[Skill-Eater 2] Chapter 117: Welcome News (Patreon)

Dialla let out a long sigh, closing her eyes for just a moment while leaning back in her chair.

She was bone-weary after working for days with next to no sleep, but she didn’t have time to rest. Not with Crimson Claws threatening the settlement and the expedition besieged by an army of jailbirds—not to mention her failure to conquer the Savage Garden and claim the core manufactory.

Dialla had several hunters with scrying or drone skills watching for enemy movement, but she was starved for information regardless. While such powers were useful for keeping tabs on her own forces, the Claws’ crews were armed with magitech jammers and stealth skills, shielding their activities from magical detection.

The Mayor of Puppet Town opened her eyes and returned to the task at hand, finding a way to get past the jailbirds and rescue her missing people. A map of the Ivory Plains was spread across the desk in front of her, along with what little they knew about the adjacent biomes.

Pins representing estimated enemy positions were arranged in orderly rows. But no matter how intently she studied the layout, Dialla couldn’t find a solution to her dilemma.

The settlement had gambled with their lives by sending so many of their elites into the Savage Garden—in pursuit of a prize that would offer them a chance of weathering the storm. Despite their best efforts, they had lost that wager, and now the debt was due.

Not only had they failed to secure the manufactory—an upgrade that was vital to their long-term survival—the attempt had weakened the town’s defenses, and now trouble was knocking at their door.

Even with Sakura’s assistance, Dialla didn’t have enough intel to work with, and Earl’s peacekeepers were spread too thin to do anything more than patrolling the region around the settlement. They had learned some key details from the refugees, but there were still far too many unknowns.

The only silver lining was that the jailbirds’ forces were divided too. Some crews were still in the Savage Garden, taking far longer than she’d anticipated to conquer the dungeon. The rest of their strike force had their hands full with keeping Trapper’s team bottled up. It was a worrisome development, but the situation was also preventing those prisoners from joining the group on the plains.

If she didn’t find a way to even the odds before the Claws converged on the settlement, most of its residents were going to be slaughtered and the living would envy the dead.

She would never voice her doubts aloud, but if Dialla was being honest with herself, she was starting to lose hope. Earl and the remaining peacekeepers, along with the militia he had raised, were keeping the town safe for now. But they were drastically underpowered to deal with the hidden piece on the board—the elite squadron on its way from the Gilded Heights.

When Yussuf the Red arrived on the battlefield to lead his killers to war, not even the turrets and Dome would keep the settlement safe for long. If the town’s veteran hunters didn’t return before that happened, her people were in for a world of hurt.

She was about to gather the Puppet Town’s senior members for another late-night strategy session, when her Guide appeared of its own accord. Dialla almost dismissed it without opening the message—she simply couldn’t take any more bad news on top of everything else.

But when she read the first line, her eyes went wide with surprise. She leapt from her chair and let out a cheer as the dying embers of hope smoldering within her breast roared into a crackling bonfire.

Dialla’s aides rushed in as she began to laugh, wondering if their leader had snapped from the stress before she read the update aloud.

Your faction, Puppet Town, has completed the quest, Conquer the Savage Garden.

The individuals responsible for defeating the dungeon’s boss are: Edge Vasher, Byron Steele, James Holsted, and Setna Fie.

Congratulations. Your settlement has been awarded a D-Grade core manufactory.

A suitable site has already been chosen, and the building will manifest momentarily.

“I don’t believe it. Edge won. That crazy bastard actually did it!” She pulled on her boots while heading for the door. “And Setna and Byron are alive.” Dialla wasn’t sure who this James fellow was, but that wasn’t important right now.

What mattered was that for the first time in weeks, it seemed like Puppet Town still had a fighting chance after all. Their collective morale had been in the gutter for days, but this victory would send their spirits soaring again.

She used her authority to spread the news throughout the settlement as everyone in sight opened their messages and started to read. As Dialla ran down the stairs and out of City Hall, a cheer arose from all quarters of the town—a joyous cry that was music to her ears.

People were screaming and jumping, hooting and hollering, and this was only the beginning. She was certain that within a matter of minutes, every bar in town would be jam-packed and one hell of a celebration would ensue.

She couldn’t afford to join them, although their enthusiasm was contagious. While this remarkable turn of events was a lighthouse along a desolate midnight shore, it didn’t eliminate the threat the Crimson Claws posed. If anything, the jailbirds would be more desperate than ever to invade the settlement, now that the manufactory was inside.

But for the next few minutes, Dialla gave herself permission not to worry about any of that. Instead, she followed the System’s directions across the town square and over to an empty lot near the public green that had been slated for a new firehouse.

We’ll have to find another site, but this is a perfect spot for the manufactory. It’s central, accessible, and easy to defend.

When Dialla arrived at the lot in question, dense flows of mana were rippling through the air. A crowd had gathered to watch as the final touches of a powerful spell were completed by the System. Unlike simple manifestation skills, which temporarily granted mana material form, this was a permanent shaping.

As such, the planetary AI was assembling the town’s newest structure molecule by molecule, displaying a level of precision that few skill-wielders could manage. Ten minutes later, the building stopped glowing and the manufactory was complete.

She approached the high-tech edifice, resting one hand on the wall while absorbing the implications of this achievement. In spite of seemingly insurmountable odds, they had claimed a prize that would offer them a fighting chance of enduring the dark days ahead.

Their future was uncertain, and the war with the Claws was still underway. A lot of good people would die before the conflict was over, but for the first time in weeks, she believed that the story of Puppet Town and its hero Edge Vasher had more pages yet to be written.

End of Book 2