Chương 164: 161. Parting of the ways

Kivamus shook his head.

"No, there has to be a chain of command here, otherwise you will just get bogged down with those requests all day and won't have time left for anything else, especially once we have constructed more longhouse blocks."

He explained, "The simple reason is that the majority of the complaints from those people are likely to be petty ones, maybe something like a person wanti ng to change their bunk from the upper one to the lower one for some reason, while someone would prefer the upper bunk only, and these can easily lead to arguments between them. So, this way, the administrator or the supervisor of the block can solve most of the problems himself or herself, and you won't have to be worried about such things.

And if there is something that really needs your attention, then the administrator can come to talk to you once a day." Kivamus continued, "The more these blocks run themselves, the easier it will be for us, and by following a proper chain of command, this system of longhouses can be scaled up very easily.

This way, even if we have a dozen such longhouse blocks in the future, you'll still be able to solve their complaints within an hour, since you will only have to meet with their administrators, instead of hundreds of people who want to have their complaints heard." He added, "So basically, these four supervisors will have the task of running the longhouse blocks smoothly by themselves. But tell them that these are unpaid tasks and this is being done just to make the longhouse blocks organize themselves better."

He snorted, "And if someone still complains about the absence of wages, just tell them that their compensation for that work is getting to live rent free in that block." Duvas laughed and gave a nod.

"I think I understand your reasons, so I'll find people for all those tasks by afternoon. That's three people in charge for now including the overall administrator, and maybe another one in the future once they start growing vegetable patches. But still, why would we ever build a dozen longhouse blocks? Even if we wanted to shift the whole population of the village into such blocks for some reason, they all can probably be shifted into just three or four such blocks. So why would we need any more of them?"

Kivamus chuckled, dreaming about the day when a series of factories would be running in Tiranat, giving him an opportunity to help his people by giving them proper employment so they would never have to see their children starving and they wouldn't have to depend on charity from anyone. And at the same time, he wanted to earn enough profits through it to ensure the proper safety of his village as well as of himself from the growing list of people who wanted to see him dead.

They had been lucky that they had basically gotten off scot-free from the recent bandit raid because Calubo's information reached them on time, but he knew very well that it wouldn't be the last raid. And those were just the outlaws in these forests.

What if one of the nearby nobles, or that bastard Zoricus - who had enough resources to probably buy a whole army of mercenaries - decided that they were done with sending assassins in secret or nudging the bandit groups to attack his village, and brought their own guards or that so called army to ransack his village? He had no intention of giving them any chance for that. To prevent that, and perhaps to do anything at all in this world, he needed money. A lot of it.

And to achieve that, he needed a veritable army of workers to earn those profits for him while making goods for Tiranat to consume and export. He wasn't going to be a robber baron like those in earth's past, and he had every intention to provide proper working conditions and good wages to everyone who worked for him. But he also couldn't sit passively and let those greedy nobles steal what little he and his villagers had here. He frowned for a moment.

He was thinking more like an expansionist CEO these days instead of like a mid-level mechanical engineer that he used to be. But then he chuckled to himself. It seemed like he was going to get the results of that promotion after all - the one which he had barely gotten on Earth when he was torn from his life as Steven to become Kivamus. But instead of getting just a single promotion, it was like he had been propelled all the way to the very top, where he was in charge of taking care of everyone under him.

The only difference was that instead of owning a company on Earth, he owned a barony in the Kingdom of Reslinor. He glanced at Gorsazo for a moment and grinned - who must have understood that he had gotten another one of ideas from Earth in his mind - before he looked back at the majordomo.

"Never say never, Duvas. Who knows, we might just need to house a lot more people in the future..." Duvas gave a slow nod.

"As you say, my Lord. Perhaps I'll understand those reasons in the future. Apart from that, I wanted to tell you that Taniok has already started working on the jail room we wanted to build here." Kivamus nodded.

"Let's see how long it takes. We have a lot of stuff we need him to do." He gazed towards the distance and muttered, "I really wish we had more trained carpenters here."

"We can't really do anything about that right now," Duvas remarked.

"Anyway, I should go to the longhouse block now to see that everything is going properly. And I also need to allot the administrator and the other supervisors there." Kivamus gave a nod, and the majordomo exited the manor hall. Taking a deep breath, he gazed towards the long dining table where a few parchments were rolled up with half finished drawings. It was time to work.

~ Maisy ~ ~ Mr Kigeir's home ~ Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. It was afternoon now, and it was finally time for them to leave now. Earlier, Elsie's mother had plainly told Mr Kigeir that she simply wouldn't allow them to leave in the cold of the morning. That meant she and Timmy had gotten a few more hours to play with their only friends in this world - Elsie and her little brother - apart from a tasty meal as an early lunch for them.

But she had to keep blinking while eating so her tears wouldn't start falling down. But now they really had to go. Mr Kigeir had even closed up his shop - which rarely got any customers these days, from what she had seen - to take her and Timmy to the longhouse block himself, with his family accompanying them. Leif had to go to work as a laborer earlier in the morning, so he had already said his goodbye to them.

She didn't have anything to pack anyway, apart from a new pair of clothing that she and Timmy had been given by Elsie's mother, once she had seen that their old clothes were too damaged. They had also been given a patched up blanket by Elsie' mom today, which was actually one of the best the family had. Stepping outside, she held the hand of Timmy, trying to put on a brave face, even though she really just wanted to hide and cry in a corner.

Elsie had also been sobbing earlier, but now she was just quiet, completely unlike her usual bubbly self. It was certainly cold outside, but she was mostly used to it from her time living in the streets. But still, she already missed the warmth of the house she was leaving now.

There was already some snow gathered on the ground, and in the morning, she had tried to make some snowballs to fight with others, but her heart wasn't in it, so she had given it up when Elsie had just looked at her with wet eyes instead of throwing a snowball back at her. As they started moving through the narrow streets, she tried looking around her to distract her mind, and saw a lot of other villagers moving in the same direction as them.

Many of them were carrying some patched up sacks and wooden bowls, and a few of them even had separate clothing on their shoulders, while some of them were holding a big pack over their heads, with a few pieces of dried straw poking outside from the holes. Was that a straw mattress like the ones in Mr Kigeir's house? She kept looking around as they walked, and before long, they were walking over a piece of plank kept over a long ditch, with the huge longhouse block looming in front of them.

She stopped to look at it for a moment. Just how big was that building? It could probably hold dozens of houses like the one she was leaving behind! Reaching close to the gates, they paused for a moment to let a small crowd of villagers pass through the gates first. And immediately, the thought that she was leaving behind her only friend along with the family who had taken care of her and her brother returned back to her mind, making her blink back her tears.

She turned around and found Elsie looking directly at her as tears fell from her best friend's eyes. Would she even be able to talk with Elsie anymore? What would happen to their dreams of becoming maids in the baron's manor together after they had grown up? Would their little brothers ever be able to do their mock sword fights with sticks from now on? Maisy looked down, not wanting to think about it anymore. It hurt too much.

But suddenly, Elsie ran up to her father and with her hands on her waist, she asked angrily, "Why can't they stay here? Why are you sending them away!" Mr Kigeir looked at Maisy and her brother for a moment, before he replied in a tired voice.

"I already told you Elsie, I don't want to see them go either, but I simply won't be able to feed everyone if we all stay here."

"But the baron is providing free meals to all of us children every day!" Elsie retorted. Mr Kigeir shook his head slowly.

"Not anymore, Elsie. Now that the longhouse block has been built, he will stop providing those free meals. From today the food will be cooked within the longhouse for those who live there. That means there won't be any more free meals for either you or Maisy, or for your brothers." Elsie gazed back at her, but Maisy just looked downwards again, not knowing what to say. Her best friend turned back to her father again and glared at him.

"Then she can eat half of my food!" She begged again, "Please don't leave them here, papa..." Mr Kigeir looked at them with resignation and spoke in a soft voice, "That won't work for too long, Elsie, not when our shop barely gets any customers these days. Believe me, I have already thought of eating only half my meals for this, but such a thing isn't sustainable for our already big family..." Maisy looked at him in surprise. Why would he say that? Why would he skip his own meals for orphans like them?

Maisy glanced towards Timmy who had been crying silently, and it hurt her more than anything else. Not wanting to prolong their suffering any longer, she took a deep breath. It was time. Holding her little brother's hands, she started walking towards the gate of the longhouse block. And as much as she wanted to, she didn't look back, or everyone would be able to see what a big crybaby she was. Elsie was shouting her name from behind, and she just wanted to turn around and run to her. But she couldn't.

Maisy sighed while holding back her tears. She had really enjoyed spending time with her best friend and her family, but she knew it wasn't going to last. Good things never lasted for people like her, after all... Reaching at the tall gates, she wiped her eyes with her sleeves again, and stepped inside the place which was going to be their new home.

Or at least, their new shelter, since there was only one home she had known after her parents had passed away, and the residents of that home were now standing outside, and they were probably going to enjoy their own lives without two helpless orphans disturbing them. Elsie would also be able to find a new best friend now soon enough with her cheerful personality and would easily forget about her...

She blinked her watery eyes, already knowing in her heart that it wasn't true or that family wouldn't have taken them into their home anyway. She knew it was just a silly lie she was trying to make up for herself... But she still had to make her heart believe it, or it would hurt too much. She forced herself to keep walking further while holding Timmy's little hand, instead of turning around and running back to the only family they had known in their short lives.

Tears kept falling from her eyes as she kept walking. It wouldn't be long before they all would forget about her and Timmy anyway, right? Right...?