When Jay arrived back home, he was finally able to completely relax.

 

The Main City was a very dangerous place for him right now. He had planned to talk to some officials to perhaps get some assistance to deal with the Iceborne. The people that ‘spawned’ alongside the Main City generally had quite a bit of hatred for many of the other races.

 

And because humans were considered arrogant and oppressive many of the other races had the same feeling about them. Jay was rather thankful that the Main City’s mayor would never send out their military, the only assistance they would provide their race with was resources.

 

In his last life, this changed 4 years later. The mayor of the Main City he was a citizen of was assassinated by an earthling. Because of this, another official became mayor and this official wasn’t against sending out troops. In this period the entire region was in shock. The official started attacking whoever was closest to him, mainly taking out human cities that had had the support of the Main City earlier.

 

Jay could only hope the mayor wouldn’t be assassinated in this region. And if it ever did happen he wanted to be the one in control of the succession. In order to do this, he had to start involving himself with them as quickly as possible.

 

His gains on this little shopping trip were plentiful however. He hadn't only gotten more magic books that would vastly improve his magical knowledge, but he had also gotten a blueprint for an easy to build, strong ballista.

 

He noticed that after giving 2 more magic crystals to miss Evergreen to create more golems, he had 3 left. In the end, he decided to build 4 ballistae. The ballistae were larger than the traditional ones. The wood took a faint red color when it rose out of the ground and seemed tougher overall. In the middle, there wasn’t a ditch for the arrow, however. There was only a small round hole large enough to hold a magic crystal.

 

After some consideration he decided to put 2 loaded ballistae on the north wall, aiming for the Icelands. Another loaded ballista was situated at the southern wall, aiming for the forest. And the last ballista could be seen on the western wall aiming for the bridge, this one was unloaded for the time being. As for the west, there was no need to put any there as he was so close to the region border.

 

When he returned miss Evergreen had also notified him of another fact. She had finished the construction of the first 3 golems. He didn’t have to think of where to place these golems at all as it seemed rather logical to him. The first rock golem was just across the bridge. This was it could delay any potential enemies while they got the army ready and loaded the ballista. 

 

The second rock golem was heading into the forest at this time. Guided by a few soldiers the golem was to go down the steps into the ruins. He wouldn’t go through any doors though, staying on his side of the rat room. This way if any enemies were to come burst through that door after being exhausted by the rats he would promptly attack them. Meanwhile, the soldiers that went with it could notify the village.

 

The last Ice golem was heading towards Icy village, where it would stand guard preparing for the Iceborne retaliation.

 

Time moved quickly and the city grew. He noticed that at this point 8 refugees came at a time and at least 3 of them would be a minor talent. After a few days, he realized he couldn't do all of this micromanaging himself, he was spending almost as much time managing the town as he was reading magical books. Something totally unacceptable. And right now it was also about time he returned to Icy Village, the Iceborne could retaliate at any time now.

 

In the end, he appointed old man Von Hauser as the temporary village chief. Even if his politics stat was a bit low, he was extraordinarily intelligent. He also seemed to properly understand Jay's goals and aspirations, helping him in knowing how to deal with the village.

 

And so, Jay headed back to Icy village. The village had grown nicely, getting all the necessities. It was more of a stronghold than a village in actuality, with 2 walls and a lot of resources being put in defensive measures.

 

He also spotted a healthy mix of humans and Iceborne within the stronghold. It was clear the ‘spawned’ here was a mix of both races, something Jay was very content with.

 

The previous day one of the magic students had traded in a magic crystal for merit points. A truly fortunate event. But, since the capital had enough defensive measures for the time being, he took the crystal together with some wood to Icy village.

 

A Ballista was soon built on the outer wall to the north side. Furthermore, the village had started gathering resources for the final, third wall which would encompass the entire hill, this was a project that would take a few weeks to complete though.

 

In the next couple of days, Jay worked on all sorts of things. He hunted a few Icy monsters, learned how to ice-fish and even tried to see if he could make an easy to make blueprint (Something he failed at).

 

On the fourth day after his arrival, he was alerted. One of his guards thought he had seen a dark blue head peeking over a different hill a few hundred meters north of them.

 

Promising the man would be gifted 10 gold coins if he was right and there would be no punishment if it was a mistake Jay assembled everyone. He sent out the 30 blue-furs under his command, they were to descend the mountain to the south, break through the ice and then head north to where the enemy might have been sighted.

 

The blue-furs were quick and efficient, they immediately rushed down the hill in an ordered fashion.

 

About an hour later, the group returned to give intel. They didn't have any accurate intel since they could only see through some of the ice but they were sure the enemies were there. At least 30 but possibly over 100 Iceborne had a camp behind that hill.

 

After getting this intel, Jay decided to take the necessary precautions. Per his command, going outside of the walls for anything else than catching food would be forbidden.

 

The blue furs were told to remain by his side. Meanwhile, Geralt was training the troops, with frequent pauses to make sure nobody would tire.

 

4 days passed by quietly, nobody left the premise of the village during this time. It was now that the Iceborne were spotted. Three groups of 30 Iceborne appeared from behind the hill, these all had a faint tint of blue on their skins even if they weren't quite blue-furs. They were each led by a dark-blue Iceborne who was significantly larger than the others.

 

Additionally, a red Iceborne could be seen standing on top of the hill they came from, it looked like he was the overall commander.

 

When Jay made his way onto the walls to prepare the ballista a few notifications appeared surprising him.

 

| An IGB has decided to sponsor you with an event |

| Personal event: Defeat as many enemy Iceborne as you can. Duration: 30 days |

 

What the hell was an IGB? And since when were there personal events? Was this a lord thing?

 

After thinking for a short few seconds, Jay decided to put the thought to the back of his mind. After all, he had more important things to worry about.

 

The magical ballista would only be able to fire 3 times per magic crystal, but the damage of a single shot should be significant.

 

Additionally, the giants each had a big block of ice ready to throw, this would certainly be a destructive battle.