Chương 87: CHAPTER 84 — Northridge Village

As Mark walked toward Northridge village a system message appeared.

[Regional Stewardship Opportunity Detected] Western Lake Region: Northern Settlement Integration Recommended Actions: • Speak with regional residents (0 / 12) • Identify specialized professions (0 / 5) • Establish future trade opportunities (0 / 4) • Share knowledge of regional infrastructure projects • Warn settlements of emerging southern regional threat • Encourage long-term specialization growth • Evaluate transportation expansion potential Potential Rewards: • Regional Influence Increase • Stewardship Experience • Expanded Zone Authority • Settlement Cooperation Bonuses He was just reading through it when Cora said, "Hey, do you see that?"

Pointing down the street on the left side. She was pointing at a horse-drawn wagon, which was startling, as they had not seen any animals pulling wagons up to this point but had seen many carts and other hand-pulled items. The most interesting thing to Mark was the number of people and the number of buildings they had. It was five times the size and scope of what Lakeside was. They did not make it too far until someone came to greet them. He was an older man, probably Mark's age.

He said, "Hello, welcome to Northridge village is this your first time visiting?" Mark answered, "Yes, my name is Mark, and we represent a series of outposts east of here. My guess is that you guys have heard about the cave?"

"Yes, we have heard about the cave. We receive system messages about it from time to time. The young and adventure-happy tend to leave and head that way." The man did not sound like he was super happy with the cave but, all in all, was pretty kind to them. He then invited them to look around the village and talk to people. Mark let the man know that he wanted to talk about trade and other things with the representatives of the village, and the man said he would pass along that info.

Cora then walked straight to where the wagon and horse were to talk to the lady standing next to them. She said, "Hello there where did you find the horse?" Mark thought it was funny how blunt Cora tended to be blunt, but he had gotten used to it over the time he had known her.

"Hello, my name is Tessa. I work at the stables; the horse belongs to them they have a few dozen of them." Cora said, "It is neat that you have horses; we came up the road from the south and did not see any there."

"The problem is the wagons. They are made of all wood, and they break down a lot, so we normally use them around the local area so they don't get too far away, normally mostly between here and the village just north of us and work sites." Mark said, "Tessa, where are the stables you talked about we would like to talk to someone about the horses." Tessa pointed them in the right direction, and as a group, they went off to see what all they had.

The stables were around a corner and down a block, and it was hard not to notice them with a barn full of horses. When they got there, they found a man brushing one of the horses. They waited until he was done. Mark said, "Hello, my name is mark I am from a group of outposts from the east is there someone in charge we can talk to?" The man answered.

"You can talk to Joren; he is in that door." Pointing at the door next to them. Mark and the others walked in the door and waited for Joren to notice them. Joren said, "Hello, how can I help you?" Mark said, "Hello, my name is Mark, and this is Cora and Elias we represent a group of villages east of here and want to talk about your horses."

Joren and Mark spent the next half hour talking about the horses and how they had been breeding them, that they now had over a dozen of them, that they had been training them to help pull wagons, and that a few had been saddle broken and could be ridden.

Though talking, Mark found out that the biggest problem they had was keeping the wagons they had built working with a lack of steel; they were having issues with wheels and shafts breaking under the strain they got through, and without anything stronger than wood, they were unable to go far with the wagons. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Mark said, "Joren, we may be able to help you out in the future.

We have a group of people who are learning to smelt and use ore that has been found in the Cave that is east of here."

"I have heard of the cave some people from town have gone to try their luck there, and a few have come back realizing they are not built for that sort of thing." Mark asked him about acquiring a breeding pair and found out that he would be able to do such a thing, but a deal like that would need to go through the village council.

They talked about the classes that they were getting while working with the horses he had gotten the Stable Keeper class and that some of his workers had earned the wheelwright class after all the work on the wagons and another, the Cartwright class. Also, they had a Team Handler who they had talked to outside. Elias asked, "Are there any farmers around or people growing food or that type of thing?" Joren said, "Yes, we have a farm just northwest of the village and have some crops.

I don't think they have much for trade, though, as they are struggling to get enough food for everyone in the village." Elias said, "Thanks. I think I will go and visit them. I might be able to help them." With that, Elias and Cora headed in the direction of the farm. Mark, though, wanted to look around the village more and see who else he could find to talk to. As Mark wandered around town, he was able to talk to a number of people he found a few people down near the lake that were fishermen.

There was a guy in a shop who was working on leatherwork. He found out from other villagers that they also had some sheep, goats, pack mules, and draft oxen that were cared for by various specialists. He eventually found a member of their village council and had a conversation with him.

"My name is Edwin; I am on our village council. I was tasked to reach out to you and find out if there was anything we could do to help out."

"Hello, my name is Mark. I represent a group of outposts that are east of here. One of them is at the cave I am sure you have heard about. Two others and I were tasked with visiting the outposts and villages out this direction and seeing if we could create trade agreements. We have many items that may be of interest to you guys, and we would love to see if we could trade for some of the livestock you guys have."

"Well, we as a council would need to talk about what we need and can spare, but tell me what you have to offer." Mark shared with him the Forgeworks project that they were building as part of the Regional Infrastructure Opportunity. He talked about his Frontier Steward class and how it had required him to work with the local areas to build and improve the local economies and how, as part of that, he was given the opportunity to build the Forgeworks.

Edwin was excited to hear about the system granting the chance for the project. They had been struggling over the last six months to make real gains in the village. He went over their struggles with feeding the large populations they had and how they would love to do trades that involved food or food stocks. Mark said, "We can definitely help in the food area. That is part of why we're here.

We have found a large area of wild wheat and would love to trade it and other items for some livestock and other goods we don't have." Edwin said, "When you're talking about a large area, are you talking enough to feed an outpost's worth of people? We are talking about issues feeding our village of 70+ people, and the outpost next to us has another 50+ people." Mark replied, "We are talking enough to feed them 10 times over. But we do not have the manpower or the means to ship it.

That is what drove us out on this trade mission. We were hoping to find some more farmers that could help harvest the wheat. Also, livestock to use in that process along with horses, mules, or oxen to pull wagons to help with trade." They talked for a few hours as they went over things they could offer each other. They had some people that might be willing to move to a new area of growth, as their village just could not support the numbers they had. Also specialists that needed new things to advance their classes.

Elias and Cora came back, and Elias turned to Mark and said, "They have bees and bee keepers do you know what that would do to help farm production? They also have a variety of plants we don't have, but the soil here is not made for them, but down south we could grow them like crazy." Edwin agreed to pull the town council together and have a meeting, but because of the amount of news, it would take some time.

He asked Mark and his group to continue looking around and suggested they stay at the inn tonight, and they can go through trade agreements tomorrow after the council meets. Mark spent the rest of the night talking to people in the village and those outside. He talked to a Quarryman that was interested in moving, and Mark suggested talking to the town council about it, as they were looking to recruit some people but did not want to leave a burden in the village by taking people they needed.

Mark found the Cartwright and Wheelwright and discussed with them the need to build many wagons and carts and asked them about their needs for trades. Both of them were excited to hear the news of the ore and forgeworks and asked if they could trade for nails, hinges, and future Forgeworks production, like metal bands for the wheels and axles and other things they struggled to keep functioning. He talked to the farmers that Elias had met.

He found out they also had a few fruit trees that were not growing well, and they talked about the possibility of growing them in the southern zone, and he told them of their need for specialized workers. They talked about the exchange of people that could come here and others that could go down there to work so as to increase their classes. When they finally went to the inn, Mark again pulled up the list of his objectives.

[Regional Stewardship Opportunity] Recommended Actions: • Speak with regional residents (18 / 12) COMPLETE • Identify specialized professions (11 / 5) COMPLETE • Establish future trade opportunities (7 / 4) COMPLETE • Share knowledge of regional infrastructure projects COMPLETE • Warn settlements of emerging southern regional threat • Encourage long-term specialization growth • Evaluate transportation expansion potential Mark realized he forgot to mention the regional threat, and he planned to cover the last two with the council in the morning.