After Ryan said his goodbyes to Beatrice, he left his allies in the territory on the other side of the portal to explore the domains of Kowarre for a bit.

Of course, he had issued that order assuming there wouldn’t be any kind of trouble.

’If they don’t report any anomalies in the number of demons they find when they get back, well... that will put my mind at ease. It still bothers me that Beatrice had to go off on her own, though. I hope everything goes well...’

Once he stepped back through the portal into the village, he walked a short distance forward alongside his assistant.

The atmosphere felt heavy, and the sky above their heads began to change suddenly.

Droplets of water began to fall upon them, quickly soaking their clothes and the village ground.

Ryan stopped and looked up to observe the clouds that had formed.

"Rain?"

"That’s impossible..." Alicia said with a frown as she reached out a hand to catch the drops.

She watched the phenomenon with a mixture of wonder and concern that Ryan didn’t quite understand.

"This kind of weather shouldn’t exist in this place under any circumstances."

"Isn’t this normal for the village?" Ryan asked as he shook some water off his coat.

"I’ve even seen that it gets dark here just like in the outside world, so why would this be strange?"

"That’s true, but that is only a basic feature created by the former king..." Alicia explained.

She made a gesture as if reflecting on the inner workings of the relics that kept this isolated space stable.

"Or at least, that’s what I thought until now, but it seems things have changed a great deal."

Alicia fell silent for a moment, watching how the water began to drench the nearby vegetation and houses. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Now I understand!" she said suddenly, as if she had discovered something important regarding the matter.

Ryan only stared at her but said nothing, waiting for what she would say next.

Meanwhile, all around them, elves began to emerge from their wooden houses upon noticing the rain.

Many of them looked up with expressions of total bewilderment at the water falling from the sky.

The reaction seemed strange even to them, which confirmed they had never seen this kind of anomaly before.

Then Alicia planted herself in front of Ryan, her face flushed with contained excitement.

"What did you figure out about this change?" Ryan asked with his usual calm.

She turned and began to point toward the sky, then moved her hand toward the mountains in the distance.

"It wasn’t that this place was incomplete or that it only had basic weather functions... The real reason is that the former King didn’t have enough mana to power all of its mechanics."

She turned back to Ryan once more, showing an admiration that bordered on absolute devotion to her lord.

"What this means, Your Majesty, is that your power is simply incredible. Of course, that’s something I already knew since you saved us, but this is different. It far exceeds any expectation I had of your capacity."

She spun around on her heels as she continued explaining her theory on the settlement’s functions.

"Your Majesty, surely you know that this place expanded to six times its normal size recently. That happened when the transfer of ownership was made using the relic."

Ryan nodded, remembering how the terrain had grown massively after his appointment.

"Which means that at that very same moment, all of this village’s hidden mechanics were also activated. Now, it wouldn’t be strange to think that there might even be more than one type of climate within this place..."

"I figured the village’s expansion wouldn’t be the only thing that would happen," Ryan remarked.

"I wonder what other things will change..."

"I can’t be entirely sure, Your Majesty, but whatever it is, I imagine it will be for the benefit of the village."

Alicia was smiling as she saw how the local plants seemed to be reacting positively to the hydration from the rain.

’I hope it’s only that...’

After that brief conversation about the climate changes, Alicia stood at attention before him.

"I will take my leave now to carry out what you ordered on the way here. I will gather every female warrior in the village at the training field."

Ryan told her that while she took care of that, he would go check on how the forging of the relic was coming along.

They then said goodbye with a brief gesture, and Alicia walked away.

The rain continued to fall.

Ryan walked alone along the village paths until he reached the blacksmith’s workshop.

When he opened the heavy wooden door, the heat from inside hit his face immediately.

He gave a wave of his hand as he entered the workshop, but he realized no one responded to his presence.

He heard the intense sound of metal being struck, echoing off every wall in the place.

Runa was working with extreme focus at the anvil, completely ignoring the world around her.

But then Mika, the alchemist, noticed his arrival and approached him.

"Your Majesty, have you come to supervise? We don’t have the relic ready yet, but we’ve made a lot of progress," Mika said with a gentle bow.

"I see that both of you are working very hard on the task I assigned you."

"Yes, Runa especially is very committed," Mika replied while looking at her forge partner.

"Since she arrived here, she hasn’t stopped for a single second, and when she concentrates like that, she doesn’t even look at her surroundings. It’s as if she enters a trance where only the hammer and the Hero’s Relic exist, hehe."

Ryan nodded.

"How much longer do you think it will take you to complete it?"

"I think at least eight days, Your Majesty."

’I wonder if Beatrice will already be back by then...’

"I understand. That’s faster than I expected, I suppose." Ryan crossed his arms.

’So, I have eight days. I’ll make sure my stats increase significantly during that time...’

And almost immediately after he finished that thought, he heard the door of the smithy open again.

Alicia appeared before him.

"Everything is ready, Your Majesty. No one refused; I was surprised to see they were even excited that you called for them."

Alicia had managed to gather the warriors efficiently despite the rainy weather that continued outside.

Ryan looked at Mika one last time and then turned to his assistant.

"Very well done, Alicia. In that case, let’s go."