Gao Yang looked at the Minister of Agriculture: "Norris, are you all right?"

"Cough — an old complaint; I always cough once autumn comes," Norris said with a wave of his hand. "That's the end of my report; I've already given the detailed materials to Lady Hedy."

Sitting nearby, Pi Yun winked at Norris: "Hey, why not try my medicine? I tell you, that complaint of yours is nothing at all in my hands..."

"Keep order during working hours," Gao Yang said with a glare at Pi Yun. Then he swept his gaze over everyone present and let out a faint breath. "Then that will be all for today's meeting. Adjourned."

Soon the people in the meeting hall rose and dispersed, until only Gao Yang and Hedy were left in the great room — along with Amber, who had been hiding invisibly beside Gao Yang, cracking sunflower seeds for a full hour.

"Progenitor, the messenger from the royal capital has reached Stonehold Fortress," Hedy said. "The party is led by Cohen Loren, deputy commander of the Royal Knights. Moreover, according to the envoy, the first batch of materials for building the barrier has already been loaded aboard ships at the upper port of the Dolgon River and, barring mishap, will reach the southern border within twenty days."

The elves, as advance messengers, had brought the letters; the formal royal envoy had arrived close behind; and at the same time, materials from the northern regions had been loaded onto cargo ships at the upper Dolgon. Such interlocking steps in the sequence of events showed one thing: the opinions of the capital's nobles had finally been brought into accord.

Victoria Wilder, then... the northern archduchess's competence was still dependable.

"Their efficiency has finally picked up," Gao Yang said with a nod. "'Pathbreaker' — how goes the engineering corps' recent progress?"

"'Pathbreaker' has already established a forward base at the northern edge of the Black Forest and begun advancing into its depths. The guard units have had several brief skirmishes with the monsters of the forest; only one soldier was lightly wounded, with no other casualties."

"To cross the Dark Mountains is to cross beyond the safe zone at the borders of civilization; we must take particular care against the enemies in the Black Forest," Gao Yang said slowly. "Come with me to the Southgate Fortress — let us see how the construction is coming along there."

Hedy lowered her head: "Yes."

Gao Yang grunted in acknowledgment and snatched up the sunflower seeds from the table beside him. "Enough of that — come with me."

"Hey, hey!!"

...

At the southern foot of the Dark Mountains stood Southgate Fortress.

Strictly speaking, it could not yet be called "Southgate Fortress" at all — only a vast, half-finished fortification and a busy construction site.

Engineering machinery, building materials, and construction crews from Xuanyao City had moved into the former "Shadow Experiment Grounds," and on the foundation of that enormous cavern they were raising a massive, sturdy bastion of reinforced concrete.

Under the direction of Gordon, the chief of construction, the work crews had already reinforced the southern rock face of the cavern with permanent cement works, installing steel mechanical gates along the cliff along with several firing emplacements and observation posts. Inside the cavern, powerful large magic-crystal lamps lit the whole space bright as day; the remnants of Old Gondor's relics that had littered the cave had been sorted, salvaged, or cleared away, several pools of standing water and cracked, sunken patches had been filled and leveled and paved over with fresh mana-net substrate and flooring, and the exposed rock walls had been shored up anew with supporting structures, with work now underway on raising walls and laying conduits.

At that moment the crews were setting support columns in the southern and western sections of the cavern, preparing to build the fortress's second level, while Gordon himself stood at the cavern's center, overseeing the workers as they carried out protective isolation and repairs on that "Gate of Shadow."

The portal leading into the Shadow Realm had been damaged, yet Miss Amber could still use her own unique power to pass through the gate into the depths of the Shadow Realm. The lord held that the gate possessed special significance for research; since the portal itself was a fixture anchored to the surface and could not be moved, Gordon intended to seal the area off and turn it into a special facility within the fortress.

A mechanical scholar in a yellow work suit, a magitech terminal mounted on his hand, came up to Gordon and saluted the head of the Construction Department. "Mr. Gordon, the supplies from Xuanyao City have arrived — the shipment bound for the Forward Base. Will you inspect them yourself?"

Gordon looked up and saw several trucks parked under the lights, each bearing the emblem of the Cecil Construction Department.

He nodded and strode toward the truck. "I'll take a look."

Supplies bound for the Forward Base were vital goods; there was no room for the slightest carelessness.

Thanks be to the new magitech vehicle technology — these immensely powerful machines could haul in a single trip what would have taken a small convoy of wagons — and thanks also to the superb engineering of the old Gondor Empire, whose main corridor through the Defiance Fortress was wide enough to let vehicles of such size pass freely within. Gordon reached the rear of the truck's cargo bed, climbed the ladder up, and began inspecting the load.

Food, clothing, new water-purification apparatus...

Gordon nodded and checked off the items one by one under the "Living Provisions" column of the manifest in his hand.

Then he moved on to another truck, and the supplies in this one drew his eye —

Crate upon crate of Rebecca crystal, individually packaged detonation runes, druidic blight potions, Type II high-explosive shells and their matching fuses...

Gordon nodded again and began checking off entries under the "Construction Consumables" column of the manifest.

As he ticked them off, the head of construction could not help muttering to himself, "How on earth do they classify this stuff as construction consumables..."

(My wife has entered her due period these past few days, and I'll be at the hospital with her the whole time. I'll do my best to keep up with updates, but if the backlog of drafts runs out and chapters have to stop for a while... =

Everyone — the little eyeball really is almost here, aaaah!!!)