I head back to the manor to get some rest, and then I plan to level up and work on being a better lord for the settlement. And that is exactly what I do; for the next week, I follow Laxreal's advice and set the alarm for 6 am so I can be ready to go down to the training yard by 7 am. The moment I step into the training yard, Rognar has me running for two kilometers, and then we are sparring back and forth between him and Haroth.

While he only asked for an hour of my time in the morning, I decided to do a bit more. I want to increase my skills as much as possible since I am not running around doing adventures for now. Off to one side, Laxreal has papers ready to discuss the day's actions while I have a small break between sword training and archery.

After half an hour, I head to the archery range and practice shooting; as I get better, Sylvasti has me adjust my ranges and take easier stances than just standing and shooting. After an hour of training, my body is exhausted. I go to the mage tower, where I have more lessons with Laxreal.

Once all the training for the day has been completed, it is 9:30 a.m., and next is to get some food and continue working on the settlement with Laxreal. By 10 a.m., all the commanders and the council come in for a group discussion. This large group discussion happens only on the first day; after that, they hold off unless they have questions.

The week passed in this manner: We asked around and found people willing to work the two outposts so we could complete their places of living sooner. With increased lumber and stone production, we quickly built three houses on the first day and another ten tombs. This immediately eased some people's living situations, but we need to build even more homes and upgrade our huts into houses to go further.

On the second day, lumber increased from 140 a day to 320, all due to the six people who volunteered for the job. With the increase in lumber, we built another seven houses. While these houses can accommodate more people, they make for a cramped space. The road from the manor to the gate is also finished on this day. It makes it easier for people to get outside of the settlement now. From here, I work with some people to get more minor cobblestone roads throughout the settlement. This will take a lot of stone, but it should pay off as people can move around more easily on the roads, increasing their speed even if they don't realize it.

The third through fourth day progresses similarly, but there are more people with houses at this point, and it becomes less of an issue. We build the last of the houses on the third day, and with the extra materials, we start building a couple of additional dwellings and tombs for those we are about to summon. I also ensured we created a couple of sleeping ponds for both Vranjaya and Muiress, with much complaining from Vranjaya that she wasn't sharing a pond with him.

Rognar comes stomping into the manor on the fourth day with Narus not far behind him and tells me that I need to make him and Narus their sleeping quarters because they cannot fit into the initially provided huts. Laxreal lightly cuffed the back of my head, forgetting since I had almost forgotten about them, so I immediately put their huts on the list of things to build that day.

Finishing up the different houses, I looked around the settlement and saw the vast improvement in the housing situation. With the section for housing getting closer to being filled, it is time to focus on some of the other areas. Next on the list was to make more professional buildings so people don't have to take turns in the different buildings. So, over the next few days, I worked with Laxreal, and we created enough other buildings that weren't as long of a line. Officially, there are three sections to the settlement. The first is the housing, which is against the back of the settlement, along with the section for the different professions.

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Finally, after a week, I can relax a little. I felt like I pushed through a wringer. I am mentally exhausted and ready to do nothing for the next few days. Sitting down in the meeting room and looking at the time, I see it is early afternoon, a week after the initial start of trying to become a better lord. After a couple of minutes, the council of the settlement, the commanders of the volunteer force, and Laxreal enter the room.

Once everyone has taken their seats, I start the meeting. "Thank you, everyone, for your hard work this last week; we have made wonderful progress on the settlement in no small part to all of you. I know I haven't been the best at times, but I hope to continue to improve as I have been so we can not just survive but thrive. Let's start with the military commanders. What do you have to report?"

Draemish, being the commander of the knights, stands first. "The training for everyone has been working wonderfully with the three instructors in place. Thankfully, the magic side of things doesn't need specific instructions at this time since everyone who is a mage has, at one point or another, been working with magic in their home worlds, so we don't have to worry about Laxreal's absence while he is helping you in a more one-on-one manner."

Retaking her seat, Shadow stands next. "We have been gathering as much information from the goblins as possible. As some might think it irresponsible, I took it upon myself to go into their camp and see if anything could be learned in that manner."

Draemish glares at him, "Did you learn anything from being able to turn into one of them?"

Seeing this open hostility, I can't say I entirely blame her since he is a shapeshifter, but it isn't his fault what happened in her past. "Draemish, that is enough; let him off; he used his abilities to improve the settlement."

Huffing at my admonishment, she folds her arms while Shadow continues, "There are more than we initially scouted. A total of about 75 goblins are inside of the camp. They have some scouting groups, but they aren't that vigilant, so we were easily able to spot them and avoid them."

Hearing the new number, I am glad that Shadow used his racial abilities in our favor. "Is there any other information that you can provide for us?" Eleanor asks.

"Most of the goblins eat simultaneously; typically, it is just whatever the hunters can catch. For the most part, it wasn't appetizing, but it wasn't the worst I had eaten, thankfully." He shudders at the thought of the food. "We might be able to poison them or even catch them off-guard when they are eating, making it easier for us."

"Both are valid options; what do you have to report, Vranjaya?" I asked, not wanting to delve deeper into that topic until we had all the reports.

"Asss Draemish sssaid most of the training is going well. We," she gestures to the other commanders, "have made a rotation for people to go into the fog. There isssn't anything in place to prevent them from holding onto all the loot, and we weren't about to implement sssomething sssince we didn't know what to expect yet and were thinking that the better-equipped everyone wasss, the better sssecurity they had the fog and back in the sssettlement."

"Good, I am glad that we have started a rotation for going to explore. Has anyone else found the Tower of Trails or gotten anything related to it?" I asked.

"Nothing asss of yet," She answers.

Sighing, hoping we would chance upon one of the tickets within this week. I press my hands into my head for a second before turning my attention to the council members. "And is there anything to report on your ends?"

Seeing the other councilors shaking their heads, I turn to Laxreal. "Shall we move on to the next matter at hand?"

Nodding in agreement, I grab some summoning scrolls from my pouch and smile.