As I thought about the peculiar situation I found myself in, I did a few calculations in my head before reckoning that we could easily fit an extra hundred-twenty people inside the castle grounds with no issues given the ample space we had within the walls of the castle.
But a problem I could foresee in the near future was our food situation. This issue could quickly spiral and become dangerous if not handled correctly, however, I had a solution for this problem. One that fortunately came in the form of an idea that I had already put forth already, the beehive oven.
Now the primary objective is the coking of coal of course, but since I have yet to receive any results from our little test run using Sasha's magic, I can't assume that I will be able to recreate the most essential device we need to start the production of steel with a high enough quality and at a decent scale. The 'device' I am referring to is the Bessemer converter, which was basically our holy grail at the moment given all the benefits it will bring us even if we only build just a single converter.
But I can't count my chickens before they hatch so I can only wait while hoping for good news from our neighborhood mage.
While I was focused on solving the problems that I had created for myself, I missed the grand celebration taking place in literally every direction around me. I only noticed the joyous atmosphere inside the hall once I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder which caused me to retreat from my mind before looking at the source of the hand.
Coincidentally, the person who woke me from my thoughts happened to be the same person I was just thinking about not even a few seconds ago, Sasha. After looking at her, she spoke to me in a voice that on I could hear which wasn't too hard given all the noise coming from the crowd of people surrounding us.
"Finish up here so I can show you the results of the 'trust-building exercise' or whatever you called it, they should be up to your standards." She said before walking over towards Joann, Leon's wife-- well his widow now...
I felt bad for the woman but I refused to accept responsibility for her husband's unfortunate demise, even though I was sure that his death was loosely related to the talks I had with Sasha last night. And I say loosely because I never said anything about wanting the man out of the picture, nor did she ever mention anything about this coup that she clearly has planning for a while now. But I guess I can consider myself lucky to have shown up when I did, especially considering how quickly the situation changed within the castle itself.
I sighed mentally once I thought of this before clearing my throat as loud as I physically could in order to draw everyone's attention in the room. Evidently, this was a universal action used by humans to quiet down a crowd given how quickly the people in the room reacted to the move. After waiting a few seconds for everyone to focus on me, I began speaking once again with the goal of dispersing the crowd.
"As I said before, We will be moving your family members into the castle grounds, but as you probably know, we don't have the infrastructure within the existing buildings to support the influx of people. Now obviously we can't move them here with no place to lay their heads so we will have to solve this problem quickly so when can start the process of moving them in, but without sacrificing durability, as we didn’t want their roofs falling in on them once they get here... To achieve these goals, we will have to change a couple of things with respect to the hierarchy and daily activities of everyone in the castle. These will be simple changes but they will have long-lasting impacts on our future as a whole, so be sure to pay attention..."
"My first change will be the restructuring of the 'hierarchy' of the castle in order to improve the operational ability of our group as a whole... But first, let's run a little test.. Raise your hand if are confident in your speaking ability.." I waited until almost all of the people in the crowd raised their hands to which I nodded before continuing.
"Okay... Now keep your hand raised if you have no problems with writing or basic math." I saw more than half of the hands in the airdrop with a bit of hesitation, leaving around fifteen hands in the air.
I was kinda surprised by this number given that those skills were usually reserved for those who either had a bit of wealth to their name like the nobles or maybe even a few of the merchant families out there. But definitely not the general populace.
I simply noted the anomaly before moving on though as I had more pressing issues to attend to.
"Alright, a decent number of people... Now of the people with their hands raised currently, how many of you are willing to give up your armor and sword in order to learn a more efficient style of warfare?" I asked this simply because many of the people present had probably spent maybe half of their lives either farming or mining somewhere while spending the other half of it training to use the sword. And past examples from Earth tell me that once most individuals dedicate their lives to a particular skill set or hobby, there will be little to no chance of convincing them otherwise.
So while this attitude may be great when channeled towards mastering a skill, it wasn't so useful when it came time to transition towards something new and possibly more effective.
Just as I was thinking this, I saw a majority of the hands drop from their raised positions leaving only four hands in the air still.
I studied the hands of the people for no particular reason before telling them to step forward towards me in view of the entire crowd of people.
"You four, come over here and introduce yourselves." I said while sitting down at the table which allowed me to see the crowd of people inside the hall.
As I sat down, I was met with four different faces pushing their way through the crowd, which I tried to match up with their hands to no avail obviously. However, I did recognize two of the faces that stepped out of the crowd which almost surprised me until I remembered that both seemed to have a connection to Sasha in some way, shape, or form.
The two people I recognized were Arthur and Ellie, while I had no recollection of the other two individuals, which were another male and female respectively. I nodded at the four individuals who came up before pointing at the right-most person of the group, which was the female I was unfamiliar with, to indicate that she should go first.
She acknowledge my request and began speaking soon after.
"My name is Eva, Lord Rallo. I am a maidservant for the castle but I have participated in many training skirmishes with the knights due to the lack of manpower within the castle. I may be a woman but I can hold my own against any man in this room and beyond. Strength doesn't always win the battle Lord, sometimes skill can tip the scale as well." Eva bowed at her waist once she finished her short introduction before stepping back into line with the three other individuals.
I nodded at the woman while noting her name down within my mental notebook before moving on to the next person in the line which was the male I was unfamiliar with.
He saw my gaze shift toward him and stepped forward toward me to begin his introduction.
"I am Max. I have served within House Axecreek's retinue since my eighteenth birthday nearly ten years ago. I am the longest-standing knight within the castle by a large margin despite my young age, and I have also participated in almost all of the training skirmishes held within the castle. I offer my services to Lord Rallo." Max bowed at his waist as well after finishing his introduction before mimicking Eva's movements.
I nodded at him as well before looking at the next two people who were in the line, which was Arthur and Ellie respectively. I was sort of familiar with both of these individuals already but I still had them introduce themselves as it would probably seem strange if I stopped the process now. Their introductions were just as short as the previous two though, with mostly the same talking points such as how long they had been in the castle or what their day-to-day jobs were.
Once they finished, I had those four individuals walk around the table in order to separate them from the crowd still present. I did this because I had noticed that a significant number of the people in the crowd had begun to whisper about the four people who were now standing behind me alongside my cousins, who had been watching this whole scene with curiosity in their eyes.
I heard several things that were to be expected such as "These brats??" and "Children leading children.", which made sense given that a majority of people in the crowd were older than myself and the group behind me by at least a decade in most cases. I expected this reaction from the older individuals in the crowd since I purposely excluded them through the questions I asked earlier, and I the doubt that they are having now was the reason for my actions.
Simply put, I wanted the older individuals in the crowd to have their doubts since it would make the next phase of my 'restructuring' within the hierarchy of the castle happen much smoother.
After thinking I addressed the crowd which was starting to voice their opinions aloud, making the room seem much more lively.
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"Alright... Now onto the next phase of change within the castle, titles, and rank. This part will be simple so don't worry too much about it..." I said which resulted in the room quieting down a notch or two. I didn't wait for them to go fully silent though as it was unnecessary.
"Firstly, the titles of knight, maidservant, guard, or whatever else you may call yourself will no longer be used, and all of them will be replaced with the title of citizen. Any quest--" I was cut off by a wave of voices yelling out various different things such as "Not a chance!", or "What gives you the right?!" and plenty of other things that I couldn't really catch due to the sudden increase in volume. These remarks obviously came from the older individuals within the crowd who were already up in arms over my previous decision, but I expected this reaction since it was human nature to hold onto whatever status one had.
As a matter of fact, I wanted this reaction especially from the older individuals in the crowd because it made my next move of 'giving them an out' much more likely to succeed, given that I provide enough bait to lure them into my trap that is. And of course, by 'bait' I mean good ol' fashioned money, or should I say coins since they still use that form of currency in this world. In other words, I wanted them upset because it make the option of leaving the castle with a few dozen silver much more enticing to the individuals since they could then use the silver to travel away from this border town that most of them had grown to hate over the many they had been here.
I spoke aloud once again to the crowd after seeing I had them where I wanted them.
"I am sorry that y'all feel this way but these changes are necessary in order to create an equal and just society. This will also allow for more organization within the castle itself since many of the tasks we need to complete can be delegated within our own ranks rather than relying on external hires once everything is up and running. However, I understand that this may be a difficult transition for some of y'all, and that is why I am offering a way out. If any of y'all wish to leave the castle and start anew elsewhere, I am willing to provide a small sum of silver to help you on your way. This is not meant to be a bribe or a way to buy your silence, but rather a way to give you the opportunity to pursue your own happiness. Therefore, if you want to stay in the castle then join the group of people behind, but if you wish to leave the castle then step forward." I said before watching the crowd of people spilt themselves up into two groups, that were equal in size first until I began to hear a little commotion that began as the process went on.
The commotion came from a few of the couples that were in front of me still, who seemed to be arguing over whether or not they should leave the castle. This wasn't strange by any stretch of the mind but what did stump me for a few seconds was that the women seemed to be the ones that wanted to stay while the men were the opposite.
I found this strange for a few seconds until I remembered that I had just selected two women to serve as ‘leaders’ within this new order I was currently building. This wasn't a conscious decision by any means, quite the contrary actually since the two men and women that I chose were the only ones left with their hands raised earlier. This was the only reason I could think as to why the women would openly rebel against their significant others over the decision to leave the castle.
The arguments lasted a couple of minutes until a majority of the couples seemed to reach an impasse causing them to go their separate ways and which lead the few women who were arguing to walk over the group behind, leaving their significant others standing with the group in front of me while wearing distraught expressions on their faces.
After watching this scene, I waited until the movements settled within the room before counting the number of people who stood in the group in front of me.
In total, there seem to be about eighty people in the group in front of me, which was just over half of the people living in the castle currently, and the majority of those people were older men who were barely fit enough to travel away from the town. While the rest of the crowd which was made up of mostly younger people and couples joined the group behind me.
This may seem counterintuitive at first glance since one would probably assume that the younger crowd would be the ones who would choose to venture away from the town if given the chance. And you would be right in most cases except the one where I have provided enough incentive for the hopeful youths, shining a light down the long dark tunnel that they had been walking through this whole time.
But first, since I promised the people who decided to leave silver in order to help them on their way, I had to figure out a way to keep that promise. I figured that I could believe what Sasha said last night about the treasury being low so I doubt I could pull sixteen gold coins out there without consequences...
I was stumped on what to do for a few seconds until a solution clicked. One that probably wouldn't go over so well with either of the group that would be affected, but it was the cheapest route I could think of right about now.
I turned around to face the other eighty people who joined my group of cousins behind me before speaking to them.
"You have chosen a brighter future, one that I will lead to you of course but first we have to address the elephant in the room." I said before realizing by mistake, but instead of correcting myself I simply continued talking as if it was normal.
"The late Lord Leon told me in a meeting last night that the treasury of castle is at an all-time low which creates a problem for us given that I promised to help out our former brethren here one last time before sending them on their way. So I turn to you, citizens, to ask if you will help me solve this issue by offering either your armor or your sword in order to send them on their way. Although these things were bought using funds from the castle, I refuse to order anyone to give up these devices on this basis alone. Instead, I simply want to remind you that those who do pitch in will be contributing to the foundations of our newfound power and will be rewarded for doing so when the time comes." I said while scanning over the various different faces in the crowd before finishing up.
"So who will help me solve this issue?" I asked before seeing two hands shoot up in the air which belonged to Arthur and Max respectively.
Those two hands were followed by more and more hands popping up one after the other until around twenty hands were raised in the air, or half of the former knights who decided to stay here in the castle.
I nodded at the all people with their hands raised before asking them to place whichever device they had decided to give up on the table between us, before making sure to get the names of every person who stepped forward to place their items on the table in an effort to prove my words. The individuals who stepped forward to hand over the items were all former knights in their mid-twenties, which was average for those who decided to stay behind.
I then counted the amount of armor and swords that were stacked up into two piles beside each other and got six swords plus fourteen full sets of armor both made of iron if I had to guess with all of the items being in decent conditions. I didn't really have an estimate on what the equipment was worth since I wasn't familiar with the market prices of things of this nature but using common sense I could assume that since swords and armor were the items of choice when it came to war in general they can be sold for a decent profit if one isn't completely incompetent. And since I planned to phase out this equipment with other things soon, this "transaction" can be seen as us clearing space for those items.
Once I finished my thoughts, I addressed the crowd of people who would be staying in the castle with me before moving on to the folks who wanted to leave.
"Mark my words men, your actions today will grant you things beyond your wildest dreams, but first we must settle the situation at hand. We will do this by selling the items on the table in front of us before giving half of the profits to this crowd. The rest of the profits will be added to whatever we can spare out of the treasury to fulfill my previous promise of moving your families into the castle grounds. I will send five of our armed citizens under the leadership of Eva and Max to escort this group to the town’s gate. I will give my farewells at the gate of our castle itself." I paused to make sure everyone was on the same page.
The crowd of people in front of me all seemed doubtful of my words for some reason but this wasn't really a problem since they would be leaving soon. The people behind me seemed to be much more optimistic on the other hand which rubbed off on me a little bit, showing up in the expressions that I made whenever I wasn't speaking.
"Alright then. Eva and Max chose five people and go find a wagon and lead these people towards the markets off of the main street. We will follow y'all until you exit the castle grounds as I said earlier. Sasha and Ellie will stay back along with two more of our armed citizens to take care of Leon's body. Y'all will also escort Joann back to her room upstairs until her mental state improves... Leave one of the guards there before joining up with the rest of us. Okay, gather up this stuff here, and let's get to it." I said as I waved my hand towards my cousins and Authur while walking toward the great hall door before exiting after most of the people inside the room.
As I walked down the corridor, I slowed my steps in order for Authur to get close enough before speaking at a volume that only he could hear.
"And you shall deal with Paul. Take two trustworthy friends of yours and get rid of them as quietly as possible. Get it done." I said as I patted him on the back before speeding my steps back up to create some distance between him and me, while Authur acknowledged my orders with a nod before fading into the crowd of people to complete his assigned task.
I caught up with my cousins and followed the crowd outside the castle into the area which held the only other buildings on the castle grounds. Quite a number of people were hugging and saying their goodbyes as we made our way toward the gate with a few of those people getting emotional in the process which kinda made me question my actions for a fraction of a second.
I definitely empathized with their feelings but I couldn't just halt my plans simply because a few people were sad, not to mention that I gave them a choice in the matter. So it's like I was forcing anyone to leave... Well, at least not explicitly.
My inner monologue was interrupted once I noticed the people in front of me had stopped walking and began turning toward me. I looked up and saw that I probably wouldn't be able to get any closer to the gate without having people move aside, therefore I decided that I would just stop where I was and give my final words to the departing people here.
I started by telling them about the roads that Sasha told me about last night that connected the towns and cities in the zone we were in while also naming a couple of the towns that I could remember from the night before. I also explained that they should avoid the central zone of the Confederacy since it was probably the most unstable region given what Sasha told me. On the surface, this was good advice for them since they would be on their own from now on, but it could also be considered as me covering my tracks loosely since I didn't want the Accord getting wind of anything related to me before the time was right. However, I doubt this would stop the information from spreading indefinitely so I would need to get this ball rolling now if I wanted to stand a chance against them in the future.
I then told them a few other things such as how many people should travel together or where to find water if it was needed before giving them my good wishes and sending them on their way along with Eva, Max, and the five armed citizens that I assigned to them, while also reminding those seven of their duties before waiting until the large group of people faded into the busy streets outside the castle grounds.