After Sasha left to recall the militia she had sent out to escort incoming villagers, Lucas began running around madly, trying to settle as many of the already arrived refugees as possible.
It was a heavy burden, but through some clever strategies and a hefty amount of delegation, within half-an-hour, the boy had gotten a somewhat functional resettlement system working.
Together with several of Sasha's staff, a number of his own employees, and some other volunteers, Lucas quickly designated 50 of the closest homes to the Town Lord's Manor as temporary shelters. About half of these homes were occupied already, requiring some quick negotiations, but the rest, which had been abandoned, were 'requisitioned' by Lucas, with the intention of seeking the owners consent later.
This was, no doubt, a forceful solution to the problem, but with the constant blaring of horns coming from the western part of town and new refugees arriving every moment, Lucas wasn't too concerned about the consequences of his actions.
Once the shelter issue was somewhat resolved, Lucas turned his attention to other mounting problems, such as distributing supplies to the new arrivals.
Many of the fleeing villagers had come empty-handed, or with just the few items they could carry on their backs. These people needed food, water, blankets, bandages, and a whole host of other things that Redwood Town would have to provide unless it wanted to deal with riots on top of everything else tonight.
It wasn't just the refugees, mind you. The front lines also needed to be frequently resupplied with medicine, dressings for wounds, and sterile water.
Fortunately, by the time Lucas got back to the Manor to start working on these issues, some of the mobile rescue teams had returned from outside of town, giving him a group of people and wagons that were immediately ready to move out.
Although it was harsh asking these Town Guardsmen and militiamen to immediately get back to work without the slightest bit of rest, there was no other choice right now.
At Lucas' direction, Helen and Grace, along with a dozen non-combat volunteers, set up several big fires in the Manor's front yard, over which giant pots were placed and porridge was being constantly cooked.
Rolls of cloth were also being tossed into a separate boiling pot to sterilize them, along with baskets of needles and other less friendly looking medical tools.
Once these supplies were prepared, they were either distributed on the spot, or packed onto wagons bound for the safe-zones and barricades.
Blankets, soap from the storehouse at the Manor, and other essential supplies were also constantly being sent out.
Lucas thought about using his soap workshop, which had several large stoves and iron pots, as a secondary kitchen, but it was too far away from the established safe-zones. In order to use the workshop, he would also need to put together another transport team and a separate group of militia.
There simply wasn't enough manpower to spare, so Lucas had to settle for sending some volunteers to raid the workshop and bathhouse to bring back anything useful.
A number of disputes had broken out during Lucas' time in charge, mostly arguments over food or space. Even something a simple as someone getting a slightly larger portion of porridge could set people off in this stressful environment, but Lucas managed to keep things from spiraling out of control through a mix of diplomacy and intimidation.
As a 10-year-old boy, Lucas wasn't very imposing, but with 5 or 6 strong men and women carrying clubs standing behind him, most people smartly apologized for causing trouble and backed down.
For the few who didn't know what was good for them, Lucas didn't show any mercy and had them beaten directly. It was a level of decisiveness and ruthlessness that honestly shocked the adults around him, but it was undeniably effective.
It was just as things were settling into a hectic kind of rhythm that Sasha finally returned, a whole hour later than she had anticipated.
When he saw his aunt ride in on her horse, covered in dirt, her hair disheveled, and blood covering her armour, Lucas panicked and released his Soul Sense instinctually to check her. It was only after he confirmed that she was uninjured that he breathed a sigh of relief and ran over, "Aunt Sasha!"
Jumping off her horse, Sasha glanced around at the orderly lines of people queuing up for a late dinner, as well as the wagons being loaded with supplies for other parts of town, and couldn't help smiling. It seemed leaving Lucas in charge while she was gone wasn't a mistake.
Walking up to her young nephew, Sasha was about to ruffle his hair when she noticed that she still had blood on her gloves and smartly withdrew her hand, instead just nodding to him, "You've done well, Lucas. Better than I anticipated."
Shaking his head, Lucas replied modestly, "I just did what I could."
Knowing how stubborn the boy could be, Sasha decided not to argue with Lucas, "If you say so."
Taking a closer look at the boy's face, Sasha noticed clear signs of fatigue and decided on the spot, "You've done enough for now, Lucas. Leave the rest to me and get some rest."
"But…" Lucas wanted to object, but Sasha raised her hand to stop him.
"I know you want to help, but from the looks of it, you can barely keep your eyes open," Sasha continued with a serious expression on her face, "This situation is going to continue for days, at least, and there will be plenty to do when you wake up, so sleep for now."
Pursing his lips, Lucas had no choice but the acquiesce. Up until now, he had been running on adrenaline, darting from one problem to the next, but even he knew he was approaching his limit.
For all the training he had done to build up his strength and stamina, Lucas was still just a child.
I'll get a few hours of sleep and then get back to work, Lucas thought to himself, "Alright, Aunt Sasha. I'll finish up the last things I was planning to do before heading to my room."
"Good boy," Sasha nodded, before quickly walking off towards the Manor.
Sasha would have liked to take a quick shower in the private bathhouse Lucas had set up at the Manor, but thinking she might soon be back in battle, she decided to skip that for now.
Taking a deep breath, Lucas made a quick list in his head before heading to the outdoor kitchen; he needed to hand over his responsibilities to others before turning in for the night.
On his way over, Lucas ran into Eris and a handful of their friends. While Lucas had been busy running around organizing things, he had also enlisted the help of his big sister and some of the older kids who wanted to help.
The things Lucas assigned this group of helpers were all simple tasks, like running errands or delivering messages, but the anxious youngsters were more than happy to chip in. The children might not understand the details of what was going on, but they knew that their parents and all the adults were feeling anxious and afraid, and that was enough to frightening them as well.
The looks on these kids' faces were all somewhat haggard, but they nonetheless kept their enthusiasm up as they asked, "What should we do next?"
Most of the time, when they were out playing, Eris was this group's default leader; but at the moment, Lucas had undoubtedly assumed that role as he was the most level-headed of the bunch, despite being one of the youngest.
Looking at the eager yet tired expressions around him, Lucas sighed and shook his head, "Lady Sasha said that there's not much left to do right now, so we should rest while we can."
"But aren't all the grown-ups still running around?"
"Aren't there more villagers arriving all the time?"
"What about the wounded people in the infirmary?"
Naturally, this group of kids didn't want to just go to bed like they were told, so they began raising questions and objections, the loudest of which came from Eris herself who declared, "I'm going to go talk to my mom!"
Lucas hurriedly grabbed his impulsive big sister's arm, realizing that if she stormed off to argue with her mother right now, she would likely receive a swift kick in the pants as Sasha was in no mood to waste time on trivial matters.
The only reason Sasha even bothered explaining herself to Lucas before was because she knew he could be reasoned with; but with her rambunctious daughter, she would definitely not show the same level of patience.
Desperately working his tired brain, Lucas soon came up with an idea and said, "Let's head to the rear hall where the younger kids are sleeping."
One of the most unfortunate circumstances of the current crisis was that a great many children much younger than Lucas were currently without their parents or guardians.
There were a number of reasons for this, the simplest being that the adults were busy around town; however, there was no small number of children from the villages who had somehow gotten separated from their families on the road.
As for whether these children had now become orphans… that was a question Lucas didn't dare to think about.
In any case, these young kids and toddlers couldn't just be left unattended, so while he was arranging more living space earlier in the evening, Lucas had set aside a few rooms in the back of the Manor to serve as a kind of childcare centre.
Hearing Lucas' proposal, the group of youths, most of whom were age 12 to 15, were confused at first and turned their gazes towards him, hoping he would explain.
Seeing that he had gotten their attention, Lucas cleared his throat and said, "Lady Sasha wanted us to rest, so that's what we'll do. In that room, half of us can sleep while the other half help take care of the kids. Then, a few hours later, we switch. This way, we can free up the adults who are there to keep an eye on our little brothers and sisters."
"Ooooh," the group of youths looked impressed with Lucas' quick wits and immediately agreed. Eris looked particularly proud as she puffed up her chest and patted Lucas on the head, as if praising him for being so smart.
As usual, Lucas smiled helplessly at his big sister's antics, but still felt warm in his heart. After that, he led the group of youths to the rear of the Manor where they relieved the handful of elderly men and women who were currently looking after the young children.
Once they were settled in, Eris turned to Lucas and said, "You should get some sleep first."
Lucas was about to object, when the others chimed in, "That's right. You're our leader Lucas, you need to sleep so you can, you know, lead us."
"En en, you were also hurt earlier, so you need sleep more than us."
"You're the youngest, so you should sleep first!"
Being cut off by everyone, Lucas had no choice but to nod.
Grabbing a blanket from a big pile at the side of the room, Lucas lay it down to create a kind of make-shift bed then leaned against the wall and watched as the other youths quietly argued about who else would sleep first. The sight was amusing to the young boy, drawing a chuckle from his lips.
Turning his head away from the room, Lucas found himself staring out a nearby window and up into the night sky. As the world around him faded away, the young boy entered a somewhat strange state.
After sitting down and letting the tension fade from his body, Lucas discovered just how tired he really was; he even wondered how he had remained awake this whole time despite running around for literally the entire day.
The strangest thing, though, was despite how exhausted he felt, Lucas couldn't fall asleep.
Perhaps it was his tightly wound nerves, or perhaps it was because there were too many thoughts swirling about his head. Whatever the case, Lucas found himself just staring out into space, unable to rest, regardless of how weary he was.
Lucas was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he failed to realized that even the faint whispers of the other youths who came in with him had all faded away.
It wasn't until quite some time later that Lucas returned to his senses and looked around, only to discover that he was the only one who was still awake as the others were either wrapped up in blankets, snoring lightly, or simply slumped over with their eyes closed, clearly having fallen asleep while 'on duty'.
A wry smile crept onto the young boy's face as he shook his head and got up, grabbing a few more blankets to drape around everyone's shoulders before he sat back down, taking the first watch of the night by himself.