Solus Hargrave didn't get surprised easily. She brought the Dew Roses that were requested, but she couldn't find her cute junior anywhere. She perused the market had some free bread. Free bread, who does that? Things like meat and fruit products still had a price, but still, who does that?

  A tall man stopped her as she made her way through the town. He would have been more intimidating if he wasn't carting around a baby. "The lord was been looking for you."

  The roads were clean, the water too. He's only been a graduate for three weeks. When she passed by the old half torn down city, she thought he died or something. But coming here shocked her to the core.

  They made their way to the north side of the city to see a water wheel being put up. It was twice the size of the hulking man next to her. Once it was hooked up and the last gear was hammered into place, she could hear it. The rhythm of steady hammering and the roar of fire as the bellows breathed to the left of the wheel.

  "Impressive." She stated, her mind still trying to process this town. And then he turned to her. Marcus's eyes lit up as he took her in.

  "You're late, I had to build your Mage Hall south of the city." She pouted at his response. She didn't know why she expected anything different. He always spoke his mind. He always spoke in that semi monotone voice when he was speaking irrefutable fact. Even when it's something as absurd as the entire Boreal kingdom's Pantheon and how half of them are the children of some of the others. "Did you bring the Dew Roses?"

  "Of course I did. What do you take me for?" She responded has she rubbed her necklace and 5 crates of fully grown Dew Roses appeared in front of them.

  He opened one as if to inspect them. "Perfect." He then started to command the group of people around him. "Alright! This last project will complete this city and everyone can go back to their livelihoods! We got to plant these in those places I marked as forbidden before. Three feet apart or it won't work! Grab a measuring stick and let's get this done!"

  "What is happening?" Solus asked as she watched the 5 crates go in different directions.

  "If my math is correct, the protective barrier and gathering rune will be up and running soon. I need to soak up the excess Mana so that the citizens don't get Mana poisoning."

  Now that he mentioned it, she did feel that the Mana in the air here was more abundant and excited in the city. Was it the water?

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Sir, the flowers are planted." The large man said after a few minutes.

  "That was fast." Marcus muttered.

  "Half of them wanted to see what you would do next. The other half knew you would give them the rest of the day off."

  "Makes sense. Lets go."

  The walk to the center was peaceful as the hammering faded away. The border of the Dew Roses made the sidewalks more pleasant. But once they made it to their destination, Marcus got a little nervous.

  "Moment of truth." He muttered as he pulled out the [Draconic Crystal]. Her jaw dropped as she watched it float in place above the young Baron's head.

  The river sparkled, the road seemed to glow softly, and the Dew Roses bloomed a beautiful crystal purple. The percentage of Mana in the air went down. Everyone seemed to breathe easier now as the ground rumbled around their feet.

  The Dew Rose stalks grew quickly and became hedge bushes at the height of a child. The flowers doubled in size. One flower the size of a small dog grew out of the ground and seemed to be a platform for the floating crystal.

  "The hell just happened?!?!" Solus yelled as she could feel the barrier over a hundred feet above the city.

  "Well, the river dug in the shape of the purification rune cleans up any and all Dark Mana that flows in from the river. The now clean Mana fizzles out into the air where it's collected by the Dew Rose hedges planted into the shape of the gathering rune and fed into the [Draconic Crystal]. The gem powers the barrier rune made of Magic ore that we placed underneath the barrier rune shaped roadways. The gem also supplies extra power to the purification rune. Thus creating a perfect loop without dooming us all into becoming monster chow." He explained like it was the most normal thing in the world.

  It was not. But, damn it, it felt amazing to see their thesis be proven in a real world scenario. She felt a tear fall down her cheek that she quickly wiped away.

  "Do you have any more ass pulls planned in the future?" She asked excitedly. "Because I am all for it."

  "Well, the Mage Hall is just about done. Just needs some furnishing. I plan on buying some sheep so we can make our own clothing. Madeline said that the useless prince plans to gift me a weaving machine to surprise me with for my new territory." He was listing off his fingers. "With the smithy now up and running, I need to see what can be done to get the Adventurers Guild branch on their feet. They could bring in some good meat from the forest."

  He was still going. "I want to see if the southern desert has the right sand for glass making. It's a longshot but I have to know. I need to set up a church to make extra sure that the entirety of the Dark Mana is purified. I need to start building the Knight training grounds. I plan on etching a gravity spell into the floor to increase their strength and stamina."

  "And finally, I need to double check who that mine in the northeast belongs to. If it's mine, I need to build a road and restart operations. If it belongs to Quinn, I need to see if I can buy it."

  "Wow." She wheezed out. Thanking the powers that be that her family doesn't own more than a single Manor.

  "Yeah," Marcus sighed. "I'm nowhere near done." He scratched the back of his head as he went to the market.