28 Receiving Reports

Alaric ended his night after meditating and thinking out the day ahead. Now, he had finally woken up. He had already been preparing for the day, a light leather armor worn beneath his usual clothes. Mulder had given these to him as an offering the day before, it was an adjustable set of armor that most hunters in Ryder Village wore.

'It's thick, the leather isn't normal, probably made from a rank-2 magical beast's leather.'

A rank-1 awakener would be a bit hard-pressed to break through this armor, but when facing an opponent of the peak rank-1 or rank-2, it'd only provide some temporary relief. It may be able to protect someone from the attacks of a rank-3 monster once or twice.

This information had Alaric reorganize his thoughts on the power of Ryder Village. The only hunter who had come to Ooze Village from Ryder was Mike. The others remained, and would eventually become Alaric's opponents.

'I bet the Ryder family has equipment of even greater value... this may be what makes them unafraid when faced with someone like Wurst.' Alaric speculated.

Actually, in Forger Village, they didn't have any armor of much value. Only some cheaper sets were bought from the merchant caravan, so Alaric hadn't really considered the enemy's equipment until now. He subconsciously pushed it aside.

Later, he would invest in his own village's equipment. For now, he had to hear the reports of Mulder and Piko before feeding the now split slimes. And then, he could finally set out in search of Sonic.

"I have to get it all done today! Tomorrow is the day I begin my conquest." Alaric said aloud, attempting to reaffirm his goals.

Alaric quickly exited the house, under the protection of the new leather armor beneath his baggy clothes. As soon as he left, he was met with the sight of 2 sleighs, carrying a stack of lumber. At the front of the sleighs, were 4 of the stronger men in the village, 2 pulling each one.

'Probably the work of Mulder, wouldn't put it past a man of his passion to get to woodworking immediately. Still, Piko is definitely the one who managed the securing of materials. I'll praise them both later.'

Alaric left in the direction of the plot of land he lent Mulder to build his forge. There, he saw that the 5 men he put under Mulder were hard at work, stacking stones in an orderly fashion, keeping them together with some sort of paste, as Mulder criticized and polished their work.

Interrupting Mulder's shouting, Alaric said, "Mulder! I noticed the sleighs, thank you for the hard work."

"Ah, Chief! Yes, that Piko lad suggested that we use the first bit of lumber to create some, it has definitely helped secure the materials I need for my forge! These 5 helped too!" Mulder laughed, heartily. He seemed to laugh at even the slightest compliment or commendation.

'I guess... he just likes attention for his work?'

Alaric turned to look at the 5 people working as usual, they looked back at him, so he smiled and nodded.

"Yes, they seem to be quite the hard workers. I didn't exactly try to motivate anyone though, why do all the villagers seem to be working so hard?"

Mulder seemed confused at the question, as if it was obvious, "Because you claim that you shall overthrow the Ryders soon! That's as much motivation as all of us need. Even the older women have gone out in search of edible plants and mushrooms."

The 5 working men whistled as he said that, affirming Mulder's claims.

'I see. If just this is enough for their loyalty... then destroying the Ryder family is of even more importance. Slimes can't help with manual labor as of now, I need people.'

Alaric turned around, indicating he would leave, but also said, "Well, keep up the good work. I have to go talk to go receive a report from Piko now."

He'd heard and seen what he needed from Mulder, the progress on the forge was impressive for just one night. The foundation was laid out, and they had begun working on its framing. Mulder and the 5 men simply waved him off.

Soon, he found Piko in front of the village warehouse, which was especially near the cold storage, a bit further away from the village center than most other buildings.

There, a group of women was organizing crates, and some stronger men had been moving the sleighs of lumber inside.

"Piko, you seem to have done a great job of organizing everyone. Anything to report?"

Piko perked up, a bit startled as Alaric spoke without entering view. Alaric found Piko to be an interesting character, he stuttered quite a bit as he spoke, and his orange hair constantly seemed to be in a mess.

"Yes... yes! We have acquired a good bit of lumber, 3 cords worth in fact! This will help us during the winter, for holding bonfires and cooking... uh... whatever Natali wants to cook! It also supports his building. By his, I mean Mulder! As you can see, we've also filled up a crate or two with mushrooms and fruits. The fruits will last a day or 2... oh! And, Natali said that she wants the mushrooms left in the cold storage!"

Alaric basically ignored the word salad, expecting it from the young man, and asked for him to repeat it a bit more slowly. Afterward, he took his leave. Everything was doing well, and Piko soaked up Alaric's praise like a sponge, getting more fired up as he said even the smallest of compliments.

"Now, I just need to get those corpses out of the cold storage without arousing the villagers' hate. I believe that there is something of a body bag in Wurst's old house. He brought it out on every mission, just in case."

It wouldn't be especially inconspicuous, but it was better than nothing.

'Maybe I should clear out his house too... I left it prohibited from the other villagers for now, but I'm sure it'd relieve some of the stress of sharing homes with each other.'