By the next day, the bathhouse and apiary were open. When the bathhouse opened, villagers rushed inside to enjoy a warm soak in the pools. The bathhouse was a large one-story building, and it was intimately decorated with colorful wallpaper and wood floors.
When guests walked in there was a single desk where the owner sat, a balding middle-aged man. Past the front desk were to sex segregate rooms. The men’s shower room stood to the left and the women’s to the right. Inside the rooms were rows of lockers, small benches, and copper faucets, where customers undressed and showered before entering the pool.
The pools were small in stature, only large enough for 10 people at a time. The pool water was magically enhanced to constantly remain warm.
For the villagers, a bathhouse was a luxury they never expected. Bathhouses were common in cities and the capital, unlike hamlets, villagers, and towns. For Woodhaerst to have a bathhouse, gave the village a boost in stature. To experience such a luxurious once-in-a-lifetime would have been the highlight of life for a villager.
The same was true for honey. Honey was a rare commodity for villagers. Most settlements considered themselves lucky if they happened upon a beehive. But cultivating bees was considered an auspicious job. That’s why Arthur took the job upon himself.
Thaddeus and Arthur were happy to find the apiary came with a queen and worker ants. With the beehive built, the ants got right to work. In a month, the bees would have enough honey to sell. And judging by the villagers’ conversation, Thaddeus could tell they were excited to have bread and honey.
The villagers joked their lord was spoiling them between the bathhouse and apiary.
While he was happy to see their happy faces, he didn’t neglect the future storm. Felix the Fraud and Earl von Calvin had their sights on conquering Woodhaerst.
It was time to focus on defense with the walls and housing finished. He summoned the Village Council and Captain Joseph to his cottage to see what preparation they had in mind.
“You summoned us, Lord Brown?” Brand asked respectfully.
“Yes, I want to discuss our preparations for war. What do you suggest?”
“Well, it depends on the enemy’s forces. If there are mages, we may need to retreat. As only you and I can use magic. But being in the wilderness, I doubt he’ll use mages. Mages cost too much. I’ll almost guarantee they’ll stay in cities and the capital where they’ll earn a higher wage. Most likely the invaders will be mercenaries and Felix’s goons,” Captain Joseph advised.
“That means we’re in for a siege. They’ll like to try to starve us out,” Arthur announced.
“Yes, but it’s unlikely they know about our upgrades. With our abundant stores of grains and vegetables and access to Travis’ Trading Post, we should be fine,” Thaddeus guessed.
“You also need to remember; Felix is paying those mercenaries. I can’t imagine they come cheap. That means it will be a race between starvation and bankruptcy,” Priestess Thera explained.
“Still, I think we should expect some kind of attack. They might use siege ladders or trebuchets?” Thaddeus said cautiously.
“They might use ladders, but trebuchets are expensive and require the use of several crafters. Only capital sieges would use something that monstrous. Let’s just focus on being bows, arrows, spears, and shields for the villagers,” recommend Captain Jospeh.
“Fine, I’ll get to work. Have someone alert the Dwarves of the invasion,” Thaddeus ordered.
The three of them nodded their head in understanding and left. With the strategy in place, Thaddeus walked to the woodshop to see what he had lying around. There were several planks of pine, maple, and oak, but no hickory. He remembered that Josh once said, hickory was the preferred wood of a fletcher.
He took a short walk to the sawmill, where he saw Marcus diligently sawing a log into dimensional lumber.
“Marcus!” Thaddeus shouted.
“Lord Brown, I apologized for not greeting you when you came in,” he apologized.
“Not necessary, I came to get some hickory from the kiln. I figured I check on you first.”
“I’m well, sir. If you need hickory, I’ll let the lumberjacks know.”
“Keep up the good work”
“Um, sir,” Marcus said stopping Thaddeus before exiting. “The other fellas and I were talking. And we wondered if you think we have a chance of winning. See we really like this settlement. It’s so much better than the one we worked at before, and we want to do what we can to defend it.”
“I think we have a better than a fair chance, but in war, there are no guarantees. Felling and sawing hickory will help. I plan to build some generic bows, arrows, shields, and spears. I’m counting on you and Oscar the most to help me.”
“Then we’ll do our best milord,” Marcus said with a wide smile.
Before and after work, every day for a week, Thaddeus sat in his workshop building wooden weapons. He cut, shaped, and warped hickory to make bows and strung together with flax. Iron and hickory were used to construct simple arrows with chicken, crow, and falcon feathers fletched onto the end. Steel spearheads were attached to long poles with flax. Rivets were nailed layers of pine to make shields and scraps of leather for the straps.
Putting down the last arrow, Thaddeus looked at his stat sheet.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Name: Thaddeus Brown
SKILL NAME
SKILL LEVEL
Race: Human/Bear kin
Load Bearing (Racial)
Class: Artisan
Nature Affinity (Racial)
50 (+50%)
Title: Pioneer/ Petty Lord
Oversized Weapons (Racial)
Level: 54 (19,158/22,500)
Earth Magic
42
HP: 4,752/4,752
Two-Handed Axe
15%
MP: 608/608
Lumberjack
81
STR: 74
Analyze
76
AGI: 68
Surveyor
52
VIT: 66
Field Dress
14
INT: 32
Woodworking
78
WILL: 19
Cooking
16
CON: 72
Leatherworking
69
Charm: 9
Tailoring
56
Free Attribute Points: 0
Forging
74
Free Skill Points: 0
Smelting
66
Fame: 25
Toolsmith
70
Architecture
11
Wagoner
6
One Handed Axe
55%
Cleave
44
Bash
43
He was happy to see his woodworking, leatherworking, forging, and toolsmith skills had all leveled. Of all his skills his earth magic had increased the most. His earth magic skills leveled when he enclosed the village. Leveling by crafting and protecting his settlement certainly felt good.
While he crafted, he sometimes check out the Heaven’s Gate forums. The big news continued to be the build-up to the Akkadian civil war, and various guild wars in other kingdoms. The only time the news stopped reporting on guild wars, was to announce the first player to reach level 70.
As he was examining a bowstring, the forum updated with a major announcement. However, before he could read the post his screen flashed. Thinking the post had something to do with this new message, he quickly opened it.
System Message: Regional Announcement Former Emperor Regulus Albus van Conifer has declared war against his younger brother Emperor Raymond Archibald van Conifer. Please select which faction to join: King Regulus, Neutral, or King Raymond
While Thaddeus decided on the difference between the old king and neutral, his screen flashed again with an update.
System Message: Civil War Your affiliate, Mythical Guild, selected Emperor Regulus Conifer…the system has detected someone declared war against you…Felix the Fraud [Faction: King Raymond] has declared war on Woodhaerst.
Thaddeus quickly selected to side with the former king.
System Message: As a part of the former Emperor Regulus Conifer’s faction, what shall you tell your people as you prepare for war?
A) To the battlements! Prepare for a siege.
B) Everyone outside! Let's take the fight to them.
C) Time to flee! We surrender.
Thaddeus chose the first option. Almost at once, he could hear his villagers yelling as if they also received a system message.
Walking outside his carpenter workshop he saw Arthur shouting orders to bring the animals inside. Priestess Thera ordered the gates closed and Brand reminded everyone to remain calm.
He watched as the lumberjacks made their way into the village and sealed the gate to the forest. He also watched as Oscar and Marcus carried the weapons out from his workshop to hand out to the villagers.
To his surprise, the villagers looked mentally prepared to defend the village. Not since the beast wave had he faced such an assault on his settlement.
…
Felix sat on a hill looking at the Woodhaerst in the distance. The village would make a perfect outlaw city. He would oppress the villagers by over-taxing them, milking every coin out of them. Next, he'd build a casino, brothel, and a bandit lodge. Every merchant need to pay a highway tax, to protect their good from bandit attacks. Finally, he’d kill the dwarves and take over the gem mine.
“Ha-ha,” he chuckled to himself. His little cousin did a good job finding him a fat golden goose.
Moreover, the immortal travelers in the capital and cities were a pain to deal with. The problem wasn’t just their immortality but also their sheer number. Slowly, there would be more travelers than residents. Even worse, a few seedy travelers had their eyes on his operation. Sure, he could kill them, but eventually, they’d out-level his men, and that would be a problem.
No, he made the right decision to leave the capital now for a new fief. Less competition meant more profit. Despite his decision to leave the capital, he and his cousin still hedged their bets.
Earl von Calvin remained in the capital as a loyal supporter of King Raymond Conifer. Should the king win, Calvin’s family would no doubt advance in the peerage. Should King Raymond lose, The Calvin family would flee to Woodhaerst. This way no matter the outcome the Calvin family would survive and reap benefits.
While Earl von Calvin was more cautious, Felix believed Emperor Raymond would remain in power and he’d conquer Woodhaerst. Why? The palace guards held much higher levels, despite the size of the rebellion forces.
Honestly, Felix felt the job was too easy. He sent spies to survey the village and surrounding regions. While some didn't make it back, a few did, and the report was a peaceful village of refugees.
When his men heard they sneered excitedly. A lot of his men were satisfied with such easy orders. They presumed the weakling villagers knew nothing about the battle and they’d be able to plunder a few coins and valuables.
With the preparations finished, Felix and his men marched to the village.