Homesteading in a fantasy world

I guided the younger brother to the tent and gave him some water and food. He was starting to open up a bit more and once again I was amazed at how well children can adjust, I just wish they didn’t have to.

It was time to get started. I looked at the bug and began. “I want to make this as clear as possible. No matter your choice if you oppose me or help me or decide to do neither your brother will not come to harm. You can come here whenever you want and take your brother wherever you want even if we are enemies.”

I waited until the bug slowly nodded so I continued. “That being said I would very much like to employ you. I would pay you in gold or monster cores and in exchange I want you to give me information about my enemy’s army that you are currently a part of. I would like to get information once a week. You would need to write down the information you gather and leave it someplace where my eagle can come and get it. I hope that you could use one of your bugs to guide my eagle to the place of the pickup.” I waited for a moment but I didn’t get any reply.

It took me a moment, but I figured it out. “I guess you want to know the amount. It's hard to put a correct price on it as it would depend on how well you do but I will guarantee a minimum of 100 monster cores. That should be enough for you and your brother to survive a long time. That is just the minimum and I’m quite certain that you will exceed my expectations and earn a lot more.” It only took a few moments before I saw the bug nod.

“I guess it’s time for some more specifics and I will also ensure that your brother is taken care of but also just in case the slave king has some other ways of gaining information we will act like we don't know he's your brother.” Another nod and so began my explanation of what I wanted from Mirhit.

It took me almost two hours until we were finished and after that I let the younger brother rejoin the refugees as they started to head towards the village. None of us joined the refugees as there was no need. The road was safe, and we needed to push forward to the town. So once again we started our march which was also a good way for the soldiers to practice.

During our march, I thought back on what I tried to explain to the young spymaster that Mirhit could possibly become. It was hard to understand what his ability was. From the little information I could get he had two abilities working together that made his current scouting possible. What was even more surprising was that he was just 15 so his potential was quite high.

He was going to emphasize that our territory was led by an incompetent noble who like to party more than actually rule. He was also going to lie about our soldiers’ capabilities but to keep the numbers correct. I had no delusions that the slave king would have more than one way of finding out how many troops we had.

I had to teach him quite a lot about what information would be crucial to get but hopefully, he was a quick learner so I would have all the information I need to defeat the army coming here. Another crucial fact was that Mirhit was not going to leave any of his bugs in the town that we were going to dismantle but that also meant that we couldn't bring all the resources directly to the village. We needed to keep the resources a bit further away so Mirhit wouldn't be killed as soon as the army arrive to find there was no town for them to fortify.

I looked in at the village and saw everyone preparing to come to the town. They were preparing equipment, food and carriages needed. All they were waiting for were the refugees to arrive and of course, my word that we had secured the town. In the meetings, it was always left unsaid about what happened to the inhabitants of that town if they don’t come to the village, but I hope that they will agree otherwise I would have to kill them.

The next two days passed quickly, and, in the morning, we approached the town. There were two men on top of the gatehouse talking like old friends which they most likely were. When they noticed our small force approaching, they started to hit a bell that sat on top of the gatehouse meant to signal trouble.

We waited at a good distance away from the gate until someone in charge came to talk to us. During the wait, I looked at the wall and started to calculate how much stone we will get from this and while the number was quite large it was also going to be a lot of work on getting it back to the village.

One by one more people appeared atop the gatehouse and in the end, there were twelve people there before someone yelled out to us. “What is your purpose here?” An older-looking woman yelled down to us. There was no fear in her voice, and she gained my respect because of that.

“I am sorry, but I bring unfortunate news. An army from down South is slowly conquering its way towards here and plans to take over the nation that I come from just a few miles to the north from here.” I pointed towards the border when I finished yelling towards them. I could have gone closer to talk in a more normal voice, but this might turn into a fight and no matter how confident I am I shouldn’t be stupid.

“Are you here to warn us? If so, we thank you for this information but that makes me question why you have brought so many soldiers with you.” She yelled back without a single waver in her voice. She most likely knew that they couldn't win a fight, but she wasn't going to back down until she needed to. She would make a good leader if she decided to join us.

“If you are wondering if we are going to take this town over and claim it as our own to add to our nation then I’m afraid to tell you that is not true.” I could see her preparing to curse us but my last statement made her confused.

“Unfortunately defending this town is not feasible with our current resources but we also can’t let our enemies have it.” I could see her understanding what I meant but she didn’t speak out.

“Destroying this city would be a waste of resources. So, we will, unfortunately, be taking it over to take it apart piece by piece and take everything back to my nation.” After those words, silence permeated the surroundings. The disbelief in many of the people living inside the town was understandable but there was also anger. But before some of them could yell curses at us or attack the older women stopped them.

After a few moments of thinking she yelled at me. “Are you offering for us to join your nation or would you let us leave here without a fight to seek our fortunes somewhere else.” The others obviously didn’t like what she said but they respected her enough to stay quiet.

I decided to tell the truth. “Offering you a place to stay is our first choice. But I’m afraid there isn’t any other choice.” There was sadness in my voice, and I didn’t try to hold it back or amplified it.

I could see her shoulders sag and I could see that they wanted to stay on their own but that wasn't possible at least not right now. “I know that this choice is terrible, but it isn’t permanent. When the war is over for this year in fact when the enemy discovers this town. You will be free to leave if you want to.” That made her look at me. She stared at me for a few minutes making everyone nervous. The tension in the air was palpable but it broke as soon as she spoke.

“We surrender the town, and we will accept your offer of safety.” She said with finality and while I could see some of the younger people on the gatehouse wanting to argue they didn’t. After a few moments and some quick words from the old woman, the gate slowly started to open.

I led our soldiers in formation to walk through the gate. When I stepped through a realization hit me. This was the first town I conquered. Right after that, a notification appeared. I had level upped my heroic commander to level 2.

I guess the system acknowledged my conquering of this town. I was surprised that this would work because it wasn’t official territory of any group. It wasn’t a lot of experience, but my heroic commander class was the second closest to a level-up. I had expected my homesteader class to level up first as it was so close. I guess with this new class upgrade I would get experience not just from fighting but achieving objectives in war as well.

I brushed my excitement away because we needed to deal with the people of this town. Goose will reach here in a few hours, and I will send a message to the village that they can start heading this way when they have taken care of the refugees. That will give me a few days to visit the goblins and hopefully bargain for a few hundred skirmishers so we would actually have a chance at winning.