Artie shifted her gaze from Terra to Eliron, her eyebrows creased slightly. "I see your training is every bit as fierce as I’ve heard."
Eliron scoffed. "Like you aren’t training just as hard. I see scorch marks on the mountain whenever we hike up it."
Artie breathed out a sigh. "It’s just a light training exercise..."
He scoffed internally. ’As if!’
She was practically reshaping the mountain with her lightning strikes, there was nothing ’light’ about it.
Artie was not the only one concerned about Eliron’s training thods...
"He’s a nace!" Yen huffed, cutting into the conversation. She was sitting next to Artie so Eliron did not have to redirect his gaze.
"He forces and Tiny to join every day, I almost died one ti!"
"Don’t be dramatic, you only fainted, it’s normal..." Eliron defended himself, a small smile on his face as he rembered that very day.
"You—!" Yen angrily huffed but had no words to challenge him.
"Are you trying to get us over worked to death??"
"h, you’ll live." Eliron replied casually.
"Uhum..." Lazarus cleared his throat, directing all attention to himself.
They had co for an important eting, and if he left the three to their devices, they would chat till midnight.
"So when do you plan to leave for Donia Kingdom?" He asked after taking a sip from his cup."
Eliron shrugged. "Probably a day from now. I’ve almost wrapped up everything I need to do already."
"As long as you all follow my instructions to the letter, there should be no issue..."
The major problem that could happen when Eliron was away was an attack of any sorts.
Although from the story, he was sure that the high elves would not strike soon, what had happened so far was an aberration to the original plot line.
At this point in story, Artaris was already a starving village and was on the brink of extinction, there was no need for the high eleves to further intervene.
But things were different now, which was why he had to be careful.
To make sure Artaris was safe, Eliron had quite a number of things set up.
The trainee knights were one, in the event that rcenaries were sent, thinking that it was the sa old Artaris, they would be utterly decimated by the cadets.
He was leaving Sabrina behind as well, just having her here was reassuring enough, but that was not where it ended...
Tiny, the ice wyvern would serve to guard the village against any monster attack.
And as if that was not enough, Zenith was also working on a machine that she said would make Artaris considerably safer...
If all that failed? Zenith had made a one-way communication system they could use to alert him even as far as Donna kingdom.
In the event that there was sothing not even Tiny or Sabrina could handle, all he had to do was portal himself here using spatial distortion.
"When I get back, we will begin work on reconstructing the entirety of Artaris. I originally planned on building houses like this all over the village, but what we lack is funds to make it happen..." Eliron said.
They had cut a lot of corners when building this house, which made it take far longer than it was actually ant to.
If he wanted to produce houses en mass, then he had to at least get the proper materials.
Lazarus stroked his beard.
"I know you are going to Donia to get so sort of crop, but how exactly are we going to secure funds to build the village?"
"It is simple." Eliron replied sharply.
"We are going to mass cultivate this crop and then sell them to our neighbours over at the Kingsbridge Barony."
"But isn’t the crop unpopular in this region?" Artie asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Marketing sothing people have never seen to them is going to be rather difficult."
She paused for a second before she continued.
"Besides, I can’t say for sure if the barony will be open to a business alliance with us. While they are probably not allies with the high elves, I don’t think they would risk offending them."
Eliron nodded. "You are right, and that is one of the reasons we will be visiting Kingsbridge first. We have to sohow find a way to get the Baron to our side..."
The wood elves had restricted themselves to the forest for centuries, but they were not completely isolated.
Once in a while, a group of elves would be sent to purchase so supplies, like tools and dicine.
The place they often visited was Kingsbridge barony. Because of this, they had so sort of relationship.
But it was nothing worthy of the Baron’s attention, they needed to arrange a eting with him sohow.
"As for the marketing of the crop." Eliron smiled. "Leave that to ..."
He already had a plan he was a thousand percent sure would work.
They continued their discussions until late into the night, polishing their plans, and when they were done, they had dinner.
"By the way, Zenith, how far have you gone with the project?" Eliron asked.
It was hard to count how many rune blocks Zenith had made him make over the past week, yet whenever he asked what she was building, Zenith would be mute.
Now that she was reaching its completion, Eliron couldn’t help but be curious about what it was.
Zenith was sitting beside Yennefer, finishing off a piece of well seasoned grilled at.
She swallowed, a small cocky smile on her face as she spoke.
"I’m done..."
"Hmm?"
"Heh, why do you look surprised?" She asked as she wiped her hands and stood up. "In fact, it’s outside..."
Eliron couldn’t believe his ears, he imdiately shot up to his feet. "Then let’s check it out!"
They all left the living room, following Zenith’s lead, and then they went around Eliron’s house to find out what she was referring to.
It was a large structure covered by a tarp that shielded its entire body from view. All Eliron could tell was that it was, it was taller than him.
Zenith’s smile deepened. "Do try to contain your astonishnt, it will take you ar least century before you can even create an arm on this thing."
Eliron resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
She grabbed the tarp and pulled it off, revealing what stood underneath it.
The machine looked like it had been built for war.
With a humanoid body made of stone, large arms, and a robust body, it could probably stand its ground against deadly monsters without budging.
There were three eyes on its head, and on its chest was a large crystal pulsing with mana, multiple runes etched around it.
"Heh, what is that?" Yennefer asked, tilting her head.
"It looks like a statue of so sort..." Ash muttered as he studied it, walking up close to the contraption. "Elder Zenith, care to explain?"
Eliron on the other hand only had to give it one look to realise what it was.
"A golem??"
Normally, golems were creatures that could be summoned with magic, but Estelle had built an imitation with runecraft alone!
Everyone stared at the machine in awe, and their surprise only increased when the machine began to move from place to place, demonstrating its dexterity.
"This is an automated machine capable of recognizing threats through a learning chanism inbuilt in its code."
"In terms of strength, it can take on more than a dozen goblins alone, it can patrol for eighteen hours before needing to cool down, and recharges using mana in the air."
Eliron had a wide smile on his face as he stared at the machine.
No one needed to tell him how valuable it was...
If they could mass produce it, they could have a guard running for twenty-four hours a day.
Since the golems could learn, they could also secure the route from Artaris to Kingsbridge, assuming they were successful in creating a mutually beneficial alliance...
’A golem protecting a village.’ Eliron mused. Sohow, it oddly sounded familiar.
"You’ve out done yourself this ti Elder Zenith. At least sothing fruitful ca from your monk-like lifestyle." Lazarus said with a smirk.
Zenith smirked proudly. "Better a brilliant monk than a brainless elder don’t you think?"
A win began to pulse on Lazarus’ head as he stared at her.
"Oh, by the way..." Zenith’s eyes lit up. "Does this an I can expect to be excluded from future etings so that I can focus?"
"Absolutely not! You alredy attend the bare minimum as it is."
"Tch!"
By the ti the eting finally ca to a close, Eliron was exhausted from the long day.
He got to his bed and tossed his clothes to the side before jumling atop it, but just as he closed his eyes to sleep...
Ding!
Eliron sighed. "What is it now?" He muttered sleepishly as he slowly opened his eyes, but what he saw made him sit up straight.
"Finally, it’s about damn ti!"
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