A Theory on Godhood: An Overlord Story

Chapter 25: When the Dust Settles

A few days later, Sprigganson Settlement.

Blue Planet stood beside Pops on the porch of his manor, watching people pass by on their way to their next task. Everyone was in a generally better mood than they had been before the rescue, but it was still muted.

An oppressive cloud hung over everyone's heads, many of the lumberjacks muttering to their friends about the recent news that'd been broken to them.

"I can't believe all of E-Rantel was consumed by the undead," Pops said in a tone of disbelief and sorrow, "All those people, all those lives..."

Blue Planet hummed. "Yeah, I found out from a friend of mine. Whole city's gone under now. There are survivors apparently, but I'm not sure how many or where they'll go."

"...Perhaps I can convene a council, get the other supervisors together to come up with a plan and try to take as many of those people as we can. Some of them are our friends, our family. We can't just leave them to fend for themselves."

"But your settlement is so small. Can you really afford to take on so many displaced people? Even if you get everything back in order, that'll be a heavy strain on your resources."

Pops turned to him, giving him a gentle smile. "My people have always been an adaptable and hardy bunch. We'll make do, and we have the dryads to help out as well. It's not set in stone yet, and there's still a lot to consider, a lot to plan, but I'm sure we'll think of something."

For your sake, I sure hope so, Blue Planet thought, retreating into his inner thoughts for the moment.

He'd never been to E-Rantel, but from what he'd heard from Momonga, Ariel, Ra Ra Rasputin, and CZ, it was a fortress city, something that could easily house tens of thousands of people. Even if a majority of the population was consumed, that was still hundreds of refugees to take on and shelter.

Re-Estize, the capital of the kingdom E-Rantel was ruled over, would likely take on the majority of the refugees, but to get to them they'd have to deal with the problem of the undead, and that was an entire other can of worms to worry about.

It was likely the people related to the workers stationed in the Sprigganson Settlement would try to make the trek, and the workers of the settlement would desperately try to bring over whatever family and friends they could.

While they had sustained heavy losses on the part of the non-magical people that lived there by virtue of the wendigos, the Sprigganson Settlement felt bustling enough with the surviving men that managed it. Adding any more would likely put an immense load on their limited amount of resources. That wasn't even considering the fact that without E-Rantel, the druids and lumberjacks would not receive any more traders or supply shipments to replenish their stores.

Did Re-Estize know about E-Rantel's arrangement with the druids? Would they even care to help out such a remote and out-of-the-way place? What would happen to the ecology of the Forest of Tob, which would have to sacrifice more of its own resources to support the increasing population?

Already, Blue Planet was imagining some hapless citizen from the city going out to hunt and getting mauled by whatever predator was lurking out in the trees. Or, perhaps, a remnant of the wendigos that attacked the settlement previously would make a comeback to take advantage of the chaos.

All of these concerns swirled in his mind, and Blue Planet gripped the railing of the porch to steady himself. He came back to his senses when he heard a sharp crack and splinters between his fingers.

"Everything alright, Blue Planet?" Pops asked, noticing that the seilenoi inadvertently destroyed the railing beneath his grip.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Sorry about your porch," Blue Planet muttered, "It's just I was thinking about everything that would have to happen now that the city's destroyed. Your intentions are noble, really, they are, but that's a big undertaking."