The day of the festival was closing in and everyone was working their hardest.
Clara was still decorating, whilst all the buildings were nearing completion. On a hot clear sky, everyone was determined to finish.
At the edge of the town, sitting in his usual spot, the elder rested. He sat with his stick in hand leaning against it watching everyone work hard and give it their all with sweat shining his wrinkled face.
"What's happening over here?" An exhausted Fishy said as he slumped down next to the elder.
"You seem tired, did he beat you again?"
"Yup, I just can't land a hit against him. Why Ziu left them to join us is a mystery but a blessing for us."
The two of them sat in silence with the sound of communication happening all around them. They were steadily gaining population and even the random travellers were helping out with the construction.
"You seem kinda down," Fishy said to the elder. Who, with each passing day, looked worse.
"I fear I don't have long left."
"Nonsense." Fishy said, "Don't talk like that. As far as I know, you're thousands of years old."
"Ha…" The elder laughed quietly which ended up using most of his breath. "You aren't wrong."
"What about Clara?" Fishy asked. "How do you think she'll feel if she heard you say this?"
"I don't know…" The elder said with a collapsed face. "Her parents died many years ago. I'm all she has left. I worry about what will happen when I'm gone."
Fishy continued to listen to the elder's words with a lonely smile. He looked at the elder's eyes which seemed as if they had seen countless wars bug would never find peace.
"Don't worry, I'll look after her," Fishy said to which the elder could only smile and repeat what he had said several times since Fishy's arrival.
"I wasn't wrong choosing you." The elder smiled as he continued to watch every prepare. His face filled with guilt and worry as if he was in the way. "What can I do to help?"
"Um… You can look after the triplets." Fishy said hoping to get rid of the most annoying job. "They can't tell the difference between weeds and wheat so we need someone to check."
"Consider it done." The elder said with a smile as he looked into Fishy's young radiant grassy eyes.
"There's something I must tell you," The elder said stopping Fishy from leaving "I won't say it now but soon, it must be something only you shall know. It is my regret."
Fishy didn't question the elder's sudden change in expression. From going from excited about the festival to dropping all signs of happiness and showing a serious side Fishy thought the elder didn't have.
# # #
With less than a day left till the festival, the housing was all built. What was originally a village that couldn't house 10 people, now had enough space to house up to 100 people. The buildings were based on Fishy's blueprints to which he just copied a standard house from his old world. Fishy, with the help of some travellers, built several wells around the town with fresh water. The town was forming more like Fishy imagined. The gravel roads were replaced with brick paths and widened to allow for the several stalls that were set up. What was currently empty stalls would eventually be filled with various foods and prizes for people to win.
"My lord," Tin said coming over holding what looked like a bunch of berries.
"What are these?" Fishy said trying one not caring if they were poison. "Grapes?"
"Indeed!" She said as her eyes widened. "The beer is finished but I fear it won't be good enough, I have spoken to Cai and she even brought us a barrel of her own stuff. I must say it is exhilarating to be able to talk to another foodie."
"Right…" Fishy said, happy that he was no longer tasked with food talk. "I don't know if she plans to stay for long but ask her all you can about wine. That was your intention, right?"
"Of course! How could it not be? Thanks to our newly found grapevines we can explore wines."
Fishy laughed and smirked at what he was witnessing. To him, technology had reverted a bit. To him, he was building up a nation from scratch, to say he got lucky is an understatement. He would even say he got lucky.
"Someday we'll trade with others," Fishy said. "We have some strange fruits growing here that I hear don't like to grow elsewhere."
"Yes, something to do with the soil. It appears to have been refined several times thanks to the destroyer drilling through it so often."
"Basically, the destroyer poop made it grow…" Fishy said not wanting to acknowledge the disgusting truth of how his newfound favourite fruit was growing. A small pear-shaped fruit that had the skin of an orange but is filled with the sweetness of honey and the juiciness of a melon.
"Yes… basically destroyer poop." Tin said also sadly admitting the truth.
"Well, good to see we are growing." Fishy optimistically said trying to change the topic.
"Indeed, we have more food than we need and can easily support 100 people, should we need to."
"Shame about the flavour… I'm getting bored of Cowsaur and vegetables. After the festival, we should look for spices and more flavours."
"Understood, my lord."
The festival preparations finished with zero issues. The word spread around so many travellers from all around came to visit. And as the sunset behind the hill, the magic candles lit themselves. The banners that were across the buildings gently blew about in the breeze, and the festival was underway.