The next day.
As usual, I was already up before the sun rose. I had a lot on my plate, thanks to a certain someone.
I headed toward the southeast section of the settlement to build Oliver and Olivia's workstation.
I chose the area with the most natural lighting. So they could work more comfortably. Comfort equals steady production.
I made the structure a single floor with open space. Enough room to move freely without bumping into each other.
I made a long working table in the center where they could both lay out fabric, with still more than enough space to do a somersault. Whatever they needed the space for after that was up to them.
I sat on the floor and made the spindles, the needles, and everything else Oliver had listed. He had been very clear. Very explicit about it.
I expected him to work accordingly without complaints. I was providing everything he needed. He had better be worth it.
Not that I was anxious about it. I had never been anxious about anything.
Elder Elka's worried face kept surfacing in my head uninvited.
And I wasn't worried about them shivering through the winter either.
I just needed new clothes to change into. That was all there was to it.
It was easier to think that way.
The sun had fully risen by the time I finished the entire shop. Tools set up, everything in place, ready for them to use.
Then Savina and Maya's voices broke through the quiet morning. Maya was crying about something. I didn't particularly need to know what about.
But my feet were already moving toward them.
"Leigh, good thing you're here. Can you help me? Maya's ill." Savina's voice was trembling.
I pressed my palm to Maya's forehead. She was burning up, sweating.
"Heal."
My mana pushed into her small body. Her breathing steadied slowly. Her temperature came back down to normal.
But I wasn't happy about it.
Happy?
Why was I thinking about happiness in this situation.
I looked down at the sleeping child and gritted my teeth, frowning.
"Leigh, thank you so much. I wouldn't know what to do without you here. If you weren't here, Maya wouldn't..."
"Stop. She's alive." There was more agitation in my voice than I intended.
"Savina! How's Maya?"
Leopold came running toward us, panting, covered in sweat and bruises and fresh wounds from whatever he had been doing in the fields. He was still clutching a fistful of weeds in one hand.
"She's fine now. Look, she's just sleeping."
Leopold looked at his daughter and dropped to his knees.
"Thank the Gods. She's fine." He started sobbing, still holding the weeds.
Both of them now.
"You're disturbing her sleep. Quiet down."
I turned around. I couldn't stomach the sound of it. I walked toward the tarantula's enclosure instead to check on the fabric production. Anything was better than standing there while they cried.
The idea of them getting sick was making me annoyed.
The rest of the residents woke up and fell into their routines. Everyone was relieved to hear Maya had recovered.
Celina and Helene started working on breakfast, harvesting fresh crops from the farm to use as ingredients.
Oliver and Olivia helped around the settlement with Gringo showing them the layout.
Cooking had become easier. I had built a functioning kitchen beside the Sequoia tree to stop them from calling me every time they needed fire lit.
A magic stove and a magic oven, both designed from the memories I carried from my past life. I could use them openly now without anyone asking questions.
Cooking time was efficient and on schedule.
While they managed their routines, I gathered the fabrics folded neatly at the tarantula enclosure entrance.
The mother tarantula had been diligent. I stored the mountain of fabric in my item box and left her fresh Glowfruits before heading back down.
When they called me for breakfast, I noticed the food was entirely vegetables.
Torra came running out of the house the moment he woke up and launched himself at me. Barrier up. Caught by the collar. Set on the bench beside me without ceremony.
"Vegetables. I like meat." Torra said, looking at the table with a pout.
Maya, now awake and sitting across from him, nodded in solidarity.
"Yeah. I like meat too."
"Me too." The other three children followed immediately.
"Torra, Maya, Rafa, Jenna, and Nico." Savina's voice came out firm. "There's no more meat. You were all perfectly fine eating vegetables before. Don't be picky."
"But Brother Leigh likes meat too." Torra looked at me pointedly, clearly expecting backup.
I nodded.
Celina and Helene exchanged a look and sighed in unison.
"We wanted to make meat dishes. But we've run out." Celine said, barely above a whisper.
"We'll go hunting later. The children and Leigh can have their meat." Favio chuckled, waving a hand to reassure the children.
Their faces lit up immediately.
I was not convinced.
"You'll just die." I said flatly, and moved to stand.
Elder Elka's hand landed on my shoulder before I could go anywhere. Torra locked both arms around mine. Gringo appeared behind me.
"No teleporting. Eat, Leigh." Elder Elka's tone was firm in a way I had not heard from her before.
I sat back down slowly and picked up my fork.
"That's right. Eat first. The vegetables aren't that bad." Gringo set a bowl of soup in front of me.
"What do you mean not that bad?" Helene reacted, though without any real heat behind it.
Gringo's face went red. He laughed and scratched the back of his head.
"I like meat too. So I was hoping to go with Leigh when he hunts." He admitted.
Every man at the table looked at me with the same expression. Expectant. Decided.
"Leigh." Favio set his fork down and met my eyes directly. "Will you teach us to hunt?"
Nalvik, Benneth, and the others nodded beside him.
"We don't want to rely on you for everything. We want to help too. You've already done more than enough. Let the food be on us. We can handle that much." Benneth said it with the kind of determination that had no room in it for negotiation.
I looked at each of them.
"It's easier if I do it. I can get it done in seconds." I said flatly.
"We know. But that's not the issue." Favio held my gaze without flinching. "We want to work for our food. We're grateful for what you've done, for how comfortable you've made our lives. But Leigh, we want to be useful too."
"Teach us how to hunt." Gringo said it with his eyes steady and full of resolve.
These people.
They wouldn't simply take what was given. They knew they were weak. They didn't use it as an excuse.
Back in the Empire, everyone had leaned on me until they forgot how to stand on their own. The knights grew lazy and unfit because they knew I would handle it. That was what being a weapon produced in the people around it.
Here, it didn't seem to matter that I could do everything faster and cleaner on my own. They still wanted to do things themselves.
Benneth still weeded the farm surroundings by hand. Favio still plowed and smoothed the soil himself. The women still harvested with a knife rather than the auto-harvester I had built with magic stones.
They chose to. Nobody asked them to.
Grateful but not reliant.
I finished my food and stood. I hadn't left anything in the bowl.
Torra slurped his soup down in a hurry and stood immediately after me. The men at the table did the same, one by one.
Even Oliver, barely a day into the settlement, hastily scraped his bowl clean and pushed back from the bench.
"You're not coming." I looked at him.
"But-"
Before he could argue, I pulled the pile of Tarant fabric from my item box and dropped it on the ground between us.
"You have work to do."
Oliver stared at the enormous mound of fabric in front of him. Olivia was already on her feet, gathering what she could carry.
"The workstation's done. Ask them what needs to be made."
I turned and stopped when Torra's hand found mine.
"Brother Leigh. I'm going hunting too."
"No."
I removed his hand gently and Elder Elka moved in immediately, settling her hands on Torra's shoulders before he could follow.
The men fell into step behind me as we walked toward the gate.
Behind us, the women helped Oliver and Olivia carry the remaining fabric toward the southeast corner. When they opened the workstation door, Oliver and Olivia both went still.
Four spindles. Full sets of needles and scissors in different sizes. Unweaved web thread stacked neatly to one side. And a sewing machine that looked more refined than anything they had used at the boutique.
Everything was already there.
Everything Oliver had asked for and more, prepared without complaint and without being asked twice.
The twins looked at each other.
They had been taken without warning and brought to a place they had never heard of. But standing in a workstation better than anything they had ever dreamed of having, working in a settlement that ran more efficiently than the capital they had come from, it was hard to call it a bad outcome.
While they settled into their work, I led the men of the settlement toward the forest.
They wanted to learn how to hunt.
They asked for it.
I was just doing what they wanted.