BXBX NOVEL Chapter 51 - Ores Arrived
The second batch of people, who stayed in Tanzan Town, finally arrived.
This was undoubtedly good news for Gawain.
That meant that they at least had more manpower, that he could finish construction of the pier and the sawmill, that he could consider officially opening the mines in the east, and that he could finally develop this camp into a “territory”.
Though even with the second batch of people, the developing territory had only a small population of over 800 people, but compared to the first group of only 100 people, this was already an incredible improvement.
Knight Philip led several soldiers and a dozen militiamen who remained in Tanzan Town in completing the escort mission. Herti welcomed the young and promising Knight. The arrival of Knight Philip and those soldiers made up for a deficiency that was bigger than their manpower shortage, which was their defense force.
Although there were no signs of monsters or things like that, living in the wilderness made people feel unsafe. Those fences and magic traps could only alleviate this sense of insecurity, but only fully armed soldiers doing patrols could give the people the complete peace of mind.
As for Knight Philip, what shocked him was how large and complete the camp was.
They had actually made so much progress over such a large area? The carpenter’s sheds were already built? And they were even beginning to build a smithy?!
The young knight was almost dumbstruck as he entered the camp, staring blankly at the sturdy and aesthetic large tents and several wooden houses that had been built. He also saw those serfs and freemen who were working in the open field. The latter were busy making basic dried and smoked wood into planks, and further processed these planks into various tools and building materials. This was his first time seeing people working like this. The laborers, who used to need whipping, were working in groups. As one of them gave instructions and coordinated, they were working as seamlessly as hands and feet. If the usual circumstance when they were told to work together was them covering each other’s a*s for goofing off, then this situation was the complete opposite of that.
And where was the supervisor who should be standing at one side with his whip?
Philip looked around and found that the supervisors, who were the clan’s warriors and were chosen because they were slightly more literate, were on the edge of the open field. But they were only walking around to check on the progress of the work. They did not have whips in their hands, but only a wooden board for recording things.
“Amazing, right?” Herti’s voice woke the young knight from his stupefaction. “I never expected these simple measures could make them so diligent. Even the serfs started to take initiatives to learn how to do the work they are not good at.”
“Measures?” Knight Philip said, surprised. “What measures?”
“Ancestor came up with a set of new rules for work…”
Knight Philip’s eyes gleamed before Herti could finish saying. “Ah, he must have influenced the lazy serfs and civilians with the old knights’ sense of honor and virtue…”
“No, he gave them meat.” Herti smiled, her eyes forming crescents. “It’s very simple. They’ll have meat if they work more.”
As she said this, she lamented about how she had used to try this simple method of using rewards to stimulate work efficiency. But it usually only worked in the beginning. Those serfs would quickly find lots of ways to slack off and cheat to get the food. But with the addition of competition, precise records, strict implementation, and the so-called “team mindset”, everything turned out so differently. It was really incredible.
She also learned for the first time that serfs and civilians were not born to be dumb and lazy.
Gawain appeared not far away.
Herti and Philip immediately went up to greet him. Gawain waved and stopped their salutations. He nodded to Herti first before looking at the young knight. “Good work. The people are all here. Let the soldiers and the people take a break first. After lunch, all the workers will gather in the open area in the center of the camp. Herti will tell them the rules of working here. Soldiers, including the militia, will gather at the west side of the camp. Knight Byron will be giving out some new gear.”
Then he looked at Herti. “You don’t have to sort the newcomers into their teams on the first day. The new rules will be too much for them to remember all at once.”
Herti nodded. Knight Philip was a little confused. “New gear? What new gear?”
Gawain looked at him, giving a mysterious smile. “Good stuff definitely.”
After seeing the new equipment, Knight Philip was definitely amazed. He never expected “good stuff” to be this good.
He thought that they would at most just be getting a batch of new swords and armor, or at the very most have everyone issued with a crossbow, but who would have thought that they would be getting a full set of “super gear”?!
Enchanted swords, enchanted armor, and the crystals used by the army back in the ancient empire!
Those longswords enchanted with “sharpness” flickered with cold, white light. The hauberks, carved with “elemental resistance seals” and “lightness” gave a faint gray luster under the sunlight. The ill-educated soldiers had probably never seen how enchanted weapons looked like, but when they realized what they were, they were all unusually excitedly.
What even astounded Knight Philip was that even the militiamen were given a set each… Did these things not cost anything?
“They’re all old antiques. They will degrade the longer we keep it, so we don’t have to hide it and might as well use it to increase our combat ability,” Gawain laughed, “To be honest, there could have been even more of these, but some of them were either spoiled and could not be used anymore or that they had lost all the contained magical power, which is quite a pity.”
“Super gear… They’re all very valuable,” Knight Philip was even stuttering as he said, “These things… there were hardly any of these enchanted items in the whole of Cecil territory! ”
Amber was holding her arms as she stood at one side. “That naive, excited look of yours… He is 700 years old. What’s so strange about him having a secret stash of money? Whose grandfather wouldn’t stash some silver coins under his bed… Ah ah, it hurts!”
Gawain grabbed Amber’s ears as he dragged her aside. She was making threatening gestures as she shouted, “Let go! Let go! Haven’t you heard that an elf’s ears are super sensitive! Let go of me!”
So this disgrace to the elves remembered her half-elf bloodline, huh?
Knight Philip looked at Amber, who was being taken away, with a serious and proud countenance. “Our clan believes in the god of warriors and knights, Kehr. We never keep things for ourselves!”
Gawain was quite surprised as he looked at the young man, thinking that it was no wonder he so scrupulously abided by the knight’s creed, that even when compared against his peers, he seemed so pedantic and rigid. So he was a believer all along… much better than a certain someone who believed in the Goddess of the Night and always had to spin up some prayers.
“With these things… even if we were to face the ‘aberration’ again, it’ll be much easier this time.” Knight Philip was still sighing over the new equipment. Then he said suddenly, “Oh yeah, we can give the blueprint to the craftsmen in Tanzan Town, even if it’s more expensive… ”
“There is no way to reproduce it.” Gawain expected Knight Philip to bring this up. In fact, that would be how any typical soldier would think upon seeing these equipment. They would want to mass produce these ancient treasures. Knight Byron was no exception, but unfortunately they were destined to receive disappointing answers. “These things are based upon the ancient Gondor Empire’s magical knowledge, and they require the purified magical power from the Well of Deep Blue. Magic power produced by modern magic focal points or magical power wells are too impure and too low in energy level to drive these things.”
Knight Philip’s jaw opened as he immediately realized what it meant. “In other words, these things…”
“Every time you expend one, you won’t be able to replace it. Even as long as the magical power is exhausted, they will become ordinary equipment because they can no longer be recharged. And because they have been rusted and corroded to varying degrees, they might even perform worse than the typical equipment nowadays. They would have to be brought back to the furnace.”
The young knight looked worried. “What should we do then?”
“Before we get to that stage, we just need to make good gears ourselves.” Gawain smiled and patted his shoulders with a confident look.
Regardless of whether he could really do it or not, he had to smile as though he was a knight that was very confident of the future. Besides, Gawain was really quite confident.
As long as the Dark Wave did not break out of nowhere, there was still room to maneuver.
Just then, from the corner of his eye, he saw another small figure running towards him.
It was Betty, the maid, who ran up to him again. She looked up at Gawain and said impetuously, “Lord! Miss Rebecca is looking for you!”
Gawain gave a blank expression. “What matter is it now?”
Betty thought carefully for a moment and said aloud, “I forgot!”
Gawain: “…”
Why couldn’t this girl remember anything besides cooking?
Gawain shook his head and thought it was already a consolation that the little girl could remember who she was supposed to call, and that he should not demand too much of her. He asked her where Rebecca was and went there with Amber. At least Betty did not forget where Rebecca was waiting for them…
It was not until they reached the location that he realized what Rebecca called him for——
The first batch of ores for testing had been transported from the iron mine east of the camp.
The first advance party included a blacksmith and several apprentices, as well as the basic materials needed to build the smithy. But ensuring survival was of top priority in the beginning phase of camp construction, so Gawain slowed down the mining plan for the eastern mine. Until the advance team’s living spaces were settled, he then sent people to the east to collect some ore for testing. These people set off in the morning and finally returned to the camp with some collected ores.