Three days passed since we cleared the fourth Quintal Trial.
Master let the raiders did nothing but rest throughout that time. The victory celebration was even postponed.
It was a wise decision since Fina had not yet woken up ever since we returned from the twentieth floor.
"I'm getting worried, Sir Brohm. Isn't there anything we could do to treat Her Excellency?"
Erlin, Fina's personal maid, said concernedly.
We were currently watching over Fina sleeping in her room.
Other than lying still on her bed, Fina would occasionally grunted in her sleep.
But she would not wake up.
"Sir Siltram and Lady Zalostin had already woken up yesterday morning. Shouldn't we be worried by now?"
Erlin added.
A medicine woman named Balma had examined Fina. She said there was nothing wrong with Fina in regards of her body, except that she was still weak due to overexertion.
Djhotti had also performed his own examination.
He said there was a great energy raging inside Fina.
Apparently she would not wake up until that overwhelming power settled in her body. And that there was nothing we could do about the condition.
Fina would had to deal with the situation herself.
And I had no doubt she would triumph in this battle as well. She always did.
"The Keeper told us to simply wait. Each day Fina's body is turning more stable than before. It would take a while but she would get better and wake up eventually."
I told Erlin.
The maid nodded to me with concern still lingering on her face.
"As you say, Sir Brohm. If you'll excuse me."
As the maid left the bedroom, the fairy emerged in a flash of light.
[Ah, she still hasn't woken up, huh.]
She said with a disappointed look.
"What's the matter, warden?"
I asked as I approached the small winged creature.
[Master is ordering for improvement on all the lobby facilities as well as construction for new ones. We need the Vice-Master to manage all the work.]
"Fina is still resting. Can't someone else fill in for her?"
The fairy clicked her tongue upon my words and began mumbling to herself.
[Tch. That's a pity. I guess I do have to ask the other party leaders. But that mercenary is still brooding in his room. And the lycanthrope pretty much scares all the workers in the lobby. Perhaps the dwarf or that lightning lady then?]
"Why don't you let me do it?"
I asked suddenly.
[What?]
It seemed to be the right thing to say at the moment.
I had been telling Fina that she should have more people helping with her work. I had also been wanting to help ease her burden in some way.
This would be the opportunity to do just that.
"If you need someone to talk with the other supporter chiefs, then I could do that. I know most of them and I know my way around construction work and other hard labor."
It was true.
During the hard times in my village, I was often sent by the village elders to go to other farms to communicate with the other farmers and shepherds about their problems so we could solve them together.
The other young men and I would also help out whenever a farmer would build a barn or a silo.
Should not be too different here in the forged land.
[If you say so, shepherd. Come to Serafina's office so I can show you what you need to do.]
The fairy said before vanishing.
I made sure to fix Fina's cover and kissed her on the head before I left the room.
Following the fairy's instruction, I headed to Fina's office in her private wing in the magic hall.
Stacks of papers were laid on Fina's desk and on the floor all over her office. They were all Master's orders and reports from the supporter chiefs.
The fairy suddenly appeared by me.
[Alright! Let me explain what you need to do!]
She continued to tell me what Master wanted to be done from their orders as well as what should be done from each lobby reports.
Assigning people for the given task, allocating resources, assigning people to collect the lacking resources, actually performing the task, doing the same thing with the other tasks, making sure we had enough people and resources to complete all the tasks at the appointed time, reorganizing everything when Master gave new orders…
There were so much things to be done.
And Fina had been doing all of these work daily since she became Vice-Master.
I thought that the supporter chiefs were able to relieve her from some of her duties in the lobby.
Apparently there remained a lot of things that the Vice-Master needed to sort out.
And this was simply for facility construction work.
There were still other matters regarding weapon and potion production, trainee development, lobby personnel appointment and management, specific development projects for the Raid Team, and even more specific plans for the Reserve Forces and the Main Forces.
Fina had been doing all these work while also spending many hours exchanging strategies with Master in the Tactical Post?
It was truly surprising she managed to find the time to eat and sleep at all, let alone train.
She had been carrying all these heavy burden on top of her duty as a raider.
"You really are incredible."
I could not help but whisper.
[What was that?]
"Nothing. Anyway, I think we should start by gathering all the supporter chiefs and…"
I began my effort to support Fina and started tackling all the tasks Master required from her role.
There were quite a lot of things Master wanted built.
New forge and equipment workshops on each floor of the lobby. Lodgings expansions. Installing specialized training facilities for all training ground. And more.
It was quite overwhelming at the beginning.
This was way more complex and difficult than the problems in my village.
But, fortunately, Lady Sharine the magic hall's depository manager and Sir Jasper the Chief Administrator were kind enough to help me with the things that I was not well-versed of.
After one whole day of meeting and planning, once the supporter chiefs and I got everything planned out, we managed to set all the tasks in motion.
"So this is the new schedule for the trainees."
I told Trudy, the Chief Instructor, as she was overseeing more than a hundred trainees doing combat exercises in the first floor training ground.
All the construction projects were already underway and being managed by the supporter chiefs. So I was able to start attending the other orders Master had given.
The more tasks I got done, the less burden Fina would have to carry once she woke up.
"Rest days have been reduced. Trainees are to immediately climb the next floor once they've levelled up enough. New training plans to be implemented immediately."
Trudy recited Master's instructions on the thick document in her hands.
I nodded.
"We lost a lot of raiders on the twentieth floor. Master wanted to replace them as soon as possible. And don't worry. The rest days will be restored once we've recovered our number."
"This order also includes the second floor trainees climbing above the twelfth floor, Jonah."
"That's right. Master wanted you to expedite their climb as well."
"It will be hard managing them all. We already have over two hundred trainees on the first floor alone."
The Chief Instructor said.
"On that topic, Master has opened up instructor positions for the second floor training ground."
I told her.
I continued while looking at the experienced heroes instructing the trainees before us.
"We would need to start appointing people for those new posts. Perhaps some of your instructors already working on the first floor?"
Shingg!
A light flashed from the second floor of the lobby.
It came from the direction of the summoning chamber.
Since it was the summoning chamber on the second floor, Master must had summoned more advanced heroes.
I best make time to greet them later.
"Fulfilling the skill requirements for the new instructor positions would be the issue, Jonah. Instructing trained 2-star heroes would not be as simple as training inexperienced 1-stars."
Trudy said as her eyes were still focused on the document.
"Fina had also set requirements for the first floor instructors, hadn't she? Have you all fulfilled them?"
"A few Apprentice Instructors have. Most are about to reach theirs. If you could help us train, we would fulfill the requirements sooner."
I nodded to the Chief Instructor.
"Tell the Apprentice Instructors to come to the third floor later. The others and I in the Main Forces will help them train until--"
"KYAAA!!!"
A scream from the second floor of the lobby cut our conversation short.
Trudy and I immediately left the training ground and rushed the stairs leading to the second floor of the lobby.
A huge crowd had gathered in front of the advanced summoning chamber.
Several second floor trainees had armed themselves with their weapons and pointed at something above the building.
"Monsters! Monsters in the lobby!"
One of the trainees shouted.
The fairy immediately appeared in front of them, her face was filled with fury.
[WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING?! THESE PEOPLE ARE HEROES LIKE YOU, DUMBASSES! SO DROP YOUR WEAPONS BEFORE I SMASH YOUR HEADS IN!]
I turned to see what was causing all this chaos.
"What in Dunia?"
Trudy whispered bewilderedly.
I could not believe what my eyes were seeing either.
Perching themselves at the top of the summoning chamber were five…people?
What made me unsure was the fact that each of them had giant wings flaring from their backs.
"Foolish wingless! How dare they call us monsters?"
One of the winged people shouted at the crowd.
She was a woman, the eldest of the group. Strange symbols were painted all over her face and body. There were also peculiar accessories made of feathers and bones adorned on her.
The winged woman continued with a face of disgust.
"Have these humans forgot that they used to honor us? How they would surrender their entire fortune just to hear the messages we carried? Ignorant fools! To think these people are the chosen like us! I'm starting to regret bringing my children here with me!"
"Mother, where are we? Why have we come to the land of the wingless?"
A small winged boy beside the woman asked.
He did not have the peculiar accessories like the woman, but he did have the similar symbols painted on his face.
"You do not remember, my son?"
The woman said with a frown.
She maintained the expression as she looked around the winged people beside her.
"Strange. It seems not even your sisters remember what happened either."
She continued while waving her hand through the lobby's scenery.
"We are in the forged land, my children. The land of the chosen itself. We have come here so that we could save our mountain."
This woman knew about the forged land.
She must be at least a 4-star hero like Fina and the Keeper.
"By the Great Mother, what a grand welcome this is!"
A strong heavy voice echoed from inside the summoning chamber.
There were more people! Master did not just summon five heroes!
Soon walked out from the chamber were another five people with identic golden eyes.
I could immediately tell they were humans but they certainly did not dress like one.
Each of them was wearing dark glimmering fabric which was so pressed on their body like their own skin.
Only after looking at them closely, I realized that the dark fabric was not fabric at all.
It was scales. Fish scales!
"Haha, it's been a while since I met land-dwellers. About three or four centuries ago, wasn't it, darling?"
A huge muscular man with long black hair and great black beard said with the deepest voice I had ever heard.
There was a large golden trident hanging on his back. I could already tell it was not an ordinary weapon and the man knew how to use it.
"Indeed. Right when we vanquished that pitiful invader fleet."
A pale-haired woman next to the huge man said.
She wore a weird golden crown adorned with pearls and colorful gemstones. It actually seemed more like a warrior's helmet than a crown.
She continued.
"Though I believe the children had their encounter not that long ago."
The woman then turned to the black-haired young lady behind her.
"Isn't that so, Morivia?"
"Yes, mother. It was 98 years ago, to be precise. Right at the start of the Lauthan War. Given humans' brief lifespan, the man who helped us back then must had already long passed by the time we came to this forged land."
The lady replied.
She had peculiar bangles and rings on her hands. They reminded me of the enchanted rings we would wear in battle.
And instead of a long trident, she had a pair of short silver trishulas hanging on her waist.
I was pretty certain all those objects were not just accessories to her.
She continued while staring at the crowd of trainees with despise.
"Though from what I'm seeing on this pool of land-dwellers so far, I doubt we'll find any as honorable as him here. This is not what I expected when I first heard about the forged land from that deity."
A pale-haired muscular young man behind her suddenly clicked his tongue while staring at the crowd in front of the summoning chamber. He had a long silver trident on his back.
"These humans seem to be as pathetic as those pirates we met back then. Are they supposed to be the army of heroes that voice told us about?"
A tall pale-haired lady next to him nodded with disapproving stare upon the crowd.
She did not have a crown on her head like the first woman. Instead, she had a silver trident on her back like the men.
"It is disappointing. I expected more from the so-called heroesof the forged land."
"Now, now, children. Remember we need to work with these land-dwellers so we could reclaim our ocean."
The woman with the crown said to the three young people.
I just realized she also had a pair of golden trishula hanging by her waist.
The huge man with the golden trident nodded to her and looked sternly to the three young people behind him.
"Behave yourselves, children. We gave our promise to pledge ourselves to the master of the forged land and join their army of heroes. The Matair never breaks their promises."
The three people behind the pair immediately bowed obediently to the huge man.
"Understood, father! Please forgive our trespassing!"
The sight of these new heroes made me lost for words.
Just what had Master summoned to the forged land?