"We’ve already torn down almost all the huts here, but rebuilding them might take a long time."

Roxanna stirred in her sleep. She felt the warmth of sunlight on her face, making her realize that it was already close to noon.

Faintly, she heard two people talking. It sounded like Zeir and Marlow.

"But we haven’t built anything yet since the Leader told us to reorganize the settlement," Marlow said. "My question is... what kind of layout are we supposed to make?"

Zeir placed one hand on the door frame, looking at Marlow seriously. "She’s still sleeping right now. Can you come back later?"

"Well... I can do that, but Commander, the sooner we know the new layout, the sooner we can start building," Marlow replied.

Zeir sighed softly. "I know, but—"

"I’m awake! I’m already awake!" Roxanna suddenly called out as she sat up too quickly. A slight pain throbbed in her head, but she ignored it. After all, what Marlow was saying felt more important than a small headache.

"Don’t get up so fast." Zeir quickly moved to her side, steadying her before she could stand properly. Roxanna leaned on him for support, then slowly walked toward Marlow.

"I need a bit of time to plan the layout of the entire settlement," Roxanna said. "Can you give me a little more time?"

Marlow pressed his lips into a thin line, looking a bit hesitant, but eventually nodded. "Alright, I can give you more time. But we might not be able to tear down all the huts for now because we won’t have a place to stay."

Roxanna nodded right away. "Of course. If possible, you don’t have to take down the larger buildings, like the community hall or anything like that."

After discussing the temporary plan with Marlow, he left Roxanna’s hut and went to relay her words to the others.

Roxanna then turned to Zeir. "And you? Why are you here?" she asked, tilting her head. "I thought you’d be leading the warriors to move the wood from the huts that were already torn down."

After all, Zeir was a commander, so it felt a bit strange that he was the one watching over her instead of her other husbands.

"Am I not allowed to take care of you?" Zeir said. "Aelin told me that we need to keep you safe, so we will never leave you alone. And today just happens to be my turn."

[I guess the others think they can’t handle me like Zeir can,] Roxanna thought. [But honestly... Zeir isn’t even the type who likes to control me.]

If she had to describe him, Zeir had the natural presence of a leader, but he wasn’t bossy. He didn’t force people to listen to him, but somehow, people just chose to follow him.

"I see," Roxanna said. "Then you have to help me think about the new layout of this settlement."

Roxanna looked around for a moment, trying to find something she could use like paper. But before she could think further, Zeir suddenly spoke. "If I ask you to rest more instead of working hard on this right now, would you listen?"

Roxanna turned to him. She looked at him silently for a moment before finally speaking. "What do you think you would do?"

Zeir closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. Then he opened them again. "What do you need?" he asked.

Roxanna’s eyes lit up instantly because Zeir chose to help her instead of stopping her.

To be honest, Zeir already knew that if he forced her to stay still, she would just find a way to do things behind his back and that kind of situation never ended well.

So rather than stopping her, it was better to stay by her side and watch over her.

"I actually need paper and ink, but... wait, wait, wait, let me talk to the voice inside my head first," Roxanna said.

She turned around until her back was facing Zeir, then spoke to the system.

[Do you have paper and ink that I can buy in the system market?]

[Of course, Host!] the system replied quickly. [But let me remind you first that the cost of paper is very expensive.]

Roxanna let out a soft sigh, then nodded.

[Just show me.]

[Purchased 1x paper: 2,000 SP]

[Purchased 1x drawing tools: 1,500 SP]

[Confirmed? (Yes/No)]

Two thousand SP just for paper? Yeah, that was extremely expensive, but she needed it, so it seemed like she had no other choice.

[Yes, confirmed.]

[Ding! Purchase successful!]

[Remaining Spirit Points (SP): 293,550]

A soft flash appeared in front of her, and within seconds, a stack of paper and a set of drawing tools quietly materialized in her hands.

Roxanna blinked, then quickly held them close to her chest.

"That’s still way too expensive," she muttered under her breath.

"What are you holding?" Zeir’s voice came from behind her.

Roxanna froze for a split second before turning around with a small, awkward smile. "Ah... this? This is really important. Now, help me bring a table outside so I can think better."

Zeir glanced at the paper in her hands, then at her face. He didn’t question her further and simply nodded. "Alright."

Without wasting time, he stepped out of the hut and returned shortly after with a small wooden table. He placed it under the big tree, where the sunlight wasn’t too harsh but still bright enough to see clearly.

Roxanna followed him outside, carefully holding the paper as if it was something precious.

The moment she sat down, she let out a soft breath, her shoulders relaxing slightly.

"This is better," she murmured. Then she looked at Zeir. "Do you want to help me do something... like some workout?"

Zeir raised one of his eyebrows. "What’s that?"

Roxanna smiled softly. "This is actually a fun workout."

At first, Zeir thought Roxanna wanted him to prolong her lifespan, but who would have thought that she wanted him to carry her and walk around the entire settlement several times just so she could observe the situation in detail.