I knew this was happening but I never thought the bandits would spread until this corner of the continent.

This is deep in the countryside for crying out loud. You won't get anything expensive here. The norm is that only simple tools and items can be found in the countryside. I'm starting my workshop here since there would be less competition.

Each town still has minerals that could be mined but it should already be common sense that places that have expensive or rare metals would be heavily defended.

What are they going to do? Do they plan to go and visit every village for some eggs and milk? Hmm? Food!!! They never had any intention to go back and rob people of their valuables. Now that their main base at the dragon's road is gone, they are finding a place where they can easily procure food and necessities. If that is their plan then the countryside is the perfect place for them to raid. Tsk, this will put a huge roadblock to my rise to flame.

"Is that true? Is that what you and the others discussed at the meeting? Where are the bandits now? When will they reach us? Do you have a plan in mind?"
"Slow down, calm down. I know you have a lot of things in your mind right now but you need to calm down. We haven't heard any news that they are close to our region. We have some time to prepare."
"I'm sorry, I'm okay now. I'm just overwhelmed with the news. I just started here after all."
"It's okay, that is normal. The only clue we have so far is that the neighbouring regions have experienced higher reports of bandits appearing. Also, from what they could see, the bandits seemed to be appearing closer and closer to our direction. That is why we think that they will move in our region before settling down somewhere."
"I see, that is alarming news. Travel would be harder from now on."

It's not fair! I just started to get familiar with this place. I also just started my rise to fame. I'm slowly building my skills and customer base. I'm not limited to this life, so I am not worried about the danger but I at least want to reach a height of craftsmanship that could easily help me, and make me money in the next life.

"Yes, it will affect everyone's business when they arrive here. That is why I plan to evacuate most of the residents away."
"Evacuation?"

Are we abandoning the village? No, the village chief said most, so someone would likely stay. Is he planning to stay by himself? I know that his family has been taking care of the village for a long time, so he has a heavy attachment to the place but if the alternative is possible death by bandits, living in the town for a few years is tolerable.

I'm not sure if I want to stay or evacuate myself but that is only because of my home. My place is made of expensive materials. If I leave it then people might tear it down. The bricks are fine since those are bulky but the water tower, the inside wall and even the overflow pipe would certainly be destroyed. Those things can be made to armour and weapons too, so they might break it down and forge it into equipment. I don't know about skill but a bandit group should at least have a few that can make or repair their own weapons, especially here in the dwarf continent.

"I can't force everyone to evacuate since I know how those who want to stay feel. We have lived here all our life and have been through different disasters throughout history. However, I can't endanger the whole village for that. I plan to evacuate those who can't fight into the town. At least until we know the strength of the bandits. If we can resist them then I have no problem with keeping everyone here in the village. If we know how many and how strong they are, we will know if we can fight against them. Bandits always go for easy food. If we can then we will make sure that the bandits think that we are the toughest piece of jerky they could swallow. We will make them bleed and lose some teeth if they want to eat our village."
"What if they are stronger than expected?"
"If we can't resist then we have no choice but to temporarily abandon the village. There aren't alot of us left, so I have no choice but to preserve what I can. The mayor of the town has already given permission to aid us if needed. However, the first priority for me right now is to strengthen our defences. That is why I need your help."
"You want me to help with outfitting the defence force with weapons and armours?"
"That is part of it but we may need you to help build a wall too. I don't have much but I can borrow some from the mayor as a relief aid because of the current situation."
"Alright, I can certainly help. I would like to say that it's alright if it is free but materials aren't exactly easy to get right now, so I need a bit of money to resupply. I can lower the price to only the materials used, I don't need to charge labour. This is for the village after all."
"That is fine, thank you. During times like these is where we all need to lend a hand. Now, I think I'll take a little nap on our journey back."
"Ok, rest easy."

He must have been exhausted worrying and planning about this problem that is slowly creeping up on us. I guess I now know why we didn't leave yesterday. He must have been worried that we would be ambushed by bandits during our trip back.

We are still a one carriage traveller but it is easier to see things in the morning, which is ideal for spotting potential dangers.

Now, I need to start my preparation for the incoming bandits.

I don't want to fight if I have to since I am not specialised in combat. Even when I was with the princess, I was mainly a bodyguard for defence. My time with the academy is spent fighting students who barely have real battle experience.

There is no problem if I overwhelm them in terms of mana capacity, which is working so far for me but if I find someone with equal strength then I would only turtle up until I break or the enemy exhaust themselves.

Now about the village, a wall is a must. Even if it brings an interest to our village because it looks like we have something that needs protecting, it is better than having nothing at all.

Not only a wall but it should have a moat. We have plenty of lava here, it is about time we put it to good use. There is the problem that people might notice melted titanium on the lava but if they can extract it themselves then feel free to dive into the lava pool.

I don't know how it's going to work so that the lava won't eventually cool down and harden but even if it did we can just form them in a way that the moat would look like a spiky defence. Obvious huge spikes here and there but smaller pointier lava rocks scattered in between to shred those who want to approach from every direction but the bridge.

The bridge can be a simple one, it doesn't need any defence since if we lose the bridge, we can always make another one and we are still protected. The attackers are the one that needs to take care of the bridge, so we don't need to fortify it. I have to remember to stock up on some wood for multiple sets of bridges.

The gate is the one that needs to be fortified along with the wall. Both of them need to be lava heat resistant. if we really are going to build a lava moat. I also have to make it hard to climb, I could add blade-like spikes or I could make it transmit heat easily from the lava.

If they took out our bridge and chose to do starving tactics on us then we would need some siege weapons. The best thing about siege weapons is that bandits won't have them. It's too bulky for them to carry with them.

Now, I only need to prepare the weapons and armour for the defence force. I assume that there is going to be a village meeting to discuss this and I plan to submit all of these forward.

If a bandit ever chose to attack us, I will make sure that they regret it hard!

I will not let my hard work in establishing myself in these regions be wasted!