86 Starting work

The next day Leo realized how lucky they were in their arrival, since that night was the next full moon and he managed to not be trapped in the tunnels with the dwarves and Iris. Before he left though he started discussing the plans with Agmundr and the other Chiefs. Due to the fact that Leo and the other first residents of the area were humans, the dwarves started to speak the human language more often as well.

"We can start working immediately so that there can be some kind of proper shelter for the winter. We already cut it too close for t a sling and the snow will only arrive faster here in the far north. We can look for a couple of places to start mining, and the stone we dig will be sent up to the ruins for rebuilding. That way we'll have both the stone and any ores we dig up to use. Of course the first materials we use will have to go into a ramp in order to get them up there in the first place. We can start a rotation to work at all times for both areas so that we can finish faster."

Leo didn't know what to say. If anything it was that this was why he didn't believe he was suitable to lead. Agmundr had only been here for twelve hours and already drew up a plan to start rebuilding what was supposed to be his kingdom. Leo meanwhile had been able to think on it for several months now and didn't even know where to start, he could only feel embarrassment at the situation. Before leaving for the night, he also went with the dwarves to find prospective mines.

"Let's check here." Milo the chief of the miners said as they arrived at the side of a mountain. He then asked Leo to step back, and slammed his palm into the mountain side. Leo didn't sense anything happening, and was about to ask when Milo spoke up.

"This area is good, no ones been here before so there's plenty of untouched veins. Mark this area, and we'll go and check another area." A group of dwarves started working, and Milo started walking away with Leo right behind him.

"What did you do?" Leo asked in confusion. Milo had a look of realization, and explained,

"It's an ability that only the dwarves have. Others might be able to replicate it with mana or chi, but not to the level of the dwarves. It sends a shockwave down into the Rock and earth, and any ores that might be down there send it back. When I did it before, I got a bunch of shockwaves back at me meaning that there were tons of ores down there." Leo realized with surprise that the dwarves were able to use echolocation underground. He found this fascinating and wondered if there was another way to use this ability in the future.

By the time he left later, the dwarves had split into three main groups for work. There was the mining group, that would be digging ores and stone, and transporting them to be used. The builders that would focus on clearing away obstacles and start with building the ramp to Asdarge for future materials. And the camp group, that focused on taking care of the kids that couldn't work yet, and the meals and other duties needs to maintain camp. They had started clearing away a section of trees for the ramp, and there were already three different mines being started. Leo couldn't help but admire the dwarves efficiency.

That night Leo was sitting at the top of a faraway mountain waiting for the moon. He was thinking about how surreal it was, that his kingdom was now being built and since the dwarves agreed to follow him, he already had subjects in the thousands. He felt a fear at disappointing those that took a leap of faith and followed him, but also anticipation for the future and the empire he might be able to build with those around him. It was with those thoughts that the change took him that night.

The next day Leo returned to the camp to find that the dwarves were even more impressive than he thought.In a single night they already had the ramp over halfway to Asdarge and it seemed to be growing at a noticeable pace. Leo worriedly went to find Agmundr and when he finally did he said,

"Isn't everyone working a little too hard? I understand the need for urgency, but I don't want anyone to get hurt or collapse from exhaustion from rushing." Agmundr looked at Leo in confusion, and said,

"What are you talking about, if anything all of us think we're behind schedule. I don't think you understand, we dwarves love this kind of work. When we're building a future masterpiece like this then there's no stopping us. We have a proper rotation so that no one gets exhausted, but everyone is rushing to get back to work because they all want to be apart of this. Don't worry we understand the need for rest, and won't overwork ourselves." Leo couldn't help but go along with Agmundr's words, but still felt as if the dwarves were pushing themselves too hard.

It only took another half day to finish the ramp, and then they started working on a mechanism to pull the stone up on carts with rope and they finally started the process of officially rebuilding Asdarge.