CHAPTER 1449: CHAPTER 1448: QUICKER THAN EXPECTED

My rumination on the water problem for the future took me around the camp more than a dozen times, the idle meandering helping to keep my mind fresh as I did something with my body, though I was sad to say I wasn’t terribly close to a really solid solution.

There were seeds planted that could sprout into something wonderful but I was going to need to nurture them for another day or so before I could really claim to have an answer to this issue of ours.

During those dozen or more walks around the camp I noticed that Anput was moving quicker than I was anticipating, the Jackalkin raising the earth at a steady pace as she began to truly set the foundation of our new home.

It was above my head already and it was still growing, with Jahi’s desire apparently being to make it reach double or almost triple my height before we even started the actual building and not just the foundation.

Considering it would become its own mesa on this plateau Anput was to make I was a little in awe already since this was quite large right now, and she hadn’t even started raising the rest of the land yet.

Seeing the scale of this in real time after just looking at a tablet and imagining it made me realize I wasn’t terribly good with visualizations of these sorts of things, since this was going to end up being... large.

Very large... though that was good since it would entirely our own and walled in to keep us safe while still giving us plenty of space and privacy.

This whole city building thing was going to be even more fascinating to see play out now that I was being introduced to the proper scale of how things would turn out, though that brought me back around to my own problem.

However it could wait, my curiosity of how much taller it would become getting ahold of me and causing my legs to move on their own as I approached Jahi, who was still appraising that tablet as she chatted with Adelina.

"How... big is this going to be?"

"Hm? Probably another... half dozen feet? Maybe ten depending on how it looks and how many more stone blocks Anput believes we can utilize before reaching about half of the supply.

Some of those blocks need to be used to construct the first floor of the house as well as the base of that tower, and I was going to give some to Adelina and Nirinia to be used for the home they build nearby."

The Lioness gestured at the tablet before I could ask a question, anticipating what it was and saying "We agreed that a guest residence of some sort would need to be constructed nearby, and since we are here until the Empress gives us new orders we do need a place to stay long term."

Jahi added onto that by showing me the tablet, which had a rough layout of the city etched into it already, the various roadways, hubs, locations of interest and more laid out around the central area, which was ours.

"I believe housing people in our own home will only need to be done if they are that important, because otherwise I don’t want them around us in our home, for a few... reasons. This will be a standalone compound that can be used by multiple guests if need be, and for now it can be the place that Adelina and Nirinia reside as they aid us.

Two of them can be constructed on either side with the Merchant Hall or something similar being constructed on another cardinal direction, leaving this wide space for a central square that will act as the main hub of the city."

She showed off her initial plan before returning to what we knew for sure, which was what Anput was working on; pointing at the Jackalkin above she said "Anput had that idea since it would be a place to announce news or whatever, as well as a place to host ceremonies or other important events."

I nodded, understanding the importance and seeing the vision, before saying "We should really plan this out though, well in advance. Start with the roads and the like; for now though, are we thinking that the house will begin construction tomorrow?"

Both of them just shrugged, while Anput seemed to have heard me since she looked down and said "Maybe, maybe not. Depends on how much solidifying you want me to do before we actually start; I can turn the dirt into rock but it’ll take time, and I’ll need a few potions too."

"Definitely want the rock for this, so I’ll see if Leone has an ample supply of potions. Either way, this is moving quick."

My mate gave me a grin and a bow before returning to her work, going layer at a time and moving at that steady pace that didn’t look terribly fast but was anything but slow; since she was working hard and they were content to supervise, I bade them farewell for now and went back to the camp, finding Leone sitting beside the fire pit with both Alessandra and Lakshmi on her lap.

Since she was in the midst of reading them a book I turned towards Mother Ria instead, joining her at the fringes of the campsite and just enjoying the calm, peaceful aura around the Noblewoman who was capable of becoming a raging tempest in the blink of an eye.

"I do applaud you all for deciding to create your mark on this world with your own hands. Constructing and then managing a city is going to be tough, but it will yield immense satisfaction when it begins to run smoothly. Personally I would have avoided this entirely, but I also don’t particularly enjoy... this."

Waving her hand at the slowly forming mound of dirt nearby, Mother Ria took a deep breath before glancing at me as she added "But to each their own, right?", which made me smile wryly as I nodded in agreement.