All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 114: Base Building 101

Arthur shook his head as the group of scouts left his tent. In the last 25 years of command, he had never seen a group so shaken as those. The king's elite rangers too. They were so incoherent and panicked that it was hard to trust anything they said. When men got shocked like that, their eyes started to play tricks on them.

Several decades ago, before he was given command, he had been a young officer fresh from his father's estate. His first engagement had been removing void beasts that were plaguing the local farmers. They spent days laying traps and lying in wait out in the fields, waiting for their mage to find something.

In the end, they discovered a cabal of witches that had infiltrated the local council of elders. Even the mayor was in on it. Arthur had been looking over his shoulder for years after that. Not to mention the ever-present fear of grain cellars. He had never been able to enter one without taking the door clear off its hinges first.

All these years had passed, but when wheat swayed in a certain way, he still tensed up as though there was a void beast behind him. So when these men started babbling about a black demon disk that had destroyed the legs of their comrades, Arthur would have been likely to send them to the medical tent and proceed with caution. That would have been his plan if not for Harold's warning.

That warning coming from anyone else could have been brushed aside or waved off as paranoia. But this was Harold. This was a man Arthur could trust with his life. Had, actually, for a few days in that grain cellar. If the elite rangers were not even able to handle this threat, the best cause was to avoid it for now. The undead, while seemingly less powerful, had much more wide-reaching consequences.

The army had received a steady stream of refugees from the north. Apparently, a small town named Greg had completely fallen, and only those who managed to escape before it was fully encircled made it out. Even then, the undead were acting with much more strategy than they should. Laying traps along the road was one thing, especially when it was just ghouls. But when other types joined in, it was worrying.

Arthur looked down at the map in front of him, studying the reports of the undead positions. He had already called for reinforcements as the numbers were many times what the reports had claimed. Why, if this were a foreign army, he would have said that they were setting up a net for the province capital.

His blood ran cold.

Shouting for his adjunct, Arthur immediately sent the man off running messages to the rest of the command staff. It was several hours before sunrise, but still, in fifteen minutes, the rest of the officers were present, if not in perfect uniform.

"Gentleman, if the blue markers are us and the red are those of Barleona, what battle does this remind you of?" Arthur wasted no time, gesturing to the map showing the positions of the undead.

An older man with a somehow perfectly combed mustache sniffed. "Why, I would say it is like when we sacked the border city of Gratbranth. Only, if we had forgotten to guard the heights behind us. That hill wasn't there."

"Exactly. The enemy commander is smart but inexperienced." Arthur stood suddenly and leaned over the map. "We move out in two hours, we need to prevent the city from being encircled, there's no way to evacuate that many people. Here are your orders…."

—

Bee was shocked to see how much progress Void had made with all the children. Not only had it done what Mary mentioned about getting them to eat properly, but it was drilling them for two hours in sword forms every morning. Some were a little young for such things, but nobles of military households practically grew up with a sword in hand, so it wasn't unheard of. But the amount of fun that these kids had would surely outstrip any of the others their age learning to fight.

Her master had brilliantly turned it into a game and made them want to practice. All morning they went at it. Sometimes she would even join them, but with her skill, she didn't really need this basic training. Still, she was more than happy to be a demonstration dummy. These kids, if they kept at it, would never need to pick a proficiency skill, and that would give them just the slightest edge over others at their level. Even the smallest benefits could snowball, she knew.

At this rate, some might be able to get their first level soon. That would be unheard of, though - they'd need to kill a monster, and there was no way they'd send these kids out into any sort of danger. Though Void had been known to throw system rules to the wind before, so maybe it had a way around that. Her scan wasn't any use telling her how close someone was to their first level, but she checked the kids every day to compensate, just in case. If they needed any help choosing their first skill, she would be there. It was a bit risky getting them to level so early, but she was sure that Void knew what it was doing.

She tried to impress upon the kids to ask for help once they got offered a skill. It hadn't really worked until Void heard what she was doing and backed her up. When she was sure the kids understood, she felt a little freer to help out with all the other dozens of chores that needed doing around the castle. Somehow, Tony had left with no one noticing and grabbed a couple of cows when she was writing. He claimed they had wandered off the abandoned farms.

Now they had several dairy cows, and the castle was in the process of learning how to process them. Mary had taken to her role as mistress of the kitchens quite well, mostly supervising several of the women in cooking. Between preparing meals, they were also preparing for winter. They skimmed the milk to churn for butter, and they prepared hard cheeses that would last for months in the cellar.

All in all, things were coming along nicely. After lunch, she taught a little class that used the new scriptures of Void to teach numbers and letters to anyone who wanted to learn. Which was almost everyone. The lessons were so popular that Trent had to work out a shift with her to get help in the field in the afternoon. At this rate, though, everyone would be educated to the level of a merchant's daughter by the end of winter. Bee wasn't sure what that would do for their community, but she was excited to see it.

Her days were satisfying, and she was earning a slow but steady stream of experience. At this rate, it would take her months to level up, but she would do it. And at her level, that was rare without epic beasts to kill.

Despite all that, the absolute best part was before bed when the master would answer its disciples' questions about its thoughts and plans. After hearing her master's plans to build a powerful faith, there were few doubts about its godliness.

She hadn't yet offered to transition anyone over to Devote of Spot yet, but only because her master had cautioned her to wait. At first, she wasn't sure that she had understood correctly. It must have been because Void wanted them to prove themselves more somehow. She was sure that all of the children would have the class offered without her help. How many would choose it was a different question entirely, though.

***

Almost a week passed, and the castle had fallen into a comfortable rhythm, the outside world and its troubles falling away. The little society was coming along nicely, and everyone had found a place. The swarm of little kids running around playing brought a smile to everyone's faces, despite the rough times they had recently.

Bee was happy to see Felix, and Leanne find places as ringleaders among the youngest. The women all fell under Mary as the oldest, and they ran the castle like a household. Only in nonstandard issues or big projects did they ask her opinion. Honestly, Bee felt rather inadequate to be giving advice to the adults, as she was only 13 - almost 14. But she was acting as the mouthpiece of their god, so it was bearable.

Tony and Trent managed the fields. The harvest was done, and they were mostly clearing more for planting the next year. It was backbreaking work, but she didn't mind helping. Sometimes a stone would need to be moved that they couldn't handle, even working together. Instead of getting an ox or one of the cows to help, they called her. She had to admit showing off was a bit of fun as she hefted rocks ten times her weight and carried them off to the side.

They now had quite the pile, and she considered building trebuchets just to have something to do with them.

The twins and Marnada had a little trouble finding their place in this new community. The twins were a little too young. They didn't relish the idea of working in the fields all day, but their pride kept them from learning how to fight with the little children, despite their envious glances. Maranda seemed interested in whatever Bee was doing, at least until Bee noticed her. Then she'd scamper as far away as possible.

Bee made a mental note to ask Void for advice on what to do with them. Maybe they needed to spend some time with their god and get their first levels and class.

Maybe she could get some help with creating all the healing items, she hadn't expected to need so much until Void had asked her to make a lot of her "repair juice." She had complied, and then her master had consumed it. It had baffled her at first, especially since it had no apparent injuries, but the next morning she saw that it was able to spray it out of its front on bruises and scrapes the children had.

As expected of her god, it had improved her recipe, and the wounds healed in minutes instead of the hours her solutions would have normally taken.

The peace of the castle could only last so long through. A week after she had finished writing the first Scripture of the Void, they started to get newcomers. The newcomers all came in different forms and dispositions. Some were undead, and others were scared. They all told the same story of the turmoil that churned outside of the walls of their castle.

It wasn't possible to stay sheltered forever. Void made its opinion on that very clear.