Chapter 856 - 866 - Prepare

Chapter 856: Chapter 866 - Prepare

Once the decision was made, Lucien turned his attention back toward the village.

The tax collector would not return for several days.

That gave them enough time to prepare.

Luke, Cienna, Lucien, and several of the younger villagers might soon be gone at the same time.

Lucien did not like leaving the village weaker because its most capable people had decided to visit the capital together.

He had already begun thinking about what needed to change when the exhaustion of the previous night finally caught up with everyone.

The village had fought through a raid, spent the rest of the night clearing bodies and repairing the worst damage, then spent most of the following day speaking with the tax collector, paying taxes, discussing the ledger, and deciding who might travel to the capital.

By late afternoon, even the most stubborn villagers were beginning to slow.

Tavian sat beside the forge with a hammer still in his hand and stared at the same piece of metal for long enough that Luke finally took the tool away from him.

Mirelle attempted to review the village accounts again, reached the same line three times, and closed the record book without finishing.

Auren checked his horse, forgot that he had already done so, and checked it again.

Lucien himself felt his thoughts becoming increasingly sluggish.

There was little value in forcing more work from people who could barely remain awake.

So for once, he stopped.

The village settled much earlier than usual that night.

The forge went quiet.

The training ground remained empty.

Doors closed one after another until only the night watch remained awake.

Lucien lay in bed expecting his mind to continue working through everything they still needed to accomplish.

Instead, exhaustion took him almost immediately.

He barely remembered closing his eyes.

Morning came gently.

For the first time since the Iron Jackal attack, Lucien woke feeling properly rested.

The village seemed different as well.

The fear had not disappeared completely, but it no longer occupied every expression.

Children were running between houses again.

Someone was already hammering near the forge.

Mirelle had returned to arguing over numbers.

Auren was checking his horse with the seriousness of someone inspecting a military asset.

Normal life had resumed.

That reassured Lucien more than any wall could.

The villagers had killed people.

They would carry that memory.

They were still themselves.

Lucien ate quickly and went outside.

Now they could prepare properly.

He consulted the System again that morning.

This time, his questions focused on defenses that ordinary villagers could operate without requiring years of combat training. He asked about stronger gates, simple warning systems, protected firing positions, mechanisms for moving heavy barriers, and ways for a small number of defenders to control narrow approaches.

The System provided far more information than the village could realistically use.

Lucien selected only what fit their materials and abilities.

Tavian understood the approach almost immediately.

"If we make something too complicated, nobody will know how to repair it when we leave."

Lucien nodded.

"Exactly."

That became the rule for everything they built.

The first day was spent on the warning system.

They placed small bells along several approaches to the village and arranged simple signals so that people could distinguish between trouble from the road, the forest, or the fields without someone having to run across the settlement shouting.

The villagers practiced until even the older residents could recognize the signals.

Lucien also reviewed the night watch.

He increased the number of people rotating through lookout duty while making sure nobody stayed awake long enough to become useless the following day.

By evening, the village could raise an alarm far faster than before.

The next morning, attention shifted toward the wall.

Several firing gaps were adjusted so that crossbowmen could aim comfortably while keeping most of their bodies behind cover.

Tavian and Luke reinforced sections that had been damaged during the Iron Jackal attack.

The hooks that had worked so well during the raid were strengthened too.

Tavian forged heavier heads for them while several farmers practiced catching shields, ladders, branches, and anything else that might approach the wall.

Lucien spent part of that afternoon working with Tavian on another idea.

The ordinary crossbows had proven useful, but he wanted something that older villagers and weaker defenders could operate without having to draw a heavy bow by hand.

So they built several crossbows on wooden supports.

The mechanisms could be wound gradually.

The frame carried most of the weight.

The shooter only needed to aim and release.

The first finished model looked clumsy.

It also worked.

One elderly hunter examined the mechanism carefully.

"So I can use this?"

Tavian glanced at him.

"You still have to aim."

The old man stared.

"I have been hunting longer than you have been alive."

Tavian wisely stepped away.

Lucien smiled.

Over the following day, they built more.

They did not need dozens.

A few well-placed mounted crossbows were enough to strengthen sections of the wall that might otherwise depend on physically stronger defenders.

The gate received attention after that.

Heavy wooden barriers were prepared nearby so they could be moved into position quickly if the entrance was breached.

Lucien borrowed ideas from wagon construction and had Auren help with the rollers and guide grooves.

Instead of requiring six people to drag a heavy barrier across the ground, two or three could move it quickly along the prepared track.

Auren approved immediately.

"Finally, something you learned from wagons."

Lucien raised an eyebrow.

"I have learned many useful things from wagons."

"Mostly that your backside hurts after several hours."

Lucien ignored him.

Auren laughed and continued adjusting the rollers.

The defensive work continued into the following day.

Lucien had learned enough from the Iron Jackal attack to know that a wall alone could never be their only protection.

If part of it failed, the villagers needed somewhere to fall back without collapsing into panic.

The central area near the grain store became their secondary defensive point.

Cienna organized medical supplies nearby.

Clean cloth, boiled water containers, herbs, splints, and basic tools were gathered into one accessible location instead of being scattered through different households.

Large water barrels were kept filled both for injuries and for fires.

Families were assigned places where children and elderly villagers should gather if another alarm sounded.

Lucien made everyone practice the evacuation once.

The village complained.

He made them practice again the next morning.

The second attempt was much faster.

Seran watched from beside the training ground.

"You enjoy ordering people around."

Lucien looked at him.

"I enjoy them staying alive."

"That sounded almost noble."

Lucien ignored him.

Seran smiled.

By then, Tavian had also begun experimenting with the basic ballista principles Lucien had asked the System about earlier.

The project took longer than the smaller defenses.

They spent most of one day simply building the frame, reinforcing the joints, and arguing over how much tension the materials could safely withstand.

Tavian called the first finished version ugly.

Lucien disagreed.

"It looks like someone built a crossbow after only hearing a description of one."

Lucien stared at it.

"Does it work?"

Tavian hesitated.

"Yes."

"Then it is beautiful."

Tavian looked offended.

The weapon required several people to operate and took too long to reload for ordinary fighting.

Its value was in the force of a single heavy bolt.

They mounted it near the inner approach to the gate where it could cover the entrance if the outer defense failed.

The mechanism remained deliberately simple.

Anyone using it only needed to know how to wind it safely, place the projectile, aim the frame, and release.

When they finally tested it against a thick timber target, the heavy bolt drove deep enough that the sound brought half the village running.

Auren stared at the projectile buried in the wood.

"Remind me never to stand in front of that."

Seran walked around the machine.

"I was about to say the same thing."

Lucien inspected the frame carefully.

For human attackers, it was more than enough.

For larger beasts, it might eventually become useful.

For dragons, Lucien knew they were still nowhere near what would be necessary.

That problem could wait.

The village needed to survive the enemies it could realistically face first.

The preparations continued over the next few days without consuming every hour.

People still tended fields.

The forge still handled ordinary repairs.

Children still ran through the village.

Meals were still shared.

The defensive work simply became part of the village’s routine.

Seran spent much of that time helping the villagers understand how human attackers behaved.

He showed them where thieves usually looked first when approaching a house.

He explained how someone might pretend to be harmless while watching a gate or counting guards.

He also taught them how gangs tested people’s confidence before deciding whether violence was worth the trouble.

Aurelia divided her time between helping Cienna and Mirelle prepare supplies for the journey and finishing several small ornaments they could use for trade or gifts in the capital.

Mirelle made sure the village retained enough coin after taxes and gathered examples of their better crafts.

Auren marked the quickest routes between the village, nearby settlements, and the city so that messengers could move quickly if anything happened while they were gone.

Luke moved constantly between groups, but much of his attention went toward the people who would remain behind.

The village chief had already begun transferring more day-to-day responsibility to several experienced residents.

Lucien approved.

He did not want the village to depend entirely on Luke or himself.

So the training changed too.

Lucien began forcing other people to command the drills.

At first, they constantly looked toward him whenever something unexpected happened.

He refused to help.

One hunter stared at him during a mock breach.

Lucien stared back.

"What?"

The hunter frowned.

"What do we do?"

"You are in command."

"I know."

"Then command."

The man looked deeply unhappy with that answer.

Lucien smiled.

The next attempt went better.

By the third day, the defenders could respond to a simulated alarm without waiting for Lucien to tell them where to stand.

That mattered more than any new weapon.

The village would miss several capable people when the group left for the capital.

It would still function without them.

That was what Lucien needed to see.

Only after he became satisfied with the defenses did attention shift fully toward the journey.

Clothing was repaired.

Travel food was prepared.

By the time several days had passed, the village was as prepared as Lucien could reasonably make it.

He still worried.

That was unavoidable.

Leaving meant accepting that something might happen while he was away.

The difference now was that the villagers would not be helpless if it did.

On the morning they expected the tax collector to return, Lucien stood near the gate and looked across the settlement.

The wall had been repaired.

The warning bells were in place.

The mounted crossbows waited beneath protective covers.

The heavier weapon near the gate had been tested repeatedly.

The villagers knew where to gather, who would command, and how to respond if another threat appeared.

Lucien finally felt comfortable enough to leave.

Around midday, one of the lookouts called from the wall.

A carriage was approaching.

This time, nobody reached for a weapon.

They already recognized the escort.

Auren came to stand beside Lucien near the gate.

"He’s back."

Lucien nodded.

The tax collector’s carriage grew larger along the road, accompanied by the same mounted men who had visited several days earlier.

Luke emerged from his house with Cienna beside him.

Tavian arrived carrying his bag of tools.

Mirelle had already prepared her records.

Seran and Aurelia came together.

The village gradually gathered near the gate.

Lucien watched the approaching entourage and felt something stir inside him that had little to do with mining rights or royal rewards.

For weeks, the village had been the center of everything.

It had given him safety, familiar faces, and a place to begin understanding this ancient era.

It had also become something he needed to protect before he could move farther into the world.

Now that preparation was finally enough.

Beyond the approaching carriage waited the capital.

Beyond the capital waited a world Lucien had barely begun to understand.

Somewhere in that world waited the reason he had stayed in the past at all.