Chapter 12: Cornerstones

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I met Seymour at the plaza fountain as planned. He was accompanied by four other players. I addressed the group.

"Hello, I am Ben."

They began to introduce themselves.

"Sarane. Level 21 ranger."

"Jeffroy. Hammer wielder, same level."

"I'm Clay. Level 23. I use the sword but haven't chosen a job yet."

"I am Hammid. Level 19, spear user. No job obiviously."

I nodded. Seymour smiled but had noticed that I had not specified my own information. A few minutes later, two other players came. They were introduced as Sarane's and Clay's friends.

"Mifred. I'm a healer, but I'm only level 10."

"And I am Mathew. Level 23 wandering swordsman."

We exchanged some small talk before I started explaining the quest.

"We would leave here tomorrow early in the morning. Going to the ruins will take ten days. You guys will guard it for the next twenty, then head back to the city. That's where your jobs end."

Seymour spoke up. "What's your part in this project."

"I would be the one in charge of planning, commanding, and cooking."

He nodded. "How many people are going to be there."

"All of you, me, ten wagon drivers, several archers, pikemen, and swordsmen, twenty workers, an architect, at least three other healers, and a cook."

I knew that the size of the caravan was similar to the size of the punitive expedition. However, this time, only half of the force were combatants. On top of that, their levels were lower. I was counting on the presence of Seymour and his companions to even the battlefield by keeping the number of enemies low.

The group seemed to think about it for a bit before accepting. I made them sign a guarding contract that listed all the terms we had agreed on. The eight of us went to the southern gates where a few shopkeepers were waiting for me with supplies. I checked the goods and paid them.

To each of the players, except for Milfred, I assigned them a five man unit. And assigned them a wagon to protect. We hauled the supplies into the wagons. I used four of them to carry building materials, one for cement bags, nails, and tools. Tomorrow, I would fill the remaining wagons with food and workers. Once we had finished, we visited the Bubbling Bar and I bought them all a meal. We chatted while we ate and I added all of them to my friends list.

As the sun appeared from behind the mountains, everyone had already gathered at the southern gate. I separated the soldiers into their assigned unit and had them load the last wagons. While they were doing that, I interviewed the players that had come after reading my notification. Many of them were too high leveled and I had to refuse them. They would steal exp from the rest of us. Some people had just come to watch or talk to me. I had to raise my voice more than once to get myself heard.

In the end, I had found another three archers, three swordsmen, and two healers. I also hired an assistant cook that would work directly under me. I told them what unit they were assigned to and introduced Seymour's group to them.

It took me a whole hour to prepare everything. I told Seymour to led the procession. As he started, his wagon pulled up behind him. It was followed by Jeffroy and the others. Once all of the trailers had left the gates, I hurried down the line and fell into pace with Seymour. I saw that Landell was driving the first wagon. Still remembering the path, we followed it to the tree line, where I had everyone stop for lunch. We made a sandwich of meat and cheese for everyone. As everyone was eating, I gathered the Seymour and his friends, along with the three NPC leaders.

"We will now enter the forest. This will take us at least eight days. It is the most dangerous part of our journey, so keep your eyes and ears open. If you cross an animal, don't hesitate to hunt it. It'll help the food supplies. If you any bandits, be wary. Just because they don't have a leader or a camp, they can still be dangerous individually."

 They all nodded their heads. The three NPCs were practically in awe of me because of my high respect and honor stats. The players were more reserved. I couldn't really blame, I didn't look or act like a normal commander. I continued my lesson.

"This expedition is not to prove your strength or hunting ability. Your job is to bring everyone back to the ruins in one piece. If we do get into a fight, I want all of you to think of the well-being of your men before anything else. No one dies, understand?"

They all nodded their heads again, followed by a few "yes."

We returned to our journey after half an hour. I hopped onto the wagon with the Tom and we discussed my plans for the project until the sun began to set. I gave the command to make camp. The wagons formed a circle and we pitched tents around them. I have Clay's unit first watch, followed by Sarane's unit, and then Hammid's. The assistant cook, whose name I learned to by Lulian, made dinner and took care of the dishes. I woke up an hour before dawn and began to prepare food. While I was kneading the dough, I went over our schedule and see if we were on track. After everyone had breakfast, we got back on the road.

We traveled three more days like this. We only met friendly players that were hunting. On our fourth night, five bandits tried to steal one of our wagons. It was our first attack of our expedition and nobody was expecting it. It was Lulian who had noticed them while she was working and woke up the NPC soldiers. I made a note you give a bonus if he continued to work hard.

On the ninth day, we arrived at the ruins. Players were coming and going from the ruins, looking for anything to loot. When they saw us, they stopped and looked. I climbed onto one of the wagons and addressed them.

"I, Ben Varrand, noble of the Braaen Kingdom, have been full authority over these ruins and this camp. As of now, this site is no longer a dungeon as it is a construction site. Anyone going into the ruins without my permission will be committing a crime against the Braaen Kingdom. Thank you for your attention."

I hoped off and ordered the drivers to move to the platform and for the workers to unload the building materials. I had 3 units stationed at the three entrances. Using everyone else, I had all the food supplies brought to the kitchen. I had Seymour assign everyone a bed. Checking the atrium, I saw that all the building materials had been unloaded and that the livestock were still alive. I had been afraid that they might have been killed by players.

The next day consisted of cleaning up the ruins and explaining to players that they weren't allowed to enter the ruins. Meanwhile, the architect was drawing up plans for the work that needed to be done. He discussed his plans with me during a hearty dinner of grilled lamb. I approved many of ideas and revised others. We decided to start on constructing the buildings beginning tomorrow.

The following morning, the workers were divided into five teams with four workers in each. One was assigned to renovate the stables into a wagon hangar while the rest were assigned to begin building the foundations for a large two-story inn and several smaller stone houses where the bandit camp once stood.

The players who remained watched them as they worked, wondering what this was all about. Some approached a couple workers during their break, asking them what they were doing. The answer was always the same, that they were working on the renovation project under the orders of Sir Ben Varrant."

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