Chapter 38: Ogoren

On Kellen's side, after spending two days emptying the cemetery of Dole Village, he ceased all further petty actions. After all, at this moment, he still had that Damocles’ sword named Old Jack hanging over his head. Kellen could not guarantee when he would return, and not wishing to take more risks, he had no choice but to quietly remain in the village.

To be honest, at this point, Kellen somewhat hoped that Old Jack would never come back. Unbeknownst to him, his wish had already come true. The contest between the Forest Keeper and the City of Moon Worship, or rather between Old Jack and Ryan, ended with Old Jack’s defeat. In order to preserve himself, Old Jack would indeed not return to Dole Village for some time!

Old Jack’s move was a concession to Ryan, a guarantee that the Forest Keeper would not interfere with the development of Dole Village. Because of this promise, Ryan no longer clung relentlessly to Kellen.

Of course, news of this reached Kellen swiftly—not because Old Jack sent someone to inform him, although he did indeed dispatch a messenger. In fact, before Old Jack’s envoy arrived, someone from the City of Moon Worship had already come.

On the third day after Kellen killed Perik, representatives from the City of Moon Worship arrived. This time, only two people came: one was Glen, a young man Kellen had met once before, seemingly at the second tier of strength; the other was also a young man.

This young man, upon arriving in Dole Village with Glen, sought out Kellen at once. Named Ogren, and appearing to be about twenty-three or twenty-four years old, he strode into Kellen’s house with Glen, scrutinized Kellen for a long moment, then introduced himself, “I am Ogren. Thanks to you, I’ve become the primary person in charge of this project in Dole Village.”

“Oh? Congratulations,” Kellen replied, glancing at Ogren. He noticed that his Insight Eye could not be activated, and his brows furrowed slightly before he regained his calm. “You came straight to me—is this a show of force? Or a declaration of war?”

“You misunderstand. I have no time to waste on you. The Forest Keeper has already yielded; the One-Armed Lord won’t return to Dole Village. I trust you understand what that means?”

Ogren’s implication was clear: your patron has left, you’re now on your own, so you’d best behave. Yet, when these words reached Kellen’s ears, his focus was entirely different.

“What? Old Jack won’t return?” Kellen could hardly contain his delight—he had never imagined happiness would come so suddenly.

His joy, however, appeared as terror in Ogren’s eyes, and so his evaluation of Kellen dropped several degrees. Still, Ogren had no interest in provoking conflict with Kellen. As he’d said, in a sense, were it not for Kellen, he wouldn’t have inherited this project, so he bore little hostility toward him.

His initial show of dominance was merely to assert his position and meet the person who had enabled his rise.

Now, seeing Kellen ‘startled and angry,’ Ogren lost interest in further entanglement.

“I’ll be direct. The One-Armed Lord has agreed to transfer you away after the capture of the wraith. Until then, we must cooperate. Let me briefly outline our terms.

We expect you to refrain from interfering in all village affairs—be it the project or the militia. Additionally, during the course of this project, any dealings with external parties, such as the bandit gangs, the Silver Hand merchant guild, or other villages outside Dole, you must be present.”

Ogren maintained a cold, unfriendly demeanor throughout. Yet Kellen paid no mind, still basking in the joy of Old Jack’s departure, and nodded in agreement to all of Ogren’s demands without hesitation.

Seeing this, Ogren said nothing more, and departed with Glen.

A short distance from Kellen’s house, Ogren paused, turning to glance back.

“What is it, Lord Ogren?” Glen asked.

Ogren narrowed his eyes, “Did you notice that Kellen’s reaction was odd? When I said the One-Armed Lord would not return, he seemed… almost delighted.”

Glen was momentarily confused, but Ogren continued, “Perhaps he never intended to oppose us. Now that the contest is settled, he’s glad not to be forced into an awkward and dangerous position.”

Having satisfied himself with this explanation, Ogren strode off with Glen, soon becoming absorbed in his work.

When Perik had arrived previously, preparations in the City of Moon Worship were still underway, so although Perik stayed for quite some time, he accomplished little.

But Ogren’s arrival brought a wholly different situation. After the incident with Perik, the City of Moon Worship felt a new urgency regarding Dole Village’s development, and preparations were accelerated.

Ogren naturally had to get to work at once. His initial tasks were straightforward: organizing villagers for construction efforts.

After all, the City of Moon Worship intended to transform Dole Village into a trade hub specifically targeted at the Silver Hand merchant guild. The foundation of such a market was twofold: external transport and internal environment.

Due to certain preparations, Ogren did not begin with the roads, but instead mobilized villagers to begin renovating Dole Village itself.

He had assumed this would be a simple matter. The City of Moon Worship had already drafted plans for the village, with every detail accounted for; all he needed to do was organize the villagers to start the work.

And surely, organizing the villagers ought to be easy.

Yet Ogren soon discovered otherwise. When he tried to mobilize the villagers to renovate Dole Village, it was far more difficult than he had imagined. Without a word from Kellen, he found himself barely able to take a single step forward…