Time seemed to flow especially slowly in Stonehammer Village. But no matter how slowly it passed, before they knew it, Annie, Frieren, Fern, and Elaina had already spent six or seven days in the quiet little village. In another three or four days, they would be leaving.
Over the past few days, aside from visiting the old Dwarf every day to chat and reminisce, Frieren had spent the rest of her time using magic to help the villagers with their work.
There wasn't much to do in the fields during the bitter cold, but magic was still very useful for reinforcing walls, clearing drainage ditches, and repairing houses. At the very least, it was highly efficient. In just a few days, she had finished work that might otherwise have taken the villagers the entire winter.
There was no denying that magic made construction work incredibly convenient. Frieren and Fern together were the equal of a modern construction crew equipped with all kinds of heavy machinery—excavators, backhoes, cranes, and the like. No question about it!
If they'd had enough materials and time, and Frieren and Fern hadn't minded exhausting a huge amount of mana, they probably could have turned the whole village into a fortified castle.
Luckily, they didn't have that much time, and the villagers didn't have that much material. Reinforcing the walls, clearing the ditches, and repairing the houses was already more than enough to make the villagers deeply grateful.
As for doing manual labor, Annie obviously wasn't going to do any of that!
Just like Elaina, all she did was eat, drink, have fun, and sleep. The one difference was that Annie was generally only active at night.
Like now.
That night, as the moonlight poured down in a cool silver glow over the frost-covered mountains and village,