The air outside was quite warm, yet the snow still fell from the thick layers of ashen clouds. This contrasting effect was done by none other than Tyler. He had to use a scroll that controls temperature. It was indeed a low-level scroll as he later found out that a few of the beastmen could use the spell.

Normally the spell was only a lifestyle spell but the scroll was at the tier 3 standard. Somehow the person who made this scroll had forced a low-level spell inside a high-tiered material. The spell made the area within the barrier as warm as the weather would feel during spring.

The reason he had done this was simple, he was bored. Having more questions than answers was indeed a frustrating feeling, to say the least. After attempting to return to the library for days now he was left with no choice but to move on with his plan.

He needed to leave this place for a while and it wasn’t just to learn more about magic or get information but he just needed to getaway. To not think about his problems here for a while. Perhaps being cooped up here was the reason he was so easily irritated.

However, he couldn’t just leave without preparing and he couldn’t leave this place unprotected. Even if there was a barrier, it had been known that the first layer could still be easily breached and who knew what would happen if it was breached when he was away. Tyler needed this place to become a fortress, well, maybe not to that extent.

He also felt bad about practically torturing Azar’s group in the training hall two days ago so he decided to find a way to make it up to them. To be honest, there wasn’t much he could do, and offering a verbal apology might sound sarcastic coming from him.

The only thing Azar’s group seems to enjoy was fighting and improving the efficiency of their skills which was a great thing for the group. Thanks to his little shenanigans, Azar, Kazko, and Rekaz had formed some kind of bond over that incident. They still flinch when he tries to talk with them and spend most of their free time training in the ward.

Even though he had told them that they could now use the training halls and that he had just been messing with them, they didn’t seem to believe him. It was a good thing the trolls were now close with the ogre’s thanks to Azar’s new friendship with them but Tyler still felt like all their training was aimed at him.

Of course, he didn’t think they had any intentions of challenging him as that would be foolish. No, their goal seems to be Zelda and the others. They were obviously obsessively training so there could probably challenge and defeat his shadow Rogues.

They seem to now be aware of the difference between tiers. The stronger one got the harder it was to accurately judge their strength through tiers alone. From tier 2, tiers were generally further broken down into levels. The Basic level or simply referred to normally by the tier.

The intermediate level, the advanced level, and finally the peak tier. Azar was probably just at the basic rank and so were Rekaz and Kazko, while his shadow rogues were at the peak stage. Being a tier 4, the difference between ranks was a lot wider than it was for Tier 3 and subsequently Tier 2.

However, he had only just created Zelda and the others so there was a chance, whilst abysmal. There was still a chance that the three battle nuts would somehow prevail over his undead and he could clearly visualize the smugness that would be plastered on their faces when that happens and he definitely didn’t want that to happen.

He needed to redirect their newfound obsession with defeating Zelda and the others as they were meant for more important things. Since the three needed to be distracted before he left, Tyler came up with a very generic plan of action.

With that, he created a tournament featuring the ogres and beastmen against the two undead he had locked up down in the south wing. Naturally, the promise of fighting Peak Tier 3 undead may not seem as enticing to Azar, Rekaz, and Kazko but he had managed to convince them otherwise.

The undead had a limitless supply of stamina and a Peak Tier 3 undead could go toe to toe with Basic Tier 4 warriors like them. He also added a cherry atop the cake that is the tournament. Those that could defeat one of the undead would receive a prize and if you can defeat both, well, Tyler promised something very special.

What that was, he had no idea but whatever, he would slowly think about it on his trip. He was just happy he could finally put the two undead he couldn’t control to good use. Perhaps they would help the fighters of the settlement reach their potential and improve their skills as they got stronger.

He didn’t plan on watching the entire tournament personally. He had already explained his ideas to Albert and he would organize the rest of the competition without him.

Right now, Tyler was still patrolling the outside of the castle. The Gray trolls were hard at work with some of the ogres fixing all the damaged walls with the limited materials they had. Well, it was more like they were doing a bad job patching the walls as not even Bungo understood how most of this castle worked and the materials used in its construction were insanely rare.

Tyler had also commissioned Bungo to build some artilleries for the four towers. The designs he came up with were a mix of modern technology mixed with magic. He had started Bungo off with as simple a design as possible and planned to get more creative as he got used to making them.

They were a type of large machine gun that fires large enchanted arrowheads as bullets. He had no access to gunpowder and didn’t even know if that would be effective in this world so he compromised.

He had also spent the last day creating undead from some of the Basic ranked beast corpses and the weaker troll corpses as those low-grade materials probably wouldn’t make any decent undead no matter how powerful the spell used was.

As expected, the monsters all turned out to be zombified monsters and the troll, skeletal trolls. Since they were all weak, they were all stationed in the rear entrance of the castle as they would only be used as canon fodders but that was still better than nothing.

After messing with negative energy again, the negative Corruption was slowly building up within him but Tyler used light heal and managed to slow down the process. Since he would be gone for a while he needed to take someone a little more accustomed to this world with him. Deciding who to take with him had also been a major source of headache for him.

He needed someone with the demon continent’s common sense and also someone capable and could use magic. He also needed someone that wouldn’t draw mock attention to him and that eliminated most of the first names that came to mind.

Tyler strolled through the courtyard of the castle with three girls trailing behind him for some unknown reason.

This was the case ever since the last battle with the troll and the elimination of the scouts. At first, it had just been Rain since Erin had been tasked with healing Zomatsu and his ogre friend and Liz was helping out while making sure the shadow Assassin didn’t escape.

He wasn’t even sure how they had gotten rid of Albert who was the one that usually escorted him around.

The first round of his mini-tournament didn’t start until later in the evening so there was no reason for Albert to be gone. They might have bribed him but Tyler didn’t think Albert would fall for that.

While he enjoyed spending time with them, he still wanted some privacy but ever since he announced he would be leaving the castle in the morning, they’ve practically been glued to his hips.

The girls had been the ones to first suggest he took someone with him before Tyler had even seen the benefits in doing that. Rain had then volunteered to be the one that tagged along with him and immediately the others had also aggressively volunteered.

perhaps that was the reason this was happening.

They’ve all been hanging around him since then. ‘Sigh…’ He had thought about the problem extensively. He already had a job in mind for Rain so she was out of the question. Erin was a little too shy for him to take out and now that he had magic Sense, he could clearly sense a faint connection between her and Albert which didn’t seem natural but since they weren’t telling him anything about it, he decided not to pry.

However he wouldn’t let them drag him into any more mess, if that were to happen he would immediately cut ties with them unless the situation greatly benefits him. As for taking Liz along, well it wasn’t a bad idea but, he didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to himself there.

In the end, he wouldn’t be taking any of them but he couldn’t bring himself to tell them just yet. With them out, his choices were now down to three. The petite beastgirl Nadine, she had impressed him in the battle with the trolls; Lora, the Tier 3 mage from the sentries, and Jarret just for his innate ability.

He couldn’t take Zomatsu as he was a wanted man otherwise this would’ve been the perfect test for him.

As they strolled through the courtyard, the three girls chatted amongst themselves and Tyler took them around to make sure the preparations were going smoothly. He finally took a break on one of the empty towers as he watched the busy kobolds set up new traps outside of the castle’s walls.

He had to admit that bringing them here had finally proved useful. The leader of the kobold was also a magic caster and Tyler had considered taking her with him but he had no idea if there were any racial hierarchy in the city and wouldn’t want to be ostracized before even accomplishing any of his goals.

The girls stood beside him and they finally came out and ask him. Naturally, it was Rain who spoke for the two. “Hey, umm… lord Ty.”

“What’s popping?”

“…Umm, So… who will you be taking with you to the city.”

“Well… Since I need someone familiar with the city and is also a magic caster, I’ll take the girl called Nadine.”

“Uh!”

They seemed disappointed and almost dejected. Tyler thought they must’ve wanted to visit a city desperately. He smiled and said. “Yeah, I would need you all to do something for me while I’m gone so don’t feel too bad.”

“Oh.”

Their response didn’t have any energy in it for a moment but they didn’t dwell on it too much and perk up again. “So what do you need us to do.”

Tyler smiled before nodding and relaying his instructions. It didn’t take long to explain before they all got the gist. Tyler also asked for their thoughts on the matter and permitted them to carry out his orders any way they see fit. He wasn’t a genius so he wouldn’t plan everything on his own, the finer details had been left to the self-proclaimed genius, Zomatsu.

He was very interested to see how his plan would fare. If everything goes according to Z’s prediction then the annoyingly handsome fellow was way more useful than Tyler thought.

Once they were done the girls finally left him alone after Rain ran back to give him a surprise kiss on the cheeks. Tyler didn’t mind that but he wondered if she had actually just forgotten earlier or if she was avoiding the notice of the other two.

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