When I made it back to my home after visiting Emma and George, Arthur and I had dinner together and then I went to sleep. The next day I helped Arthur finish making the bridge pieces. We worked on them for the entire day, and I continued to work into the night so we would be finally finished by the next morning.
It will take us three cartloads to bring everything to the bridge building site so we quickly started to load up hoping that we would be able to get it done today. While the stump holes still remained, mostly filled up with wood pieces, the holes themselves were no bigger than the ones that were on the road between the town and the village. Francis actually loved the challenge of needing to use extra strength to pull the wheels out of the holes.
We were able to get everything done but when we got back home it was already dark. Arthur went to sleep but I went out to the quarry to work on my own project’s foundation pieces. When it was morning again, we headed to the bridge building site.
The plan to place the bridge supports was quite simple. To the top of the massive support log, we tied two pieces of rope. One of those pieces of ropes we tied to a tree while the other one was currently loose, and Arthur had taken it to the other side of the river.
The rope that was already tied to the tree and the support log was a specific length so it would not allow the log to move past its intended location. I then picked up the massive support log by its bottom, made myself as heavy as possible even using my core energy and then simply walked at the bottom of the river. I didn’t have to worry about the current pulling the log away because of the rope that held the top of the log.
It was still a struggle not to be pushed away by the current, but I was able to walk to the correct location and then push the support pillar in enough, so the current didn't push it from its correct location.
Meanwhile, Arthur tied up the second rope, so the log was now secured. The river’s current wouldn’t be pulling it away for now, but the log still needed to be deeper in. For that, we used another rope. Using the rope that we tied over the river, I moved over the support log and just let go dropping onto the log while making myself heavier.
It was a dangerous job, but I had enough body control and stats to make it work. It took eight times of me dropping onto the log until we were done with the first one. We took breaks often but by evening we were done. The support logs were now placed, and they won’t be going anywhere. I left after that while Arthur set up his tent as he was going to continue building the bridge by himself.
I went back home, slept and then started working with Francis to make the road that was in the forest into something that could actually be used by others. During the night I ran to the other side of the river to continue cutting down the trees on that side until I reach Arthurs's home. It took me two nights to cut down the remaining trees, but in the three days Francis and I have been working on the road we were only about half done. The third night I went home and slept.
The next day it was time for Francis to take a break as I went and helped Emma finish up her digging. She didn't have any good abilities that would help her pack down the dirt that was going to be her basement floor, so I had to do the job myself.
We were finished even before evening. Emma hoped that she could relax for the day back at my home, but I told her that she needed to start loading up the foundation stones that she needed onto the cart.
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She grumbled for a bit but still did the job. I also spent the night working on my own foundation stones. I needed a lot more because I wanted the stone part of my smithy to be taller than me. For a moment I contemplated if I wanted to make the entire building out of stone, but it just seemed too much trouble. The next day we brought the first load of foundation stones to Emma’s building site. I then spent the rest of the day teaching her everything she needed to know and letting her practice building.
The next day she continued to build while I brought her remaining foundation stones with the help of Francis to her building site. I then went and helped Arthur finish his digging and then taught him the same way I did Emma. When I finished bringing him all his foundation stones a few days more had passed, and Arthur was finally finished with the bridge.
It was finally his time to start digging. On that day I went to the village. I started by laying out our plans for military service. Everyone who signed up will be a recruit for one year. During that time, they will get moderate pay that will be given in a lump sum when they finish their first year.
During the first year we will be teaching them a lot of skills and knowledge they will need to know to function in the legion and support roles for the military. When that first year is over it’s their first opportunity to leave the service. If they choose to do that they will be placed as second priority to be called back into service in case of mobilization.
If your first year of service is over, you could choose to continue with your five-year service. During that time, you will be trained a lot more, but you will also get the opportunity to specialize in your chosen military branch.
The second opportunity you get to leave the service is when you finish the five years. When done you will receive a large lump sum of money, enough that you can buy yourself a house and start a family. The people who finished their five-year service will be the first priority to be called back into service in case of mobilization.
After that, you could sign up for a 10-year service and continue to take the 10 years however long you want. Your pay will depend on your rank and what you do for the military. A person might have been in the military for 50 years but still, be legionary. The difference between the legionaries and Vikings or how powerful the individual is. But no matter how powerful the first year of service will still be the same. Knowing how the legion functions is paramount for every member of the military.
For the current military personnel that had signed up or were in the military, they were all ordered to take up the jobs that required them to build either the apartment buildings or later on the wall. They would still need to train during the evening. The training was to include physical fitness, formations and weapon handling.
This was the first meeting that was only for the military and after we finished discussing everything needed for the short term everyone went to pass out the commands that we had decided on. I was going to start coming here more often and after the wall was built, we could have a bit more specialized training that was required. I also posted a class notice in the jobs building for next Friday morning which was eight days from now. I was going to give a class on energy control in the current military training grounds.
Goose and the wolves were quite far away hunting monsters that were coming to our lands. I kind of missed them but they were doing something they liked to do and something that was very necessary for our nation. At least I was able to see Goose quite often when he flew back to receive new locations for the monsters they were going to hunt.
In the next following days, Francis and I continued to build the road. Arthur was able to finish digging before the road was completed so he was able to help us on the last day of the road build. I then helped him get started with his foundation. Even though he started last he was most likely going to finish first.
I now had a lot more free time but I still went and visited all my apprentices to review their work. They were gaining skill levels quickly thanks to them doing their work so well. Before the Friday when my class started, I was able to finish digging up my Smith foundation area and I was quite pleased with my progress even while helping my apprentices with their own houses.