Chapter 102: Busy Hands
Chapter 102: Busy Hands
The new arrivals conferred in the back rooms for a few minutes, then sent a message forward.
"We will send a group to go plant the tubers today. We’ve got shovels because they’re great weapons. So, we will dig holes to bury them. You said it would work, and it’s a lot less work than tilling a whole field.
Are they something like potatoes? Plant them every half a metre or so, with a cut root showing eyes?"
Kalli nodded. "You can usually use quarters, as they’re quite large. They are easy to raise, just give them a bit of water. That part might be a pain because there is no river close enough to walk to, and the well inside the Academy is not particularly easy to get to from here.
There is one river that is relatively close, but it’s on the other side of that tree line, where the Swineherd Demons and their boars have gathered."
"Alright, we will start now. We’ve had breakfast, and I think that everyone needs something to do after being stuck in the bunker for so long. Just being able to go outside here is a good start, and the windows of the building are relaxing compared to the darkness of an underground emergency shelter."
Kalli shrugged. "You really should block the first two floors like the other building did. It makes the entry dark, but it also stops monsters from jumping in the windows.
Keeping them from noticing you when they’re focused on the heroes is essential to survival.
We’ve got more people than before, so we will extend the lines, but some of the monsters are sneaky."
"We will have teams get on both of those things. There are bricklayers in the union, they did maintenance at the dock warehouses, so if they can find some rubble, they can make something work."
"Tell me if they need mortar. Fieldstone works to fill windows as well," Kalli agreed.
Then, she turned to let them sort their own workers out. They had managers with them who knew the people, and nobody would question their qualifications. They might question their competence, but that was a personal issue, not her problem.
Kalli had just made it back to the gates, intending to return to her new office when a System Message arrived.
{Trial 2 Main Mission Has Begun} [The Seasons Change]
Kalli simply stared at the message for a few seconds. They were coming into early autumn, wasn’t the season already changing? How was that a mission worth calling the main event of a Trial?
She had an uneasy feeling that there was something terrible about to happen.
And that was confirmed when the crabs on the beach suddenly began flooding toward the ocean with their newly hatched offspring.
"Wait! Before you plant those tubers, I just got a notice that we’re about to get a season change. I think that the winter weather here is not going to be the usual coastal mild weather," she called.
"Should we prepare greenhouses? I don’t think we have anything to make them with."
Kalli frowned. "That’s not a bad idea. I will see if there is anything that we can do. But I think that there is a reason all the tuber plants are gathered in the edge of the forest. Either the trees stabilize the temperature, or they break severe winds."
The man nodded. "Can we send an electrician and a pipefitter to try to get the boilers online? If we really are going to have a severe winter coming, we’re going to need heat, and that means either collecting wood or getting the building’s boiler online."
Kalli nodded. "Do the same for both apartment buildings. For all I know, we might actually be coming into summer in this place, but I just got the warning that the seasons are changing."
The man nodded. "If it’s bad enough to give you a warning, we’re going to need to prepare better than average. I will have everyone try to make shutters for the windows and hang insulation if we can find something.
Does the Academy have a swather?"
Kalli shrugged. "I have no idea. I know they have bagging mowers, but I don’t know if they have a swather."
"We will send someone over. I will let you all prepare, since the Academy buildings will need it too."
She wasn’t the only one that had received the message, though. Some of the residents of the other building were running out to find her, while all the heroes had snapped into action, making plans to shelter against severe weather.
There were three major options.
Either a severe winter cold snap, a typhoon with deadly winds and severe flooding, or an extreme hot spell.
All of them needed slightly different responses, but the easiest way for them to guess was to see what the Swineherd Demons were doing. If they were building shelters with thick walls, then it was likely a winter storm. If they were retreating from the lowlands around the river, it was most likely a typhoon or flooding event.
But if it were heat, they likely wouldn’t be doing much except moving closer to the river, or preparing water storage.
The locals should know best what to do about the change of seasons.
There were heroes headed for the forest now, intending to see what was happening with the Swineherd Demons, and plenty of civilians headed for the tree line to gather some more food, just in case the weather was bad enough to kill them.
They were tubers, and root crops were generally pretty resilient against temperature changes. But if they were baked by extreme heat or flooded and rotted, it would be a huge loss.
So, loading up a spare room with food was the best idea for today, regardless of the quest rewards.
The teams that went to the forest were back much faster than Kalli had expected.
"Coordinator! We’ve got an issue. The bacon is gone!" Bert shouted.
"They took the bacon? This is WAR!"
The big warrior laughed at her theatrical response and shrugged. "The entire grassland is emptying. The Swineherd Demons have gathered around the river and they’re all moving inland.
Over half the grassland is already gone, and the rest are all mobile.
There isn’t a single group that’s showing the intentions of staying. Combine that with the crabs all leaving the beach, and I do not have any good feelings about the future of the cafeteria menu."