That was the agreement Remian reached with Bzziezuo, queen of the Feelo-wasps. BZ was newly coronated, and her swarm was actually considered small and weak; given the abundance of flowering plants in the vicinity, she felt this would be an ideal spot to settle down… as long as the Fief's Lord gave permission.

Also, if the Fire Hornets kicked up a fuss, he was supposed to help her swarm against them. Remian wasn't entirely sure that was a good idea, but Carrie said that was no problem. Buff alone was more than enough for that sort of mess. Apparently the fourth-tier bear had innate defenses that made him the absolute trump card against bee-type Wilds.

The agreement made with BZ got Remian thinking. He pondered; he consulted Carrie; he discussed with Buff; he spoke with DD; he even had a word with Spike. Afterward, these four great Wilds went out and gathered their kin.

That afternoon, the Harvest Sun clan was stunned to see a stream of wolfcats arriving with Carrie at their head. There were roughly five hundred of them, about twelve different packs from Shadowflash Fief and the neighboring Fiefs. These wolfcats would all live in the Fief from now on, under Remian's banner and under Carrie's command; other than them, all other speed-type land predator Wilds were driven out, especially the large cat kinds.

Later that night, Remian and Mindy took the Foresight to meet up with DD at the alchemist's cave. He had pretty much taken control of all the Boar-types in the region. Also, he'd found his old herd, who had followed him to this Fief when he had challenged Remian. All of them pledged to fight at his side in battle when he called. This included next week's Beast Wave, whatever may come. Also, they agreed to look for some sort of mushroom Aeren asked about, something Boars were supposed to be good at finding, something called 'truffles'. As for dragging around carts and farming vehicles… they wanted to be paid in meat.

"Do you even eat meat?!" Remian blinked.

Apparently they did. Boars ate all sorts of stuff, meat, fruit, nuts, plants, grubs... even snakes.

The next day, Buff brought in a crew of six bears, two of him were really just cubs. But even the cubs were Tier 3 and about as big as Red or Lunar. Accompanied by the bears, Remian took a trip to the Gorge River.

There, Spike was in the middle of a negotiation with the crocodiles. The negotiation did not appear to be going well. They looked like they were on the verge of declaring war outright.

Cracktooth was dead. His eldest three sons were dead. The remaining crocodile-types were divided into six different factions all trying to claim territory in the river. The factions themselves could not come to an accord, much less make any binding agreement with Remian. Neither did any of the factions favor making an agreement. They refused to even agree to a non-aggression treaty.

[Well, you guys can fight it out if you want. Me, I'm staying right here.] Spike declared, plopping himself down right where the gorge ended and the river became easily accessible. [And if I see any of you within a hundred of my steps from where I'm sitting, you're going to regret it.]

The crocodile-Wilds subsided and slunk away northwards.

[So… does that mean we can safely go fis.h.i.+ng?] Remian guessed.

[As long as they're near me, yeah.] Spike a.s.sured Remian, looking a bit proud of himself.

Not to be outdone, Miik also gathered the lynxmice. Even the desert lynxmice came along for the sheer heck of it. There were thousands and thousands of them, from this Fief and the neighboring Fiefs. Aeren saw them coming and immediately locked down the larder with the help of Red and his pack.

Wait. Since when did Red lead a whole pack? And how come it looked like there were at least thirty of them in it?! Did it just form recently, at the wolfcat convention?

Anyhow. The lynxmice all pledged loyalty to do anything he asked of them as long as they were made the dominant rodents of the Fief. They would handle most of it themselves, with just a bit of wolfcat support. Carrie sent them two packs and the lynxmice began a grand campaign of conquering the rodent world of the entire Fief. All other rodents, rat, rabbit, mole, or whatnot, would submit, flee, or die!

Having established agreements with the Wilds, Remian turned to the Burning Steel Forge and started discussing a formal agreement of their own. Part-owners.h.i.+p, commissioned works, smelting services, the employment of Wilds… the discussions promised to be long and complex, but at least they had begun.

By the time Charlie arrived on Fryday, Frontier Town was bustling with activity and at least half of it was done by the Wilds. There were wolfcats and lynxmice everywhere! They were salvaging in the wreckage, digging and leveling terrain, fighting rats, hunting the remainder of Bellower's herd…

Yet for all the hunting they did, beef exports essentially dropped to zero. They needed all the meat they could get their hands on. DD's herd were working in the farms now, pulling ploughs and clearing land, and goodness they could eat… could they even afford Boar labor? Paying with meat was going to be very costly. Remian wasn't sure how long they could keep it up or what would happen once they couldn't.

But though the beef exports halted, they began to export truffles. Plus, with the influx of honey and potential for export, the Harvest Sun farmers quadrupled their cultivation of calabash.

Fire Copper export had risen to twenty crates, eight tons netting a full 400,000 Lir. That was quadruple of what it had been when Kaleo came around. Six crates of raw jade brought another 300,000 Lir. Chunks of blue mana crystal topped it up with another 300,000 Lir, raising this trip's income to a full million on mining exports alone. 10% of the Fire Copper and Jade income belonged to Charlie, though, so 70,000 lir of that was his.

Also, half the farm's net profits were his. There wasn't much in way of export, mainly jellyfish and truffles. Barely a few thousand lir. But Remian didn't mind; there were a lot of things growing on the farm, palmyra, maize, shorgum, beans, dates… Remian wasn't even sure what else Taj and his clan were growing on the farm or when they would be ready for harvest, but when they were, he expected a much higher income and meals a lot more diverse in the future. Until then, they'd be eating food from hunting, fis.h.i.+ng and foraging.

Meanwhile, the airs.h.i.+p had brought another large s.h.i.+pment of people. Remian could only gape at the numbers. They had brought in a full load. "Who are all these people?"

"About that…" Marcus coughed. "I wrote to the Legion Headquarters, telling them we were doing ma.s.s emanc.i.p.ation, and there's a volunteer specialist here. You know how the Legion hates slavery? Well, it turns out HQ has more slaves than they can handle, so…"

"They're s.h.i.+pping them here for surgery?" Remian guessed. "And what's to become of these slaves after they're freed?"

"Um… I thought you could handle that." Marcus scratched his head.

Remian peered at him with narrowed eyes. "Was that why you wrote to the Legion HQ? So that we could increase our workforce?"

"Something like that." Marcus said evasively.

"Or was it because the more patients Lydia has, the longer Phoebe will stick around?"

"I didn't say that. You did." Marcus shrugged, looking up at the sky innocently.

In any case, this meant a regular influx of new settlers. Remian began to consider basic industries like sawmills, the new quarry, brick-making and pottery. If they didn't happened to have skilled workers for those industries in this batch, they should very well prioritize finding such specialists ASAP.

Just as Remian thought things were taking a turn for the better, however, Mikai arrived in a hurry. "Squeeak, squiik!" [Remian! HELP!]

"What's wrong?" Remian asked.

[It's Tim! He's been captured!]

***

It started when people from the Black Ruins went around planting strange crystals in various lairs, dens, nests and holes. They set up bait with crystals in formations around them. Dozens of Wilds began roving around in bad tempers, and those tempers got worse every day.

Tim tried to steal one of those crystals. He actually succeeded, but somehow, they found his hiding place and captured him.

"They must have been able to trace the crystal." Charlie guessed, as they held a council of war and discussed the rescue mission.

"What are we going to do?" Mindy asked.

"We could get another adventuring party. A soldier, a mage, a priest, a ranger…" Joshu suggested.

"No. It's too risky." Remian shook his head. "This time, we're going in force."

"What?" Joshu looked at him blankly.

"Carrie, call Buff and the bears. Bring the packs." Remian glanced at Mindy. "Is the Tug ready?"

"Not even close." Mindy said regretfully.

"We can use the Albatross." Charlie offered.

"Good. Also, I'm going to ask BZ for some of her swarm." Remian glanced about. "Marcus, I'll leave the protection of Frontier Town to you. DD and Spike will be here. If Spike shows even the smallest signs of acting weird, drop him down the pit."

[HEY!] Spike protested.

"How many lynxmice can we load onto the Albatross?" Remian asked Charlie.

"Are the bears coming aboard, or are they on foot?"

Remian glanced at Buff.

Buff looked at the airs.h.i.+p apprehensively. [Uh… I'd rather run.]

"They'll be on the ground with the wolfcats." Remian answered.

"Along with supplies… I think we can carry a thousand lynxmice. Maybe two thousand, if they squeeze."

"It's going to be a long trip. Best not to squeeze."

"I'm coming too." Mindy added. "I'll bring the Foresight. The Albatross can tow it along."

"Mindy, the Albatross already has new cannons…"

"Cheap ones, with less than half the firepower of the XL Ballista!"

Charlie couldn't deny that.

"Mindy, are you sure?" Remian checked.

"Tim's in trouble. I'm sure."

"Okay. Then get your stuff. We leave in half an hour."