From Londoner To Lord

Chapter 354 348. Reports

"You can talk with the chandler, but as for the blacksmith..." Kivamus thought about it. "Tiranat's coal deposits may be huge, but we simply don't have the workforce to double our coal output just by putting double the number of miners to dig more. We'll have to start thinking out of the box for this. Either way, we'll certainly need to open up new mineshafts for this, so tell Cedoron to stop by in the evening once he's done with today's work. The triphammer and the sawmill are still the first priority, and Taniok will keep pushing on making the frames for both, but we'll need more shovels, picks, wheelbarrows—anything that keeps the coal coming until we can do something else about it. Also, speak to Yeden. His workers will start digging new wells from today, but tell him to send a small crew to the eastern track to smooth the worst potholes so the coal hauling wagons don't snap an axle on their way back. I overheard the mining foreman complaining about it yesterday."

"Oh, that had been an ongoing problem since the last rains," Duvas replied, "which had created new potholes when the mud flowed away after the downpour, so I've already sent some men for that today. It should be done in another day or two. It won't make wide, flat roads like you want - that's a long term task - but they'll still fill the new potholes with some gravel from the mines."

Kivamus nodded. "That'll do for now. Once you're done with that, meet with Pinoto and let him know that he'll get all the seeds he wanted from today. But in return, tell him to complete the sowing on time. I don't want any problems in it after spending so much gold and effort on this project. We'll think of what to do with the farmers once it's done. I know they'll still be needed for weeding and irrigation, but even so, they'll have a lot of free time on their hands, and we can't afford for anyone to sit idle."

"I'll see to it," Duvas said, waiting by the door for any other orders.

Kivamus thought about whether it was possible to provide three meals to the villagers from the new wheat they had gotten. But out of the 40 sacks they'd bought, around a third would go to complete the sowing, and the remaining would only give them a cushion of another two weeks—assuming they fed everyone just twice. No, it was better to wait. Feeding everyone twice regularly was still better than having food riots because they had run out of food.

"Let's hold back on giving everyone three meals a day until Trevalo comes with more wheat. Once we get those 60 sacks, it will give us a buffer of another month. Adding to it what we bought today and what we already have, along with the meat the hunters are bringing in, we will have nearly 2 months worth of food stored for our current population. So we can afford to move to three meals after he returns in a week."

The majordomo nodded. "I'll let Madam Nerida know about it so she can plan accordingly. If you want, I can also make an announcement about this to the villagers and the manor residents. We all have been getting only two meals for more than a month now, so having something to look forward to will improve everyone's morale."

"That's a good idea. Do it in the evening when the workers return for this week's rations. It is due today from what I remember."

"It is," Duvas replied. "I'll make the announcement at that time."

"What about Darora? Did he give any estimate of when he'll be able to make the tablet press machine? I had given him the blueprint a few days ago."

"I talked with him yesterday," Duvas answered, "and he said it was simple enough, but he had been so busy with other things that he didn't get the time to work on it until then. But he had promised me that it should be done in one more day, probably by this evening."

"Perfect!"

Kivamus knew that it was only a hand powered machine—barely a machine at all—but it would still allow them to put the acelos powder in a hopper on the top part which was around 15 centimetres wide. Then the powder would flow into small molds by gravity. The current design had a grid of 3 x 3 molds, so they could make nine tablets per use. Then a worker would put the top cover on the mold to seal it and then he would use a hand cranked lever attached to the base of the mold to compress the powder. Once it was done, he'd move the lever in reverse and remove the upper part of the mold, with nine tablets ready in the lower part.

He would still have to see it in operation to check whether it worked properly, but the concept was simple enough so he didn't expect any problems. If it worked well and if they needed to increase their production of pills in the future—assuming they could make enough losuvil powder for it—he could easily make a bigger version of this mold, which could have a grid of 5 x 5 or even bigger ones. His thoughts were interrupted by the majordomo.

"Is there anything else, milord? I need to talk with Madam Nerida and others."

"No, you can leave now."

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Kivamus looked out the window again once the majordomo had exited the hall. Two more sacks were handed down to a waiting wheelbarrow. A servant who had climbed up on a wheat wagon called for a handhold with a yell; another man answered back. He watched as the second empty wagon creaked forward to make room for the next one. For once, the noise here wasn't trouble knocking—it was work he could track and count.

He let the steady rhythm settle his thoughts. For now, the trade looked promising—a rare bit of progress amid everything else that needed solving.

***

It was early evening, the manor hall was lit by the soft glow of a few tallow candles. The windows were open, letting in the mild spring air and the quiet hum of the manor outside. Kivamus sat at the long table with Duvas, Gorsazo, Hudan, and Feroy, a few ledgers and loose papers spread before them. The day's work had left him tired, but he wanted to finish this discussion before dinner.

"How are the classes going?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.

Gorsazo smiled. "The children and kids are getting better every day. The older villagers are slow on the uptake, but even they are trying their best, otherwise their own children start poking fun at them, showing off their new knowledge."

Everyone laughed hearing that.

"That's good to hear," Kivamus replied. "Once the sawmill's running, I'll see about getting you a separate building as a permanent school. Don't hold your breath for it, though. We have other things of higher priority right now."

Gorsazo chuckled. "That's fine, my lord. It'll certainly help me to organize things better, but we are already doing good in the longhouse blocks."

Kivamus looked at the majordomo. "How's the progress with the vegetable patches?"

Duvas looked up from a small note he had been reading. "Better than expected, milord. Until now, with the grain shortage, we were forced to use everything that was growing inside the manor for immediate consumption as food. But now that we've gotten more wheat, we can finally afford to save the vegetables and their seeds for planting."

The majordomo rested his elbows on the table. "It's already been more than a month since we planted the first patches, so their seeds are ready to replant. Most of the open ground inside the manor is full already, so Madam Nerida has decided to take a few maids and any off-duty servants or guards to start new plots in the south of the village—between the manor walls and the village wall. That land's just lying empty right now. The new gardens should be ready to harvest a few weeks after planting. It'll take at least two more rounds of growing and replanting to fill all that space, but after that we should be getting a good amount of vegetables regularly—assuming we have enough hands to tend them."

Kivamus nodded with satisfaction. "Good work. We'll ask for volunteers from the village to help out. Some of the older folk may not be fit for heavy work anymore, but they can still look after the gardens in their free time. That'll help keep things running smoothly without overburdening Madam Nerida."

Duvas gave a short nod. "Madam Helga's also working hard these days. We've been relying heavily on Rizako mushrooms lately. We couldn't refill the whole mushroom barn because we were using them too quickly. But now that we've restocked on grain, I've told her to use the mushrooms sparingly and save the rest for planting. It'll take twenty to thirty days for them to grow, but once the barn's full again, we'll have a steady supply. That'll make meals less repetitive."

Kivamus smiled. "That's good news. It'll help to reduce wheat consumption and will provide a proper balanced diet to everyone." He turned toward Hudan. "We'll be sending four guards with Trevalo this time, and eight of 'em from next week. That'll leave us with two less hunting groups. Take the two crossbows we'd given them and pass them to the other three groups. Add one more from the watchtowers, so each of those three groups has two of 'em. It should help them hunt faster and bring back meat more often."

He looked at the former mercenary. "Without the eight guards we are giving Trevalo, our defences will be getting weak again. But we've gotten more than a dozen new refugees from the west in the last few days, so start thinking about taking in more guards soon. Don't recruit anyone yet, but you, Hudan and Duvas can start shortlisting strong, trustworthy men for when we're ready."

Feroy nodded. "Got it, milord. By the way, since we're already sending guards north with Trevalo, why not make better use of them? We can use them to bring back the families of the earlier refugees from that encampment near Cinran. We'll have to send one of those refugees with the caravan to show the path and introduce us, but from what they've told us, their people are camped in the forests somewhere southwest of Cinran, not far from the start of the forests. When Trevalo is returning, the guards can take a small detour and bring those refugees here with them."

Kivamus thought for a moment, then nodded. "That's a good idea. If we can bring those families safely, it'll give us more workers. Then we can easily recruit more guards from among our long-term residents."

Hudan sat forward. "I'll tell the men about it tonight, so they can prepare to leave with Trevalo tomorrow morning. Tesyb will lead them to the encampment later, and they should be back within a week."

Kivamus gave a short nod of approval. "Good. Do that. Hopefully Tesyb will also be able to bring his sister here to help me in designing the cloth-making machines."

Just then, the hall door opened and a servant ran in, slightly out of breath. "Milord—another merchant's arrived! It's Pydaso."

Kivamus glanced toward Duvas, who was already grinning.

"Finally," Duvas said, while gazing upward and sending a short prayer to the goddess.

Kivamus pushed back his chair. "Let's hear what news he's brought."