A Sudden, Unknown Danger

Just as Loren was eagerly studying how to upgrade the Arrow Tower, the Construction Department surveyed the site and discussed the matter, quickly coming up with a plan to repair it.

"My lord, this is a standard three-story Arrow Tower. The second and third floors are attack platforms, each of which can accommodate fifteen archers at full capacity, for a total of thirty.

The advantage of this type of Arrow Tower is that it's inexpensive and easy to build.

Its drawbacks are that it can only attack in one direction, can hold relatively few people, and has rather weak defenses. It can't withstand bombardment from siege weapons.

Given the extent of the damage, if you can assign fifty people to the project, we're confident we can finish repairing it within seven days.

Rebuilding the other Arrow Tower, which is completely destroyed, will take fifteen days."

Loren looked at the middle-aged man reporting to him and nodded slowly.

"Rebuild this Arrow Tower first. We'll deal with the other one later." He needed to get the Elemental Tower's construction blueprint first. There weren't enough resources to invest in the other Arrow Tower yet.

"The Construction Department now has thirty people. I'll assign you another twenty. In seven days, I want to see a brand-new Arrow Tower."

At Loren's assurance, the middle-aged man and his companions immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes, my lord. We'll do everything in our power to carry out your orders."

Loren nodded with satisfaction. He was eager to see what effect upgrading the Arrow Tower would have.

Once he'd assigned the Arrow Tower construction, he had fewer than 120 residents left to work with. After excluding the elderly and infirm who couldn't work, there were probably fewer than a hundred able-bodied people.

Loren glanced at the Arrow Tower, then turned his attention to the city wall. The Arrow Tower could be upgraded with Soul Power. Could the wall be upgraded the same way?

At the thought, the system's prompt rang out.

"Ding~ Would you like to spend ten thousand Soul Power to upgrade the Wooden Wall to a Grey Soil Wall?"

"Ding~ Insufficient Soul Power. Upgrade unavailable."

"Ding~ The Grey Soil Wall has not been built. Upgrade failed."

Loren studied the system's prompts, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Upgrading the wall required ten thousand Soul Power? That was ten times as much as the Arrow Tower.

But just like the Arrow Tower, the wall had to be built before it could be upgraded.

So was this upgrade even worthwhile?

Or did spending Soul Power on an upgrade enchant the wall somehow, giving it traits similar to those of the territory?

After thinking for a while, Loren shook his head. There wasn't enough information to reach a useful conclusion. He'd have to wait until the Arrow Tower was rebuilt and see what happened when he upgraded it.

By the time everything was taken care of, dusk had fallen.

Just then, a commotion suddenly rose outside the city walls. The troops who had gone to explore the territory's surroundings had returned.

After confirming there was no danger, the soldiers on the wall immediately told the soldiers below to open the gates.

The wooden gates swung open, and the towering figure of the Barbarian Chieftain, Yas, appeared first in Loren's sight.

The burly barbarian was like an iron tower. His footsteps even made the ground tremble faintly.

He was a true warrior, powerful and ferocious.

Sim, the kobold Bloodline Mage, followed close behind, wearing a black cloak that made him look absurdly flashy.

The Spellcaster held his head high, his gaze dismissive of everything around him.

Behind the two were two squads of kobolds and two squads of barbarians. Each squad had ten people, for a total of forty.

The armored barbarians stood two heads taller than the kobolds beside them, making the contrast between the two groups unmistakable.

Even more eye-catching was the fact that some of the troops were carrying more than a dozen white deer with horns growing from their heads.

Faint magical fluctuations emanated from the deer, making it clear they weren't ordinary animals.

"Good day, Lord Loren!"

When Yas saw Loren, he eagerly came forward to greet him.

His voice was deep and rumbling.

"Today, we explored an area three kilometers around the territory and found more than a dozen Sharp-horned White Deer gathered downstream from the lake..."

The kobold Bloodline Mage Sim picked up where Yas left off, looking rather smug.

"Lord Loren, Sharp-horned White Deer can control wind elements and move extremely fast. If I hadn't masked their senses with magic, we'd never have completed today's hunt."

Yas glared at Sim, whose black cloak fluttered behind him, making him look even more obnoxiously flashy.

That damned kobold was always trying to steal the credit in front of their lord.

Loren nodded slowly.

"Besides the Magic Beasts, did you find anything else? Is there anything dangerous around the territory?"

The Endless Wasteland was no safe place. In this region, rich with mineral veins, it wouldn't be surprising to find a greedy dragon in some cave.

The lake nearby made Loren even more wary.

Food was scarce in the Endless Wasteland, and water sources often meant food, attracting large numbers of Magic Beasts.

The presence of the ferocious Frogmen in the lake was the best example.

Yas's expression grew more serious at the question.

"Lord Loren, we found something strange downstream from the lake."

Loren's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Did you find a beastfolk tribe downstream?"

Yas shook his head.

"No. The farther downstream we went, the fewer Magic Beasts we found. In some areas, there weren't even any ordinary beasts."

Loren raised an eyebrow.

There should have been plenty of Magic Beasts near a water source. There was only one possible explanation for an area with no sign of them: it was the hunting ground of a powerful species or Magic Beast.

The territory they'd explored was only a few kilometers wide. Given the reach of the City of Brilliant Moon, the two sides were bound to come into conflict.

"Can you tell what species it is?"

Sim's black cloak billowed behind him as he grinned and hurried to answer.

"Lord Loren, I smelled Boarmen, Lizardmen, and Berserk Brown Bears in that area."

Boarmen? Lizardmen? Berserk Brown Bears?

Relevant memories immediately surfaced in Loren's mind.

Boarmen were the most numerous beings among the beastfolk. They were omnivorous and ate anything. They could have more than a dozen young in a single litter, and their ability to reproduce was astonishing. They could be found everywhere in the Endless Wasteland.

Berserk Brown Bears were enormous bear-like Magic Beasts. According to legend, they were descended from Hellbears and possessed a measure of evil power. They were powerful and savage, and could not be tamed.

There was no need to say much about the Lizardmen. They were the Silver Moon Kingdom's greatest enemy, and the enemy of all humanity.

In the Endless Wasteland, humans and Lizardmen attacked each other without mercy whenever they met, fighting the bloodiest battles imaginable.

"Tomorrow, expand the search area. Don't just investigate that region—check everywhere else as well.

"Make sure you find every potential threat to us."

This unknown threat had suddenly appeared, putting Loren on alert.

Boarmen weren't powerful enough to drive even ordinary beasts out of an entire area, so they could be ruled out first.

The Berserk Brown Bears were manageable. Magic Beasts were powerful, but they could still be dealt with.

But if there was a Lizardman territory near the City of Brilliant Moon...

It was hard to say how things would end.

War could break out at any moment.