In the end, it was Arnold who really blew Remian’s budget. The things he asked for were estimated to wipe out half of Remian’s earnings all by themselves. “You want that Repeating Scorpion quickly or in a few years? And a moving tower, no less… do you have any idea what it takes to build a decent Siege Tower?” “Not really, no.” Remian confessed. “Neither do I.” Arnold handed Charlie with a list of ordered parts, gears and tools. “Count it as research costs!” “How long do you expect this ‘research’ to go on?” Remian asked, concerned for his wallet. “Without these supplies? A Repeating Scorpion could take me all year. With them? I could have one ready in a week or so.” Arnold clarified. “Putting it on a moving platform would need more work; we’ll have to do a lot of testing and adjustments to fire a Scorpion while the platform is moving. Building an actual siege tower capable of withstanding Tier 3 and 4 Wilds… that’s going to take at lea

  They ended up shopping at Burning Steel rather than the airship. Remian ordered Tier 3 weapons and armor in bulk, which he would later donate to the Guild for Points. After all, as Guild Master, he should strive to remain as one of the top Adventurers in his own Guild. They finally spotted the airship in the horizon by lunch time. As Mandy said; they were simply late. The reason for that became apparent as they docked at the still-unfinished airport. The airship had dozens of people on deck, and many crates of cargo to unload. “Workers!!” Remian roared to the sky, exultant. One hundred workers. Forty mercenaries. There weren’t as many mercenaries as Charlie estimated, but for Remian, who had sweated over a lack of manpower until now, forty tier 2 fighters was a godsend. On top of that, there were not ten, but twenty Iron Legion trainees this time around, led by another drill sergeant named Julius. “Orders!” Julius salute

The first indication they had that something was coming was when the ground started to shake. The birds began to scatter. Most of them took to the air and fled in every direction, getting away from the scene. But the ravens gathered. They began to stalk a certain figure in the distance. Trees began to fall. A visible column of floral victims trailed all the way from the far horizon. It headed directly toward the Frontier Town known as Fort Spoas. “What is that…?” Kairos asked. He stood on Remian’s left, while Charlie was on Remian’s right. They were atop the rooftop of the Adventurer Guard Tower, behind a fully prepared Ballista with a Steel Stake loaded and ready to fire. “We’ll find out soon. The scouts are almost here.” Remian pointed. There was Carrie, with Candice and Denise on her back. She had gone ahead with them especially to bring these two back quickly. Upon arriving, the twins went straight to Remian to report. “It’

[Can someone please tell me what is going on?] The Spike-Back Lizard asked. [You great goof!!] Carrie barked at him. [You’ve destroyed the human nest! What are you doing all the way over here?!] [I… I don’t know…] the great big fellow looked around, blinking. [Where am I? What happened to that horrible shrieking…?] [You’re at the far north end of Shadowflash’s territory.] Carrie advised. [Shadowflash is going to be so mad at you.] [Shadowflash is dead.] Spike-back grouched. [That’s what they say. But nobody has proof.] Carrie insisted. [I’m here. He isn’t. That’s proof enough.] Spike grumped. [If he were alive, he would never have let me get this far.] Carrie fell silent. She did not retort to that. [So… what now? You’ve passed through his entire territory unchallenged. You’ve proven yourself to be the strongest Wild here. Do you intend to claim this territory as your own?] [What? No way! I don’t want that sort of responsibility!] Spike turned and started running south. [You gu

“The road.” Markus said the first word. “We need to build the town around the road. If we have a road, supplies, reinforcements, trade and even new colonists will get here more easily and more cheaply.” “We need to develop industry.” Arnold glanced at the Andros. “Weapons and armor aside, tool-making is the heart of any development. Without a strong industry supporting it, the kind of defenses you want will be difficult, expensive and slow to prepare.” “We need to develop commerce.” Andros shook his head. “People won’t work for free, especially not my crew. You’re going to have to pay us properly, and whatever we earn had better be worth our time and effort! The other side of that is that there’s nothing left in town to spend on. Shops, entertainment, good food… we need lots of businesses.” Remian cleared his throat. “We’ll need something to draw those businesses here. Fresh air and clean water won’t be enough to draw people and businesses to the Frontier, especially not with the Be