Chương 72: Chapter 71 - The Array.

A cannon manifested directly behind her, its barrel pointed forward.

"Now let's handle this with civility" Nythera looked to each of them. None spoke.

"Fogtown is a part of our community, a part of my Kingdom, whether you like it or not" Nythera began softly.

"They will get half of all the classed loggers, and one in four of all the classed fishermen, but no other migrants. Furthermore they only get those with no other classed members in the family." Nythera's voice carried weight, the cannon behind lending to her influence. Aldric's eyes had not moved from the construct. Felix frowned.

"What the fuck do you mean, a quarter of all fishermen? We need fishermen in Grandport too! And even Halsbury has a handful of rivermen, fisher-classed are among the best sailors short of sailors themselves" Noah blasted out "Fishers are a profession we always will need here". Nythera held up her hand. Noah looked on anxiously.

"Leo's ship, on returning, will be full of mistvale pines at a cheap price for every load of people he drops off. That will in turn, be split evenly between Amplewoods and Grandport, paid for wherever he drops it off""I suppose that will do" Felix relaxed back into the chair. Noah nodded. Lance had a look of approval in his eyes. Ok one matter settled, onto the next. Simon nodded "fine, we got a lot more pine than people. Rorick only wanted me up here because we need more fishermen anyways.

The soil back home is full of rocks, as many as hairs on your head, in the same amount of area""Now for the next issue. I will be using some of our plentiful tax budget on the establishment of an outpost, Quartzwoods, right in front of the dungeon entrance. It will only have a few buildings and serve as a resting point for delvers seeking to run the dungeon or hunters seeking better prey. This should pre-empt the hunters clearing the area around Waketown and the other towns." Nythera said.

"Aye" came from both Felix and Ollie, then Simon who didn't seem to care.

"The river isn't navigable all the way to the dungeon, so it'll be hard to get supplies up, but we can source some wood at the site. Should be doable" Noah had a hand on his chin, in thought "the quartz materials are very valuable, you have my support""Now what about the populations? Has the system picked up our new migrants?" Lance asked. She flicked up the stats for all to see.

Domain Cores (2/2): Myrraval Population: 2, 373 Mistvale Population: 1, 508"Leo told me a funny story" Lance leaned in, capturing everyone's attention in an instant.

"There are hundreds of groups of migrants, peasants mostly, waiting at The Edge, waiting to be scooped up. They bless The Mother whenever they get on the ship. Also the executions on Greypoint have sped up drastically. It seems the entire Orechester dukedom is either getting tossed off The Edge or wandering right up to it" Noah and Felix nodded along.

"Captain Leo is going back and forth as fast as he can, it's a lot easier to get them off The Edge than scour out floating boulders, but he says they can't take them all" Lance finished his report. I really wish we had another ship or two, I can't give up the Sea Empress right now, I need her. Damn it, why did the hangar only have two functional ships? Could we fix the third one?

"Milady, would it be possible to procure another vessel? It would greatly help the settling process. Waketown already has a dozen migrant families." Noah asked.

"Possibly, I have several leads where more could be, a lot more potentially, but we cannot get to them at this moment. I know it's harder, but have Leo prioritize those thrown off the cliff, we could be saving lives and get even more grateful migrants" Nythera said. Noah nodded "I'll see what I can do, its a bit weird though, the sheer amount of Cult of The One hanging around The Edge is strange."

"Alright is there anything else? I think I covered most of what I needed to." Nythera asked. Felix and Ollie both shot up.

"We have a problem with that rascal" Ollie gestured at Aldric.

"Rascal? How dare you!" Aldric responded with fake outrage.

"Migrants are nice and all, we do need them to work the land, but we don't have enough tools, especially for the farmers. We haven't gotten tools from Rustreach in two weeks" Felix said, his frown deepening.

"The migrants don't have tools, they barely got anything and we don't have much in stock after the war" Ollie added to it. Aldric broke out in laughter "That's what you get! That's what you get!" he slapped his knee.

"What the fuck is going on with all these damn migrants? What's with this loop? Duke Orechester? Vathrial? Have you all lost your damn minds? Keep me out of the loop, kick my deputy out of the meeting, and you expect tools?" His laughter turned malicious, dripping with spite.

"You don't give me my due representation, you don't get shit. No voice, no tools" He added.

"Look, if Rustreach was willing to play nice for once, maybe you could be part of this. But you've been no better than the last mayor and I'm starting to wonder if there's something in the water up there" Nythera shot back, her cannon had long since dissipated. Do I really need to threaten him at cannon-point every time? This cannot be a good way to rule a kingdom.

"Why should we bow to some upstart queen, we were fine on these isles before you came and we'll be damn fine after you're gone, better even" he spat back. This is not going to be resolved anytime soon is it? I didn't want to do this but…

"Aldric, I would have made Rustreach part of the migrant loop if you had been willing to help with the migrants, but that doesn't appear to be the case" Nythera sat up straight.

"I didn't want to do this, but you leave me with no choice. I have one more announcement" Eyes snapped back to her.

"Waketown has iron, a lot of iron even. It is located in the hills near town. My personal forge will be constructed there, as well as a mine, and a workshop for tools. To be funded by tax money. The tools will be distributed by the mayors to farmers, at no cost to migrants" Nythera laid it down like an execution. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"Noah, is there adequate tax income?" He nodded "the token donation you made still covers all of Waketown for a while yet, it should cover Quartzwoods as well. We haven't need to tap the tax income yet""What? Iron?" Aldric's eyes had a blank look to them.

"Iron is Rustreach's export, our primary good""I am finished with announcements, if anyone has anything to report to the council, please do so now" Nythera kept up an air of decorum. While he is reeling from shock, I will appear composed. This contrast should help remind people who is in charge, and who is capable. Lance shook his head.

"Nope" Ollie said. Felix shook his head and leaned back. Simon looked bored.

"Milady always brings such fun news to the council, these meetings got a lot less boring" Ollie chuckled.

"Very well, Lance and Rowen, please meet me upstairs to discuss the iron situation." She turned to face Aldric"If you want to be a proper member of this council, you cannot just send a deputy, but given the distance to Grandport, I understand. In the future send someone more reliable, perhaps someone based permanently in Grandport" Her words bounced off a still-confused Aldric.

"But IRON IS OUR EXPORT" Aldric's fist hit the table. His deputy grabbed his shoulders and shook him out of his transfixment. High Administrator (lvl 12 > 15) Manufactorium (lvl 2 > 3) High Administrator should cap out at level 30 right now, given its a primary skill… It's got a while to go. Manufactorium leveled just from ordering the construction of a mine? Interesting. Nythera found both Rowen and Lance whispering in hushed voices at the top of the stairwell.

"What's this about? Something I need to be worried about?" Lance whispered.

"No, but we should go somewhere a little more insulated" Nythera shoved open the door to one of the guestrooms and slammed it shut as they filled into the tiny room. Nythera pulled out one communication array after another, handing one to Rowen and Lance. She popped out three batteries, slotting them in the back of each device. She shoved two sets of parchment notes into their hands "Study these carefully, these devices allow long distance communications" She flicked the "On" switch one each device.

"These are "off" and "on", and this board full of buttons is how you type, I expect you to memorize the keys and how they translate to Greymereian, which I've detailed in your notes. When I am out exploring, I will communicate back with these every time I find something slightly interesting. We can also use these to get out early warnings in the event of an attack""What the Hel are you on about lass? These things some weird artifacts you found somewhere?" Lance looked incredibly confused. She sighed.

Fine we are going to need to go slower then.

"The batteries collect ambient flux, so you won't need to charge these up yourselves. Look let me just show you" Nythera typed rapidly on the tablet before her, glyphs appeared, written in flux, changing with each additional glyph added. She finished her statement and click on "Send to array in range" Both of their tablets lit up with a configuration of runes, the label "Tablet #412" prefaced the text.

"That's a fancy trick" Lance remarked. Rowen nodded along.

"Learn the glyphs and you will be able to send messages to everyone with a device like this, which is two other people as of now" Nythera had a smug look.

"Where'd you get such fancy artifacts? These don't look like craftwork from any smith I know" A sparkle of wit appeared in Lance's eyes. She looked at Rowen. He nodded.

"The depots, those black monuments around the island have more than you would expect" she answered.

"Figures, no wonder you sought them out" Lance shrugged.

"Keep these artifacts secret for now, in the future maybe I can run council meetings with these things but for now we only have three and I don't trust Aldric" Both nodded. Nythera made her way back home with haste, keeping greetings short and swift. By the Gods, I am fucking tired. Crashing her bed had never been so comfortable. … Wind rushed past her face, sending her hair into a tizzy. A hard pull on Synchronized Thunder and the drift fins collapsed back into the ship.

Another tug and the thrusters jolted with 5% more force. One hand gripped the repaired railings, mistvale pinewood melded with a woodmancer's work. That big green bastard is going to eat cannonfire. Who knows when I'll be able to get this ship properly repaired. IF that is even possible. The hatch swung open with a wave of her finger and she slid down the ladder into the main deck. Eight metal-rimmed barrels sat in place, filled with thanaphyte explosives. Straps held them closely to the walls.

Deploying these mid-battle is going to be a pain, but should be well worth it. With a tug she confirmed that the bindings wouldn't slip. Would not do to have my lower decks flooded with life-flux poisons. She climbed up the ladder, the smell of sea spray flooding her senses. Waves rocketed by beneath as The Sea Empress zoomed up the eastern coast of Myrraval. Where am I leading these people? After Damien all I've done is explore and deal with petty island politics.

I guess colonizing the interior is a worthwhile effort, a place secure from Wrath is worth it. If I can turn this island into a booming civilization, a proper nation, I can improve the lives of all. No more fluxspawn attacks, no more overloading dungeons, no more cowering from the weather. We can save the people of Orechester, and benefit both while doing it. We can conquer these islands, rebuild fleets of old, and be secure. Secure from Karaveth, Secure from Vathrial, Secure from Fluxspawn.

Flux along the coast swirled in her vision, wisps heading to a central source. The flux jittered, stopping, tumbling down bit by bit, then winding away. Almost as if it's sand… The ship swung for the shore, drift fins deploying to balance the vessel. She tugged on Precision-sight, scanning the shore for movement, but finding none. Lizigeons croaked next to her ship as they soared in for a closer look, the leathery scale wings struggling to keep up in the wind.

A huge one led the pack, all four wings flapping violently as it tried to assert dominance over her ship. Must be a matriarch, I've heard of them but damn, it's nearly up to my knee in height. Her vision was yanked to the side, homing in on a large crab. Yup, I know what this is. Nythera pulled out her communication array and mashed glyphs with excitement.

"Found new dungeon, strata zero". Sending the message, she eagerly waited for a reply. Tablet #395 "Asjogesioj[wriipotgijsid" Tablet #299 "I do isojfoishoethrsg" I suspect 299 is Rowen, given they at least tried. It's going to take a lot more time before we are using these regularly. Nythera stopped the ship, plotted the location of the dungeon on her map and prayed to Kronan. The lizigeon swarm flew straight past her bow heading for the treeline with angry croaks. e Her prayers were answered shortly after. Cartography (lvl 18 > 20) (CAPPED) Lord of Fire (lvl 1 > 2) YES! Lord of fire as well? Is it for finding a dungeon? It must be just a trickle then or the prior dungeon would have leveled it. Might need to consider another token for cartography. Nythera's ship pulled into port with all the bravado a flying could muster, landing with the confidence of a Queen." Tie her off" she tossed a line off the bow onto the nearest sailor and hopped onto the docks. Let's use my room, Rowen will come knocking soon enough, if not both. Darting through well-known streets and alleys she retraced the route back. As always, exactly where I left you. She shoved through the doorway, recoiling at the smell of particularly heinous chemicals. What the Hel is Edwin working with now? I swear I'm going to break into the cellar one of these days. Alright when they get here, we need to review those glyphs while I update them on- On her bed lay a note in pristine parchment.