As I surveyed the ramshackle buildings in our village, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of concern. "These houses we built are in poor condition," I remarked to Fasit and Serena. "We need to do better."
Fasit shrugged. "We don't have the skills for it," she said. "We did the best we could with what we had."
"But it's not enough," I replied. "If a heavy rain were to come, it could weaken the mud or clay we used to build our homes. And we only have six buildings, with three of them not open to the community. Accommodations are very difficult."
Serena nodded in agreement, "My lord is right, it's important that we have the best housing space. We can't expect our people to endure subpar living conditions."
Fasit scratched her head. "So what do we do?" she asked.
I pondered for a moment before replying. "We need to come up with a solution. We can't keep living like this. I suggest we hold a village meeting to discuss the matter and brainstorm ideas."
Serena chimed in with a hint of humor. "Maybe we could ask the deer to start building houses for us," she joked.
Fasit chuckled. "Or maybe the trees could lend us a helping branch," she added.
We all shared a laugh, but knew the seriousness of our predicament. We needed to come up with a real plan if we were going to solve the housing problem. "Perhaps we could ask some of our more skilled grygans to teach the rest of us how to build better houses," I suggested. "Or we could trade with neighboring villages for building materials."
Serena nodded thoughtfully. "And we could set up a system to prioritize the most vulnerable members of our community for the three houses we have available."
Fasit grinned. "Looks like we've got ourselves a plan," she said.
Before I called the village meeting, I had something to share with my team. "We have a big problem," I said to Fasit and Serena. "We don't have anything to trade with the other monsters in the Great Forest. They already have everything we do."
Fasit crossed her long arms, standing taller than Serena and me, and looked thoughtful. "Hmm, well, maybe we could trade our skills instead. We could teach them things that we learned as grygans."
Serena, who was taller than me but shorter than Fasit, shook her head. "I don't think that will be enough. We need to come up with something more valuable."
I frowned, feeling a bit jealous of their heights. "Well, what about clothes? We could trade some of our clothes for something we need."
"But we don't have any cotton or wool to make clothes," I added.
Fasit chuckled. "Looks like we're in a bit of a pickle then."
I grinned. "Can't we just hunt some wolves for their fur or something?"
"That's not possible," Fasit said. "The Beast King sees them as sacred creatures, so we're not allowed to harm them."
"Bullocks!" (Lumiere)
Fasit patted my back. "Don't worry, Lord Lumiere. You're doing your best with the situation at hand. The Beast King understands that we're a new development. I'm sure we'll figure things out."
I nodded, feeling a bit better. "Thanks, Fasit. I hope so. I also haven't finished making the rules for our community to abide by. I feel like I'm failing."
Serena placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "You're doing great, my lord. We're all in this together."
...
It took a few hours.
I couldn't believe it. Serena had just come up with an idea that could actually work! "Serena, you're a genius!" I exclaimed, my eyes lighting up with excitement.
She grinned at me. "Thank you, my lord. I think it's the perfect solution for now. You can use your [Earth Magic] to make some shelters, like igloos."
I scratched my head. "Well, my [Earth Magic] is only Rank B, so it won't be that easy. But we could try. Fasit, what do you think?"
Fasit had a mischievous glint in her eyes. "How about we make bricks instead? We could use clay to hold them together until we find a better adhesive."
I gasped. "That's a brilliant idea! I can't wait to try it out!"
But I had an idea too. "And since I can use [Plant Magic], I can fix our roofing problems. I could conjure vines that will make the foundation sturdy and act as a roofing method too."
Serena nodded in agreement. "That's fantastic, Lumiere. But won't it cost you a lot of mana?"
I shrugged. "I don't plan on doing much physical work anyway. That job will belong to Mojito and his security team. They can handle the heavy lifting."
We all high-fived, excited about our plan for housing. "Let's get started!" I shouted.
We spent the day creating the bricks and erecting the structures. Fasit was an expert in architectural development, directing each step of their procedure as we worked. Despite some setbacks, we managed to construct our new homes and shelters.
In the end, our community had a place to call home, and it was all thanks to our combined efforts and clever ideas. It was tiring work, but we had a lot of laughs, some at Fasit's expense.
"Hey, Fasit, you sure you don't want to be an architect?" I joked.
She grinned. "Ha, very funny, Lumiere. But I'll stick to being your assistant Lord Lumiere, thank you very much."
It took a full four days to be able to construct houses, but we ended up with twelve houses and one small one which served as the security post. Hence, that post marked the start of the Grygan Village until further expansion of the community.
- - - - - - - - - -
As I gazed out at the village, my eyes scanned the homes and people. I was wearing my usual attire - a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, tucked neatly into my khaki pants. My brown boots were already covered in dust and dirt from overseeing the village back and forth, but I didn't mind.
Recently, I tried learning the names I assigned to all 123 grygans, it was far from easy, but not impossible.
Magenta had also been teaching me the grygan native language. I was still learning demon language but in the absence of its learning resources, I focused on the grygan language.
Aside that, the only important thing I did was to monitor the village's progress. If I got lazy, that job would shift to Fasit.
Today, was a day of rest for me.
As we sat under the shade of a tree, Serena and I were eating some blueberries when Mojito approached us. He greeted me with utmost respect, and I nodded at him in return. "What's on your mind, Mojito?"
Mojito was quite muscular, this made him look much more cooler with his tribal tattoos. He had black hair and light-colored skin like any other grygan. His eye colour was a radiant green and his most prominent feature was the scar crossing his left eye.
He bowed his head. "We need weapons, m'lord. The security team only has bows and arrows, and we need something better if we want to protect the village."
I nodded in agreement. "Yes, that's a good point. Do we have any iron available?"
Mojito shook his head. "No, we don't. And none of us in the village are skilled in blacksmithing either."
I rubbed my chin, deep in thought. "Hmm, that's going to be a problem. We can't just rely on bows and arrows forever. We'll have to figure something out."
Serena spoke up, "What about trading with other villages? We do have bricks now, maybe we could get some iron that way."
Mojito nodded in agreement. "Yes, that's a good option. I'll send out a scouting team to see if they can find any nearby trading posts."
I grinned at him. "Excellent idea, Mojito. You're a valuable asset to this village."
Mojito bowed again, his expression solemn. "Thank you, m'lord. I'll do my best to keep this village safe and secure."
As he walked away, I turned to Serena with a smirk. "I think he's got a crush on me."
Serena rolled her eyes. "You wish, he's just respectful. My lord."
I chuckled, enjoying the light moment before we delved back into serious discussions once again.
As I resumed devouring my sweet berries, Serena's voice interrupted my thoughts.
"How long do you plan to stay here, Lord Lumiere?" she asked.
"Probably no more than two months," I replied honestly.
"Your father... won't he be worried?" Serena inquired with concern.
"I'll send Magenta to deliver a letter I wrote to the post office tomorrow so it can reach the royal mansion in the capital," I reassured her. "I also plan to write to Lord Randolph and ask for more magicubella herbs. We could sell some to merchants in Nuvada, but I want to prioritize the grygans and use it to form a trading post near our territory."
Fasit entered the conversation and greeted me respectfully. "As useful as having such things would be, we still need some grygans to learn some trade," she pointed out wisely.
I couldn't help but remember the talented grygan girl, Mimosa. She was exceptional in making medicines. Thanks to Fasit's guidance she could mix herbs and make potent medicinal concoctions.
"We have Mimosa and her team. They know everything about herbs and medicines. Still we can create more trading opportunities for ourselves if we can get people to teach them," I replied, feeling optimistic.
Serena looked impressed. "That's a great idea!"
I grinned. "Wait, there's more. I have an idea..."
Serena interrupted my reminiscing. "Well, don't keep us waiting."
I was still silent.
"Lord Lumiere?" (Fasit)
In truth, I simply wanted to build some suspense.