3 months later, in the meeting hall of the Silvaria family's main mansion, the entirety of the Silvaria family was gathered together to give their monthly report to the patriarch. Standing at the front just below the family master's seat was Faren Silvaria, Cecil's second uncle. He was currently reporting to the patriarch the valley settlement's past month economic situation. It was a brief report since there was no noteworthy development happening.
Everything was stable, so there weren't anything surprising to report on. Faren completed his report and said, "...that's our current situation. Everything's been running smoothly. Also, since the mine is finally in full operation, we should begin thinking about issuing metal currency in the valley. The bartering between the valley's citizens is too crude, and many times, problems occur due to others asking for more than what should be given or received during a trade."
He stepped down after finishing his words and waited for their patriarch to give a statement regarding his suggestion. Kaiser nodded at his suggestion because it was about time they moved on to a more stable method of trading than their current system.
"Yes, it's a fine suggestion," He turned towards his son Michael and asked, "Has the blacksmithing division finally managed to create a suitable furnace using the ore that was mined?"
Michael immediately stood up and reported, "We've managed to create a prototype. We're still testing whether it can withstand the high temperatures needed to melt down the gold, silver, and copper ores we've managed to mine."
"Hmmm... once you've created a suitable furnace, begin crafting the metal currency," he turned toward the rest of the people gathered and continued, "Is there anything else that needs to be reported regarding the valley's situation?"
The valley's representative, Lucas Strafe, stood up and walked to the front, "Leader, the current situation in the valley is somewhat optimistic. The people no longer have any fear of their day to day situations with the valley's guards constantly repelling the frequent monster attacks. It's just... some of the people are concerned about their children. There are no schools established and many of the young boys in the valley have all started to treat the valley guards as idols and role models. The bolder ones and the ones who are now young adults have even started taking up arms and training to be like them one day. Many of the mothers are concerned about this and without proper guidance, the children may just be throwing away their lives."
Kaiser had already heard of this from his wife, Anastasia, so he wasn't too surprised, "Yes... that is a concern. My wife has already notified me of the situation."
Fatima who was seated in the crowd stood up and interjected, "Patriarch, if I may?"
"Yes?"
Seeing as her father has approved, Fatima stepped forward, "As you know, the matriarch and I make frequent rounds around the valley every day. So we're already clear about the situation from before and have already devised a solution."
Fatima paused to take a breath and then continued, "We suggest to create two types of schools, the first type would be the normal schools like back on Earth. With Luca's eidetic memory and with the help of the former teachers and professors in the valley, we've already made copies of textbooks ranging from subjects of elementary grade to high school grade."
Everyone in the room who wasn't a part of the Silvaria family let out voices of surprise, they never expected the family to be so capable and have such foresight that even before the problem was addressed, they had already managed to create a solid plan. Kaiser raised his hand and silenced the people in the hall, he turned towards his daughter with a smile of approval and asked, "And the second type?"
"The second type would be a military school. This school will teach willing children that want to take up arms against the monsters various kinds of martial arts and their foundational techniques. Lessons will also include weapon mastery classes for all sorts of weapons; swords, blades, spears, bows, shields, and plenty of other kinds of weapons."
Fatima walked over to her father and handed him a stack of documents while her subordinates entered the hall and began handing similar stacks of documents to everyone else.
"This is the proposal I've drafted for the plan. Everyone can find all the finer details in the there. Patriarch, we only need to wait for your approval before starting."
Kaiser nodded with a chuckle and said, "That's good, that's good. I'll quickly read through this and have it approved. We might need to change some things, so keep that in mind. By the way, can you start this immediately?"
"Yes, we can start immediately! We've already recruited many people who were teachers back on Earth that are willing to continue teaching the children in the valley and become the educational school's permanent staff. The curriculum has already been meshed out and is included in the proposal. You can find it there."
The patriarch nodded and asked, "What about the military school?"
"We've recruited many of our family's people who are willing to teach the children and young adults combat techniques. Lessons can begin immediately once you've given us the okay. As for the people who will be leading the schools, the headmaster of the normal educational school will be Professor William Henry, who was the headmaster of Edelesta University. As for the headmaster of the military school, it will be our family's own head instructor, Mitch."
"Mitch, huh? Well, I did just take him off the scouting team and put him on standby because of your mother's orders. I guess it was for this?"
"Yes."
"What about the school's location?"
"For the location, I think mother will answer that?"
After saying her piece, Fatima stepped back and let her mother take the stage. Anastasia stood up while bringing along a map. One of the family's butlers followed behind her with a board in his arms. When she arrived next to her husband, Anastasia immediately unfurled the map and pinned it on the board the butler had set up next to her. She then pointed to the area at the end of the valley that was almost adjacent to the forest near the mountainside and said, "This is the place where we'd like to build the school."
Looking at the spot she was pointing at, Kaiser frowned a little, "Isn't that too close to the forest? Even though there's a wall there, the children would be in danger if there was a monster attack. Those are only wooden walls after all..."
The citizens' representative also frowned while looking at the location, he turned towards his team of officials and saw that they also had concerns they wanted to voice out. He immediately raised his hand and turned a question to Anastasia, "Madam, wouldn't that area be too dangerous? I share the same concern as the Patriarch, it's too close to the forest! If we were to build the schools there, many of the families might find themselves ill at ease with sending their children. Also wouldn't the teachers and staff have concerns too regarding the location?"
Anastasia already saw these questions coming, just as the representative finished speaking, she immediately raised her voice, "That won't be a problem. Fatima and I have already consulted with the teachers and staff of both schools. They have already agreed. Also, the monsters at the periphery will be perfect targets for the children's practical combat tests, and do remember, the instructors at the military school are also my family's martial instructors and the valley's guard captains and lieutenants."
"But still...to pit the children against those monsters..."
"Although we don't want to deliberately put the children in harms way, it is, unfortunately, something that we have to do. We are currently living in a different world and the circumstances have changed. Those monsters are our enemies and our children need to be aware of that."
"That is indeed true, but how are we going to tell the parents who are sending their children that?"
"Fatima said this earlier, but we aren't forcing the children to attend the school and those that want to enter the military school will already have the resolve to fight against the monsters. We can't grow these children in 'greenhouses'. That have to see for themselves just how scary this damned world is..."
"..."
"..."
The people in the hall turned silent at Anastasia's powerful words. Some of the people were still concerned, but they couldn't voice out their dissent because what the Silvaria family's matriarch said was true. Their circumstances have changed, so they needed to adapt as well. Besides, the Silvaria family were going to be stationing more people to guard the area because the children will be the future of the settlement.
In regards to the children's safety, Anastasia and Fatima had already been well prepared for it. Even if some kind of accident happened, the Silvaria family guards will be prioritizing their safety during the event of an evacuation.
"Just to be clear, the military school is the only school that will be built close to the forest while the normal school will be located a little bit away from there. Even though it is going to be a military school, it will still also teach regular subjects just like in the normal school. We had to ask for the consent of the normal school's teachers because they'll still be the ones teaching in that school during their allocated teaching time slots."
With those words, although there were still some concerns, most of the valley's representative council had their worries put to ease. At the very least, the normal school wasn't going to be built there. The children learning in that school wouldn't have any sort of combat experience, so they would be in a lot of danger as compared to those that will be learning how to fight the monsters in the military school.
A few more concerns were raised, but Anastasia adeptly answered them until there were no more people asking anything. The meeting didn't end there, however, because people began to properly read the proposals that Fatima's subordinates had handed out earlier. There was a lull in the meeting because everyone was so serious when reviewing the documents. The first to finish reading was the valley's citizen representative, Lucas.
He quickly stood up and asked, "All that's left would be the issue of building the schools, yes?"
Anastasia turned towards him and said, "Yes, that's all. Regarding the issue, can we leave it to you? We'll need the cooperation of the valley's citizens to build the schools."
"Yes, ma'am! We'll put up a recruitment notice at the valley's center plaza. As for the compensation, it would be best if we could use the metal currency as the wage for the people's labor. This way we can begin introducing the new currency to the valley's citizens and slowly move away from the bartering system."
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Anastasia smiled at the suggestion. She was glad that the valley's citizens had chosen such a capable representative. Lucas was someone from a neutral party in the valley that didn't support the Silvaria family or were against them. The party he was from only wanted to do what's best for the people of the valley and he was glad that the Silvaria family were also of the same interest, which was why after working with them, he slowly became more and more inclined to support the family even though he was supposed to be neutral.
Kaiser put down the documents he was reading and spoke up to say, "We'll begin the construction after we've completed the metal currency then. Michael, how long will it take for this to happen?"
His son quickly stood up and said, "3 days, that's all we need."
He nodded before turning towards everyone present in the hall and said, "Alright, this meeting is adjourned. Everyone is dismissed."
The meeting that had just concluded was between the Silvaria Family and the people that had been selected from the valley's citizens to be part of the valley's new governing body. The meeting between them usually entailed to things regarding the welfare of the people in the valley and the development of the settlement which was slowly turning into a city at this point.
Every single day, the squads from the valley's Military Department's Search and Rescue division kept on finding people who were lost in the wilderness. These people were lucky to have survived against the monsters by either hiding or running away from them. Only a select few managed to hunt the monsters and these people were usually injured to some degree. The teams naturally brought these people back to the valley to take refuge in the safety of their settlement, so thanks to their efforts, the population in the valley continued to grow. This was good because more people meant more manpower and human resources.
A lot of Kaiser's family members were part of the valley settlement's new governing body and thanks to them taking charge of the valley's development, the living standards of the people were improving day by day and there were almost no problems with them continuing to take in people from the outside to increase their population. Right now, there were about 700,000-800,000 people living in the valley, which was about a tenth of the total population of Edelesta City.
They assumed that the entirety of Edelesta City had been transported to this world, so there should still be around 7-8 million people lost somewhere in the wilderness. Of course, it was highly likely that this number had been severely trimmed down due to the monsters, but Kaiser hoped that he could find as many people as he could and bring them to the valley. It was large enough to accommodate that many people and they could always expand outwards once they had more people.
It was great that the valley was progressing day by day, but this only meant that Kaiser had even more responsibilities on his shoulders. He also had to think about the numerous people that were still lost in the wilderness. It had been 3 months since they arrived on this new world, but he only managed to gather around 700,000-800,000 people. Thinking about what might have happened to the rest of the city's populace, Kaiser could feel his heart grow extremely heavy.
He already did as much as he could and the valley's Military department that he had created with his people at the center were doing their utmost to find the people that were still lost out there in the wilderness. Speaking about the Military Department, he had a meeting with them that was scheduled right after the current meeting.
Kaiser quickly called out to the family's butler and said, "Charles, please send in the Military Department now."
"As you wish, Sir."
The people of the valley's government left the hall and the family's butler, Charles followed them and went out to call the people from the valley's Military Department. He headed straight towards the building adjacent to the main mansion, opened the doors and walked in. Inside the building were the men and women that were part of the Silvaria Valley Settlement's Military, who were currently waiting to give their leader, the Silvaria Family's Patriarch, their weekly reports.
Only 10 people were waiting in the lounge and they were the captains and vice-captains of the divisions that were in charge of the safety and protection of the valley. The Scouting and Expedition Division's captain, Gabriel Silvaria, and his vice-captain, Madison Stromm. The Hunting Division's captain Goodwin Stromm, and his vice-captain, Ellias Coppernium. The Guardian Division's captain Delia Heimdall, and her vice-captain Kun Silvaria. The Search and Rescue Division's captain, Roman Sciezle, and his vice-captain Karen Heimdall. And lastly, the Intelligence Division's captain Luca Silvaria, and his vice-captain Rhianna Argent.
Everyone in the room was young. The oldest among them was only 25 while the youngest was Luca and his twin, Gabriel, who were only 15. In their respective divisions, every one of these young leaders had a senior advisor who were now part of a separate division of the government that was going to be established after the building of the schools. Naturally, the senior advisors were the people that Anastasia and Fatima had recruited to be the teachers and instructors of the military school.
These senior advisors were previously the captains of those guard squads before Kaiser turned them into a proper military department. It was part of Anastasia and Kaiser's plan to nurture the young individuals' leadership and talents while their seniors would be there to guide them.
In this world where life and death hung in the balance, the old dudes had to step aside and let the young ones take the helm of leadership. They were the future after all, so it was best that they were nurtured from a young age, considering their current circumstances.
After walking in, Charles addressed them respectfully, "The Patriarch and Matriarch will meet with you now."
The twins, Gabriel and Luca, stood up and said in unison, ""Finally, took 'em long enough.""
Surprised, they glanced at each other and high-fived. They quickly headed out of the building alongside everyone else and followed after Charles. Madison, Gabriel's vice-captain, walked up next to him and reprimanded in a low voice, "Gabe, please remember that you're now the captain of a division, make sure to show some formality later. Even though it's your family, you're in an official position now and this is an official meeting!"
"I get it, I get it. You're starting to sound like our advisor, Maddy."
Madison sighed and kept silent after hearing his words. Her captain was a little too free-spirited, but at the very least, he was capable despite being so young. The group soon arrived at the Silvaria's main hall and Charles showed them in. They all quickly took their seats and waited for the Matriarch to address them. That's right, the Matriarch, not the Patriarch. The family had divided their roles so that the Patriarch would address the internal affairs of the valley with the Matriarch as an advisor, while the Matriarch would address military issues with the Patriarch being the advisor.
On the main seat sat Anastasia. After seeing that everyone from the military division was already seated with none of them absent, she quickly said, "Okay everyone, your report, please."
The Hunting Division started things off, so Goodwin stood up and gave his report. He quickly finished and sat back down. After him was the Guardian Division, the Intelligence Division, the Scouting and Expedition Division, and finally the Search and Rescue Division.
There wasn't much to report since the captains of each division were only required to report anything major, whether it be in terms of the division's development or issues in and out of the field. All the minor developments and issues would normally just be reported to the Matriarch through written reports that the vice-captains would submit later after the meeting was over.
Today, there was nothing out of the ordinary, so the meeting was expected to be short. The only lengthy report would have to be from the Search and Rescue Division since they currently had the most important task amongst all the divisions. The Search and Rescue Division's captain and vice-captain, Roman and Karen, were standing up together, giving their report as usual, but this time around, they came bearing rather grave news.
"Ma'am, we've been able to find traces of humans in a 200 kilometer range from our settlement, but only traces. We were unsuccessful in bringing any people back this time around. It's the first time we haven't found any living people when our squads went out."
"..."
"We've...mostly found remains, such as corpses and various human articles stained with blood. Our division and the scouting division have tried to head out even further, but we no longer found any traces of humans anywhere past the 200 kilometer range. Based on the Intelligence department's population consensus, we've only been able to rescue about...10% of Edelesta city's total population. The remaining 90% have been concluded to be deceased or missing..."
90% were either missing or deceased. This was such a crazy number that turned the entire room gloomy. A pained glint flashed in Anastasia's eyes but it quickly disappeared as she asked, "... anything else?"
"A-and... regarding your son, the Fourth Young Master and his pet, Silver..."
Roman locked eyes with his vice-captain, he could see the worry in her eyes since this was about the Matriarch's son. It could be seen from their reactions that they found no traces of him at all, but it really wasn't their fault. Their team could only find 10% of Edelesta city's population and unluckily, Cecil wasn't part of that 10%. He could only sigh and bite the bullet. Roman steeled himself for a harsh reprimand and continued, "We haven't found any traces of them."
*Sigh*
Everyone in the room expected to at least hear the Matriarch yell at them in anger, but all they heard was a soft, helpless sigh. Everyone took a careful glance at the Matriarch and saw that she was somewhat slumped down in her chair and there was a look of despair on her impossibly youthful face. Anastasia already expected the report, but she still couldn't help feeling forlorn by it.
They were still in the middle of a meeting, so she quickly got her act together and said, "List him and Silver missing and suspend the SAR missions for now. From your reports, it seems that there's no one else out there for us to rescue–at least within the scope that our parties can go to with their current quality of supplies and equipment. If we want to expand our search, we'll need to wait until we have better tools and technology for it. For now, the SAR division will work together with the scouting division and continue exploring and mapping out the area within 200 kilometers around the settlement. This mission also includes the mountain areas. Make sure you guys take note of any points of interests which may hold resources that we can hunt, mine, or gather."
The meeting continued smoothly and each division was able to receive a clear directive for what they should do for the next month. During the meeting it was decided that the Search and Rescue Division would be dissolved and merged with the Search and Expedition Division, and this division would be split into two, the Scout Division and the Expedition Division. The members of the original Scout and Expedition Division would be in the Scout Division while the members of the Search and Rescue Division would now become the Expedition Division.
The meeting went on for almost 2 hours because there was so much that they had to discuss. Once there was no more to discuss, Anastasia finally ended the meeting and dismissed everyone from the hall. After everyone left the hall, she let out a heavy sigh and slumped down in her chair. Her husband, Kaiser, immediately went over and gently picked her up before walking out of the hall through a side door and headed towards the gardens in the back of the mansion.
Looking around and finding that no one was around to watch them, Anastasia immediately started whining while pounding on her husband's chest. When they arrived at the inner area of the garden, Kaiser quickly took a seat on a wicker chair while still embracing his wife. Now that they were finally in a secluded place, she immediately started sobbing, "H-Honey... Cecil... he's...he's–"
"It's okay. It's okay. Remember, they said that they couldn't find any traces of him! For all we know, he's somewhere out there with Silver destroying hoards of those monsters! Despite his young age, he's strong! You know that...so don't worry, okay? He'll definitely be fine."
Even though she was still sobbing, Anastasia's heart was light when she heard her husband's words. She looked up at her husband who was gazing down at her lovingly and smiled at him before saying, "T-They better be f-fine... o-or else... I-I'm going to kill you..."
Kaiser's smile immediately stiffened and he began sweating a little. Anastasia continued to sob for a few more minutes, but eventually stopped. The two of them stayed quiet in the garden and Anastasia finally spoke up. She had her eyes closed and her hands clasped together in prayer, "I pray that the two of them are safe."
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And as for the two in question... they were currently doing exactly what Kaiser had just said they'd be doing. Back at the Urrugdrasil Continent, deep down in the 10th floor of the Angla Capital City's public massive-scale dungeon, Cecil, Lucia, and Silver were currently duking it out with a large horde of lizard skeleton warriors and necromancers.
Cecil was rushing towards the hoard while giving out orders to his party.
"Lulu! I've got the warriors! You and Silver take care of those pesky necromancers!"
"Alrighty~!"
"RAAAWWWWWRRRR!!!"