A couple more weeks passed in Parachenko Village, and the reconstruction effort to the Village was almost fully complete. Fae Masters had their various duties and responsibilities to guarding and patrolling the outskirts of the Village, and the territories of the Kovacs Clan, but some of those mortal born Fae Masters couldn't help but assist their families, at their request.
The removable of rubble and the solidification of inert dirt and earth was always something that needed time, but those with the correct Fae could complete such a job within half a day of work.
They created the foundations upon which new building could be rebuilt, and sped up the processes upon which the mortals originally planned their schedules.
After hearing about the caravan coming in the next few days, an excited fervour had spread across both the mortal, and Fae Master populations of Parachenko Village.
They had lost so many people during the last beast tides, but were left with so many resources that they almost didn't know what to do with them all.
It was strange how much Fae materials and Fae had formed, although most of the Elders thought it was the presence of the two Beast Kings that caused such a thing. Arthur just nodded his head and agreed with whatever Elder Karl and Elder Jakob had to say.
Life was normal, relatively speaking. The nine Fae Masters under Arthur had focused their attentions on increasing their cultivations as quickly as possible, with Milena getting closer and closer to zero quartz origin essence by the day. Within the next half year or so, she would undoubtably be able to break through from being a Rank 1 Fae Master, to being a Rank 2 Fae Master.
The others weren't as talented as her, but Arthur had given them all random Rank 1 origin essence regeneration Fae. It was something that could both allow them to fight for longer, as well as cultivate for longer too.
The only.... interesting thing to happen over the last few weeks, was....
"The next time you even show the tiniest sliver of weakness Arthur.... I'll kill you".
Arthur raised an eyebrow, eating his roasted skewered meat while glancing at Randolf's passing figure. The foreigner's posture was slightly hunched, his expression dark and his demeanour extremely aggressive.
He knew that his current self couldn't defeat Arthur, even when he was a Rank 1 Fae Master. So how could the current him, who had been in a coma for the past 3-4 months rival Arthur who was already a Rank 2 Fae Master!
If he knew that Arthur's cultivation had exceeded his own, he might not even have the courage to speak up to him!
Arthur just smiled, his eyes gazing all over Randolf's figure.
'I wonder just where his Foreign Treasure is hidden. I couldn't be on him, and I've already checked his entire house.....'.
Randolf could've hidden it somewhere, possibly just dug a hole randomly outside the Village somewhere and then left it there so that no-one else could find it. However.... Arthur knew Randolf better than that. It was always possible for him to run away and leave the Village, picking up the treasure and then vanishing amidst the leaves and rain.
He had a grandfather, but from what he could tell, it wasn't a close relationship. Randolf was the type of person who probably didn't care about familial relationships, so leaving his grandfather was something that he was fully capable of doing.
In a way, he was similar to Arthur in that regard, although he didn't have the mental control to restrain himself whenever he lost control.
Randolf was already suspicious of him, possibly something relating to the Foreign Treasure on him, but Arthur didn't care.
He might be talented in Parachenko Village, but he wasn't anything special. There were some Sects which had first-tier talents as requirements to join, so in the scheme of things, the only thing special about Randolf was his Foreign Treasure.
Once that was taken away from him, he didn't have anything left. He was just an uncharismatic, young man who didn't know the depths of the water before diving right in.
In his previous life, Arthur was picked on and bullied by him slightly, seeing as though his talent was worse than even some mortal born Fae Masters. He had the backing of the Clan Leader, but that was the only thing going for him.
It did cause quite a few insecurities within Arthur when he was younger, but this time, or this life rather, he never once considered anyone his own age his opponent.
Forget trying to kill Randolf, Arthur wanted to try and kill Rank 3 Fae Masters as a Rank 2 Fae Master! The difference between those two levels, was even more than the distance between Rank 1 and Rank 2!
The change in origin essence quality was half the reason, and the increase in physical capabilities was the other. Arthur, with just pure physical strength alone, could rival a Rank 1 Fae Master using a strength enhancement Fae, like Fiend Fae or even something like a Crocodile Strength Fae.
Arthur had killed two Rank 2 Fae Masters and lost his hand in the process. Neither one of them were anything special and they had vastly underestimated Arthur.
Even if he did assassinate one of them, the other one was much to frightened, and much too focused on killing Arthur that he forgot to notice his surroundings.
When Arthur killed Elder Stas, he too, was too infatuated with the "diary" in Arthur's possession. He deactivated his Rank 3 scent-type Fae after smelling how musty it was inside the ancient tree. If he wasn't so sure that he could get rid of Arthur and took just a slightly bit more caution Elder Stas might not have died back then.
His desires got the better of him, and led him to an early grave....
Randolf was the same, although in his situation, he couldn't control his emotions. He let the rage or anger within him get the better of him, and he ended up losing control during their fight in the Fae Master Tournament.
He still had the Conflagration Axe in his possession, although he was "suggested" by Elder Vova not to use it again until he had reached Rank 3. The burns to his arms and upper body had healed in his three months of sleep, but his muscles and his physical body had weakened slightly during that time as well.
He was also "suggested" to take some time to recover his physical capabilities before going out and completing missions and patrols. He may be a Rank 2 Fae Master, but he wasn't capable of fighting like one.... for the time being at least.
Arthur sat silently, sitting near the main entrance to Parachenko Village, eating his skewered meat in one hand, while glancing around the streets, his normal nonchalant expression could be seen on his face.
He turned his head slightly towards the elderly lady manning the store front and he raised another five fingers, causing the lady to smile and nod her head.
Originally, the people of Parachenko Village thought that the caravan would arrive within the Village a week from now, which is why so many of them were rushing to get the final adjustments done before then.
However, as the owner of a caravan, when you hear that one of your potential customers is facing a crisis that could impact on your ability to gain wealth, several things might happen.
They might try and capitalize on your situation and give you a loan in order to help "get the Village back in order". The interest rate wouldn't exactly be low either, and they would arrange having the Village take as long as humanly possible to repay said loan.
They might try and outright take the Village. If they could kill everyone without sparring a single person, then claim the Clan Reserves before burning it to the ground, they could gain an enormous amount of product, and then wipe they hands clean before moving onto the next Village.
They could see the trouble that Parachenko Village was in an then leak that information to another Clan, hoping that they could purchase this information for a pretty penny.
Or if Parachenko Village resisted the attack, go back and tell Niklos and the other Elders that the Marina Clan defences are in shambles, and push them to attack each other again, profiting further for the information.
They might just completely ignore Parachenko Village as well, if they think they can't earn anything from them.
And all this.... was "supposed" to happen in less than a week from now.
One of the Kovacs Clan scouts, came running through the Village Gates, his voice loud, and booming so that everyone, regardless of whether they were in their houses or not could hear him.
"The caravan is here! The caravan is here! They're one week early! They're one week early!".
Arthur smiled and placed four of the skewered meats in one hand, while eating a single one with the other. He wasn't going to waste any time in exchanging or choosing his Fae.