"No. It needs to be at least twice as big,

" Layn commented on the makeshift maquette of the hunter's guild constructed from the few wooden blocks and sticks that were still around the camp.

"This will be the central spot of the local community. We need to make it big enough to fit everyone,

" he explained before grabbing a stick himself and reaching the corner of the drawing.

There were only so many materials that could be used to make the maquette. That's why, while its width and length were kept in the realistic scale, the height of the building was symbolized with various items stacked on top of each other.

"Isn't this a bit of overkill?

" Irea asked when Layn finished his drawing.

From the initial square that outlined the outer borders of the building, Layn doubled both its width and its length, quadrupling the indented size of the building.

"It's better to have more space than necessary than even a little too little,

" Layn countered before grabbing his stick and drawing in the mud once again.

With how the camp was devoid of any useful materials of low tier, rather than wasting their materials at creating plans on something, Layn's mercenary would simply clear out the intended construction site from all the grass. With just the dry ground left, they would then pour buckets upon buckets of water on it, turning the entire site into a shallow pond of mud.

While the earth was still thick enough to keep the shape someone would draw in it, after just a few hours in the sun, most of the water would evaporate and turn the soft picture into a stable carving in the ground.

'While the idea for this kind of planning is great, it's not that fun to walk around in the mud,' Layn thought as he cast a glance at his dirty feet.

"Well, our job here is done. Let's move over to the other projects,

" Layn said and clapped his hands together to get Irea's attention.

Just a few days ago, Layn was too troubled with the potential future look of the city to do anything with the current camp. But only a single day had to pass for the archmage to realize a certain problem. Or rather than realizing it himself, he was informed about it by one of the mercenaries that allegedly decided to drop the path of cultivation and specialize in brick-making.

"Boss... I don't know why, but the bricks we stored for longer than a week are all starting to crumble. The man reported right when Layn was fighting off his depression caused by the lack of activity.

"Huh? Something happened to them? Or don't tell me you stored them before...

" Layn attempted to guess the crux of the situation, but he held his words back when he saw the changes on the man's face.

'No, I shouldn't ask if they burned it before. That would be insulting,' he realized, biting on his tongue to prevent it from running loose.

"Sir, we didn't slack with them. This is the first time we have encountered such a situation... But it's also the first time for our bricks to be left unused for such a long time,

" the craftsman added, clearly troubled by the situation.

"Okay then, let's me check it out,

" Layn nodded his head before standing up and following the man to the stockpile of this primitive yet durable building material.

'To think there was something like that.' Layn thought, recalling the memories of the moment when he discovered the reason for the strange behavior of the bricks.

"We cannot leave them unused,

" Layn said after nearly an entire day of walking around the place and inspecting the bricks in all stages of their formation.

"For some reason, the magic inside them isn't stable if they are not a part of a greater structure,

" Layn concluded.

As bad as this sounded, this very discovery was the impetus Layn needed to break free from the prison of his own hesitations. Unable to just stay put and store the bricks for the latter constructions, he quickly came to a realization that the only thing they could do while waiting for Sitra to return... Was to expand the town without bothering how bad it could be later on.

Ultimately, there was a huge chance they would have to tear down all the buildings they would construct in the current period. But there was nothing stopping Layn or his people from using said buildings in the period between their construction and inevitable death!

"At least the canals are going as planned,

" Layn muttered when he arrived at the next construction site. But to be precise, rather than construction, the entire thing appeared like an excavation in process.

With so little manpower, Layn could only move three people to work on this task. In itself, it was a pretty simple and repetitive job. First, the men would dig up a trench roughly two and a half meters deep and one meter wide.

Once the sides of the ditch would be evened out and plastered with a layer of mud that would be then left alone to dry in the sun, the two workers from the brick plant would bring their own products. Then, rather than forcing the diggers to change their line of work, the brick-makers themselves would fill the sides of the entire ditch with bricks.

In the end, the entire thing was just one meter wide and high. The only problematic part was the ceiling of the canal. Without any way to make arches, Layn had no other choice but to put the bricks in a triangular shape so that one side of the canal's roof would block the other.

While this kind of structure wasn't all that durable on its own. Thankfully, the practical test was more than enough to prove that once finished, the structure was sturdy enough.

'After all, if something is capable of withstanding Al's serious stomping, there is no way it would crack just because of people passing above it.' Layn thought when he concluded the tests.

And right now, the severs project, the one thing that Layn figured would be useful no matter how the future city would look like, was surprisingly going in full swing.

'Is it the division of labor or what?' Layn asked himself, curious why this specific project was going so fast. 'Or maybe it's the simplicity of the job?'

All in all, there was only one weird order that Layn gave regarding the canal. There ought to be a hole in the thing every ten steps or so, roughly at the two-thirds of its height. Even once the finished part of the tunnel would be buried, the place with the hole would be marked with a single brick left right on top of the fresh layer of the ground.

The reason for this small complication was simple. In order for anyone to make actual use of the severs, there ought to be a way to connect the local waterway systems of each building with the mainline that would transport the waste out of the city.

'We should make sure to make use of the sewage as well.' Layn thought, already picturing a massive plant where either slaves or low-level hunters gathered to work around the place. By making them fill holes in the ground with the stinky mixture of dung and piss, Layn could create a huge amount of fertilizer.

What other places would often discard to rivers and lakes, Layn had an actual use for. After all, what was the point of polluting the only source of the water in the area by dumping the sewage away if it could be used to produce more food?

"Are you happy now?

" Irea asked, rolling her eyes. If not for Layn insisting for her to accompany him, she could be back at her kitchen preparing more meals rather than wasting her time walking around.

"Tell me, what did you learn from our short trip?

" Layn suddenly asked, not bothering to answer Irea's question at all.

"Huh?

" Irea shrugged in surprise.

"That you like construction? I don't know,

" she shook her shoulders, puzzled by Layn's sudden change of topic.

"Eh,

" Layn sighed before lowering and then shaking his head. After a short moment, he raised his eyes back on the girl. His face was now all serious.

"Listen, and listen well. I can guarantee that I will always be here to manage the construction of this town,

" Layn announced while keeping his eyes on the girl.

"What do you mean by that?!

" Irea instantly flared up. Given the recent events, she was easy to trigger by anything that even remotely suggested Layn and her parting ways.

"There might be times when I will have other things to take care of. And out of everyone in this world, I trust you the most,

" Layn said. His eyes then wandered to the upper left corner as he thought for a moment before a troubled grin appeared on his lips.

"I mean, I trust Markus with all my being and Yelna to a degree...

" he said in a hesitant voice before finally making up his mind and finishing,

"but I can't tell whether they don't have some hidden agenda.

"

"In other words,

" Layn said after taking a moment to calm himself down and swallow a mouthful of saliva.

"If there will be a time when I will be forced to do something away, and you will be left in this or any other construction site that will appear in the future...

" Layn let his sentence hang in the air.

"Then I will be the one who you will entrust with overseeing the thing,

" Irea finished his words, finally figuring out what he was hinting at all this time.