"Uncle Holin, take a break."
Annan came over to Uncle Holin and Martin.
Uncle Holin set down his pickaxe and proudly said it was nothing. Even Aunt Susan had once managed this much work. Annan expressed surprise—surprise that Aunt Susan had ever been so thin.
"Hahaha! You didn't think Susan always had such a fine figure, did you? She used to be as skinny as me..."
Uncle Holin laughed and smacked the back of Martin's head for slacking off.
At one in the afternoon on January 1 of the Saint Laurent Calendar, Annan, his Magic Power restored, cast the Lesser Summoning Spell.
The Portal opened. Annan saw the Ogre and the workers crowded behind it. Some glanced uneasily at the Ogre, some peered curiously at the other side of the Portal, and some stared at Annan with fervent eyes—fans of The Mage Tower's Fall, no doubt.
Besides the workers, there were the Head Guard Annan had met in the Dungeon and a hundred soldiers. "The City Lord asked me to tell you there are fifteen hundred workers here, with another fifteen hundred to follow. The fifteenth City Guard squad will also be under your command from now on."
"Can they work?"
The Head Guard paused, then smiled. "Of course. I was a farmer before I joined the City Guard."
Olmedo had not been stingy with her aid. These were all sturdy workers.
Annan gazed longingly at the burly men who had gone straight to work in the Mining District. He had better add meat to their meals over the next few days, and pay them wages too...
An hour later, the last batch of workers arrived. Annan, who had drunk his fill of Face-Changing Potions, followed the long gray strip of stone through the Forest back to Star-Moon Bay.
The