Chương 215: 212. Invitation

Kivamus remembered that when the ex-farmer had done it in the South of the village, the strip had lasted for around two to three centimeters, before it had started to fall to the ground in a clump. That had meant it was good quality loamy soil for sowing wheat. But this time, the strip of mud kept getting longer until it was easily five to six centimeters long. That meant this was very good quality clay. Perfect for construction!

This fire-clay was also going to be instrumental in making a furnace in the future - but of course, that was for the future. Grinnin g in satisfaction, he looked at the guard captain.

"This clay will do very well for the dam. In a way we are lucky that there are so many coal mines in the region, since that is why this clay had formed here in the past. Tell the labourers that this location is perfect, and they should keep digging as much as they can until the evening." Hudan nodded.

"Sir Duvas had made one of them as the temporary foreman for digging here, so I'll let him know about it."

"Good." Kivamus continued, "With these fires burning here day by day, the nearby ground in this valley will also start to thaw slowly, making it easier to dig every new day. I think we should be able to gather a few wagon loads of clay in the next few days, so we will visit the stream at that time to decide the location of the dam."

Looking at the branches burning around him, he added, "Tell the foreman that from tomorrow he should bring some tree stumps too in the wagon, since they don't have too many uses in the village, and they will burn for much longer."

"Wouldn't it be too difficult to move it once the nearby snow has melted away?" Hudan asked with a frown.

"That was why we brought these long branches here in the first place."

"No, I don't mean for them to bring the stumps here to thaw the icy ground," Kivamus explained.

"They will still need the long branches for it so they can move it around to a new place easily. But once the thawing is done, the stumps can be set on fire here with enough gaps between them. They will also keep burning for much longer, and we can even let the stumps burn overnight here. There are hardly any trees here, so there is no risk of a fire spreading from here.

The heat from those burning stumps will prevent the ground from freezing again in the night - which will make digging much easier the next day - and it will also save a few hours which would otherwise be needed to thaw that ground again." Hudan gave an understanding nod.

"That sounds true enough. Give me a moment and I'll explain it to them and then we can return." Kivamus waved him away, and looked at the former stonecutters again, some of whom were using a pickaxe to further soften the ground, with others using shovels to dig into it. Cutting limestone was a back breaking task, and these people had done it for years. That meant they already had the skills to do it.

However, they used to be barely fed slaves not too long ago, but the past month of getting regular food three times a day had done wonders to their bodies, and they had already started to put some muscle on their frames. Hopefully, it meant that this digging project was going to progress smoothly enough. Before long, he saw Hudan walking back towards him, so he gestured to the other guards to get the horses ready. It was time to return.

Later in the evening, he was inside the manor hall completing a sketch, while Duvas was also sitting near the fireplace. Gorsazo hadn't returned yet from the classes though. The outer door of the manor hall opened, and a servant walked inside along with the young carpenter Darora.

Looking at Kivamus, the carpenter reported, "Milord, the first mineshaft is clear of most of the standing water, and I have just returned from the coal mines after guiding the workers to dismantle the water wheel, and reassembling it in the next mineshaft. It was too late for the labourers to use the water wheel there today, but they will start clearing the second mineshaft tomorrow morning."

"That's excellent!" Kivamus praised.

"How is the second crossbow coming along?" Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"I have most of the parts ready to assemble," Darora answered with a shrug, "but I am still waiting to receive the nut and trigger from Cedoron." He continued, "I think the specialisation is certainly going to increase the production speed of every part, but not all parts take the same amount of time to craft or forge. For example, the wooden stock of the crossbow is simple enough and doesn't take long to craft from a straight piece of wood.

On the other hand, the iron parts - especially the small ones - are much more time-consuming. That's why I am still waiting on those complex parts while I have already started to gather a small pile of other simpler parts. It will take a while until the production rates of every part match close enough to build a new crossbow at a good rate."

"Hmm..." Kivamus thought about the problem, but he already realised that with everything being forged manually by the blacksmith, it wasn't going to be easy to increase the production rate of the smaller parts. He could certainly order him to take on more apprentices to do it faster, but that would only use up their limited stockpile of iron even faster.

Apart from that, Cedoron only had a single forge for now which was also slowing down the production speed of iron parts, but there was no point in making a new one until they could be assured of a cheap and steady supply of iron ingots. He certainly knew that they were going to need a lot more iron in the future, but first he had to gather the funds to buy it, or to buy the ore from somewhere to smelt it into usable iron. He looked at the carpenter.

"Our situation is far from ideal, and I will do something about it in the future when it is feasible, but for now just do the best you can from our limited resources."

"Of course," Darora nodded.

"Good. Now, you must have already heard by now that there will be a small feast inside the manor this evening to celebrate the New Year's eve. Glancing at Duvas for a moment, he added, "It is only limited to those who live inside the manor this time, but I have already invited the other two specialised craftsmen in the village - Cedoron and Taniok for this, and you should also come here to enjoy it." Darora looked thoroughly surprised.

"You are inviting me too?" Then he shook his head and grinned.

"Of course you are... I am also an excellent craftsman after all!" Kivamus chuckled at the brash reply of the young carpenter, but didn't comment on it. It was certainly true that Darora was very talented, and without him it would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to build the crossbow and the wood press machine here, not to mention the sawmill he was planning to build near the dam on the stream. He smiled at the carpenter, and allowed him to return to his duties for now.

Looking at the majordomo, he asked, "Is everything going well for the feast preparation?" Duvas nodded.

"Of course, I've already checked with Madam Nerida about the adzee meat she is preparing for the manor residents. Unlike the last time when we had given a feast to the whole village, this time we barely have fifty people to feed, so it is much easier to arrange tonight." The majordomo continued, "I have also talked with Hudan about increasing the patrols inside the village for tonight, as well as putting extra men on duty at the village gate in the north and the gaps in the walls on the other two planned gates.

Hopefully, this time we won't be as unlucky as the last time when we had given a feast." Kivamus shuddered thinking about Nokozal's raid that day. That huge bastard was still alive and must already be planning a revenge against Tiranat. Then he snorted. It's not that there wasn't already a long list of people who wanted to damage, destroy, or capture the village from him.

"Let's hope so, Duvas. Let's hope so."

~ Tesyb ~ ~ Approaching Kirnos ~ After travelling for nearly two days, they were finally approaching the coastal village of Kirnos. They had left yesterday morning, and in normal conditions they should have reached Kirnos by this afternoon, but because of the snow covering the ground everywhere, they hadn't been able to see a pothole in the dirt road, since that was also covered by a layer of snow.

That had taken them an extra few hours just to get the loaded wagon free from the pothole, and they had only been able to resume their journey after that. He was sitting in the leading wagon, with the setting sun directly in front of his eyes. Feroy had also changed his position to the leading wagon and now he was sitting next to him, with the other two guards in the trailing wagon.

The snow had been falling continuously for all their journey, but it was much lighter this far away from the Arakin Mountains, compared to how it was in Tiranat. Thankfully all four guards had been given fur coats this time around, so the cold had been more bearable than it would have been otherwise. There also hadn't been any bandit ambush or any wild beast attack on the way, like the time when that boar had attacked them when they were coming from Cinran to Tiranat and he had frozen in fear.

However, the fight with Nokozal had opened his eyes and he had been training as much as he could when he wasn't on watch duty, so this time he was a lot more confident of taking on any bandits or beasts.