Day 18 Evening - Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable

“This turned out better than I expected,” I mumbled to myself while I used a borrowed silver fork to pick a piece of meat out from the stew, and then I carefully placed it onto my borrowed porcelain plate.

“Mmm. Mmm.” Smaragd fervently nodded, her mouth too full to talk. Back when we were cooking, Little Flame was sitting on Liselotte’s shoulders, but by this point he returned to Smaragd’s head and was frantically trying to hold onto his swaying perch.

“I-It’s not up to the standards of Lord Raznok’s estate… b-but I think it’s… um… adequate?”

I finished up my plate and exhaled a long, satisfied breath. The four of us sitting in the hut around the flickering flame and eating a simple stew reminded me of some of the field trips Old Me had to attend at school. Of course, Old Me was not the type who'd sit around the campfire and sing songs with the others, so I should rather say the situation reminded me of what camping was supposed to be. It had a relaxed, cozy atmosphere I liked a lot.

Smaragd asked for seconds and Liselotte scooped out some for her using a borrowed silver ladle. She was motherly, or rather, she looked like a caring big sister helping out her younger sibling. I waited for her to finish and put the borrowed lid onto the borrowed pot, after which I inhaled sharply. It was quiet enough in the hut that it drew everyone’s attention, though Smaragd only glanced up while still stuffing her face with meat.

“All right. Now that we're well fed and comfortable, let’s talk about the future.”

“Oh? Are you a diviner too?” Liselotte asked with a serious expression.

“Erm… No, I didn’t mean that literally. I wanted to talk about my future plans, and what role you may or may not play in them.”

The reactions were as follows: Liselotte only looked at me attentively, Eriza audibly gulped, and Smaragd… well, she just continued eating like she didn’t have a care in the world.

“Y-You mean… those plans?” Eriza inquired with a tentative voice on the verge of being just a whisper.

“Oh right, you probably have already heard the rough outlines from Razzie. Still, there are a lot of small details we need to discuss. First off, I want you to look at this.”

I reached into the backpack and took out a scroll I've prepared beforehand. I unfolded the parchment and laid it out before me.

“What… is this?” Eriza asked while squinting. I figured it was too dark, so I increased the intensity of the fireball under the tripod, and a few seconds later I could see her eyes open in recognition. “It’s a map of the dungeon floor.”

“Correct,” I told her with an approving smile.

“What’s a map?” Smaragd asked while she was craning her neck to take a better look.

“A map is a drawing of how a place looks from up above,” I told clumsily her and cleared my throat before she could interrupt me with another question. “I made this during one of our breaks on the way here. This is the labyrinth, Razzie’s mansion is over here, and this is where we are right now.”

Liselotte looked over the parchment with awe in her eyes.

“Is this map accurate?”

“Mostly. I was drawing it in a hurry, but the scales and the general outlines of the area and the rivers should be accurate.”

“Fascinating. A map like this would sell for a good amount of Crowns in Askala.”

As far as I've gathered, Askala was her hometown, and Crowns were the largest denomination of coins used in the Kingdom above. One Crown was a hundred Scepters, and each Scepter was a hundred Mantles, each named after the corresponding royal treasure depicted on their back. Also, Crowns were made of gold while Scepters and Mantles were made of silver. In other words, apparently a good map was quite valuable. It was a good thing to remember for later.

“I can make better ones, but for our purposes this is enough. Now, for the actual topic we need to discuss. Smaragd?” My familiar perked up at the sound of her name and looked at me expectantly. “Currently we have about a hundred a ninety inhabitants in the village, excluding us. I've already taken the liberty of disabling the spawning points, so for the time being there will be no more goblins created from thin air. That means that, considering that there are about eight hundred goblins on the first floor in total, we already have nearly a fourth of the entire population.”

“No more gobbis?” Smaragd asked with an alarmed expression. I smiled at her to reassure her.

“For the time being. You see, I want you, as the chief, to send messengers to the other goblin tribes. I'll show you on the map where you can find them. Once you contact them, I want you to get them to come here and join the village. All of them.”

“But Mafter!” Smaragd exclaimed with wide open eyes. “That is a lot of goblins, and the village only has…” She paused for a moment and began to count on her fingers, but then she shook her head and exclaimed. “Too many goblins, too few huts!”

“I know,” I told while I patted her head reassuringly. “For now I just need you to round them all up. Once they're here, we're going to move on to the second part of my plan: We're going to build a new village, here.” I pointed at a spot on the map and the others all leaned closer to see. “This area is comparatively flatter than the surroundings. It also has a river nearby that can provide drinking water until I set up the fountains, and later, I plan on using it for a sawmill.” I paused and glanced at Liselotte. “Do you have waterwheels?”

“Yes,” she nodded immediately. “Are they uncommon where you came from?”

“Outdated would be the better word. Still, if the technology exists, it would help. I'm planning to do a lot of construction work, and I don’t think we can import already cut wood from above.”

“You want to establish trade relations?”

“Eventually,” I answered with a smile I hoped was quite mysterious. “But first, we need to gather the goblin tribes, then build the new village here.”

“E-Excuse me?” Eriza raised a trembling hand, and I nodded towards her to let her speak. “A-Are these the exits of the labyrinth?” She asked while pointing at the crosses I drew on the border of the labyrinth section of the map.

“Indeed. I didn’t want to draw in all the passages, so I only marked the exits and the portal in the middle.”

“Y-Yes, I understand, I was in n-no way faulting your map, it is a very great map, but… Uuu… Isn’t the site of the new village a little, um, too close to these exits?” Saying so, she pointed at two crosses, one of them only a couple of hundred meters away from the border of my planned settlement. “Wouldn’t it… um… Wouldn’t this make it hard to defend it?”

“Defend it from what?” I asked back by reflex before I cleared my throat and shook my head. “No, actually, it's one of the reasons why I picked this location. I want adventurers to be able to find our village as soon as they exit the labyrinth.”

“B-But isn’t that too risky?”

“What is risky about it? We can’t have them stay in our inns and use our services if they can’t find us.” Eriza blinked at me like I just said something strange, so I took the opportunity to elaborate. “Let me outline my economic plan. Please point out if I'm mistaken, but this is how I see things: The dungeon is full of valuable resources. Adventurers come down to gather them, but it is dangerous, they require a lot of supplies, and thus they cannot spend a lot of time underground to do their job. As such, I'm planning to create a safe zone on the floor, where they can rest, resupply and generally just spend their money to kickstart our own economy.”

There was, of course, a detail I didn’t mention to them: If I were to provide beds, food and other services on the first floor, it would cause even high-level adventurers to stop by and take a break, earning me way more Lux than if they immediately proceeded to the lower floors.

“Ambitious,” Liselotte stated with a difficult expression.

“I wouldn’t call it that. More like, common sense? At least from where I came from.”

“I do wonder where such place is,” Liselotte muttered, but for the time being I disregarded her and instead I continued with my explanation.

“My plan can be broken down into three phases. If I had to sum up Phase One in one word, it would be ‘Infrastructure’. It's about creating the foundation of the settlement and our future business. The layout of the village should look something like this.”

Saying so, I took out another parchment and a narrated my explanation out loud while I was sketching.

“First off, there'll be the main road leading towards the labyrinth, and then a second road intersecting it at a right angle over here. The point where the two roads meet will be the center of the new village. There'll be a square there with a fountain that will provide everyone with fresh drinking water.” I fell silent for a few seconds as I drew a grid pattern around the center of the blueprints. “These will be the streets of the village, with the buildings on both sides. For the time being they will be huts, but later I will plan on replacing them with proper wooden houses. That’s where the goblins will live. As for the outskirts, we don't need walls, but we'll still have to clear the land in preparation of future expansion. But returning to the square: On the four sides of it we are going to have a village hall for the administrative heart of the settlement, an inn for the adventurers to stay at, a tavern where they can buy supplies and accept quests, and finally a school for the goblins. Any questions so far?”

“Yes!” Eriza exclaimed, letting out whatever pent up emotion was weighing on her all this time, but then she immediately shrunk back and muttered, “I-I-I mean, I do not wish to question your wisdom, but… erm… I mean…”

“What do you mean by ‘quests’?” Liselotte interrupted the mumbling girl with an earnest question.

“I'm glad you asked. You see, when you think of adventurers, you think of quests, right? My plan is to create a commission system that can be used by anyone to post public requests for the adventurers staying here. At first I'll probably have to put up a few quests myself, such as hunting down a certain number of local predators or recovering certain materials in exchange of goods or money, but I hope it'll catch on. It'll give the adventurers things to do while down here while also stimulating the local economy.”

Needless to say, once again my hidden agenda was about giving adventurers more things to do in order to keep them on the floor even longer. Such as, ‘Bring me a hundred baboon butts for a reward!’. It will be busywork, but as long as I get more Lux out of their stay than it costs to respawn the monsters, I will benefit.

“And what about the 'school'?” came the question, this time from Smaragd.

“It’s a school.” I gave the obvious answer.

“I think she meant to ask about what you are going to be teaching? Fighting arts? Hunting?” Liselotte spoke up to help out my fumbling familiar.

“No, just school stuff. Writing, mathematics, history, basic things like that.”

“You… wish to educate the goblins?”

“Of course. I'll probably have to hire teachers for the specifics, but I'll have to try and teach them at least basic arithmetic and geometry. I also plan to introduce a new writing system, because what you guys use right now su… khm… it's inefficient.”

“So you wish to give general education to all goblins? For free?” Liselotte asked again, and based on her expression I couldn’t tell of she was confused or awed.

“Yes, of course it’s free. Is that strange?”

Liselotte twitched, as if I just woke her from a daydream, and she nodded.

“Yes. Such education is usually reserved for nobility. Is that not the case whence you came from?”

“I guess it used to be, but that was a long time ago. Education is not only free for everyone, it’s also mandatory.”

“Absolutely fascinating,” Liselotte spoke with shining eyes. “I really wish to see this place you hail from.”

“I… I don’t think it’s possible,” I muttered while I was looking for a not-too-lame excuse. “It’s quite far away. In fact, I don’t even know how far away are we talking about, as I was teleported here.”

“E-Excuse me?” Eriza spoke up again, finally overcoming whatever made her all swirly-eyed a minute ago. “Ma-May I address the big, glaring flaw of this plan?”

“There was one?” I involuntarily frowned, which made her visibly shudder. For a second she looked like she was about to cry, so I hastily turned it into a smile. “Now, now. Please tell me if you noticed a problem.”

She glanced over at the others in the room like she was looking for support, and at last she audibly gulped and leaned forward to speak.

“Y-You see… I was just, um… wondering that… Would hirelings really stay in a village full of goblins?”

“Oh, that?” I paused for a long seconds before I once again put on the mysterious smile I have been practicing all night in front of the mirror at Razzie’s place. “No need to worry about that. Just wait and see.”

“O-Okay,” Eriza mumbled while she shrunk back and tried to disappear.

“What is Phase Two?” Liselotte inquired next, so I turned to her.

“I’m glad you asked. If Phase One is ‘Infrastructure’, Phase Two is ‘Production’, specifically the production of food and tradable goods. I'm going to be relying on Eriza on that one.” The girl in question let out a soft ‘Eep!’ like I just threw a stone at her, which made me raise a brow in bafflement, but then I shook my head and continued. “Anyways, for food, I was planning on domesticating the giant rats first, and then look into the edible plants in the area. For trade goods, my primary targets are rare herbs and other potion-ingredients, then potions themselves. I also want to look into mass-producing spider-silk, but that is a long-term goal.”

“Oh, oh?” Smaragd raised a hand like a taught her, so I nodded towards her. “Phase Three! What is Phase Three?!” She exclaimed in an excited voice that took me aback for a moment.

“Phase Three is…” I was tempted to just shrug my shoulder and say ‘profit’, but I shook off the urge and continued, “It’s ‘Expansion.’”

“E-Expansion into what?” Eriza squeaked while she leaned forward like a turtle that only poked her head out of her shell for a moment, ready to retreat at a moment’s notice. “An empire?”

I gave her a flat look that, unsurprisingly, made her retreat back into her metaphorical shell.

“That would be silly. I plan to expand the village.”

“Into a town?”

“Eventually.”

“More gobbis?” Smaragd asked with a pleased expression that I didn’t want to spoil, but had to.

“No, more humans. I plan to create a town where humans would settle down. Workers, merchants, craftsmen, adventurers and all their families.”

“I see,” Liselotte had a serious expression on her face as she nodded. “You've thought this through.”

I have, but to be perfectly honest, I was mostly just throwing whatever I could remember from the history classes about urban development at the wall to see how much of it would stick. The layout of the village in particular was modeled after the picture of an ancient Roman town we had in our history textbook. Unfortunately, even with my recently sharpened mind and memory, I couldn’t remember it all, and even if I could, I only had a high-school level education. That might've been pretty decent around here, based on what Liselotte said, but I was not well-versed enough in economics or city-planning to be sure my plans weren’t an impossibly jumbled mess of misconceptions. It was all I had though, so I decided to press forwards, sink or swim.

“What about a temple?” Liselotte raised a question I wasn’t expecting.

“What about it?”

“Are you not going to raise a temple to your god?”

“Erm…”

For a few seconds, all I could do was to forcibly still my face to hide my confusion. Sure, I've heard from Razzie that gods were actual, real entities in this word, but I never really thought about them before. I mean, can you even call someone a ‘god’ if they are a living, flesh-and-blood person in your world? Wouldn’t that just make them a really powerful wizard or humanoid creature in this context? And on the same note, what does god need with a temple? Does a god need prayer?

Seriously, these are important questions I couldn’t easily overlook, especially since I knew so little of the workings of this world. At last I cleared my throat and answered, “Not for the time being, no. I'm unfamiliar with the local gods, so until I've got to know them, I don't plan to raise any temples.”

“I understand.”

“So, moving on with the roles. I'm obviously going to be the director. I can lay out the design of the village and provide the raw materials for the buildings, but I don't have any experience in construction work. This part will fall on you, Smaragd.”

“Hm?” My familiar looked at me with surprised eyes when she heard her name and then pointed at herself with a skeptical look in her eyes.

“Yes, of course I mean you. You're the chief of the goblins, and they follow your orders. You already have some knowledge of building huts too, and that’s already more than I have. Later on I plan to invite actual carpenters and masons, but for the time being, we'll work with what we got.” I paused and the turned to Eriza. “As for you, while on the long run I want you to help with the gathering and cultivation of herbs, right now I'll need you to help in the design and furnishing of the inn and tavern. For Phase One, those are going to be the main draws of the village, so I need them to be familiar and comfortable enough for the adventurers so that they would want to use them. As for you…” I glanced at Liselotte and I involuntarily frowned. While she was helpful and easy to talk to, she wasn’t obliged to help me like Smaragd or Eriza was. I was just about to come up with a way to ask her what she wanted to do when she spoke up before me.

“While my healing magic is not as potent as yours, I believe I can still help with strains and injuries during construction. I can also heal any future guests, and once the school opens, I can teach writing and simple arithmetic. Aside from that, I'm willing to do anything you ask.”

“I'm… happy to hear that?” I was a little taken aback by her earnest sales-pitch, but after a few seconds I gave her a nod. “Honestly, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to leave, but I see you are eager to help.”

“Naturally,” she told me, and her tone really made is sound like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “So long as you're willing to let me, I wish to follow you and help you with your plans.”

“I'm…” I wanted to say ‘flattered’, but then I got a new pop-up panel and at the same time Liselotte swayed and had to put down her hand to steady herself.

“I… I’m sorry, I suddenly felt a little nauseous,” she apologized while wiping her forehead.

“Mafter! Lotte is sick!” said Smaragd as she sidled up to her side and propped her up.

“No, I think this was my fault, so to speak,” I told them sincerely as I looked at the pop-up panel.

The fae [Liselotte Truant] became your [ally].

You have received Enlightenment! The skill-proficiency of Leadership has risen by 1 stage. You now possess Leadership Lv3.

Leadership Lv3 (Passive): Increases the owner’s ability to lead and coordinate with others. Grants a small increase in Body and Mind for the owner’s allies.

Lv2 Bonus: Grants the owner the skill Supreme Command Lv1. Also grants a small increase in Insight for the owner’s allies.

Lv3 Bonus: Further increases the owner’s personal magnetism and ability to lead others. Allies under the effect of the skill work better together and gain additional Body and Mind modifiers depending on the number of other allies present.

Name: Liselotte Truan  Level: 9 Experience: 481

Classification: Humanoid  Race: Fae

Health: 40/70 Stamina: 85/165  Mana: 19/80

Body: Low(Mid)+  Mind: Low(High)+ Insight: Low(High)

Skills:

*Healing Magic Lv1

Traits:

*Fast Recovery Lv1

Yep, it’s the same old routine. Apparently, once she professed that she wanted to follow me, the System recognized her as my ‘ally’ and applied the Leadership boosts on her. Speaking of which, I got another level out of that one, but the description was so vague I couldn’t be sure what it was doing. It added a plus-sign to her attributes, but I had no idea what that meant. Also, what exactly did "depending on the number of other allies present"? Would it give her a more visible boost if we had greater numbers? Like an army? It made some sense, but since I didn’t plan to lead any campaigns any time soon, I promptly ignored it and extended my hand to cast a healing spell.

“Thank you,” Liselotte thanked me after letting out a short breath.

“No, it was my fault to begin with.”

“W-Was it the food?” Eriza spoke tentatively, though I couldn’t help but hear a tinge of ‘I told you to let me cook!’ in her voice.

“No, it was the System.”

“The System?” Liselotte repeated after me uncertainly.

“Yes. I have an ability that grants a boost so you, erm… I call them 'attributes', but think of them as strength or wits. They are the representation of your capabilities. The point is, it's only granted to those the System recognizes as my ‘allies’.”

“Is Smaragd Mafter’s ally?” my familiar asked over her shoulder while she was busy patting Liselotte’s back.

“Of course. You've been since the beginning.”

“Yay!”

“A-And what about me?” This time the question came from Eriza. “I-I never really had and, um, experience like that.”

“Naturally, since you're not my ally.”

“I’m not?”

“Of course not. You are following Razzie, don’t you.”

“T-That’s right!” She affirmed with repeated nods. “So I am protected by my devotion to Lord Raznok.”

“Protected might be the wrong word.”

As I muttered, Liselotte finally regained her balance and looked at me with wondering eyes.

“It felt like a surge, but it was more… powerful.”

“Well, you didn’t gain a level, but your attributes got boosted more than what you'd get from your average leve-up, so it’s not surprising.”

“Levels?”

I took a deep breath and gestured for the others to listen closely.

“All right, since we are all in the same boat now, I might as well explain what I know of The System.”

“What’s the System?” Smaragd asked as if on cue, prompting me to take a big breath and begin my explanation that would somehow take longer than explaining my grandiose plans for the future and would keep us awake until morning…