Sadly, there seemed to be something missing for Willam and Wen both to weave sigils. Theo had never seen any of them actually weave before, but it was a pretty basic skill taught to most children. There was generally little harm they could do without having any glyphs to weave and having the mana pool to actually cast the spell. Teaching just weaving was therefore considered safe, for the most part. In the city there had been more than a few cases of children rummaging through their parents' stuff and nabbing their glyph scrolls, but out in the countryside, few even had those.

  Also, the reason magic was considered the most rare of all of the rather basic skills was because it was always elemental in some way or another and the spells required an elemental affinity to be cast. Now, Theo circumvented this by using sigils, which wasn’t part of the same magic system at all. He used the language of the world, whatever that really meant, to add to, or remove from, the world, in his experience. While he was surprised he had gotten the water affinity skill from that, it seemed to be far from a requirement. His sigil weaving skill wasn’t it either, because he could weave them before gaining that skill.

  He had too little information to go on to find a clear answer, but for now, he was probably the only sigil weaver in the world. A Sigilist, if you will. There was a small amount of pride lurking within him because of that, but there was nothing he wanted more than to share that with his friends. The only way to do that right now, however, was to help them with it.

  Theo then assisted the farmer in making sure the fields were ready for planting. By evening, they were both even as could be and ready for seeds. Willam decided they should wait until morning with that.

  After a quick talk with Hunter, the fisherman, the council members gained the official approval to bathe in the lake. He’d already scouted out the best locations for fishing and had already caught some, mostly to see what kind of fish lived there, but also for sustenance for the people. There was a large campfire being set up just then over near the improvised lumberyard where the fish would be cooked along with any other food the others had scavenged from the area.

  Theo and Willam were both black with dried dirt and couldn’t wait to jump in. That was when they realised a mistake they had made. They had no spare clothes! The ranking had taken it all.

  Then Wen, the divine creature sent from the heavens to protect the two from all things bad, offered to wash their current clothes while they bathed. They wouldn’t be able to wear them until they dried, but it was certainly better than nothing. The men quickly undressed to their underwear, graciously offered the heaven-sent angel their offerings for purification, thanking her profusely before running off into the lake. While Willam ran and the steady increase of resistance from the deeper-growing water gently slowed him down, Theo ran until it had barely reached his knees, then dove ahead, sending a splash in Willam’s direction while he shot forward through the water. A trail of smokey dirt water followed both of them, but it had quickly diluted itself and was soon entirely gone.

  The two swam and scrubbed themselves for several minutes whilst Wen eyed them with a wide smile and washed their clothes by hand. Theo was sure she would’ve gone in along with them if their clothing situation, including hers, had been any different. The next person to be hired would surely have to be a clothier or something, and at least bring them a spare set of clothes each. Wen deserved two.

  With nothing to dry themselves off but the slight breeze in the weak evening sun, the two wet men soon escaped the cold water and dashed straight to Wen. In a good mood, Theo wrapped his drenched body around her and received a laughing scream in response even as he lifted her up in between his arms to rub as much water as possible on her before he let her go and escaped her certain wrath. The campfire was lit and the quickest, warmest place to dry themselves was near its heat and flames, so both bathers sprinted there.

  A pretend-angry Wen trailed behind with their damp clothes in her arms and was soon upon the impromptu campsite. She greeted the rest who were seated there, mostly everyone with the exception of the two builders that were still hammering away a short distance from the camp, then slammed the stack of heavy clothing down on Theo’s moist head before sitting down next to him.

  Food was then served more as a self-grilling experience, where fish was pierced by sharpened sticks and grilled whole by the fire or on the surface of the hot stones circling the flames. Without any real plates, the lumberyard had made neat discs of wood directly from logs and filed them a bit smoother. They were fit for serving plates that were passed around by everyone if anyone wanted more from it. Most of the foraged goods, berries and the like, were stashed in two baskets while some mushrooms were grilled along with the fish.

  There was no meat from the hunter that evening, but he had found traces of deer in the area and had spent most of the day tracking their whereabouts. The forest wasn’t large enough for many of them to live in, but Fischer was used to trekking and hauling prey long distances, so if he found a close-by habitat with a high enough population he could hunt, that would give the town a passive meat production. If they cured it in any way, that would be all the better. Besides, if it wasn’t a large enough population of bigger game, there was small game all around them, like rabbits, birds and, yes, even vicious squirrels.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Theo was glad to find the conversation keeping a steady pace and volume despite everyone being strangers to each other. Everyone laughed and told stories of how they had come to apply for a freshly starting town. The stories were both tragic and heartwarming and served to tie them all tighter together as fellow town builders and villagers.

  Hank and Bella, the builders, both joined in once half the barracks was complete, a feat Theo thought would take much longer. The walls were standing sturdy, at least most of them, but it wasn’t necessarily safe to use the following night, which was fine. Theo didn’t have much of a problem sleeping outside, he’d found. He’d never even attempted to before, only partly due to his health. He’d lived in a city where there wasn’t much space to do so and travelling hadn’t been an option for him.

  Willam, despite being nearly naked in front of the entire group, seemed to have gotten used to the presence of Julie. His awkward antics had lessened, though not entirely gone, and not a soul around the campfire had any doubts about his fluttering heart. Julie herself seemed chill about it, though she was probably used to the attention.

  A situation seemed about to rise when Moody, with his moody expression and heavy voice, asked about the titles available.

  “About… the Lumberlord title,” he said slowly, pausing an inordinate amount of time. “Is that… available?”

  Theo could only guess if he was finished talking or not, but Wen saved him from assuming too much when she responded for herself.

  “It’s available. All titles are with the exception of Minister of Hospitality, that’s me, and Minister of Agriculture, loverboy over there, are free as of now.” She ended her sentence abruptly so as to challenge the man.

  “Then… Give it to Julie.”

  Theo turned to face Julie with raised eyebrows, finding her having the very same expression plastered on her face as she eyed Moody, who had been rather openly gunning for the leadership position earlier that day.

  “Your nomination has been noted. May I ask why you nominate her? With your experience I would’ve thought-”

  “She’s alright… Maybe even… Impressive,” Moody responded.

  Wen smiled, as did everyone else. She then eyed Oakley, the third woodworker. He nodded his agreement. Wen then eyed the fire for a short moment before she looked back at Moody. “I’m happy to announce that Julie Woodrow has officially been accepted into the position as Sigil Lake’s Lumberlord.”

  Moody nodded and looked away from her. Wen then eyed the recently ascended woman.

  “The lumberyard is yours, Lumberlord Julie Woodrow.”

  “Accepted!” the red-haired woman said as she lifted her grilled fish triumphantly into the air. “My first order of business… I need a second-in-command, don’t I? I hereby raise…”

  Moody looked up at her through the fire with anticipation, as did the rest.

  “-Havoc, the Woodslayer, to be my co-Lumberlord!”

  Moody nearly fell from the log bench he was seated on whilst everyone else burst out into laughter. Theo was certain he saw him chuckle, though he couldn’t exactly hear it over the uproarious laugh of the crowd.

  “All we need now is ale by the barrel and wine by the cellar!” Hank exploded with a deep, grunting laugh.

  Shouts of agreement nearly shook the pile of firewood down. Even Theo joined in on it, despite having no real relationship to the stuff. He’d tasted the Barge’s stuff and it was… survivable, at least. Even that was a bit kind, but it couldn’t be a lie if he was alive now, could it?

  “I promise, fellow villagers, that once we get up an’ runnin’ for real, you’ll taste the very best stuff I can brew, juice and ferment! You won’t be wantin’ for nothin’!” Wen stood up, a fish halfway inserted into her mouth, and roared.

  The forest shook this time, nearly causing trees to fall.

  “So there’s a farmer here. A wench. What about you, Theo?” asked Julie once the crowd had settled down a bit.

  Theo had to eye Wen to see if ‘wench’ was approved, which it not only seemed to be, but she nodded proudly to Julie as their eyes met.

  “I, uh…”

  “Theo’s been sick for most of his life,” Willam assisted. “He’s missing an education, and skills to boot. For now, he wants to help everyone in any way he can, to learn the skills of our trades and find a place for himself.” The farmer finished with a deep nod of acceptance aimed towards Theo. Theo accepted it.

  “He’s a good learner and determined as all hells,” Wen then added. “He’ll be a challenge to any one of us in a few years once he chooses a direction, I’ll bet my sweet ass on it!”

  “Hear, hear!” said Hank with a wide smile in Theo’s direction. The rest followed with a loud mimicry of his call.

  Theo felt all bubbly inside after those nice words from his friends. He was also glad the rest of the villagers seemed to accept the whitish lie so easily, though he didn’t want to hide from them. Wen and Willam had taken the news like champions, and all these people seemed more than happy to be here with him. While it was certainly true that he’d been sick for all of his life and that he hadn’t taken an education here, it was a lie of omission, if anything. He didn’t want that to come between them.

  “I can do some magic,” he said. The crowd stilled and all their eyes seemed to try to pierce his skin. He saw Wen sitting beside him in his periphery, eyeing him with a warm smile.

  “Then there’s no way Sigil Town will be deemed inadequate in two years’ time, right everyone?” Julie shouted, bringing the rest back up to the chaotic level of earlier.

  Theo felt Wen’s warm hand touch the bare skin on his back as she leaned into him.