Evergreen was busy these days. Richard went to the southern gate pulling a cart full of arrows. Swords would take too long to craft and Lord Kirk requested a large amount of arrows be produced. It was easier for a person to shoot down from the walls at the monsters than face them head-on. Anyone without hunting experience could be given a bow and expected to shoot.

There were makeshift medical stations and straw beds laid out on the ground. The injured were being carried to the medical stations. Most of the injured were those who went outside of the gate to fight the beasts. Richard saw people missing limbs and only wrapped in bandages. The scene of people crying, and grown men made him remember the past. He fought for others because of a draft when he was on the battlefront.

Did he want to? No, but he did it. And he survived.

There were some women, dirty as they were cooking in large metal pots. Making some disgusting-looking brown soup to feed the soldiers. The soldiers were all men, some couldn't be more than fifteen years of age. This only reminded Richard that he was in a setting where any able-bodied male was needed.

When Richard first came here a few days ago after spending countless nights forging arrow tips he thought the word 'monster' he was hearing spoke of just wild animals that went crazy. But no, that wasn't the case. There was a pack of wild wolves among them, however, there were large creatures as well. Humanoid in shape standing more than eight feet tall and as thick as a house. Pale green skin with bald heads tusks with trees for a weapon. Those were just the tallest ones, some were smaller, and they varied in height.

Black boar-like creatures with a single horn on their head were also present. Richard was shocked by all of this, these things were something straight out of a movie. To make matters worse, or even more insane the boars were able to breathe fire. It only happened a few times, but Richard watched as a man was cooked to the bone.

He was glad he was not on the frontlines fighting, he might try to find a way to run away if he were. Fighting monsters such as these with only spears, shields, swords, and bows would not do it. Even now the people were having a hard time against them, especially the boars and the monsters carrying trees.

Maybe a cannon or a ballistic would do the trick and mow through them, but neither of those were invented yet. If they were, they weren't present. Truthfully, a wall-mounted ballistic would do a lot of damage, and if the city did not have one, then Richard wanted to invent one. He could even sell it for a ton of money once Lord Kirk saw how powerful it was.

Having those stationed on key points on the wall would make killing creatures a lot easier. If they were smart they might even learn to stay away from the city. Richard put that thought away for later.

"Another delivery? Thanks, we weren't expecting this till tomorrow morning." A soldier said as he ordered someone to take the cart from Richard. He was an older man, way past his prime, and seemed to be in a position of power. Richard didn't know his name, but then again he never asked nor was he interested.

"Finished it early. How are things faring?" Richard asked to make small talk.

"So far so good, they haven't managed to push in any more than the first day so that's good. As long as we can keep up the current tempo this tide shouldn't last long." He answered.

"What about the villages? What do they do?"

The man shrugged. "No clue, hide most likely. The monsters aren't smart, they just like to bash the walls in and kill. If they can't find you then you should be safe. They don't have as many people, so they'll do whatever they can to survive."

"No chance they'll send reinforcements then?" Richard asked but he felt as if he already knew the answer.

"Doubtful, need all the hands we can get. Thanks for the arrows, I have to get back to my post." The older soldier said before he turned to leave.

Richard had to give them credit, they were pretty disciplined. Morale was not low either, even though their conditions were not the greatest.

He spotted one girl in a brown dress with dirty brown hair coming from one of the tents. She gave him a coy smile and the man that came out after her looked satisfied. This wasn't Richard's first time seeing this, he was even offered a good time by one of these women. He didn't take it, mostly because he wasn't sure what sort of diseases they had.

How far had medicine advanced here? He doubted it was even close to what he had back in his own world, so he'd rather avoid any sexually transmitted diseases. Even now he made sure to wash his hands after working and before eating and clean his body twice a day.

"Richard." A familiar voice called out his name.

Turning he saw Arthur on top of his white horse wearing armor. Black plated armor without a helmet and his horse was lightly armored. He was holding a halberd that had dried blood on it. The blood was green, not red. Richard remembered when he first saw it and he assumed it was some sort of toxin.

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He knew that Arthur was out there fighting and that he was one of the only ones with a mount. People rode on verlpax but Arthur was the only one on horseback. An odd sight for sure.

"My father would like to see you." Arthur said.

"Is he around?"

"No." Arthur wanted to say that his father would never show his face here. Issac was a man of wealth and even had a private army. However, he would never go to the battlefield himself. He said it was beneath him, and he even disliked that Arthur enjoyed this sort of thing. Saying that he should use this time to build connections and play the market.

"Follow me." Arthur said.

Richard did not have anything to do at the moment. He could not really work on any of his other projects due to the lords order. It was a pretty strict order as well from what he learned from Gregor. If he refused to work and do as the lord ordered, Richard would be captured and held until the monster tide was over with. After he'd be punished according to the law.

Which was death, or they'd take an eye and some fingers. None of which sounded good to him, so he did as he was told. Was he working for free? Yes, he was and it was draining him. He was used to spending countless nights working on a project, but when that happened it was something he really wanted to do. This was not, and it was tiring.

That was the sole reason he rushed these arrows, so he could go back and get some rest. But there were people coming to his workshop constantly demanding repairs and more arrows. He hasn't even had the chance to see Gregor these days. Luckily some soldiers came every morning and evening to bring him food.

It felt like he was a slave being forced to work, but Richard was bidding his time. Sure, he'd do this for now. But sooner or later, he'd be on the other end and would not have to listen to the lord.

When they arrived Richard was not surprised to see that there were guards posted at the entrance. The estate was large, as large or greater than what Lord Kirk had. A grand building with lots of hedges with land as far as you could see. The place looked nice, it sort of reminded Richard of those old Roman buildings he saw in history books.

Why were there so many people working here? What did Issac do? Surely he did not acquire this much wealth from selling verlpax, it just didn't make sense. He was sort of curious considering how much land the man owned. Issac could have inherited it from his father, and it could be a generational wealth thing. But, something told Richard that was not the case here.

Instead of going inside like he was expecting, they headed around back.

There people were tending to the fields, some sort of grapes from what Richard could tell. Not any kind of grapes he knew of but these ones were blue like the sky.

Issac was standing next to a beautiful woman. Richard felt as if his eyes were drawn to her. Most people he saw in this world could be considered average or less in a modern person's eyes. But this woman would be able to attract a lot of attention in his world. She was comparable to models.

If he had to say, Roxanne was the most beautiful woman he's seen so far, but this one was above her. Her short blonde hair had curls at the end and the black dress she wore was skintight showing off her curves.

"A rich man with a gorgeous wife." Richard said without even realizing it.

Arthur heard this and raised his eyebrow, but said nothing. He's seen the looks the help gives when his mother passes by, and even after interacting in the higher circles, he could agree that his mother was a cut above the rest. Maybe he was used to it, people saying how nice his mother looked that it didn't provoke any sort of emotion out of him.

"Father, I've returned." Arthur said as he got down from his horse.

Issac was touching the fur, scales whatever it was on the verlpax. Its head was lowered and in the palm of his hand with its eyes closed. He rubbed the top of the creature's head as he turned and noticed his son.

"I see you survived another day and managed to bring Richard. Go clean up and get out of that armor, Micheal will be coming by later." Issac told Arthur before he turned his attention to Richard.

"Richard, let me introduce you. This is my wife Silivia. Come walk with me."

Silivia gave Richard a soft smile and he returned the gesture before he followed Issac.

"Since the monster tide began things have been a bit hectic, and even before then I was busy so there was not much time to invite you over, you understand right? Things have calmed down a bit so I figured it would be a good chance for you to come and learn about the verlpax firsthand." Issac explained.

While Evergreen seemed dead, by the standards of other towns due to the lack of travelers and no resources truly leaving due to the creatures outside the city walls, it was busy. At least in the upper circle where plans were being formed, alliances made, and resources being moved around.

Which is why he was inviting Micheal over today to make sure they would be on his side during the next meeting.

"It's fine, I was able to begin work on the sword without much issue. Truthfully I figured you'd show me one only after I finished it, so this is more than welcome." Richard replied.

"Good, and you are managing during these times? I know some smiths have been struggling to make their quota due to the lack of ore and have closed down shop to fight just so they won't be charged." Issac asked.

He's heard from his sources that smiths of all types were fighting instead of producing what was needed to keep the soldiers well-armed.

Richard furrowed his brow, he did not know that. No one informed him that was even an option, not that he would ever take it.

"Yeah, I'm well stocked and should have enough to last."

This wasn't what Issac wanted to hear, but he kept his facial expressions the same. He wanted Richard to be one of the smiths in need of ore, so he could supply him with some. Not out of the goodness of his heart, no. He'd never do something so insane. Issac wanted Richard to be indebted to him and slowly put him on a leash. That way he could own Richard and his shop.

After his first encounter with the young man, Issac went and found that his work was truly extraordinary. Master class according to the smiths he talked to.

If he could own the man who was able to forge such pieces of weaponry, then Issac could sell them for a fortune. He's already invested a large sum of funds into buying ore and stocking up on them before the shortage began. Now he was just waiting for his moment to use them. The only thing stopping him was finding the right set of smiths.

"That's good, let me know if you need any extra hands. I know forging all day due to the monster tide has to be exhausting, and last time I was there you didn't have an apprentice to help out. That's still the case no?"

Richard nodded and yawned.

"I have one, sort of. Anyways, where are we headed?"

"To get you a verlpax, of course."