Chapter 89: Nine Hundred People Came Home

Chapter 89 -87: Nine Hundred People Came Home

At six in the evening, Arin discovered that building eighty shelters was the easy part.

The difficult part was convincing nine hundred people not to enter Greyhaven.

“My house is right there!”

An elderly man pointed through the western gate.

Arin looked where he was pointing.

The roof was missing.

A tree grew through the second floor.

Three Stonefangs were sleeping in what had once been the kitchen.

“No.”

“I built that house!”

“Then you should recognize the monsters living in it.”

The man stared.

One Stonefang lifted its head.

The man reconsidered.

“I’ll wait.”

“Good.”

Five meters away, Cassian was having the same conversation with a family insisting their shop was safe.

It wasn’t.

EVE’s scan had detected a Hollowmaw nest in the basement.

Beyond them, hundreds of returning residents waited beside wagons, carts, furniture, livestock, tools, and enough personal possessions to make Arin wonder how anyone had evacuated with them.

One family had brought a piano.

Arin stared at it.

The owner folded his arms.

“I’m not leaving it again.”

Arin decided not to ask.

“Temporary camp goes there.”

He pointed toward the western field.

The man nodded.

“Can the piano have a roof?”

Arin looked at EVE.

She looked suspiciously amused.

“Yes.”

“Thank you.”

Arin had negotiated with monsters more easily.

Construction began immediately.

Not Elysium-style instant construction.

That would have been easier.

But Frontier Infrastructure was designed around something Arin increasingly valued.

Other people being able to maintain it.

Foundations were simple.

Components standardized.

Water pipes accessible.

Power systems modular.

Nothing required Founder Authority.

Nothing required EVE.

Nothing stopped working if Arin left.

Rian stood beside the first shelter framework with twelve former Greyhaven builders.

“Wall panel!”

A panel moved into place.

“Lock!”

Four clamps engaged.

“Roof!”

Someone shouted:

“Wrong roof!”

Rian looked upward.

It was, in fact, the wrong roof.

Arin watched from twenty meters away.

Lucan stood beside him.

“Going to fix it?”

“No.”

“They’re installing it backward.”

“I see that.”

“You’re suffering.”

“Yes.”

“Why not help?”

“Because Rian needs to notice.”

Three seconds later:

“WAIT!”

Rian looked upward.

Everyone stopped.

“That’s backward.”

Arin smiled.

Lucan nodded.

“Parenthood.”

“Don’t.”

By midnight, thirty-seven shelters were operational.

Not enough.

So residents improvised.

Merchants opened wagon covers.

Hunters surrendered spare tents.

Former miners constructed temporary awnings.

Mara somehow converted two freight containers into a kitchen.

Arin didn’t remember authorizing that.

He approached.

She handed him bread.

“Eat.”

“I’m working.”

“Eat while working.”

Arin accepted the bread.

Arguing with her had proven inefficient.

The smell spread.

People gathered.

Mara pointed at three teenagers.

“Tables.”

They obeyed immediately.

Victor watched from nearby.

“She could conquer kingdoms.”

“There aren’t kingdoms.”

“Then whatever we have now.”

Arin couldn’t disagree.

At one in the morning, the first real problem arrived.

Not monsters.

Water.

The temporary purification system could support nine hundred people.

Barely.

But Greyhaven’s returning population also included sixty-three horses, twenty-eight draft beasts, several dozen livestock animals, and one extremely angry mana-bison named Gregory.

Arin stared at Gregory.

Gregory stared back.

“Why is it named Gregory?”

The owner shrugged.

“My daughter named him.”

Gregory snorted.

Arin stepped sideways.

Gregory followed.

“Does he dislike me?”

“He dislikes everyone.”

“Useful animal.”

“Very.”

EVE updated demand.

“We require thirty-one percent more water capacity.”

Arin opened the Frontier Infrastructure menu.

Portable water tower.

Available.

Requirements—

He frowned.

“Why are we short on treated copper?”

“Drainage restoration consumed current field stock.”

“Substitute?”

“Mana-bronze.”

“Expensive.”

“Yes.”

Arin sighed.

“Use it.”

A voice behind him said:

“No.”

Arin turned.

Tavian stood there.

Arin stared.

“What are you doing in Greyhaven?”

“Civic oversight.”

“At one in the morning?”

“You’ve spent enough money in twenty-four hours to make sleep impossible.”

Lucan started laughing.

Tavian handed Arin a ledger.

“Do not use mana-bronze.”

“We need water.”

“Greyhaven has copper.”

“Where?”

Tavian pointed toward Cassian.

Cassian blinked.

Then remembered.

“Old municipal maintenance depot.”

Doran nodded.

“Southwest block.”

Arin looked toward the monster map.

Yellow zone.

Not secured.

Tavian smiled.

“Congratulations.”

“On?”

“You get to save money by fighting monsters.”

Victor appeared almost instantly.

“Someone said fighting?”

Nobody knew where he had come from.

The municipal depot was nine hundred meters inside Greyhaven.

Arin took Lucan, Victor, A-01, Cassian, and six Hunters.

No engineers.

Quick retrieval.

That was the plan.

They reached the depot in twelve minutes.

No monsters.

Victor looked disappointed.

They found the copper.

Four tonnes.

More than enough.

Cassian smiled.

“Easy.”

The floor collapsed.

Arin fell.

Lucan fell.

Victor shouted:

“I KNEW IT!”

Then he fell too.

Arin landed in water.

Cold.

Black.

Deep.

His head surfaced.

“Everyone?”

“Alive,” Lucan answered.

“Unfortunately,” Victor added.

A-01 rose from the water.

It reached his waist.

Cassian surfaced beside him.

“Where are we?”

EVE mapped their location remotely.

“Old stormwater reservoir.”

Arin looked around.

Massive underground chamber.

Stone columns.

Broken pipes.

And hundreds of small glowing points.

Victor whispered:

“Those aren’t lights.”

“No.”

The water moved.

Arin drew his weapon.

Then one creature climbed onto a stone ledge.

Small.

Maybe the size of a dog.

Six legs.

Smooth amphibian body.

Blue luminescent stripes.

Then another appeared.

And another.

Hundreds.

Cassian raised his sword.

Doran’s voice came through communications.

“Don’t kill those!”

Everyone froze.

Arin answered:

“Explanation?”

“Glowbacks.”

“What are Glowbacks?”

“Harmless.”

One creature hissed.

Doran corrected:

“Mostly harmless.”

Victor lowered his rifle slightly.

“Define mostly.”

“They eat mana-mites.”

Arin looked at the creatures.

EVE immediately understood.

“Mana-mites damage infrastructure.”

Cassian stared.

“So these things have been protecting the reservoir?”

“For years,” Doran said.

Interesting.

Arin holstered his weapon.

Victor looked offended.

“No fighting again.”

“Correct.”

A Glowback approached Arin.

Sniffed his boot.

Then bit it.

Arin stared downward.

“Harmless?”

Doran laughed through communications.

“They like mana residue.”

The creature continued chewing his boot.

“Stop.”

It didn’t.

Lucan smiled.

“Another monster friend.”

“No.”

“You attract them.”

“No.”

The Glowback climbed onto Arin’s leg.

Victor started laughing.

The reservoir changed everything.

It still held clean groundwater.

Not drinkable without treatment.

But usable.

EVE estimated that restored pumps could supply more than five thousand residents.

The temporary water tower was no longer necessary.

They hadn’t found a problem.

They’d found infrastructure.

Again.

Arin looked at Tavian after returning.

“You were right.”

Tavian froze.

“What?”

“About not using mana-bronze.”

Tavian looked around.

“Someone record that.”

EVE replied:

“Already done.”

Arin sighed.

By sunrise, Greyhaven had water.

Not temporary tanks.

Actual running water.

The old western reservoir pumped into restored mains.

People cheered when the first public tap activated.

Then nothing came out.

Everyone stared.

Rian panicked.

“I tested it!”

The pipe coughed.

Brown sludge exploded over Victor.

Silence.

Then clean water followed.

Lucan sat down laughing.

Arin looked away.

Victor wiped mud from his face.

“I hate infrastructure.”

Mara handed him a towel.

“Good boy.”

That made it worse.

The temporary settlement reached seventy-nine shelters by noon.

Population:

Nine hundred and forty-one.

Because more people kept arriving.

Arin stared at EVE’s number.

“It increased.”

“Yes.”

“Tell them to stop.”

EVE looked at him.

“How?”

Arin considered.

He had no answer.

Merchants followed returning residents.

Hunters followed contracts.

Craftspeople followed reconstruction.

A healer arrived after hearing about the rescued tunnel survivors.

Then two teachers arrived.

Arin stared at them.

“Why?”

One woman adjusted her glasses.

“Children.”

Arin looked around.

There were indeed children.

Seventy-two.

“Temporary settlement.”

“Children remain children temporarily.”

Arin had no response.

The second teacher smiled.

“We need a classroom.”

Arin looked at EVE.

She was enjoying this.

“Frontier education module available.”

“Of course it is.”

The classroom was finished before the final shelter.

Lyra called during construction.

When she heard Greyhaven was building a school, she became extremely interested.

“Can we visit?”

“No.”

“Later?”

“Maybe.”

“Can Little Elysium Workshop sell things there?”

Arin paused.

“What things?”

“Useful things.”

Luna appeared.

“Delivery carts.”

Arin became suspicious.

“How many have you built?”

Silence.

“Lyra.”

“Three.”

“Luna?”

“Five.”

Lyra turned.

“YOU BUILT TWO WITHOUT ME?”

The communication devolved immediately.

Arin ended it.

Lucan stood nearby.

“Business empire.”

“They lost money on their first delivery.”

“Most businesses do.”

“Don’t encourage them.”

The school caused another problem.

People stopped treating the western settlement as temporary.

Someone planted flowers.

Another resident built a wooden porch onto an Elysium modular shelter.

A merchant erected a permanent sign.

GREYHAVEN WEST MARKET

Arin stared at it.

“No.”

The merchant looked worried.

“Problem?”

“This is temporary.”

The merchant looked around.

Nearly a thousand people.

Water.

Power.

Clinic.

School.

Market.

Workshops.

Road.

“Of course.”

Arin narrowed his eyes.

The merchant nodded seriously.

“Very temporary.”

Lucan walked away before Arin could see him laughing.

Then Greyhaven fought back.

At three in the afternoon, warning alarms sounded.

Not western perimeter.

North.

EVE’s map opened.

Red markers moved.

Hundreds.

Then thousands.

Arin’s expression changed.

“Which population?”

“Hollowmaws.”

The restored drainage network had finally pushed one colony out of its underground territory.

And instead of migrating away—

It was moving toward Greyhaven.

Estimated number:

2,400.

Cassian arrived.

“Direction?”

EVE highlighted the route.

Everyone went quiet.

The colony wasn’t heading toward the temporary settlement.

It was heading toward Market Square.

Specifically—

The old clinic.

Doran swore.

“They’re trying to retake the nest.”

Arin understood.

The clinic had been part of their communication network.

They weren’t randomly attacking.

They were reclaiming territory.

Lucan drew his sword.

“So we fight?”

Arin looked at the map.

Twenty-four hundred Hollowmaws.

Narrow streets.

Buildings.

Civilian restoration teams.

A direct battle would destroy half the district they’d just reclaimed.

“No.”

Victor sighed.

“Again?”

“We redirect them.”

EVE shook her head.

“Previous danger signal ineffective. Colony is responding to territorial displacement.”

Arin stared at the acoustic data.

If danger wouldn’t move them—

What would?

Then Doran said:

“Food.”

Everyone looked at him.

“Hollowmaws follow Deepmaws.”

Arin frowned.

“The predator from the tunnel?”

“They scavenge what Deepmaws kill.”

EVE immediately searched behavioral records.

“Confirmed correlation.”

Victor slowly smiled.

“You want to pretend there’s food somewhere else.”

Arin smiled back.

“Exactly.”

Lucan looked between them.

“I hate when both of you smile.”

Elysium drones deployed north of Greyhaven.

Not weapons.

Acoustic emitters.

They reproduced Deepmaw hunting signals.

Then released synthesized scent markers gathered from the dead predator.

The Hollowmaw colony stopped.

Two thousand four hundred creatures.

Motionless.

Then the entire swarm turned.

Away from Market Square.

Toward the abandoned eastern quarry.

Victor watched from the wall.

“That’s terrifying.”

Arin nodded.

Then something unexpected happened.

The Hollowmaws entered the quarry.

And didn’t leave.

EVE scanned.

“Natural cavern network detected beneath quarry.”

Doran stared.

“Didn’t know that was there.”

Arin studied the terrain.

Far from civilian zones.

Far from mine access.

No major road.

No critical infrastructure.

A thought formed.

Cassian saw it.

“You’re not thinking of letting them stay.”

“Why not?”

“They’re monsters.”

“So are the Ironbacks.”

Cassian paused.

“Different situation.”

“Yes.”

Arin looked at EVE.

“Can the colony survive there?”

“Likely, if sufficient prey remains.”

“Would they threaten Greyhaven?”

“Potentially.”

“More than if we exterminate them?”

EVE considered.

“Unknown.”

Good.

Unknown meant don’t pretend certainty.

“Monitor them.”

Cassian frowned.

“You’re taking a risk.”

“Yes.”

Arin looked toward the quarry.

“But Greyhaven doesn’t need every living thing around it dead.”

Cassian thought about that.

Then nodded.

“Monitor.”

By sunset, the crisis was over.

No battle.

No destroyed street.

No casualties.

Greyhaven restoration increased again.

WESTERN DISTRICT:

61% SECURED.

MONSTER POPULATION:

13,940.

CIVILIAN SUPPORT POPULATION:

1,012.

Arin stared.

“Again?”

EVE nodded.

“Seventy-one arrivals today.”

“Why?”

“Employment.”

Of course.

Then another notification appeared.

GREYHAVEN RESTORATION MILESTONE:

SUSTAINED CIVILIAN POPULATION ABOVE 1,000.

LOCAL ECONOMIC ACTIVITY DETECTED.

BASIC PUBLIC SERVICES ACTIVE.

CLASSIFICATION CHANGE AVAILABLE:

RESTORATION OUTPOST

→

PROVISIONAL SETTLEMENT.

Arin stared.

“No.”

EVE looked at him.

“Classification reflects reality.”

“It’s temporary.”

Behind them, someone hammered another porch onto a modular shelter.

Children ran past carrying schoolbooks.

Mara’s kitchen had acquired an actual sign.

Merchants were arguing over stall locations.

A blacksmith had somehow built a forge.

The piano from yesterday was playing.

Lucan walked beside Arin.

“Very temporary.”

“Shut up.”

Then Cassian approached holding a stack of papers.

Arin immediately became suspicious.

“What?”

“Residents elected a provisional committee.”

Arin stared.

“They did what?”

“They need local administration.”

“You’re Greyhaven’s representative.”

“Exactly why they want their own committee.”

Arin slowly looked toward the thousand people outside the walls.

Apparently Elysium’s habits were contagious.

“Fine.”

Cassian smiled.

“They want to meet you.”

“No.”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“No.”

“Nine o’clock.”

“Cassian.”

“They’re also requesting sewage expansion.”

Arin stopped.

Lucan started laughing.

Arin looked toward Greyhaven.

Monsters hadn’t defeated him.

Ancient Systems hadn’t defeated him.

Seraphine hadn’t defeated him.

But civilization had discovered his true weakness.

Meetings.

Arin sighed.

“Eight-thirty.”

Cassian blinked.

“The meeting is at nine.”

“I want it finished by nine.”

He walked away.

Behind him, Greyhaven’s lights continued turning on.

One street had become a district.

A temporary camp had become a settlement.

And somehow, without anyone asking Arin’s permission—

A dead town was learning how to live again.

Chapter End