AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry for the delayed post. I had a bad headache. Had to sleep early.
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Lys walked slowly along the interior path at the base of the village wall. His boots pressed steadily into the packed dirt, as he moved without rushing, taking time to look carefully at every section. This kind of check only mattered if he actually saw things for himself instead of assuming they were fine. After all, the safety of the village depends on it.
The changes from the night before stood out clearly. At the main gate, four guards now stood instead of the usual one. Two faced outward through narrow gaps in the reinforced wood, watching the road and treeline. The other two kept their attention on the village side, ready to respond to anything inside. Every three hundred meters along the wall, a Fiora hunter occupied one of the cut-out sections. These narrow windows gave a clear line of sight toward the forest. Each hunter stood with a spear planted firmly beside them, eyes fixed forward. No idle talk passed between them.
Lys stopped at one of the outward-facing openings where no one was standing, so to look how it is, he leaned in.
The forest lay dark and unnaturally still beyond the wall. No birds called. No leaves stirred despite the light morning wind. The quiet felt heavy, like the whole area was waiting for something to break it.
Feeling goosebumps for no reason, looking at that silence, he turned to the Fiora hunter on duty, a tall woman with some kind of talisman wrapped around all over her body. "Everything alright up here?" he asked.
She didn't shift her gaze from the treeline. She just spoke without even glancing at him, "Yes, its alright for now. If anything moves, I'll send word right away. You'll be at the guild or your house?"
"Yes, I'll be at the guild shortly after I do some personal check-ins." Lys replied simply.
She gave a short nod.
Lys didn't linger here after this short and awkward talk. He continued along the path, checking each post as he went.
The preparations showed how thoroughly Vessa and Rhuvia had worked before leaving. Extra bracing had been added to weak points along the wall. Fresh earth magic work filled cracks and strengthened the base in several places. Signal flags and small horns sat ready at every guard position. Then he noticed stacks of spare spears and shields placed at regular intervals, easy to reach if needed. Plus as Vessa told him before going, the rotations had been well planned too, hunters and adventurers will alternate shifts so no one stayed on watch too long without relief.
While feeling gratitude for Vessa's thorough work, he suddenly paused at another section where two adventurers stood together. One was placing a rope ladder on the wall that could be dropped quickly if someone needed to reach the top fast. The other one kept watch.
After seeing them work for a couple of seconds, Lys asked them a few short questions about their supplies and whether they had enough water for the day. Both answered calmly and showed him their small stock of dried food and bandages. Everything was in order over here, too.
By the time he completed the full circuit and returned near the main gate, he felt a small but real sense of relief. The walls were as secure as they could make them on short notice. The guards stayed alert. The supplies were distributed properly. The signal system looked ready for any emergency, too.
Vessa and Rhuvia had clearly thought through every detail before they rode out. There was nothing obvious for him to fix right now. His job was literally to let the people at their posts do their work and stay ready to respond if anything changed.
By the time his doubt about the safety of the wall cleared, Selene appeared at his side without announcement. She had clearly finished talking with her father and the others at the shelters, so, now she fell into step with him naturally, matching his pace the way she always did.
"So? How does it look?" she asked quietly.
"Hmm, Solid, I guess," Lys answered. "The reinforcements are holding. Guards are in position. Everything they prepared before leaving seems to be pretty solid than I thought."
Selene nodded. "Father said his blessings should help if anything slams into the walls."
Lys hummed as a reply to that agreement. Though he knew magic was a way of life here, still he couldn't wrap his mind around how a blessing can work like that.
Then while walking, his mind kept turning over the responsibility now sitting on his shoulders. The strike team was deep in the forest by now. The village behind him held everyone he cared about. And they left him in charge of all of it. How can he just take on this huge task, when he barely used to meet ends meet only 3 weeks ago back on earth.
"What should we do right now?" he asked Selene.
Selene glanced at him. "Hmm, what do you mean?"
"I mean, now that everything is working at their own pace, I don't see what I should do now."
Seeing how lost he was now, Selene thought she should take charge for now, maybe it might lessen his worry a little. She knew too well how too much responsibility all at once might make people perform less than they usually are.
"We should visit Sara first. Make sure she's recovering okay after yesterday." She proposed.
"Uhh. Yeah, let's go. For now let's check on her first. After that we can go to the guild, to check how things are going on that part."
Seeing Lys finally was getting his way back with a little push, Selene hummed, and stepped beside him, as they started walking to Sara's house now.
They turned away from the wall and started walking toward the village's inside.
The village itself was finally waking up around them. A few market stalls were opening, though far fewer than usual. Shopkeepers moved with tired steps, their faces showing the strain of the worry from dungeon break. Fewer people walked the streets, and those who did spoke in low voices while glancing toward the walls.
Still, with all their worry, and cautiousness, daily life continued in its own quiet way.
Lys and Selene walked side by side through the main path. The morning light grew warmer, slowly chasing away the last of the night chill. Lys kept his eyes moving across the streets out of habit. He thought about Elara and Mira back at the house, about Tresta trying to settle in despite everything happening. He thought about the promise he had made to Maya. All of it depended on these walls holding and him making the right decisions if the situation changed anytime. But when it might change suddenly, nobody knew.
After all, the long wait had truly begun.