*Day 079*

Jorum hummed to himself as he looked at the ledgers, wondering if he was just displacing a not insignificant percentage of Muryn’s population. Heck, if the rumours had any hint of truth to them, then the slavers had actually been raiding the neighbouring kingdoms’ villages as well. Which, really, needed to stop. Like, now.

Which was why he’d had Aegis also position several satellites further and further out from where they had originally planned to have them. Heck, having satellite coverage of the whole planet was certainly something he wanted to have, as you could never be too prepared. But.

They’d then needed to add invisibility spells to each of the satellites due to satellites being inherently visible from the ground. Reflections, lights, or even dark spots as they got in the way of existing celestial bodies that astronomers were studying. Well, anyone with an interest in the night sky, really.

And with just how stunning the night sky was here; he couldn’t blame them. Heck, he’d be angry if some random thing got in his way of observing the night sky. So, the invisibility enchantments were the solution to that.

At any rate, he’d need to head out and deal with those bandit slavers sooner rather than later. He was just…. Hesitant. Ever since the raid on those guys who’d been messing around with the [Summon: Hero] spells…. It hadn’t sat well, having to kill people.

Sure, they had arguably deserved it for having kidnapped kids from another universe, let alone the many murders on their hands. But. Having grown up being taught and told that killing someone was the highest of taboos wasn’t something that he could just shrug off. Even if he’d told himself for years and years already that if someone was coming at him with the intent to take his own life, that he was perfectly justified in removing that threat in any way necessary.

Which also included killing the would-be murderer.

But telling yourself something over and over again over the years was completely different from actually experiencing that thing.

Sure, there were the usual moral questions that revolved around going to stop a murderous band of slavers. Like, “wouldn’t more lives be spared by taking those few lives first”, and “what right did he have to decide the life and death of people?”. Heck, there were tens of thousands more moral and ethical questions that could be posed.

But.

Was he comfortable taking another life? Sure, it was one that was causing untold harm. Sure, ending that life would improve the lives of who knew how many other people. But, was he okay with being the one to end that life?

He certainly hadn’t been feeling the best since having to deal with those criminals. Let alone the many, many accusations, questions, glares, and stares he’d had to endure from the families and friends of those criminals during the whole trial and execution process, let alone what those criminals had sent his way.

Then another question came to mind, one that was significantly more relevant to his situation.

“Why did it have to be him?” He wasn’t one of the nobility of Muryn, nor was he part of the military or any of legal the enforcement agencies. He was just a guy who’d literally dropped into their world roughly half a year ago. So. What… right? What right did he have to go about killing bandit slavers?

Or even beating them down and tossing them to the appropriate authorities. Well, he was registered with the Exterminator’s Guild, or Adventurer’s Guild as they called it everywhere but Kirkwall, it seemed. As such, he was obliged to act in the best interest of the state he was in, which usually meant that he had to uphold the laws of said state. And intervene if he happened to come across an illegal activity.

But. That didn’t mean that he had to go out looking for such things. Especially when there wasn’t a Request or Mission assigned to such a thing.

So, Joram sat in his office at the soon-to-be renamed Myriad Wonders, and continued thinking things through even as the orphanages continued to take in hundreds, and sometimes, thousands of people every day.

* * *

Bob was super-glad that Joram was the one dealing with all that, compartmentalizing all of those annoying moral and ethical questions to just that body. Building a ridiculous tower was hard enough to deal with, thank you very much.

He looked out over the landscape, pretty happy with his progress over the past couple of weeks. Before, there had been nothing to see beyond a few random tufts of grass whose seeds had somehow made their way to the island. It had been pretty much just volcanic plains, broken up here and there by the occasional crevasse formed at some point. Probably from a particularly powerful eruption or something. Oh, and some pretty cool sandy beaches.

Most where a pristine white, the kind that most people from Earth flocked to for vacations abroad. But there were a few that had black sand, something not unheard of on Earth, but definitely less sought-after than their white counterparts. Still, they were pretty cool… just not thermally-speaking. Due to being black, they soaked up more of the sun’s rays than the white sands did. Which, really, might appeal to some races/species more than others. Like the dragon-kin, or lizard-kin.

He shrugged, turning back to regard his progress on the Tower.

He’d easily gotten to the “bedrock”, as it were. From there, he’d started laying the massive rectangular, 36m^3 stone blocks, four by three by three metres. They were ungodly heavy, but still manageable. Especially with all of the construction equipment that he’d acquired through [Summon: All]. The best part was that it wasn’t the stuff you could get on Earth. Nope. He’d gotten the good stuff!

In fact, it was so efficient that Bob was considering either making another [Fission] to help out with creating enough stone blocks to keep up with the demand, or seeing if one of his other selves could be re-tasked to construction duty. He was pretty sure that Kinkade would jump at the chance to get away from the paperwork and teaching duties, but they all knew that he was needed there.

So, maybe one more [Fission], then? He wondered again as he watched an honest to god mech, over 30m tall, use a combination of mass effect fields and tractor beams to quickly and efficiently place the blocks that weighed over 115 metric tonnes each. Something that was both time-consuming and very hard to do on Earth. It almost looked like a kid playing with building blocks. And he had fourteen of those mechs going nearly 24/7.

Which was why he was already at the 10th level of the Tower. Between the supply issue and the need for him to be there to fuse each layer of blocks together, it was hard. If he could have another [Fission] right from the start, he was sure that he’d have already gotten twenty floors finished by now. Heck, Dax could have already started with the expansions already. Well, he could still get started….

Bob rubbed his clean-shaven chin in thought, absently frowning as he subconsciously registered the lack of beard as a bad thing. He could easily do what any of the other [Fission]s could. It was just that it would slow the construction of the Tower if he started spending time using [Genesis: True] every time a floor was finished.

Nodding to himself, he manifested [Fission] and watched as another version of himself stepped out of him and turned to look back at him. Yes, that would never stop being both weird beyond belief and one of the coolest things he’d ever seen.

“Call me Doug,” Doug said with a grin as a shovel appeared in his hand that was then immediately slung over his shoulder as a hard hat appeared on his head.

Grinning, Bob shook his head before speaking.

“I’d sooner call you ‘The Architect’ since you’re not going to be doing any actual digging,” he said with a grin, “but to each his own.”

Doug continued grinning as he surveyed the work for a few moments before turning back to him. “Swap roles each day?” he asked, though Bob` could tell that it wasn’t so much a question of whether-or-not it would happen so much as a question of frequency.

“Yeah, each day works,” he said with a nod. “Now, let’s get to work,” he finished with an even broader grin, anticipating just how awesome the Tower was going to be, and how much faster it’d get built with extra help.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

They were sure going to need the extra space soon, especially if Joram kept sending people to their small city. As he got started [Summon]ing more stone blocks, he wondered if Celys was having a panic attack yet?

* * *

Celys was certainly not having a panic attack. It was more of… a stress-induced break. Taking a “breather”, as Joram called it. Pacing oneself, as everyone else called it. Certainly nothing to be ashamed of. Especially with just how much work was piling up for her!

Celys took a deep breath, then smiled as she felt Nalun’s hand on her shoulder. He could always tell when she was tense, and always did what he could to comfort her when he was there to notice her tension.

“Is it really that bad?” he asked conversationally, no hint of judgement in his tone.

“It’s hard to say,” Celys said as she shook her head slightly. “On the one hand, having a city pop up within walking distance of your own town is usually a bad thing, economically speaking. Workers usually move to the larger settlement searching for better work. Prices of everyday sundries usually increase due to higher demand, putting pressure on the smaller, less economically-robust town.

“If the smaller town is lucky, the growth of both wind up merging them together to create an even larger town, or city. Which results in a more stable economy, overall. But.

“With Joram getting the rights to the Great Forest from her Majesty, our two towns won’t be governed by the same person, making it a nightmare when it comes to things like taxation. Heck, most nobles usually tax anything coming into their territory from a neighbouring noble’s territory.

“And I’m sure that Lord Nord,” she had to pause as the memory of Joram’s reaction to his name bubbled to the surface again. “I’m sure that he won’t want to give up Kirkwall, even if our tax revenue isn’t anything special. What noble would willingly give up territory to another noble, let alone an ‘uppity commoner’?” she asked, not quite rhetorically.

She silently hoped that Nalun would be able to provide some sort of insight, words of wisdom, to help her navigate the increasingly bothersome political mess that she was finding herself dragged into as the mayor of Kirkwall.

“Do you think that Joram could buy Kirkwall from Lord Nord?” Nalun asked, throwing her for a loop before he continued. “As I see it, Lord Nord doesn’t actually do much, if anything, for us. But even then, I’m sure that he wouldn’t mind saving the costs that come with sending out patrols to keep the area safe.”

Celys thought about it for only a few seconds before shaking her head.

“Even then, he’d still need to patrol his lands. Having a small village like ours added to the patrol routes is a negligible cost when compared to what we pay in taxes every year.”

Nalun paused to think about it a bit more, which also gave her time to think things over as well.

For one, the cost of purchasing an entire village wouldn’t be insubstantial. Not at all. But, Joram had gone and purchased not only Myriad Wonders, but also several other Slave Houses, as they were called. Which, if she really thought about it, was probably more expensive than it would be to purchase Kirkwall….

“Excuse me, Mayor,” Kal, the one who worked for her, not her son, interrupted as he poked his head into her office while keeping the door mostly closed. “You have guests from Lord Nord.”

Given Kal’s serious expression, she wondered just who it was as she exchanged glances with Nalun. Before she could speak, Nalun nodded and quickly left her office as Kal’s head vanished to allow Nalun to pass. But before the door could close again, a very… bookish fellow stepped around Kal and into her office.

He was certainly… average. Average height for a human, which was only slightly taller than for foxkin. Average brown hair, though he had muddy hazel eyes. His frame was slight, though his age, which appeared to be around her own, had added a bit of a belly to the man.

But he certainly carried himself as though he was a very important person. Even his head was tilted back slightly as he regarded her through his spectacles. He stopped in front of her desk as she quickly rose to shake his hand, which he extended after taking a documents folder from under his arm with his other hand.

“Greetings, Mayor Manelle, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” he said, though any warmth most people would have in their tone when saying such words was certainly lacking, making the greeting sound more automatic than personal.

“Indeed,” she replied, absently noticing that she’d started using the word more often lately, likely due to Joram’s influence. “To what do I owe the honour of your visit today?”

“Same old, same old,” he said as his head tilted slightly to the side, motioning to the chair in front of her desk, then sat when she nodded slightly. “Taxes. Tax questions. Evaluations. Audits. All of that,” he said, still sounding as thought he was still on ‘autopilot’, as Joram called it.

“Just let me know what I can do to help,” she said as she suppressed a wince.

She hated taxes. Well, specifically, she hated going over them with a fine-toothed comb with Lord Nord’s auditor. The man was a [Municipal Auditor] by Class, and almost perfectly reflected it in almost every aspect.

“Certainly,” he said, now looking as though he was now fully invested in the conversation. “Lord Nord has taken note of certain purchases and construction happening in his territory. Now, I’m sure that the appropriate taxes have been collected, along with the appropriate building permits. So, I’m just here to make sure that everything is in order,” he said, then paused slightly before continuing with a veritable glint in his eyes.

“But to also discuss tax and tariff policies and reforms,” he said, sending a shiver down her spine at the same rate that her stomach fell to her feet.

Joram, you’re so going to owe me for this, she thought as she put her professional “Mayor Smile” on and got to work. All the while, she silently cursed Lord Nord for only paying attention to things like taxes but not bothering to send help when they’d requested it for the Dungeon Break.

* * *

Shae’ra looked over at the entire district of apartment buildings that were taller than any building that she’d ever seen before in her life. Well, at least before Joram had started building them, anyways. She could already count forty-two of them, all now twenty stories tall! Each one having a total of two-hundred twenty suites, each one able to house at least two people, but some able to house up to six people if they were all right bunking two to a room. All told, each building could comfortably house up to eight-hundred people!

Sure, most were still vacant, but with just how many people were coming to their city each day, she was sure that they would soon be filled and the ones under construction would be needed sooner rather than later.

And so, with the massive influx of people arriving and needing not just shelter, but also clothing and food, another nine cafeterias had been built so that they could cover the ridiculous amounts of food needed to keep everyone from starving. Which led to her looking back at the newly built greenhouses and levelled fields that she was in charge of.

Fortunately for her, there were no few [Farmer]s that had arrived that were more than happy to do anything they could to help out their “savior/benefactor/[Hero]”, depending on who was talking. Heck, there had also been a few [Druid]s that had been found, all of whom were more than happy to contribute to the growing food supply issue.

Fortunately for everyone involved, Joram- or Kinkade, as she’d learned to call that [Clone]- had also been supplying those ridiculous rings, the [Ring of Sustenance] for everyone. Contrary, she might add, to common sense.

Who did that? Who gave out a Relic-Grade magic item like it was nothing? Who could even make a Relic-Grade magic item?! Let alone thousands of them!!!

Shae’ra took a deep breath, then another as she tried to calm her racing heart. She’d seen Joram also experimenting further out in the forest with things she had a very hard time explaining. Things, she was sure, that a [Dimensional Guardian] would normally frown upon. Yet Ina’Vaxchisa’Erys, or Erys as she preferred to be called, didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she’d even seen Erys giving Joram advice a few times!

Her sense of what was normal had continuously, and thoroughly, been shaken about by Joram so often that she really questioned the conventional knowledge that had been taught over the centuries.

Food issues? Just expand the arable fields, get more livestock and pastures. For Joram? Just enchant several greenhouses that would accelerate the growth of the plants- while somehow maintaining soil quality!- and build a meat-producing Dungeon!!!

Shae’ra took a few more deep breaths as she tried to use [Meditation] to help calm her heartrate as she vigorously pushed away what she had understood as common sense before meeting Joram. Those teachings and thoughts would only serve to hold her back, becoming a stumbling block in the way of learning and understanding the world around her.

If someone did something “impossible”, then it was, bluntly put, possible. And thus people would need to stop putting the limitations of their own worldviews onto others. And just accept that what they’d assumed to be true a moment before, wasn’t. Therein laid wisdom, as Joram had phrased it one day.

So, she’d need to incorporate the new things she’d learned into what she taught at the Academy and to those who worked under her in the various greenhouses and on the various fields. That mana could be used to not just accelerate the growth rates of plants, but also supplement the nutrients needed for their growth…. Well, that was something.

Something that would certainly change the way agriculture would be practiced in the future.

She paused to glance over at the Notification of the Great Protector, pursing her lips in thought. She had been forgoing levelling up since she’d arrived. Since she’d started delving Joram’s Dungeons with the “gals” every now and then, but now more often with the [Heroes] that Joram had rescued with Erys as they were getting up there in levels. Much faster than anyone who wasn’t a [Hero], that was for sure.

Shaking her head, she once more looked at the option to select a new Class on her Path as a [Druid]. There were many new Classes that had shown up since she’d first gotten the Notification that she qualified for a new Class. Options that were terribly tempting with just how powerful they were. But.

Was it right to choose a Class just because it was powerful? Hadn’t she chosen to be a [Druid] due to her love of nature, not power? Still, looking at the options available to her, and were growing in number practically each day, she couldn’t help but wondering how much more of a positive impact she would have if she were to take one of the “best” ones, numerically-speaking, that is.

With a sigh, she once more closed the Notification. She’d decide later. For now, she needed to teach the younglings… and the not-so-young.

As she walked, Shae’ra hummed to herself as she thought about how much good having an Academy was for everyone. Especially since those attending it didn’t have to worry about anything other than learning. Like working the fields, apprenticing with someone, taking care of their families, earning enough for food and shelter. Just learning.

Shae’ra didn’t notice the number of young men who were tripping over their own feet as their eyes were locked onto the beautiful elf, practically glowing with how happy she was as she practically floated her way to the Academy.