"Then, we'll begin the meeting! If you have questions, raise your hand before speaking!"

Two hours later, in the middle of the camp, Axel raised his voice.

The reason it was an hour delayed was due to Arianne not waking Axel up in time and letting him sleep for a bit longer. Although Axel wasn't angry about it, he was still upset that Arianne was prioritizing his comfort over plans.

Anyway, even with all the delays, they still managed to gather in the end.

"Uhm, Sir Axel? What's the reason everyone is called over...?" Curious, Beatrix raised her hand and asked. "Arianne only told us to gather and didn't tell us what the topic was, other than it concerned the camp's future..."

"Ah, that's because I didn't tell her beforehand."

Axel turned to face them before taking out a whiteboard behind him. On it, a simple map was drawn—the immediate surroundings of the camp.

"As you know, the camp suffered from the heavy rain yesterday," he started, before tapping the map behind him. "As such, I'm planning to upgrade the camp and make it a bit more proper!"

"Huh?"

Confusion swept past some of the girls' faces, while some nodded in assent, understanding the reason behind Axel's choice. Axel watched their expressions and continued.

"I'm planning on making a river flow through the camp, adding a sewer system, and expanding the wall coverage. After that, I'm planning to make a hose for each family or individual. I want to take the residents' thoughts on this matter. What do you think?"

Everyone began to clamor, whispering about this and that to those beside them. A while later, Arianne raised her hand and voiced her opinion first.

"If we're rebuilding the camp... I suggest making a fortified castle town!"

"I agree." Beatrix smiled, nodding in approval at Arianne's suggestion. "If we're making a castle town, we should build the castle in the middle, then the river would..."

"About the river, what about making smaller waterways..."

"But then, the sewer..."

More than Axel expected, the girls began to raise their suggestions one after another. It was such a lively discussion that soon enough, the image of a castle town was drawn on the map.

Although it kept the three things Axel mentioned, there were like a dozen other things added into the details.

For example, apart from the river—wide enough that two boats could pass by at the same time—that crosses the castle town, it was planned to cross a little to the "south" of the castle instead of the middle, adding eccentricity to keep the castle itself right in the middle.

Furthermore, they added smaller branches through places for easier water access, facilitating water flow during rain and preventing flooding while also keeping water access for when a fire breaks out.

Another is a deep moat to be filled with the river water around the entire outer wall. It would protect against invasions by keeping the wall inaccessible directly.

Finally, it was the castle itself.

Axel didn't really plan to make a castle at first, but after hearing the reason, he was convinced.

Princess Eve, to raise her "support rate," among others, needs a castle to show off her strength and ability. And since they now have the Valkyrie Knight Order, not having a castle or a throne to protect—even just as a symbol—would make their existence a bit shaky.

But mostly, it was that it could work as a nice evacuation area when the walls fail in the worst case.

"Then, tomorrow, I'll be setting up the walls." Axel sighed, scratching his head before continuing. "And as such, Maria, I want you to command the bandits and survey the land around. Place markers for each corner of the walls as planned here."

Double-checking the map, he couldn't help but feel a bit tired.

"Just how much will all these cost..."

…

Axel decided to sit back that night, doing his own thing instead of defending the walls. Even without him, the girls still performed spectacularly. Teruria commanding the bandits to fire volleys of crossbow bolts, mowing down zombies, was quite a sight.

The slight tilt of the tenement housing bothered him, but since it was no longer sinking further, posing no danger, he decided to just let it be. And just like that, without anyone bothering him that night, Axel managed to sleep normally for the first time in a while.

Morning...

[Humph! New function added to Housing: Area Visualization. If there's nothing else, then don't call me.]

Navi appeared for a brief moment, telling Axel what new functions he had unlocked before disappearing once more. It was obvious that the little penguin was still upset with Axel.

"It should be me who's upset, you know?" He could only sigh. "Although he's annoying normally, not being annoying at all feels a bit lonely too..."

Though since Navi still did his job correctly, he also just let it go.

Only time could heal their broken relationship at the moment.

"Anyway, Area Visualization...? Let's try it out."

He visited the housing panel and selected a simple hut, the cheapest one. As soon as he selected it...

"Whoa?!"

A semi-transparent wireframe copy of the hut appeared in front of him.

Although surprised for a moment, after realizing what it was, Axel began to get excited. "It's a preview!" he roared.

Moving his hand also moved the preview's location, allowing Axel to micro-control the building's position. If the position was free, the preview was colored green. But if something was in the way, the color changed to red.

With this, he could set up houses side by side without worrying about overlaps!

"Not only that, but I can definitely use this for the new city-building plan!"

It was such a timely upgrade that he couldn't really believe it was random anymore!

After a short breakfast, Axel then continued to work. It was something only he could do, after all.

"First is setting up the wall..."

The new city plan was a little too big... but reasonably so.

Each wall spanned one kilometer, three meters wide, and was planned to be five meters high. High enough that no monster should be able to climb over it.

Of course, with how long the wall was planned, Axel couldn't find anything in the shop to use... Thus, he could only do things manually: buying rocks, sand, and materials for Roman concrete, mixing them using Housing Modification, and creating the cement to make the walls.

This method was cheaper than buying wall sections from the shop, of course... but a little time- and mana-consuming.

"...Guess I can only work diligently for now."

Shrugging his shoulders, Axel continued with his task.

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