Boundless Family Upgrades For The Deadbeat Lord

Within half an hour, the administrative hall was packed.

Raymond ordered a full war council before the wounded scouts had even been moved completely into treatment.

Boris stood near the northern side of the table, helmet tucked beneath one arm. Jonathan and several of the active Silver Knights occupied the wall behind him, silent and imposing.

Edran Marr represented the hunters, while Darric Cole stood beside him on behalf of the newly organized civilian guards.

Harlan and Gideon had been called because food storage and civilian evacuation would become their responsibility if the outer districts had to be abandoned.

The five agricultural specialists were present as well, not because Raymond expected farmers to plan battles, butbecause they controlled livestock, food distribution, transport, grain processing, and manpower.

Three carpenters from the refugee population had been summoned to discuss fortifications, while the two blacksmiths stood near the end of the table with soot still covering their hands. Marianne remained beside Lily with several blank ledgers ready to record orders.

The room was so crowded that several people had to stand. But nobody dared to complain.

Raymond stood at the head of the table.

The map lay open before him.

For once, there was no smile on his face. He looked around the room and saw fear.

But everyone understood something serious had happened.

Raymond placed both hands against the table. ”I’m going to explain this once so we’re all working from the same information. The northeastern reconnaissance team encountered a massive concentration of Magic Beasts moving south from the Blackridge region. Current estimates place the number in the thousands. Multiple species are moving together, including Bronze and Silver-class creatures, and based on the scouts’ observations, the normal Winter Migration has completely broken down.”

One of the carpenters visibly swallowed.

Harlan’s expression tightened.

Edran stared at the markings near Greymill.

Raymond continued. ”If they maintain their current direction, Althoff lies directly in their path.”

The room dropped into pin drop silence.

Darric was the first to speak. ”Can we evacuate?”

Several heads turned toward him. Raymond didn’t dismiss the question. It was reasonable.

”Where?”

Darric hesitated.

Raymond pointed toward the map. ”North is impossible. East has scattered Beast activity and abandoned settlements. West is unstable, and Reth is already surrounded. South would mean moving nearly two thousand civilians through open winter terrain with children, elderly people, livestock, wagons, and limited shelter while predators are already scattering across Zulor. We’d be slower than almost everything chasing us.”

Darric lowered his eyes. ”So we stay.”

”We stay.”

Boris leaned forward and studied the town layout drawn beneath the regional map. ”The current outer wall won’t stop a large Beast concentration. It was barely a proper defensive structure before the repairs. We can reinforce the gates, but if several Silver-class beasts hit the same section repeatedly, they’ll break through.”

Raymond nodded. ”Then we don’t rely on the wall.”

That made several people look at him.

Jonathan finally spoke, his deep voice calm. ”Layered defense.”

Raymond looked toward him.

The Silver Knight continued. ”Outer obstacles to reduce momentum. Main wall to break formation. Inner defensive positions if the wall fails.”Raymond’s eyes sharpened. ”Exactly.”

Boris slowly nodded as the idea took shape. ”Trenches.”

”Where the ground allows it.”

”Stakes.”

”Every approach that isn’t needed for our own movement.”

Darric added, ”Wagon barricades between the outer streets. We can close sections if something gets through.”

Raymond pointed toward him. ”Write that down.”

Lily’s quill began moving immediately.

The meeting changed after that.

Fear became work.The carpenters explained how much timber remained from the longhouse construction and which abandoned buildings could be dismantled for additional material.

The blacksmiths estimated how many spearheads, nails, brackets, and reinforcement plates they could produce if the forge ran continuously.

Harlan and Gideon confirmed the granaries could supply labor teams with hot food around the clock without touching emergency reserves too aggressively.

The agricultural specialists discussed moving livestock away from the northern edge of town and consolidating them into the most protected pens near the inner castle grounds.

Marianne began calculating which longhouses could be converted into emergency shelters for children, injured civilians, and noncombatants.

Raymond listened to everyone.

Asked questions. Rejected bad ideas. Combined useful ones.

Every few minutes, another marker appeared on the town map.

The outer trench, stake line. Northern gate reinforcement. Eastern fallback point. Western barricade.

Medical station. Supply point. Civilian shelter.

Reserve position.

The entire settlement began changing on parchment before a single shovel touched the snow.

Then Boris raised the question everyone had been avoiding. ”How many Knights do we commit?”

Raymond looked at the military ledger.

Twenty active Bronze Knights and eight active Silver Knights.

There are thirty unused Bronze Summoning Tickets and ten unused Silver Summoning Tickets.

Forty additional warriors sitting inside the System inventory. His hidden reserve.

Raymond’s fingers rested against the edge of the table. ”We use the twenty-eight already deployed first. Silver Knights become mobile response units. Bronze Knights anchor the most vulnerable defensive sectors and lead civilian squads. Boris, your guards hold the wall and manage evacuation routes. Darric organizes every refugee with previous combat experience. Hunters become ranged support and scouts.”

Boris nodded. ”And the civilians?”

Raymond looked around the room.

”Anyone who is able bodied gets assigned somewhere. Anyone who can’t fight carries supplies, cooks, treats wounds, reinforces barricades, moves ammunition, or helps evacuate the injured. Nobody stands around waiting to be saved.”

Edran gave a slow, firm nod.

Raymond looked down at Althoff on the map.

When he first arrived, this town had been a burden. A starving collection of people waiting to die.

Now nearly two thousand lives existed inside those walls because he had opened his gates.

The thought didn’t frighten him as muchas he expected.

It clarified things. There was nowhere else to go, no noble army coming to rescue them. No royal reinforcements and no convenient miracle unless the System decided to hand him one.

They had Althoff. So Althoff would have to be enough.

Raymond slowly straightened and looked around the crowded room.

Every conversation stopped.

His eyes moved from Boris to Jonathan, then toward the hunters, craftsmen, farmers, administrators, and newly arrived citizens standing around the table.

”We have seventy-two hours.”

His finger landed directly on Althoff.

”We’re turning this entire town into a fortress.