“As I’m sure you’re curious why I had Ryan stop you all, I’ll go ahead and explain. These new houses are for you. I appreciate the work you have done, and wanted to thank you. These houses are a decent bit bigger, and I hope you’ll like them.” Callum said to the people he had chosen to receive the houses. There was a momentary stunned silence before anyone spoke up.

“Well ain’t that somethin’,” Kirsti said with a southern drawl Callum had not picked up on before.

Others nodded their assent to the statement, whether or not they would have put it the same way. He took a little joy in seeing them surprised that he had done something for him. The recognition was pleasant.

“You can pick whichever one you want, except for the first one, that one is mine as I want to be closer to the town hall and the obelisk.” They all nodded like this made sense. Callum had nothing more to say, and as the sun was getting lower in the sky, they all went off to claim their abodes after voicing their thanks. He knew it wasn’t much, but it was still better than the apartments they had been living in.

Two of the woodcutters' spouses had stayed behind as well. It was not surprising that there were only a couple of kids among the people in the apartments as the size was rather limiting on how many people could comfortably stay there. It would have been much harder to house all of these people had it been more spacious apartments.

Ryan and Sally were the only ones to stay. Ryan held his tongue, letting Sally say her piece first.

“What about that man you brought me? He’s still in the town hall recovering. It might take a little time before he is conscious.”

“I’ll take care of him. You can go ahead and relax, I can handle it from here.” Callum reassured her, with confidence that he could handle the man when he woke up.

Sally didn’t look like she was completely convinced, but the strain of using all her mana over and over won out and she headed off towards the houses to claim her own.

Ryan was still there, the need to ask a question written on his face.

“Are you sure about this? Couldn’t this lead to some people getting upset?” he asked. Callum could see more questions forming but started by answering what he had asked.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. It could lead to people getting upset, but I’m prepared to defend my reasoning. Simply put, the world is a lot more dangerous than it was a few days ago, and I want to motivate people to empower themselves to survive.”

Ryan chewed on that thought for a moment before continuing with questions. “What if people don’t like that? What if they decide to leave? Why should you be the one in charge?” The last question was not a slight towards Callum and he didn’t take it that way either. It was just the way Ryan’s brain worked.

“If they don’t like it, there’s not much I plan to do about it. I think with time, this place could grow and make life resemble some semblance of what it used to. If they leave, then let them. I have a feeling they may come back here anyways, or they’ll find somewhere else to live. It’s not really something I’m worried about right now.” Callum thought for a moment longer before answering the final question. “As far as why I should be in charge, I can’t really say. Maybe I shouldn’t be, but the fact is that I was the one that ran into that dungeon, and I’m currently reaping some of the rewards. In the future, it could be that someone else is better suited to it. In which case I’ll let them deal with the needs of the people, but I plan to always maintain ownership.” As Callum spoke, he saw Ryan’s face contort into a mixture of emotions. It settled on confused, mostly.

“I guess that makes some sense, but honestly, this whole ordeal seems to be changing you. I would have never guessed that the guy two apartments down from me would have any interest in doing something like this.” He emphasized his point by gesturing around them.

“I see your point, but I guess it took something like this,” he jokingly copied Ryan’s gesturing, “to bring it out in me.”

Ryan started to respond, but it was cut off by a yawn. “As much as I would like to keep picking your brain about this, it’s getting late, and I want to go to bed. In an actual bed. I want to continue this in the morning though.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

With that, Ryan walked off. The yawn had made Callum realize his exhaustion as well, though he had one more person to find or at least return from wherever she went during the day.

Callum walked back over to the entrance of the town hall and sat down. There was still around an hour of daylight left, and he figured there was the best place to wait for her. He settled into his position for meditation and focused on the mana that was inside and around him.

The exhaustion made him want to fall asleep, but he pushed it aside and focused. His breathing found a relaxed rhythm, and he began to feel the mana. It seemed to carry some of his exhaustion, but it was still a source of frenetic energy.

He slowly gathered the mana in his hand, creating that orb of precarious balance, where his mana would not mix with the mana in the air. It was even more difficult than before, as his mana wanted to go somewhere, anywhere. His ability to contain it was stretched, but he forced himself to. It did not grow in intensity, but the struggle was there. It was a constant battle of will to maintain control.

After what felt like an hour, he forced the mana to dissipate, not in the way it wanted to. He had no clue what would happen if it was allowed to be released without control. It most likely wouldn’t be very destructive, but it was more an exercise in control than anything.

He opened his eyes and shielded his eyes as he checked the position of the sun. It had barely moved. Sighing, he refocused and channeled the mana again. The process repeated, and he held the ball of mana as long as he could before releasing it.

The practice continued for a few more iterations before he was interrupted in the middle of one.

“What’re you doing?”

The question caused his concentration to falter and the ball of mana was released. There was a pop, and his hand stung a little from the mana being released. Callum felt the slight sting from the release of mana. He opened his eyes and saw Eliza standing over him. A notification superimposed itself in front of her, informing him that his Combat magic had leveled to Novice 5.

“Practicing magic,” he said with a sigh, standing. “Where’ve you been?” he asked casually.

“Here and there,” came her noncommittal answer.

“Anything interesting?” Callum attempted to match her manner of speaking, maybe to make her feel more comfortable, he wasn’t sure why though.

“Not really. Just seeing the sights.”

Callum nodded. By this point, he knew better than to try and drag information out of her.

“Well, I have something for you. Consider it my thanks for helping to fight off the wolves.” For some reason, he felt the need to explain his reasoning.

“Alright. What is it?” Her tone grew harsher, and her eyes narrowed. Callum was caught a little off-guard but continued.

“You’ll have to follow me.” He figured it best to leave as a surprise, as he had for the others. He hadn’t forgotten that she was homeless, and while the primary reason for this was to do something nice for her, it would still be nice to see the shock on her face.

As they walked over, he half expected her to comment on the new houses, but nothing came of it. Her silent side won out over the little curiosity he had seen from her.

The remaining unclaimed home was third furthest from the town hall. Ryan had claimed the one next door to Callum, somewhat unsurprising, but the rest had chosen the ones they wanted for whatever reason. When they got to the third house, Callum stopped for a moment before saying anything.

“This is it,” he said, gesturing to the house. “This is what I wanted to give you.”

When she didn’t respond after a few minutes, Callum looked over and saw tears welling in her eyes. His heart broke a little as the weight of what he was giving her hadn’t settled in. He had no clue how long she had been homeless, but he knew better than to try to pry into her past.

She closed her eyes for a moment and wiped them on the back of her sleeves. In a very small voice, she said, “Thank you.”

Her mouth opened for a moment before she closed it and just stood there. He could see that she was struggling to form words.

“You can go in,” was all he said before giving her an understanding smile and walking away.

He figured it was best to let her deal with what was probably a multitude of emotions, and he had no desire to make her uncomfortable by sticking around longer than was necessary. There was still the man he had saved to deal with.

The man would ultimately wake up in a strange place, not knowing anyone around, and that would be disconcerting to anyone. Callum was of a split mind on what to do with him. There was a spare room in the house that Callum could bring him to, or he could find a house for the man and leave him there until he woke up.

His deliberation was stopped by a tentative “Hello?”

Callum turned, seeing the familiar face of a woman he had rescued from the dungeon earlier. She had heeded his advice and led a group of ten-odd people to the town. At least his direction had been good enough to get them there.

After a brief introduction, Callum showed them all where they could stay, with many of them being relieved at having somewhere they could sleep with a roof over their head. He didn’t immediately rush them into citizenship, but he would make sure it was done by tomorrow.

With a plan in mind, Callum returned to the unconscious man. There was a brief pause while Callum observed him, noting that he had gone from unconscious from wounds to asleep. That would have to do, for now.

Callum picked him up and headed off towards his cabin. He set the man gently on the spare bed, one that wouldn’t be there for long, and scribbled a note explaining where he was and to not freak out.

Tasks for the day completed, Callum was asleep in a few moments.