11: Adventurers trickle in.

[Year 13 Month 3: 1 month has passed]

With summer coming to an end, Runehold began its preparations for winter. While it had plenty of food for the year, as Gorn had been stockpiling and could secretly slip some to the burgeoning outpost, the construction projects were in no way complete, and progress in the winter would be minimal. So the best time to build was before the snow set in.

While Astrid had been concerned about finances, I sold some of the raw gems I had stored away; the mineral pillars would produce things other than metal, and nobody in Gorn was specialized in jewelry. The money wouldn’t last forever, especially as the economy of Runehold was mostly stagnate for the moment.

Of course, all of that changed when the Adventurers really arrived. Unlike the common folk and the merchants, they didn’t come with convoys as much, meaning they came together in their smaller parties and very sporadically.

It was fascinating to watch the changes that occurred when they arrived. Like an engine that just guzzled down its first gallon of fuel, it lit ablaze like nothing I had seen before. Empty streets were instantly replaced with busy stalls and trading, with the shops truly opening for the first time since they had arrived.

Stock was flying off the shelves as adventurers needed to resupply after the long journey to get here. The two smithies were practically overflowing with orders and repair requests; it was unbelievable how quickly the city had changed.

While there were several days of chaos and there were several times where someone had to step in to play mediator, the city visibly calmed once the excitement had been quelled.

It was busy nonetheless, but not frantic like earlier.

Osbert had also found his own role in the city, as a level 32 [Blessed Guard]; he was the highest leveled non-adventurer in town. More importantly, however, he was a human who could run Runehold’s guards.

Adventurers didn’t care for the anti-beast-kin propaganda as much; all that mattered to them was the levels and shows of power. The common folk, on the other hand… it was bad.

The few beast-kin that decided to enter the city despite my insistence were treated horribly. People were intentionally trampling tails or trying to short-change the beast-kin in particular. It was bad enough that the Chiefs of Gorn required the residents to stay in Gorn.

A few beast-kin wouldn’t cause the church to come to such a distant city, but if people noticed dozens of them, that might change some minds.

Selfi, on the other hand, had the completely opposite experience.

Elfs were a rare species, and the church propaganda just didn’t focus on them as much, meaning most humans were fine with their presence. Especially the female elves. How shocking.

If I remember right, she should be receiving her class soon… I pulled up my clock.

[Year 13 Month 3]

She is nineteen right now… her birthday is in the first month. That would mean in 9 months she would receive her class. Wow, time has sure flown.

I wouldn’t need to make a gift for her. Probably would ask Sahil for a weapon. Selfi preferred weapons that reminded me strongly of what gladii looked like. Short handle with a highly balanced, dual-edged blade.

On the topic of weapons and Sahil, the smith moved to Runehold. At first, I was concerned for her safety, as her gray scales stood out against her otherwise pale skin; the concern was completely unnecessary. Turns out, adventurers didn’t let people treat their smiths like crap, and several men found their hands broken when they tried to hurt Sahil.

I counted five different people with broken bones for that reason.

It may have been a little cruel, but whenever they used the infirmary, they just happened to heal more slowly than others. One or two had noticed this and complained, but other than the beastkin and my trusted compatriots, no one in the city even suspected a near omnipresent guardian to be lingering in the city.

Why would they?

[Year 13 Month 5: 2 months have passed]

[You have gained many Blessed]

[You have gained two levels]

[You are level 23]

[Your Obelisk Network gains 2 more Secondary Obelisk slots]

Turns out the notifications began to replace the counter with “many” if you gained more than a thousand Blessed in the same update.

How did I achieve this, you ask? Well. Adventurers wouldn’t say no to a power boost if offered it for free. Moving the city’s obelisk next to the dungeon and releasing an announcement that it was a Blessing Stone had caused all of the gains.

I thought the people would be suspicious if it just randomly appeared, so I had Osbert go in with a team of beastkin, who were, of course, completely covered in order to obscure their identities, and ‘found’ the Blessing Stone in the dungeon. Osbert then ‘donated’ the obelisk to the new city.

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Apparently, this was an acceptable possibility, and once a few adventurers had used it and confirmed its validity, everyone else just rolled with it.

[Blessed: 338 -> 1294]

I felt a surge of satisfaction looking at the numbers. While the number had been steadily increasing, it felt more satisfying to take a step back and look at the total progress.

While a majority were adventurers, I had noticed a few normal citizens also snagging a blessing. It really appealed to families with young children, as the resistance to sicknesses was a game-changer for the poorer people, who couldn’t afford healing or medicine.

I reached out to Astrid’s mind, curious about the rapid growth of the city. When I questioned it, she laughed for several minutes straight, with the occasional snort. I didn’t find the question to be funny…