CHAPTER 179
Time passed quickly, and before long, it had been a week since Eve entered Dandelion.
It had been four days since the advance group and the rear group had joined up.
After safely finishing their local acclimation, the dispatch party carried out activities such as searching, subjugation, and civil engineering in an organized manner.
In particular, the achievements on the civil engineering side were clear.
The craftsmen of the Lucchiad Construction Company poured construction techniques containing the essence of magic and alchemy into Dandelion’s reconstruction.
All the shabby hut-houses, except those near the gate, were torn down and newly framed.
Since they planned to build them sturdy and neat in the latest architectural style popular in the Imperial City, once completed, Dandelion would boast scenery no less than any bustling district.
Not only that—after felling the surrounding forest to expand the village grounds, they began building walls and watchtowers.
A shabby village with nothing but wooden palisades would soon take on a form worthy of the name “outpost.”
“I’m looking forward to what it’ll look like when it’s finished.”
Today, Punishment did not go out for search activities; it was their day to remain at the outpost and stand watch.
Naturally, Eve—who remained as well—was touring the village where construction was proceeding briskly, together with Anais.
The reconstruction project was generally going smoothly.
However, the chronic problem of resource shortages was unavoidable.
With a sigh, Anais voiced her worry.
“The problem is the supply of stone. No matter what, the walls and watchtowers must be built with stone.”
“Ah, stone.”
The quarry Eve had discovered was still unusable because gravity made it impossible to access.
Until they subjugated Ambroxa and extracted the seal stone, there was no clear way to procure the lacking stone.
But Eve produced an easy solution.
“Isn’t stone overflowing outside the gate? We can procure it from there.”
“…Pardon? Outside the gate…?”
Anais unconsciously turned to look east, where the gate was.
From the inside, they couldn’t freely open the door—so it was a gigantic door standing wide open, with the key cube embedded.
Beyond it, they could see massive stone walls forming a labyrinth.
“Ah!”
Anais immediately understood.
“I see. That will do.”
“Right. And it’s even neatly semi-finished—how good is that?”
“Then for now, we’ll discreetly dismantle the labyrinth walls and use them, and later, once we can use the quarry, we’ll restore it.”
“Restore what? After next year’s subjugation is over, we’ll need to transport magic stones.
Then the labyrinth will have a straight passage cut through it.”
“So you mean it’s going to be demolished anyway.”
“That’s why—tear it out generously. I’ll take full responsibility.”
“As expected of my liege. Then I’ll trust you and handle it.”
Military supplies always take priority over every other use.
And in Dandelion, where external procurement and requisition were both impossible, dismantling an old maze and recycling it was more than permissible.
‘A maze used for trapping people should be gotten rid of quickly.’
Of course, it likely had historical value, so Eve intended to leave some of it behind.
Separate from how she felt about the unsightly structure, Eve made thoroughly practical calculations.
Around then, Eve and Anais arrived before a watchtower whose frame had been built out of wood.
“The tower’s quite tall.”
“Since the conifers are so tall, the watchtower must be even taller. Would you like to go up once?”
“That sounds good.”
Since the space didn’t look particularly roomy, Eve told Mikael to wait for a moment.
Mikael complained softly, sounding a little aggrieved.
“Every time we come out on dispatch, it feels like my position as your closest confidant is being pushed back, Your Highness.”
“Really? I’ll consider dividing the rankings into tattoos and martial ranks. Then Mikael could take first place, too.”
“Ah—don’t make that face. I was wrong. Let’s go up together later—just the two of us.”
In a whisper, Eve soothed Mikael, then took Anais’s hand.
And using flight magic, she leapt in one bound to the top of the watchtower.
The watchtower would have served perfectly well as an observation deck.
To the west, the conifer forest spread out like a purple sea in a magnificent view; to the east, the panorama of Dandelion—under construction here and there—lay spread out at a glance.
“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say all of Dandelion is a construction site.”
“For a project of such a large scale, the speed of progress is extremely fast.”
It could be credited to the goodwill Eve had built up.
All the residents cooperatively provided manpower to Anais.
Then, as if she’d just thought of it, Eve asked:
“The military-supplies warehouse—are you building it well?”
“Yes. As you instructed, we moved everything underground.”
“Good. When it comes to military facilities, it’s excellent underground infrastructure, after all.”
“Exactly. Isn’t underground infrastructure that’s strong against surprise attacks the soldiers’ dream?”
Eve and Anais looked at each other and curved their lips into smiles.
They were kind, fresh smiles—but their eyes were full of scheming intent.
It was then that Eve and Anais began exchanging words in deliberately sinister voices.
“You know, right? When you build the warehouse, don’t forget to lay the water and sewage system while you’re at it.”
“Of course. We’ll connect the water supply to Yggdrasil, and we’ll route the sewage to flow into the Nepenthes swamp. The thought of making eco-friendly infrastructure that doesn’t even exist in the Imperial City makes my heart race.”
Earthwork is a fairly major type of construction.
In circumstances like this, building an underground warehouse served as sufficient justification to begin digging.
In this way, Eve and Anais faithfully followed the imperial order while also neatly installing infrastructure in Dandelion that helped everyday life.
The same was true of building supply routes connecting Ambroxa’s sealing site and Dandelion.
“A supply route is like a lifeline. Making only one of something so important makes no sense.”
“Your words are absolutely right. Even if it’s somewhat roundabout, I believe it’s safer to create many routes.”
“Exactly. Safety first.”
“Indeed.”
The schemes of the two rulers, who were cleverly trying to develop Yggdras, were endless.
Then Anais, in a serious tone, pointed out an important issue.
“Still, if we’re going to lay roads, monster subjugation has to come first.”
“As for that, don’t worry. Betty Noona and Brother Derrick are working hard even now, aren’t they?”
Eve replied with a bright smile.
It was an extremely rare expression—among the ones she made while saying Brigitte’s name.
Just then, from the watchtower, Eve and Anais could see a group of figures emerging from the forest.
A blue banner made their affiliation identifiable even from afar.
“Judging by the banner, that’s Betty Noona and the Byeokhyeol Knights.”
“Looks like they’re returning after finishing their search.”
Eve’s amber eyes sparkled.
“Then as her younger sister, I should go greet her, shouldn’t I?
If I show my face to Noona, who worked hard all day, won’t she find strength in it?”
“…My liege, honestly.”
Eve’s tone and face were plainly mischievous, so her intention was obvious.
Still, while Anais spoke as if sighing, she didn’t stop Eve at all.
In fact, Anais’s eyes were smiling too.
“Anais, you just watch from far away. If Betty Noona gets poisonous and does something nasty to you, that would be bad.”
“Thank you for your care.”
Eve came down from the watchtower and, together with Mikael, headed toward the entrance.
Soon Brigitte and the Byeokhyeol Knights drew nearer.
Judging by their uniforms—soiled with dust and monster blood—they had clearly fought a major battle.
Eve greeted Brigitte at the front with proper courtesy.
“Welcome back, Noona.”
“…Why are you out here?”
“I saw you returning from afar, so I came to greet you.”
“Such pointless behavior.”
Brigitte irritably took off her robe and, as if throwing it, handed it to Elijah.
She was obviously in a sensitive state.
It would do no good to provoke her—but today, for some reason, Eve was proactive about sisterly interaction.
“Did today’s search yield any results?”
“Today… we found a Behemoth monster settlement, so we spent time subjugating it.”
“Oh no—such a thing!”
Eve covered her mouth with a hand in an exaggerated show of distress.
“The day before yesterday, you subjugated an orc settlement, and yesterday you subjugated a troll settlement—are you saying today was a Behemoth settlement?”
“Ghk…”
“Ah… somehow, Noona, it seems you’re better at finding monster settlements than seal stones.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying!”
As if she had finally exploded, Brigitte shouted.
It was just as Eve had said.
The search sector assigned to Brigitte’s Byeokhyeol happened to be an area where monster settlements were densely packed.
‘No seal stones, no rare resources—just monsters, whole settlements of them everywhere!’
As if the thought alone infuriated her, Brigitte ground her teeth hard.
Of course, Eve, watching, merely swallowed a sneer.
‘Of course. Just like I found the World Tree, you thought you might find something too, so you preemptively took a region that looked rich in resources.
But a place that attracts humans is also a place that’s good for monsters to live.’
In the end, it was Brigitte’s greed bringing about its own consequences.
Thanks to that, subjugation in Yggdras was being carried out vigorously—so the result was positive.
Still, Brigitte seemed better than Rosenitte.
There were times like this, when she was occasionally helpful.
‘Ah, Betty Noona. Your precious hard work will become nourishment for Yggdras’s development.
Please keep it up from here on out.’
Eve was thinking that, covering her mouth and secretly smiling in satisfaction—
when Brigitte shot her a sharp look.
“You—are you enjoying this right now?”
“Of course not. I’m feeling terribly sorry.”
With all her might, Eve lowered her gaze pitifully.
“Move your hand.”
As Eve’s graceful mouth-curve was revealed, the atmosphere turned harsher.
Eve cleared her throat and hurried to smooth things over.
“Please don’t misunderstand. It’s not as though I want you to do nothing but subjugate without any search results. The seal stones are in a dangerous state, aren’t they? We need to take action quickly.”
“You think I’m doing this because I don’t want to achieve results?”
Brigitte spoke, forcing down the anger that was rising again.
Up to this point, the only knight order that had not found a seal stone was Byeokhyeol.
She wasn’t in a position to throw a tantrum.
“Whether they were pushed aside by a landslide, or whether they weren’t arranged in a pentagram shape to begin with… the remaining two seal stones aren’t being found. We may have to widen the search range.”
To Eve’s ears, it sounded like a declaration that they’d go subjugate even more settlements.
So she readily offered:
“If you need support, please say so.”
“As if I would need it!”
As if Eve’s goodwill had scratched at her pride, Brigitte spat out a voice full of irritation.
Truly—what a foul temperament.