A Guard and Future Fortunes

Over the next few months, nearly every shop was renovated. The previously battered walls and faulty ceilings were rebuild to provide a more clean and structurally sound final product. The first to be done was Smith's shop. Although Smith had attempted to turn down the offer, stating that his shop was not as important as the others, Michael wouldn't accept no for an answer.

The reason? To Michael, the blacksmith was a core function of the city. Everything from tools to door fixtures were forge within. Along with the building itself, Michael also rebuilt the old forge that Smith had been using since he began his business.

The new forge stood taller and would allow for easier progression from hand forged products to cast products. Michael even commissioned the local potter to craft a crucible using a new clay mixture. This crucible would be two feet tall and a foot and a half wide at the top. On either side would be iron anchor points. Using the anchor points, the crucible would be more maneuverable.

Next came the local bakery. Aside from the building, their oven was reworked as well. The old oven could barely fit two loaves of bread and was inconsistent when heating. Losing a third of you potential product simply because the temperature inside the oven was far higher on one side than the other was unacceptable to Michael.

Projects such as these were underway throughout the city. As the final project was completed, Michael again gathered some of the masons as well as the laborers he had hired before. The plan for the following year would take the whole summer to complete. Therefore, he wanted everybody to be ready when that time came.

"After the snow is gone for the year, we will begin reconstructing the residential homes. I want there to be multiple build teams all working at once. Every team will have two masons. The others will be divided up equally. There will be no extra pay for getting the job done sooner than the others but I will dock your pay if you take too long on one project.

These homes are going to be made to last for decades to come so do not cut any corners in the construction process. We will be offering three separate options for the homes. The least expensive is a single-story home with two bedrooms. These are likely to be housing single parent families with one or two children. If there are elderly couples that live alone, they will also be in these simple homes.

The other two options are both two-story buildings. One will have two rooms one the second floor while the other will have three. Prioritize housing the large sized families within the three-room homes. The blueprints for each will be provided to the masons on each team.

Three teams will focus on the single-story homes, two for the two room, and the final team will work only on the three roomed homes. Should any issues arise, you will contact me immediately."

Having divided the teams up for the following year, Michael then turned his attention to another matter. The defense of Astra. Currently, there were no trained guards for the city or any body to enforce law. This needed to be corrected as soon as possible.

With the new construction techniques and the growing prosperity of the city, attention would soon focus here. If the attention stems from greed or jealousy, there is currently no means to defend themselves.

Should another territory set their eyes on Astra, they would face little to no resistance. This worry has been at the back of Michael's mind since he began down this path. Initially, he had thought of forming a local guard using the current means of combat. Why would he limit himself like this?

He has the knowledge and training regimen he underwent in his previous life still fresh in his mind. Thus, he posted a notice in the city center requesting able bodied men aged seventeen to thirty who could not offer any technical skill to the city.

By the end of the week, there were fifty-seven volunteers. He chose five of the most promising and sent the others away for the time being. He would personally train these five over the next eight weeks. In his stead, Alice was handling the city matters. A simple task considering Michael had already outlined what needed to be done and how it should be done.

After the eight weeks were over, Michael wrote out detailed training methods and turned them over to the five men he had trained personally. With the outlined training in hand, those five were tasked with training the remaining fifty-two men.

With the promise of food, shelter, and money, it was a wonder only fifty-seven individuals volunteered so far. Still, they would suffice for the time being. Throughout the winter months, they trained. By the end of the winter, every man that had signed up was able to defend against five opposing soldiers. Or at least, that was Michael's belief.

As the snow began to melt and the ice thawed, construction began again. This spring brought many more traders than the previous year. Word of smooth road and an improving economy traveled fast amongst the merchants.

In order to better profit from Astra's growing economy, Michael began to ponder a business venture he could start himself. It would need to be something simple to produce yet easy to sell. Initially, he thought of selling completed plows. After consideration, although there would be a high demand, production would not be able to keep up.

Instead, Michael began to draw up a new carriage design. A design that would be popular amongst nobility yet so affordable that even the people within Astra would be able to afford one. With the blueprint in mind, Michael set out for the local carpenters.

After a brief discussion, Michael had hired three carpenters. Under contract, these three would begin Assembling the carriages and storing them within a warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Along the way, they would also produce the main body for several plows. The path to more gold than the territory could ever spend was finally beginning to show itself.