B2: Chapter 1 - My Mistake

“Come on girl, just pull…”
Quiet bucked her head, stamped her foot, and stubbornly refused to move.
I’d spent days now designing and, with some help from Alban, building a cart-like plow that I could have my horse pull to speed up the process of harvesting my fields.
They weren’t quite ready, but after a month of proper irrigation, growth-encouraging fertilizer, and still increasing in quality soil, my planted fields of barley and wheat were finally getting close to their first harvest, not to mention the hops were actively spreading their way up their trellises. And while I could use the Gathering skill from my Alchemist class… Well, let’s just say I had no intention of individually selecting and using the ability on thousands of individual plants.
I’d done a lot of mindless, repetitive tasks over my lives: grinding for experience, training new skills and abilities, breaking the minds of the lesser humanoids that existed in the far reaches of the realm to create the hordes that would be my armies–trust me, it was far more ethical than getting actual people to fight for me–and I even spent one life researching and reading books. Which yes, at a certain point does become mindless when you’re reading about how to differentiate six different types of hellhounds just to make sure you picked the ones that weren’t going to be a problem.
“You know, I have other horses. If you’d like, I can bring one over,” Benjamin said, watching the proceedings from the side next to his brother and my construction foreman, Yurick.
Both Alban and Benjamin had been among the first of the migrants that had been “allowed” to move to Danwood following the place’s secession from the Dawnmere crown. That had surprised me, but given the two brothers had shown up with nearly three dozen people who’d left Gold’s Lodge after another accident collapsed the main tunnel leading into Mount Auger, I could at least understand the catalyst.
The problem was that even though Gwendoline had completed her Sanctum, new Sisters of Dawn had yet to arrive. And with the warpath Frederick had been on, it made quite literally no sense to me that the crown would willingly let people move to a land that was technically owned by the Lord of Dusk.
Apparently though, at least according to Alban, the crown’s representatives did warn them against coming, but since we had a valid Church of Dawn, the system simply wouldn’t reasonably restrict the movement either and forcing people to stay in a kingdom was something only tyrants did and the crown wasn’t so dense as to let the system put that label on them. While I absolutely did not like the implications of any of that… Alban was amazing at what he did and the extra people were quick to throw themselves into Danwood.
I looked from Benjamin, over to the stable, then back to Quiet.
“What’s it gonna be girl, want someone else to come do the job for you?”
She whinnied… stomped her hoof yet again… but then started moving forward. The harness connected to her tightened, and then the cart began to pull, several blades built into it moving automatically with the turning of the wheels.
After moving maybe half a dozen yards, Quiet stopped, then protested against the harness yet again. I groaned, resisted the urge to rub my temples, then shot Yurick a look when the man let out a laugh.
“Yeah, you’re the Lord of Dusk,” Yurick shook his head, walking toward Quiet with a carrot before muttering, “Can’t even get a horse to listen to him.”
“Don’t drop him into shadow… it’s not worth it, Corbin,” I muttered to myself, watching Yurick feed Quiet, then slowly get her to start moving forward to continue testing the device.
“Well, as long as she doesn’t stall in the middle of a line, your cuts should stay pretty clean and it shouldn’t affect the end quality of the product,” Alban explained, marking a few notes on a small handheld notepad. While he had a relatively generic Activated class—Craftsman, and for the record he’d been Activated long before he ever met me so this one absolutely couldn’t have been my fault—the man was good at what he did. “Do you mind if I keep these designs… I know the trade situation is still iffy, but I bet I could sell at least a dozen of them in Hedgely when we get a merchant wagon coming through. I’d offer you a cut of the sales.”
“Hmm, maybe you can just have them… that way when somebody gets their foot cut off, they don’t go blaming me… seems like that wouldn’t take too long…” I said with a frown then thought about it for a moment.
The designs in question were something I’d drawn up based on a few pieces of… well… anti-siege gear that I’d designed and used in the past. I’d just happened to add some wheels to them. It was Alban who had pointed out that the blades needed an automatic way to move and rigged up a system attached to the rotating wheels. As long as the cart was actively moving, I’d have a much easier job harvesting my barley and wheat.
Harvesting the hops might have been their own challenge, but with the influx of people, there were more than enough people eager to work.
“Go ahead and unstrap her Yurick… we can work on it slowly with her. There’s still another week until we’re ready to harvest anyway,” I called over. He gave me a thumbs up and then got to work. I held a hand out toward Alban. “Thanks again for helping out with this. It’s gonna cut my staffing needs down a good amount.”
“No problem at all. You’re sure about the blueprints?” he asked, shaking my hand with a brow raised and I nodded.
“I’d advise tinkering with them a bit more, like I said, it’s still a big hazard as it is… but yeah, I’m sure. Call it a bonus for all the help you’re gonna give me when this first one breaks down or when I come up with another dumb idea,” I said, causing Benjamin to laugh.
“If that’s a dumb idea, I’m terrified of what a smart idea is to you,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m gonna go check in on the workshop, Alban. Daniel said they should have it finished here by the end of the day.”
“Really? Stars, I’m coming with then,” Alban said, giving me a nod then following his brother off. For the two of them being slightly on the older side, they both had an odd pep in their step and just like that I found myself alone.
I turned away from the field empty of all but a handful of stumps, and just a few trees and crossed the road, heading back over toward my cabin and the actual prepared side of my land. I’d only made it about half way up to my cabin when the sound of a small commotion drew my eyes toward a few people laughing and walking up the stairs into Quiet’s Hearth.
Danwood, a place that had once had just nine homes in it, now had thirty of them, and five more were in construction. Tents were still littering the area, with all of the rooms in Quiet’s Hearth constantly in use. That was a good thing for me of course, I’d spent all but a few thousand of my gold to purchase the territory that had now been called Neverdusk… something the Council refused to let me rename.
Okay, sure… I had the interface and I could just do it if I wanted to. But, as Daniel put it, if I couldn’t follow their vote over something as simple as a name, how could they trust me over bigger things.
I personally thought that was probably not the best litmus test just because… well, it was easier to make snap decisions over bigger, more panic-inducing events than over something as dumb as a name but nobody asked me my thoughts on the matter.
“You’ve got that look again… what’s annoying you this time?”
“Neverdusk is a dumb name,” I said without looking down. I’d noticed her walking up the moment I had turned around and assumed it was probably something about the inn… or the expansion that she was lobbying for for more room…
“There is a funny sort of irony to it though,” Willow giggled, coming to a stop next to me and turning around to take in the town.
“Ah yes, irony. My favorite,” I said and I could see her suppress a laugh from the corner of my eye. “Everything okay?”
Willow had, for the most part, finally started to go back to her normal self around me, which was oddly comforting to me even with how little boundaries she seemed to have. Maybe that was because I hadn’t had a reason to make any dumb decisions recently, but all the same, there was something nice about not feeling that weird electric edge from her whenever we were talking… like she was worried I was going to vanish again.
“No the inn is stuffed and you still haven’t approved the expansion,” she huffed out and I rolled my eyes.
“We don’t need a thirty room expansion. Once everyone’s homes get built, the eight we already have will be more than enough.”
“It was only a twenty room expansion.”
“My mistake,” I said, holding my hands up defensively. She laughed. “Who’s watching the tavern?”
“Lana is there. She’s getting things ready to start with dinner,” she said, a bit of a mischievous smile coming over her face as she looked over at me. “And guess what…”
“No…”
“She…”
“Don’t say it…”
“She Activated! Chef class. That makes what… seven since you got here?”
“It’s random based on circumstance! They’re doing stuff over and over, experimenting with stuff, and finding joy in what they’re doing,” I said. We’d had this conversation almost every time she’d come by to let me know of the newest Activated in town and at this point I was more than convinced that something was going on. “And Lana makes six. Alban’s been Activated for a decade, I had absolutely nothing to do with that.”
I crossed my arms with a bit more of a huff than maybe was necessary. I know it was ridiculous, but I’d never caused a mass of people to Activate before and as far as my research had gone, people couldn’t have hidden traits. Sure, they could have Natural Traits that worked even without being Activated, don’t ask me how because I have literally no idea, but there weren’t hidden ones. No matter how suspicious it looked that it all started to happen the moment I got to town, I refused to believe it had anything to do with me.
Willow was staring at me like I was an idiot. Or… I looked over at her again and groaned, noticing what I’d missed.
[Willow Danwood, Level 1 Hearthwarden]
“If it makes you feel better, I don’t think you’re the reason it’s happening anymore,” she said with an impossibly toothy grin. “I am.”