15 Time

After making their way down the mountain Theodore instructed Greg and the group departed back to Fiverneley. Theodore had instructed Greg to take create a detailed account of all herbs living in the cave. Considering the vast amount and variety, the fact they could only employ people who are well versed in herbalism or at least the foraging of herbs and Theodore's command for secrecy Greg could only promise to report as quickly as possible. It would, at the very least, take a week to carefully take stock of the cave's abundant herbs.

Theodore himself was silent throughout the entire way back home.

After calming down he at least figured he had time to make plans for the future.

Winter would be setting in soon, about a month from now.

No one would come to interfere during this period.

The most critical periods were before and just after the winter. If they managed to sweep Theodore from his position before winter, it would only be after winter that people would get wind of the situation.

Theodore would be unable to reverse the situation during winter as well, making the time just after winter critical as well. But at least Theodore could plan for events unfolding at that time.

The quick and quiet departure of Bates and his men suddenly worried Theodore to. If he were to camp outside the territory only to waltz back in and reclaim his position.. Theodore shuddered, he couldn't compete with them right now.

As they alighted from the carriage after stopping in front of the castle, Theodore quickly instructed Captain ward to patrol the borders of the territory. Particularly stating his wish to know of any possible intruders and threats nearby. Captain Ward assured Theodore there were no known threats around and there was no need for any additional patrols. His men were already patrolling the territory regularly.

Theodore couldn't be bothered by Wards' logic and ordered him to personally patrol the edges of the territory and even cross over the border to check on any possible situations. The captain begrudgingly accepted his mission, not quite convinced of the need. He, however, knew better than to question too much. Fourteen men on horseback were then quickly seen departing from the castle as they made their way to the edged of the territory.

Theodore had put up a map on the wall and had been intently studying it for a while. He used various coloured pins to mark his observation. He would write down his thoughts, cut it out and pin it to the wall next to it. The colours matching the location of the pin of the map. He scribbled numbers next to the pins and on his 'notes'. It was a perfectly neat and organized system.

Among the various notes were notes about the cave, the tunnel, the logging industry.. anything he had observed during his trips to town and to the mountain had been recorded and pinned to the wall.

Four green markers were pinned up in a trapezium shape along the river, a bit further down from the 'city'. A red string was tied around these four green markers. The number and colour corresponding with a single note stuck to the wall next to the map: "New Fivernely". He hadn't been able to come up with any new, well-sounding names. He figured he could name it later and just denoted it as New Fivernely for now.

As he was admiring his own handiwork for a while he was disturbed by a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Theodore answered the knock.

"Captain Ward m' lord."

"Alright, you can come in." Theodore was anxious to hear the result of the patrol. Frankly, on a horse, riding around the periphery of the territory could be done in several hours. With fourteen men splitting up and scouting the edges, it was a matter of only two to three hours.

Ward looked around in Theodore's office and quickly made his way to Theodore, who was still standing in front of the map.

"I hope I was not disturbing your work, m' lord." Ward said as he looked from Theodore to the wall and back. He didn't have time to read all the notes, but he was quickly impressed by the amount of information Theodore had quickly gathered and processed. Just a few notes with big words made him know the grandness of Theodore's plans. New Fivernely stuck out to anyone who would glance at Theodore's map."

Theodore' couldn't be bothered with Ward discovering his detailed plans on the wall. Sooner or later, Ward would be part of the operation anyways.

"Tell me about your investigation." Theodore cut to the point immediately. With all the thought swirling in his mind, he had no room left for polite chitchat. Not to mention that he was still quite anxious about the results too.

"Nothing of note m' lord."

"Nothing?" Theodore knew the Captain wouldn't bother visiting him if nothing was found. If nothing was found, he would have one of his men come and give a report. Apparently, something warranted the captain's visit.

"Well, not in the sense of threats anyways. We did find a boy, sir, lost in the forest. He's definitely not a native to these parts. Claims to be an 'inventor'. Made a big fuss when he saw us passing by. Said he wanted to talk to you. Well, he 'demanded' to speak to you."

"What did you do to him?" Theodore said, intrigued.

"Well, normally we would've left him along the road. Not just any lunatic can demand your attention m' lord."

"But?"

"Well, he shouted several profanities after we left him to his devices. And in the end, he decided to throw a stone to my head. Naturally, we decided to arrest him and put him in the dungeon for a while. So we took some rope, tied him and laid him over the back of my horse."

"During the way here, however, he said some interesting things. Mayhaps my lord would be interested in such a person. So I decided to take him here first and see what m' lord thinks."

"What kind of interesting things did he say?" Theodore's interest was peaked. If even the usually stern captain found him interesting, it should be worth his while.

"Says he knows how to make 'paper'. A kind of parchment that can be mass-produced. Said he's been travelling to sell his idea. Funnily, he lost all his money in his attempt to create a functioning machine that makes his ideas a reality." Ward explained.

"Paper?" Theodore was quite surprised to hear this word. The current world used papyrus or in some cases, linen as a surface to write on. Paper was completely undiscovered as of yet. For the word "paper" to come from some stranger along the road made absolutely no sense!

Theodore knew he could create paper from cotton, soaked in warm water and mashed into pulp. One of his notes was actually on researching a way to introduce 'paper' to the masses. Theodore was aware of how much impact the invention would have on society. Literacy, spreading knowledge and documenting would become cheaper and easier!

Theodore had thought to spend a long time on inventing a stamping press and printing press. Just knowing that it worked, did not mean that Theodore could create one easily from scratch! He would have to draw out the mill, the machines and all components! This was far from easy. Now a man claimed he could mass produce paper! Could this be the legendary luck of an MC!?