Frontier Town did not look half bad from where she sat. Looking down from the Wind Voyager newly bought and piloted by Lambert Meadows (Charlie's Dad), the town-in-construction looked lively and new. The airport, for example, was freshly built, with an Iron Legion camp piled with gravel and construction materials at one side, and a brand-new hangar at another. The west side was filled with new structures, many new workers and busy chimneys. There was a bigger Iron Legion camp to the south, where dozens of recruits were training. Not to mention that the entire East Side was gone.

Except for the church and the inn and the shops at the central square, almost no trace remained of the slums and despair of the old Frontier Town where she'd grown up. Even those central square buildings were new or newly repaired. The oldest building around still standing was probably the Adventurers Guild, and even that had more new floors on it. Everything else had been wrecked and rebuilt at least once.

But now they say that the Beast Waves hadn't come last week. Now they say it was safe, that they had the firepower to handle the likes of a regular Beast Wave. That they had a dedicated Frontier Defense Force…

Had Mandy not seen them with her own eyes, she would have doubted the whole story.

Yet there they were across from her, nearly a hundred of them in an airs.h.i.+p three times the size of the Wind Voyager, and they had crossbows, and a gigantic Ballista. There were two other airs.h.i.+ps with extra large Ballistas also, a skiff that was little more than an air balloon, and a corvette that seemed to be outfitted as a Magic Drive Tug.

Yes, Mandy knew a thing or two about airs.h.i.+ps, now. She'd been flying with Charlie's Dad the past couple days. Of course she'd pick up some of that knowledge. Mindy would be so proud.

Speaking of Mindy… there she was on the Corvette Tug. She was piloting it.

A sudden, shocking thought occurred to Mandy just then. The last time she saw Mindy, the girl had said something about her precious airs.h.i.+ps…

Mandy had initially thought about the driveless, hot air balloon-and-basket type that they'd use to hang a lantern on before, something Mindy couldn't even ride if she tried. But this…?

This was a corvette as big as the Roving Albatross, with the power to tug along a s.h.i.+p twice the size of a Sky Galleon! In terms of sheer capacity, those two airs.h.i.+ps there had about double that of the four on her side put together!

(Technical Note: Calculating the capacity of Tier 1 as 1, and therefore, Tier 2 as 10, Tier 3 as 100, etc, the capacity calculation for the Sky Barge at Tier 5.6 is 60000. The Tug at Tier 4.4 adds another 4000. In comparison, the four s.h.i.+ps that Charlie brought were the Tier 4.4 Albatross with 4000 cap, 4.7 a.s.sault Frigate with 7000 cap, 4.8 Wandering Egret with 8000 cap and 5.2 Wind Voyager with 20000 cap. All four put together only amounts to 39000 cap. Mindy's Tug and Sky Barge put together amounts to 64000. The Gunboat 'Foresight', a Tier 3.6 skiff, would add 600 which hardly counts. There is also the s.p.a.ce taken up by equipment to consider, whereby the no-drive Sky Barge certainly uses less s.p.a.ce for equipment than the intercontinental Wind Voyager and co., thus the Sky Barge has way more available capacity.)

How could Mindy possibly have managed to build them? How could she currently manage them still? Mindy wasn't even twelve yet, for her to have a job this big…

Remian! What have you done? What have you DONE?!

Mindy looked older than she was. All the Ravens had to grow up quickly on the Frontier. The way she spoke, the way she dressed, if Mandy hadn't known better, she'd have thought Mindy to be thirteen, not eleven. But those eleven years were hard fought for and hard won. Life hadn't been easy.

But to put Mindy at the helm of such airs.h.i.+ps! Even if they looked rather crude, this was pampering the little girl! How would she grow, like this? When would she ever get her head on straight and learn how to get a proper job, or a proper education? She already seemed to think her dreams had come true!

No wonder she refused Mandy! Remian was spoiling her!

No, she wasn't blaming him just because he was her ex. She wasn't! Really!

She blamed him because he had corrupted Mindy, and Tim, and George, with all his talk about dreams and ambitions and even giving them jobs in those fields. Now they all thought they were independent adults and didn't even want to go to school! Mandy feared the worst for their futures. Mindy and her airs.h.i.+ps were bad enough, but George was already stuck on a farm, for goodness' sake! He should be studying, not digging in the fields! That was destroying his future for sure! On top of that, Tim…! Mandy didn't even know what to make of Tim running around with lynxmice and spying on people all day.

Look at Jane, back in Ashdale! She was mastering etiquette, cosmetics, fas.h.i.+on, language, history, geography, and art! She scored straight A's for all her exams, ever since she dropped math and sciences entirely. What use did a girl have for math and sciences anyway? Jane was going to be a high-cla.s.s lady once she landed a nice boy. Even Mandy understood that. The girl was training to be a lady-in-waiting, primed and prepared for aristocracy from young. That was the boon of House Meadows.

Speaking of Jane, she had asked Mandy to bring a package for Mindy. Kavitha did too, along with about six or seven of the others. Some of them had even combined to buy gifts from the money they were given when they did ch.o.r.es.

Of course, Mandy did too. Hers was the biggest package of all.

She gave hers to Mindy the minute they met at the airport, as if afraid to delay.

"I know it's a little early." Mandy said, placing hers in Mindy's hands. "But I'm leaving tonight, so I won't be able to see you tomorrow.

"Happy birthday, Mindy."

***

Not so happy was Centurion Tiberius, who oversaw the entire 12th Cohort of the Southern Legion under Legate Aquila.

"Gathering materials? All this time you've just been gathering, and gathering, and gathering… when are you ever going to start actually building the road?!" Tiberius roared. "Why are you even training for so many hours each day?"

Markus snapped off a reply. "Sir, my understanding was that was what trainees were supposed to do – train!"

"Not THESE trainees!" Tiberius growled. "These trainees are the bottom of the bucket, hopeless in every way! They're here to work, to build the road! If they get mauled by some Wilds, it's just too bad, but no big loss. The trainees that we're counting on, the ones worth training, are all back at Headquarters!"

"Hopeless?" Markus stared. He pointed. "Do you see that Ballista on the Sky Barge?"

"Yes. What of it?"

"All our Ballistae were made by one of your 'hopeless' trainees!" Markus barked. "He fixed the machinery in the mines! He helped build the airs.h.i.+ps, and designed the waterworks systems for the whole town! His name is Arnold and he's a mechanical engineer the likes of which the Legion had never seen! You just called him 'hopeless' and 'not worth training'!"

There was a short, awkward silence after Markus' outburst. Tiberius turned to Gaius for help only to find his friend grinning from ear to ear.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Tiberius accused.

"Very much, yes." Gaius nodded, with a straight face. "It's not every day I see the Tiger of the South stabbing himself in the foot."

Someone snorted a half-laugh, one of the legionnaires in the 1st Century that Tiberius had brought. Tiberius spun, glaring at his men, but all of them stood at perfect attention, not a hint on their faces as to who almost burst out laughing.

"Regardless! The road must be built! My orders stand! Start immediately!" Tiberius growled. "This is to be your top priority! Top Priority, you hear?!"

"Yes, Centurion!" Markus snapped off a proper military salute.

"As for the defense of the town… it seems your contributions would not longer be required." Tiberius continued. "I hear that the Beast Waves have stopped, and that we have already contributed a lot to the cause, including sending twenty-five men to join this Defense Force of theirs. Enough is enough! From now onwards, you and your Century will focus on the road. Complete the link to Fal'Herim in six months, and you will officially be promoted to Centurion of the 11th Century, 12th Cohort!"

"Six months…?!" Markus gaped.

"You heard me, Sergeant! Six months!" Tiberius snapped. "No more excuses! If you require a.s.sistance, after all the aid you've given them, I'm sure your new friends here would be happy to help!"