Chapter 66: It takes a village
Even before he started to sell concrete, Michael wanted to stock up on a lot of it first. After all, this village would also end up using a lot of concrete to finish all the houses and buildings under construction.
So, he instructed some of the Mankeys to journey out into the desert to try and find a good lime quarry they could tap into.
Fortunately, once they returned from their scouting, they found a big one very near to their current location.
He instructed them to start mining all of the lime they could get. And to make their jobs easier, he lent them the automobile to haul all the limestone they mined for the day.
Of course, he had to teach them how to ride it first. Thankfully, one of them had a talent that allowed him to learn driving quite easily.
For now, the amount of limestone they could gather in a day was just enough to supply the whole construction project for the village. However, if Michael wanted to export concrete to the world, then he would need a lot more workers.
"Lolo, do you know of some other Mankeys that can help us?" Michael asked the middle-aged-looking HobMankey in front of him.
He named the Elderly Mankey in front of him as 'Lolo', and after his evolution, he seemed to have de-aged by a couple of years and became a man in the prime of his life. However, the fur covering his entire body remained white, making him look like an albino Mankey.
Also, Michael decided to address the evolved Mankeys as HobMankeys because he reminded them of fantasy goblins back in his previous life.
After all, both were considered the lowest and weakest species in the world.
So, he decided to name their evolution like how goblins evolved to become hobgoblins.
"Yes, Boss Michael," replied Lolo with the gravitas of a cool uncle. "There are other Yellow Mankey tribes scattered around the Parched Lands. However, we do not know about each other's exact locations," Lolo replied.
Michael thought it would be nice if he could evolve more Mankeys and have them live in his estate. He needed a lot more talented HobMankeys that could help with the jobs in this village.
The mining group needed more workers, Kong had also been asking him for more talented engineers, and even Anne needed help in expanding the farm.
It was extremely fortunate that Yellow Mankeys had the natural talent to become producers, so he could be sure that at least most of them would have something to do in the village.
So, Michael decided to dedicate some HobMankeys to try and find some of those tribes hidden in the desert.
His intention was not to just get more workers but to also help their current situation. He was worried that there were a lot of Mankeys experiencing the same hardships that Lolo and the others had to endure.
There was plenty of space, food, and water here in his home. They didn't need to be suffering out there.
He liked the village to be a lot more crowded. As the famous saying said, the more the merrier.
"Lolo, please find some able-bodied HobMankeys who can make the trip through the Parched Lands to contact those remaining tribes," Michael said.
He entrusted this job to Lolo because the old man had an A-class talent called [Community Leader], which gave him the appropriate skills and knowledge to manage the current village.
Lolo accurately tracked all the jobs and talents of all the HobMankeys in the village, allowing him to easily assess which ones would be the best at which jobs.
"I have a couple of individuals who are perfectly capable of this job, Boss Michael. I will task them to find the other Mankey tribes. Trust that it will be done," Lolo said, bowing towards Michael.
Michael then addressed his shadow on the ground. "Fudge, you'll have your clones accompany them, right?"
The cute rogue slime with a 'chuunibyou' mentality popped out of his shadow and landed on the ground like a ninja.
"Yes, Master! I have already spread my clones in the entire village. As long as they say the secret word 'Beetlejuice' three times, then I will appear in their shadow and they can communicate any emergency that befell them."
Michael inwardly shook his head. It turned out that ChatJK2 not only gave the little bugger anime tropes, but movie tropes as well.
But since it didn't matter, Michael chose to ignore it.
"Okay, good."
Fudge jumped up on Lolo's head and excitedly raised his head. "Ah~~ I hope there's some talented recruits next time. No offense, but all the Mankeys in this village have boring talents. None of them want to join me in becoming part of my shadow army!"
"Boss Fudge, if anyone in our village exhibits any desire to become a 'ninja', as you call it, then I will inform you immediately," Lolo said, as if trying to pacify the slime.
"Really?! Good! I'm looking forward to it!"
Michael was glad that everything in the village was going well. According to Lolo, everyone was enjoying their current way of life.
They could drink water with just a single twist of a lever, they had a roof over their heads that protected them from the heat of the sun, and they could eat food and fruits every day. This was everything they ever needed.
Every single HobMankey inwardly decided to do everything they could for Michael and this village. They worked harder than ever to contribute their talents to keeping the village well-fed and safe.
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The days passed, with every Mankey working on their own project in the village.
There was one Mankey in particular who Michael entrusted a very special job to.
He was Kong. Right now, this particular HobMankey ran through the village with an excited look on his face. He side-stepped away from Anne's crops, jumped over the wooden carriage full of limestone, and ignored Lolo's warning of civility inside the village.
Kong didn't care. He wanted to tell Michael the good news.
He entered Michael's house and saluted at Fudge who was practicing his ninja moves by the side of the kitchen.
Then, he directly jumped into the second floor and burst through the master bedroom.
"Boss! It's working!" Kong said with a voice faltering from excitement.