From Londoner To Lord

Chapter 382 - 376. Progress Check - III

"That's nearly 250 people per block!" Duvas grinned. "Almost twice the capacity of the first ones. Now I just hope it's finished soon. The cramped conditions are already causing trouble in the old blocks. There was even a fist fight a few days ago over who got to sleep inside and who had to sleep in the courtyard. Once someone gets the right to stay inside, they'll never give it up, and it can be the difference between life and death once winter arrives."

"Tell them to hold on a little longer," Kivamus said. "Although now that they can see the new block going up right in front of the old ones, it should calm them. They'll know their own bunks are coming soon."

"I will," Duvas nodded. "We should also do something about moving the sawdust press to the sawmill site. Gorsazo really wants the children to stop gathering sawdust soon so he can teach them for longer. He has really gotten into the role of a teacher here."

"Well, he is a teacher—a pretty good one," Kivamus chuckled. "But no. I've decided not to move it there for now. We still need that wood press to make paper, and that happens right here outside the manor walls in the east. Eventually we'll have to shift the whole paper-making process to the dam as well, but until we have an extra triphammer built for that, there's no point."

He continued, "So for now, we'll just move this press outside the east wall of the manor, where the training ground and barracks will be built in the future. Hudan can keep sending any lagging guards there as punishment to beat the wood pulp. However, when we move it there, we'll remove the sawdust briquette mold and fix a permanent flat plank instead, instead of the workers changing it depending on whether they need to press paper or make briquettes. That way it'll be easier for the paper-makers to press sheets and finish the whole process in one place. At least until we shift everything to the dam site."

"I can see the benefits of that," Duvas said. "But what about making new sawdust briquettes, since the current wood press machine will be dedicated to making paper? We need them now more than ever. Even if the village doesn't burn much coal in summer, we need every lump of coal we can get to sell to merchants—especially after Trevalo sets up the new trading route to Ulriga."

"I know," Kivamus said. "That's why we'll soon build a new, bigger sawdust press near the sawmills. Taniok can work on it once he's done with the triphammers. Instead of the old design with four molds, the new one will have more—at least a dozen—so the workers can press more briquettes at once. They'll have no shortage of sawdust and wood chips at the dam site, that's for sure."

He rubbed his thumb against his fingers as he thought it through again. "It does mean the workers will need to walk there every morning, and the briquettes will have to be brought back every evening. That will need another wagon, and we're already short on those, but we'll have to solve that somehow. With the amount of wood we're going to be processing now with three sawmills, the supply of sawdust will jump, and the number of briquettes we can make will rise along with it. Once that new wood press machine is working properly, we can even start handing out briquettes as cooking fuel. Or we can sell them after we start paying people in coins. They're easier to store too and it'll save the firewood they're burning for cooking now, so that wood can go to carpentry and other uses."

"That's a good idea," Duvas said. "Talking about the dam reminds me—someone told me the furnaces for making steel and coke are both ready, and their baking is finishing today. Cedoron and his men have made enough charcoal and have forged enough iron bars by now. Should we start the process for making the first batch of steel?"

Kivamus nodded, already waiting for this day with anticipation. "Of course! Tell Cedoron he has to go to the dam tomorrow morning and oversee it properly. I'll come with him too, since it's the first time. The cementation process is long, but if we start tomorrow, we'll let the charcoal burn with the iron bars for about a week, then let it cool for another two weeks. In the meantime, we'll build two more furnaces for steel and another two for coke. Then we'll have three cementation furnaces working in parallel—each of which needs three weeks in total to convert iron to steel—and then we'll start getting a fresh batch of steel every week. The three coke furnaces will work the same way and will give us enough fuel for that and for the blacksmiths' regular work."

He continued, "Once the first furnace has cooled, the blacksmiths will just need to forge and re-weld the new bars a few times, and that will give us our first batch of steel, around three weeks from now. After that, we can finally start making the steel parts for the lathe. Darora is already working on the wooden frame."

"I saw it when I visited his workshop around noon," Duvas said. "His men will also have another crossbow ready for us by evening."

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"Good," Kivamus said. "That means we can have one crossbow on each watchtower again, even after giving many of 'em to the hunting groups, plus the two with Feroy and Hyola. But I still can't wait for the lathe to be ready. That's what will increase the speed of making crossbows by an order of magnitude."

He noticed Duvas's puzzled look. "Uh... by a big multiple," he added. "Much faster."

"I see." Duvas nodded slowly. "We still have at least two months before the mercenaries arrive. If we're lucky, they won't come for another month after that and will only appear at the end of summer, before the heavy rains start in early autumn. But either way, we need the guards' morale to stay high. So I think you should start paying the guards soon. No one has said anything to me directly, but everyone is grumbling. I know you've planned to start paying them after Pydaso returns next time, but that's at least 15 days away. I don't think it's wise to leave the guards unpaid for that long."

Kivamus grinned. "I know. That's where the secret plan I mentioned the other day will help. It might take that long anyway to pay the guards even with this plan, but if things go the way I hope, we'll have more than enough gold to start paying not only the guards but everyone in the village in coins, and we'll be able to pay off the mercenaries easily. At least."

Duvas frowned. "What is that secret plan anyway? I've been too busy these last few days to join your weekly village defense meetings with the guard leaders, but I know you've been talking with Hudan and Kerel about something."

Kivamus smiled. "Just wait until Tesyb and the others return with Trevalo. I'll explain it in detail then." He glanced toward the open western window, where the sun was close to setting. "Darora told me yesterday he still needs a few more days to finish the scorpion. I really can't wait to see it in action."

Duvas nodded. "Neither can I. But…"

The manor hall door opened again and a servant ran inside, breathing hard as if he had sprinted the whole way.

"Milord, I just came from the north-eastern gate," the servant reported. "I saw Trevalo arriving from the northern road with six wagons. But not just that—there are at least two dozen people walking beside the wagons."

"Two dozen people?" Duvas repeated. "They can't be bandits if they're just walking next to the wagons."

"No, no," the servant said quickly, shaking his head. "Tesyb and our other guards are with them."

Kivamus grinned. "Then they must be the refugees from that encampment! Tesyb must have brought them safely, which explains why they're late. Walking with so many people would slow down a caravan for sure." He looked at the servant. "Did you see how much wheat the wagons were carrying?"

The servant shrugged. "I didn't stop to count, but all six wagons were fully loaded with sacks. It has to be wheat or other food stuff."

"Good. You can go back," Kivamus said.

When the servant left, Kivamus stood up and glanced at Duvas. "Let's go and see the new arrivals. We haven't had such a big group at once, so it'll need some managing. It's good though that they came with Trevalo—along with the wheat he's brought." He added, "It's nearing sunset so the villagers must already be returning from work, so we can also announce that from tomorrow we'll go back to three meals a day. And the weekly grain and food ration for the workers will be increased by the required amount for that."

"Everyone has been waiting for that announcement for weeks," Duvas said as he stood. "I'm sure they'll be glad to hear it. I'll also send a servant to the longhouse blocks to tell them to cook extra food tonight for the latest refugees. Although I don't think we can fit another two dozen people into either block. There's just no more space."

Kivamus nodded after a moment of thought. "That's fine. It wouldn't be a good idea to mix up this many new people with the villagers immediately—at least not until we know more about them. Feroy isn't here right now, but Levalas is also good at finding out people's secrets. We'll send him to mingle with these refugees and learn their stories, one by one. This work will suit his particular talents far more than him pulling another watch duty at the gates."

"I'll explain the task to him."

"Good." Kivamus continued, "For now, tell the new refugees to camp in the empty space west of the first longhouse block, where we'll make the new market square in future. These people have lived in the forest for months; they can endure staying outside for another couple of weeks until the new block is ready. We'll give them whatever provisions they need."

"Of course," Duvas said as they walked together toward the outer door. "I'll arrange it. As usual, we'll tell them that they can rest for a few days before we assign them work. I'll also check if any of them are injured or sick so we can give them losuvil powder to heal quicker. Acelos tablets won't be used within the village, like you said, for safety purposes."

Kivamus nodded, pushed the door open, and stepped outside with the majordomo at his side. It was time to meet the new arrivals.