"What do you mean we are not as safe as we think?"
Christian said as he took another sip of water. The water felt extra cold as he drank it, like a chill ran down his spine. He did not want to know what Castiel truly meant by that. Unlucky for him, he was about to find out this second.
"Well," Castiel began to say, "you already know of the existence of the Rage Virus. It is something we cannot control as Archangels and not something even the Creator God and other deities can control well. The only one capable of rebelling against the Creator God is the Demon Lord. We know it connects to him because of the traces of mana radiating from the affected creatures and deducing it from the Demon Lord's overarching goal."
"What is that goal?" Christian asked as he got more water from the well and turned to face Castiel. "Is it something pretty obvious?"
The warrior Archangel nodded. "Yes, it is. His main goal is obvious, at least. That goal being to conquer the entire continent and make it fall to his will. He wants the entire continent to become the Demon Lord Empire. The Demon Lord hates the other nations and how they are ruled. He probably created this Rage Virus to strike more chaos between the nations and choose carefully when to plan his war."
"How much danger is this location in?" Christian asked in response. "Give it to me real."
Castiel's expression turned grim as he looked out toward the campsite entrance.
"Let's just say," he paused for a moment, "that we are in no immediate danger right now, but if the Demon Lord himself finds out about this settlement and finds out that you oppose him or his ideals, things will get nasty extremely quickly. The only thing in our favor is that nobody would expect a settlement directly within the Forest of Hellfire and that the Demon Lord's Palace is located way beyond this location. So news would take time to travel to him and his military."
"That's a relief at least," Christian replied as Darya walked up randomly next to him. He patted her head as she wagged her tail and stuck her tongue out. Today was a nice day out. The sun was high in the air, and the wind blew slightly cool. It was a peaceful small oasis in the middle of a notoriously dangerous forest. How long that oasis would last is only something fate itself knew.
"What do we do to prepare for any danger?" Christian said as he picked up a wooden frisbee and threw it for Darya, who ran toward it. Yes, the most powerful magic wolf of water and ice was playing fetch with a divinely blessed human.
Yet, this was like a normal Tuesday for Christian. Despite the power his wolves and his allies had, it would still be a bit of a challenge for the future war if they were not prepared for it.
"We prepare for it by making sure our defenses are elite-level and that we unite strong allies together. That is why it was good we took on those elves into this settlement. Not just for resource labor, but also military might. If we find other people who need a place to live or are lost, which it is easy to get lost in this forest, we should consider taking them in if we think they can be trusted with it," the Archangel said as he watched the elves work in the field.
"I see," Christian set down his cup and stretched his arms. "That makes sense. Well, let's focus on that after we finish our main agriculture work right now."
With that, Castiel and Christian finished their conversation and joined the elves in the fields. Darya went back to play with her pups by the wolf house. After more crops were harvested and stored in large containers, it was time for lunch. Flaro happened to come back with some fresh meat, which the group made into a nice stew.
"This is delicious!" Elara said as everybody sat at the campfire for lunch.
Christian smiled. He was glad people enjoyed the meals here even if it was not luxury. Having more people here also meant more people who knew how to cook and make things. After lunch, they all took a tour around the campsite.
Christian led the tour around the place to show the elves.
"Here is the Archangel house where Castiel and Seraphina stay," Christian said. He then pointed to the opposite side of the campsite. "Over there is the cabin you guys built for yourselves. In the center of the campsite is obviously mine and Rhea's cabin. Behind our cabin is the campfire..."
They continued around the campsite. He showed them the watchtowers, the moat, and the protected extra crops on the side. It took a while to tour, but it was worth it. The length of the tour proved how much his settlement had grown.
After the tour, Christian gathered everybody on behalf of Castiel's request.
They all got to work on planning and building defenses against possible threats, mainly monsters enhanced by the Rage Virus. The Rage Virus lowered the victim's patience to almost zero and made them have the IQ of a brute. However, it raised the victim's magic and strength stats from double to possibly tenfold depending on the one affected.
Depending on the monster, the Rage Virus could cause even more destruction.
Everybody used their magic to enhance the strength of the walls and the size of the watchtowers. They also spent time constructing enchanted stone around the campsite and not just enchanted wood to make it stronger. It took all day for everybody to get this done, but by the time it was finished, it looked completely upgraded.
It was now evening, and so they celebrated with a nice dinner.
Everybody started walking to their cabins once the meal was finished.
Before Christian walked back to his house, Castiel walked up to him and said one more thing.
"Good work today," he started off with, which surprised Christian. The warrior Archangel wasn't known to be that friendly even though Seraphina did say he truly meant well. "Tomorrow I will take you out into the forest. I think you are ready to see a little bit of what lies out there."
Christian thanked Castiel and agreed that they could do that tomorrow. They left to go to sleep.
What didn't leave were the thoughts in Christian's mind of what could be out there.