Kingdom Of The Weak

Remian immediately hired a whole army of prospectors and geologists over from the Deutero Company. Various mineral treasures were discovered within a week; small deposits of Misty Steel, Breezium, Earth Pulse Obsidian, a vein of Star Sardeinite, and heap loads of Celestial Salt. That last bit was somewhat controversial; Celestial Salt was considered a valuable cultivation resource in the Dragon Empire, a temporary magic-enhancement food in Ecclesia, and an expensive ingredient in luxury restaurants in La Vive, but was outright banned as illegal in Ashdale and nineteen other countries. The reason for this was that while this salt was mildly beneficial to magic and martial cultivation, it was better known for its rather intoxicating effects and addictive traits…

The wolfcats, of course, did not care one whit about Ashdale"s laws and enjoyed a sumptuous roast Salamander dinner (marinated with just a little Celestial Salt in the mix) together with Remian.

[We should share this with Shadowflash and the others.] Carrie mentioned, as she lay down with a satisfied sigh after dinner. [They would love it. Vigil too.]

[How is Vigil, these days?] Remian asked.

[He"s been busy training. His father tells me that he"s growing nicely.] Carrie said, a bit wistfully. [Shadowflash will let him out in another week.]

[Then we can invite them over next week.] Remian suggested.

[That would be nice.]

***

Craggy Falls happened to lie within the borders of the Rocky Thorns territory. Remian had Spike act as his lieutenant to handle all the smaller issues with the local Wilds.

He also called in Max and Markus. "So… can we do it?"

"Do what?"

"Build a road from KarGoth to Craggy Falls, and then farther down to the Blood Lands all the way to the Bog Marshes."

Markus" jaw dropped. "We"d have to call in the entire Iron Legion for a project that big. What"s left of it, anyway."

"Now that you mention it, I"ve hardly seen or heard anything from the Iron Legion lately. How have you been?"

"Bad. The war pretty much wiped out the resources of the Legion. Most of what we can send out are what you see at KarGoth. Half of them are already part of the FDF." Max grunted. "The other half are finishing up the road to Fal"Herim. Beyond that… most of the Legion"s completely set on trying to keep the Road in the northern continent safe. Between the war and the Wilds, it"s full of refugees and bandits. At this point, its an endless task. The few who aren"t guarding the roads are busy training new recruits like mad. There"s no manpower to spare."

"So, basically… that road"s not going to happen."

"Sorry."

Remian shrugged. "Well, then. We"ll just have to rely on airships."

That simple idea began to grow big. Very big. By sunset that day, a ma.s.sive project was planned at Craggy Falls. With a few grumbles from Spike, the Lord of Rocky Thorns had decided to construct the biggest airport in the Wildlands right next to the waterfall.

That, plus a Guild Hall for the Adventurers Guild, and a sneaky training facility in the heart of Rocky Thorns surrounded by dangerous Wilds on all sides. All that was part of the plan on the very first day.

And then he invited the entire host of La Vive survivors to come settle at Craggy Falls. As an incentive, he gave them exploitation rights to the Celestial Salt, taking only a 25% cut for himself.

Then he brought over the Ashdalian refugees and let them mine the precious ores in a similar deal.

"So, how about it, Max? Wanna run the Adventurers Guild Hall here?" Remian asked. "You won"t find Celestial Salt cheaper elsewhere."

As a cook, and an adventurer, the notion was extremely tempting to Max. "What"s my pay?"

"Why don"t you decide that?" Remian shrugged. "You can run a whole town here while you"re at it. How about it? Max for Mayor?"

"That"s… beyond me. I"ll just stick to the Guild and training young ones." Max backed away. "How about Markus? He"s the leader sort."

"Sure, but if you want me in charge, I"m going to design the town myself!" Markus shot back.

"Done!" Remian pounced on it.

"Are you serious? The whole town is going to turn into a square box! Straight lines everywhere!" Max pointed out. "That"s how the Legion operates! In straight lines!"

"That"s fine." Remian said. "I"m not going to be around here that much anyway."

"Why not?"

"Because I"m going to be busy investigating the Black Ruins." Remian grinned, a shark"s smile. "You said it already, Markus! You"re in for it now."

And that was how the idea for an airship dock turned into building an entire town at Craggy Falls.

***

"A whole town?" Tim grinned. "That"s great."

"Why is it great?" Mindy asked, being the one to have brought him the news.

"Because I"m going to turn this place into a farm." Tim explained. "This is absolutely perfect ground to grow nightshade and other poisonous herbs."

"You"re growing poison?!" Mindy gaped.

"Oh, yes. It"s going to be extremely valuable." Tim nodded. "There are a lot of medicines that actually rely on poisonous herbs. They just have to be processed right. Also some of them, like nightshade, is a precious reagent for enchantments. There"s even pesticides that rely on poisons."

"But… but…" Mindy shivered. "What if someone uses these poisons to kill people?"

"If someone intends murder, they"ll manage it one way or the other. I just want to make sure the guys on my side can get the gear they needed more easily than the guys against me." Tim shrugged.

"So… you"re not selling it?"

"I might. But it won"t be cheap."

***

As for Song Chen…

"I actually wanted to build a seaport." He admitted. "Huge docks capable of serving the few gigantic ships that dare to sail the seas around here. It would take a lot of infrastructure, and the mangroves don"t help very much, but there"s a lot of huge trees in these marshes, which means that theres plenty of excellent material on hand. We just have to fight our way through all the Wilds to get it."

"Is that really okay?" Mindy asked, dubiously.

"I"ve been fighting Wilds since the first day I arrived at KarGoth. It"s what I do." Song Chen shrugged.

"You may as well turn this place into the FDF combat academy." Mindy sighed.

Song Chen"s eyes lit up immediately. "That"s a great idea!"

But he still wanted to build his Great Docks, if only as an excuse to have his trainees gain experience in defense as well as attack missions.

***

Since she was in the area, Mindy went on to Three Pines Peak, which was right next to the Bog Marshes.

By this point, Three Pines had turned into a total treetop town. Treehouses and wooden walkways ran through all three giant trees, and Frame-fitted Adventurers were running and climbing around loosely.

Mindy had noticed recently that among her crew, the recruits from Three Pines were significantly better with estimating height and heading at high alt.i.tudes. Seeing the way everyone here ran around the treetops hundreds of feet above the ground, she wasn"t surprised.

They docked the airship at the highest branch of the central pine, and then Mindy made her way over to the rope ladders leading down, down, down…

"Hey, Mindy! Wanna try a shortcut?" Sandra asked, coming down off the Red Fang with her.

"What shortcut?" Mindy was blur.

"Gammie and I had an idea for a new business, last time we were here." Sandra said, with a wide grin. "Behold!"

She held out a few sack-like heaps of cloth.

"Uh… what am I looking at?" Mindy blinked.

"Air balloons." Sandra said. "Gammie!"

Gammie nodded, opened a scroll, and casted a Wind spell directly into one. The balloon opened out, and Gammie casted another spell, this one without a scroll, using his own personal magic to evoke fire.

This resulted in a hot-air balloon roughly the size of Mindy herself.

"Nicely done! You"ve been practicing!" Sandra beamed at Gammie.

Gammie just shrugged, scratching his head.

"So… am I supposed to wear this and float away somewhere?" Mindy eyed the harness tied to the balloon. It looked like a leather vest.

"No, you wear this and jump down." Sandra explained. "The balloon should slow your fall so you land safely."

"Ah." Mindy slipped the vest on and jumped.

"Not here…!" Sandra screamed, but it was too late. Mindy was already dropping, at a slightly uncomfortable pace, but likely safe enough for most humans…
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In her drop, she narrowly missed an old branch, but while she herself missed it, the balloon got snagged and then there was a slight tearing sound.

"Uhoh." Mindy grimaced as hot air escaped the balloon and she went down at an increasing pace.