Chapter 33- Rapid Expansion
As the spring of the fifth year started for good, we sent our first group of settlers to start their village, and a small group of soldiers to keep them safe for a few weeks.
And the village they were setting up would be the first and the last one we’d set up for the entirety of March!
In April we were going to send 2 groups out to settle new villages, and in May only a single group like in March.
And by the start of summer, the capitol would have 80 less people, and we’d be able to finally replace those wooden hut barracks we built way back when!
Not that we’d stop using barracks all together tough, as forcing people who’ve just come into the world to get married would be... immoral to say the least.
So, I was going to order the building of at least 4-5 barracks inside the second wall so people would have a place to live in for their first few months in their new world.
Also, each of the barracks we’d build in the outer circle would also be like the barracks we used for the soldiers, so decent to live in, but most people wouldn’t want to live in them for the entirety of their lives and would inevitably move out with either friends, or their loved ones.
And what was I going to do with all the empty space inside the first wall? Well, I was planning on slowly planning on getting started on building the mansion the befitting of a lord quest required as I was... quite homeless right now, and I needed more officials to help me run this empire, and they’d need offices for themselves and housing for their families.
So, the entirety of the inner wall was going to be converted into the government quarters it was always meant to be!
Over the course of a year or two that is as, while I can literally summon people by only using literal wood, manpower was still a problem.
And after a few months, all the settlers were finally out of the town, and I put CG1 on the job of starting the transforming of the inner circle into a proper mansion/government quarter.
I was planning on having 4 different sections/wings in the inner wall with the northern most one being for the vaults, the eastern one being for administrative offices, southern one being for housing of the officials and me, and the western one being for the barracks for the soldiers.
Though, the soldiers wouldn’t be in those barracks for long as they needed their own district where they could set up training grounds, offices and even more barracks and armouries.
I was planning on putting the HQ of the guards and the soldiers in general in the second circle, or perhaps I’d put it into the third circle when the time came to build it.
Though the training grounds would have to be outside the capital itself as they’d require quite a bit of space for everything necessary.
And as the training grounds would be outside the capitol, we’d need to build barracks and other infrastructure there too... but that’s for later.
How later? 5 years at most. But more like 2 or 3 as I was going to continue enlarging the army as the empire grew and grew, and we’d need those training grounds sooner rather than later.
Medieval armies were usually on the smaller side, with only a few hundred to a few thousand soldiers in each army but my army was probably going to number in a few dozen thousand in 50 years or so, so starting to build their infrastructure early on would be great.
And I am not counting the armies of the nobles under me in that calculation btw. Their armies will probably be on the more normal side for the time period we are in, with the biggest ones having a few thousand soldiers under their command, but I also had to keep a whole continent in order so the size of my army would be more than justified.
But, putting aside the fact that I was 100% planning on putting the fear of god into the hearts of the nobles under me, and focusing on everything going on right now, the rest of the year went by pretty well.
By the end of the sixth years winter, we had completed most of the things I had set out to do in the fifth year.
We had completed the 5 barracks in the second circle for the newly summoned people, and CG1 and the newly made CG6 were working hard on completing all the constructions in the inner circle, and I also made them construct another barracks for the guards in the inner circle, so we currently had 80 soldiers ready to go!
And quite a few of those 80 soldiers would help with settling even more settlements this year, and I was planning on sending either CG2 or 3 to start construction of the military quarters so more space in the inner circle may be freed for more offices and housing for the officials.
And I just needed more soldiers in general as we were approaching the 1000-population mark, and would reach it by the end of this spring, which meant I’d have the chance to settle even more settlements the next year, and finally get grant title.
I was conflicted between what research to choose, grant tittle or uplift, but I believe grant title will simply be the better of the two options as I already have quite a few knights and mayors under my control, and in a few years, I may need to get some Barons to help me manage the empire too!
Not due to the population, as I’d doubt we’d pass the 2000 population mark in 1 or 2 years, but because of the sprawl of the empire.
And, as I plan on promoting mayors to barons instead of sending barons from the capitol, each baron would select a village to be their centre of power, which will get more altars of life, which will allow them to grow into towns quickly.
So, the next few years are going to be very, very hectic for me.
But, luckily for you, you are just going to see year 7,8, and 9 written on a page with some details about what happened each year instead of all the suffering I have to go through.
Lucky you!
Then, as the spring passed by, we passed the 1000 population mark and... nothing happened?
Quickly opening my empire system, I confirmed that we really had more than 1000 population.
Population: 1.134
“Yup, its over 1k actually... so, why’s the quest not completing itself?” I muttered, and opened the quest in question.
A Small Town – Have a total of 1000 Homunculi, and 2 villages with at least 50 people living in them. – Rewards: 20 Exp + 2 Research Point
“...Ahh... my villages only have 20 people each, and get at most 10 people a year... I need to select a few villages which will get more people next year, won’t I?” I muttered, and went to the exploration official and we decided on which 2 villages to send 30 people next year.
This was going to... perhaps strain the resources of the new villages, but we were here to supply them, and their leaders would also be becoming barons so it shouldn’t be a big problem... hopefully?
...Who am I kidding, its definitely going to be a problem. I just hope that its going to be a temporary problem and not a permanent one.
Then as months went by, and the empire continued to develop, the construction of the administrative quarters was done in day 2.369!
Problem, Rae rejected to acknowledge it as a mansion as, according to her “A mansion needs to have a large garden.”, bla blab la... so, no rewards for me! But I am fine with leaving this place as the administrative quarters and making a manor or a mansion another time.
Though I may make one after we finish the construction of the third wall as we are slowly but steadily filling up the second wall.
It’s not really a pressing issue to build the third wall right now, but I want to make the third wall out of stone, and I want it to be at least 200 meters away from the second wall which will put its circumference to around 1080 metres.
I can, of course, always just build a log wall first and then slowly replace it with a stone one, but I kinda... don’t want to do that.
Afterall, I already plan on perhaps removing the first wall entirely, or reducing its size, so making another wooden wall as I am planning to remove one is... not the best idea.
But I wonder how long it would take me to build the stone wall I am thinking of... hmm, give me a few nights and I’ll come back with an answer!
...
Okay, I am done and... I believe we should be able to finish the construction of a stone wall that is 2 meters thick, and 6 meters tall in about 2 months.
Assuming that I put half of our entire construction force to simply built the wall that is.
Because we kinda need to... you know, actually make the bricks we will use in the walls, and we don’t have that many masons so it will take more than a year before we have everything necessary to build the wall.
But maybe if I put a Construction Group under the wing of the masons, they can do it in under a year?
I’ll have to talk with the masons about that, but hopefully that will be something doable.
At worst case scenario, we just gain 35 more masons, and I built another temporary log wall.
I mean... I could always just grant them the knowledge of masonry but... do I want to waste so many mana stones for that?
.... Eh, damn the consequences! I am gathering 35 people and asking them if they want to be masons!
Because I will get my damned stone wall!
And after a few days, all 35 of my new masons started working on starting the work on the stone wall.
After the third wall was done, I’d either make them convert the second wall into a stone wall too, or just make them make bricks for roads.
Or perhaps even open a university of sorts and make them teach people that wanted to become masons?
I’ve only got a small school for children right now, and while some of the private businesses have workers under them, the only way for one to easily learn a trade is to come and directly ask me for it.
So, opening a bigger academy of sorts will be quite useful... perhaps I should start planning it out already?
...No, there is no need for a grand academy right now.
In another decade, perhaps. But, for now, I’ll just make multiple small schools for that, or perhaps just start a school district that may turn into a grand academy later...
Yeah, gotta make an academy district inside the third circle, and have a few smaller schools around town for children.
And I’ll... I think put CG7 to the task of expanding the school, and making more of them.
And yes, I have 7 construction groups now. We are expanding fast; you shouldn’t be surprised by this.
Anyways, before I can talk about the wonders CG7 makes, first I need to talk about the guard’s HQ CG2 completed.
It has 5 barracks, with each being able to hold 20 soldiers so 100 in total, and administrative offices for the officials of explorations, and officers and knights in the army.
It’s... nothing impressive really, its just a block of barracks, and some amenities for the soldiers stationed there.
But hey, the nearly non-existent crime rate will plummet down now!
...Though perhaps I re-man a barracks in the administrative district, so the administrators always have some guards?
That... doesn’t sound that bad of an idea.