Eating something warm was the best way to ease their strained nerves. Afterwards everyone had to sleep for a while, and huddled together right in the foyer of the Mansion.
Not everyone came with us. Some declined and thought of it as a trick, others left their Grandparents, as they were stubborn and wanted to stay. I bet they just did not want to burden their travel. Maybe I should go back and bring someone with me to explain to them I am telling the truth? More Materials are better than letting them starve to death.
Whatever, first the people need to recuperate. Waking up after their quick rest it was already evening.
“Well Now to the temporary housing. As said, the Village is still being build, so your Houses will be changed when the Village reaches the Orchards. Then you should be closer to the farms and have an easier travel.”
“Yes Lord.”
“This here is Snow. She is a resident like you, but has higher standing, as she is a Member of my Family. As is Falling Leaf, so please be respectful to them.”
“Y… yes Lord.”
A bit hard for them, but they might just see a monster Rat in Snow. Hopefully it gets better with time. She is rather tame, if she is not going to war in the sewers.
“For now I show you the houses around.”
…
Their wonder is somehow funny, but also understandable. My housings are way better than their ramshackle buildings. Although theirs were rather sturdy out of wood, mine are stone. Including the living room and sleeping area I made the Houses different and often unique.
Some had a big storage, other had multiple small bedrooms. Kitchen was most of the time separate from the living room, which they found odd, but sometimes it was connected with a kind of window to just get the things through. Even the Glass windows made them gasp, as every single one had albeit not fully see through but still glass windows.
Having a Toilet was also seen favorably. No going out to the outhouse in the night and risk being attacked by a wild animal.
I did not forget to show them every single house has a cellar, which is sometimes able to be locked from below. I thought about showing them the hidden entrance to the tunnel system below, but that is not necessary right now. Maybe later I can show them, when I am again at war, for escape purposes.
…
“And that is why you should put the water in the urn for a while to have less Mana inside. You might still get sick, as everything in here is inundated with Mana, but it should not life threatening.”
“We were already cursed to begin with, to change the curse from suffering to maybe Mana burn, we are already fully willing.”
Father Belk seems to be the temporary Leader of the farmers, as he was the first I recruited, so it is nice. His name is Belk, so his whole Family is Belk. Strange concept, but that is their way to hold surname. If the Sons marry their Name will become the surname of the Family.
If a daughter marries the Name of the man will be her new surname. How patriarchal but humans were always that way, and elves see it more matriarchal. Now I need to know what dwarfs think about who is in charge. Maybe the one who can drink more before being under the table?
“Lord Null?”
Argh! I got in pondering mode again.
“Just thinking about how to help you more with the high Mana here. Sadly I can not think of something. If symptoms show, please tell me so I can see if there is anything I can do.”
“Thank you for your concern Lord Null.”
…
Snow got accepted by the children rather quick. They like her and play with her, when they have free time. I had to stop her from taking them with her into the sewers and explained, how they would get scared if she threw up her rats, so she just plays with them for the time being on the surface. Hide and seek is often chosen, but why is it always Snow who is seeking? Maybe, because she is too stealthy for it to be fair.
The Farmers start their own work after familiarizing with the whole fields. How big the fields were had them shocked, but relaxed as I said, they do not need to tend to everything.
For now they can take as much as they want, but later we will split 7/3 as I remember how this was the ideal way for splitting the earnings between Farmers and Lords.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I was surprised as they were ready to give me 7 and they take 3 but when I corrected them and said I just want 3 and they get 7 the surprise was turned around.
They lived horrible taxed lives it seems. First they got taxed for going into the city by the guards, then they needed to tax their selling. Then they needed to give a tithe to the City Arcana and after all that, they needed to pay a tax for the land. Jeez, what did those people eat afterwards? Dirt and air?
I explained them I want them to work on the grasswalker, chickens and the fields for now. When the work is stable and we have enough of the animals and plants we start the taxing, not before, as they need to live and the breeding for larger coops is a priority.
…
Bedding! I always forget bedding, but the people start their own creations. They use plant fibers to create mattresses and some rough blankets for now, but later we have feathers from the growing chicken farm. It will be nice for Snow to get her own bed and not the straw nest, she is using now.
Also the first symptoms show their ugly heads. Many working in the fields complain about itching. The reason seems the Mana inside wants to go out and irritates the skin while it is pushed out. Nothing serious yet, but a start. With Mana sight they look like they are always steaming.
While being with them for a while I notice something I totally forgot to ask. They can neither read nor write. This would be rather bad, as they need to at least understand, when I set up some warning signs or some instructions later. So I start to teach them the first letters of their alphabet.
The runic look of the alphabet is made on a tablet and I make a storage house into an impromptu School. With them there, I show how to pronounce the different Letters and create some wooden cards with words on one side and a picture of it on the other.
Teaching the youth at the Morning and the older ones at the evening makes it easier for me to show them how to write their own names. Some asked me to write it for them, but after telling them how their own Name should be written by themselves to feel the liberation of being able to claim their own Name they worked hard.
…
Many Words were already learned. Many houses have wooden boards in front of them where the Fathers name is on the top and the further down the wood you go you see the Names of the Mother and then the names of the Children ordered by age.
They are so proud, that everyone wrote their own Name themselves and how they want to make it a tradition to always being reminded how to write and pronounce Names. Even some common Words already got remembered. Snow was one of them and they understand how it is a Name and the flakes falling from the sky outside.
Others are Snake, Farm, Orchard, Tools and Lord Null. A shack with Tools written on it is in front of the farm and the Orchard is the favorite Wooden plate remembered by the children. Snake is feared, as they remember the sewers have snakes. I started to make the sewers a bit safer by smoothing out the walls so they can not just crawl up into the pipes.
By the way the Morning routine for many Children is to get water for letting it rest, to reduce the mana and flushing the Toilet to let the stink vanish. Sorry, no plumbing is planned right now, as this would be tedious.
…
Not even a month is passed and now the signs of Mana burn are visible. Glowing scars break out of the skin. The Farmer who has this, is the one who mostly works in the rice fields. Definitely high Mana burn as it seems. While it looks strange, it is no real problem right now. Mana just vents out of the scar and other side effects do not seem to exist.
Snow is now sitting in with the other children and works hard to learn reading and writing. I even created chalk boards and chalk, which I needed to remind snow was not something to eat. With her high smarts she quickly catches up to the other children and has fun finding her own picture when the wooden pieces with the Words on it got shuffled.
Making learning words a game was the right Idea it seems as the children all love to search the whole floor filled with wooden plates, when it is their turn. After that, math will be the next. The people understand how I want three of every ten later, but calculating how much that would be is not in their capability.
…
Petal is back today. She and her delegation seem less surprised by the humans. I bet they were informed beforehand of me having brought them here by scouts.
The children on the other hand reacted frightened. They still have in their subconsciousness how strangers mean danger, as everyone has lost at least one family Member by the hands of Bandits.
They ran right back to their houses or ran to the fields to warn their Fathers. Leafy and I were already walking to greet them.
“I welcome you back Ambassador, as the voice of the Crater.”
“Thank you for your hospitality, I bring greetings from our Queen of the first Child.”
They definitely do that to annoy me. I roll my eyes and wait for a few seconds, before they start laughing and hold their hands.
“How are you Leaf? We heard you have new residents? Or are they just visitors?”
“I am fine Petal. We indeed have new residents. How are you doing and is everything fine in the Forest?”
“More than fine, the Miasma starts getting thinner. Using the Mana dew helps breaking the worst places without risking any Root. My work is now rationing the Mana dew to the different high Mothers, as it is still scarce.”
“I wish I could help, but the creation is slow. Do you think the Forest will be Miasma free in the future?”
Petal sadly shakes her head.
“This question was asked all our eldest Mothers and they looked into it. Even with all we do, the Forest will never be free from Miasma. The World needs our Forest as filter, so we have to obey.”
Rather bleak. Well I try my best to filter Miasma as best as I can, but I have my limits too. I am not even able to fully keep my own Domain Miasma free anymore, as I am now too large to hold enough Mana unless I want to stop the infusion of the water, and right now I have an experiment to watch in those farmers.
Ahem “How about we go to the large gazebo and talk there, as it would be more comfortable.”
“Ah! Yes, of course Lord Null. I am just happy to see Leaf being fine.”
“Of course she is fine. I would not eat her all of a sudden. I bet she tastes bad anyway.”
“Excuse me?!”
giggle “I thank you anyway for keeping my Sister Leaf safe. The Queen sends her greetings also to you, Lord Null. The reformation is going smooth for now, but some still have bark as their face and just obey because the Queen said so. The south is still a bit dangerous, but starts to lose its thorns one at a time.”
Well it seems the reform was the Queens agenda anyway and used me for her own machinations. Well I gain from it too, so nothing I care about too much.
While we talk the humans go to their own houses and look wary to the visitors. Not bad to be careful about strangers, so it might be the right call for them to stay that way.