The first loaded wagons rolled down the eastern slope before noon, followed by a team of Seliza's engineers who immediately began driving measurement stakes into the road. They carried measuring chains and slate boards, arguing loudly over grading angles while Loccy watched them from the tree line.
She swung her hammer idly, her ears twitching as the engineers marked the ground with bright yellow stakes.
"They want to widen the first switchback," Juna reported, dropping lightly from the registry roof to stand beside Hajin.
"Let them," he said, keeping his hands pushed deep into his coat pockets as he watched the activity, "wider roads mean faster carts, and faster carts mean the Flints have less time to burn them."
The town square had transformed overnight from a quiet graveyard of empty pockets into a loud, frantic market. Marrick sat behind a wide table near the registry doors, surrounded by open ledger books and three iron lockboxes.
