Accidental Healer-Chapter 131 - 45 - Alex is on one

One week later.

"Who's idea was it to build the teleporter in Layton Mischief Township?" Alex asked, wiping his brow with the sleeve of his dirt stained white shirt. "We should've just built the damn thing right next to the freaking quarry, it would've looked great there!"

I still hadn't gotten used to everyone referring to the main town as Layton Mischief Township.

"Don't be a jackass Alex, it would've looked dumb. Besides, we needed a road to the quarry anyway." I grunted, slamming a larger than normal pickaxe into the hard stone. There was a clink and crack and a five foot slab detached from the wall sliding to a rest in the loose gravel.

"Yeah I guess…" He agreed, bending his knees gripping the slab at each side. He hefted it easy enough and placed it with a thump on our sturdy wood cart that was already half full of large slabs. "Also—What's wrong with these rocks? Can't we use them to build with?"

"We are using them, we're building walls and roads with them. The teleporter has more specific requirements."

I slammed my pickaxe down again, and another slab fell free. Alex deposited it onto the cart.

"And we're sure we can't use some kind of special spacial storage for the logs and rock?"

"No unrefined building material—Can we talk about something else?"

Another slab, another thump.

"Well excuse me for having a childlike curiosity…"

Alex trailed off, and for a few minutes we worked in blessed silence besides the methodical clink, crack, thump, clink, crack thump of our work.

"How come Durkil doesn't have to help?"

I let out a tortured groan. "He's helping in his own way. Don't worry, he's not with your precious Enora."

"That's not why I was asking! I'm just hyper sensitive to all that's fair and just—it's a virtue."

"So is silence."

Alex humphed. There was a long pause and then—

"So you really don't think he's with Enora?"

I stood up straight and rested the pickaxe against my shoulder. "You know what Alex, I think the cart is about full. Why don't you take the load back?"

Alex examined the cart, scratching his head. "I don't know, we could probably fit a little more."

"Well let's take it anyway. In fact, why don't I take it and you take this pickaxe, how about that?"

He thumbed at his chin. "Well that really doesn't seem fair."

I threw up my arms. "Come on, we'll take it together."

"No need to be dramatic." He grumbled under his breath.

I ignored him and made my way to the front of the cart.

Normally a cart like this might struggle to support the heavy weight of the stones, but the people who crafted it had skills that enhanced the hardness of the wood. It was for that reason that there were now dozens of slabs weighing hundreds of pounds each stacked on the roughly fifteen by six foot cart supported by four giant wooden wheels rimmed with iron.

Metal clinked and I slipped the cast iron chains that acted like a harness to pull the carts. Thick leather straps were fashioned onto the chains to keep the hard iron from biting into my shoulders.

I leaned forward, planting my feet.

Wood groaned as the chains tightened and gravel crunched. Step by step the cart began to inch forward. With just a few steps I gained momentum and soon we were walking at an easy pace, any faster and we'd put the cart at risk. Alex could've pushed from behind but instead he chose to walk up front with me.

There were over twenty different crews working on the road building project doing different assignments. We trudged past men and women alike laying gravel, leveling ground, clearing trees, erecting towers, and all manner of other tasks to complete the roadway as quickly as possible.

Jared estimated it would take at least two weeks to span the thirty four miles between LM township and the quarry, and so far we'd made impressive progress with over twenty miles already completed.

Many hands working together made light work, and when those hands also had access to mana and skills the work became even easier.

Some pavers waved as we arrived at the section where the road changed from dirt to actual cobbled stone. Pulling became even easier on the solid surface of smooth rocks.

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A few miles later we reached our destination.

The plank wood walls loomed high, even compared to Alex. Jared made it clear that there would be no point to building walls that the average level twenty fighter could simply vault over. So these particular walls were at least thirty feet.

Checkpoint Valley View.

"Hey Layton, Hey Alex!" A young smiling face waited to greet us at the double wide gate.

"Hi there, Drew." I nodded politely passing the young man, who was probably not much younger than Alex or myself. Drew was armed with a round shield and short sword, his chest was covered in sleek steel, with a cross guard helmet to match. "Must be getting close huh?"

"Yeah getting close, people will start pouring in soon."

I smiled. "You know I'm not talking about the next wave."

He blushed. "I'm still two levels away."

"Just a couple more waves away, can't wait to see what your evolution is." I said with a wink lugging the cart away.

Drew was part of a group that was quickly rising in levels thanks to the endless waves of chaos spawn. We'd learned quite a bit from the week we'd spent in the scourge trial. For instance, the chaos spawn appeared wherever there were people. In the early waves, population density had little impact on scale or size, but as the days passed that changed.

At LM township, the waves grew larger in size at a greater pace compared to where the guildians were for instance, and it proved to be roughly consistent within the four other territories our faction occupied.

And that included Valley View.

People trickled in through the gate behind us and we made our way towards the stone cutting area in the outpost. Soon the outpost would be full of crafters and fighters all milling about waiting for the next wave of Chaos spawn to arrive.

The problem was, they didn't always arrive at exactly the same time. But it was always somewhere between an hour forty five to two and a half hours. Which meant every hour and a half or so, everyone working outside the gates would drop what they were doing and wait behind the defenses until the raid arrived.

Dedicated collectors would then spend their time wading through the bodies looting for gold and other valuables that were dropped. The amount of chaos spawn was getting so numerous we'd have to add more collectors pretty soon just to keep up.

"Ah good, you have more rocks for us!"

"Fresh off the mountain, just for you Jimothy." Alex grinned.

The thick man pulled a hammer from his work apron and pointed it at Alex. "How is that joke

even funny to you Alex? My name isn't even Jim."

"He's in rare form today Todd, just try your best to ignore him." I warned, bringing the cart to a halt. "In fact, Alex, why don't you go help with the fighting?"

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"I'm not even trying to hide it, yes." I said, rubbing my forehead.

"Alright…I'll go, but I'll be back." He said, narrowing his eyes and turning away slowly.

Todd and I watched him leave.

"Any chance his mouth is damaged in the fight?" Todd asked.

"It wouldn't stop him, we're just going to have to hope he gets killed." I scratched my chin thoughtfully. "But with that fancy new armor he bought from Durkil I wouldn't hold my breath."

Todd chuckled and Alex raised one hand flipping us off. I smiled. Even though Alex annoyed me sometimes, he was a loyal friend and a huge asset to our faction. Plus he made me laugh every once in a while.

"You know, with a few more loads I think we'll have about enough stone for the roadway." Todd said pointing to the cart.

"That would be fantastic. With the chaos spawn waves growing like they are I'd love to start on reinforcing our defenses. How are the other teams coming along with clearing the path?"

Todd climbed into the cart and a large metal pole appeared in his hand. "Fars' I know they are moving right along. Maddux and his boys dropped off a load not long before you arrived."

"And they didn't stay?"

"Well they didn't seem all that worried to be out working, he said that they'll start staying in the next coupla' days once things ramp up a bit more."

Todd shoved his steel pole under a slab of stone and heaved, using the leverage to shove it from the cart. It landed with a dull thump against the hard packed dirt.

Todd worked in a covered stall connected to a quaint little home made of lumber.

He pointed with his pole at a much smaller cart. "Would you mind?" He asked apologetically.

With a shrug I shoved my fingers under the stone and tipped it up so I could pick it up, balancing it on my shoulder. There was a pile of stone just behind the stall, which is where I deposited the stone. And walked back to the cart.

Todd shook his head.

"Yeah I suppose you wouldn't need the hand cart." He mumbled. Using his tool to shove another stone slab free we worked together to move all the slabs into his pile.

"Todd, do you mind me asking, what are your skills as a stonecutter?"

"Don't mind one bit." He leaned on the pry bar, or whatever his pole thing was called and wiped his brow. "It's not all that exciting though."

"I bet it's more exciting to me than you'd think."

"Well, it's all just related to the craft. Faster, better cuts, reinforcing mana for strength, higher quality building material, you know, nothing really fancy." He shrugged. "Not like you fighters."

"Personally, I think what you're able to do is incredible. And it's only going to get cooler. Honestly I can't wait. Already just having roads and walls is so awesome. I mean look around, we're turning this place into a real actual settlement. I love it so much."

Todd wasn't a dainty man. His hands were rough and calloused, with brawny arms that can only be achieved from consistent manual labor not the gym, and barrel chested.

"No, I suppose it's not all that bad."

I pointed a finger gun at him, immediately regretting it. Todd raised an eyebrow and I panicked. The right thing to do would've been to cut my losses, bid goodbye and hope we both quickly forgot the unfortunate incident. Is that what I did? No.

Feeling the pressure of what to do with my still raised finger gun, I made an awkward "pakow" noise and actually pretended to holster my gun.

For what felt like an eternity we just simmered in the unease.

"Wheelpp, I should probably go see if the wave is coming…you just keep up the good work here Todd."

"Yeah—alright."

I couldn't turn to leave fast enough.

"And Layton?"

"Uh-huh?" I asked half turning but still walking away.

"Maybe it's best you just keep that thing holstered from now on?"

"Yep."