*Day 092*

Joram pinched the bridge of his nose as his mind quickly went over the implications of what Celys had told him. Through [Touchsight], he could see just how… torn she was to see him in such a state.

On the one side, he could see that she was genuinely sympathetic to his plight. The local lord, Lord Nord- that name still made him want to laugh- had sent his tax guy over to go over everything with a fine-toothed comb. And seemingly not happy with tagging Joram and even Kirkwall with a few fines for having “forgotten” some of the most obscure tax laws he’d ever seen, he’d also served Joram with an ultimatum.

Either pay the ridiculous fines involved in not getting any of the, quite frankly, ridiculous and stupid permits ranging from permission to cut the massive sequoia-like trees to building a road connecting to Kirkwall to putting up his buildings to even “illegally” selling the Greenstone he’d found, even though it hadn’t been in Lord Nord’s territory!!

His hand dropped as he leafed through the pile of citations and the final paper outlining the total of the fines he needed to pay, or he’d have to- at his own expense- tear down every building and bit of road he’d put up and built on Lord Nord’s land. Looking at the cost just to keep the road was more than enough to have Dax move forward with the project.

“I’ll keep the road,” he finally said, then shook his head again at just how greedy this Nord guy was. “I’ll move my compound to my actual land and sell my property back to Kirkwall.”

The other side of Celys’ reaction to everything had been a bit of… if not quite gloating, because he’d finally gotten a taste of just how many headaches he’d given her, it had certainly been close. Now, she was all concern and sympathy for him.

“Does that mean you’ll tear down your buildings?” she asked, now more shocked than anything.

And he could certainly understand why that would be shocking to hear. He’d basically built a city out there after all. Fortunately, a good deal of the larger structures had extended out onto what had once been Crown Land, but now belonged to him.

Though, moving the dungeons wouldn’t be too difficult given that he could just reclaim the dungeon cores and rebuild wherever he wanted to, the Academy had been built on the property he’d acquired from Kirkwall. Well, he supposed giving everyone a day off to enjoy themselves as he moved everything was an option. An option they’d love, he was sure. Especially Kinkade.

“Yeah, no,” he said as he shook his head. “I’ll just move everything further west. And because I’ll need to extend the road to my territory, I’ll be sure to get the ‘proper’ building permits this time,” he said with a slight frown. Even keeping the existing road would cost him fifty gold coins.

“If you haven’t already guessed, Lord Nord will also likely set up some sort of checkpoint to charge a toll into his territory for you…” she said, not sounding very happy about her boss’s greed.

Nor was he, but he was also not entirely surprised. If someone like Lord Nord could make a quick buck, they were pretty much obliged to do so by the very fabric of reality itself. It was one of those Universal Constants, it seemed.

“Well, I’m sure that I can arrange for the same thing,” Joram said with a grin. “Something like: if you work for Lord Nord, please pay one gold coin for entry,” he said with a smirk, though Celys paled before he could say anything more. “But not you!” he quickly added, panicking slightly at her dismay.

“I’m sure things will devolve quickly if you do that,” she said, shaking her head as the colour returned to her cheeks. “This could easily turn into a trade war, and not a polite one,” she warned, though she didn’t appear very supportive of that eventuality.

“Well, if it turns into that, I’m sure there’ll be enough room for a mass migration of the foxkin of the region,” he said with a wink, causing Celys to burst out laughing.

“Oh, that would certainly ruin his day,” she said with a grin. “Though, I’m not sure how many people would be willing to relocate,” she finished with a thoughtful frown as she seemed to seriously consider the idea.

Joram let her mull that over as he passed along the orders to get every building enchanted with a Storage Token, as he was calling it now. He also passed along the notice that everyone would have a day off tomorrow to do what they wanted… in Kirkwall. He didn’t need any potential accidents on his hands, so getting everyone out of the area before he started moving things was a must.

And given that Dax had managed to basically add in both stasis and life-support enchantments to the Storage Tokens, he was sure that even if they missed someone, they probably wouldn’t notice being stored away and moved before they were once more brought back to the prime material plane, as he called it. Still, no need to risk an accident.

After that, they briefly spoke of related topics, then “hypotheticals” revolving around housing, infrastructure, and farmlands. Which, really, wasn’t an issue for him in the least. He could easily take care of having enough housing for everyone, let alone clearing sufficient land for people to continue their ranching on. Though he really didn’t think they’d need to given the existence of his Meat Dungeons, as people were now calling them.

Still, they’d need to find something for all of those farmers to do if they moved. Retraining was an option, though Celys was sure that there would be more than a few who wouldn’t want to retrain. Which was fine, really. He was sure that some people would like the appeal of “free range” meats, as it were.

Now grinning, he left Celys with the stack of gold for the road, and a few more coins for the new permits he needed, and made his way to the Bank. Once there, he spoke with Zevara, putting the earworm in that he might be looking to open a branch of the Bank in his territory and that he’d certainly need a capable manager.

For as flattered as she was, she let him know that she didn’t have very much flexibility in choosing where the Bank stationed her. Though, she could certainly request such a thing. And with a grin, she let him know that if he just so happened to mention to the higher-ups in the Bank that he’d been pleased with her work, she was sure that would go a long way in getting her a desirable transfer.

“Especially if this branch happens to fall on hard times due to people moving on to greener pastures,” she finished with a wink, making him blink as he felt how genuine the statement had been.

Bloody Achievement! He silently raged once he made his way home. Still, he was glad that Zerava was amenable to relocating to the future branch he planned to build for the Bank. Though, thinking a bit more about it all, he wondered if he couldn’t just set up a bank of his own. He was reasonably familiar with the various theories and working practices of modern banks, so it wouldn’t be too hard for him to do….

‘Nope!’ Came the simultaneous message from each and every [Fission] of his, handily ending that brief daydream before its conception.

Shrugging, Joram made his way to his office, picked up his guitar, and started playing.

Now that the “supply” of slaves had basically dried up- something that he was incredibly happy about-, he now had more time to do other things… and catch up on yet others.

Going over his mental list, he realized that he’d been neglecting a few things. Like Cyd’s progress.

He reviewed his memories and found that Cyd had finally managed to slip away from the long celebration that the Azure Phoenixes had thrown for him. And, after meeting the [World Maple], Joram was certainly impressed.

He’d long felt its influence, though standing on one of its boughs was certainly an experience. The intensity of the peace and tranquility of its Skill had been on a whole other level. Not only that, but just talking with it had been an experience.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Like, talking to a tree, man! But one that was closer to being a kindly grandmother doting on her descendants.

‘If you truly wish to find my kin, I applaud your resolve,’ she’d sent, making him blink.

‘Will it be that difficult?” he’d asked, curious to find out what she knew.

‘The winds have been silent for a long time,’ she’d said, dowsing his enthusiasm. ‘There were eight of us who descended from the [First World Tree]. Over the eons, fewer and fewer of us spoke to one another through the winds. Now,’ she paused as a wave of profound sorrow flooded their connection. ‘Now, it has been silent for many, many years.’

Joram thought about that, wondering if this Quest would be even harder than he’d originally anticipated. Still, he wasn’t put off. Even if the task had the chances of success similar to wining the Super Bowl lottery, he was sure to come out of it the winner.

He had time. He was in the process of building a world-wide satellite network that he could use to look for things. But he also had access to things like [Reality Revision] and [Summon: All] to basically cheat his way through the Quest. If he really needed to, he could just summon an item that could lead him to each of the [World Tree]’s descendants.

Still, he wasn’t too sure that he wanted to do that just yet. Why? Because that would ruin the adventure for him, that’s why! The best part about Quests, in his opinion, was the exploration and discovery that went hand-in-hand with the process! The fun, the adventure, the romance of going on a Quest and overcoming the various trials and obstacles along the way was often even more rewarding than the final reward.

Sure, you usually got something cool as a Quest Reward. But. The process was often the best part for him. Except when it wasn’t. Like when the writers seemed to run out of steam and just threw in annoying puzzles or riddles or mechanics to just fill the time quota for that particular quest, or quest chain. He hated those.

But only time would tell if this was one of the former, or one of the latter Quests.

Though, if it was one of the latter, he’d certainly bring up his grievances with the System about it….

*DING*

Reminder:

The Universal Assistance and Survival System is not responsible for adding superfluous tasks to Quests; only the main Quest Objective falls under its purview.

Joram blinked at that message, then nearly laughed out loud after reading it. Which actually went a long way to raising his mood again. If annoying things popped up while he was out trying to find the trees, he’d just rain down his displeasure on those interferences instead of blaming the System.

No new Notification came, but he had the distinct impression that the System approved of that line of thought. Which threw him for a loop before he just shrugged it off. It wasn’t like he’d get all the answers he wanted, after all. He could be patient.

He unconsciously switched to an appropriately themed The Rolling Stones song, “You can’t always get what you want” as he continued to plan things out, still happy about getting one of the [World Maple]’s leaves as a reward for helping it out.

* * *

Bob was once more pleased with his progress. Well, his and Doug’s progress, but since they were all one being, the distinction really didn’t matter too much.

The small pier that had been there that Captain Daphitiax, or Daphi, had used on her fist visit had been barely serviceable for the occasion. Now? He had terraformed the area sufficiently to allow for a massive upgrade. One that allowed for a good thirty vessels like the one she’d come on, with room for another five vessels twice that size.

They’d expanded the natural bay to accommodate the upgrade, while also preparing the way in. The natural channel that had allowed Daphi to navigate the treacherous waters had also been expanded, though not by too much. Having a natural gauntlet to limit the number of ships that could approach the island was a boon, in his opinion. Though, he had prepared an exit to prevent congestion in the lane. Though, he wouldn’t tell anyone about it yet.

Then came the small town they’d built. It came with the standard warehouses that one needed for trade, along with various hotels, or “inns”, if he was going to keep to the world’s theme. Anyways, places to rent for people passing through. He’d also added a few restaurants, though they were as empty of staff as every other building was. But when trade started, he was sure that they’d fill up quickly.

Though, given just how fast his little settlement had grown outside of Kirkwall, he was sure that he could convince more than a few of the once-upon-a-time slaves to relocate for a good job. Though, it wasn’t as though they’d need to move, for he planned on having a few exclusive portals set up for easy access to the island for anyone on the mainland to come and go as they pleased.

Well, any of his people, anyways. He wasn’t about to bypass the coastal defenses by just allowing anyone through those portals, no matter what the stated purpose of the visit was.

And even with all that done, he and Doug had managed to get the Tower up to fifty-three levels tall. Much faster than he’d thought it would go. Which was awesome. Though, beyond the structural reinforcements he’d added, it was still a mundane tower for the time being.

He hoped that Dax would be re-tasked to enchanting the Tower soon, for he really wanted to see what it would be like once it was finished. Though, given what their plans were for the thing, he was sure that the expansions wouldn’t start until the whole tower was finished. Which put a fire under his bum.

Still, it would get done when it got done. And in the meantime, it seemed as though he would once more entertain the stunning Daphi. He grinned as he spied her ship returning so soon. He also wondered if it was really that fast, or if she’d received orders partway back to the mainland. Either way, he could at least properly host her this time ‘round.

And, as weird as it sounded, he was more curious about her… physiology than he thought he’d be. Like, was she a genetic dead-end, as the saying went. Like mules, the result of a horse and a donkey mating, sterile. Or was she genetically viable as a mate? Well, “viable” as in “could produce fertile offspring”.

Shaking his head, he decided to use [Summon: All] to populate the closest, and largest, inn with staff. He went with standard humans, not wanting to risk an unknown cultural faux pas. Still, he made sure to alter the duration of the summon to just 1 day instead of “Instantaneous”, which would have left him with more than two dozen people to take care of afterwards.

He then made some uniforms for them, deciding to go with what he was familiar with: standard black pants with a matching shirt emblazoned with an image of what the Tower would look like once it was finished. Nodding to himself, he then looked at the group of summoned women and realized that they would need undergarments as well, which then got added to the pile of clothing before he sent them off to get changed.

Getting his head out of the gutter, Bob made his way down to the docks to wait for Daphi and company to arrive.

*The Next Day, Day 093*

Kyouji was once more astonished at what he was seeing. Which, really, shouldn’t have been as shocking as it was given just how many absurd things he’d seen since being isekai’d to Iria. But it was.

That Joram had somehow managed to enchant every building with…. He wasn’t sure what to call it, but being able to store away a whole building into a token was something out of a video game for him, or high fantasy…. Or Dragonball.

At any rate, he took comfort in the fact that he wasn’t the only one who’d stuck around and was thus broadsided by the sight of disappearing buildings. Ella was almost crying as her shop vanished in front of her eyes, while the various gardeners weren’t much better composed.

Even the young women who’d been there the longest looked stunned. Though upon closer inspection, he supposed that they were more starry-eyed than stunned.

Still, he didn’t think that more than a handful of people weren’t in some way affected by what was happening to their various homes, workplaces, or hangouts. And after all the buildings vanished, they were treated to yet another spectacle.

Joram went and terraformed a road into being. Well, he created the groundwork for it, then used that crazy Skill of his, [Summon: All] to get the raw materials needed for the rest of the roadworks. Metric tonnes of concrete and asphalt were conjured, along with industrial-sized spools of wire cabling, along with stacks and stacks of streetlamps of the same style as those used on the now older section of road.

Less than an hour later found the roadway completed, putting shame to any work crew from Earth. Even the massive fence around the whole property had been retrieved and basically re-shaped to accommodate the new area they’d been told was the new site of Joram’s city. Yes, a city, not a village or town. It was certainly large enough, with many areas already roped-off for future construction.

Kyouji couldn’t help but feel a sense of envy for what Joram could do. It was like the man had won the Isekai Lottery with what he’d gotten when he’d arrived. He’d just gotten healing abilities. Yay.

*Flick!*

Kyouji turned around as he rubbed his head to see who’d flicked him so hard.

“Healing is important,” Asami Miki chided him, frowning as she did. “Don’t compare yourself to that ridiculousness, because even the dragons would lose to that,” she finished by pointing at Joram to highlight her point.

Nodding slowly, he subtly shifted away from the beautiful woman as he regarded Joram. Seemingly humble, incredibly powerful, and- he had to admit- a fairly good-looking guy. The man seemed to have everything going for him. Which, really, practically begged people’s jealousy.

But such abilities would certainly come with difficulties and troubles. Would he really want to deal with all that? Endless people showing up to cause problems. Jealous people wishing to end you. Others wishing to get into your good graces to take advantage of you or your bounty. Yet more trying to get even closer to see if they could somehow control you in one way or another.

Yeah, no thank you, Kyouji thought as he shook his head. Suddenly, being a healer type wasn’t so bad in his mind.

As he stared at Joram working, he failed to notice the self-satisfied smile that grew on Asami’s face.