NOVEL WEB Chapter 20: Next Step
[—There are two options, host—]
"I need the nearest place possible, Brienne," Elon spoke.
[—I know, right? There is a small rocky land in Northwic Village. You will only need to pay them some bucks to get as many as you want—]
"Northwic is north of Thera... Well, not actually part of Thera, but they are only separated by a large forest," Elon quickly remembered that Northwic Village was mentioned in the novel.
In fact, Salvador used to trade fish and livestock with these people, and it was a thriving, independent village that had excelled in many ways.
Sometimes, many would even say Northwic was richer than Salvador, which was crazy but arguably true. They were already beginning to expand the village into a county, and the ruler was already being regarded as Count Emond.
[—Right! They are independent, but they haven't gotten into any negative issues with Salvador, so it would be easy—]
Brienne assured him.
"I hope you are sure about the exact location, Brienne. I don't want to end up in another land and get into trouble like the first time," Elon asked.
[—Well...]
"All right, I trust you," Elon smirked.
Brienne had already promised to direct him for the journey to Northwic. Although he knew little of the village's location through the knowledge of the novel, and even better with the memory of Elon, who had heard stories about many other independent villages like Fogmount, he still needed guidance.
After wasting thirty gold coins trying to avoid the hands of the Empire Courtmen, he surely didn't want to waste more money when the kingdom needed every resource they had.
And winter was coming.
The next day, he headed to the site where Ser Vorden and Ser Norman were already present. It was still around 7 a.m. in the morning, but the men had already resumed the wooden pipe construction, catching Elon by surprise.
"My king," Ser Norman approached Elon immediately after catching a glimpse of him.
"Ser Norman. I'm pleased," Elon smiled.
"I'm glad to hear that, my king. After today, the workers should be more than halfway done, and we would need your guidance for the rest of the job as soon as we are done," Ser Norman stated.
Elon nodded at once.
"I will surely be available by then, but I need to visit Northwic Village today for some other materials," Elon said.
"A journey to Northwic would be quite a long one. You'll need me to accompany you, my king," Ser Norman offered.
"Ah, no. Aiden will come with me. You and Ser Vorden should supervise the work here," Elon spoke.
Ser Vorden had no choice but to accept the order and nodded. Of course, when it came to protection, there was actually no one who could protect him better than Aiden.
After all, he was the personal knight of the late king's eldest son, Godric, and the one whom the entire kingdom relied on when the people were losing the war.
Although he was unable to defeat Xaven, he was still the strongest mage yet.
"How many soldiers have recovered from their injuries?" Elon then asked.
"About four hundred, my king," Ser Norman replied after a moment of recollection.
"Satisfying. I need thirty men to accompany me with ten carts, and the rest of the men should be put to work. We need to gather large heaps of clay every fifty meters across the entire area marked for the wall," Elon revealed.
"There should only be white clay, a lot of it. And the sand, they could get any type. A large amount of it to complete the fifty-meter distances," Elon re-explained.
"I'll do as you command, my king. The four hundred men will be put to work immediately," Ser Norman bowed slightly.
Elon trusted the chief knight. He was his father's most trusted servant when he was alive, and even though he was already getting old, he was still determined to keep serving the royal family of Rogers.
All Elon had to do was educate him about most of his projects and make sure he had knowledge of them. If he only had to educate Aiden, then things would be quite hard with just the two of them carrying out the work.
'Ser Vorden too... They both had to be part of this.'
Elon thought about this and nodded, but he wasn't about to make this official. Soon enough, he would organize the Posting Ceremony and name his officials, but for now, they needed to build the damned block wall!
...
Ser Vorden was deeply focused on guiding the workers building the pipes, so he wasn't able to notice Elon's presence.
He and Aiden left the site with the thirty men and ten carts he had ordered, and they headed northwards as soon as possible.
Yet again today, Elon skipped breakfast. He noticed that this wasn't a component of his former Keith self... It must be Elon's body, of course.
The guy was no foodie like Keith.
Plus, well... Elon really needed to get things in place, which had knocked him off some domestic things he needed to do.
However, it never felt like he was doing the wrong thing at all.
At least, he would only get some relief when the wall construction was completed...
For the meantime.
******
(Location: Royal House of Thera)
"They are currently building pipes and connecting them to the Broadwater, my queen. They also built refuges and cleared a large area for their construction. I think they are planning on building stronger walls," Ser Donns informed the queen after stepping into the throne room.
"A wall? With white rock?" Queen Arya questioned with a look of confusion.
"Yes, my queen. I think mixing the white rock with water would make a solid structure when it dries up," Ser Donns responded.
"How did he get such an idea? It's ridiculous and impossible!" the queen scoffed.
"My queen, I have heard stories about the people of the Red Continent building their walls and homes with some strong unique materials. I think that's what he is doing... Perhaps he might have gotten the idea from a book," Ser Donns believed.
Queen Arya thought for a while and heaved a sigh, still clueless about what to say.
"How many spies do we have on them?" she then asked.
"Two, my queen," Ser Donns hesitated and said.
"Send three more. We need to gather more knowledge about what they are doing."
With the queen's order, Ser Donns left the throne room and headed out.
******
Well, being spied on was one of the first things Elon expected, even if he had no idea about it at this point.