As the sun rose on the first day of the new year. There was much work to do in order to be ready for the Legion in the next few weeks. William had two people he had to meet today.
One was the newly elected mayor of Runick. William was offered the position but he had refused. He had tried being a manager at the firm to get over Matilda's death. He drowned himself to escape his grief.
He ended up doing various administrative work on top of his regular work. He had always hated the work but it was better then the pain of his loss. This lifetime he wouldn't touch being in a full leadership position.
However he couldn't escape remaining as the towns currently only teacher, engineer, and the main face for outside relationships. The one chosen by the elders was the same woman that cooked William's first meal. She had evidently taken care of wrangling the children into work groups to help the village. William was happy for someone of her caliber to be in the position.
Since seeing the water purifier she had been one of his staunchest supporters. She also gotten a double class in both administrator and the chef classes. William was giddy over the fact that the administrator class mentioned computers briefly. He hadn't explained them to her as she might never live to see them.
William needed to speak over whether or not she was comfortable with welcoming twenty thousand more people. Plus whether or not the village was ready for the new additions in reparations.
With the knowledge that anyone that learned from William could be integrated easily it became mandatory for people to learn from him. There was the possibility of some running away but there were no known bandits or other villages for nearly a month in any direction. Those that ran away would likely die of dehydration or monster attack.
With his arguments in place he thought on the other person he would meet today. The other meeting was with Irene Adler.
Their last face to face meeting had ended with them on rather poor terms to say it lightly. But he needed to repair their relations. They had to hash out the immigration of Locke's legion and their families.
The further integration as they were all used to Imperial culture and way of life. Irene had told the truth. In his eyes she wanted this to happen. The quicker the better.
The problem was that the village simply didn't have the manpower to both work on the building houses and other various necessities. However a sudden overnight hit of twenty thousand souls would likely overwhelm food stocks, water supply and many other parts of Runick's infrastructure. It just couldn’t be done. However a trickle of people every month could work. As more people showed up and integrated more fields could be added as well as housing be expanded. Will would have to start thinking about larger overall infrastructure after the village hit a population of a few thousand. For now a meeting with Mayor Issabel.
William found her peering over a few reports she and her assistants had made since her election. William cleared his throat to get her attention then asked “Do you have a moment Issabel I spoke to you yesterday about meeting you to go over a few things.” “Sure, sure I could use the break. Squinting over all this paper you made for us is hard on the eyes. Don’t suppose you could rustle up me a pair of spectacles?” “Yeah, I can actually, but I’ll do you one better.” William used his skill to gingerly make a pair of reading glasses. He made them out of a composite bamboo as he could always make more if needed. But first he handed her the frames to check the comfort and fit. “Try these on and shake you head around a bit they shouldn’t come.” Issabel complied and after a few minor tweaks the frames were as good as they would get.
“I’ll come back tomorrow with glass implanted in them it should help you.” “Thank you, so what exactly did you want to talk about?” “The problem we are facing in a few weeks. Do we have the resources to take on the numbers I calculated? It wouldn’t do us very good to take in the people I asked for in reparations only to cause Runick to starve.” “We should just barely squeak though if its more I hope the thaw comes so we might supplement with your added delicacy of bugs. As for housing its going to be cramped for another month but the builders have been hard at work using your designs. A month after the newcomers arrive it should be livable six we can start a lottery for owning property in a year we hope to expand such a service. If we are lucky enough and get some good building classes out of the newcomers housing shouldn’t be a problem ever again. I still can’t believe we will have a little over five to six hundred people here in Runick that’s near three times the number we used to have. Also if we expand to more than that we can comfortably get to a thousand residents before the wall becomes constraining.” “Good to know. Where would you say expansion would flow towards?”
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“Most likely towards the beaches Runick could become a trade port for the north but then we become an appetizing target for either the Imperium or Arintheld. Though with the weaponry you have given us I don’t see a problem with that.” “Then I have a slight confession you know that legion that’s coming back right now after their doomed campaign in the south the entire legion wants to bring their families and live here. I can’t exactly say no to that now can I.” Issabel’s facial expression looked to be going through some serious mental gymnastics then stared daggers at William and replied “They all can’t come at once or we are so screwed. We won’t be at individual houses until next year at the earliest point in our timeline.” “That’s fine the projection of the failed campaign isn’t until that time as well. I plan on discussing with Irene in allowing for small hundred person groups every month if the pace of building structures increases we can take on more. Within the this next year Kena will hopefully crack through her current wall. Thus allowing me to harness a power that will revolutionize everything around here.” “Then I give you my blessing to make this deal and I hope this power comes soon it sounds like a great blessing.” William bowed and left Issabels’s temporary offices.
With one down he decided to pay Cluci a visit as one of the gunpowder mixtures he had made for the fireworks had given results. Cluci had been watching the other children like a hawk to find any experimental that burned cleaner then the current powder. One child had started crying when a firework he had tossed made a much louder pop but didn’t manage create the cool circle everyone else had been making with theirs.
Cluci had immediately switched out the good mixture for a lesser and shown that the child now had the ‘cooler’ fireworks. Cluci had demanded during the celebration that William make a few dozen rounds using the new powder. William did so but warned to be careful as the new powder was more powerful and could be unstable. William found a wild looking Cluci raving to a hunter about his new bullets and how they made little smoke but a much louder bang upon the trigger pull how it was satisfying.
Cluci quite nearly flattened William as he approached the two. Which was amazing as William was at the very least a whole head taller then Cluci. It may have been the speed at which Cluci could run or fly. From what William could tell from the few words that were actually said as Cluci started babbling incoherently. The new powder was fantastic it was cleaner and didn’t compromise his sight lines. William was eventually able to remove the clingy Cluci he also made a dozen more rounds to keep him off.
Appeasement never works but in this instant giving the local gun nut a few more bullets to quench his thirst was worth the time lost making the bullets. Eventually he was able to excuse himself from the manic Cluci. One thing passed through Williams head as he gracefully ran away from a fifteen year old child when electricity gets figured out a gun range for him would make my life easier.
Through various people William was able to track Irene down to give her the good news. But also hash out the details. When he made it too her side Irene was watching a series of team of people assemble a house like a model kit. Before William could initiate a conversation Irene spoke first as three of the builders lifted an entire wall into place.
“If these ideas were present in the Imperium I gather that quite a number of people would scramble to make money off it. The poor plebeians that roam the streets homeless are a major problem and although they are well fed from the bounteous farms that dwell within the Imperium they often become criminals to escape their confined predicament. I hope you have come with good news for my husband and I?” “I did. The mayor has given permission for you and your legion to immigrate to Runick. However the pace at which such a movement can be done must be slow. There are two sides to this coin Runick cannot support a lump sum of what could very well be more then twenty thousand souls. At the same time I doubt you can just disband a legion easily. In this case I strongly push for groups of around one to two hundred people a month make the journey to Runick. This might change as I roll out new things and the pace at which we can support a larger population is more feasible.” Irene thought for a long moment then agreed to William’s plan but added “I wish you a good time in acquiring what you need to move forward.” At that moment William felt a book lightly tap his face. William recoiled as a literal glowing book appeared in front of him
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[ **NEW** Skill obtained via your patron goddess. [ Book of Resources ] . Description: Due to your question being to large and too dense to fit into a ‘Deity Chat’ you have received this divine book. Each use of the book will allow you to find a single metal however until the resource is found no other node may be searched for. ]
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Before William could take a close look the sound of horse hooves galloping were heard. William thanked Irene and ran to the nearest gate. What he saw on arrival was a legionnaire in a white sheet over his armor the lowly man shouted “I come baring news from our Legate Locke Adler to the ears of one William Willow.” “I am him. What you say can be said to all.” “Then I obey. Legate Locke wants you to know that there has been a kidnapping among the orphans the Legate suspects a hag coven to be involved as the illusions cast amongst the troops were powerful and allowed the kidnappers to escape our befuddled sight. There were no sightings of creature the but we know between six to ten children are gone. We cannot hold off on our approach and slow down. We are heavy with supplies and your reparations. But we must move on-wards back to our siege. I am deeply sorry.”