At night, I took Jacob, with me and teached him that plants other than fruits and nuts could be edible too, and quickly gave him a few pointers on how to identify them using my knowledge in Orchidology but told him to not eat anything he just found and bring them to me.
The next day, so in my 79th day in the new world, I got the notification that informed me that I had bypassed gathering!
*ding*
Research bypassed, Gathering.
I then went over the knowledge I had gained from gathering, but it only consisted of knowledge that could be used while gathering, which I was not doing right now.
So, I just ignored it for now and vowed to teach it to Jacob... sometime.
At night Jacob and his group bringed me a lot of... things.
Including but not limited to mushrooms, a few weird looking plants, and flowers.
But I could not tell for sure if any of these were safe to eat as... well, the knowledge I got from Orchidology was mostly about plants from earth, not this moon. So, I was not sure if any of these things were edible or not... well, expect the flowers. They were probably non-toxic, but also non-edible.
So, I had to figure out which ones were safe to eat, and which ones were not. And I only saw 2 ways of doing it, doing it how ancient humans did, which was by dying.
That’s not a joke, Bob just ate something he found then his family found his body in a ditch and never ate what Bob ate.
But as I didn’t find the way of trial and error on other Homunculi ethical, as they did not have any way to consent, I decided to use the other option, just leave them out in the open and watch if any birds and such tried to eat them.
Doing it this way would take time—but time was a resource I was more than willing to throw around.
And because some critters had started a parasitic relationship with my empire. I don’t have a name for those 4-winged sky rats yet, but they are the reason we keep our food stockpiled in our huts.
I should probably construct a proper granary or something similar, but I want to make it out of wood, so we are going to have to bother with the sky rats for a few more weeks.
The very next day, I was sat next to James, who was as you might’ve guessed focusing on making arrows.
And suddenly, one of those sky rats came down, and started inspecting the various plants and such I had left out in the open.
As it went through the assortment of weird things I had put on the ground, I couldn’t help but inspect its body from afar.
It was quite the big bird, being slightly smaller than a chicken, but unlike a chicken, or any of the other birds from earth, it had 2 pairs of wings, the front one being larger than the one in the back.
Most of its body was a greyish white, but its tail and the edges of its wings were black.
It was... quite the bizarre bird if I had to be honest.
After a few more moments of inspecting the various plants, it lifted off without touching anything on the ground.
“...Nothing usable, huh?” I muttered after a few more birds landed, and took off without taking a bite out of anything.
...
“Aaand—that’s the last of them!” I yelled out, holding the last of the longbows in my hands!
*ding*
Quest Lord of War completed! Rewards, 10 Exp + 1 Research Point
have been granted in the Empire System!
Looking at the long bow in my hand, I couldn’t help but be amazed by my work!
I mean, I hadn’t even seen or touched a bow half a year ago! But now? I could make one after an hour or two!
Though my progress didn’t feel deserved as if not for the systems given to me by Rae, I wouldn’t be where I am now.
But she was also the one who forced me into this position, so that’s the least she could do!
For a moment I opened my empire system and looked at my other quest, Age Of Metal, which would be completed in a few hours, and thought of spending my research point but gave up a few moments later.
Bloom furnaces, and iron would be great right now! But I’d rather have wooden houses first.
Then I got up from where I was sat and checked the plants, I left out in the open that day and—most of them hadn’t even been touched.
Except one of them.
Then I took the carrot like plant and inspected it a bit.
Its skin was a dark brown colour that persisted even after I washed it thoroughly, and from the parts of it skin that had been pecked at by the birds I could see that its flesh was purple.
Though, normally I’d dice the plants the gatherers brought, as they normal brought them in small amounts, they had brought this one in a bundle, so I just took one of them, and placed it down whole.
*sniff~*
Bringing my hand near my nose, I sniffed the plant and a sharp smell rushed into my nostrils.
“Oh?” I said, surprised. Whatever this was smelled like an onion!
“Hmm...” I hummed, and started thinking of what I knew of onions, specifically when they were grown.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Onions could be planted from the start of summer to the end of fall, and grew for around 30 weeks, after which they could be harvested.
So, if I started planting these, I could harvest them in 6-7 months!
It was a long time, but that time would be a necessary sacrifice!
Problem. Manpower.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go over 60 population, but if I did not, I wouldn’t be able to do any farming.
And if I did, there was a very real possibility that we’d just starve this winter.
“What to do what to do...” I started muttering to myself and thought about what I should do.
...
I really—really do not want to take many risks, but if I don’t take any risks here, and reach population 100, we will just repeat this cycle next year.
I knew that 2 acres of land could feed a person—with the agricultural technology I currently had that is. In modern times, and hectare of land, which was 2.5 acres of land, could feed 5 people.
But that was modern times.
Currently, I need 200 acres of land, or 80 hectares of land, and a farmer can farm 4 hectares of land a year.
So, I’d need 20 farmers at least, but I also needed enough construction workers, cooks, miners, and etc. to support those 20 farmers.
And not to forget the extra hunters and gatherer’s I’d need to supply enough food for us through winter!
“...Yeah, I totally need another 40 Homunculi, or more!” I muttered to myself and steeled my resolve.
We were going to have to go hungry a bit this winter, but that was the cost of progress!
...But that’s for tomorrow morning. I wouldn’t want to make the first thing my new Homunculi felt to be the coldness of the night now, would I?
*ding*
Quest The Age Of Metal completed! Rewards, 10 Exp + 1 Research Point
have been granted in the Empire System!
“Oh, how lovely!
... Now I just need them to make a few dozen more tools then we can start making copper arrows.” Saying that, I opened my research tree, and bought Wooden House making.
Wooden House Making – An information packet about how to build wooden houses. – Costs 2 Research Points
As the knowledge of how to make wooden houses flooded into my mind, I took a few moments to digest them, and then looked at my 3 new research options.
Basic City Planning - An information packet about basic city planning. – Costs 4 Research Point
Church Construction – An information packet about how to construct churches for the goddess Rae. – Costs 1 Research Point
Masonry – An information packet about Masonry, and quarry construction. - Costs 1 Research Point
“...I assume the Church Construction is necessary research for blessings?” I asked Rae.
“Bullseye!” She then said, confirming my suspicions.
“...I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”
...
As the new day came, I started it with summoning 20 new Homunculi, and of course I used the wooden logs that the construction crew had carried up the hill.
And as 20 new Homunculi stood in front of me, I started thinking about how to spread them out.
“Hmm... you 3, you each join a group of hunters. You 2, you join the gatherers, and Jacob, make a new group of gatherers.
You 10, join the construction group, I will give you further directives at a later date. You 2, join the cooks under Jessie, and you 2 go help the smelters, and last guy, lumberjacks.” Quickly assigning the new people into their groups, I ended with a 31-49 split between the food guys and home guard.
And of course, I ordered the 10 new guys to make another unit of mud huts, while the first 10 continued on working on the log wall.
After this unit of huts were finished, I’d order them to construct another unit and spawn the 20 farmers needed to make enough food for the 100 people.
And, of course, I did not forget to tell Jacob to look for more of the carrot onions.
Or should I just call them something like Purple Carrots or Black Onions?
...I mean they are onions so, Black Onions it is!
Then I went to James, and helped him make more arrows... I was not that beneficial to him.
...
After that, the days started flaying past me—though the ever-looming threat of whatever was in the forest persisted and made itself known with force at my 90th day in the new world.
As the hunters returned from their hunt, something seemed... off about them.
And looking at my Empire System, I saw that my empire population had dropped off by 4.
This, of course, freaked me out.
Not only because people for whose lives I was responsible for died, their bodies weren’t recovered.
I then united the 3 hunter groups into 2 groups of 10 and 11 people. And thankfully, no casualties happened after that... well, casualties as in deaths, every day they started coming back with injuries, but none of them were thankfully too dangerous.
And, even more worryingly, every hunt they returned with the corpses of tier 2 animals.
And with more corpses than ever! One group was able to return with 4 one day, and each group brought 2 corpses per day consistently.
Seeing this drastic increase in the number of monsters in the forest, I came to a dreading conclusion.
“The log wall won’t be finished in time...” I muttered to myself anxiously.
I did not know what exactly I was expecting in the coming days. A fully fledged out tier 2, a dungeon, or something else entirely.
My mind raced with anxiety whenever I saw our hunters return injured, but whenever I looked at their faces, and the faces of everyone else, I became ashamed because they were not scared.
They just continued to look forwards, their heads held up high and their shoulders broad. I told myself that they could only act like this because they did not understand what we were facing, they did not understand that some monster could attack us from the forest any day and kill us all.
Their ignorance was their bliss.
But deep down, I was worried that they did, and they were looking forwards knowing the hardships they were facing and were going to face in the future.
And while people I thought w—while I thought people who w—were lesser than me were able to face reality without fear, at nights I could not stop shaking.
...
One night I left my hut and sat down on the short wall which encircled the original 3 units of houses, and took turns of looking around me, at the stars, and at the hunts behind me.
Wherever I looked though, Rae was not there. She would normally not leave my side or be just around the corner. But she seemed to have disappeared this night.
...
“Hoooh...” Getting up, with a sigh, I clenched my fist and hit myself in the chin.
“OWW OW OWW!!” I screamed and started caressing my chin.
“Fuck me! They made this seem way less painful, and way cooler in the anime I watched... fucking pricks.” After caressing my chin for a bit more, I once again clinched my fist—then paused and just slapped myself instead.
“OWW!!” I once again screamed in pain.
“Fuck me! I can’t even slap myself without clawing my face!” I muttered in displeasure, heaved another sigh, and slapped and punched myself a few more times.
And I stopped only after collapsing to the ground from a combination of tiredness and pain from my claws punishing my skin.
Looking at the starts, the gas giant, and the few moons I could see from where I laid, I started talking.
“You, are Damian.” I started.
“Human, Homunculi? It matters not. You are Damian. A man, a person, an individual. And nothing more, and nothing less.
The Great Game? Hell? Heaven? A bratty goddess who just won’t leave your side? It matters not.
Your new body, your new world, your new life? It matters not.
What matters is who you are. Who you choose to be.
You know that you can just go frolicking in the fields, and your needs will be met. Your quest will be completed with time. Your researches will be done.
But what did you do to deserve it?” I said and stopped for a moment.
“...I didn’t do anything. I didn’t do anything yet. So, I can’t be a bitch now, can I?” Then I lifted my hand, and looked at it.
“Me being an emperor? It matters not. My “Empire”? It matters not. What matters is—my people, and what I do for them.” I then moved my hand directly on top of my head, where I could see the silhouette of another moon.
“And is what I am doing now—who I am now, what they deserve?” I said and thought for a few moments.
“...No.” I answered myself, and I clenched my fist around the moon and grasped its silhouette.
“Who I am right now is not an emperor, not a man, not a person, not an individual, and it is definitely not who Damian is. To be the one they deserve, I must first become my best self. And the first step to becoming the best me is to first grasp this earth I stand upon—and accept reality.
Accept that I am not strong, accept that I am not smart, accept that I am not enough by myself. And accept the situation in which I find myself.
And I accept I may die—and I accept that I may not be the strongest or the smartest, but what I do not accept is not being the bravest!
And I vow to myself, me, and I that I will first bring this earth upon which I stand under my grasp for the people for which I am responsible for, starting from myself and this forest and whatever monster is in it, and then moving onto the moon in my grasps.
For I am not the emperor right now, and neither am I the man, the person, or the individual, but when I wake up tomorrow, I choose to wake up as Damian, who is none of those, but has the power to be.”