The following days were rather hectic.
Between making arrangements for Nialdan, meeting the knights and soldiers who would be returning with me, and a shocking amount of paperwork formalizing everything and taking responsibility for the resources being poured into the new domain, I didn’t have a moment to myself for anything other than sleeping until two days after receiving my new title.
When I finally had a moment to myself, I set out to find Felton and Felris, who were enjoying some of the comforts of the capital.
“Try this,” Felris said as I sat down with them, shoving a pastry towards me. “It’s delicious.”
I took a bite, chewed thoughtfully, then swallowed. “It’s good, yeah.”
Felris took another bite. “Better than good. I should get the recipe.”
Felton and I glanced at each other.
“For Odel,” Felris muttered, looking away.
“Well, as adorable as watching you two sharing food is,” Felton said, leaning back in his chair. “I’m more interested in what Tovar’s been up to.”
“So much paperwork,” I grumbled. “And, speaking of…”
I pulled out a letter, handing it off to Felton.
“For my father, I presume?” he asked.
“Yeah. One, to let him know about our success, and to thank him for the free aid,” I said, flashing Felton a grin. “Two, to let him know about Nialdan, and my intent to build a road between our territories, once I finish acquiring the permission of the lands between. And three… to formally ask for Felris’s hand in marriage.”
Felris sat up straight in her seat, beaming. “Finally.”
“Yes, yes, but don’t get too ahead of yourselves,” Felton said, patting his sister on the arm. “Where do you plan to hold the wedding?”
I frowned. “I wouldn’t mind having it in Obdorn, but my family isn’t very accustomed to travel. And I’d like Byron to be there, but that would leave all of Somnial’s stuff unguarded. So… Nialdan, I suppose.”
“That’s fine, since Felris will be living there with you afterward. The issue, rather, is the lack of temple.”
“Oh. Right. We’ll have to build one.”
“More than that, you’ll need to speak with someone in the leadership of the Five Guardian Faith. The only mages allowed to stone-shape the statues are those of the Faith, so you’ll need to bring one to Nialdan once you have the temple built, and they can be a bit of a stickler for the temple itself, too.”
I frowned. “Really? Redding only has a small chapel and we had statues.”
“Exceptions are made for small village chapels. No doubt the expectations for Nialdan will be high, though, and require a certain show of deference.”
“Great,” I muttered. “Another thing to add to the list.”
And so it went, coming up with more complications and trying to arrange their solutions. Felton and Felris took the letter back to Obdorn, and Pendor returned to Ivarnel.
This left me alone with Ramius for the ride back to Nialdan, who was less than pleased about the new situation.
“I can’t believe you got me wrapped up in all this,” he grumbled, not for the first time.
“Entirely out of my hands,” I responded, also not for the first time. “Should be a bit more interesting than sitting in on meetings, at least.”
“Debatable,” he sighed.
I looked out the window of the carriage. “I also asked the queen to request the additional aid of a mage skilled at water manipulation. I believe we settled on Lady Pellia.”
A moment passed as the carriage trundled on.
“Well, it will be nice to work alongside a skilled mage such as her,” Ramius eventually said.
“Quite so,” I said, smothering my grin.
The road home was as dull as usual, though a good opportunity to study spells. Immersed in that, it wasn’t long before we were back in Redding, where progress had been made carving a road into the forest.
“Welcome back, master Tovar,” Byron said.
“Good to be back, Byron. How have things been here?”
As Byron led me around updating me on the goings-on, I made note of what we could improve upon with a small application of magic, and what would just take time. Felling trees and processing lumber wasn’t something Ramius or I could particularly help with, but stump removal was, whether by making them easier to pull thanks to [Control Earth] or controlled burns with [Create Fire]. Ramius could certainly do the latter, if he hadn’t picked up the former.
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Given the value within the dungeon, despite the relatively low danger, I decided to keep it at a remove from Nialdan’s initial settlement. In the end, I did decide on reclaiming the previously cleared land of Dulth’s war camp so we could move right on to building and preparing fields, and planned to build secondary fortifications around the dungeon, for use by the knights and soldiers.
The work proceeded. Considering the state of our living conditions, Ramius was surprisingly stoic and agreeable; he was even more pleasant once Pellia showed up, to help with digging new wells and managing water.
Buildings began to be erected in Nialdan proper, including the beginnings of a manor for myself, though I deprioritized it over other, more necessary structures. A temple was built; the Faith-approved stone-shaper arrived and created our Five Guardian statues, allowing me to pop in on the admin for a visit from the new domain.
I got to know some of the knights and soldiers, as well as some of the laborers, especially those that had decided they’d like to settle here and contribute to the building out of the domain for the long-haul. Some of the younger adults of Redding who were looking for new opportunities came over as well, helping to set up some local farms, while I sketched out plans for managing the farming of the dungeon.
Soon it was harvest season, and the weather began to grow cold. Once my family’s fields were harvested, it was time to move them over to the new territory, as well.
I arranged a nice little property for my family. Most of them didn’t have the experience to do much else other than farming, but I planned to spend time with them and try and find something they could do in the budding territory. I would provide for them, of course, but for some people, doing nothing was worse than working, and my father was one such person. While it was a very different kind of farming, I would need people I could absolutely trust in order to help with the dungeon. Hildan could have a role there, possibly. Torra was still a bit young, but if she was open to it, I planned on training her as well for a long-term role in our fae dungeon.
By the time winter arrived, we had enough structures closed in that Nialdan was, arguably, a proper little village in its own right. By the following year, it may even be a town, and eventually, perhaps even a city. For the moment, it was quiet and cozy. We had plenty of firewood from clearing roads through the forest, and the freshly erected chimneys of our newly built homes puffed merrily, keeping us warm within.
It was partway into the winter season that the reason I had undertaken the building of this entire march returned, with her family in tow.
“Rikton, Trisellia, welcome! And Fellius! Look how big you’ve grown. We’ll have to spar later.”
Fellius was a young teen himself, now, and well-muscled from his swordsmanship training, but still awkward in his bearing. “Nice to see you again, Lord Tovar.”
“Ah, no need for all that!” I said, echoing what his parents had said to me when I first met them. “Just names between friends.”
“Family,” Felris corrected, nudging me with her elbow.
“That too,” I said with a grin. “How was the trip?”
“Miserable,” Felton grumbled, pulling a coat tighter around himself. “Can we go inside?”
“Right, let me show you the house,” I said, guiding my in-laws-to-be and their kids inside, to show off the manor that would soon be their daughter’s home. I leaned in to Felris. “We can change anything you want.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” she said with a sly smile.
Byron welcomed the baron’s family within, greeting them all. “And pleasure to see you again, Lady Felris,” he said. “I look forward to welcoming you as part of the household.”
After the house tour, despite the cold outside, Rikton wanted to see the village-in-progress and the dungeon. If it were anyone else, I would be concerned about his intentions seeing the dungeon, but I knew I could trust Rikton. There wasn’t much to see in the village yet, but he pointed out a few things I should consider for future growth before we made our way back and through the forest.
Unlike Obdorn, one couldn’t just walk up to Nialdan’s dungeon. The whole area was closed off, with royal knights and soldiers standing guard.
“Lord Tovar,” one such knight greeted me as I approached.
“Sir Polas. This is Lord Rikton, baron of Obdorn, my wife-to-be’s father. I’m showing him the dungeon and hoping to get his insight and expertise.”
“Ah, well, welcome, m’lord,” Polas acknowledged, letting us pass.
“Any trouble with Dulth?” Rikton asked as we headed into the dungeon.
“Not as of yet. So far, we’ve only exported goblin pit clay, but the queen is proactively reaching out with the neighboring countries to agree to fair trade for our more specialty goods. She wants a treaty in place before she hands the throne off to Prince Yorgan, to ensure that the human realm can all grow and prosper, and be prepared for any future demon conflict.”
“Do you think that will work?”
“I’m… tentatively hopeful. If it costs a country less to just buy the goods at the prices set than waging war, then it would be in everyone’s interest to accept the terms. So long as no nation is too difficult in the negotiations, and neither prices or tensions rise with changes of leadership, it could be a stable, long-term treaty.”
Rikton hummed. “Well. I’ll be more comfortable when the new road is complete. Should you ever need… Obdorn will protect you.”
“Thanks, Rikton. Hopefully it doesn’t ever come to that.”
Within the dungeon itself, the top-most tunnels had been fully cleared out and closed off. Unlike Obdorn’s dungeon, having easy access to upper level farms wasn’t as important, because there weren’t any monsters left within. Once the birthing pits were shut down, most of the dungeon was just empty, with the remaining mana heavily concentrated around the core. The faeries sucked down so much that without goblins ranging out and bringing biomass back into the dungeon, the upper levels were comparable to the outdoors.
It wasn’t until we got deeper into the dungeon that the usual feeling of mana in the air started to accumulate. Here, we had prepared a few beds with soil, amended with some powdered goblin pit clay and enriched with a tiny bit of faerie dust, in order to hopefully cultivate more mushrooms. It was a delicate balance—overwatering the pits before the mana amanita mycelium could spread fully to absorb the mana from the pit clay could allow the birthing pit to kickstart new production, which we had to avoid at all costs while still allowing it to take root—but if we could manage to farm mushrooms from goblin pit clay, it would be a massively profitable conversion of magical resources.
That was one of several experiments we were working on, which I showed Rikton. The faeries themselves were still protected beyond the stone-enclosed grotto, largely left alone as to not disrupt the ecology that had kept them alive. Any expansion to that space would be slow and cautious, because there was only so much mana given off by the dungeon core to support their population without figuring out a safe way to restore it; specifically, a method that wouldn’t kick off new monster production, and end up destroying or consuming all the faeries.
“You’ve got a lot on your plate here, Tovar,” Rikton said as we left the dungeon, clasping me on the shoulder. “But if anyone can handle it, it’s you.”
I tried not to blush. “I’ll do my best,” I said, clearing my throat. “Though, all that can wait. I’ve got a new top priority to deal with.”
Rikton chuckled. “She’s got you wrapped around her finger already, huh. Well, can’t say I disapprove.” He patted me on the back. “Let’s get you married, son.”
