Chapter 69: Countermeasures! Justice in Orandra?!
Author’s note: Thank you, Robert Steele, for your subscription and support for the novel. This helps me to keep going; I’m very grateful. As promised, guys, here’s this extra chapter. For every new subscriber, I’ll publish an extra chapter.
----
"Long live the Lord!"
The moment the new batch arrived, they all bowed respectfully to Kaiden, as was customary.
"Welcome, everyone."
He greeted them with a calm smile, and before he could give any orders, Casper had already stepped forward on his own and begun sorting the newcomers according to their different categories.
At that moment, a system notification appeared before Kaiden.
[System Alert: Congratulations! You obtained a Special Unit during the Summon: an Emerging Mage with an affinity for the Earth element.]
A smile spread across his face.
Even before reading the full details, he realized his good luck was still on his side.
"Let's see this special unit... oh?"
His eyes widened slightly.
"Affinity for the Earth element... like mine?"
Despite his curiosity, he didn't interrupt the sorting process, and waited until Casper finished distributing everyone.
Today's Summon results were:
26 Villagers.
12 Militia.
9 Elite Soldiers.
2 Emerging Heroes.
1 Emerging Mage.
Name: Qasim
Rank: Emerging Mage
Level: 1
Experience: 0 / 100
Loyalty: 75%
Affinity Type: Earth element affinity, 48% compatibility
Description: Special Unit. An Emerging Mage with a balanced affinity for the Earth element, allowing him to specialize as either an attacker or a defender.
Class Skills:
Mana Sense (Common - Passive)
Earth Wall (Common - Active)
Earth Spike (Common - Active)
Earth Bullet (Rare - Active)
"Not bad."
Kaiden murmured as he studied the thin young man standing before him.
True, most of his skills were Common rank, but they were all practical skills, and more importantly, he had an excellent foundation for future growth.
Then his eyes widened slightly.
"Ah... I remember now."
He looked through his storage, searching among his belongings for a moment before smiling.
"Found it."
A carefully folded brown cloak appeared in his hand.
He stepped toward Qasim and handed it to him.
"Take this cloak. It'll be a great help to you."
It was a piece of Rare-rank equipment he'd obtained as a reward from one of the previous day's quests. Though he hadn't had a chance to use it, its effect was excellent — it increased mana recovery speed by thirty percent, but its usage requirement was that the wearer be an Emerging Earth Mage, so it had remained stored away until now.
Qasim accepted it with both hands and bowed respectfully.
"Thank you for your generosity, my lord. I'll treasure it."
Only a few minutes had passed since his arrival, and yet he had already received a precious gift from the Lord.
As for the other two Emerging Heroes, they were no less remarkable.
One was an assassin bearing a battle aura of the Shadow element, while the other was an archer bearing a battle aura of the Wind element.
At ordinary ranks, this might not seem exceptional, but starting from the Emerging Hero rank, the strategic value of the assassin class rises tremendously, especially for scouting, surveillance, and precision assassination missions.
For this reason, Kaiden welcomed them both warmly, feeling clear satisfaction with the quality of this batch.
After the summoning ceremony concluded, Casper excused himself from the Lord, then led the newcomers to distribute them to their places within the Territory, with everyone moving behind him in perfect order.
Calm quickly returned to the square as Kaiden was left alone.
He had no quests to complete before Novice Protection ended, but that didn't mean he was free.
Quite the opposite... a mountain of accumulated work still lay ahead of him before then.
...
Near the northern border of the Fertile Lands Territory...
A rumble!
A crack!
The ground shook violently, cracks spreading in every direction, before a square block of earth, roughly ten meters wide, began rising with extreme slowness.
Atop it sat one of the catapults that had already been mounted.
The rock formation continued rising amid an earthquake-like roar, dust scattering everywhere.
Until it finally reached a height of about fifteen meters, then stopped, and silence settled once more.
Kaiden wiped the sweat from his brow, then raised his hands again, forming a wide earthen path leading up to the platform.
"Done."
He said, brushing the dust off his clothes.
Then he nodded, satisfied.
"Yeah... I think this'll work."
This wasn't the first platform, but the third.
A catapult had been placed atop each one.
The goal was clear: ensure the catapults had a full field of view without being obstructed by the defensive walls in the future.
He didn't yet know how tall the walls would end up being once complete.
Nor did he know whether the Beast Tide would attack from one direction or surround the Territory from all sides.
So he chose the safest option, creating three elevated platforms, placing a catapult atop each one, then distributing them across three different sides of the Territory. Fortunately, he possessed earth magic, so work that would normally require dozens of workers and days of construction, he was able to accomplish himself in a short time.
He left the workers to finish hauling the catapult ammunition up to the platforms, while he turned and headed straight for the Lord's Hall. Only six hours remained — practically everyone was now in a race against time.
...
Kaiden wasn't the only one racing against time — every lord across Orandra was doing the same. The massive counter hanging above their heads, which no one could stop no matter what they did, blared out unmistakably that the end was drawing near.
As for the coming Tide, since the early morning hours rumors and warnings had spread far and wide, until most lords became convinced that something big would happen the moment the protective barrier vanished.
Lords of the powerful races received the news with mockery — they possessed such strength and capital that they viewed the coming challenge as just another obstacle in their path.
The mid-tier races, meanwhile, treated it seriously and began their preparations calmly, without panic.
By contrast, the weak races — including the humans, who lacked any racial advantage — were living in genuine panic. Everyone was rushing through countermeasures as fast as possible, even though whether those countermeasures would actually help remained unknown.
Such was justice in the world of Orandra. Nothing but an empty, worthless word, written on toilet paper for the powerful races to wipe themselves with.
...
Meanwhile, Kaiden had no idea what was happening in the rest of the world, and even if he had known, he wouldn't have wasted his time cursing this world's system. He was completely absorbed in his own preparations.
Inside the spacious Lord's Hall, he sat in the main seat after summoning all the leading figures of the Territory. Golan, Laura, and Josh attended as leaders of the Emerging Heroes, after Josh had proven his worth over the past few days, while Rob attended as the Elite Soldiers' commander.
As for the militia, they had no representative on the council yet, so none of them attended.
From the newly established mage faction, Fred, Nora, and Qasim attended, as its only members, while the three administrative officials were absent due to the pile-up of work that no longer allowed them to leave their posts.
Of course, Casper was present, as the Lord's trusted right hand.
The seats filled on both sides of the round table, and a simple bottle of water was placed in front of each attendee. A heavy silence settled over the hall, mixed with tension and anticipation — everyone knew the coming hours would determine the Territory's fate.
Kaiden took a calm breath and swept his gaze across the faces seated before him, before opening the first official round-table meeting in the history of the Fertile Lands Territory, his opening words being:
"Only three hours remain."
End of Chapter 69.