"Hah... Alright, it's time for the moment you've all been waiting for. Now that we have some gold laying around, we can immediately begin moving your relatives into the castle grounds in order to fill the void left by those who departed. You are free to invite any of your relatives from outside the town walls but they will be expected to work in one of the departments that were formed earlier if they are adults… Young adults and teens will spend their time educating and training themselves alongside my cousins and me using regimes and techniques that will focus more on this new style of warfare I mentioned earlier. Don't worry though as no one will be exposed to any real danger since they will only be training for now. Oh and the kids will be educated as well, but no training for them though... Am I clear?" I asked to which the crowd responded with several different responses that were deafening in noise but were still clear enough nonetheless. I nodded at the group before raising my free hand which caused many in the crowd to immediately stop their cheers, while others had to be pushed or tapped on the shoulder for them to quiet down.
I chuckled at this sight before I continued to address the crowd of people who stood below me.
"Let's start with the people of the construction department since y'all have another job to do today, namely the construction of the beehive ovens, the first of which I will personally oversee before having Sam and my cousin Luca oversee the construction of the other two... With that being said, I want those in the construction department to make two groups in front of me, one for those who have relatives and the other for those who don't. Alright, move out.." I commanded while counting the number of people that went into each group.
Unsurprisingly, the number of people with family massively outnumbered those without by a large margin with fourteen people standing within the 'had family' group and only six people standing in the 'without family' group. Luca and Sam both stood in between these two groups looking around as if they weren't sure which group they should go to so I called out to them from the top of the carriage. They heeded my call and began walking towards my perch but I waved them back towards the rest of my cousins behind me before they could slow their steps, making a decision for them in other words.
Once they reached their position, I turned back to face the crowd below me and called out to the group of people who made up the homemaking department.
"Okay, now let's have the people of the homemaking department step out as well since your numbers are small," I said before waiting until the spread-out group made its way to the open space in the center of the crowd of people.
After reaching the center, all twelve of the people within this particular department quickly moved into the 'had family', saving me the trouble of having to explain the process over again which was refreshing, to say the least, while raising the numbers of this first group of people who had a family to twenty-six. And once they reached their position, I looked over my shoulder and waved at two of the male officers for them to come forth and stand beneath the carriage I currently dangling my legs from. I then gave the men 6 gold coins each before giving them specific instructions on what to do if they don't have enough coins to get everyone inside. These instructions were, simply put, to bribe the guards at the gate to allow everyone outside the gates in...
It was at this moment that I thought "To hell with it all" and ceased my explanations on how to proceed if stopped. This was because I figured that if I was gonna bribe the guards to let everyone in, then why not just have everyone present go and find their relatives before meeting back up at the gate with the entire bag of gold coins as a bribe... Well, maybe not all of the coins but around twenty of them, which I reckoned was more than enough to convince four of five guards to abandon their post and run for the hills with their newfound wealth.
With this thought firmly sinking into my mind, I looked up to face the crowd of people who watched me with curious eyes before addressing them all in a tone that they could hear.
"Wait... There's a better way to do this, and honestly, I'm slow for looking over it in the first place. We will still have these people go out to find their relatives but we will have everyone else join them as well. Once y'all collect your relatives, y'all will group together in front of them with your family members and wait for Sasha to bribe the guards with some of the gold. This will allow for pretty much anyone outside the gates to enter for a short period of time until those nobles catch wind of the ploy and replace the guards. But y'all should have no trouble getting in since everything will only go down once your relatives have been collected. So... let us have all those with relatives group up near our gate in front of us, and those of you without family can join me and my cousins near the carriages here..." As soon as I finished speaking a wave of people sprinted towards the gate of the castle grounds while conversing loudly about how they made the right choice by staying behind in the castle. I was more focused on the fifteen to sixteen people walking dejectedly towards the carriages where I sat along with my cousins. There were also the 'generals' Ellie, Eva, Arthur, and Max, as well as two officers, both female, both of which probably separated from their significant others earlier when that group decided to leave the castle behind.
This was a sad sight to see because I knew the feeling of losing family all too well... So I will do as my grandmother instructed and lead them 'east' aka towards a brighter future...If they choose to follow though of course, as those who don't follow will surely be burnt by the flame left behind... But the choice is theirs nonetheless, however, I digress.
After finishing the explanation of this final tweak to our plan, I felt a tap on my leg which caused me to look down in order to find the source of the tap. After doing so, I saw Sasha standing below me with her arms stretched above her head. I passed her the item that she was asking for, which was the bag of coins while giving her a few extra instructions on what her task was.
"And Sasha, I need you to find at least two teachers, a doctor, and a chemist outside the walls when you get there... I'm sure you can handle that just fine." I said while standing up from a seated position on top of the carriage. As she caught the bag, she began responding to my statement with a single brow raised.
"Neither of these will be an issue, two teachers, a doctor, and an alchemist... But why do you want them to be sourced from outside the walls? If you do not mind me asking." She said while storing the bag over her shoulder.
"Obviously I don't mind... And the reason is simple really, I don't want the people in those positions to be affected by the politics of the town. So getting people from outside the walls to fill these positions who are... well for a lack of a better word, ignorant, to the politics that go come positions such as these within these ti-- err. this town..." I answered back to the woman before quickly following up with another order in hopes that she didn't catch my slip-up.
"Take Zoe and Kai with you so that they can experience something else besides these walls, and tell me the number of coins we have left when you get back." I said as I took a step off the top of the carriage, easily landing on my feet due to the 'wild' nature this world's me lived before I barged in out of the blue...
Zoe and Kai overheard my request to Sasha and rushed toward her with an excitement that had been missing since the night of the murders I believe this helped my efforts a bit but I couldn't allow another slip-up like that or my 'secret' would be as good as exposed. But seeing my two usually, level-headed cousins drag the poor woman towards the now departing crowd give me a bit of a laugh and that was enough to take my mind off the minor screw-up I had just made.
After dusting off my clothes ceremonially, I focus my attention on the sixteen people who still stood near me basically kicking up dust since they didn't know what else to do. But this was easily solved though since we had actual work to do now that the materials for the ovens were here. Not to mention that I had wasted enough time organizing my newfound citizens, and I wasn't even done on that front since there were likely a couple of hundred newcomers bound to make an appearance in a few hours or so...
*sigh* 'well things could be... on second thought let's jinx it.' I thought within my mind before knocking on the wooden carriage beside me.
"Alright... Now that they are gone we can get some real work done. I need someone to take the reigns on the carriage with materials in it and can I also have one of yall get some paper from the castle and something to write with? As for the rest of y'all, follow me to that area over there." I said while pointing in the general area I was talking about.
One of the two female officers present stepped up before offering to go and get a few sheets from Leon's former study. I nodded in agreeance with the woman before she began making her way into the castle. One of the several men present climbed up onto the driver's bench and began rolling toward the area I pointed at earlier and I gestured for the rest of the group to follow us as I climbed onto the side of the carriage for the quick trip.
This ride only lasted for about fifteen seconds until the wagon slowed to stop, leading me to jump off the side of the carriage before walking toward the door on the other side of the vehicle. As I came around the carriage, I spotted the female officer who went to get the paper from the castle running over towards our group with said paper in tow. I noted her presence before focusing my attention back on my front while opening up the door of the carriage in front of me to take a look at the materials inside.
Once I poked my head inside the carriage I was met with a strong earthen smell which irritated my nostrils a bit, so I quickly grabbed one of the smaller boxes of bricks and a few bags of what I assumed was a mixture between clay, sand, and probably limestone since it was commonly used for because of its abundance... Well at least that was the case back on Earth, so it should be the case here as well right? I guess only I can answer that question so I'll get back to you once I know, but I digress...
The bags contained a mixture of materials that would be used to seal the bricks together or what was commonly known as mortar. I placed the bags on top of the small box of bricks, which had already been processed by whomever sold them to us, before carrying all the items away from the carriage towards one of the many areas near the wall surrounding us that was lacking in the grass. Luca and Sam mimicked my actions before everyone else in the crowd joined in as well almost clearing out the carriage in a single round.
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After we were done unloading, I called over my twin cousins Ash and Bell as well as the female officer who went to get the paper from the castle earlier in order to facilitate the transfer of the paper. Ash and Bell both grab a sheet from the woman before turning back to me for further instructions. I reminded them of the drawing they made of the oven from my descriptions last night before telling them that their task would be recreating those drawings except with more detail this time since they had more space to work with. The twins were clearly not pleased with the task since they were interested in the expressive side of drawing instead of the more technical stuff that I needed right now, but they accepted the task nonetheless since they quote had nothing better to do, a direct quote from the pair which made me shake my head at their inattentiveness.
They got to work on the page-sized images with me guiding their every move which reminded me of a certain image editing application from Earth. Unfortunately, they weren't as versatile as said app since I had to write all the descriptions I wanted to add because of their sloppy writing, but overall the process went smoothly and only took us like three to four minutes at the most to finish both drawings. I grabbed both pieces of paper before thanking the twins for their efforts and they nodded their heads in response, but before I could move on they started naming the various different pieces of clothing that they wanted in return for the efforts, most of which were things I hadn't even heard of. But that was mainly because I never dove that deeply into the 'medieval women's clothing' section of the memories that came with me from Earth.
Either way, I folded to their demands since I did need their help at the end of the day. And whether you believe me or not, I am firmly against using force to get my way when it comes to my family. However, I wasn't about spend gold on something as frivolous as that so I instead told them that they could check out Joann's wardrobe since she would surely have stuff that they would find to their liking. Was this pretty morbid? Yes, but I think we can all agree that the woman in question doesn't need a wardrobe full of clothes now that she has departed from the world of the living. And since we were...
You know what... I don't have to explain myself to you, the twins have already run off in glee toward the castle and I have more important things to do instead of trying to convince you that I ain't as morally bankrupt as I seem. So let's just move on...
*sigh*
"Alright, Sam. Luca. Come over here and take these drawings. They will serve as a written guide for the building process of the ovens, so be sure to keep your respective drawings from those who have no business seeing them... Actually, don't let anybody see them, not even myself. Treat every image I give as if it is some artifact from the heavens that is for your eyes and your eyes only. Got it?" I asked while handing the pieces of paper over to the two individuals in question.
"Yes, Lord." "Yeah" They answered in complete juxtaposition to each other which caused me to smile before I continued speaking.
"Great. Let's start with the base then... First, we have to create an even surface for the oven to sit on..." We began constructing the first oven in this way, with me instructing the group through most of the process and helping only when I felt it was needed. I also had Sam and Luca help as well since we were short on hands, but I made sure to refer them to the image whenever they had questions on any specifics. This was because I wanted them to be more familiar with written instructions such as these since I won't be lurking over their shoulders at all times in the future, not to mention that besides the actual drawings themselves everything else that I wrote came from the actual geniuses who came up with the ideas in the first place so they might actually be able to learn something from the papers.
This method could also allow me to transfer some of the knowledge I had to either one of the individuals whenever it was necessary without the need for an in-depth conversation to go along with the transfer since I couldn't possibly explain the theory behind almost all of the stuff I plan to introduce to this world, as much as it shames me to admit it.
Either way, the construction process for this first oven took around one and a half hours to complete but we still had to dry the mortar which held the whole thing together so I asked Luca and the two or three people from his department still present to start and keep a fire going inside the oven using some of the empty wooden boxes we had leftover since the sun could only dry the outside efficiently. They agreed without protest, so I turned to Sam and the few people from his department before telling them to separate the rest of the materials we had leftover equally in preparation for the construction of the other two ovens, which will be smaller in size when compared to previous one since they will be used to cook food mainly but also to make tiles and pots if we ever have the need for such things.
Sam's group bowed in acknowledgment before moving to complete the task I set for them, leaving me standing along with the two female officers, and the ten or so people from the various departments, with nothing but time and a bit of dirt on our hands. I scanned the faces of the individuals present before asking them to follow me away from the ovens and back toward the dirt path where the first wagon still stood. Before they could answer me though, I began walking toward the location I mentioned previously which spurred the group to follow me anyways.
Once I made it to where the first wagon stood, I got two of the men from the group of ten to get me a large bucket of water so I could clean the dirt out of my hair and off my hands, arms, and face. It didn't take them long to return with the bucket and a cloth rag from somewhere within the castle so once they set the bucket down, I received the rag from one of them before taking my shirt off and casually dunking my head in the water like I had done so many times before. This was the best to clean my hair after all now that showers didn't exist. After thoroughly scrubbing my face and denying multiple offers from the female officers to help pick the lint and dust specks out of my hair, I finished up this bird's bath before addressing the crowd of people who had begun cleaning the dirt off themselves as well since they also had their fair share of muck piled up.
"All twelve of you did great work earlier on the oven, so first let me thank y'all for your efforts... Two of y'all belong to the officers and the rest of y'all come from the various departments we set up a few hours ago, but none of you have previous experience with work like that so I am impressed by your versatility." I said while nodding at the twelve individuals present.
"Thank for the praise, Lord. It is our duty to serve your will." One of the female officers said while bowing at her waist which cause the rest of the group to follow suit.
"No need for the bows, you all have worked hard enough already... Instead, I want to take this chance to offer y'all a position in a branch of a previously undisclosed department of the castle, namely the internal security branch of the military department... You will maintain and keep the order we have set up within the castle while also protecting and serving those who reside here, working in tandem with another branch of the military that you will meet later on today to get this done. I can go into detail but first I need to know if you'd accept this offer..." I said as I put my shirt on but even then I could still make out the kneeling figures through my covered view.
"I accept, Lord!" "It would be my honor, Lord!" "I serve your will, Lord." A few of the responses came from the group of kneeling individuals, but I was more focused on the fact that they had just wasted those few minutes they spent earlier cleaning themselves by diving in the dirt like this.
"Good... Good. But don't dirty yourselves!! It's really not necessary for the thousandth time. Now that you are my 'shields', you should never let yourselves touch the ground unless I order you too... Now get up and clean yourselves off once again so I can explain your first task before our incoming citizens show up." I said while pulling the nearest few people off the ground with a bit of force, easily helping them to their feet.
The group quickly complied with the commands allowing me to continue addressing them as a whole.
"Alright... Your first task will perhaps be the simplest but it will also prove to me that you can achieve other tasks besides those that deal with dirt. You will write down the name and age of each of the newcomers once they arrive on the castle grounds... Your names?" I paused before asking while looking at the two female officers.
"I am called Lana, Lord. And her name is Aimee." Lana answered while pointing a finger at the woman beside her.
"I could have spoken for myself, Lana." Aimee said as waved the woman's finger from her face before crossing her arms.
"Okay... Well, Aimee and Lana, you will both retain officer rank within the military but above you will sit my cousin Zoe, with the rank of general. This will all make more sense later on once I get all the leaders of the military department together but for now, just know she is your superior officer so you should treat her words as if they were mine... As for the rest of y'all, you should treat these two word's as their mine since they are now your superior officer. Am I clear?" I asked the crowd with a bit of bass in my voice.
"Yes, Lord!" All of them answered in unison this time which earned a nod before I moved on with my orders.
"Great... Now you five are assigned to Lana, which leaves you five with Aimee. Lana, your group will set a table up on the right side of the dirt path, and y'all will focus on the people who are older than twenty-six. Aimee, your group will set up opposite Lana's on the left side of the dirt path, and y'all will focus on all those younger than twenty-six. Be sure to be as vocal as possible so that there is no confusion about what is needed from those who are entering. I will be present as well so you shouldn't have to worry about anyone questioning the process. And once everything is done you are to keep those papers safe until you can hand them over to me later on in the day..."
'This may feel menial but I can promise you that meaningful things come from menial tasks, so perform well here so your reward can feel as meaningful as this feels menial.' That is what I thought about finishing that off with but I don't think I would be able to face myself in the non-exist mirrors of this world if I had.
Instead, I just asked if they had any questions before sending them on their way to grab the things they needed, saving myself from perhaps my first 'cringe' moment in this world. I made my way toward the area I wanted the 'shields' to set the tables up, before waiting on the newly formed department to return. This wait lasted around three minutes before they showed up with two tables in tow, several sheets of paper, and two chairs surprisingly. I waved the group over towards my position before guiding them on where to place the table as well as where to stand so that no one slipped past them, while also mentioning that only the people writing would have the luxury of sitting down since we needed all hands on deck for this process to go smoothly mine included.
Once that was done, I passed the time by conversating with people present, attempting to fraternize with the group even though they clearly nervous in doing so. This went on for around another hour or so before I heard what sounded like a cheer coming out the walls of the castle grounds, which I assumed was the sound of the guards being bought off. I told Lana and Aimee to prepare their groups for the incoming wave of people that would likely show up soon, and I began walking toward the gate of the castle itself to take a peak outside the open castle door.
I poked my head around the door and saw many people going on about their day oblivious to the literal powder keg I was packing just down the street from them. Looking further down the road, I could just barely make out a few familiar faces making their way toward the castle with a horde of people following them closely as if they were afraid to be left behind. I knew this had to be Sasha and the others, so I had two of the male 'shields' help me open up the closed castle door before taking my place between the two tables, which now blocked the dirt path, before waiting for this group to make their way into the castle grounds.
'Or to put it another way, I was about to pack a whole lot more powder with this keg...'
*sigh*
Guess I couldn't save myself after all...