Pokodo and Purple have returned the past few days. Only Red and Blue still need to return from their journeys. Both don't look any different since they've been back… I could tell that each was, if only slightly stronger than they were. They should be more tied to their element now. Each gives off the aura of a seeded flower that has yet to bloom into their full potential.
The engineers are busy working on fixing the dragon, my men are busy practicing and training. I've decided to visit my grandfather. I need to find masters to train me. He is the only 1 I can think of that might be a master in something I am not. Thankfully I had a portal scroll moved to my old home… I should really see how the villages renovation is going as well. I decided to send a few of my woodworkers and construction experts to start repairs on my village. It just doesn't feel right for it to be gone forever.
Going through the portal, some of my generals and even Leaf decided to also visit my home village. While trying to make it as similar as possible to how it was, I also decided to make changes to the structure of the village as well. Adding in a working sewer system and making the village more grid like to increase its structural safety and would make getting around easier. Adding defenses to this would be far easier to defend against outside attacks than the previous village.
Where most of the buildings were close together before they are spread out around the center. The structure of the city would most closely resemble Merideth adding outside walls for protection like Shienta. Merideth uses the slums as their protective wall, using the weak to protect the strong if any force gets close enough. I eventually convinced the king to build a wall but it most likely isn't very well guarded and won't make much of a difference against an incoming army. This village will not be easily taken down like it was before… In the center of the village isn't a giant castle, it is a memorial of the villagers that lost their lives to the bandit attack… My men transplanted a varying array of flowers here from the surrounding areas.
I have no plans to live in a giant house like I did before. In the future the city might expand but as it is now, it is only here to make me feel better about what happened. Perhaps in the future this village will become 1 of the core cities of the southwest continent… That is just a pipe dream as it stands right now. If any of my troops need a vacation, this would be a good location for them to go and feel safe. In other cities, they might look down on my troops for not being human. This will be the only safe village for those who aren't humans in the entire continent.
We spend most of the day helping with the construction of it. The cross sectioned roads have already been paved and the frames of most of the buildings are already in place. We finish a few buildings just as dusk sets in. In comparative size to my village before this 1 is easily twice the size already. Leaving room for expansion, this village could easily become a city if it filled with more citizens. For now it will only have the construction crews and a few guards living inside.
Me and Leaf decide on a house. It isn't any different than the other houses being made… The houses are mostly uniform, 5 room houses with a master bedroom on the second floor. It still feels special. This is the first time we're going to live together. I sort of moved into her room in the castle mimic but I still had my own room far separated from hers. This is the first thing we will own together. She had brought some of her things to make the house feel more homey. I also did with several things I plan on working on later. We brought a small forge, cooking supplies and some other job based items for this house. After settling in we decide to go to bed for the night. I'd rather get situated in the new house before visiting my grandfather.
The next day after setting Leaf up with lessons and homework for engineering and automaton creation, I head to visit my grandfather. While I'd normally rush from 1 spot to the next, even shape shifting into something that could fly. It just felt right to walk the same path I had walked to visit him from time to time. It makes me feel nostalgic about my childhood… All the good with all the bad. Looking back I realized how hard I was on my parents for not being the best… I just wish I could have been there for them… I wish I could have prevented what had happened… I can't keep thinking like that though, I need to protect those still alive. I can't continuously worry about who I could have saved.
Approaching the farm I see something I never thought I would see… There are people other than my grandfather working on the farm. What could have possibly happened for him to need help? I start to look around before asking 1 of the 3 children tending the farm. From her height, I would guess she is around 13… The same age as me, if I didn't evolve into a high human she might have even been taller than me. I would put my appearance as that of a 16 year old. She looks up, her hands are red from work she has never had to do before. It looks as if she has been put through a lot recently… She points me towards a new building I hadn't even noticed. I can now hear the sounds of a hammer pounding nails in.
I sneak up on him and he is standing on a homemade ladder hammering nails into the top part of the outside supports. It is a pretty rudimentary design but it is by far the easiest way to make a building quickly. I yell out to him.
“Need some help!?”
He almost falls off the ladder. I'm honestly surprised I had gotten the drop on my grandfather. He catches the ladder by slamming his hands with the hammer down onto the top.
“Jeez Kite. When did you get so sneaky?”
“I didn't do anything out of the ordinary.”
He scratches his beard as he speaks now.
“Ah… Must just be me getting old… My senses just aren't what they used to be.”
I grow out some shadowy wings as I pull out my blacksmith's hammer and fly up to help hold the board. He already has the 3 other sides of the building done. Removing the temporary support board to hold the beams in place and adding the final inside board so he can nail boards outside to it to make the wall. It takes far longer than the wood I could get for him. Using sheeting for walls, flooring and the roof would cut the time it would take down drastically. He doesn't want to hear it though, set in his ways. I also mention that my men could easily build an entire house for him in a day… He doesn't want to hear that either.
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“You still don't get it Kite. Sometimes it's best to do things the hard way… I guess you'll need to get a bit older to understand.”
I guess I will. My entire life has been to the devotion of making everything easier. Making new inventions, techniques and ideas that just make life easier for everyone. Why would you purposely take the harder routes in life… I don't think I'll ever see from his point of view anyways. Adding together all of my lifetimes I've lived twice as long as he has. Yea… I doubt we ever will. We finish the entire back wall before I remember I'm here to learn from him.
“Hey, is there any way you can teach me to become stronger? I fought against someone who was a true master and he made me realize my lack of ability in any 1 particular area… I need to start becoming better at everything by finding masters to teach me.”
We're taking a break right now. I pulled out some refreshing water and gave it to the children while me and Gray are drinking beer. All of them look curiously at me. I haven't heard any of them speak yet which is odd for them. The oldest being the girl, her 2 brothers look to be about 8 and 5 years old… I still don't understand how they've came to live here but it seems more important to ask him for help than ask questions like that. He takes a long drink of the beer I had brought for just him. From previous experience I knew it would butter him up before asking a question.
“I can't really help you right now… Do you remember the last time you came here? How you helped me grow all those plants. Well, there were severe unforeseen repercussions to that I didn't understand until after you had done it… Yes, the plants did grow but at the same time there were far too many to pick by myself. Not only that but the huge influx of crops meant that I had to sell them for far less than I normally would later in the year near winter. Also the crops were just far smaller and less edible than if they had been grown naturally. Not only that but growing the new batch put me far behind schedule for when I needed to get these out. Even rushing I still might not have them grown before winter sets in.”
I hadn't really thought of it until now what my druids making food would do to those who handle the influx… I had only thought of it from the standpoint of feeding giant armies quickly… My grandfather was making enough crops to feed several cities worth of people. That is far more than 1 person could possibly handle but then adding to the fact that growing the food faster also makes them mature and rot faster as well…
That is a recipe for disaster when it comes to doing it slowly. Most of the food probably rotted before it even made it to the cities… Merideth and Shienta wouldn't have suffered much but… Any other cities in the opposite direction that would be getting food wouldn't have had a normal amount they had grown accustomed to my grandfather growing. The girl speaks up.
“So… Is this a relative of yours grandpa?”
… Grandpa!? Did I have cousins I didn't know about until now… No, I doubt my uncle would send his children here… I don't think my mother had any siblings either. The ties between my uncle and grandfather also disappeared when my father had died. I doubt my uncle cares much for my grandfather on this side. Gray speaks up now.
“Yea. This is my grandson so you could say that makes him your brother.”
… WHAT!? I look at them and they are just as shocked as I am. That doesn't add up. I didn't have any siblings growing up, how would I suddenly find out I had 3 I didn't even know about until now. Before I can over think this anymore than I already have Gray continues whats he was saying.
“I adopted these 3 as my grandchildren when they tried to steal food from my fields. If they want me to feed them they have to work for it… They are also a big help with how far I am behind now on growing.”
Ah, alright. That makes way more sense at least from a logical standpoint. I play along with him. Turning to the 3 children I bow my head.
“Hello, my name is Kite. It is nice to meet 2 new brothers and a sister. I hope to get along with you in the future.”
The girl speaks again… She must speak for her brothers as well.
“If he starts living here we better still get the same amount of food!”
I can only let out a slight laugh… They are all probably used to the excessive amount of vegetables. I bet they would like some meat for a change. I don't say anything, pulling off my backpack I reach into it before I realize I'll need to climb inside to find what I'm looking for. I jump into my backpack and emerge to the looks of shock of all 3 children. I have over 10 pounds of jerky in this backpack I planned on storing at our new house. Feeding these children something special seems to be a better use of it. I also pull out a giant slab of basilisk meat I was going to cook for the men.
“Well, I don't plan on living here and I certainly wont take food from your mouths.”
I hand them all a handful of the jerky, even Gray who had never seen meat prepared this way before. He enjoyed it almost as much as the children did, I doubt he eats meat very often. Having to catch something while also doing his farming work would be extremely difficult. I explain how it handles storage and takes far longer to spoil than most other types of meat. They should be able to eat that jerky over the next month without any worry of having it spoil. The meat from the basilisk is also a bribe to try and get him to allow me to train under him. After eating all of his jerky and asking for another handful… He finally agrees.