Some of the people walked by with woven baskets that held vegetables that were likely handed out by either Tristan or Quentin. A few former ninth guard squad members patrolled the streets, ready for any trouble.

“There you are milord,” Regis heard the baleful words as Lars showed up from across the market square. “I was just about to look for you. We have already used up the building materials you conjured and even the main support beams of the second story’s floor have been put into place. Now we just need the boards and the cross beams to fully build the floor.”

“And you want me to conjure more materials?”

“That would be good sir. If we had the stone blocks to work with, we could continue until dusk.”

“Alright,” he sighed, turning to Letty and the little girl. “You two should go and get something to eat. I… I’ll grab something later.”

“Oh, okay.” The young wood elf nodded.

“Let’s get this over it.” He sighed as he left the market square with Lars in tow.

After a short walk, the two of them reached the future barracks where the improvised construction workers were in the middle of their well-earned rest. Regis gave them a slight nod in response to their greetings before he began to conjure and reshape the condensed earth blocks. After turning another twenty-five cubic meter’s worth of earth bricks into hard stone, he headed inside the unfinished building.

Looking up, he was greeted by the sight of several large wooden beams with a few thick boards placed on top of them to create a makeshift path for the workers. The young spell weaver headed up the stone stairs and stopped at the first support beam. After placing his hand on the chest-high corner wall that was made from the blocks he created earlier, Regis used his magic to momentarily soften the stone before fusing the entire wall together in a two and a half square metre area.

Once he managed to fuse the entire corner wall section together, he continued with the rest of the wall. It took him about half an hour to finish up everything, but as soon as he got back down, another familiar voice called out to him.

“Milord,” Tristan greeted him from among the workers. “My apologies for disturbing you while you’re working, but sir Quentin was looking for you.”

“Did he tell you why he is looking for me?”

“He said something about wanting to go to a keep.”

“I see,” the dark elf nodded. “He must have been talking about Rust-well Keep. Fine. I already finished up my work here anyway. Let's go.”

As the two of them were walking back to the village, Tristan pulled out a rough parchment from his satchel and handed it over to his liege.

“While you were busy constructing the second greenhouse,” the steward began his explanation. “Lars and I spoke with your fellow outlander companions.”

“About?”

“Lars was curious about the architecture and infrastructure of your home world. Thanks to the name formation we gained, he came up with this map layout for Thornfell. Of course, it is only a rough draft.”

Regis took a look at the settlement map and let out a small whistle. The old village wall was nowhere to be seen on it as it was replaced by the line the dark elf planned for the new wall. The two circles of buildings around the Landwaker got followed by several straight streets in all directions to fill out the empty space between the wall and the currently built houses.

A similar design could be seen on the other side of the river, except it only had one circular map section with larger buildings marked down on it. There was also a large area marked in the upper middle section with the word ‘manor’ in it.

“I see you’ve planned a lot of buildings, but it doesn’t explain much.”

“Well... after talking with your companions, I brought up the idea to turn the area around the Landwaker tree into the nobles’ district like it usually is in other places, but everyone seemed to be against it. After having a... lengthy conversation with them, we all agreed that the right side of the river will be the main housing area for the commoners.”

“I see.”

“Sir Quentin in particular was quite adamant about the Landwaker being the gift of the seven to the people and that he had faith in your protective enchantments around the tree. Regarding the left side of the river, the circular area was suggested by Lady Sophie and Lady Valerie. They said that it would be good to have a second square for the more official buildings.

“So Nina’s trade centre and the town hall?”

“Along with a spellcasters’ guild and your manor.” Tristan added.

Their walk was interrupted by the ghostly echo of Quentin’s voice that resounded in the dark elf’s ears at the same time several screams could be heard coming from the village.

“Regis,” the paladin spoke. “A monster broke into the village. It’s trying to get through the barrier around the Landwaker.”

“Shit!” The spell weaver cursed as he began to run.

“What happened?” Tristan asked, barely hearing the distant answer.

“Monster attack.”

Regis ran through the opened village gate and along the main street, his eyeballs nearly falling out of their sockets as he reached Landwaker Square. A giant bear-like creature was desperately clawing at the barrier around the Landwaker, standing at around three and a half metres in height.

Mottled fur and black sooth covered its large frame, dried blood and some sort of black ooze splashed across it. Quentin and the others around the square tried to fight it off, but the beast easily sent them reeling with its large paws.

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“What the hell is that thing?” The spell weaver asked after hurling a ‘fire lance’ spell at the monster.

“It’s a werebear!” Letty yelled while trying to use her 'thorny vine' spell to tie the beast down.

When it seemed to get tied up by the vines, its giant frame shook, and its flesh ripples as it shrunk down. The gruesome sounds of bones snapping filled the air as the creature changed its shape into a leaner and more feral looking one. Amanda’s blazing hammer struck it on the back, making it fall forward.

“Is that a motherfucking werewolf?” Cruz asked while trying to smash her staff’s end into the monster’s head.

The beast moved fast, slipping out of its binds with black ooze dripping from its mouth, its eyes a glassy red hue. It swiped at the wood elf, leaving deep gashes on her weapon.

“It’s a druid,” Letty screamed. “Only a ‘beast path’ druid can shift into multiple forms.”

“What the hell did we do to piss off this fellow?” Osmond asked as his skeletal troll puppet shoulder charged the werewolf, sending it sprawling on the ground before it got struck by Fabien's lightning bolt.

The black froth that dripped from the beast’s mouth fell on the cobblestone ground, sizzling beneath the sunlight. Regis’ eyes widened as the realization of a possible reason popped into his mind.

“Osmond, hold it down! Quentin, open your domain!”

“What for?” The paladin turned toward him confused.

“I think it’s been corrupted.”

“Oh,” Osmond nodded as his large skeletal puppet threw itself on the werewolf, binding it in an almost judo-like grappling hold.

Quentin rushed in close, a golden light seeping out of his body to cover a five-metre radius circle. As soon as the light touched the werebeast, it began to madly struggle as black smoke started to waft out of its body.

“It’s working!” Sophie said elated.

“Hit it with light element spells!” Regis remarked while preparing his ‘greater runic ray of light’ spell, blasting the still struggling beast with it.

Several minutes went by filled with inhumane shrieks as the corrupted creature got slowly cleansed by the intense assault of light elemental magic, the occasional healing spells making sure it would survive the ordeal.

When its body finally stopped releasing any more corrupted smoke, it began to twist again. Bones creaked, flesh rippled and fur receded until only a naked man could be seen laying on the ground. The stranger seemed to be the personification of the typical Canadian lumberjack with its stocky frame, wide shoulders and thick reddish-brown beard.

“Is he…”

“He’s still alive,” Quentin noted as he checked the man’s slow breathing.”

“Cover him up,” the spell weaver said. “He already caused enough ruckus.

Regis looked at the terrified villagers who finally dared to come closer after the beast had been more or less vanquished.

“The threat has been taken care of,” he tried to reassure them. “We will find out who he is and how he got here. You have my word.”

His small speech seemed to have somewhat calmed the frightened people, letting him walk closer to the still-panting Quentin.

“This was quite the fight,” the paladin said as he watched Tristan slowly walk closer. “So, what now? We can’t just leave him out here.”

“Let’s get him inside the inn.” Fabien offered his thoughts.

“Agreed. Could you guys…”

“What did I miss?” A ragged voice resounded from their left side as Valerie finally got into talking distance.

“Where the hell were you?” Her brother asked with obvious anger in his tone.

“I was outside the village, doing my weekly ritual to talk with Grandma. She says hi by the way.”

“We had a crazed and corrupted druid trying to rip us apart.” Amanda explained while throwing the unconscious man over her shoulder.

“Damn,” the infernal woman cussed. “I always miss the fun part.

“You can keep watch over him,” Quentin stated. “I need Regis to give me a lift to Rust-well Keep.”

“Why didn’t you ask Valerie?” The dark elf inquired before turning to the priestess who was busy casting healing spells on the injured druid. “Hey there Lithia. I haven’t seen you since you got here.”

“Oh,” she hummed a bit awkwardly. “I was busy helping the villagers. Some of them had small wounds from working while others needed some faith-related aid. And now this. Sorry, I haven’t visited you sooner.”

“Don’t worry about it,” the spell weaver shook his head. “I guess we were both too busy. So, about the trip to the keep.”

“I planned to go there to get some information, but now…”

“It’s alright,” Sophie chirped. “We’ll watch over the big guy while you’re away.”

“Alright,” Regis nodded. “Just give me a few minutes to recharge and we can go.”

“Thanks,” the paladin said while turning toward the inn. “I’ll grab my stuff in the meantime.”

Regis entered the gazebo after opening the barrier and leaned against one of the columns. After closing his eyes he spent a couple of minutes meditating before the sound of approaching footsteps made him aware of his incoming companion.

“Are you ready”? He asked from Quentin, earning a firm nod.

“I guess no one else wants to come with us?”

“I don’t think...”

“Wait!” They heard a feminine voice as Nina approached them from the other side of Landwaker Square. “I heard that you wanted to visit another town.”

“Rust-well Keep.” The paladin corrected her.

“May I come with you as well?”

“Business trip?” Regis looked at the woman as if already aware of his intentions.

“I was hoping to ask around to form more connections and maybe get a few enchantment requests for you from the local militia.”

“We might as well get a bit of extra out of this trip.” The dark elf noted as the young woman stepped into the portal circle.

With no one else volunteering for the trip, the spell weaver reached up for his amulet and activated it. The runes of the gateway lit up and the familiar flesh of light swallowed the three, spitting them out at Rust-well Keep. They earned a couple of worried looks from the locals but the guards seem to have immediately recognized them, giving a small salute to the paladin.

“Greetings, sir.” One of them spoke up while the rest just went on their way.

“Greetings. We’re looking for Lieutenant Ernest.”

“He should be at the eastern gate, sir.” The soldier pointed toward their goal before giving a slight farewell nod and joining his fellows.

“Thank you.” The paladin replied and the trio headed out.

“Who is this lieutenant you're looking for?” Nina asked while walking.

“He was stationed here by the royal army to be the leader of the local militia,” Regis answered. “Whether you want to talk about the enchantments or just inquire about any news, he would be your best bet.”

“I see. I’ll try to form a proper...”

“Khan?” Their conversation got cut short by Quentin as the man called out to a familiar-looking figure up ahead.