Harold didn't slow down when he found Margaret.She was already moving, slabs of slate tucked under one arm, listening to two people argue about storage space without interrupting either of them. Harold fell into step beside her, and the argument died on its own."Five minutes," he said. "Then I need you."She glanced at him once. "That's generous of you.""Stele," he added. "Not the hall."That earned a longer look.They walked together across the clearing, past a team of people digging a foundation with a single shovel and others moving with purpose instead of panic. The people had a rhythm now. Not smooth yet, but consistent.The stele rose ahead of them, pale stone catching the light, its surface faintly alive with lines that shifted when no one looked directly at them. It would only grow more resplendent as the village ranked up.Margaret stopped a few paces short of it."Alright," she said. "What are we doing wrong next?" she added, sounding exhausted."Hey now," Harold said, giving her a look. "Things have been pretty smooth so far—far fewer problems than my first time. Back then, no one listened to the Lord until he had soldiers to make them listen. Here, at least, people are working together from the start."She snorted. "That's a low bar."Harold just gave her a look..."It was chaos when Sarah and I got here the first time." The first night we lost almost twenty people."Margret just looked at him calmly, and Harold had to move one. She was a tough woman."I'm opening the village," Harold said. "For the general population from Earth."She exhaled slowly. "Our late arrivals.""Yep," Harold said, with far more cheer than the situation deserved."And you want me handling intake.""That's why I pay you the big bucks," Harold said, smiling.She didn't ask him to explain. She followed his gaze to the stele and nodded once."You want intake here," she said. "Where they see your authority before opportunity or the open land.""Exactly. We don't know who any of these people are. You were there for the briefing, but as a reminder, the prisons emptied too. A lot of people slipped through last time. They caused almost as much chaos as the monsters.""And you don't want it chaotic," Margret concluded."No," Harold said. "I can't allow this settlement to fail. This needs to be orderly."Margaret tapped the edge of her slate against her thumb. "I'll need people."Harold turned and raised his voice just enough to carry. "Unassigned adventurers. I need six!"No ceremony or explanation. He'd kept a small group back to respond to emergencies. Using them like this was a risk, but one he was willing to take.Six people moved immediately."You're with Margaret," Harold said. "You're here to be seen. Only threaten if she tells you to. If she tells you to move someone, you move them. If she tells you to stand still, you stand still."One of them nodded. "How long?" He asked."As long as it takes," Harold said. "Or until I tell you otherwise."Margaret studied them, then repositioned them without comment. Two near the stele. One off to the side. One is watching the approach path from the village. Two stayed close to her."Alright," she said. "Let's get this over with." She hesitated, then looked back at Harold."Harold," she said, "I picked Crafter as my role. But when I checked my perk… it doesn't really fit."Her eyes unfocused slightly, the look of someone reading something only they could see."It's called Discernment," she said quietly. "It lets me tell when someone is telling the truth."She frowned. "How does that help with crafting? You said our starter perk would fit our role."Harold went still.For a moment, his hands shook as old memories surfaced. He gathered himself, then really looked at her.Everyone got a little younger when they arrived in Gravesend. Margaret now looked like a woman in her early forties. Still sharp and certainly still direct. Still, the kind of person who saw straight through problems instead of circling them. She rubbed people the wrong way sometimes because of it, but she was easily one of the most valuable people in the village.Her perk made her invaluable."Crafter is a bit of a misnomer," Harold said at last. "There's no administrator role. But someone has to build systems. Processes and conduct oversight."He met her eyes. "That's crafting, too. In time, you'll get perks that help with administration."She didn't interrupt."Everyone I ever knew with a perk like yours either died early," Harold continued, "or was protected constantly. Tell no one about it. Not ever. From now on, you don't move without protection."Margaret was quiet for a moment."On Earth," she said slowly, "I was skeptical. Your potions convinced me that something strange was happening. But now…"She looked at him. "I know you're telling the truth. Not that you believe you are. That you are."She exhaled. "I'm not sure if that's a curse or a blessing."Harold stepped forward and gave her a quick, awkward hug. "We'll call it useful."She smiled faintly, then flipped to a fresh slate."Names and where they're from. Role. My initial impression. These aren't easy to write on. Then, which section head do they report to?""That'll work," Harold said. "Most starting settlements pull between three and seven hundred people based on the quality of stone they started with. With a legendary village, I'm expecting another five hundred. So the total starting population today will be around a thousand total."She groaned. "Harold, what the hell?"She looked up. "I'm going to need more people."He just grinned. "Grab whoever you need."Harold stepped up to the stele and focused.The interface responded immediately.VILLAGE SETTINGSOPEN VILLAGE TO COLONISTSSOURCE: EARTHSTATUS: AVAILABLEA warning pulsed faintly at the bottom.Harold ignored it."Everyone else arrived together," Margaret said quietly. "These won't.""I figured out the settings late," Harold said. "That's the explanation. Or tell them legendary villages get a second pull. Tell them both."She nodded. "People won't question systems they don't understand."He confirmed the selection.The air near the stele thickened. Light gathered. Like a doorway remembering it was supposed to exist.The first figure stepped through. Then another. Then more.They arrived close together but not all at once, blinking, disoriented. Most immediately started asking questions. Some went silent. A few just looked relieved to be standing somewhere solid.Margaret stepped forward before Harold could speak."Everyone, stay where you are," she said calmly. "You're safe for now. If you can form a line, we'll get everyone moving."That stopped the noise.The adventurers shifted just enough to be noticed.Harold watched Margaret work, her eyes already tracking posture, hesitation, reactions. Patterns forming.The stele hummed softly behind him.He turned away to gather more help and left intake to her. It was a new problem, but a good one.And for once, it was already being handled; he just had to stand around and look like he was in charge.Harold stationed himself at the entrance to the lord's hall.Not inside. Just outside, where people naturally funneled past him without feeling like they were being summoned. The doors stayed open behind him, the hall looming more as a presence than a destination.People came up in ones and twos.Some asked where to go. Some asked who they should talk to. Some just needed to be pointed in a useful direction so they didn't stand still too long and get in the way.Harold answered quickly and without ceremony."You're with timber. Talk to Beth.""Storage overflow is being rerouted. Josh has a slate, find him, actually... never mind, he's busy with something. Find his aide.""Adventurers are rotating off the board. Recheck it in an hour." Harold said.They nodded, thanked him, and moved on.The village churned around him.Voices layered over one another. The tools rang. Wood cracked. Someone shouted a warning as a log shifted wrong, followed by laughter when no one got crushed. It wasn't exactly chaos, but it was close enough that it needed constant hand nudging to get it back into shape.Every few minutes, the system chimed for someone.A soft pulse. A brief flicker in the air as someone earned their first perk.Most of them were exactly what he expected.Minor strength increases. Faster wood chopping. Reduced fatigue while hauling. Slight improvements to tool handling and strength. Useful, but narrow. The kind of perks that made work smoother without changing anything fundamental.A few caused murmurs.Someone earned a stamina regeneration perk that let them work nearly twice as long before needing rest. Another got an improved yield while skinning animals, which immediately sent two people jogging toward the hunting teams.Harold noted the names mentally and let it go.Momentum mattered more than micromanagement right now.Hours passed that way.The sun shifted. Shadows lengthened. The noise never stopped, but it changed pitch as people settled into routines.That was when he saw them.The soldiers emerged from the treeline in a tight formation, armor scuffed, shields scratched, swords still sheathed but worn the way weapons were meant to be worn. Hale walked at the front, helmet tucked under one arm, posture relaxed but alert.Harold stepped forward to meet them.Hale didn't waste time. "Perimeter's clear for now. Lots of little monster signs north and east. Nothing coordinated, though. One den worth marking, I believe. I believe it was some goblin, but we didn't want to risk being swarmed.""Good," Harold said. "No losses?""None," Hale replied.Around them, people noticed. The newcomers, especially.Some stiffened at the sight of real armor and steel blades. A few looked relieved. Most just glanced, clocked the fact that someone here was watching the edges, and went back to work.That suited Harold just fine.Beyond the hall, hunters were already returning with game. Carcasses were being hauled to a cleared area where people with knives and buckets worked carefully under Margaret's earlier instructions. Further out, small plots were being marked and turned over, the first lines scratched into the soil where planting would begin.Beth and Josh were everywhere.They moved fast, slates flashing as they marked zones, redirected foot traffic, and shut down bad ideas before they turned into permanent problems. Someone tried to claim a patch of ground for a workshop that didn't belong there and was redirected within minutes.Most of their attention, though, stayed on the structure. The one they needed for their perk.Fifty people were already assigned to it. Cutting trees and dragging logs and stripping branches and processing wood at a pace that bordered on reckless but hadn't crossed it yet. The forest edge was retreating by inches, measured and deliberate. They were lucky the lord's hall came with a small stock of tools. It would have taken them forever if they truly started from scratch. Even more fortunate was the fact that the summoned recruits came fully equipped.Harold watched it all from the hall entrance.The fires came up. He put them out. The system chimed again for someone. Another common perk. Another slight advantage was stacked where it mattered.Most people would be sleeping on the ground tonight with nothing but the clothes on their bodies. Groups gathered around a few fires, clustered close for warmth and a sense of safety. Each group assigned one person to watch while the others slept. It would be a long night for most of them, but it beat losing people in the dark.Margaret got the newcomers moving after a short welcome speech.A lot of them pushed back.They were a mix of people who had never done physical labor and people who had only ever worked white-collar jobs. This was a very different world from the one they'd left. They'd probably cause more problems once the shock wore off, once they had time to think and complain. But for now, they were working.That part went far more smoothly than Harold had expected.A lot of people had already discovered the forums. For the moment, it was frantic, primarily posts and half-formed messages, people trying to find loved ones and confirm they hadn't arrived alone. It was unfortunate that it didn't let you direct message anyone, but it was a godsend for everything else. That and the ability to conduct trades over it. That function would be gone by the third year.And just like that, the first day ended in a flurry of activity.Watch rotations settled in, fires stoked higher as the light faded. The soldiers began a constant circuit through the camp, instructed to count heads as they passed each group, making sure the numbers stayed right and no one drifted off unnoticed.Harold watched until the rhythm held."Hopefully it'll be a peaceful night," he murmured to himself.
