“I have no doubt that Charles won't have a problem with it. He is leaving today though, if I remember right, so we'll need to get your man right over to my farm on the east of town. He told me that he was assembling the group there before they left.”
“He is ready. None of us have that much in the way of personal belongings.”
“Good, I'll escort him up there and speak to Charles then,” Eddie said.
“Thank you, I'll go get him.”
The walk to Eddie's farm was quick, and mostly quiet. The priest was not one for unnecessary talking so after greeting Eddie and wishing him a good morning, the rest of the walk was made in silence.
Charles was already out at the farm. Eddie had expected he would be, knowing that Charles would've had a plan in place, one that required him to be there to make sure things went as planned.
When Eddie walked up to Charles, the paladin groaned.
“What is it this time, Eddie?” he said.
“Nothing bad, I promise. Justiciar Bodil simply told me that there is only one Justiciar allowed per settlement and she asked if you would take one of her assistants with you. Once you build a courtroom, he'll be promoted to Justiciar for your settlement.”
“Oh?” Charles said, grinning. “So for once you aren't going to throw a monkey wrench into my plans?”
“Nope, he's even all packed and here with me. Doesn't have much, so you may need to supply him with a few things to get him set up out there.”
Charles' grin grew.
“Ah, there's the imposition I expect from you,” he said.
The wide grin on his face told Eddie that Charles was just having fun with him and Eddie realized that the paladin was actually looking forward to building the settlement. He'd been in a better mood the past few weeks than Eddie had ever seen him in before that.
“Sorry Charles, you're as bad as Jern when it comes to yanking my chain. Pretty much Tiana's the only one who can do that on a regular basis any more.”
Charles laughed.
“You're right, it's no imposition at all. I'm bringing enough supplies to last at least a month for everyone going with me. One more person isn't going to strain that in the slightest.”
Charles paused for a moment, looking at Eddie thoughtfully.
“Thanks for this, Eddie. I thought I was having fun before, and I was, at least sort of, but I'm looking forward to building the settlement more than I was looking forward to the raid even, so thanks.”
“You're welcome Charles. If I can do it, I'm sure you can. Probably even better than I have,” Eddie said.
“I wouldn't say that. You've done a mostly bang up job of things and the city is looking pretty good. I'll have quite a ways to go to catch up to that.”
“Well, if anyone can, you can. I think I'm going to take you up on your suggestion also. If Ingolf wants the other settlement, I'll offer it to him.”
“I think it would be perfect for him. He'd get away from what he feels is his shame here, and he'd be able to clear the family name if he does a good job with it.”
Charles shrugged.
“Just seems like a win-win situation for both of you.”
Eddie shook hands with Charles, introduced the priest of Tyr, then headed back towards the crossroads as the paladin and the priest began to talk.
~ ~ ~
Eddie's next plan was to check on the castle. He hoped that all the crews that were supposed to be on it were, but he was going to check. Stopping at the temple to pick up Lucky, who'd gone out to the pond when he dropped Tiana off earlier, only slowed him for a minute. Tiana was busy with something so he didn't stop to chat with her before heading north along the road.
He grinned when he saw the castle. If he wasn't mistaken it was already several feet higher than it had been when he last saw it yesterday.
There we go, those are my guys working on it again. I can't believe I thought the worst of them. I should know better, but things have just been going too well for too long, so I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, he thought.
He continued up the road and headed in through the portcullis. When he found the foreman, the man was incredibly apologetic, apologizing over and over.
“Wait, there's no need. It isn't your fault,” Eddie said. “Griff and I shouldn't have been passing along all our orders with whoever was handy, you just did things the way we'd told you.”
“I should've known though, sir. I should've known you wouldn't only want one crew working on the castle, no matter how good their masonry skill.”
“There's no problem and no blame for you. But Griff and I are taking steps to remedy this. For the time being, we'll be hiring the town crier to pass along orders when we need to. I'll make sure he doesn't take orders like that from anyone but me or Griff. Soon, though, and I'll personally tell you when, we'll be passing along written orders instead of verbal. I'll show you the two symbols Griff and I will use and only orders marked with those will be official, okay?”
“Yes sir. That sounds good, sir. That Griff's lad, the crier? Ivan or something?”
“Ivar, yes that's him. To be doubly sure I'll make sure that when I use him to pass on orders, the message will start with the phrase 'Official orders from Mayor Eddie' or 'Official orders from Town Manager Griff'. Okay?”
“Yes sir, Mayor Eddie, sir. Plus, the crew have already volunteered to work some extra time each day to catch up with what we fell behind on.”
At that the foreman broke into a smile.
“They'd hurt a few of my men chasing them off. Tiana's acolytes took care of healing them, but they were mightily cheered by the news of you kicking their asses, sir. Excuse my language, sir.”
Eddie chuckled, he couldn't help it. He liked this version of the story a lot more than the earlier one he'd heard.
“No need to excuse your language, I talk like that myself sometimes,” Eddie said. “I understand and we're both adults, so it's not a problem. With that, I'll leave you to get back to work on the castle. It's looking good and I can already see some progress again.”
“There would've been more, but those asses left the mortar to dry in the container. Left a mess all over, but the mortar was the one that slowed us down some this morning. We'll see if we can get back on schedule Mayor Eddie.”
“You're doing a great job, just keep it up,” Eddie said.
The foreman swelled up from the compliment and Eddie, as he was leaving the grounds, heard him calling out that they'd use rotations for lunch so the construction could keep going constantly throughout the day.
Eddie returned to the town hall and told Griff how they'd pass along orders for now, using Ivar.
“I'm afraid people are going to think it's favoritism, Eddie,” Griff said.
“What, that I hired you on as town manager because I had your boy as town crier?” Eddie asked. “He had the crier position before you had the manager position, so if anyone makes the claim you just tell them that.”
Griff snickered, as Eddie had hoped he would, but he nodded.
“It's a good point and there's enough people to witness it that it won't be an issue.”
“Okay then, I need to go track down Ingolf. I'm thinking he might be willing to lead the western settlement. Since a lot of it is orchards, he should have the skills for a good portion of it also.”
Eddie paused, nodding his head as he thought the idea through even more.
“It's a good choice. He's youngish, but not young. Got a good head on his shoulders too, from what I can tell. I'm amazed that fruit fell so far from the tree,” Eddie said.
Griff looked confused and Eddie had to remind himself to go easy on the euphemisms.
“Fruit doesn't fall far from the tree?” Eddie said. “Means the children normally resemble the parents to a degree?”
“Ah, yes, Ingolf is nothing like Arvid. Not from anything I've seen at least.”
“Myself either, and evidently he's ashamed of Arvid now, doesn't want to show his face around
here, so perhaps running the other settlement would be a good escape for him.”
Griff nodded.
“I could see where he might appreciate something like that.”
“Anyhow, I need to find him and ask him. Hopefully he didn't quit the sawmill. He was asking Paul about that the other day. So I'll head out there to see if I can find him,” Eddie said.
Griff waved as Eddie exited the town hall, heading west to Paul's sawmill.
Hm, I never asked if Paul was going right out with Charles to start building or going along later. Well, I guess I'll find out, Eddie thought.
When Eddie got to the sawmill it was in action, so he figured Paul was still there. When he got closer to it though he found that it was being operated by Ingolf, with two younger men acting as subordinates.
Ingolf called out something, advice about how the two of them should do the task they were currently working on. Since Ingolf was apparently training these two, Eddie just settled in to wait until there was a break.
When the two apprentices had gone, Eddie stood and approached Ingolf who was slowly braking the massive saw blade. Once it had stopped and it was easier to speak, Eddie did.
“Ingolf, long time no see.”
Ingolf turned to him, his head bowed and a sad look on his face.
“Mayor Eddie, sir, yes, it has been.”
“What's wrong Ingolf?” Eddie asked.
He'd been ready for it, but the torrent of words that spilled from Ingolf was nearly painful to hear. Evidently Ingolf had never gotten along with his father, none of his brothers had either and the cousins could only stand him because they hardly ever saw Arvid. Ingolf had lived his life ashamed of his father and now the current situation had pushed it beyond the breaking point.
Eddie, not trying to make light of the situation, had a suggestion.
“You could always disown him, disavow any relationship to him. You can't control who your father was, so I'm not about to hold that against you,” Eddie said.
Ingolf cocked his head and stared at Eddie with wonder.
“Can you really do such a thing?”
“Theoretically. I don't know what difference it would make at this point, but if anyone brought him up you'd be able to tell them that as far as you are concerned, you have no father any more.”
Ingolf's eyes sparkled at the concept. Then his gaze cleared.
“I'm sure you didn't come here just to help with my personal problems though. What can I do for you Mayor Eddie?”
“Well, start by knocking off the mayor bit. You knew me when I was just Eddie, why don't you just stick to that. Besides, I've got an offer for you that might make that easier as well.”
“Alright, Eddie. It just seems improper to not address you with your title, disrespectful as it were.”
“A title, by itself, shouldn't give anyone any respect. They've got to earn that and if you've actually earned someone's respect then you shouldn't care if they use a title for you or not. But, that's neither here nor there. Can I ask you a few questions?”
“Certainly.”
“I know you're a forester. Are you good at keeping trees alive or is it just cutting them down?”
“Of course I can keep trees healthy, how else would there always be some ready to cut down?” Ingolf asked. “Why?”
“A couple more questions first. Do you have any farming skill at all?”
“Aye, had to. There are wild fruits and nuts in the forest, but never enough for all a person's food needs. Meat is good too, but there are problems with just that or even too much of it.”
“One last question. Any skill with livestock?”
Ingolf shook his head.
“Nothing more than how to skin and butcher them. That came from my hunting skill though.”
Alright, so he can handle farms and orchards most likely. Livestock won't be an issue for a while and really, having him responsible for all three might be a bit much. I can find someone else to handle the livestock, maybe even on an individual basis per ranch instead of someone in charge of all of it, Eddie thought.
“Okay, this part isn't a question. I heard that you were unhappy here. This next part is a question though. Would you like a chance to start over somewhere else? Help build something that will be useful to lots of people?” Eddie asked.
“I am, indeed, unhappy here. Far too many people consider me my father's son. Those who never knew me at least, and I've been suffering from that for some time. My father was disliked, even by myself, but no-one will hear that now who didn't already know before. The rest simply think I'm saying it because Arvid was branded a criminal. A chance to start over though? What chance is this?”
“You know Charles has taken a group to start a new settlement to the east?” Eddie asked.
“Yes, we loaded wagon upon wagon with planks of various qualities for them.”
“I'd like to start another one to the west as well. The location for it is close to several huge, abandoned orchards. I need someone in charge that can get those orchards recovered for me. Fruit and nut trees both. Plus, the land is suitable for farming, plus some for livestock. The primary thing is the orchards though, the farms can help feed those who make up the settlement, and the livestock is an eventual thing.”
“I could certainly work at restoring the orchards,” Ingolf said. “That is something I would enjoy.”
“Think beyond that. I said I need someone in charge that knows how to do it. You'll probably have to do some with your own hands, but it'll be like leading the woodcutting crew you formed for me. You'd be in charge.”
Eddie grinned.
“And this time I won't be there to jostle your elbow so you can make sure the others do the shit work. Although I wouldn't load it all on one person unless it's a known punishment.”
Ingolf's eyes were sparkling again and Eddie watched as life seeped back into the man. The thought of a new start where he was in charge seemed to be bringing him back to himself.
“What would be required?” Ingolf said. “My carpentry is specialized in furnishings, not structures.”
“We've got plenty of carpenters here, we can give them blueprints, and Paul will go out with you initially to help construct the seed of the settlement. We've got masons also, although I may hold onto them until they finish my castle first.”
“Seed for the farms? There may be materials I need to recover the orchards as well. There are certain mixes that will help the trees remain healthy and bear prolific crops.”
“We can certainly arrange for those. As well as some guards for the area to keep the farmers and orchard tenders safe, or at least safer.”
“May I have time to think about it? Will I need to create the party of people to do it myself as well? I don't know if there are all that many that would be willing currently.”
“I can probably help you find more people if needed, but I'd prefer you to arrange as much of that as you can. You know who you can get along with and who you can't, so better for you to select if possible. And, of course, you can have a while to think about it. At least until Paul gets back. I assume he did go out with Charles right away?”
Ingolf nodded.
“I've been training my own replacements, so that will not be an issue. I was going to leave when Paul returned from helping establish the new settlement. I just didn't know where I was going yet. Now, at least, I have one palatable option. I still need to think on it though.”
“Take your time, but I'd like to know within the week if you don't mind.”
Ingolf nodded.
“That sounds reasonable, I'll let you know as soon as I decide one way or the other.”
Eddie said good bye and left. The look in Ingolf's eyes suggested that he was going to take Eddie up on the offer and Eddie didn't know why he hadn't done it right off.
Unless he just didn't want to make an impulsive choice? Making an effort to think things through, unlike his father? Whether that's it or not, I know he wants to do it, I just
don't know why he might not, Eddie thought.
Over dinner he discussed it with the rest of his group. All of them that had spent any time with Ingolf thought it was a sound idea. Eddie told them that he was pretty sure that Ingolf would say yes, but he hadn't officially done so yet. He also asked them to think over anything that they thought would be needed to start a settlement so they could compare it to what Ingolf wanted to bring.
Eddie kicked himself for not asking Charles for a copy of his list, then realized he had Charles on his friend list and could still do it, so before he went to bed that night he sent Charles a message asking for a copy of what he'd brought to start the settlement, explaining that he'd asked Ingolf, was pretty sure he'd do it, and wanted to make sure Ingolf had everything he needed if he did accept.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Eighteen
Freyja, with inside information from Venus, now knew for sure that Cooper and his men would be moved to the virgin training environment within the next two days. According to Venus:
Someone's been mucking around with that clear area I created according to the specs they'd given. Now it's loaded down with ambush points, structures, and NPCs that are incredibly mechanical. They're worse than the tiniest splinters we'd use for a bug or a mouse. Any sort of AI would've created a much more realistic NPC and I don't understand why they didn't ask me to create them, Venus had said.
Freyja, knowing that Venus also knew her end desires, had responded in kind.
Well, we know how to fix that, don't we? I want those to be as realistic as possible, not just some mechanical target. They won't be of much use for training if they aren't as close to realistic as we can guarantee. Just make sure they don't have some sort of scaling mechanism first. If they're going to increase the difficulty on their NPCs then we don't want to be altering them, at least not yet, Freyja had sent, but If they aren't, we will.
The answer she received told her that Venus was just as engaged in wanting the test to be as accurate as possible as Freyja herself was.
There is currently no scaling, but there will be. I'll set them to start out very basic, but slowly increase their skill and each one will learn from the mistakes that caused it to need to respawn the last time. Their skill should grow and we'll find out just how effective the constructs will be in real life. At least we will if I have anything to say about it, Venus sent.
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