Chương 432: 427. Progress Check - II

Pydaso had agreed and bought the 200 tablets in a real-time transaction instead of giving an advance order, and had paid 400 gold for it, as well as another 70 gold for the paper. Of course, he was also given the 200 tablets from his advance order last time, and the plan was for him to manage the sales in a way that nobody would think that there was a double the usual supply of the medicine.

The merchant had found another good contact in Ulriga who wanted to buy the medicine and could keep it a secret—for now anyway—as a way to diversify his sales. It wouldn't be a good idea to depend on a single Ulrigan trader and his trust. This way neither of the city traders would be able to guess that there was double the amount of medicine this time than usual. They also talked about decreasing the sale of medicine to each city trader in the future so he could supply both of them.

It would help with the perception that there was not an unlimited supply of this medicine. As for the remaining transaction, they had to pay Pydaso around 120 gold for the liwabeans he had brought in both his wagons. The merchant had said that he had managed to make a good deal with that international ship merchant who wanted to get rid of his stock, and had bought another 40 sacks of liwabeans and had kept them at a friend's storehouse in Ulriga, hoping Tiranat would buy them.

Kivamus had immediately agreed to it, since that was the original plan anyway, and now Pydaso would bring 20 sacks of the beans in each of his next two trips. Regretfully, Pydaso didn't get any reply from his sister Astela this time, but hopefully he would bring a reply next time from Ulriga. One good news was that his wagon driver had already talked with his family about moving here, and had spread the news to his neighbours in his home village near Ulriga.

According to Pydaso, some of them were reluctant to move, while others had been discussing it seriously. The merchant guessed that when they came to Tiranat next time, there might be some other people coming with them, to which Kivamus could only grin. If news about good opportunities in Tiranat spread near the huge coastal city, then it would mean more workers and even skilled craftsmen might start to move here in the future.

After all the discussions, the merchant had left this morning for the next trip to Ulriga, but Calubo had asked to stay back this time. Kivamus had heard rumors about the young guard and Hyola, and he was happy for them, and had told Kerel to allow that. Pydaso hadn't minded, but Kerel had given him three guards this time instead of the usual two, for more protection.

Once the other guards returned next time, Kivamus planned to send four guards with the merchant, because he wanted to protect his investment in a reliable merchant, and the selling of tablets was his biggest source of revenue right now, and it was tax-free to boot. Those liwabeans had been stored in a barn, and would be planted right after the wheat was harvested and in those same fields. That would utilize that empty space while also providing nitrogen fixation to the depleted ground.

That would also be ready to harvest right after the end of next winter, and would provide a good source of protein to the humans and fodder to the animals. The diggers had also been working hard every day under the direction of Yeden, their foreman, and they had been cutting a wider and straighter path through the hills every day.

Yeden had mentioned the diggers being scared while working in those hills, especially since there were a few howls by a pack of adzee heard recently, but so far the workers had been fine, especially with the help of the two crossbows which had been given to their group for protection. They wouldn't do much against something as big and powerful as an adzee, but it had given them the mental strength to continue working.

Of course Kivamus realized that the danger remained, and he would soon have to allot a group of guards to defend those diggers. The coal mines would be safe in such a case, because the workers could just hide inside the mineshafts and block them until the danger passed, but the threat was still present at the dam, which was turning into a dedicated industrial area of Tiranat, and that place had no protection at all.

There were no bandits in the eastern hills, and mercenaries lived far in the south of the village, and would have no reason to go to those hills, but it didn't make him feel better. Just a pair of visiting miscreants who heard about the place could put those sawmills and triphammers on fire and set the village back by months. They would probably have to place a permanent guard presence in that location for that, apart from making some kind of fencing or wall.

He would have to discuss with the guard captain and Feroy about what could be done to protect that industrial area. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Escaped slaves had been coming regularly from the north as well as the west, and the village population was increasing steadily. Duvas' latest estimate was that the population had just exceeded 600, which was a lot of workers.

The four men left behind when Feroy and Hyola had freed the slaves from that farmhouse had also returned a few days ago. Initially, only three of them had come inside to meet their family members, and to check on their well-being while the fourth one had stayed hidden in the forest outside with their drug gold.

But once those three had confirmed the safety of their families, they all had agreed to stay here, and had willingly handed over the latest proceeds from the sale of veydril in Ulriga worth around 40 gold, saying that they didn't want anything to do with that drug money. As long as they could stay here with their families, they didn't want anything else. Duvas had been more than happy to take the gold, to add to their slowly increasing stockpile of the precious metal.

Of course they were still in debt to Trevalo, and had to pay the mercenaries at the end of summer and the tax at the end of autumn, but now things were looking bright in that regard. The 300 gold Feroy had brought from that drug running knight, as well as the net amount of around 350 gold they got from Pydaso had given them a good cushion. Including what the former slaves gave, that was around 800 gold and Duvas had put that amount aside to use for paying the tributes to the mercenaries and the count.

Their regular expenses like paying the craftsmen, as well as buying domesticated animals, food and other necessities from the visiting merchants from the north were being paid for by the regular sales of coal.

The increasing village population had meant that coal production had also increased in sync and now they were producing around 55 wagon loads of coal every month, despite a lot of workers being busy with the other projects in the village as well as the relatively high percentage of population which worked as guards. They were currently selling around 30 wagon loads of coal every month, which was a huge improvement from what it was at the end of winter.

That was in comparison to around 40 wagon loads of coal the village produced and sold last year. The current production of 55 wagons of coal would keep increasing steadily as more refugees arrived. Their two coal barns were already full, and the surplus was being dumped in the east of the village for now. So by the time Trevalo returned in a week or so, he would have enough coal available to take to Cinran with him to transport through a sailboat to Ulriga and sell there.

That would also give them a new source of wheat, even at the currently astronomical prices, but in a way, Tiranat could now afford to feed its people. The amount of their savings was steadily increasing as well, because despite their coal sales getting close to normal, they had only been paying the villages in kind—just wheat, vegetables and some soap. But it did mean that now the time was right for everything to return to normal and for the village to start paying its people as they deserved.

He just hoped the guards had found even a few hundred gold in their counter raid, which would provide enough of a surplus to start paying everyone within a few days. He couldn't wait to see the happy faces of guards and the workers when they heard the news. However, there was still no sign of the guards... He sighed, and decided that he was getting too sweaty and needed to get away from the sun, when he heard the sound of three short horn blasts from the west.

He immediately jogged to the handrail on the west of the roof and looked there, wondering if there was an adzee threat or a bandit attack. He could see the recently cleared space in the center of the village from the roof, apart from some wooden houses and the shops at the market square, and further ahead in the west there was the wooden temple of the goddess near the wall. But from his vantage point here he couldn't see outside the village's palisade walls.

That's when he remembered that that signal was prearranged to announce the arrival of the guards. It meant they were back. He could only hope that they had come without many casualties, but they had finally returned. Perfect! It was time to go and meet with the victors.