In the middle of the square, a group of rabbits and sheep beastmen were huddled together. When they saw me, they practically vibrated with excitement. The head rabbit craftsman ran forward, holding something wrapped in a soft cloth.

"Savior! Look! We finished the first one!"

He said and unwrapped the cloth, and there it was. A boot.

It wasn’t a messy wrap of hide like the ones I had crafted in a rush in the past. It had a thick, solid sole made of hardened leather and a soft, beautiful upper made of sheep wool and rabbit fur. Wait, are they even okay using rabbit fur, even if it’s from normal animals?

Guess they are, since there are no complaints. Or maybe they just don’t know it’s rabbit fur yet.

Who’s gonna tell them?

It even had laces. Real, braided laces, just like on the blueprint

"For your feet, Savior," the rabbit whispered, his ears twitching like crazy.

I sat down on a stone block right there in the middle of the marketplace. I was actually barefoot—the shoes I made felt uncomfortable during the summer, and my feet seemed to want to breathe fresh air more than get covered up by shoes that are not properly made.

And so, ​my feet were pretty dirty from walking the stone floors and the dusty road. I felt a bit self-conscious about it and wondered if I should ask Thalor to use his water magic on my feet. But the rabbit craftsmen didn’t seem to mind.

One of them scurried off and came back with a wooden bowl filled with clean water that had been under the sun to warm for a while.

​Before I could say anything, they were on their knees, gently washing the dirt off my feet with a soft cloth.

​"Oh, h-hey, you don’t have to do that!" I stammered, my face heating up. It was super embarrassing to have a group of people—well, beastmen—washing my feet in the middle of a public square.

My husbands do it a lot, but that’s because they are my husbands. You get what I mean, right?

​"The Queen’s feet must be clean for the first fitting," the head rabbit insisted, his little nose twitching with focus.

​I looked over at Damar and Thalor, silently requesting back up, but Damar was just standing there with his arms crossed, looking remarkably smug about the whole thing, like it was only natural they wash my feet, while Thalor watched with that calm, princely expression of his.

Neither of them moved to stop it, so I just sighed and let it happen. It felt nice, actually, even if I wanted to hide under a rock.

​Once my feet were dry, they carefully slid the first boot onto my right foot. It was soft and warm, and at first, I thought it was perfect. But when I stood up and took a few steps, I felt a sharp pinch near my pinky toe, and the heel felt like it was slipping just a tiny bit.

​"So?" the head rabbit asked, his long ears standing straight up in anticipation. All the other craftsmen leaned in, holding their breath.

​"It’s... It’s really good!" I said, but I probably didn’t sound convincing enough. I walked a few more steps, and the pinch got a bit worse. I winced.

​Immediately, their ears flopped down. The head rabbit looked like I’d just told him his favorite carrot was rotten. They looked absolutely crushed.

​"It is a failure," he whispered, his shoulders slumping. "We have failed the Savior."

​"Hey, hey! No, stop that," I said, quickly reaching out and patting him on the head. His hair and ears were as soft as I remembered the rabbits to be. "Look at me. It’s not a failure. It’s a prototype."

​They looked up at me, confused.

​"It’s okay. It’s natural that the first time you make something, it’s not perfect," I explained, giving them a reassuring smile. "The fact that you made a real shoe with a solid sole and laces from just my description and blueprint is incredible. Look at the stitching! It’s beautiful. It just needs a little more room for the toes and a tighter grip on the heel. That’s all."

​I sat back down and showed them exactly where it was pinching. "The first one isn’t meant to be the final one. It’s meant to show us what we need to fix. You guys did amazing on your first try."

​The rabbit’s ears twitched, slowly rising back up. "You... you aren’t angry?"

​"Angry? I’m impressed!" I laughed. "If this is your first try, the second one is going to be the best boot in the world. Now, take this back, adjust the measurements, and we’ll try again tomorrow, okay?"

​They nodded eagerly, their energy returning as they started whispering to each other about ’toe-room’ and ’heel-tension’.

​I stood back up, back to being barefoot for now, and looked at my three husbands, each holding one or two things that were given by the folks on the way.

Yes, they are holding the stuff. Was I going to carry them by myself? Of course not.

"Alright, boots are a work in progress. The marketplace is doing great. Now, let’s go find those injured bears. I’ve got some apologizing—and some meat—to deliver."

​Damar reached out and grabbed my arm, steadying me. "You’re going to walk all the way to the infirmary again?"

​"What? My legs are working fine," I shrugged, though I was secretly wishing someone would carry me. "Besides, I’m the Queen. The folks will think I’m a tyrant to my husbands and make them pushovers by carrying me around."

No one will say that, but I’m just making an example so he doesn’t press on the issue, okay?

​Thalor chuckled, a low, melodic sound. "Then we shall walk with you, Queen."

​We headed toward the long stone building near the edge of the residential area that we’d set aside for healing. My heart felt a bit heavy as I thought about the two big bear beastmen. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

I really needed to get those safety protocols written down before anyone else got hurt. Jackpot or not, I didn’t want this kingdom built on broken bones if I could help it.