As expected, we were only able to cover a limited area. We went one time towards the borders then we walked to the right for about an hour then we started walking back the way we came from to get back before sundown. I decided to walk to the right for an hour to cover as much length of the border and to cover a bigger area for mapping.

For the areas that the team did not cover by foot, I already harvested 80% of the useful things to make sure this trip is bountiful. As to why, I did not take everything, these forests have to support life for as long as it can and it would not help if I uproot all the plants here and making them extinct.

With my current abilities, I was able to successfully map the whole eastern side of the territory with no issues. I would have been able to do it quicker if I was alone but I don’t want to rob these folks off of their learning experiences.

As promised, we returned to the temple before sundown with no one injured, dead or missing. This made everyone left in the temple waiting for us all day sigh in relief. The whole team assembled inside the dining hall next to complete an inventory of everything we got from the forests during the mission.

It was admirable that all members of the party were quite honest. None of them tried to hide any of the foraged and hunted items from others for themselves. They brought it all out on the dining hall grounds for all the food preparation staff, elders and the pope to see.

It took quite some time for them to lay it all on the ground as we indeed had quite a haul. I sneakily added back the things I removed from their baskets and carts to create more space during the trip making the entire hall gasp in surprise at the huge amount they brought back. For one, the total weight of all of these should not be possible for a human to carry at least, even when one uses carts.

Finally, realization dawned on my 23 other teammates about this seemingly impossible phenomenon. Everyone’s eyes eventually landed on to me who was just leaning on the stone wall on one side of the hall while quietly observing everything.

When they finally noticed me, I stood up straight and walked towards the area where the harvested items were. I chose a relatively empty space to stand in as I simply uttered, "I used space, teleportation and weight reduction magic on the whole team".

After that, I raised my right hand and with a soft light glow, edibles from the forest start appearing around my feet. I released two-thirds of my haul. Well, I kept the other one-third as my labor fee, of course and Uncle Daejung’s shop could use some inventory replenishments on herbs and alchemy materials too.

It took several minutes before I was able to pull out everything I intend to give them which amount to about half of what the whole team was able to get altogether. The dining hall is now literally overflowing with food ingredients and medicinal materials. The shock of it all made everyone stand stiffly in place.

I guess when butyou are used to having just enough or barely enough for so long, getting a lot all at once can result into such shock. I have promised myself that I would provide for my people and this church, being connected to Clarence, makes them my people. I can say this is just the beginning of their prosperous life but I will just stay mum about it for now.

I got a little impatient since everything was at a stand still for several minutes so I snapped my fingers and ordered, "These items won’t walk to the storage room on their own. Wash every bit of dirt and blood off of these things and store them. They are rotting continuously while you are all staring absent-mindedly here."

The order successfully snapped everybody out of their shock as they all started going back and forth, working as busy as bees. I called for Ned and told him that another excursion will happen tomorrow and he had to choose new members but still the same amount of people (23). He nodded his head and went to help out with storing the items though I am sure it was not part of his job description.

After a few minutes, more paladins came in, helping out with the strength-related stuff, specifically carrying items and pushing carts. As for me, I turned around and teleported back to the foot of the mountain. Though it is still early, I guess it is time to start the farms since the seeds, seedlings and trees are already available for planting and replanting. It is only 4:30 in the afternoon so I still have some daylight left, not that the night hinders my eyesight when I wanted to work.

I used the two hours remaining of daylight to pave a straight road continuing from where the stone steps ended towards the south of the territory. I checked the area and decided that for the approximate amount of people that will be living in this area in the future, a farm of about 5,000 hectares should be fine. I intend to use the mountains at the back as land for farming as well so this should suffice for the flat fields. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Just like how I did for the town or Ersha, a tall deceivingly impenetrable wall made of wood and stone should suffice as a barrier between these farmlands and the town that will be built on the other side. I like doing these types of jobs but I just never thought that I will be doing some urban planning again right before my wedding. Ugh.

I decided to make a three-sided wall with each of them having a gate to facilitate the travel of hired farmers back and forth from work and their homes. I have discreetly taken some sturdy looking trees from the forest while making sure to replant a new sapling right on the spot where I took them from. Using the stones I mined from the back mountains as well, it should suffice for the wall.

I enveloped the whole area to reduce noise and avoid distractions then started working as if in a trance for 2 hours. Well, that is outside. I tinkered the time inside so I had a whole day to work with.