Thane was caught off guard but quickly snapped to.
"Is this news from Vivian's end?"
Avril nodded and explained. "It happened just now. I need to sit quiet and think carefully to remember what went on there. Give me a moment."
Oh, there's a delay.
Thane got it right away. "No problem."
The two quietly kept eating their dinner. After a while, Avril recalled the whole chain of events and laid them out carefully for Thane.
"Though there were some bumps in the road, the result was still good," Avril said.
"Yes, every seasoned veteran is worth his weight in gold."
More importantly, there was Eliric's team.
Rich in combat experience, working together like clockwork, with loyalty thick as thieves.
With such a squad of soldiers led by Eliric, Thane wouldn't sweat most bandit groups.
Thane raised his wine glass.
"And thank you for giving me this news ahead of time."
"You're welcome."
Avril raised her glass in return.
After both took a small sip, they started talking about the wolf pack Eliric had run into.
Based on the prairie wolf pack's numbers, Thane figured these wolves had probably gone beyond ordinary beasts.
The alpha had likely evolved into a magical beast prairie wolf king—only that could control so many prairie wolves.
The conditions for ordinary beasts to break through bloodline limits were mighty harsh. Thane reckoned this alpha had probably gotten hold of some incredible treasure.
Avril agreed with Thane's thinking, then shared some magical beast stories she'd heard in Razor Plains.
Three-headed snakes, earth bears, and supposedly frost demons in the Frozen Mountains.
Before this, Thane might have just listened for a good laugh, but having run into wyverns and now this strange wolf pack, Thane couldn't help but sigh that the Northern Borderlands were no simple place.
Thane suddenly caught onto something.
"What Vivian knows shows up in your mind, so wouldn't knowledge she picks up also stick in your mind?"
Thane looked seriously at Avril. "So if she learned swordsmanship from Pamin, you'd know it too?"
Avril was clearly floored.
"You're right! Why didn't I think of that?"
"It's not too late to start learning now."
Thane said with a smile.
If Vivian could really learn swordsmanship, he'd have a fearless shadow assassin.
As the two were talking it over, Pamin unexpectedly came back.
Asking Pamin to sit, Thane curiously asked about how things had gone.
Shockingly, Pamin had really just walked them home without any meaningful back-and-forth with any of the women.
He'd barely even made small talk on the way.
Only Teal, the woman around Pamin's age, had asked a few questions, and Pamin's answers had been about as warm as a dead fish.
Thane felt like throwing his hands up. Originally not wanting to play matchmaker, he secretly decided:
If there were no results within a week, he'd just make the choice for Pamin himself.
...
...
The fish pond construction would take a good while, but Thane still laid out the next tasks ahead of time.
To keep things from caving in, Thane planned to line the fish pond's four sides with stones, which meant they needed big granite blocks.
They didn't have to be perfectly cut, but naturally scattered large granite blocks were few and far between and not enough for lining the pond, so he needed stonemasons to start quarrying ahead of time.
The pond bottom also needed a layer of coarse sand and gravel to give better water flow and air exchange, keeping the water from going bad.
More stones could also give fish places to hide, making the water ecosystem more diverse.
Of course, this sand and gravel was easier to come by—they could dig it straight from the riverbank.
For canal building, sacks were also must-have materials.
Sacks filled with sand could quickly throw up dams at the river bend to send water into canals, and could fast build dams when water flow got out of hand, changing flow direction to let floods out.
Just about all women knew how to weave sacks, so there were no hang-ups there.
On top of that, Thane needed some rot-resistant wood to build water-release dams for the canals—all this was handed off to carpenters to get ready in advance.
After spending a morning getting these matters sorted, Thane personally came to the hollow to check on fish pond construction progress.
But really, Thane had heard there were still loaches and couldn't fight the urge to catch them himself.
It wasn't about loving to eat them or making money from drying them—he just enjoyed the feeling of catching fish with his own hands.
Guards used shovels to turn over soil while Thane grabbed loaches trying to get away.
Slippery loaches writhed and squirmed in his hands, desperately darting left and right through his fingers, but in the end couldn't escape being caught.
Maid Liya wore an apron with rolled-up pants and bare feet, following behind carrying a wooden bucket for Thane.
"Sir, to your right!"
Liya called out as Thane quickly pinched the loach's neck and tossed it into the bucket.
Maybe because of practicing breathing techniques, Thane's reflexes were way better than other folks'. Pretty soon he had half a bucket, probably seven or eight pounds.
"All right, that's plenty."
Thane shook the mud off his hands. Seeing Liya's clean face, he couldn't resist smearing some mud on it.
"Ah—"
Liya cried out and pulled back, instinctively grabbing mud to get him back but suddenly stopped.
This was the lord—she couldn't act up.
Seeing her stop, Thane felt helpless.
The loneliness of being on top.
Sighing to himself, Thane used his sleeve to wipe the mud from Liya's face.
"Let's go. Take these back for supper."
"Yes, sir."
Liya answered and carried the bucket to shore.
Thane didn't stick around either. After washing his hands and feet clean, he headed back to town with Liya, just in time to meet Eliric and Ryan coming back with their game.
Thane knew the details but still patiently listened to the full report.
"Welcome to the service."
After hearing the report, Thane looked at Eliric's teammates with a smile.
"Having spent over a month together, you know I'm not tight-fisted.
As long as you do good work, I'll give you steadier wages and a better life than being mercenaries.
If your families move here, I'll set you up with your own houses to live in.
I also hope you'll start families here and really put down roots."
Hearing these words, everyone was mighty pleased and bowed to Thane.
"Thank you for your generosity. We're happy to serve you."
Thane nodded, letting everyone go get some rest, only keeping Eliric and Ryan behind.
The three went back to the manor hall. After Thane called Pamin over, he had Eliric tell the whole wolf pack story again.
"Sir, such a wolf pack is more dangerous than bandit groups. We can't let this slide—we've got to find and wipe them all out."
Pamin looked serious as he suggested. "Especially that alpha."
"Mm, seems like everyone's on the same page. Then let's wipe them out."
Thane nodded, talking to Eliric and Ryan. "I'm putting this matter in your hands again. The hunting party can also lend you a hand."
"No problem, my lord. Could you spare some more armor-piercing arrows?" Ryan asked.
"How many do you need?" Thane asked straight out.
"If possible, six would be best."
Ryan explained. "Your armor-piercing arrows work like a charm. With them, we can definitely take down the alpha."
"All right."
Thane immediately turned and went to his bedroom in back.
When building the manor, to get done quickly, Thane had skipped the two-story idea and instead built wooden houses in back as his private quarters, connecting them to the front hall through a covered walkway.
Thane quickly came back with two wooden boxes, handing them both to Ryan.
"There are eight arrowheads here. I'm giving them all to you now."
These were what Thane had hammered out in his spare time, set aside for his own use.
The raw materials for these eight arrowheads still carried the precision forged furnace effect, making them pack more punch than previous armor-piercing arrows.
But Thane didn't go into details.
Regardless of special effects, Ryan definitely wouldn't waste armor-piercing arrows carelessly.
"Thank you for your generosity. I'll definitely bring back that alpha for you!"
Ryan happily clutched the wooden boxes.
"I have faith in you."
Thane smiled and nodded, letting Ryan and Eliric go rest.
Just then a guard hustled over to report that a caravan from the north was heading toward Fontdmer Town.