Several more months passed.
Little by little, life in Noaterra began to reveal its true colors.
Not every day was perfect.
On several occasions, irrigation channels became clogged, causing parts of the harvest to fail. At other times, wild beasts from the Terrania Forest wandered into the settlement, threatening the villagers.
Fortunately, two of Noaterra's ten guardians remained stationed within the village at all times.
Their presence was enough to drive away any danger before it could harm the residents.
Meanwhile, the other eight guardians carried out a far more demanding responsibility.
They took turns escorting caravans transporting resources from various mining sites.
At the limestone quarry, workers collected limestone and sand for construction. Every convoy traveling through the Herkalus Forest and the Terrania Forest was accompanied by two guardians.
The iron mine operated somewhat differently.
According to the agreement with Orca, the Orcs themselves handled all mining operations. In return, Noaterra continuously supplied them with weapons forged by Pablo, further strengthening Orca's trust in their partnership.
Meanwhile, at the gold mine near the Goblin settlement, Noaterra's workers extracted gold under the protection of a single guardian.
Day after day...
The transport caravans came and went without pause.
Little by little, resources from across the region began flowing steadily into Noaterra.
At the same time, Pablo's workshop was almost never quiet.
The steady rhythm of hammer striking steel echoed from morning until nightfall.
Besides fulfilling weapon orders for the Orcs, Pablo had begun training villagers who showed talent as blacksmiths. Together, they crafted household tools, farming equipment, and countless metal components needed for Noaterra's expansion.
They had even begun minting their own currency.
Since gold was the most abundant metal they possessed, every coin was forged from pure gold.
One day, Noah shared an idea with Pablo.
"I want every coin to bear the letter N, with the silhouettes of a flower and a leaf on either side."
Pablo nodded.
"As you wish, Master."
"I'll prepare the design."
Not long afterward, several women approached Noah while he observed the coin-making process.
"Master..."
"Our village has grown considerably."
"But we just realized something..."
"...Noaterra doesn't have a flag."
Noah instinctively looked around.
His eyes swept across the settlement.
They were right.
There wasn't a single symbol that represented Noaterra.
A small smile appeared on his face.
"You're right."
"I never even thought about it."
"And yet..."
"...an emblem is the identity of a nation."
One silver-haired woman raised her hand.
"Master."
"Near where Lady Amira usually practices magic, there are several Cattan trees."
"When their fruit fully matures, the fibers can be spun into thread and woven into cloth."
Noah paused.
"Cattan trees..."
"So they're basically cotton?"
Before he could say anything else, a blonde-haired woman stepped forward.
"If you permit us..."
"...we can weave the fabric ourselves."
"Even when we lived as nomads, weaving was one of the first things we learned."
"Otherwise, we wouldn't have had clothes or blankets to survive the winter."
Another woman with blue hair smiled as she added,
"The tools are actually quite simple."
"We only need a spinning wheel and a wooden loom."
She glanced toward Pablo, who was busy instructing his apprentice blacksmiths.
"Unless Master Pablo would be willing to build iron ones."
Pablo looked over with a faint smile.
"Draw me a simple design."
"Then explain how it works."
"As long as it isn't some overly complicated machine, Tomas and I can build it."
From the roof of a nearby house he was repairing, Tomas immediately called out with a laugh.
"That's an easy job!"
The group burst into lighthearted laughter.
Noah simply watched them, unable to hide his smile.
For a moment, his thoughts drifted back to the day he had first arrived in this world.
Back then...
He had been completely alone.
Now, without being asked, the villagers were bringing him ideas to help Noaterra grow.
Slowly, this place was no longer advancing because of him alone.
It was growing because everyone had begun thinking of Noaterra as their own home.
In the end, Noah accepted their proposal.
"Very well."
"We'll create a flag for Noaterra."
"But first..."
"...we need to decide on its emblem."
He picked up his notebook.
His pencil moved across the page, sketching several rough designs.
A large letter N stood proudly in the center.
On both sides, he drew elegant leaves.
After a brief pause, he erased part of the sketch before adding a small flower beside the letter.
"A capital N..."
"...a flower on the left..."
"...and a leaf on the right."
"I think..."
"...this looks pretty good."
Without realizing it, two children had been standing behind him for quite some time.
They quietly giggled as they watched Noah concentrating on his drawing.
Vian was the first to speak.
"It looks wonderful, Master."
"I think the design is very elegant."
Amira studied the sketch for a moment before smiling brightly.
"Kak..."
"What if we make the flag green..."
"...just like your clothes?"
Noah laughed softly.
"You two really think alike."
He gently patted both Amira's and Vian's heads.
"Thank you."
"I'll give your suggestion serious thought."
The sketch in his hands was still far from perfect.
But Noah knew...
Every great kingdom began with a single symbol capable of uniting its people.
And on that day...
Noaterra finally began to discover its own identity.
Evening gradually settled over Noaterra.
The western sky turned shades of golden orange as the day's final rays illuminated the neatly lined rooftops.
Once again, the village echoed with children's laughter.
After spending the day helping their parents or studying under Lee and Amira, dusk was always the moment they looked forward to most.
In one corner of the settlement, children ran about playing with wooden toys Tomas had built only a few days earlier. Their cheerful laughter blended with the voices of villagers wrapping up another day's work.
As darkness slowly descended, the gemstone lamps throughout Noaterra lit themselves automatically, casting a warm glow across every corner of the settlement.
Little by little, Noaterra became a sea of gentle lights nestled in the heart of the Terrania Forest.
Then—
Cough... cough...
The sound of coughing drifted through the air.
Noah turned toward it.
A middle-aged man covered his mouth as another fit of coughing overtook him.
Not far away, a woman drying freshly harvested crops began coughing as well.
A few seconds later—
Cough...
Even Noah found himself coughing.
He immediately looked up at the sky.
Dark smoke was slowly spreading across part of the settlement.
His gaze shifted toward Pablo's workshop.
A steady stream of thick black smoke poured endlessly from its chimney.
Noah let out a quiet sigh.
"I knew it..."
"If this continues..."
"...the air in Noaterra will only get worse."
He immediately called for Laina, who was reviewing the inventory of materials that had recently arrived from the mines.
"Is something wrong, Master?"
Laina approached, instinctively covering her nose.
Noah pointed toward the sky.
"Look."
"We need to start thinking about our people's quality of life."
Laina followed his gaze.
After a long moment of silence, she nodded.
"I understand."
"It seems it's time we made a decision."
That evening, Noah gathered everyone he had created, along with Lee, Amira, and several representatives of the villagers, inside the meeting hall.
The atmosphere was noticeably more serious than usual.
Noah opened the discussion.
"As you've all seen..."
"...the smoke from Pablo's workshop is beginning to affect everyone's daily life."
"We need to find a solution."
Lee was the first to speak.
"Then why don't we relocate Pablo's workshop farther away from the residential area?"
Everyone turned toward Tomas.
The old builder slowly shook his head.
"I don't think that would solve the problem."
Picking up a piece of charcoal, he sketched a rough map of Noaterra onto a wooden board.
"Our settlement sits in what is essentially a valley."
"As long as the workshop remains within this basin, the wind will continue carrying the smoke back over the village."
He pointed toward a nearby plateau.
"If we move the workshop to higher ground, the smoke will no longer drift into the settlement."
"But..."
"...transporting ore and construction materials there would become much more difficult."
The room fell silent once again.
Everyone realized the problem wasn't as simple as relocating a single building.
Lee lowered her head in thought.
After a moment, she slowly looked up.
"Then..."
"...what if we don't move the workshop?"
Every eye turned toward her.
"We move the settlement instead."
The room went completely still.
Lee continued.
"Not just another village."
"We build an actual city."
"A city designed properly from the very beginning."
"Not a collection of wooden and stone buildings added one after another simply because we needed them."
A faint smile appeared on Noah's face.
The proposal was far bigger than anything he had imagined.
One of the village representatives finally spoke.
"If that's the case..."
"...what happens to our current settlement, Master?"
Before Noah could answer, Laina spoke first.
"We won't abandon it."
"We'll simply give it a new purpose."
She pointed at Tomas's map.
"Everything that produces smoke or pollution will remain here."
"The forge."
"The smelting facilities."
"And every other heavy industry."
"Meanwhile, our government buildings and residential districts will be constructed at the new location."
The villagers exchanged glances.
The more they imagined it...
The more logical the plan became.
One by one, they nodded in agreement.
Before long, everyone in the room had accepted the proposal.
That very night, they began choosing the site that would become the new heart of Noaterra.
Just before the meeting concluded, Noah opened his notebook once more.
Several pages were already filled with detailed sketches.
"Tomas."
"Pablo."
"I have one more request."
The two men stepped closer.
Noah showed them a drawing of a long metal rod reinforced with several simple patterns.
"I want you to forge iron bars like these."
Pablo studied the sketch carefully.
Beside him, Tomas stroked his chin as he considered its purpose.
Although neither of them had ever seen such a design before, they instinctively understood the way Noah thought.
No lengthy explanation was necessary.
Almost immediately, they grasped what their leader intended to build.
Pablo smiled faintly.
"So..."
"...you want to construct buildings far stronger than anything we've built before."
Noah nodded.
"Exactly."
His eyes lingered on the sketch in his hands.
An idea from his former world...
...was about to become reality in Magnora.
Reinforced concrete.
And it would become the next great step toward building Noaterra's future.