Village Development

Death Valley, located in the nameless village that had just been established.

It had been a week since Cien woke up.

Currently, he was busy in his workshop, crafting a new bow and arrows. Everything had been gone during the Ashur incident, including his bow, which had vanished inside the sandstorm.

As for the village's development, Mia remained in charge.

She would report to Cien every evening, and he would provide guidance or additional instructions.

The village had just finished constructing a large guesthouse to the right of Cien's shop, directly facing the farmlands.

The guest house now stood empty, but it would be cleaned every morning by Sella.

In addition to the guest house, the storage building had also been completed just yesterday afternoon.

The storage building had three floors, including a basement.

The basement was used for materials that easily went bad. Like food or some herbs.

Cien had created a magical cooling device from the Snow Tiger's core, which didn't require Mana Core.

However, it needed regular replenishment of Mana Stones to function.

Initially, Cien wanted to use a Mana Core, but the villagers who would frequently use the facility were reluctant to see such an important item in a public facility.

They were also concerned about the possibility of theft if someone were to visit.

Honestly, Cien wasn't worried about such matters, but he wanted to reassure his villagers. Thus, he changed the energy source to regular Mana Stones.

Well in short, the basement could be considered as a large refrigerator.

Next, on the first floor, it is used to store tools or equipment needed by the villagers. Such as hammers, nails, shovels, crowbars, and so on.

There, Cien also stores some weapons. Not good weapons that are available in his shop. But failed weapons made by Cien for training purposes.

Although they are failed items, they are still weapons. They can be used in case of sudden emergencies.

The upper floor is used as a storage space for long-lasting materials. Such as flour, rice, animal hides, and so on.

Cien built the storage building for the villagers' needs.

They are free to store anything inside. Whether it's materials or foods they bought from Cien or obtained on their own. Either through hunting or buying from external traders.

Cien hands over all management matters of the building to the villagers.

He will not be responsible if any of the villagers' belongings are stolen inside. So Cien suggests appointing one person from among them as a supervisor.

As a result, the oldest person in the village, Grandpa Sid, volunteers.

Grandpa Sid feels bored just sitting around and letting people take care of him. Besides telling stories to children, he wants to do something else useful as well.

Cien doesn't mind. He has already handed over the management matter to the villagers. So let them discuss it themselves. As a result, Grandpa Sid's proposal is accepted.

Now he becomes the supervisor of the storage building.

After these two buildings, the guesthouse and the storage building, Cien starts planning the construction of two new facilities.

One is a school for children. He was inspired after seeing the enthusiasm of children to study.

Second, a hospital. There are no doctors, but Cien has many potion recipes on his phone. Cien wants to build a hospital to treat villagers when they are injured or sick.

To ensure the smooth running of the hospital, Cien needs a doctor and several nurses. But for now, he will think about it after the building is finished.

Maybe Cien will send someone to Huntara or Farnodt to search for some doctors. But who knows, for now he'll see how the situation unfolds.

In addition to the planning of the two new facilities, the construction of the treehouse is only halfway done. It's taking a while because it's not a priority.

Not only that, the construction of a reservoir has already begun.

Cien has expanded the area of his defensive formation to the edge of the river.

For three days, he and the knights have been busy clearing out the monsters in the area that will become a safe zone.

During this large-scale hunting, Cien obtained a monster core from the Snow Tiger to create a refrigeration room for the villagers.

After expanding the protective formation, some workers (knights) have started building a water channel from the river to the village.

This construction will take quite a long time. It could be months, even a year.

Moreover, Cien himself doesn't know when Mia and the others will leave. So before that happens, he needs to think about how to add new workers.

'Perhaps I need to buy some slaves…'

Cien thought at that time. But for now, that decision is on hold until he receives a shipment from Shiwa for his order of Calming Moongrass.

Cien needs to calculate the remaining amount of money later. If he has enough, he will buy slaves, and it would be even better if Shiwa can provide her services in this matter as well.

"I will ask when my order arrives."

So after all the planning was done and is currently being carried out by the villagers and the knights, Cien could finally return to his shop and be busy again.

Oh! About Lilinette. The teenage girl has stopped attempting suicide.

Well, she occasionally still does it, but only when Veronica is around.

Cien felt that Lilinette did it just to play around with her new friend.

Truly, he didn't understand how his niece's mind worked. But the most important thing was that he didn't have to worry anymore if Lilinette wanted to die... maybe. Sigh...

Apart from playing with Veronica, Lilinette spent her time reading and being a teacher to the children.

Not replacing Mia, but adding extra learning time for the children with other subjects.

Lilinette taught the children about three subjects: basic monster knowledge, geographic, and basic martial arts.

Meanwhile, Mia taught language, history, and basic mathematics.

Lilinette teaches from morning until lunchtime, a time when Mia would usually still be asleep.

After that, the children could rest and play until lunchtime was over or when Mia woke up and was ready to continue teaching.

Seeing Lilinette starting to blend in with the villagers, with a slightly brighter face, even though she still rarely showed her cold expressions, Cien was very grateful.

He hoped that this place could free his niece from all the expectations the Millard Family had placed on her.

In Death Valley, matters of the outside world meant nothing at all.

Cien emphasized this to Lilinette so that she wouldn't be burdened by expectations. Instead, she could live with her own desires and goals.

So for now, he was relieved about Lilinette's situation.

Back to Cien. Now he can return to his old busyness at the shop, creating items from the recipes on his phone.

Cien really wants to make a new magical weapon.

He has several monster cores to try. The Mana Core is not a problem at all.

It just, unfortunately, for now, he needs to make his bow and arrows.

During the safe area cleanup yesterday, Cien used the Crimsonagin.

Honestly, he's not really skilled in close combat. It's too exhausting and comes with high risks. He misses his bow.

Therefore, the first thing he makes is the bow and arrows.

For the bow, even though there are several magical bow recipes, Cien doesn't intend to make them. Most of those bows have flashy effects, making his stealthy shooting style somewhat risky.

There is an ideal bow. One that can make him an archer like a ghost.

However, he doesn't have the necessary materials at the moment. So, Cien can only make a regular bow. And then, he will create magical arrows with various skills.

Just like before, Cien will make his bow and arrows from Hellteak wood. This wood is not only lightweight but also as hard as iron.

A bow made of Hellteak wood should be durable and sturdy. Unfortunately, this bow cannot withstand sandstorms.

Cien spends his time from morning until noon making the bow and arrows in the workshop. He only comes out when Sella knocks, reminding him to eat.

Cien takes a break and plans to go to Yelina's place. Right now, he feels a bit lazy to cook for himself. Besides, eating with many people is more enjoyable than eating alone.

Ding!

As Cien was getting ready to leave, washing his hands and face, he heard a notification sound and felt his phone vibrate.

"Hm?"

Cien took his phone out of his pocket and looked at the notification.

On the screen, there was a map indicating an area fifty meters beyond the boundary of his protective formation.

There, he saw a group of people approaching. Around twenty individuals, two of whom were the knights Mia had ordered to go to Huntara.

Seeing that, Cien knew who was coming.

"Calming Grass. Shiwa's people, huh…"

Cien, who already knew this, remained calm. It wasn't a threat that was approaching.

He immediately headed to Yelina's restaurant. There, he met Mia and several other villagers, and informed them that the group from Huntara, sent by Shiwa, would arrive shortly.

They were momentarily taken aback but not overly surprised. They were already aware of Cien's ability to detect people entering his protected territory.

In fact, after a moment of surprise, all the villagers, including Mia, had bright expressions.

That was because Mia had not only ordered Calming Moongrass but also requested several other items such as clothing, cleaning tools, and so on.

As a businesswoman, Shiwa must have understood what could be sold here.

"Oh, that's interesting. Maybe there are a few things I can buy as well later," remarked Cien, who had just learned about Mia's plan.

Mia responded by saying she did it because Cien mentioned needing connections to external merchants.

From the very beginning, Shiwa had intended to establish a business relationship with Cien.

However, she was hindered by the sudden rise in popularity of her family name due to Jeanne, which kept her busy in Huntara.

But now, enough time has passed. Shiwa's plans could be put into motion again.

Therefore, Mia and Veronica seized the opportunity to immediately initiate a business collaboration.

It wasn't just about Calming Moongrass. They aimed for a long-term partnership, as the needs of the villagers in Death Valley couldn't be fulfilled with just one or two transactions.

Mia or Veronica paved the way for Cien to establish a lasting business cooperation. Now, it was up to Cien to make Shiwa interested in conducting business at his location.