All in all, a respectable harvest for certain. A total of thirty-six new monsters that were under his command. While the Conquistador was forced to convert one of his malcontent subjects, there really wasn’t anything of value lost. After all, the traitor had been the lumberjack and all of his knowledge had been transferred over to the new workforce. The forager was left alive and sane, which was useful for sure.
The rest went along as expected. The plants necessary for food production and all other sorts of materials were demonstrated with shaky hands from the remaining sane man, which all wasn’t anything too crazy. The whole thing was merely remembering which plants were edible, which ones were poisonous, which ones were useful for rope and blah blah, the whole gesture was clear.
In any case, the newly converted help got to work and, as he expected, they were capable of understanding the orders. They were the perfect workforce, which resulted in having a good constant stream of supply for every project in mind. With that, he and his two subjects went back to base with some wagons full of wood and plants, which would only help to fuel the ongoing work.
However, that made him wonder one thing: was it possible for the converted monsters to do something akin to smithing? He thought that over for a good while, before shaking his head.
No, that was impossible. They did not have the correct hands to do such a thing, nor did they have the intelligence. While they were able to chop down trees and collect plants, none of those tasks required any brain power. Although… what about cooking?
Could he have them focus on that?
“Well, my lord… Um…” Mandeline scratched the back of her head nervously as she tried to figure out a way to explain this, “I don’t know if that idea will work… at all.”
“Why not?” The Conquistador raised an eyebrow at that comment. By this point, the two had set up back into the office, “Why would this idea of mine fail?”
“My lord, these monsters are not intelligent.” She took a deep breath, before moving forward, “If you wish to have them become our cooks, then they would need to understand all the intricacies of those tasks.”
“I’m not sure if I understand what you’re trying to get at here.”
“Well, my lord, cooking isn’t exactly an… easy task.” She took a deep breath, before continuing, “Have you tried making a meal before?”
“Ridiculous. Why should I do something like that? I have servants for that.”
“Well, my lord, that inexperience is clouding your judgment. Most cooks take years to perfect their craft, from being able to understand the way to have the meat and all be cooked to figuring out how to get certain flavors and textures in balance. It is an intricate art, one that is compared to that of fine art.”
He was about to scoff at those comments, before stopping. He couldn’t deny the argument that was presented before him, as the cooks back in España had a great way of making meals. They were able to create some dishes that were akin to paintings, with flavors that made him honestly floored and amazed at how such a thing could be done.
Though, that being said, he had not had such an experience here. Most of the meals had either been the awful tasting meat that still bled constantly to the subpar bricks of mashed vegetables. There was nothing made that stood out to him, all of which were nothing more than lackluster dishes all designed towards survival.
“From what I have witnessed, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
“Well, there is a very simple explanation: we can’t make things normally.” She deadpanned as she gestured towards the nearest window, “We can’t make meat dishes how we normally can, nearly all the crops we were used to have shriveled up and died or have become inedible as a result of the corruption. We are quite honestly in a new world of cooking, which is resulting in these lack-luster results.”
“Hrm.” He rubbed his chin for a while, thinking over this information. That certainly was true, but he really needed all the help he could get with the ongoing projects. The more hands on deck that could make weapons, armor, and construction, the better.
While yes, he could go out and search for more people, the problem came with time. They were bound to be assaulted by the Usurper’s forces at some point in time and he needed the colony to be prepared and ready to fight them off. His blessed soldier wasn’t going to be able to turn the tides of battle on their own and while he could steal all of their forces, that didn’t really mean much when one of those blasted commanders could pummel everything in their path with ease.
“Um, my lord, if I may…” The Conquistador was brought out of his thoughts by the
before raising an eyebrow. “Then how about instead of replacing all the cooks, we start getting some of the monsters to do some of the more mundane tasks? Things like cutting, mashing, stuff like that. The more intricate parts of cooking could be delegated to the remaining cooks. That way, we have more production as you desire.”
He nodded in approval. That idea was rather good and all he’d have to do was get those cooks to teach the monsters those specific steps. Though, that meant one thing: perhaps they could expand this further?
Stolen novel; please report.
“Then let’s do this,” he looked right at his assistant, “I’ll send in a group of monsters to each workstation. Get the experts of those areas to train them to do the most mundane of tasks, those that would save time and effort. Get them all working.”
“Oh. Oh!” She realized his intentions right away, before nodding her head violently. “Not to worry! I’ll get that done all right away!”
“Excellent.” He smiled. Finally, he didn’t need to be present for every single one of these actions, he could simply delegate to his assistant. While yes, she had been doing well during his rest, she hadn’t been capable of enforcing any kind of structure. After all, that one idiot had decided to go against him for no reason other than cowardice, which led to him losing all of his rights.
… Ah. There was something he still needed to know before he got back to converting more monsters and exploring the town.
“Pray tell, do you know if there are any alchemists in this town or within our group?”
“Alchemists?” Mandeline blinked at the question, “I don’t think I’ve seen any that were present within our ranks. Though, I… Haven’t asked around too much if anyone had alchemical knowledge. Why do you ask?”
“I need someone that knows their compounds to create some explosives.”
“Explosives…” She frowned at that statement, tapping her fingers on the desk in rhythm as she roamed through her mind. A hum, a nod, before her eyes lit up with understanding.
“There is a material that can explode, although I don’t know if that’s what you’re looking for.”
“What?” The Conquistador’s eyes raised with excitement. Looks like his hypothesis had been correct after all: there was a fantastical replacement for the God given gunpowder. That was an absolute joy to hear, one that could lead to truly great things for his future. If that material was nearby the town, then he’ll have to redirect all focus from the crossbows to making cannons and explosives. Firepower was the most important tool at his hand and, if he wanted to ensure his safety for the foreseeable future, a necessary acquisition. In total, he’d need to focus on obtaining that more than ever.
“Well, it’s a compound called snow powder.”
“Snow… Powder?” He raised an eyebrow at that, before gesturing for his assistant to continue. She swallowed and went on.
“We call it snow powder because it’s white, it creates a giant plume after detonation, and because it’s rather… cold. See, the way it works is that the ignition starts after there is impact with some water, then there will be an explosion that causes freezing and rapid expansion of what we call salt sand, that of which can be used for the creation of glass. Truth be told, the main reason we even use snow powder is to manufacture glass, which… well, we can’t really do right now. If you wish to have access to this powder, I do recall talks amongst the groups about a warehouse that held the material, but…”
At those words, the Conquistador couldn’t help but grimace. That was far from the material that he was familiar with. While yes, the fact that he would have access to glass afterward was rather good, that didn’t change the fact that there would result in a lot of clean up and problems using the snow powder as the main proponent for his weapons. That wouldn’t be helpful for the cannons or the arquebuses…
But there was no other choice. He’d have to figure out a method to get all of that cleaned and set up when push came to shove. Though, there was another thing he could do with all that power: explosive charges to use against the citadel. With all that snow powder, he could probably bring down the entire building or even create grenades to take the Usurper’s forces down.
Yes, this was all still coming together. In any case, he’d have to set up an expedition to secure the warehouse, something that would cost men, materials, and so on.
He still had the supplies from the previous failed attempt. There were even more monsters than before and with access to the forest, he could most likely just secure a giant horde to act as his personal guard before heading out. His blessed soldier could act as a scout, enabling him to have someone that could give warning of any incoming dangers and allow him to maneuver accordingly.
Either way, he was far more prepared than before. Yes, there were going to be many steps to prepare, and he was far more capable than before. This time, he wasn’t going to be thrown off by whatever threats came this way. No, he’d be fighting smarter and making sure he had all the cards stacked in his favor.
He took a deep breath and got ready to move out, before stopping. While yes, he could move on out, he did want to make sure of one thing: the crossbow. If his subjects had been able to secure the design for that weapon before moving out, then all will be will.
“Say, the craftsmen, have they been able to achieve the request I had?”
“Um, you mean the mini ballista?” Mandeline scratched the back of her head as she tried to figure out the best way to describe what had occurred, “Well, um… From what I know, there has been one made, but…”
“But what?”
“It’s not as great as you described.” She gulped, “From what I’ve been informed, the weapon has plenty of flaws that prevent it from being as useful as you have dictated. It fires, yes, but it is not accurate. The loading time is quite long, which is to be expected, but I don’t know if it’s something you’d be happy with. Last but not least, we… Well, we simply don’t have the means to mass produce the weapon due to its bulk.”
Bulk? What the hell?
“Pardon? Why are you talking about it like it’s giant?”
“Be–because it is, my lord.”
He stared at her for a good while, causing her to squirm in her seat. He kept his gaze up for quite a while, before finally giving out an exhausted sigh.
“Okay. I’m officially lost on all this. You’re going to take me to the workshop, so I can see what this abomination you’re describing. Should it be something far worse than I expect, there will be words.”
“U-understood…” She swallowed, before getting up to lead him forward. He couldn’t help but hold his head in his hands as he got up to follow her. Honestly, how bad could they have butchered his request?