Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Soon after arriving at the island, the Spirit Mage elves with earth affinity went to work.

Out of the thousand Spirit Mages that came, more than half could use that element.

They covered the many rocks protruding from the ground with dirt, and turned the biggest rocks into sand.

The first step was to smooth out the ground where the village would be built.

More than ten thousand people were planned to inhabit the island in the future.

They worked on preparing the ground in an area spanning many square kilometers.

"The village will develop rapidly considering how many people will come, huh."

Cecile muttered next to Allen.

"Yeah. The recruitment for them is proceeding nicely as well, so we shouldn't leave them waiting for too long."

(I would expect it to proceed smoothly. Everyone has already hit their level and stat caps after all. There's no need to build forts or fences too, so everything should be done in around ten days.)

There were two thousand beastmen and two thousand elves in the island now, and they had all reached the highest level and stats possible for them.

They were all living in Normal Mode.

Smoothing the terrain for the village was proceeding at a swift pace, while a different group of Spirit Mages created forests and thickets in other parts of the island.

Maintaining plantlife required water too, so Spirit Mages with water attributes worked alongside them.

Ten meter tall trees sprouted everywhere, but the beastmen with their maxed out stats quickly ripped them out with their bare hands.

Then they cleared out the branches and leaves with machetes, leaving round logs behind.

Those logs would be used to build the houses in the village.

They would need a large amount of them to build enough houses for everyone, so they constantly grew the trees back up to build up supply.

(Not needing fences should also give us plenty of room to cultivate.)

This was a floating island.

There was no need to worry about fences or protective measures, everything could be utilized.

The island was flying at quite a considerable height, but that did not mean it was safe from flying monsters.

But that could be avoided by using the Gold Beans from the Grass A summon's Awakened Skill.

That would protect an area with a one kilometer radius for ten years from up to A Rank monsters.

Meanwhile Allen used a [Mana Seed] from his bag.

He had been continuously fighting since the Holy Land sent out the distress signal.

Even while traveling and resting he kept gathering Skill Experience, but his Summoner Level had not reached 9 yet.

He wanted to level up as soon as possible.

After perking himself up, he and Merle began working on restoring mana.

Using a Mana Seed restored 2000 mana for anyone in a 50 meter radius, so he walked around while restoring the mana of the elves and beastmen.

He was wearing a mana recovery ring, a ring that boosted his mana by 2000, and Makris' Sacred Bead.

When he asked Cecile if he could borrow it, she made him promise he would return it before letting him take it.

She was overcome with joy when he finally returned it.

(Sophie's late. Maybe she'll be here tomorrow.)

After the ceremony, the Queen took her to her private chambers to talk about something, though Allen had no idea what.

Their family had been apart for a while, so maybe it would take another day before Sophie arrived.

"U-umm, Master Allen? Should we proceed smoothing the terrain all the way to the hill there?"

While Allen walked around recovering the worker's mana, an elf approached him.

He was the one in charge of the terraforming group.

"Let me see. Well, yes, that should be good enough."

"Got it!"

(I feel like they're putting a bit too much effort into this. It's not like the possibility of using the island to destroy the Demon King's stronghold is completely out of the question yet.)

The elves and beastmen both had a copy of Allen's planned layout for the island.

They continued working while following that plan.

Allen was planning on using the full extent of the 10 by 8 kilometers island, with multiple settlements, space for farms and herding, rivers for sustenance, and lakes for mermaids.

The temple atop the hill would eventually be used to pray to the Goddess of Fire Freya, so it had to be repaired as well.

Allen wanted the temple and the enshrined flames of it to be visible from anywhere in the island once it got dark.

Building a routine was important for religions, so he wanted everyone to pray at it before sleeping every night.

That was the extent of the settlements. Later he wanted to make all the soldiers undergo a Talent Change.

(I'll need to make sure all the former cultists have proper occupations as well. Peromus should be in the capital now.)

Allen also wanted to have proper industries flourishing in the island.

The merchant Peromus, who was born just like him in Kurena Village, was currently in Latash's capital city.

He wanted to consult multiple things with him now.

There were many ideas circling in his head now.

But if he entertained all of them, he could end up getting too ahead of himself.

He had played games in his past life that involved owning a house, managing a garden, or planning a city as well.

Some online games also allowed the purchase of a house or hideout, which could be customized to a certain extent.

But when Allen lived as Kenichi in his past life, his in-game houses were always just a warehouse for items and equipment looted from defeating his enemies.

He never had any interest or put effort into making a cool or cute looking house.

(I guess this is part of growing up too.)

Allen had always relied on his past life's memories to get this far.

Sometimes they had even saved his life.

But since he lacked experience managing an economy, he decided to rely on the help of the merchant Peromus.

It was similar to how the Phantom Thief Rosetta helped him a lot during the fight against Gordino in the S Rank Dungeon.

He was slowly realizing that things he ignored and put aside in his past life could be useful too.

Now he would put as much effort into making the island a success, as long as it did not impede his other work.

While he still thought about that, Merus brought Sophie to the island.

"Hm? Are you sure you did what you had to? It's alright if you want to stay there for the night."

"...No, I'll work here."

Allen did not know what had happened, she looked somewhat depressed, but otherwise alright.

She seemed to be rearing to work on the island too though.

"I see. Actually, sorry to do this right after you arrived, but could you come with me for a bit? Apparently the dark elves have finished their preparations as well."

"Don't worry, I'll go with you."

Allen could do that alone, but he felt like it would be better if Sophie was there with him when bringing the dark elves to Heavy User Island.

The two headed to the Dark Elf Village, Fabraze.

"They look younger than I expected."

"I know."

King Arbus had said in the letter that a thousand dark elves would be joining Allen's Army.

They had already concluded their departure ceremonies, and were gathered in a large room. They looked rather young compared to the elves from Rosenheim.

The majority of the elves that were currently working on terraforming the island had combat experience.

Some of them had been fighting the Demon King's Army for at least three years too, and they had reached their level and stat caps.

Because of their long lifespan, elves usually look younger than humans, those who joined Allen all looking like they were in their twenties and thirties.

But the dark elves Allen found looked like they were still teens.

Elves and dark elves are considered adults when they turn 30.

High elves, and high dark elves, reach maturity at 50.

Sophie was 50 years old, but she still looked the same age as Cecile and Kurena.

Those dark elves were likely around 30 years old then.

(I see, I simply asked for 2 Star Talents, but didn't give other conditions.)

It was very possible that all of them still had room to grow with levels and stats.

Not to mention that the Demon King's Army had not reached their desert, so they had even less chances to gain Experience.

The desert did have some monsters, so the dark elves probably had leveled up a bit, but it was hard to imagine they were as experienced as the elves from Rosenheim.

Allen and Sophie were still looking at the dark elves when King Arbus, the elders, and a female dark elf arrived.

"Everything is ready. They have some luggage as well, so I hope you can carry that as well."

King Arbus spoke to Allen.

He wanted Allen to carry the pile of bags that filled around half of the room.

They had gathered everything they needed to settle in the newly built village.

"Of course, and thank you. May I ask who that is?"

"..."

Allen noticed a young dark elf, around 8 years old, standing in front of the female dark elf.

For some reason he felt like the child was glaring at him.

He decided to return the sour look for now.

Allen would never allow a child to triumph over him.

"Ah, he's Lucktod, my son. I hope you can take him with you as well."

King Arbus was a bit conflicted seeing Allen glare at his son, so he decided to ignore that and continue talking like he had not noticed.

"Huh?"

There was no mention of that in the letter either, but if King Arbus was the father, that made Lucktod a prince..

(Hm? The Spirit King is with him too? His name was Fabre if I recall.)

Allen noticed a creature that looked like a black weasel curled up in Lucktod's arms.

He remembered that being Fabre, the Spirit King of the village.

The Spirit King Fabre and the Dark Elf Prince were going to join his army as well.