Before I begin

So, there was a little internal debate on where to bring this story. I could have however many people come over from the other side of the Gate, close it, and go back to it being 'not Kodori's problem'. I could have them do a few more little things, maybe tweak a few more noses, solve the general 'Gate' story line, THEN step back close the Gate and move on.

Or I could go a giant step further... And maybe get into the second 'series' of Gate, with all the naval stuff and the portal opening up in the ocean someplace.

I'm not telling you where, or how far I'm taking it. You'll just have to see.

And by the way, this is why I have my discord server. It's not the most active thing ever, but I do bounce ideas around, publicly, and hold 'live' votes' from time to time. Just saying. :) Also, there's a vote on RIGHT NOW (November 25 to... December 5 maybe?) about how successful the refugee mission is.

Anyhow. There was about two weeks before the Gate re-opens. More or less...

Chapter 77

One of the things I tried to avoid doing in my day to day interactions in Orario, was use my influence. Now, this isn't to be confused with leveraging my status while making big deals. The train, working the rumour mill, setting up a massive refugee camp for people from another world... That I would happily, and liberally, use my status for. I, and the Alliance, had worked really hard for that kind of pull.

What I mean by 'day to day' though, is using that influence on the little things in life. I wouldn't go shopping for vegetables and ask for a discount. I wouldn't skip ahead in a lineup. I wouldn't take our high class rare loot and sell it myself.

Oh, I'd carry it, take it out of the bag, and put it on the counter top for the Goibniu's appraiser to examine. But I would quite firmly not involve myself in the negotiation on price.

The Alliance and I had built trust with the city, and we would rely on that trust to (hopefully) get a fair price. If any bartering was done, if would be done by the 'house expert'. In this case? It was Welf. Weapon grade drop, meant the weapons guy was dealing with it.

And while I was there, I wasn't at the bartering table, standing behind him like a thug and making sure a good price was offered. Nope.

"Aunty Kodori!" I was visiting Stonebelter. "nrrrrr."

I didn't care that he was covered in dust from some project of his, or that he was now getting that dust all over me while he hugged me. No, I only cared about exactly how to pat his head. "Hello Stonebelter." I said, giving the most precious cat-boi headpats, "Another wonderful project I see."

Today's project looked to be a scarab beetle. About the size of my palm, it was made of green stone. Not jade, but maybe Aventurine (related to Feldspar). The details were done, and he only had some polishing left to do. The mirror shine made it look like green opal or something.

He clung to me long enough for one more face nuzzle into my shoulder, before switching right back to 'business' mode and backing up. He sat back down and he spoke very quietly, "It's for Lord Ihy..." He mumbled, the gentle motions of the polishing paper in his hand almost drowning out his voice.

And just like that, I slipped out of his mind as he went back to work. I didn't think it was rude, just how he was. So instead I stepped back slowly, moved out of his peripheral vision, and went to talk to Goibniu.

"Have the tools ready?" I asked him quietly, watching Stonebelter work.

"Most of them have been delivered to the work site at the river delta." He mumbled back, "Made of nothing but good civilian steel." He added, since almost everyone who would be using these tools would be 'average human' strength. "Just how many people are you expecting anyhow?"

Since he wasn't part of 'the plan' past providing tools and maybe later, workers, I hadn't given him numbers. Just 'lots' or 'a bunch'. But now, two weeks away from what I was hoping would be a successful migration, I figured it would be time to maybe do that.

"At the very least, ten thousand." I said quietly.

I then broke 'common Orario etiquette', and put my hand over Goibniu's mouth. Unless it was your own God, and in some cases not even then, you never touched another God. But instead of glaring at me, or even looking grumpy, Goibniu recovered from his wide eyed surprise and I removed my hand. "The number of tools you wanted makes sense now." We both looked to Stonebelter, who hadn't even noticed the near outburst and we sighed in relief.

"I was very surprised too. One of the Gods there didn't even bat an eye when her most devout followers needed her, then laughed in their emissary's face when asked why. So, every Dark Elf on the continent is leaving."

I thought I might have to cover his mouth again, but he just stroked his beard in thought. "That's a big number, even before anyone else you might bring."

"It may take years, but I don't expect the first settlement to be a permanent home for everyone. Communities will form, they will split and seek familiar territories for themselves, and that town will end up as a kind of miniature Orario." I predicted, "Once some of them become adventurers, they'll take parts of their people away to found other towns, set them up, then start to expand from there."

"Well... You know where to find me if you need more tools. Our rookies appreciate the practice." He said, and for the first time since I'd known him, he gave my shoulder a pat. Then he was right back to looking grumpy, and he finished with a (still quiet) "Now get out of here so the rest of us can work."

"What's on your mind sister?" Welf asked as we walked between the Goibniu workshops and the Guild hall. "That can't be heavy for you?"

I was also wearing one of Lilly's spare packs, and it looked to be one stiff breeze from bursting at the seams with how full it was.

"Nah." I said, "Just thinking. What we get for the wood?"

"Well, we covered a big part of the debt between us and the Goibniu Familia. Someone is going to really like what ever is made from that, lemme tell you!" He scratched his chin, "Say, why don't you ever sell what you make?"

"Mostly because our Alliance goes through armour like paper?" They didn't, but Welf, Maki and I did a LOT of repair work.

"Tell me about it! But seriously, I mean, you heard what the Crazy Rabbit was offered for the one gauntlet you made? A few big sales like that from the two of us..." Welf chuckled.

"Maybe because my name is too big?" I ventured, "I make stuff for our Alliance, because they need it. And with all the training we do, and how serious we all are about 'coming home at the end of the day', I trust all of us to be responsible." I sighed, "Did Lilly ever tell you she had a Magic Sword stolen from her?"

"Eh? Seriously? Not one of mine, right?"

"No. It was before she left Soma Familia. She had it for emergencies, just like we do. But she was beaten up for it. Well, the one who took it was found in little bits later, the hilt of the Magic Sword nearby, and evidence it was used to the breaking point all around him." I explained, "All it took was one monster that was immune to the magic in the blade, and that was it."

"Overconfident. Yeah." Welf nodded.

"That's why I don't sell armour. I almost know someone is going to take their nice bit of new Demon Smith equipment into the dungeon, and get crushed by something because they thought it would make them invincible."

"Yeah... It's a little different from the Bracers we gave out huh? I mean, it was a prototype, given to low level rookies, who were already super cautious... Oh, and it was just a bracer. Only Amazon are crazy enough to rely on just that." He laughed. "Okay yeah I get it. But our debt is not a small thing you know."

I sighed, "I know."

"Hey! Come on! Even I think your work is great stuff! No one would sell anything to anyone if they had that attitude!" He perked up, "Oh! Why not do what I did?"

I looked at him, wondered what the hell he was talking about, then had a brief image of a slightly younger looking Welf interpose itself over his current day face. "Not a bad idea." I adjusted the massive pack on my shoulders, "After we offload this."

"All right!" He grinned.

I waited in line like everyone else for the exchange counter. Welf, not needing to stay in line with me, instead moved around the grand Lobby of the tower and... I dunno. Welf could do what ever he wanted now that his job as 'expert' was done for the day. It wouldn't have surprised me if he'd gone to see Hephaestus. I was honestly still surprised that their relationship was still a rumour. Then again, Hephaestus didn't wear lipstick.

Of course, once I did get into the line, no one was going to stand behind me. Thankfully there were two other lines you could get into for the exchange.

"Ah, Lady Kodori." The Guild employee greeted me, "A successful trip I see." He, like all his fellow employees, was in the nice smoke black uniform with its little bow tie. His eyes followed me as I lowered the giant pack down (carefully!) and started to undo the flap holding in all the stuff.

"We spent a few days down there and came back exhausted." I said, "Found a few lucky encounters, a nest or two, and... bah, I won't bore you with the little details." Laying on top of the magic stone in the pack, were some commissions from the job board.

"Stack of Orc hide..." paper was stamped, placed on top of the hide, and taken away by a waiting employee behind the desk. "Two Al-Miraj pelts." This one too, though the lady who took it brushed some of the super soft fur over her face when she thought no one was looking. "Antler from a Dungeon Stag." The commission called for one, but we'd gotten two. It made incredible weapon hilts.

It was about here where I was starting to get the attention from others in the other lineups. To be fair, I was also carrying stuff the Oni had brought back for their own commission work.

"Scraps of Spartoi armour." The guy at the desk was also attracting 'backup' from the Guild staff, a few more of them appearing to help take stuff away, "Two Skull Sheep heads, monster skin attatched." He gave one of them a pat before it could be taken away, "And a ligerfang tusk." He nodded as that was taken away, but then he looked at the still half full pack. "More?"

"This is just magic stone now." I replied, "You're going to need a basket or two."

"No doubt." He nodded, then went wide eyed at the first and largest crystal we'd gotten. About the size and thickness of my leg, with two sharp points, it was a near miracle the crystal from the Blob didn't shatter when the explosion happened. "Oh... my..."

"This is from an irregular we found." I said, very carefully putting the crystal across the desk, "And this is from a Green Dragon the Takemikazuchi Familia killed." Yes, I did indeed drop the name on purpose as I carefully put the nearly chest sized magic stone next to the first one.

"We will need the larger scales I think..."

Welf had vanished to see Hephaestus, and I was just finishing up at the exchange counter almost a full hour later. And even then, he was still no where to be found. So, I was alone to enjoy the very heavy feeling of Valis in the thick leather bag the nice man across the exchange counter had put it in. There were two smaller bags too! One was for the Oni, who had said I could use half of their earnings towards 'the cause'. I did indeed take half, but didn't take what they had earned through the commissions. They had a good use for their share of the money after all. The second, smallest, pouch was for 'petty cash'. We always set aside roughly five percent of our earnings and put it into a 'common fund' for whatever the Manor needed. Food, repairs we needed an expert for, materials for repairs we didn't need an expert for...

And the largest...

Sigh...

It was going towards the titanic debt this project had run up. Mine, and the Alliance, had a lot of trust with the Guild, so they were happy to loan us the money. But they expected to be repaid. And no, I wouldn't use my reputation as an excuse to be sluggish with repayment.

But Welf was right. I could, if I really wanted, pay off the debt easily. But I felt deep down that I'd end up with that equipment being returned, empty, and their next of kin or Familia members the ones bringing it to me.

"Sister!" I heard Welf call me, and I spotted him coming down from the spiral staircase around the outer edge of the tower's Lobby. "Why the long face?" He trotted over to me, some paper in his hand, "Our first loan payment?"

"Hold this." I said, offering the chest sized sack of high denomination coins to him. "Feel the weight."

He took it while we walked to the other side of the tower lobby, where the vaults were. It seemed silly to have the Vaults over on the other side of the room where the magic stone exchange was, but like most stores back on Earth, the 'main stash' of money was held away from 'the cash registers'. It was brought out, in locked boxes, as it was needed.

And since this was a large sum on money, that weighed almost as much as the poor teller at the exchange counter, I offered to walk it over for him. Mostly so I could feel absolutely filthy stinking rich for a minute or two.

We arrived at the much more secure desk of the vaults, "Wow... this is a lot, isn't it?" Welf commented.

"It is. Now put it on the desk for the nice lady." I said, just a little sadly.

Welf looked at me as if I had told him his anvils had broken and all the handles on his hammers had burned up. Oh, and that a puppy had done it all so he couldn't get mad.

But he did anyhow, the two of us sighing as the lady opened it up, took out the paper inside that said, 'This bag contains an astronomical amount of money' as well as what the money was for and the official signature under it, then had her and another person make it vanish behind the counter.

Then, as if the two of us weren't on the verge of tears, she smiled super brightly and asked, "Is there anything else you'd like today?"

We both just sighed and shook our heads, shuffling out of the tower towards home.

It took us a few minutes to recover, and I remembered seeing something in Welf's hand, "Wuzzat?"

"Oh..." He was still in shock, but held the hand holding the paper, "Ah, right!" He shook his head quickly to dispel the cobwebs, "It's just the rules and regulations for donating rookie equipment." He passed me the sheet, "Pretty simple stuff."

"Lets see... Don't make bad stuff... Don't expect it to sell... Don't complain when it doesn't sell... Guild takes a small percentage... blah blah blah..." I nodded, "Yeah, simple stuff."

"Gives you an excuse to use up some of that scrap material we keep bringing back." He grinned, "Oh, gonna use that dragon scale?"

"Asuka wanted better armour. So Asuka gets better armour." I nodded, "Urg... speaking of, we have all those repairs..."

"I can get started on that. You have one more stop to make yeah?"

I nodded, "Nazza will love some of the other stuff we brought up I'm sure."

"And she can even afford to pay for it!"

"Except we owe her a heap of money too."

"Damn."

Nazza's first words to me (since Welf parted ways with me so he could cheer himself up by hitting metal) when I handed her the vial of super toxic mushroom spores, was a very bored, "This shouldn't exist." Very bored, but wide eyed.

"Good thing I brought it to you then." I smiled, still holding the vial since she hadn't accepted it. Inside, the little yellow spores had mostly settled to the bottom of the thick glass, but one or two little motes floated around inside. "I wouldn't dare grow this in the Manor."

"I almost don't want to try growing them up here." She said, "But if we can get them to take..."

"What do you even use the stuff for? It had paralyzed hornets. So... level three threat?"

"Smoke bombs would be far too dangerous. They'd drop your party just as fast as the monsters. The caps are actually edible, even for normal people, so long as you cook them properly."

"Any good?"

"Never tried." She took the vial (VERY carefully with her flesh and blood hand), "But with a little work you can make strong anti-paralysis medicine. A little more work, and you could make something like weapon oil. But that is... a bit of a grey area."

Yes, you could use anything in the dungeon to kill monsters. Even poison. But getting caught on the surface with a poisoned weapon? That was VERY illegal. And yes, we did break the law when the Amazons ambushed the 'oni babies'. But since no one cried foul, or was caught with a treated weapon, no one got a fine. All but the most careless adventurers do enough weapon maintenance that I've never actually heard of someone getting fined. I only knew because of Eina, who of course warned me as I grew my skill with alchemy.

"Well, what is it worth to you then?" I asked, trusting her to know what she was doing, and thus use it 'for good'.

"Send Delly over, and..." She tapped her chin, "If they take, I'd be willing to call it square between for the stuff we sent to the JSDF. If not, half what's owed there."

My turn to go a little wide eyed, "Fair. Deal." I paused, "Oh, she's got a bit of a runny nose from the dungeon still. Might need another day."

"Longer you wait, less chance it works." She said.

"I'll try and help her out of bed then..."

Thankfully, Delly was quite willing to go help Nazza, even with a bit of a runny nose. Everyone else in the Manor was busy with upkeep. Everything from cleaning the floors of the manor itself, to inspecting their own gear before deciding if Welf, Maki or I needed to look at it. Taking a day off to recover didn't mean a day off to do nothing.

But, right after I had gotten out of my armour, since visiting people without being 'dressed properly' was rude, I felt it.

A small, heavy presence, who's eyes were trying to drill into me like a monster's fangs. I stopped in my tracks, and turned to face those eyes.

"Hello Eina." I said, "Enjoying snack time with Lady Hestia?" They were both at the dining table, tea and cookies between them.

She wasn't... angry. Not in the 'you've done bad' sense. But after a moment more of 'I want to kick your shin' glaring, she relaxed, "Yes actually. I was just discussing a few things."

"You didn't tell me that we were so close to another tax increase!" Hestia lamented, "With Take's entire Familia going up a level, then Welf and Mikoto going up as well..." She sighed and flopped her head onto her arm as it rested on the table.

"It's not that bad." I tried to cheer her up, "I'm surprised you're not happy! With that increase in ability, they can go further and earn more. It's why they've set it up the way they have."

"Taxes suuuuuuuuuuuuuck!"

"Kodori is correct. Considering what you earned in less than a week, debt notwithstanding, this small increase is nothing." She gave the distraught Goddess's hand a pat, "Since your Familia is still small in number, even with the seven children who are not counted towards your tax since they are inactive, you are getting off lightly. Now, and I am not suggesting this at all, if the children became active, your tax would go down, since the average level of your Familia would decrease from four to three."

If Hestia loved money more than family, she'd probably have suggested I hurry up and train the children. But she wasn't. "Fine... taxes still suck though."

"Well you'll be happy to know I've paid them for this quarter." I said, "Anyone seen the brothers?"

"Taking a class with Take'." Hestia mumbled into her arm, then raised her head, "They," And she tried really hard to lower her voice to match them, "Will train with the children, so they will follow our example, not our past." She sighed, "What ever that means."

"I think you don't know, because they like you too much to tell you." I said, "And since I want to encourage that line of thought, I'm going to join them."

Yes, Takemikazuchi had both Oni, all their children, all MY children, and the few orphans we had left in the training hall. And they were all doing basic tai-chi. Even a few of the Amazon mothers were there!

But, due to being a forward thinking person, his had planned the training hall to be large enough to accommodate when we rebuilt the Manor. It could easily have held twice as many people, though the people at the back would start having a hard time following along.

But, since I was there, and the second most experienced of Takemikazuchi's students, I took a spot on the other side of the rows of students, and mirrored his motions. So that no matter what way you looked, you'd have an example to follow. I even hid all but one of my tails, so they wouldn't hide my legs.

The lesson went on for about an hour, an amazing accomplishment considering the children were... well children. But, Takemikazuchi had that sort of gravity to him. You wanted to be around him, and you wanted to keep him happy.

Of course, as soon as he had stopped, bowed to the class in thanks for paying attention, and gotten a bow in return to thank him for the lesson, just about all the children lost interest in being there. Like a thrown switch, little Oni were running around, grabbing legs and trying to wrestle the owner to the ground, or making SUPER grumpy faces because they were hungry.

My children were mostly the same. Though being a little older they were just a little more mild in their sudden rush to do something else. They at least waited for a headpat or hug before zipping off to do what ever it was they wanted until dinner.

But since I'd taken the role of teacher's assistant, I stayed behind with the two Brothers. Empty of all but us three now, we got water buckets and scrub brushes, and got to cleaning the training hall floor.

"You wanted to speak to us?" Okakai asked, his feet pushing him along as he put weight on the brush and glided over the hard wood floor.

"I brought back your share. Left it in the usual place." I replied as I too did the 'floor clean slide' you saw in some anime. I didn't do the battle cry though. "Half of what the magic stone you brought back was worth."

They nodded, though I could tell they saw past the surface of my statement. I didn't mention their commissions.

"We may make up for forgetting a birthday or two after all." Fukawa grunted.

The three of us chuckled a little, "I'd like you two to stay up here a day or two. We've got about two weeks before the Gate opens again, and I'd like to get a little work done at the new town site."

"Building?" Fukawa asked.

"Hunting. Lands are wild still. Not wild but certainly not safe." I replied, "Sure, the builders who will be helping them set up will be adventurers, but that would take their time away from building."

"When was the last time we ran through a field?" Okakai mused.

"You want us to bring the Amazon?"

"I wouldn't say no if they wanted to go." I replied, "While that's going on, I'll be getting some stone markers in place. If it's going to be a proper town around here it's going to need walls. As it is, the stone, wood and metal that's been delivered are in in one place. I was thinking I'd spend a bit of time moving it around a little. Set up smaller piles to prevent traffic."

"When?" They asked.

"In a day, maybe two." I chuckled, "You saw the wreck everyone's equipment was in."

They nodded, and we finished the cleanup in silence.

Usually, it was simpler for me to work in the 'Cold' half of the workshop, while Welf worked the 'Hot' half. With my tails acting like extra hands, I had a distinct advantage when it came to leather work, cloth, or anything where you needed to hold something steady, while working on it elsewhere, like armour.

Today however, he and Maki were in the Cold side of the shop, her extra hands holding things down while Welf replaced straps or re-lined the underside of armour bits that didn't need outright replacing or repair.

"You've got some bits to re-make, along with repair." Welf said while he leaned close to a bit of Bell's breastplate, Sir Skitters-silk thread and needle in hand.

"And my sword to work on." Maki added with a sigh, "I'm a little sad I broke it."

"Gave you an excuse to work with a blade." I said, "I'll yell if I need something. Oh..." I stopped at the door of the smithy, turned away, and went to our storage area to find that shattered bit of dragon scale from the green dragon. "There."

I was a little distracted from my work. Not nearly to the point of carelessness, certainly not. But the little sheet of paper Welf handed to me was giving me ideas. Even as I rounded out a dented shoulder plate, I thought of just how much was 'too much' for a rookie.

The entire point of that little shop was twofold. Rookie adventurers usually couldn't afford equipment. Unless they were recently inducted into well off Familia, they usually had no money to speak of. So, the Guild had that little shop on the second floor, where rookie smiths would put their work.

So the rookie might live longer, and the smith might make a name for himself. The Guild takes a tiny loss on profits, partially repaid by the percentage they take on the sale of the rookie equipment, OR, a total loss if they were like me, and literally had nothing to start.

This also helped rookie smiths get more business. Hard to improve without practice, and not many could afford to just make stuff all day without recovering costs.

So the question was... How much effort should I put into this? I mean, I could make a suit of armour that would survive things that would turn the wearer to paste inside of it. But that wouldn't help anyone. And would be expensive.

Then there was the other part of it. I didn't know who was going to buy it, if anyone. Almost all the armour I'd ever EVER made to this point was custom fit. Aside from a few things from the cosplay club that I'd mysteriously finished for Nanami, I'd taken almost every measurement of the prospective wearer personally. Exceptions? Welf, Maki, HIDA and Delly occasionally did them for me.

So yeah, I'd never actually made armour 'blind' before.

All the other usual things to consider. Style? I knew 'Amazon' (leathers with one or two armoured bits). Eastern (Mikoto, Ouka, Chigusa and Asuka all wore something similar to Samurai armour, as did Welf on occasion). European, with the full plate theme like my greeves and bracers. Arabic, the style that Bell was closest to with the 'high mobility' of at most leather around the joints but harder material around the larger flat areas most commonly struck in combat. Even combat Dresses! Like Delly wore out of necessity for her wings or my 'combat kimono'.

The last thing I had to consider, and I nearly dropped the idea right there... Was size. It seemed like forever ago, but Bell was fourteen years old when he started. Amani? She wasn't even ten! Soon, my own children of not quite five years old, would be strong enough to take actual serious lessons. I'd already seen (just seen, I didn't step in, only observed) Bell talking to Chie, using his sheathed dagger to demonstrate something while Chie mimicked the motion with her fan.

I didn't want that to happen, but there was only so much I could do before reality firmly told me to bugger off. So instead of stopping Bell, I gave him a pat on the head later and said thank you.

While we nibbled at dinner, a rare question was asked.

"How do the repairs look so far?" Ouka asked.

It wasn't something asked often. Welf, myself and now Maki were given VERY wide berth when it came to equipment repairs. They didn't want to rush us, and we didn't want to rush. Fast work might be sloppy, and no one wanted to get hurt because we rushed over a frayed strap or sharpened a blade poorly.

That question was only asked when they wanted to help in some other way to help us work as our best pace, without pause.

"Gonna need a trip to the iron monger." I said, "And if you want your weapon hilts wrapped up in shark skin, we'll need more as well."

"Need a bolt of battle cloth too. All that acid flying about did a number on anything that got past our treated gear." Welf added.

Yes, I treated all armour I made with 'the standard' treatments for common dungeon hazards. But that was armour, not under armour, undershirts, or underwear.

Ever helpful, the Takemikazuchi Familia nodded, and I put my mind at ease. We'd have those things we needed as soon as they could get it home from the shops in question.

"Delly?" I looked to our still slightly out of sorts fox-fairy, "How did it go?"

"It might work. I'm confident at least. Though I had to give my advise from another room, since I want nothing to do with that again." She sniffled, but smiled.

"Fukawa? Okakai?" I looked to the brothers, "What did they think?"

"Any time." They said together.

"Day after tomorrow then."

"We will pack accordingly."

The question on everyone's face was obvious, "Going to do a little groundwork for the town." I made an 'over there' motion north. "I don't know how they've set things up so far, but I'm sure a few extra hands hauling, or hunting stray monsters, will be appreciated. And now that the secret is out, the Mothers want to stretch their legs a little."

"What about another dungeon trip?" Kaede asked.

"Nothing stopping you." Welf said with a slightly sad sigh, "Our debt is paid for this season. So we can take a little time gathering more money."

"Just wait until our equipment is done." Maki said, "We're only about half done... I think?"

"Most of the metal bits are done." I said, "Welf and I will switch tomorrow, so he can do the weapons."

The next day went exactly as planned. Almost perfectly so. Takemikazuchi Familia did the shopping, waiting at the stores we needed to get things from until they opened, getting what we needed, and returning home with hardly a detour. They did bring back something experimental from Enki's Creations, something VERY close to fudge, but using distilled beet sugar, not cane sugar. Way too sweet for me, and I only had a nibble. Shinkage however was quite pleased.

Weapon maintenance was done with the swiftness. Welf and Maki worked together to resharpen swords and spears, replace Amani's spear, refit the dragon scale arrowheads to sturdy arrow shafts, and remodel Maki's sword to stand up better to her new, and growing magic power.

Armour refit was done, with many pats to Sir Skitters's fuzzy butt for helping supply silk. I also did a bit of work with our dye vats. Vanity wasn't something we had much of, but people of the Manor liked to look good, and plain battle cloth was a super boring grey-white colour.

Delly stopped sniffling. Even at level two, without the abnormal resistance trait, an adventurer can shake off something like 'near death by toxic gas/spores/contact poison. So long as proper care was given as soon as possible.

Amani and Delly got new masks. One because she didn't have one, the other to help filter air a little better than 'antitoxin soaked cloth'. We also replaced the broken mask caused by the Blob's sonic attack.

And lastly, I made a simple set of light armour. It was similar to Bell's very first set of 'high mobility' equipment. Mostly metal and battle cloth. And made in pieces. Just like how Bell and I wore parts of the same armour that Welf made, this could be done as well for what I had made.

Maybe... Maybe the person, or people, who put this on, would have the same success Bell and I did? I really hoped so. I didn't want to hear about my armour returning without the owner.

The next day, Myself, Aisha, Haruhime, the Oni, all the Amazon mothers, and ALL the children, walked through the city towards the Last Stop.

I had to question the Amazon mentality just a little. I mean... This was a work site. With possible falling rocks, people with sharp tools going from place to place, and yes, wild animals that may or may not bite your leg off if it got close.

But, seeing all of the Mini-zons going with the Mothers, Haruhime gave me the smallest hint of puppy eyes, and our children were added to the list. Thankfully, Spot had noticed the little parade, and he was helping to corral the children, using his best boy skills to keep them from wandering off the instant they let go of a parents hand. Aisha and Amani joined in too, though a little late since they slept in, but caught up with us on the way to the Last Stop.

Before we got on the train though, Odds and Puuf had stopped us. Yes, we'd sent a message to her yesterday, just to make sure the train would be there. I was quite sure that we'd need to expand the rail system sometime in the next decade or less. Since the walk to the new town would be... a long walk. A long walk with the occasional monster. So the Train would be the only safe way to and from Orario, and as it was now, it only really did 'freight' not 'passenger' work.

Except... Odds and Puuf were standing in front of the completed passenger car I'd seen them working on, on and off, for the past while.

Sure, it wasn't super comfortable, or covered in nice velvet seating, or anything like that. But, it did have lots of stools you could move around, tables you couldn't move around, and windows. Sheltered from the elements, it could transport about a hundred people. The tables, and the care we'd taken in building the rail bed, meant you could play cards or dice or something while you travelled too! Though, this world wasn't quite at the point of 'mobile bathrooms', so if you had to go, it was off the back.

While we (everyone going on the trip to the new town site) boarded, Odds was talking about all the things she was planning for the next one.

"Sure, it's super simple now. But I can already imagine stuff like a little mini-bar. Or a little stage for someone to play music. Oh! Maybe even a Wax Player in the corner? I figured out some neat stuff with springs to make a stable platform so the wax spindle doesn't wobble when you hit a bump!"

Puuf put in his own idea, "standard platforms for the wheels make it easy to change designs... maybe a rail car for napping?" As usual, his voice reached our ears, despite the noisy children looking at ALL THE THINGS.

"We're working on the second engine too." Odds said, "His Kingly-ness, the Rakia Man, is maybe half a year from getting here with his own rail. Much longer trip to Rakia, so we might just have that sleeping car after all." A pause, "I'm suddenly feeling really outnumbered here." She looked at all the children around her who were looking at all the shiny stuff she had in her pockets.

"Now now." Haruhime said, "Let's all find a place to sit."

"Oh! Wait A-ma!" Yuki and Yumi said together, "We're getting headpats!"

"fluffy ears." Puuf said, his huge, oddly proportioned hands applying headpats, "i'll do the last check. off you go."

It took a little more wrangling, but we'd all loaded into the passenger car. It had all kinds of little details you'd miss if you didn't know to look for them. Chairs and tables for Palum (or children). Wider chairs for wider people (like dwarves, or Oni). Solid metal walls, because yes, monsters.

It also had an interesting speaker system, a speaker crystal at the bottom of a cone to amplify it. "This is Odds, your driver speaking. Our inspector has given me the go ahead. Please stay seated, or hold on to something until we get up to speed."

"Huh. Didn't even have to suggest that. Neat." I commented, picking up a couple of Oni-zons who had gotten curious about my tails and plunking them on my lap, "Let's look out the window, hmm?"

NOTES!

One more chapter of 'random stuff' and an important 'thing', then (unless I go a bit long) it's back to the Gate and how well things went. Remember to join the discord if you want to vote!

Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!

aKAQg4bnYu for the discord!

And my actual book, Were Too? is on Inkitt.