Two days passed, and the antiheroes worked hard alongside their subjects in order to improve the slime village.
Garett used his skills to create many contraptions, and showed them to the workers so that they may imitate what he had done.
Piping for sewage made of wood was installed into the ground, as well as piping for running water that traveled to the village from a nearby river which flowed downstream from the forest. It wasn't a long term solution, and it would require constant maintenance, but it would do for now.
Garett had experimented with some of the plants and seeds, and had ended up planting a number of alchemical herbs in the fields, as well as many staple foods such as potatoes and corn.
Garett was also interested in the mining of ores, however did not currently have the time to devote on such things.
The huts which were previously made of straw were now much larger and well furnished with wooden chairs, tables, and beds.
Garett had also been practicing his alchemy with Iotar, and after many failures and many more broken vessels, was able to improve his alchemy to level 3/10. His potions that he produced were now significantly more effective than the previous ones, and him and Iotar had been working hard to produce as many high quality potions as possible.
They had a large stock at this point of healing potions, strength potions, speed potions, poison resistance, fire resistance, mana potions, magic damage increasing potions, and also some attacking potions such as speed down, strength down, fire bombs, acid bombs, etc.
Their stock was high, and they were ready to sell some of the potions off to whoever was willing to pay the highest bid.
After all the work he had been doing for the village, Garett's handiwork level had increased to 4/10 as well. He became much more efficient with his hands- even more so than before, and was able to more easily think up designs and solutions to problems. This was one of the reasons why so much progress had been made in such a short amount of time. His mind felt clear, and he began to see the available options for a given problem as if someone was whispering them into his ears or as if an image was showing up in his mind for a blueprint. He felt... creative, like he could make anything if he had the right materials and logic.
The other three antiheroes had also been hard at work- doing what they could within a 3 m range of Garett, who was the most useful when it came to civil matters such as these. Of course, there had been many failures due to bad rolls, but also many successes.
Particularly when Ashley did something, often she would be about to do something and then stop doing it. It was because she had gained some sort of intuition that told her whether or not she was going to fail an action before she even did it.
This was the result of the [Always right] trait. As a result of this, she often would sit around doing nothing, knowing that she would just mess it up if she tried, however every time she did anything, she would succeed in it.
Garett had wanted to improve the dirt roads throughout the village as well, and build a wall for security, but he understood that those were both large projects. The roadway would require a quarry if it were to be made of cobble or gravel, and the walls could be made of wood or stone, but either way would need significant time and resources to put into action. Trevor had been working on the plans for these long term projects since Garett brought them up, and Ashley and Samantha took interest in the aesthetics, however they hadn't done any major work on anything so far.
Samantha had worked hard at keeping the morale of the laborers up. She would often have individual conversations with their subjects, flashing them a beautiful smile and encouraging them. She was no longer disgusted with these people, but instead was pleased that they had begun to see her in a good light.
Ashley had for the most part stayed out of social affairs, acting as the 'gun in the holster' when Trevor gave orders. Of course, Claire did not know this, as she had not witnessed the power that Ashley had obtained, and she often wondered why the goblins seemed to look at her and Garett with such fear and awe.
The goblins mental conditions had begun to improve little by little. While some of them were still devoid of emotion, some of them had been doing their work enthusiastically- Oraguth included.
"Bringing their hopes down was the right move. Look at how well some of them are adapting. It's all because things in reality are better than they were inside their minds.", Trevor noted.
"It certainly is peaceful... if only things could remain this way...", Samantha sighed.
"You know that there is no way of that happening. After all, sooner or later the humans will likely come back to attack this village as the slimes said they do regularly. That is why we have been working so hard to improve the conditions here."
"Yeah..."
Coran and Berith had also contributed significantly to the overall work. Samantha had suggested that they begin to produce fabrics and clothing, and she seemed to be very interested in her own idea. As such, a clothing shop had been established where spider silk was the main component of the material.
Of course, the spiders needed sustenance to produce the silk. Some of the goblins who's mental conditions had improved had been assigned to hunting squads, and Trevor had worked hard to teach them archery skills.
While the crops were being cultivated, the main source of food for the village was scavenged fruits and meat from small animals such as rabbits and rodents, or small birds and reptiles.
Much progress had been made in a very short time, and Claire had been watching and overseeing the progress. She was completely impressed by the efficient combination of the antiheroes different abilities, and the effective division of labor. Claire too had been working alongside the goblins to help manage the work in areas where the antiheroes were not present. It was quite a burden that they couldn't be at different locations at the same time, but even so things were going so well.
But, you know what they say.
Good times create weak men.
Weak men create bad times.
Bad times create strong men.
Strong men create good times.
The antiheroes were the strong men, and they wished to create good times, however Trevor was well aware of this, and did not want his subjects to fall into this trap.
As such, he was planning on forging Coran into a leader. He had also been instructing Coran on the use of ranged attacks, however Coran's ranged attacks were much different than the use of a bow- since it was acid spitting.
Garett had crafted a tube-like weapon that would allow for more precise shooting of the acid, and at higher ranges.
It was like a thin wooden straw which was lined on the inside with a hardened noncorrosive gel. It would allow for the concentrated mass of acid to accelerate quickly for quick and accurate shooting.
Not only this, but Garett and the one slime craftsman had mass produced basic melee weapons and distributed them among the members of the village. While it would be dangerous for slaves to carry weapons if they intended to revolt, the antiheroes were certain that there was no such notion.
As such, almost every slime, goblin, and other person in the village had at least a light amount of training and means to defend themselves.
But the antiheroes were not going to stop there.
This was only the beginning.
If they were to become the demon lords of the monster realm, they would have to become more powerful and expand their influence to even those who are strong and arrogant.
Even so- over these past two days, they had gained experience in a number of unexpected ways which allowed them to level up twice.
[Level up! (Lvl 13) Level up! (Lvl 14)]
[Player Garett: Strength +7, Dexterity +3, Perception +4, Charisma +5, Intelligence +8]
[Strength: 34](+4 Fanged Club)
[Dexterity: 8]
[Perception: 14]
[Charisma: 15]
[Intelligence: 22]
[HP 140/140 MP 70/70]
[Player Trevor: Strength +10, Dexterity +21, Perception +15, Charisma +18, Intelligence +16]
[Strength: 35]
[Dexterity: 81]
[Perception: 52]
[Charisma: 61] (+5 with cultured beings)(+20 vs bad disposition)
[Intelligence: 62]
[HP 130/130 MP 170/170]
[New trait: Experienced Leader. When managing others, they tend to be twice as efficient]
[Player Samantha: Strength +3, Dexterity +4, Perception +5, Charisma +45, Intelligence +20]
[Strength: 17]
[Dexterity: 20]
[Perception: 26]
[Charisma: 94] (+5 Halo)
[Intelligence: 54]
[HP 65/65 MP 155/155]
[Player Ashley: Strength +5, Dexterity +7, Perception +8, Charisma -1]
[Strength: 20](+5 Against Defenseless)
[Dexterity: 23]
[Perception: 28]
[Charisma: 3] (+5 with lawful beings)(+5 With subjects)
[Intelligence: MAX]
[HP 85/85 MP 300000/300000]
And so, much progress was made in the village. Not a single person even considered taking a break after seeing how hard each of the antiheroes were working to improve the quality of life. Even the ones who were called slaves thought 'Our masters are working harder than we are! We have to do better!'.
However, it was soon to be the time of the meeting.
The afternoon of that day came quickly, and soon enough, the leaders of the birdmen and lizardmen tribes were to arrive.