Three days passed.
Three long, slow days where Ridgebrook breathed again—painfully, carefully, as if afraid the world might attack the moment they exhaled. Smoke still lingered in the air from the pyres outside the wall, drifting gently over the fields. It clung to clothes, hair, and memories.
But the village lived.
For three days, no drums sounded, no horns echoed. Only the quiet rhythm of rebuilding, the scrape of wood, the hammering of nails, and the soft murmur of grief.
Liam and lira stood atop the repaired eastern wall, watching the sun rise over a village that looked nothing like it had a week ago. Scars covered everything—burned sections of timber, shattered barricades, and dried blood staining the ground outside the trenches.
But people worked.
People moved.
People survived.
Lira quietly comforted him.
Sun Tzu climbed the wall beside him, wearing fresh robes donated by villagers who insisted he deserved better than blood-soaked rags. He looked older now—maybe from exhaustion, maybe from the weight of responsibility.
"Three days," Sun Tzu said quietly. "In war, that is both an eternity and a heartbeat."
"Is everything stable?" Liam asked.
"For now."
He nodded toward the courtyard below.
Villagers hammered new timber into the east wall. Others dug deeper trenches. Some patched shields or reforged spearheads. Even the elderly carried buckets of water or fetched cloth for bandages.
Sun Tzu continued, "Walls are half-restored. Trenches deepened. We have thirty usable shields, fifty spears, and enough food for two weeks if rationed."
Liam sighed. "Not great, but survivable."
"Survivable is victory," Sun Tzu said.
A shout rose below them.
Leonidas emerged from the healer hut, shirtless under fresh bandages wrapped tightly across his chest and shoulder. He moved stiffly, but he moved. He grabbed a spear from a rack, weighing it in his palms as if testing whether his body could still obey.
When he swung it, the motion was slower but still frighteningly solid.
Leonidas noticed Liam and raised a hand. "Chief."
Liam climbed down from the wall to meet him. "You're not supposed to be training yet."
"I am not training," Leonidas replied solemnly, performing a basic spear stance. "I am remembering."
Liam shook his head. "You're impossible."
Leonidas grunted but didn't deny it.
Elias stepped out behind Leonidas, moving carefully with a hand pressed against his ribs. His expression held a mixture of pride and disbelief.
He approached Liam with an embarrassed bow. "Chief… thank you. For letting me stay with the Shield Core.
"You earned it," Liam said. "Rank 1 or not, you saved Leonidas' life."
Elias flushed. "I—just did what any of us would have done."
Leonidas placed a large hand on the boy's shoulder. "No. You did what few could."
Elias almost cried at the praise.
Across the courtyard, Orin was sparring lightly with two militia members, correcting their footwork even though she winced each time she blocked a strike. Sweat soaked her hair, but her eyes remained sharp.
When she saw Liam watching, she straightened. "We can't let our guard down. If another attack comes—"
"Sun Tzu says we have time," Liam assured her.
"I trust him," Orin said. "But I trust training more."
Vlad sat on the roof of the healer hut like a lounging cat, sharpening a dagger with lazy strokes. His face had been cleaned, but blood still stained the edges of his nails. He stretched, smiling crookedly as Liam passed.
"You rebuilt fast," Vlad said. "I like that. Means I don't need to kill anyone today."
"That's… one way to measure progress," Liam muttered.
Vlad winked. "Count your blessings. Some villages rebuild slower. Then I get bored."
Liam chose not to think too hard about what Vlad did when he was bored.
A bell rang softly from the center of the village.
The funeral began.
Villagers gathered around the oak grove—fresh mounds of earth marking where their fallen militia and allies were buried. Makeshift wooden markers bore carved names: friends, brothers, fathers, mothers.
Some markers were small. Too small.
Liam stood before the crowd, a weight pressing down on his chest. He was village chief, but he didn't feel like a leader right now—just someone trying not to break.
He stepped forward anyway.
"We lived because they fought," Liam said. "We live because they stood between us and death. We will remember every one of them, every day we survive going forward."
A few villagers wept openly. Orin lowered her head. Elias wiped his eyes. Even Leonidas bowed respectfully, silent but solemn.
Liam continued, voice steady despite the trembling in his hands. "Our village is not the same as before. We will not pretend otherwise. But Ridgebrook stands because you stood. And we will rebuild because of what they gave."
He swallowed hard.
"And we will honor them by surviving."
A moment of silence followed.
Then the villagers dispersed slowly, returning to work. Grief had no luxury in a village still vulnerable.
Sun Tzu approached Liam again. "We received visitors today."
"What kind of visitors?"
"Refugees," Sun Tzu said. "Two families from a nearby hamlet. They heard we survived the siege and believed we could protect them."
Liam stared at him. "People are coming here? To us?"
"Yes," Sun Tzu replied. "News travels quickly. You killed a Rank 3 captain. You defended a village against overwhelming odds. You are no longer just a place on a map. You are… a symbol."
Liam blinked, stunned. "But we're barely holding together."
"Symbols rarely are what they seem," Sun Tzu said.
Leonidas joined them, leaning slightly on his spear. "More people means more hands for work. More shields. More training."
"And more mouths to feed," Liam added.
Sun Tzu nodded. "True. But necessity drives innovation. You will adapt."
Liam took a deep breath and looked out over the rebuilt sections of the wall, the villagers hauling timber, the wounded recovering, the smoke rising from the pyre.
Ridgebrook was bruised.
But it was growing.
He opened the Ledger.
[NEXT SUMMON: 20 DAYS]
Still too far away.
But at least now, they had days.
Actual days to prepare.
"Alright," Liam said quietly. "Let's get to work."
Leonidas nodded. Orin saluted. Elias straightened. Vlad grinned with sharp teeth.
And Sun Tzu smiled faintly.
"This," Sun Tzu said, "is how nations begin.
Ledger update:
[NEXT SUMMON: 20 DAYS]