The last night before the arrival at the forest was slightly different from the others for one very simple reason.

The camp we've set was maybe half an hour of a leisurely stroll away from the very edge of the jungle of death!

Normally, no one would dare to build anything anywhere close enough to actually see that place.

Sure, the guardian beasts — or rather, its current iteration — were never seen to leave the boundary of the jungle's outline.

But it never really needed to.

What if a huge number of people going back and forth between the jungle and the structure would get observed? And even if it wouldn't be enough to bait it out of its zone…

What if one of the iterations would end up powerful enough to toss objects heavy enough to damage the buildings?

Sure, that kind of a toss would be impossible for a man, even a greatly powerful one…

But as I've already witnessed firsthand with my very own eyes, the protector beasts of the jungle were in a whole league of their own.

That made it one hell of poor planning to build any kind of structure in a place known to be potentially dangerous. What was even worse, if that guardian beast ever decided to breach its usual limits, there would be little to no heads-up for the staff on the site to evacuate!

And yet, my men worked while I roamed around the half-prepared camp in search of anything I could help with.

As it turns out, after just a few days of traveling and working together, this small ragtag group of adventurers and adventure seekers who were all attracted by either Saintess' image or the prospect of a really good pay, ended up turning into quite the cohesive group.

Not yet a society… But people generally stopped being strangers and quickly developed their own standing within the group.

Just like the "middling" rank adventurer Milo, who wasn't really all that good at anything he put his hands to, but he worked hard and more importantly — he worked honestly.

Or "Papa Gaius" who proved to have quite the knack for turning simple food rations and the small selection of spices I made sure to purchase into meals that felt almost homemade.

Castor, Mario, Lee, a carpenter, do-it-all and the nightly storyteller who brightened everyone's evenings with stories of grand past told in a manner so vivid, even I took an interest in his tales.

And right now, everyone knew exactly what they were supposed to.

In fact, even infamous Milo ended up more useful than yours truly, leaving me to ponder my own significance in the grand scheme of my attempt to create not a business, but a whole damn societal trend of drinking coffee and then the industry to back it up and generously spend to fan the flames of peoples' interest.

Tonight, however, would put all those roles, all the expertise they've gained in their roles and their ability to work hard.

Because we've arrived at this spot back when the sun was still high above our heads, with at least several hours' worth of sunlight more.

With that much of an added time, completing the simple construction designed to be but a canvas upon which later generations of workers would build up from should be easy, right?

And yet, right now, with the last rays of the sun slowly caressing the face of the planet, we barely moved beyond the level of setting up the foundations and pillars!

It was all due to one, very simple reason.

Tonight, we weren't merely making a camp to spend the night.

No.

Tonight, we were starting the construction of a place where we would stay for the following week. A place that was bound to become like a beating heart of my company-to-be, that would pump out blood to the company's brain located back in the town.

In other, simpler words, we weren't building just a simple shed.

No, this time we were building an actual dormitory.

"Go get those planks to the site! We don't have anywhere to put the next batch!"

"I'm coming through! Make way!"

"Where are those damn logs?!"

The whole area was filled with enough voices to scare off any possible prey and attract every possible predator.

Which is why, nearly a third of our manpower had to be moved strictly to guard duty, keeping the insides of the camp from any unwanted intrusions.

Still, with a third of the men away on other duties, I was left with only about twenty guys to do everything else, from preparing the area, setting the simple foundations with the help of a makeshift, crude mortar I prepared all the way back in town with Greg's help…

And that was just a few out of many, many more tasks that needed attention, manpower, tools and time.

As we stood right now, however, we couldn't really spare any of those.

That would mean on the day we pretty much arrived where we needed to go, with several times more time to get the building completed… would mark the very first time that we would end up camping out under the empty sky with no walls or roof to shield us from the elements.

On its own, that wasn't all that bad of a thing.

In fact, that was what everyone fully assumed to be the expected norm! Before I imposed quite the uncommon effort to keep everyone comfortable, that is.

Which is why, rather than worrying about spending the night outside, unguarded from nature, people were quite clearly worried about not measuring up to my needs.

After all, why else would I be running all over the camp, helping whoever I could, if not for the great urgency of having that construction finished?

Still, with the idea of pushing as much of the work out as we could before retreating for the night, I grew blind to the anxiety I ended up causing in everyone else.

Anxiety that soon blossomed into the very first conflicts within the group.

"Watch where you are going!" Someone shouted, a bit too far for me to just run over and see what's going on.

"But you were the one blindly charging, not minding your surroundings at all!" another voice responded to the call, instantly escalating the situation.

And while I fully understood the importance of standing up for oneself and standing up against bullies… Right now I would really prefer if whoever those two were, they would just roll their eyes, scoff at the other and then continue with their work.

'Still,' I gritted my teeth, 'it's up to me, the boss, to get this conflict sorted out, isn't it?'

I was the one hiring them. And as I realized the moment I noticed the escalating situation, I should be the one making sure no conflicts arose, be it by securing proper supplies, managing the social temperature within the group… or not pushing everyone as hard as I did merely by working hard myself!

Yet, the very moment I put down the box of tools in my hand to the floor and rose back up to head in the direction of noise…

"No."

Out of nowhere, Selia appeared right next to me with her hand reaching out and then pressed tightly against my solar plexus, stopping me from making another step.

"This kind of thing is below you," Selia stated, the look in her eyes betraying great urgency. "If you will rush to solve it, then…"

Selia didn't even have the time to finish up, when the increasingly loud voices suddenly ceased with the sound of a dull… thud?

I squinted my eyes, instantly worried about some sort of unforeseen attack from an enemy we failed to prepare for…

But again, Selia's hand remained on my chest, stopping me right where I stood.

"If you guys have the time to bicker, you have the time to work harder!" Someone else joined in on the fray, stepping in as an arbiter to a situation I was supposed not to bother with.

"They need to learn to solve it themselves," Selia whispered, revealing her true intent. "The sooner you start shifting this kind of job to others, the sooner you will be able to put your skills to where they can achieve the most," she continued while giving me a slightly worried look. "I can guess how it feels to be the only one standing around and doing nothing while everyone else around is doing their best, but…"

Selia hesitated for a second, as if judging the validity of the points she wanted to make or bring up.

"But your job isn't to put two wooden pieces together," she finally settled on a phrase she wanted to use before pulling all of her hand away from my chest — save for her forefinger, that she now used to point at the very middle of my chest. "Just like it's not my job to deal with small-fry monsters that may appear, lest I want to risk a real threat slipping in and finding the inner of the camp unprotected, it's not on you to deal with small issues like that."

Selia then smiled as she finally pulled her hand away before taking a quick look at it and ultimately shrugging her shoulders.

"It's your job to figure out what your men need to do and ensure they will get paid for it. And right now…" Selia pressed her lips into a thin line, a look of reluctance appearing on her face.

Still, she continued.

"And right now, you are pushing yourself way too much, running around trying to do the most while actually doing the least, all the while making others look at it all and feel forced to keep up with the unrealistic norm you set for yourself."

My eyebrows moved up my forehead.

That was quite the… elaborative piece, especially coming up from someone like Selia.

Still, as much as I wanted to deny it, Selia's words made sense.

As usual, too.

"I guess my best bet is to just sit back and just watch how hard others work?" As ridiculous as it sounded, I didn't really feel all that… wrong when spelling those words out.

And Selia?

She merely nodded her head.

"That too is a part of your job, yes."

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