As soon as the guardsman had left, Sasha could no longer contain her frustration and smashed her fists against the wooden table, nearly breaking it in half as she cursed her own helplessness.
When Charles first inherited the Newton Barony, he had very little knowledge about how to be a Lord or how to govern a territory; so, it was Sasha, with her more comprehensive noble education, that took over most administrative affairs.
Perhaps if she had been the Lady of a Viscounty, or County, in charge of tens of thousands of subjects, Sasha would be able to detach herself from the common folk, but in such a small Barony, it was only natural for her to become close to the people she interacted with on a regular basis.
Now, Sasha would be the first to admit she didn't know all of the people in Redwood Town, much less the surrounding villages, but she knew enough of them.
She felt not just a sense of responsibility for these people's livelihoods, but also a sense of kinship. Knowing that dozens, if not hundreds of them were suffering and dying while she was powerless to do anything about it hurt her deeply.
"Aunt Sasha?" A voice suddenly called out from the doorway. It was Lucas, who had rushed over to deliver an important report, but he clearly understood he had arrived at a bad time.
The young boy had heard his Aunt Sasha get angry before, like when his Big Sister Eris or Uncle Charles did something foolish, but today was the first time Lucas ever witnessed Sasha lose control like this.
When an anger filled glare whipped around at him, Lucas instinctually froze in place. Even if he knew that he wasn't the reason for his aunt's current rage, Lucas still felt a chill run up his spine being stared at like that.
Realizing it was Lucas who had called out to her, Sasha quickly shut her eyes and took a deep breath to control her emotions before asking in as calm a voice as she could muster, "What is it, now?"
Seeing her in such a terrible mood, the last thing Lucas wanted to do was give his aunt more bad news, but not telling her wasn't an option, so he steeled himself and reported, "I'm sorry, Aunt Sasha, but our 'friend' just woke up, and it looks like he's about to leave."
Sasha immediately felt her heart drop as the room seemed to spin around her. So far, Redwood Town had been spared from the worst fallout of the disaster thanks to the presence of the Sixth Order Great Oriyan; but it now seemed that their grace period was over.
That alone would have been enough to depress Sasha, but unfortunately for her, Lucas wasn't finished, "Also… we're running out of space to house people in the safe-zones."
Barely stopping herself from cursing again, Sasha took nearly a minute to steady herself before rubbing her temples in frustration and asking, "Is there any way to convince our 'friend' to stay? Even one more hour would be a massive help."
Lucas very much wanted to say yes, but when he closed his eyes and extended his Soul Sense, the picture he saw was clear. Although his Soul Sense wasn't nearly powerful enough for him to get a clear view of what was happening so far from the Town Lord's Manor, the Great Oriyan's intense aura was like a bright light in the darkness, making it easy for Lucas to track.
Shaking his head, Lucas sighed, "The Great Oriyan just took off and flew… east? That's weird… Regardless, he's already gone."
Although Lucas was curious about why the giant bird had decided to fly east, as the only thing east of Redwood Town was more humans rather than the ancient forests Farah said such species of beasts normally lived in, he didn't have the time or energy to ponder such trivialities right now.
On the other hand, Sasha was completely focused on the immediate problem. Without the Great Oriyan's deterrence, it wouldn't be long before beasts from the Great Western Forest began storming Redwood Town again.
Turning to the young boy who was basically serving as her second-in-command, Sasha let out a sigh, "Lucas, I need you to find a way to handle the housing problem."
Pursing his lips, Lucas nodded, his mind churning, looking for a solution to this issue.
The Town Lord's Manor was quite large given that it wasn't just Charles and Sasha's home, but also the centre of government and the barracks for the Town Guard. It had numerous warehouses, training halls, and even fields which could be used to temporarily house people, but it still had its limits.
With so many of the townsfolk taking refuge here, and more refugees from the local villages pouring in, it was only natural that space filled up quickly.
If it was just a matter of cramming people in, there was still some room left in the Manor, but a lot of the villagers who just arrived were injured and couldn't just be thrown anywhere and left to bleed out.
On Lucas' suggestion, Herbalist Erwin and the other healers from around Redwood Town had set up a kind of infirmary in the largest hall of the Manor to treat people with serious wounds, but with so many patients, the injured soon spilled out into the adjacent hallways and rooms, taking up a huge amount of space.
In other words, Lucas needed to find space outside the Manor to house people, at least temporarily.
Maybe we can use the nearby houses? Lucas thought to himself.
While it might not be as safe outside the Manor, keeping some people in the neighbouring properties would only require expanding the patrols a little bit.
As Lucas was mulling this idea, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Sasha donning her armour and instantly had a bad feeling, "Aunt Sasha, where are you going?"
Grabbing her spear, Sasha declared, "With our protector gone, we can't afford to disperse our forces anymore. Someone needs to get out there and recall all the teams that were sent to escort the village refugees to town."
Although he agreed with Sasha on this point, Lucas couldn't help asking, "Does it have to be you who goes, Aunt Sasha?"
Frowning deeply, Sasha paused for a moment before nodding, "Everyone skilled at riding a horse is already out there. I'm the only one left."
"What about…" Lucas started to protest, but found himself at a loss half-way through.
Walking up to Lucas, Sasha bent down and grabbed his shoulders, staring into his eyes and she said, "Don't worry. I'll be back as soon as I find someone who can relay the order in my place."
Her expression turning solemn, Sasha continued, "Until I get back, you're in charge, Lucas."
Hearing this, Lucas' jaw dropped. He had never expected to be given such a heavy responsibility and was momentarily dumbstruck.
For her part, Sasha also felt a mixture of helplessness and embarrassment. It wasn't long ago that she had vowed to stop depending on Lucas so much, but now she was literally dumping the entire weight of Redwood Town onto his little shoulders.
However, in this case, she really had no choice; thanks to all the projects Lucas had been running over the past 9 months or so, he had earned the respect of all the staff at the Manor and had his own team of workers who were fiercely loyal to him.
Additionally, Lucas was deeply familiar with almost all aspects of Redwood Town when it came to finances and infrastructure as he was the one behind the recent improvements in these fields.
Then, of course, there was Lucas' wealth of advanced knowledge from his inherited memories.
It was doubtful if all the ordinary townsfolk would obey Lucas' orders, but everyone else who Sasha might have been able to hand off her duties to was already swamped with work, so there was no one more qualified to take charge right now than the young boy.
Sasha also figured that as long as it was only for a short time, it wouldn't be an issue for Lucas to take charge as he could just rely on the adults around the Manor to relay any necessary orders.
Seemingly understanding the dilemma his aunt found herself in, Lucas choked down his reservations and nodded, "I'll do my best, Aunt Sasha. Just… hurry back, please."
"Good boy," Sasha patted his shoulders before standing up and dashing off to the stables. With any luck, she would be back within half-an-hour, but Sasha knew better than to count on things going according to plan tonight.
…..
Left alone in his Uncle Charles' office, Lucas had to take a moment to gather his thoughts, but he didn't tarry for long as he knew there was no time to spare.
Slapping his cheeks, the young boy psyched himself up, It's only for an hour or so, just do what you can for now, Lucas!
After his brief moment of self-motivation, Lucus ran off, looking for a few people he could trust to issue orders to. His first priority was to settle the ever-growing number of refugees while recruiting more able-bodied volunteers for the defence forces and all the non-combat related work that needed to be done.
Needless to say, Lucas didn't anticipate getting any sleep tonight as the number of problems that needed to be solved just kept growing larger, no matter how many were dealt with.