Town Builder

Chapter 8: Funding A Town

Galana took her job very seriously. She got all 14 militia together and had daily training sessions. She set up a makeshift archery range for practice as well. She also asked for a budget to add four more militia, all women who wanted to learn bowmanship and defend the village. I conceded and gave her a monthly budget of 30 silver. She could use her skills to make quality bows and arrows for the militia, which would be much better than what we were using or could purchase. It was a very sound investment on my part.

Two days after Galana arrived, the earth mage rode a stone horse that dissolved into the ground when he reached the town center. I went to see the commotion. A hairless man with ebony black skin stood looking around. When he spotted me, he smiled and approached me with white teeth. I invited him to my humble house, and the villagers disbursed.

Sanso was the earth mage’s name. During our meal, I learned he wanted one acre of land to build a residence and apply his skills. His requested wage was two gold per month! I choked a little on my food.

I wondered if I was smart in hiring all these NPCs at the master level. I told him that his wage would be paid in terms of the acre of land for the first month. Then I could do one gold a month for his first year and then two gold a month after the first year.

Simba told me an earth mage of his caliber was easily worth five gold a month, which would be a bargain. Shit, I hoped I had not insulted him. He said he would think about it and left having not finished his dinner. Crap, I thought, he is going to leave the village. I could not do anything about it, as I did not have the funds to meet his demands.

I pulled out my drafting tools and lost myself in my work. I finished the plans for the tannery and brewery by morning.

My notifications from the last few days showed that I had raised woodcraft by one and carpentry by two. My drafting skill was up two points as well.

Common Tannery Plans, Health 3000, Requires Masonry: Foundations 7, Woodcraft: Carpentry 7

Uncommon Brewery Plans, Health 5000, Requires Masonry: Foundations 23, Woodcraft: Carpentry 23

I walked out into the early morning light and saw the earth mage walking in the distance. He was already walking toward me. I waited for him nervously to hear his decision. Sanso had spent the evening talking to the townsfolk and seeing if this was a good place to live. He was impressed with everyone and the praise they put on their lord. It did take me a second to remember I was the lord! He was in!

We talked, and then we actually walked about two miles north, closer to the mountains. We talked about him teaching me earth magic. He agreed, but I would have to purchase any spells from him per guild law. Simba was not around to explain the mage guilds, but I assumed it was a game mechanic that allowed players to learn new spells. He said he would build his home here and make a road straight to town to connect the main road. Great! He spent the next two hours unlocking my earth magic, and earth magic: stone skills.

Earth Magic 1 Tier 1 unlocked, +1 Magic, +2% effectiveness of earth spells

Earth: Stone 1 Tier 1 unlocked, +1 Constitution, +2% effectiveness of earth:stone spells

I then paid ten silver for two spell books.

Stone Bullet Earth: Stone Tier 1, Magic Cost: 25, Effect: Summon and send a rock at a target, Range 120 yards, Damage 20, Casting Time 1 second

Summon Earth Earth Tier 1, Magic Cost: 27+, Effect: Summon 1 cubic yard per 27 magic in a single casting, Casting Time 5 minutes

I went home and, while eating lunch, learned the spells. Feeling good about myself, I went to Galana’s target range and practiced the stone bullet spell. Each cast summoned a rock the size of a child’s fist and sent it forward with great speed. The spell could only direct the rock at a space. If the target was moving, I would have to anticipate its movement in order to hit it. That meant I would need the ranged skill. Damn, another skill slot was used.

Galana approached me and watched me fling rock after rock at the target before asking me if I wanted to learn the ranged skill from her. I said yes, and under her guidance, I leveled the skill to level four by sunset, which gave me +3 agility. My stone magic also advanced to level 2.

Ranged Combat, Level 4, Tier 3, +3 Agility, +8% increased range of ranged attacks

Earth: Stone, Level 2, Tier 2, +2 Constitution, +4% effectiveness of earth:stone spells

Galana invited herself to dinner at my house. I prepared the food while we talked. She was impressed with the closeness and enthusiasm of the community. She said she could get the militia all to the expert level in two months, but she wanted them all to be full-time town guards and not militia.

We talked it over, and eventually, I decided she could choose four willing militia to promote to guards. Then she asked what the loadout of the city guards was going to be. I was confused, so she elaborated on the standard armor, melee weapon, ranged weapon, and uniform. I was taken aback. We really didn’t have a ‘city’; there were just a few families living in the town.

I finally caved and let her know my coin flow was not very high, and I was stretched very thin. She just smiled and said she could solve that issue. She wanted to take a hunting party out into the plains to gather meat for the village, giant porcupine quills for arrows, and lion hides to sell. Reducing predators was part of her duty and all harvested materials would go to me as lord, but she would charge a slight fee for making arrows for the guards.

I asked Galana if she could handle the creatures in the forest across the river. She contemplated before saying she probably could one-on-one, but if they outnumbered her, she would probably fail. Fail. That meant death to an NPC. NPC’s deaths were permanent, from what Simba had said. We needed the lumber across the river to expand and upgrade our town. I would have to wait until we increased our strength to venture there.

Galana left, and I found that administration was taking up a lot of my time these days. There was, of course, an administration skill, but I had not been prompted to learn it. I was not sure if I would accept it anyway; it was charisma-based and increased the efficiency of your subjects.

That night, I slept a little but found time to finish the plans for the brick factory. It was just a common building, and I put the plans on the shelf. Our new earth mage assured me he could supply stones in any shape, so the brick building was moot. However, I took away a single skill point, which increased my drafting skills.

During the new day, I demolished all the remaining abandoned buildings in town for lumber. I had Jaesmin’s help, and we brought it all to my mill. I planned to use half of it for the tannery, which would be built near the wooden guard tower out near the plains. I assumed the building would have foul odors, so keeping it away from the town center was probably smart. Did smell even matter in this game? I was getting a little lost in the realism.

Jaesmin was eating dinner with me in the kitchen. We had spent all day hauling lumber nearby, so it was rude not to invite her in. A knock at the door, and it was Galana. She joined us as well. She produced a parchment while we were devouring a platter of mini venison sandwiches. I took the paper and read it.

Hunting Harvest, Septum 7th, Year 1

18 Cleardusk Plains Lions

3 Giant Porcupines

29 Cleardusk Plains Deer

2 Cleardusk Pride Master Lions

1 Cleardusk Plains Buffalo

Wow! All in a single day. Quite impressive. Galana could one-shot most of these critters. The buffalo was found far to the west, and there was a large herd of them, but it was getting late in the day, so they just took one beast to see if it would have value.

The total value of this haul, if sold in a big city, was almost one gold, Galana informed me! But I would probably keep the meat and quills so I would get closer to 60 silver for the unprocessed pelts and hides. The pride master was a level 15 beast, according to Galana, and a boss monster. These two hides alone were worth about 15 silver each.

Damn. Great work! We needed to get these hides to market. I told her to tell the soldiers great job; they could take as much meat as they wanted. I was now going to have to get that tannery built fast. Galana planned to hunt every other day and expected to bring in an average value of 50 silver worth of goods for sale. That was 14 gold a month! My money problems were solved as she had promised. Well, as long as we can sell the goods anyway.

The next day the hunter’s harvest was processed, and everyone loved the buffalo meat. When I sampled some buffalo jerky, I found it had better recovery benefits than I had consumed. It tasted the same to me, though. The buffalo steak tasted like lean beef to me. The villagers asked for more buffalo, and Galana said she would take the hunting party to the Far West Plains the next day. She would shepherd them as no monsters could threaten her at her level.

Today, I started building the tannery. I hauled some foundation stones out to the site and began to dig. The building was not large, and with Jaesmin, I would be able to finish the building foundation in a single day. There was no basement, so it went quickly. We even had time to haul half the lumber from the mill for construction. I figured it would only take me two days to build the simple two-story building since we had the beams and planking available on site. The game mechanics allowed some flexibility in the usage of the salvaged wood.

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