Since then I and Panara were official. Although she was heavy-handed in trying to get me but in the end, she won. What can men do against women? Nothing.
She got less clingy now. Content with the fact that I made her my wife. After the ceremony, a weird but understandable thing happened. I felt like part of my soul went to her, she received the immortality like I did.
Halamar itself finally got on track, granted it was already but we skipped a big portion of it. The village grew and is now much bigger than before. Four months have passed since the wedding and we recently broke the 100 people mark. The influx of people has led to more births across the village. The Opperen tribe quickly assimilated to the norms that have been made before they came.
The clearing that was once flat land is now sprawling with small wooden houses and significant buildings. Before I made the journey to include the Opperen tribe in our village of Halamar we had a rudimentary science lab, a small forge powered by Inferno Stalks and multiple resource buildings on each of the oddities. Suzzys and Big Berthas are what we usually ate since we are carnivorous and the Steery Wood forest is grand so any lack of fish is impossible.
Now, the small houses are still there but few have grown to accommodate bigger families. The forge got itself an upgrade, boasting the ability to regulate the heat coming from the Inferno Stalk by using a system of levers that cover the Stalk in a specific thickness of rock. Emmeraude is mostly forged into many things there. Some forms of clay are also processed there.
New discoveries are piling in from the Science division. What was Meena by herself is now surrounded by 5 more Mrentoni scientists. The Opperen tribe were deeply concerned about the Zekriken and have taken measures of their own. Naturally, they were happy to be of use and the resources we had given them things to work on. We expanded it to accommodate more people.
The Market square actually now has people selling services and wares. This was not a product of our own strength, however. The Boiran’s on their Fortress of “Jesus how do they managed to build it this high and sturdy?” as I called it once I visited back about two months ago managed to meet a new species.
They explored where the river leads and found on its end massive centipedes that talked. The Harnashaa if I recall. They made contact, which Morren said was the most unnerving thing he ever did. The Harnashaa actually developed a currency already, something with what we struggled with. What they came up with was genius. They are a sand people, so they took the sand and created small finger length products from it and made it currency.
Now when I heard that from the Boiran’s I was really close to flipping out and cursing them for the most ridiculous idea I ever have seen before. Sand is everywhere, we have it, it wouldn’t work as currency I thought.
That all changed when I saw runes on it flash after a transaction was made in their Fortress. The Harnashaa have engraved runes on the sand figures that flash after they exchange hands. Not only that made no sense physically, it made a lot of sense why they developed it like currency. I have no idea how these runes work but only they can make them. I assume it’s from their inner connection to the spiritual realm that they managed to learn this.
Sand is plentiful so making more of it is easy, but having a full-blown monopoly on rune engraving onto these figures gives them an edge in trading. That didn’t convince me, however. Yes, they had made it valuable and it is easily identifiable but I got concerned on the safety of this currency. We will find a medium more valuable than sand with glowy properties eventually.
This is where I was wrong. Although it looked all glowy, the runes have energy engraved into it which first of all recognizes its actual owner and can recognize a transaction. This was a scary thing to learn. The Harnashaa managed to create basic AI before any of us left the tribal era.
I was sold then, although unnerved at the ability of the Harnashaa. Now, Mrentoni traders are traveling across the river to trade our Shimmering Suzzy Shells, Inferno Stalks and Steery Wood with the Boirans and the Harnashaa. Different kinds of meat are now sold in some of the stalls, the Harnashaa are omnivorous so they hunt their fair share of animals. No other commodities have reached us yet, mostly because they won't work underwater.
“Phew.” I close my wooden book. Although ink doesn’t work underwater, the Steery Wood was processed in a book form and small engravement to form words was developed. We also had to develop a written form of our language but thankfully my knowledge of English was enough. I took on the responsibility in writing a dictionary which eased my boredom on the slower days. Thank Moruna and all of the other deities that they made the language universal, otherwise, this would've been an issue for generations.
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This wooden book is used for keeping tabs on our population, giving a basic description of each of our citizens. The library should soon be finished, shouldn’t it? Currently, I'm in charge of book-keeping. A job I hate but is necessary.
Panara opens the door to my room and throws a chunk of Boxen meat at me, a cow-like animal. I catch it and take a bite. “Thanks, Pumpkin, I needed that.”
I take my eyes off my desk and look at Panara sauntering over to me. She has a belly with our children kicking inside. We had sex multiple times, a good refresher after a boring day of book-keeping and she eventually got pregnant. Her second month of pregnancy already shows a small belly and about four more months and she will be ready to give birth.
I happily smile and bury my head into her side. “You know, I'm glad that nothing dangerous happened to us so far but sometimes it’s horribly boring, no political games to be played either the Boirans and Harnashaa only care about trading,” I complain to her.
“Oh yeah, I get that feeling too! It’s really dull here, no fighting, no nothing!” She quips to me.
Hold on. “Panara you are a genius! I just remembered something my people had a long time ago!”
She asks excitingly. “What is it, Honey?!”
“Oi, oi wait for you muscle head, I'm not letting you in there yet, besides we need to build the place first. I need to contact Gerry and tell him about the Coliseum.”
“At least tell me what it is like!” She clings harder.
“Image one of the lower clearings, the center is a fighting pit where a duel between Mrentoni happen or a fight with a fish, the outer edges are seats for the audience and they make bets and whatnot there.”
Come to think of it, this is helpful for building warriors and gambling can propagate the economy. We have plenty of Carnash left that we bought from the Harnashaa and the people can still be paid.
“I’ll go look for Gerry,” I say and leave through the balcony.
Gerry should be at the library finishing business, so I swim towards the Science district and see the mostly built library beside the Science lab. Gerry and Meena coordinating some Mrentoni in finishing the roof.
“Hey Gerry, how's the library looking?” I swoop in and ask.
“It’s going, fine boss! We need to finish the roof and then make the holes for the water to filter and it should be done!”
Gerry works fast, send him to the Boirans and I'm afraid they will make a The Flash mixed with an enthusiast Architect.
“Gerry, I got a new job for you after you’re done with this.” I hug his shoulder with one arm and tell him the details of the Coliseum.
“Sure, thing boss! Will get working on that right away, just get me some Carnash to buy sandstone from the Harnashaa, they have such beautiful sandstone there twmmmmma!” He kisses his fingers and flashes them out like an Italian chef.
“No problem, the Council will get you the Carnash.”
He saunters of inside chuckling to himself and rubbing his hands together. Well, that’s done with. Meena walks towards me and says.
“Chieftan Gherman, I have some news for you, I was going to tell you but Gerry caught me and told me about the library.”
“What is it Meena?” Any news from her can only be good.
She doesn’t say anything but moves her head, pointing towards the Science building, hinting that she would rather talk inside.
I nod and we walk inside. None of her aids are inside, probably having the day off since the construction noise is in the way in their research.
“Alright, Chieftan Gherman, I have a report to make about the projects you gave us. The domestication of Big Berthas has been difficult, to say the least. We have made progress in the form of making the eggs witness one of our Mrentoni brethren makes them consider them their mother but they still get aggressive when they slightly mature so we are at a bottleneck there.”
“We have checked the areas you have designated and we found something when we dug into the rock slightly.”
I perk up at this, a new discovery in the territory is going to help us grow.
“It’s a weird substance that we collected, here.” She hands me a small pot full of white material.
I look at her and ask. “Is it safe?” She nods.
I stick my hand into the pot and feel the material and feel it out. Firm and bouncy. I prod harder. It gives off some resistance and doesn’t cave in anymore. My finger rebounds and I look at it once again.
This is rubber! Good, good! I look at Meena and say. “Meena you have found something amazing. Experiment with this material, try to include it in weapons design and anything else that might need strengthening, tell Zarhan to get some people to set a workstation there and have some up for trade!”
My excitement rubbed off her and she takes back the pot and runs out to find her husband.
I wonder, would my ability now pick up the Rubber deposit? Also, how the hell did rubber get underwater and under a layer of rock? Odd.
I jump back into the Chieftan's house which is a glorified meeting place with a few rooms. We should relocate to The Great Hall. I sit in the chair and close my eyes.
Swoosh and the map unfolds.
Looking around I can see the small icon for the Rubber. The previous + in food and production is now replaced with +++ production and ++ science. A good upgrade if I say so myself.
This discovery can lead to great improvements! Just by strengthening all of our tools and scale like clothing can lead us to live better lives!
I return back to reality and see Panara looking at me while bending down slightly in front of me.
“What?” I ask.
“Why do you do that sometimes Honey? You close your eyes and just sit there unmoving.”
“Oh, that’s my ability to have a map like a view of the territory, see the bonuses of the resources we exploit and look at people’s wants and status. I need to close my eyes and think about it for it to work”
“Aha. Then what do I want?” She asks grinning.
“Nothing, you’re 100 % happy already.”
“Damn right I am!”