"Dad, how are the protections?" It has been a long time since we started preparations for the war. The vige was already well protected, but of course, I was still worried that something might happen.


    "It''s doing well, it''s almost finished."


    "That''s good, my mom should be on her way back by now, so it''s better to finish everything before she arrives."


    "Don''t worry, let''s finish." My dad smiled at me and went out of the house, he would continue to dig the ditch around the vige.


    Oh, about that, I think I should exin.


    The traps were already set for a long time, but in addition to them, we also made other protections to ensure the safety of residents.


    The vige before had no protection around it. Even with the forest here, we never had much of a monster problem, but even so, I think it''s stupid not to have protection.


    The day the bandit attack took ce many years ago is a good example. If there had been better protection around the vige, perhaps this tragedy would not have happened.


    ''Did my mother never think of putting walls around the vige?'' That''s what I was thinking. She only worried about having guards and more guards around the vige to protect the vigers.


    But that''s not enough.


    The men she uses as a guard are just stronger than ordinary vigers, they''re too weak. There are some exceptions, but overall the level of guards in our vige was depressing.


    Of course, with me and my father here things had gotten better.


    Still, it wasn''t enough just traps and guards, so we worked hard to set up a big wall around the vige. We did this with the help of most of the residents who were verymitted.


    With great effort, we built a wall about three meters high that circled the entire vige, a wall made of wood. It took a long time and it took a lot of people to do it, but we did it.


    We cut down a lot of trees, but it was necessary.


    Now the vige was protected by a wall ten feet high, and a gate had been made and was locked with an iron chain. Only authorized people could enter.


    And a watchman had been ced to decide who enters.


    Valdo was a rather old man who had lived in the vige since before Lisandra was born. If he is to bepared with other guards, he is a little weaker because of his advanced age.


    But he was the guard my dad trusted the most, so he was ced as a watchman.


    A tower was made on the right side of the gate so Valdo would stay there and watch the movement outside the vige. It was a job that needed a lot of attention, but he said he could do it.


    And nowes the job of digging around the vige.


    To make it even more difficult for someone to invade the vige, my father came up with the idea of ??digging a pit around the vige and just like in the traps in the middle of the forest, cing sharp objects at the bottom.


    So there would be the three meters wall, and after the wall, there would be a three-meter deep trench, so it would be even harder for them to get close to the walls to try to break in or something.


    The diameter of the hole would go from the wall and would extend four meters, it was a long space.


    Of course, it wasn''t easy at all, but we were lucky that most of the vigers also helped with the digging, and there were a few people among us who could use earth magic, which made the job simpler.


    But of course, it wasn''t quite finished yet.


    So I followed my father out of the vige and out through the gate. When I left, I also greeted Valdo who was attentive as he looked over the walls.


    When I got out, the front of the gate was the only ce where a hole hadn''t been dug, as we still needed to get out or we needed the way when my mother arrives. But only here there was no hole. Around the entire vige, there was already a huge hole.


    ''Looking at it, it''s great, it will be hard for anyone to break into the vige like that, we''ve done a good job.'' I sighed contentedly as I followed my father.


    The only ce left to dig was the right side of the vige, and when I got there some vigers were already working hard, I greeted them and then started helping my father to dig using earth magic.


    I don''t want to brag about it, but I was the one who did most of the work this time.


    ####


    After being allowed to enter the vige, we entered and were weed better than we expected. It didn''t have many residents, but the ones that did were very attentive, only the man who received us was a little annoying.


    By the way, his name was Jyuro and he was the head of this vige. I didn''t talk to him very much as he didn''t like me asking questions very much, but I still found out some things.


    First, the vige was experiencing many difficulties. Even if he didn''t speak, I could tell.


    The only people who seem healthy and well-fed were the few children that existed. The women and men who were mostly old were all showing signs of malnutrition.


    Ciaphia, Eli, and Taciane were very shocked, but the other girls acted normally. It seems the three have never had contact with a vige in this state, but Rose and Sara seem to have seen it before.


    Lisandra had never seen her either, but I''ve talked to her a lot about it.


    But that was not the most important thing, but theck of young boys in this vige. There were children and women, but the men who existed were all old men or men who are sick and can''t do much.


    And about that, I wasn''t too surprised when I found out what had happened.


    "The younger men were called to participate in the war. In exchange, we will receive some things." That''s what a woman answered me. Her son was among those who were summoned.


    When I asked her if her son had any magical aptitude or knew how to fight, she just said no.


    That is, everyone was being summoned regardless of their strength. Most of them would only serve to make the army more numerous or would also serve as cannon fodder.


    And because of the number of carriages we found on the way, it wasn''t just this vige that had gone through this.


    I was aware that there were many poor viges nearby, the vige that had been unified with ours was an example.


    ''But why is the king doing this? Does he want to kill his poption? That idiot.'' I hope he didn''t try to get his hands on the vigers in my vige.


    If he did that, I will have a very interesting conversation with himter.


    And with this information obtained, we decided to leave. The horses had already rested and Lisandra did what she had to do in the bathroom at the house of one of the women who were living alone.


    Of course, before we leave, we leave them some food. There was still a whole wild boar leftst time, so I gave it to them since there weren''t many people.


    Sara also gave them some vegetables as their garden was not growing very well. The vigers were very grateful when we left, and Jyuro was no longer suspicious of us doing something.


    After this short stop, we headed towards my vige, we were almost there!


    I hope nothing happened while I was gone and that king doesn''t try to recruit my vigers. Lisandra also looked worried about that, but I soothed her.


    I told her and everyone: "If the king tries to get his hands on the people in my vige, I''ll kill him"


    They looked nervous that I said something so dangerous so easily, and they also realized I wasn''t kidding. The only one who managed to remain calm with my words was D, who was driving the carriage, not minding our conversation.


    Even Lisandra said, "Mother, you can''t say that. If anyone hears you say that, they''ll arrest you or maybe even rip your head off."


    ####


    Some time had passed and we were now very close to the vige, I was looking forward to seeing Lucio and Noah again. Not just me, Lisandra was almost going crazy from her anxiety.


    She was being kept under control with the help of her friends because if she were up to her, she would activate a spell and run in front of the carriage to get there faster.


    But I confess that I was looking forward to going ahead to get there first, as I''m a little worried.


    And so our journey continued for another three hours. With me worried, and with Lisandra dying of anxiety.


    But finally, after so long, we had arrived at our destination.


    ''Well... It''s not quite as I remembered it, but I think it''s here.'' Unlike before, the vige was surrounded by a big wall made of wood, they made an effort to protect the vige.


    .


    Lisandra was gaping as she looked at it, and her friends looked delighted.


    Ciaphia said: "Your vige looks like a city, it even has a wall."


    Eli said, "Did you live here? Amazing!"


    Taciane said, "This doesn''t evenpare to our vige, doesn''t it Eli?"


    And the other girls were just admiring without saying anything but looking excited.