Van’s speech inspires the villagers, and they swear to defend their home. He orders them to take positions behind the ballistae, but when he learns that Ortho’s party is away hunting, he realizes someone must command the defense. Van prepares to go to the wall himself, but Till grabs his arm with tears in her eyes. Not wanting to upset her, Van stays below and asks Dee to command the defenses while relaying everything to him.
Dee reaches the wall and is stunned by what he sees. Around 40 armored lizards, each nearly eight meters tall, are approaching the village. Even veteran Knights would struggle against a single one, so Dee knows this battle could be disastrous. Van orders him to load the ballistae with the iron arrows. The Knights warn that normal weapons cannot penetrate the monsters’ incredibly tough scales, but Dee decides to trust Van’s judgment and orders everyone to fire.
The first volley completely changes the battle. The iron arrows punch enormous holes through the armored lizards, killing ten of them almost instantly. Dee is amazed by both Van’s weapons and the villagers’ accuracy. They fire another volley and bring down even more monsters, but soon run out of iron arrows with nearly half the creatures still alive.
Van then remembers how Comm’s wooden katana destroyed the supposedly powerful orc-leather shield. He orders Dee to use the wooden arrows instead. The Knights think this is ridiculous, but Dee refuses to doubt Van after everything he has witnessed. The villagers load the wooden arrows and fire. To everyone’s shock, the arrows pierce the monsters’ scales deeply enough to strike their vital organs. With that discovery, the remaining armored lizards are quickly wiped out.
Dee proudly announces their victory, and the villagers erupt in celebration. Till hugs Van tightly while he struggles to believe that his wooden weapons just defeated such powerful monsters. The Knights are equally amazed that nobody was injured and they still have plenty of ammunition left. Later, Ortho’s party returns and helps the villagers process the monster corpses, teaching them to preserve valuable parts such as the eyes, fangs, hides, and magic cores for future sale.
Ortho explains that processing armored lizards normally takes a long time, causing much of the meat to spoil before it can be used. Thankfully, the knives Van created make the job much easier. When Van sees the huge pile of meat, he decides to hold a feast for the entire village to celebrate their victory.
During the celebration, Ortho’s group praises the weapons Van made for them. Dee overhears this and becomes jealous when he sees their new swords. He immediately asks Van to make one for him, even offering to pay whatever Van wants. The other Knights also request new equipment, but Van says he can’t accept money from them and promises to make their gear once the village’s urgent problems are handled.
Ortho then explains that an armored lizard normally sells for around 20 gold coins, but because much of the meat will spoil, they can expect roughly 8 gold coins per creature. Van is amazed by how much money they could make, only for Esparda to reveal that villages earning more than 100 gold coins must give half their income to the marquis in taxes. Van desperately asks if there is any way to hide the earnings, but Esparda explains that selling such a large amount of material cannot be concealed.
Van becomes even more worried that Jalpa will discover the village’s potential and send him somewhere else. Fortunately, Esparda suggests reporting the victory to Murcia instead. Van realizes they can give his older brother credit for defeating the armored lizards, allowing them to hide the village’s true growth and remain there longer.
The next day, two merchants arrive and are stunned by the enormous fortress surrounding the village. They soon meet Van and recognize him as the marquis’s genius son. The merchants, Belle and Rango from the Mary Chamber of Commerce, are shocked again when they see the huge stockpile of materials taken from the armored lizards. They agree to purchase everything but explain that they need about a month to organize enough people to process and transport it.
Van even offers them some of the meat for free since it will eventually spoil. He then shows them the weapons he has created, and the merchants are amazed by their quality. They immediately accept Van’s price without negotiating. When Van asks them to promote the weapons, they hesitate, making him realize they might want to keep the products exclusive. Van points out that the village will eventually become known anyway, so hiding the source is pointless. Instead, he offers them an even better opportunity: opening a permanent shop in the village.
The merchant brothers immediately accept Van’s offer and happily bow to him. Before they can even process what happened, Van uses his production magic to construct their dream shop himself. He tells them he looks forward to doing business together, unaware that two unexpected visitors are already on their way.
Meanwhile, Esparda gives Van another assignment. Since the village is growing rapidly, he asks Van to design a fortress city capable of housing 10,000 people. Esparda suggests a traditional square fortress, but Van chooses a star-shaped design instead, explaining that its multiple defensive points would force attackers to waste time dealing with each side. Esparda approves and begins helping him develop the plan.
Soon, a noble girl and her female Knight escort arrive from the neighboring Ferdinand County. The Knight, Meera, introduces herself as a former Knight who rose to become a viscountess, while the girl introduces herself as Arte, the youngest daughter of Count Ferdinand. Meera immediately admits that they came to assess Van because Count Ferdinand suspects Jalpa sent his genius son to prepare for an invasion. Meera, however, believes Van was exiled because he lacks elemental magic.
Van confirms that she is partly right but insists that he has no intention of starting a war. He was simply sent away by his father with little more than his belongings and Comm. Meera finds that difficult to believe after seeing how quickly the village has developed and even suspects Van secretly arrived with thousands of soldiers.
Van laughs at the absurd idea and explains that only a handful of people accompanied him. Dee admits that he came voluntarily to continue Van’s training, while Esparda explains that he retired specifically to continue teaching him. Till also makes it clear that she intends to stay with Van because he treats everyone kindly regardless of their status.
Still unable to understand how Van developed the village so quickly, Meera demands an explanation. Van decides that showing them will be easier. He takes them outside and asks Esparda to create an earthen wall. Meera is impressed by Esparda’s magic but points out that the wall will eventually collapse once his mana runs out. Van then uses his production magic to transform the earth into a solid concrete fortress wall and creates a gate from his nanomaterial cubes. Meera and Arte are completely stunned and finally ask Van what kind of magic attribute he actually possesses.
Van explains that he possesses production magic, which nobles consider the weakest attribute, and that this is why his father sent him away. Hearing this, Arte realizes that she may have suffered a similar fate. Meera then reveals her second reason for visiting: Count Ferdinand has sent her to propose a marriage between Van and Arte. Van quickly understands that the count wants to secure peace by giving his daughter to the lord of the neighboring territory.
Van politely refuses to treat marriage as a political necessity, explaining that he has no interest in conquering anyone and only wants to develop the village and live peacefully. Meera admits that she originally opposed the idea because she thought Arte would be miserable marrying the lord of such a poor village. But after seeing Van’s accomplishments and personality, she changes her mind and praises his intelligence, kindness, and determination. She even jokes that if it were possible, she would marry him herself.
Meera then asks Arte how she feels about marrying Van. Arte shyly admits that she thinks he is a good person but has never seriously considered marriage. Van tells her to take her time because it is an important decision. Since they plan to stay the night, Van realizes they need somewhere to sleep. Instead of using his mansion, he quickly builds an inn for his guests.
During dinner, Van tries to learn more about Arte and discovers that she loves cute things, especially flowers and dolls. When he asks to see her dolls, Arte happily takes him to her carriage to show them. Later, Van walks the two girls back to the inn, where Meera gives Arte some privacy. Arte quietly tells Van that she thinks he is a kind person before retreating to her room.
When Van returns home, Esparda points out that since Count Ferdinand sent his daughter to marry the lord of a remote village, Arte may also lack elemental magic. Van realizes that she might have been treated like an outcast just as he was. He decides that even if Arte ultimately refuses the engagement, she will always be welcome to stay in his village.
