“Returning to Adam’s list. Let’s buy the apartments, the water treatment, a greenhouse, and the extended palisades. Where would that leave us?”

  Adam’s perks [Ledger Savvy] and [Pattern Recognition], the latter being uncommon, allowed him to instantly come up with the answer. “3,700 SCs. But I really don’t want to miss out on discounts again!”

  “Ok, let me think about this. I’m also very keen on the library… Maybe we can do a couple extra dungeon runs tonight and that gives us the leeway to also squeeze in the library…”

  “Not sure that is even needed, we should have enough for it anyway,” Adam said with a raised eyebrow.

  “It would be, but I want to do something with some of our Credits. The people who for the last three weeks have done all the watch shifts and many dungeon runs deserve to get something out of all of this. I would like to give all the adults, except for me of course, 250 Credits. That is not a lot, compared to what they have done, but with a total cost of roughly 5,000 that should be possible.”

  “I think that is a very nice gesture, son. I also might have an idea regarding the Inn. First, the mess hall is no longer fit for purpose. It can’t seat anything close to a hundred people, and it lacks the facilities to serve them anyway.

  “Why don’t we ask Jane to give us the money to build it, and in turn we give her the right to lease it once we move to a more traditional economic model?”

  Adam grinned. “I think that is a brilliant idea. I could very well imagine that she would be up for it, even if we don’t know the details yet. She would simply have to accept that it is for now a communal building. That would mean we would spend 4,050 Credits, including the library, and Jane gives us another 500 for the Inn. That is quite the infrastructure project!”

  Ben slowly nodded. “I think that could work. Maybe Jane could also partner with the excellent chef we now have in the settlement, and Luz can focus more on the alchemy side of things once we have the library—and then later a proper workshop for her. Barry, I promise that we will get the training grounds once the new month starts. And the library is of course part of the Academy.”

  “I am not so worried about the training grounds, that will be fine. But eventually we should think about a school building; we now have quite a few kids here.”

  “Hmm, I hadn’t thought about that… But Sarah would without a doubt inform us that currently they have summer break anyway,” he said with a wink. “But let’s also see what this new Headquarter will look like, maybe there is space in there for the interim.”

  Ben was happy with the decisions they had made. This felt like an incredible step forward for the settlement, even if it would basically bankrupt them for the next few days. Nothing a bit of grinding in the dungeons can’t fix!

  There was just one thing left to do, he selected the blueprint option in the Settlement Interface. He could choose between ‘overlay’ and ‘model’, and chose the later.

  A golden miniature model of the settlement appeared in his mind’s eye. It showed the full zone that the Protectorate controlled, by now a whopping 1.75 kilometers square, the core zone, which had grown a lot over the last few weeks, and within that sat the current palisades and settlement.

  The model became slightly transparent and text appeared above it: Level 2 settlement blueprint choices – based on maximum population of 999 citizens.

  Two options appeared: circle or grid. He mentally hovered over circular, and the soft outline of round city walls at the edge of their core territory were shown. He switched to the square option. He didn’t know why, maybe he had played too much Lego in his youth, but the square one felt just right to him.

  The next question used a sliding scale, ranging from single-use to mixed-use districts. Ben thought about it for a moment and then nudged the slider about three-quarters toward mixed use. He wanted living and working to be closely intertwined, but at the same time he understood that people probably didn’t want a smith hammering on an anvil all day long right besides their home.

  The grid was filled with a diverse array of buildings.

  Another question, another slider. Density. Depending on where he positioned the slider the usage of the available space, and therefore the length of the palisades, increased or decreased. It was very clear to Ben that lower density, with lots of space for parks and greenery was the desirable end state, but that was something that they would need to earn. If his understanding was correct, he could adjust his choices later on, so for now he chose a relatively dense option.

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  He was asked to confirm his choices and the visual zoomed in on the core settlement. Within this new view, he now had the option to select individual buildings and move them or mark them for destruction as well as select new buildings to be added to the blueprint.

  For the next five minutes he fiddled with the blueprint, until he was satisfied. Fortunately, there was an option to share the blueprint with others, so that’s what he did. “What do you think?”

  “This is what you were up to during the last ten minutes while you were staring in space?” his mother laughed. “Is this how the settlement will look like tonight?”

  Now it was Ben’s turn to laugh, “No, this is the blueprint for when we are almost a thousand people. We have to work our way up to it…”

  Barry nodded slightly, “it seems fine for me. Maybe we can have a campus for the Academy in the future? But nothing to worry about right now, I think.”

  “I love it! Let me add that. By the way, Barry. I have to tell you about my discussion with the professor on the way up here and the idea for a motto for the Academy that came out of it.”

  Adam and Allison agreed with the blueprint as well, so after a few minor changes, Ben accepted the blueprint and it became a feature in the Settlement Interface.

  Ben and his mother set out to talk with all their former employees, who still lived in the cabins that had been their homes for a long time. Surprisingly, there was little hesitation in giving up their old homes for new ones. With the absence of electricity, living in these cabins had been far from luxurious. Fortunately, none of their people had too many belongings, living rather frugally, having mostly work clothes and some keepsakes to pack up, so they all agreed to be ready by the afternoon.

  Afterwards, Ben and Adam sought out Jane. While walking through the settlement, they were approached a couple of times by people trying to learn if and when they would be able to move into proper housing. Ben reassured them that there would be a solution by the end of day.

  They quickly found Jane and walked with her to a quiet corner, then Adam presented their suggestion, “We thought about your desire to invest into a business. As we said earlier, right now we still need all properties to serve the community, but we have the opportunity to build an Inn at a discounted price. Our idea is to replace our mess hall, that is way too small now, with the Inn. We would use it to feed everyone for now, but once we are ready to switch over, you could lease it from us to operate as a commercial business. Would that be of interest for you?”

  Ben could see the wheels grinding in Jane’s head, weighing her options, thinking about the future.

  “Have you thought about what the lease would be?” she asked.

  “I can genuinely say that we haven’t yet thought about leases and taxation, or even what we should pay our people in the future. The only thing I can say with certainty is that we have no intention to screw you over. We want this community to thrive, and that includes successful businesses. If we ever come to that point, we would also explain our rationale and we will listen to people like you if the thinking is not sound.”

  Ben nodded in support of Adam’s point.

  “OK. I have this strong feeling that I can trust you – and why the heck would I be here in the first place if I didn’t – so, here, take these and build us an Inn.”

  “Thank you, Jane. I appreciate it. And by the way, I am sure you also tasted the boar prepared by Maria, the chef; if I were you, I would try to rope her into your business.” Ben said with a wink.

  ***

  It was afternoon. Ben had spent some time with Barry, reflecting on the fight with the wolves and also connected him with the professor. He was sure that the two would get along well. Most of the hours since their deal with Jane had been spent on clearing out his cabin, helping his mother, as well as taking the few things worth keeping out of the office.

  Now, he stood again on the plaza, surrounded by every single person in the settlement. They had even asked people on watch to come there, as they didn’t want them to get hurt, in what was by far the largest change to the Protectorate since its founding.

  Tension was in the air as people looked at him full of expectations. They hadn’t announced what specifically they were about to do, just that some important announcements were forthcoming.

  But instead of launching into a speech, Ben navigated to the blueprint in the Settlement Interface, then he initiated the first command.

  The wooden palisade that had served them well over the last three weeks moved. It didn’t tear through the ground, somehow the ground itself it was anchored in moved outward. At the same time new elements rose from the ground, until the palisade had fully reached its new dimensions, 50 % larger than before – and still leaving significant space for further expansion when they had more SCs available.

  Excited chatters and shouts of support came from the citizens, in particular those that hadn’t seen the magic of the Protectorate yet.

  Ben executed the next command. With a rumbling sound, but without further disturbance, their lodges, the mess hall, and the office sunk into the ground. After a minute, nothing more than smooth earth was left. Now it was mostly the old-timers that showed emotions. Nothing was verbalized, but some had to swallow hard to keep tears at bay.

  Now, the only things remaining except for a couple of sheds was the plaza and the single apartment building they had built two weeks ago.

  Ben inspected his own emotions for a moment. This had been his home for most of his life, and preserving this had been the reason to form the Protectorate, so should he not be sad to see it gone?

  But, no, he wasn’t sad. What he wanted to preserve were the people and their way of life here, up in the mountains. It wasn’t about the physical cabins. He was ready to use the empty canvas to build something new. The foundations of the Protectorate.

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