From Londoner To Lord

The next day in the evening Kivamus was standing inside the manor hall with the others, while looking at the newly framed pieces of paper which they had hung inside the hall on a wall. On one of the two smaller papers, Lucem and Clarisa had written their names in huge letters along with some sketches while trying to imitate him, since being children learning in school, they would be the ones to benefit the most from paper in the future. Lucem did have to use Clarisa's help to guide him, but Kivamus was happy that the children would hopefully have real paper to write in the future.

The second paper denoted leaves on a vine on one side and a powdery substance on the other. This had been drawn by Syryne, and she was more than glad to see her contribution being hailed openly. They had still decided not to write any name on that, just to maintain security of that process in the future.

In the third one, he had drawn a very basic diagram about the process of making this paper, while the fourth one had names of everyone who had contributed to it. Most of the servants and labourers still couldn't write yet, but Gorsazo had shown them how to write their names using the plank and charcoal which used to teach in the longhouse block, and they had just copied it. This way it was still written by their own hands, and the workers and the guards couldn't have been prouder.

With the paper so thick because they had made it without using a trip hammer, there was no real danger of it being torn easily. It would have been better if they could afford glass to secure it better, but the wooden frame around them which Darora had provided in the morning would have to do for now.

"This was a good idea," Gorsazo remarked while looking at the newly adorned wall. "I wonder what any visitors to the manor will think about it in the future."

Kivamus snorted. "As it stands, there is hardly any other noble in the kingdom who would want to visit our village."

Duvas nodded. "You are right, but no other noble would ever keep something portraying commoners or written by them in their own living place."

Kivamus laughed. "That was one of the reasons I did it! People are just people, whether they were born as a rich noble or a poor labourer. We are all the same in the end."

Duvas shook his head while looking at him. "You really have a very unorthodox way of looking at things which are taken for granted by everyone. Even though I was born in a noble's house, I have lived most of my life as a commoner after leaving my home, so I do understand your sentiment, and support it."

The outer door of the manor hall opened at that moment and Taniok walked inside along with Hudan.

"It is done, milord!" the bald carpenter reported with a proud smile. "I finally finished the south-western gate!"

"That's amazing, Taniok!" Kivamus praised, and looked at Duvas. "It is time to make the announcement then."

The majordomo nodded. "By chance, today is the day when we provide the weekly grain rations to the villagers, so I'll make the announcement at the same time that Tiranat is a fortified village now."

"This means I can finally give some much-needed rest to the guards," Hudan began, "and move their duties to an eight hour shift again by closing all three village gates in the nights. Still, we really need those watch towers soon, not to mention as many crossbows as we can get. The snow will start melting in a few weeks - including in the forests around the village - and that means it would become much easier for bandits to raid Tiranat. That's why we need to be ready to defend against them by then."

Kivamus grimaced thinking about it. Winter had basically isolated their small village, which meant they had been safe from any raids or greedy tax collectors, but it wouldn't be long before they would have to come out of their isolation, whether they wanted to or not. He looked at the carpenter. "How long will it take for you to make the barn for mushroom farming?"

Taniok shrugged. "Depends on how big you want to make the building. If it is going to be the same size as the barns inside the manor, it would take less than a week, since we have a big stock of logs ready for construction now, and the workers have good experience in this by now. You have already told me that you don't want to make any new buildings with planks - which would take much, much longer. Still, if you want to make this new barn the same size as the longhouse blocks, then it will take longer than making a smaller building."

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"I don't think there is really a need to make it as big as a longhouse block," Kivamus muttered. "Even so, I think it would be a good idea to make it a little larger than the barns, since we don't have any shortage of space in the south of the village. It should still be tall enough that we can make a second floor inside it, which will double the area which can be used for growing mushrooms. How long will that take?"

Taniok seemed to be thinking about it for a moment. "With the help of the wheelbarrows, the log-movers, and the groma for designing the size of the foundation, I can make the outer part of the building within a week. Adding a second floor..." he scratched his small beard. "Hmm... tell you what, if you give me enough workers, I can do that in another three to four days after making the building. That means everything should be completed in around ten days."

"It's slower than I wanted, but it will have to do, I guess," Kivamus commented. "Alright then. You should start on it tomorrow. Duvas will show you the location. Since there aren't going to be any people living inside, you don't need to worry about how the building looks from the outside. Just make sure that the building is sturdy enough."

"As you wish, milord," taniok nodded, before he took his leave and exited the hall.

"Ten days, huh..." Kivamus muttered as he and the other took seats near the fireplace. "We will have to put him on the construction of the watchtowers right after that." He looked at the majordomo. "How long do you think it will take before the surrounding areas are good enough to travel, especially the northern road?"

Duvas glanced at the windows which were still closed at the time. "This is a fairly normal winter, so I think after the mushroom barn is completed in ten days, we should have around one more week before the snow starts to melt, and at least another week before it has melted completely, although the nearby areas will still be muddy and difficult to travel for a while. So, perhaps around a month before we can expect the tax collector to come from the north."

"Along with any bandits who must be foaming at the mouths to raid our village," Hudan snorted. "Not that they would ever expect that we are far more prepared than we were in the last raid!"

Kivamus smirked. "Yup. Either way, I think that should be just enough time for the carpenter to make watchtowers at all four corners of the village wall. We had planned to make more, but even having these four watchtowers just inside our walls, with trained crossbowmen - or women - on top of them will make any bandit group regret deciding to attack us."

He looked at the majordomo. "Melting of snow reminds me, what is the progress of the forest clearing in the south?"

"The southern foreman Pinoto has outdone himself," Duvas replied, "especially since we've put all the available workers of the village to work in the south. The women are doing their best to clear the fields of the small rocks and stones, but the farmlands will still need some final preparations before we can start sowing." He continued, "As for your question, I think that by now we should be approaching eighty percent of the targeted area we had planned to clear. I think we might even be able to exceed our planned area by the time the ground is ready to start sowing."

"We actually do need to exceed it by a good amount," Kivamus winced, "since we have already gotten nineteen more people from the west, and if everything goes well we should start getting more immigrants around that time. That means we need to do our best to clear as much forest to make way for farmland as we can. That being said, how are those new people from Kirnos settling in?"

"It's never easy to adjust to life in a new place," Duvas shrugged, "especially since they know by now that they are living in a building meant to be a jail. Still, while the children are still reluctant to leave the vicinity of their parents, yesterday the adults talked with me asking how they could contribute, since they know they can't keep getting free meals without working for it. By now, they have had a few days of rest accompanied with good food, so from today, I've put most of them on forest clearing in the south. None of them had any experience in cutting trees, but we need a lot of people just to move around the fallen branches, stones and such. So they are helping in that until we are ready to start sowing, in which their previous expertise will mean they will have to be used as farmers."

"Certainly," Kivamus nodded. "We have to utilize everyone's specialized experience when deciding where to put someone for work. That's why when I had mentioned earlier that having these new people would mean we would be able to mine more coal than we would have done otherwise - but even then we aren't going to put these ex-farmers to do coal mining. Instead, we will use those workers who have experience in coal mining for that, and put these ex- farmers to work in their places - like you have already done by sending them to the south. This would still provide the same result of getting extra coal mined, while still utilising everyone's previous experience."

"I agree with that," the majordomo huffed. "It's not just the craftsmen who are learning the benefits of specialisation!"

Kivamus chuckled. "I'm glad to hear that."