Year 2, Fall, First Month, First Week.
Keller couldnt stop thinking of what Lew said, he could only guess that the Fighter had seen things the villagers keep hidden, which convinced him. Even though Keller was investing in the village, he took its future destruction as a foregone conclusion. His presence and support aid mostly to build a bridge strong enough to save so Alchemy crafters before the village was destroyed. However, Lews conviction pointed to another possibility. From a business perspective, he would prefer to have the crafters under him, which ant more profits, but it also brought risks. Such a powerful craft would attract attention, even the Democracy wouldnt be able to watch quietly. So, it wasnt without benefits if they could stand on their own and protect themselves. Now, how Lew expected them to do it, was a true mystery.
In consideration of your effort, we decided to allow the trade of the enhanced weapons However, we would like for you to follow so restrictions. First, you wouldnt sell them to Kingdom or anyone related to them, in other words, we dont want them to get the weapons. Second, you would keep our identity a secret. Finally, you would have to et our requests by the end of fall
Keller was pleased with this decision, fortunately, the villagers choose to give him so leeway. However, sothing on Oros conditions caught his attention, the tifra for eting the requests was very stressed, like it mattered more than the request itself. When he got the letter, he thought the villagers just wanted the resources before winter, but now he could see that was sothing more to it. Another thing also added to his suspicions, why did they ask for five pulling beasts?
I agree with the conditions, Im just curious about the importance of the deadline, why do need everything before winter?
Oro looked at the Council mbers, checking their agreent. Earlier, they decided to trust Keller with so unspecific information about their escape.
Because Well be leaving before winter
What? To where?
I cant reveal the location
But how can we keep doing business if I dont know how to locate you?
Thats fair We can agree on a eting location anywhere near the Path of the second section
Thats A little uncertain, Oro, what are you planning? Are you trying to leave the Kingdom? If you leave the village, it wouldnt take long for them to find you
Keller looked around, expecting to see confused and scared expressions, but the villagers looked calm and confident. Now he was sure that they had hidden tools, probably sothing that could give them the confidence to survive. He could only back down and wait to offer his help when they needed it.
If you say so So, moving back to the deal. Taking out the rare resources, were left with the LQ fire crystals, the carts, the fabric and the other common resources Going with the market prices, it would be 43 golds, plus the 33 credit from last ti, which would be 76 gold coins in total This ti around, I would want fewer but better enhancents The regular enhancents on ten swords, spears and daggers, the rest I would like to put on armor and boots, enhanced to be lighter and tougher
With Oros permission, Reiner stepped forward to decided on the prices and quantity of the enhancents. After training a lot to make the math and conversions on the spot, she would like to put it to good use.
You want 30 weapons enhancents, for 40 silvers each, which makes 12 golds We could make the lightening enhancent for four golds for each armor and pair of boots That would give you eight armors and eight pairs of boots
The enhancents would cost a lot less than Keller anticipated, so he didnt think twice and answered:
Deal!
***
Congratulations, you scored 80 percent!
The shy teen looked at her, still uncertain of his choices.
Hmm Thank you Mam, could I try the disciple test?
Of course.
Reiner called over a helper and asked him to take the student to the right line. She sighed at how many students were willing to try the disciples test, they wouldnt be able to finish the Alchemy tests before evening ca. In the beginning, when the first ten students decided to try the test, she was thrilled, after all, there was a good chance of the departnt gaining more disciples. However, soon the line for the test grew, around half of the students that passed the resources test decide to try advancing. Reiner felt conflicted, if a large number of students advanced, the village would be able to develop faster, but it would be difficult to manage the workload with only the remaining students.
Although many would look down on the work of the students, Reiner knew they were an essential part of the departnt. Keeping track of resources, processing materials, arranging the re-drawing schedules and maintaining the organization of the departnt werent easy tasks. With nearly a thousand enhancents and magic tools around the village, the daily workload was massive. For example, yesterday one m-hoe* and 12 enhanced weapons suffered so kind of damage and had to be repaired. Besides the workload, the students still had to reserve ti to learn more about Alchemy and how to read.
To put even more pressure on their shoulders, Reiner decided that all villagers in the Alchemy Departnt should be able to read and write basic words. Once the departnt started dealing with more resources they would have to make records of everything, so she needed to prepare as fast as possible.
***
The team left the riverbank and headed north, towards the newly built camp. Inside the teams formation, four carriers held tightly two LCs packed with beasts, their hunt had been bountiful. Fortunately, the Lightness Rune under the tool lowered the weight over the wooden boards. But even with the weight reduction, they still sweat, the sun was strong and their thick coats only made things worse.
After creating the magic re-drawer, the Alchemy Departnt adopted a more aggressive approach with the use of enhancents in the village. To prevent deaths, the hunting teams were the first to experience this surge of enhancents and tools. Since then, Karl had drawn the Toughness Rune in the coats for more than half of the team mbers and he was working tirelessly to finish the rest before the week ended. Even with the sumr heat, the coats had beco standard equipnt for the hunters, the last incident reminded them how fragile the villagers could be.
Fortunately, the numbers of fur beasts hunted since the beginning of the year already surpassed the teams' numbers and the Craft Departnt had started working on them as they beco available. Since the coats only had a simple design, crafting them wasnt too difficult. With the needles and thread brought by Keller, one villager would take one to two weeks to finish one coat. The coat only covered their upper body, but its extra protection could be the difference between life and death.
The use of coats was mandatory and aid for the protection of the hunters, but it soon beca a trend. Even with the plain designs, the natural colors and beautiful patterns of the pelts started to capture the attention of other villagers. Once there were enough coats for all mbers, Katlyn decided to let them keep it as a private possession. In no ti, the coats beca a symbol to identify the hunters. The team mbers would proudly wear their coats even when they werent hunting.
Seeing the situation unfolding, Katlyn decided to take a page out of Karl's book and establish a competition system between the hunters. Each leader would rank the mbers of their team according to their performance. The better ranked would be able to use the more beautiful and exquisite coats as a show of their accomplishnts. However, to keep them motivated, the ranking would be repeated every two weeks, when the coats would be exchanged again. Surprisingly, the coats and ranking beca a hot topic among the villagers.
The alchemy disciples also decided to join the fray and started to hang the wooden symbol that marked their position around their waist. However, they quickly learned that it didnt cause as much impact because their positions didnt change regularly like the hunters. After getting so requests, Reiner decided to create standards to evaluate the disciples biweekly. Each disciple would be ranked according to the number of Arrays they drew and their creativity (insightful ideas). She asked Alfeur to craft so new wooden symbols, which would be exchanged by the disciples.
During the first month of fall, the villagers' attention beca focused on the performance of the hunters and alchemists. Even the elders, would join discussions and bet on the success of their chosen villagers, it was a welcod change of mood from the tension brought by their imminent escape.
Quickly, another month passed and it was ti to put the plan in motion.
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