Chapter 179: Moving Up

Edgar returned to the Fortress as the afternoon slowly began to fade.

The repairs had made the place almost unrecognizable compared to the ruins he had walked through earlier.

With restored walls, repaired roads, and workers moving between different sections of the territory.

Most of the things that Edgar wanted to fix were more or less done.

Now all he needed to do was to expand and work on the other things within the Fortress.

‘I should most probably start working on creating electricity,’ he thought to himself. ‘With an enormous river like Han close by, I can make it relatively quickly.’

Still, there were a lot of things that Edgar needed to work on before he could start with Electricity.

‘For now, I just need to start.’ He thought. ‘One step at a time.’

He entered inside the Fortress, and the first thing Edgar noticed was Semele.

She was standing close to the Unbroken Fire, watching the strange flames burn without producing any smoke or consuming any visible fuel.

‘Why does she have such an obsession with Unbroken Fire?’ Edgar wondered to himself. ‘Every time I see her, she will always be present close to it.’

As weird as it was, Edgar had no plans to ask her why she does that.

He was already too deep in all the mysteries around her that he didn’t want to get more cryptic answers.

Edgar walked toward her. “Semele.”

She turned her head toward him, and a playful smile immediately appeared on her face.

“Edgar.” She looked him up and down before tilting her head slightly. “Did you need something from me?”

Her tone carried a teasing edge that made Edgar suspicious.

He ignored it. “Where were you last night?”

Semele simply smiled, but she didn’t answer.

During the whole thing, she was nowhere to be seen.

Part of him wanted her to be close to Hera, but he didn’t want to ask her to do it.

‘…Well, it worked out in the end.’

Edgar stared at her for a few seconds, waiting for an explanation, but she seemed perfectly content to leave the question hanging in the air.

Eventually, she spoke. “You did a good job protecting everyone.”

Edgar’s expression softened slightly. “I couldn’t protect all of them.”

Semele stepped closer and gently patted his back. “You did more than enough.”

Edgar didn’t respond immediately as he looked at the fire as well.

Her words were simple, but they still eased some of the weight that had remained in his mind since the battle.

After a moment, Edgar looked toward the ground. “There’s something beneath the Fortress.”

Semele’s smile disappeared, and her face became strangely dazed as she continued looking at him.

Edgar noticed the change immediately. “You know something about it?”

Semele shook her head. “It’s not something you were aware of.”

Edgar narrowed his eyes. “Are you lying?”

Semele remained silent for a moment before sticking out the tip of her tongue playfully.

“Maybe.”

Edgar sighed. “What am I supposed to do with that answer?”

She smiled again. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to check the place.” Edgar’s expression became serious.

“If there’s something dangerous underneath the Fortress, I need to know about it before it becomes a problem.”

Semele looked at him for several seconds. “You should focus on growing stronger first.”

Edgar nodded slowly. “I know.”

Her words reminded him of the ritual he had been planning.

There were still requirements he needed to fulfill, including the blood of Nightmares.

Ten to be more specific.

The fight that had happened last night did provide him with a lot of Nightmare bodies.

‘I wonder if I can find all the blood that I need for the ritual.’

Edgar glanced toward the main gate. ‘With all those bodies outside, I should be able to find what I need.’

The battlefield still contained countless Nightmare corpses.

Even if most of them had already begun deteriorating, some of the stronger bodies should still contain usable blood.

Edgar clenched his fist before letting go. “I’ll get stronger soon.”

Semele smiled.

“I know you will.” She tilted her head. “So, what do you plan to do next?”

Edgar looked around the Fortress. “There are a lot of things I want to do.”

He paused before continuing. “I’m planning to upgrade the entire area, but I’ll have to do it one thing at a time.”

There were too many problems to solve.

The Fortress needed more buildings, better defenses, more food production, storage facilities, and eventually a proper road connecting it to other settlements.

Edgar also wanted to understand the system’s capabilities better.

“I have a lot of things in my mind,” he continued. “I just need to execute them one by one.”

Semele smiled. “Do you need anything from me?”

Edgar looked at her suspiciously. “What can you give me?”

Semele leaned forward slightly. “I can warm your bed.”

Edgar stared at her, and for several seconds, he didn’t say anything.

Then he simply turned around and started walking away.

Behind him, Semele’s giggling echoed through the area.

Edgar ignored her completely. ‘I’m surrounded by strange people.’

He continued walking deeper into the Fortress.

His eyes eventually landed on the four open-floor Agricultural Houses.

The structures had survived the battle relatively well, although several sections had required repairs.

Edgar changed direction and walked inside.

The temperature immediately became warmer.

Rows of plants grew across the soil, with workers carefully checking their leaves and adjusting the irrigation channels.

The smell of damp earth and fresh vegetation filled the building.

An old man was standing near one of the cultivation beds.

“Oswald.”

The old man turned around. “Young Master Edgar.”

Edgar smiled.

“How are things going?”

Oswald looked around the Agricultural House before answering.

“Better than expected. The plants have recovered quickly now that the structure has been repaired.”

He crouched beside one of the crops and carefully examined its leaves.

“However, we’re approaching the limit of what these four houses can produce.”

There was only a limited number of crops that could be produced in the area.

Even though it’s still a substantial amount, those working in the Agricultural House still have way too much free time.

Edgar looked across the rows of plants. “How much more can we grow?”

Oswald shook his head. “Not much more without overcrowding the fields. If we increase the number of plants, their growth will slow because they’ll compete for nutrients and mana.”

Edgar nodded. “Then we’ll build another Agricultural House.”

Oswald looked up. “Another one?”

“Yes.”

Edgar looked toward the empty space outside the building. “We have enough room, and we’ll eventually need much more food than we produce now.”

Oswald smiled faintly. “That would certainly help.”

Edgar continued thinking.

Once production increased, they would eventually have more food and magical plants than the Fortress itself could consume.

That meant another problem would appear.

“What about the surplus?”

Oswald tilted his head. “The extra crops?”

“Yes.” Edgar folded his arms. “We’ll need somewhere to sell them.”

He began thinking about possible trade routes.

The Fortress was still isolated, but it couldn’t remain that way forever.

They could sell crops to nearby settlements, establish agreements with merchants, or eventually create their own trade route toward larger cities.

The exact method could be decided later.

For now, Edgar needed to increase production first.

“I’ll think about the trade routes,” he said. “Once production increases, we’ll find somewhere to sell the excess.”

Oswald nodded. “I’ll begin preparing the workers.”

Edgar gave him a small nod before walking back outside.

The air was colder now.

He stopped near the edge of the Fortress and looked across the land he now controlled.

The restored walls stood behind him, while the agricultural buildings continued operating in the distance.

For the first time, the place was beginning to feel less like a ruined fortress and more like something that could actually become a settlement.

Edgar slowly raised his head.

He thought about his deal with the church, which gave him more connections that he needed to sell his crops.

‘…I still need to find more ways to earn.’ He thought. ‘Maybe I can start with selling weapons.’

Suddenly, Edgar remembered the group that had the people of the Subsidiary Fortress as slaves.

Even though it was just an intuition, Edgar couldn’t let go of the idea that they might find out about him soon.

With all the things that happened, Edgar wasn’t really that keen on believing in his luck.

‘…I need to be careful about how much power I show to the world.’

Above the Fortress, the sky was covered by the same murky grey-black fog that had remained for as long as he could remember.

It hung over the world like an enormous ceiling, hiding whatever existed beyond it.

Edgar stared at it silently. The air had begun to feel heavier.

The distant wind carried a faint chill across the land.

Edgar narrowed his eyes. ‘The Eternal Rain is coming soon.’

And when it arrived, everything outside the Fortress would become far more dangerous.