Exactly one week had passed. What once could only be called a modest camp was gradually turning into a real, cozy settlement. Instead of the original three, six sturdy wooden houses now stood in neat rows.
Thanks to Elyria's magic, the landscape itself had transformed. The forest had grown several times larger: the tree canopies became taller and denser, filling the air with freshness and the scent of pine needles. The mountains, under the spirit's influence, had finally grown to their natural size. Crystal-clear waterfalls cascaded from stone cliffs, flowing into deep rocky hollows and forming small, cool lakes.
Iron sat in the middle of the camp. Before him lay a large, thick sheet of paper on which he was tracing architectural lines with a thin graphite stick.
Iron had taken on the project that was destined to become the heart of this place—the Main Building. This was where they planned to hold general meetings, make decisions, and welcome high-ranking guests or kings from other lands, should they ever pay a visit.
Iron thought through every little detail. The main three-story section with high vaults towered in the very center. Two side wings branched off to the left and right—they were noticeably lower and smaller than the central structure, but maintained the same strict style.
The first floor of the central section connected to the two side wings via covered walkways with completely transparent walls and floors, allowing one to cross comfortably from one wing to the other.
At that moment, Iron was busy drawing the facade of the complex's right wing on the blueprint.
As Iron was rendering every detail on his drawing, Noah, who was standing nearby, suddenly heard the faint rustle of footsteps coming from the thicket. In that same second, a green light flashed in the air, and Elyria materialized, having sensed an unfamiliar presence of mana.
The spirit instantly flew up to Iron and eagerly chattered away:
"Iron, Iron! There are people nearby again!"
Iron didn't even lift his head from the paper, continuing to neatly draw a straight line:
"Just chase them away."
"Okay!" Elyria replied and immediately darted over to Noah.
Hovering right in front of his face, she declared with an air of self-importance:
"Noah! Iron ordered you to make them leave!"
Noah looked at the spirit with disbelief:
"He ordered you to do that, didn't he?"
Elyria hesitated for a second but said anyway:
"You, of course!"
Noah just let out a heavy sigh and shook his head:
"Alright, there's nothing else to do anyway..."
But they didn't have time to finish. Two young men stepped out of the dense bushes at the edge of the clearing. Looking at the wooden houses that had sprung up and the structures still under construction, one of them stopped in amazement and nudged his friend with his elbow:
"Uh... Listen, was there a village here before?"
"I don't think so... There shouldn't have been. But let's ask!"
One of the guys decisively took a few steps forward, raising his hand in a friendly manner:
"Hello! My name is John. Could you tell me, have you seen a green crystal around here by any chance?"
Noah measured them with an icy glare and replied:
"No, we haven't. You're the third group to ask. So get out of here."
John was taken aback for a second, then exchanged a glance with his friend.
"Alright... Maybe they really don't know. Let's go," the second guy said quietly.
"Fine, let's go," John sighed, and they turned around and hurriedly retreated into the depths of the forest.
As soon as the guys' figures disappeared behind the trees, Elyria puffed out her cheeks in displeasure, flew up to Noah, and circled above his head, gesturing wildly:
"See? You shouldn't have destroyed that crystal! You really shouldn't have!"
"But without that crystal, there are no more monsters here. You should be thanking me, actually. If I hadn't destroyed it, they would have kept coming along with the beasts even more. So it's actually a good thing that it's gone."
"That much is true!" Elyria pursed her lips stubbornly, hovering right in front of his nose. "But because of that, these humans keep coming to us all the time now! You should've just kept it and given it to them!"
Noah froze and silently stared at the spirit. He had no desire to argue with her.
"Leave me alone," he said curtly, waving her off.
Without waiting for an answer, Noah turned around and walked at a leisurely pace deep into the forest.
As Noah headed deeper into the woods, Eliza walked up to Iron. She stood quietly beside him, examining the blueprint laid out before him and following the movements of his hand.
Suddenly, her eyes caught on the transparent walkways between the sectors, and she said thoughtfully:
"Wait... What if we put water beneath the floor here? And put a glass bridge over it? I think it would look absolutely stunning. We could even put fish in there..."
Eliza paused for a moment and added doubtfully:
"Though... that would probably be too difficult to make..."
"It's a great idea, hold on a second..." Iron interrupted her.
He immediately grabbed his stick and began laying down new lines over the previous sketch with quick strokes.
A couple of minutes later, he turned the blueprint toward Eliza and pointed to the fresh fragment:
"Here, look. We end up with two transparent passages connecting the central sector to the left and right ones. Right underneath them will be a large water aquarium with fish. And there'll be a special maintenance entrance beneath this passage, accessible from the central sector, so we can go in, clean the aquarium, and monitor its condition."
Eliza looked over the resulting schematic with genuine delight:
"Yes, it's perfect!"
Iron turned back to the table and set about refining the minor technical details so that Elyria could easily understand the design and bring it to life.
"If you see Elyria, please call her over," he asked without looking up from his work.
"Alright," Eliza nodded.
Iron was left alone with the blueprint. Staring at the scale of the project, he thought for a moment about the future of their little settlement:
"The place is turning out great... But soon, we'll need to start thinking about expanding our population."
Meanwhile, a little farther into the forest, there was plenty of activity along the banks of a small, clear river. Calling this place a river was a bit of a stretch—the water here barely covered one's feet and only reached mid-calf in a few spots.
In the cool water, Clerk, Lera, Helda, and the others from their group were washing up and happily splashing around. As they collected clean drinking water, they were careful not to contaminate the source. To keep the river clean, they washed their clothes nearby in special containers that Elyria had created earlier at Iron's request.
One of the guys finished washing his clothes, wrung them out the best he could, and looked at them with a puzzled expression:
"Damn... how am I supposed to wear this now? It's completely soaked..."
"Don't worry, Lady Elyria will help!" the spirit suddenly shouted cheerfully, popping out of thin air.
The guy almost dropped his clothes in surprise, but immediately brightened up and hopefully held them out to her.
Elyria touched the fabric with an air of self-importance—a soft green light flashed, and all the water evaporated in an instant. The clothes were not only dry but perfectly ironed.
"Thank you so much, Lady Elyria!" the guy thanked her sincerely.
"Of course!" Elyria declared, proudly turning up her nose and putting her hands on her hips. "If you ever need help, just ask your lady!"
"'Lady', you say?" a calm voice rang out from the path.
Eliza had just walked down to the river and was watching the scene with a smile.
Elyria immediately fluttered up into the air, blinking in surprise when she noticed Eliza nearby.
"Yep!" Elyria immediately tilted her chin up proudly. "I can handle anything!"
Eliza crossed her arms and asked doubtfully:
"Absolutely any?"
"Yep, yep!" Elyria nodded confidently, not doubting her own abilities one bit.
"Well, since that's the case, oh great lady..." Eliza gave a theatrical bow. "Iron is calling for you. He’s probably finished his blueprint by now."
The moment she heard Iron's name and the word "blueprint," all the confidence vanished from Elyria's face. Her little eyes went wide, and she sharply darted backwards about three meters, waving her arms:
"Well... Lady Elyria is all-powerful, of course, but she definitely can't do that task... I have... um... a stomach ache! Yes, a stomach ache!"
Barely holding back a smile at such panic, Eliza straightened up and sighed with feigned sadness:
"Really? What a shame... After all, Iron was just about to give you the entire day off if you helped him bring the blueprint to life."
Elyria froze. Thoughts of a whole day of well-deserved idleness instantly flashed through her tiny head. In that very second, with a loud pop, she shot off and zipped right past Eliza:
"Really?!"
"Mhm," Eliza nodded, smiling as she watched the spirit, who was already flying toward Iron.
Left alone by the river, Eliza chuckled at her own thoughts and said softly:
"Sorry, Iron... And good luck to you, Elyria."
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