Departing Guests Back To London

Chapter 210 - Departing Guests Back To London

The next morning after the ladies stirred from their rest, they washed up before heading to the courtyard to prepare breakfast. The men had cleared away the waste over the latrine pits and the children helped to sweep their homes and around the area.

It was yet another holiday and the citizens were not accustomed to it, thus they woke up early as usual to prepare breakfast and also to make themselves busy.

They knew getting paid 5s per person a month doesn't come with a free meal so they would do at least something to make themselves busy or should I say, make them 'look' busy. Hahaha.

After preparing breakfast and lunch at the same time, they huddled close together to discuss what they would be doing next since there was no morning meeting for that day.

No morning meeting means there's no work deployment and their hearts stirred uncomfortably, thinking there should be something that needs to be done.

So right after a hurried breakfast, they began to discuss among themselves on how to arrange the work for the day. They then decided to move in a large group, after the children had unplugged the water from the reservoir to activate the Sprinkler water system to irrigate the farmlands.

The first stop the large group moved to was the far end most of the clay production area. They saw the last day's work and discovered that the clay bricks need to be fired and deployed some of the ladies over there to pile the air-dried clay bricks.

The previous day's clay bricks that had been fired were removed and carried back to the storage area. The children swept the forested area free from dried leaves, twigs and branches and piled them in the firing pit.

Once the clay bricks were stacked high, it would be fired and this would continue well into the rest of the day.

Several ladies and children stationed there to produce more clay bricks using the mould and since this area was last expanded, each mould (it makes 16 clay bricks one time) were set aside as the children got down and dirty to make the clay dough using their feet.

The large group then moved to the following areas — rocket stove and modular ovens and deployed those men who had been working there and were experienced in making those. The fired ones were removed and then the work for the rocket stoves and modular ovens began.

Then as for the bamboo production areas and weaving production areas, those who were stationed there the day before readily deployed themselves and continued the work. Since they had been briefed on what's the fast-moving products than the slower ones, the ladies emphasised on those hot selling products instead.

More citizens were deployed over at the fabrication of the building structures and this would be made to be on standby in case there was a need over new induction of citizens.

As the crowd moved from one end of the domain area to the other end of the livestock enclosures, the citizens deployed themselves to tend to each individual work stations and then they moved on to the courtyard and down to the residential lots.

The large group slowly thinned out and only left the children who helped to clear away the fallen dead leaves behind the domain area, being careful not to crush the new tenderlings for the fruit trees which was marked out with timbers stuck onto the ground.

It looked like any other working day except the pace was slightly slower and those who were not deployed to work helped out around the house such as doing laundry and such.

The quicksand area beyond the residential unit had been cordoned off and only certain people would be allowed down to actually excavate the land that was currently submerged underwater. Only when the water had reached more than 10 feet deep, the excavation work stopped.

This was to eliminate any dangers that may lurk underneath the murky waters as the soil and clay were slowly dredged from the centre and towards its sides. The sides, being made into terrace steps was already been a mark to show that the dredged up land would soon be filled with water.

After the remaining land had been dredged and excavated to the sides, it was brought up and then loaded into the wagons where the oxen were made to pull for a short distance back to the clay production area.

As there are 24 terrace steps, each measuring a height of one foot each, the excavators were able to monitor the rising water level. It rises about 1/36" per day and sooner or later, the large area would be turned into a lake.

After marking out the areas of excavated land above the groundwater using a 12 feet bamboo, one could see that the area of the excavated land had nearly been completed as only 2 feet of the bamboo pole was seen even at the edges.

The workers moored at the sides carried the boat and the rafts along with the ropes and clambered to the top. The safety cordoned area would still be there until the water had risen to become a lake and it would also be made into a duck pond in the future.

Ducks had a tendency to be in flight and would flock down on ponds rather than rivers. The men decided to grow some barley at the sides when the water had risen up to the surface, even if it took many seasons to do so. The barley was actually made to entice and attract flight ducks.

Everyone was at work and when we woke up and heard the buzzing sounds of the sawmill, we were surprised to see the activities like any other day before. It seems that the citizens here were already been motivated with the happenings around them.

It would be good to let them be autonomous once in a while, at least that's what people would say "know your place". Even if it's considered as a holiday to them, they still needed to fill their time with the activities around them.

Doing nothing and lazing around doesn't seem to cut it and it would be out of their norm. They could do away with the morning meetings but they would not do away without performing a single task at all.

The woods behind the knoll that would be 'shaven' off had been cleared from time to time and this provides Gracehaven with an endless supply of wooden planks and firewood. Even if the construction had ended, the men still chopped down some trees before midday and would stop work and continue their merriment from 3 o'clock in the afternoon onwards.

This fact was related to me when Ben and Frank walked the grounds and asked them if they do mind working on a rest day, in which they replied that they would not mind a single bit.

Going without work even for a single day would make them feel awkward and so they filled their times discussing on how to face this matter till the end of June.

When the guests heard about it, they were taken by surprise. If given a chance like this to their town folks, smoke would not rise from chimneys and one could even hear birds and crickets chirping all day long in the forests. Their town folks would prefer to stay at home and do nothing. Haha.

The guests then proceeded to have their breakfast at the conference hall where Crystal, Gwen and old Kayla helped to bring in the 3 bowls of pottage, buttery steaks of venison on 2 large platters and slices of freshly baked garlicky loaf bread, served on 3 platters too.

The garlicky loaf bread was a very welcoming breakfast indeed as chopped garlic was added to butter and was thoroughly mixed with the dough before baking. It was great eaten on its own or with pottage like the one that was being served in the conference hall.

After breakfast, the guests sat at the conference table and each presented a small treasure chest from their luggage and placed it in front of them. "Your Majesty, this is the 3 months of advance payment from Scarborough, Flamborough, Barmston and Beverley for the supply of daily bread to our towns."

"Any additional would be handed by a note to our delivery guys would we require any ad-hoc grain-based food products in the future. Here's a payment of 105 gold coins from our individual towns."

"At the meantime, we would like to purchase 13 tins of individual biscuits, 12 tins of moist cake and 12 kinds of muffins and here's a gold coin each for the 3 items. So there are an additional 12 gold coins in top of the 420 gold coins you had received."

The Marchioness handed the 4 small treasure chests and it contained an exactly 105 gold coins each and 12 gold coins, making the amount to be 432 gold coins altogether.

It's good dealing business with the top stakeholders such as them as they are willing to pay up upfront for the services they have yet to receive. 3 months advance payment and each time we are closer to our target in the treasury and we could push our target even further to even 5,000 gold coins...!

"Thank you so much for your kind patronage. The orders would be fulfilled soon and your butler may receive them accordingly. It would be placed in a basket for easy transportation on your carriage later on."

I explained as Crystal called one of the ladies manning the Gracehaven's General Store to standby the goods requires from them.

Marcel was eyeing the gold coins that was handed to me but he knew he had his fair share when he returns periodically to Corral to take a look at his finances there. He was sure that there had been no complains and the citizens had paid more than what they had received.

Actually he missed the 5 extra gold coins per month per town that he had gotten way back.

Only Corral did not benefit much from the conglomerate since the prices set by Marcel had taken effect way before the discussion was arranged and this means the Lords and Ladies only pay him according to the price set by Marcel before.

But soon it would change as the Lord and Ladies over in Corral only deals with silvers and gold and not coppers so it doesn't make any difference.

What he spends in a month for the bread deliveries was only a mere 10% of what he receives in a month. That's what the sacrifices reaps every month for Marcel and it was a delight to find that he had made a fine choice in dealing with the grain-based food products in the first place.

If he didn't initiate the trade before, he wouldn't have met with the Marquees and Marchioness and that would not lead to his current position now as the main distributor to coordinate with the 15 towns.

He was simply over the moon when he saw the cash coming in from Corral especially from the daily sales. On top of that, he would soon be making a trip back in order to market the biscuits, cakes, muffins, tartlets and tarts as well.

At least he would be able to invite every Lord and Ladies in for a short discussion as well as savour the sumptuous treats what he would present. He thought about it for a moment before he spoke up, "Your Majesty, I too would like to head back to Corral to tie up the finances and to make a promotion on 5 of the treats that I need to market."

"I may need a week away from here and at the meantime, I see what else the Engineering Guild had made for the confectioners so I would be able to add them through here."

"No problem, my dear friend. Take as much time as you could so that you do not have to hurry and organise things in a very orderly manner. Besides, take your time to scout new items that would be beneficial to our Gracehaven's Finest Bakery, Gracehaven's First Tailor and Loom or even Gracehaven's Greasy Spoon."

I nonchalantly replied and Marcel went ahead to bid the guests farewell. It had been two weeks since he had left Corral and he would need to be there to check on things even though the vice-chairman was also his own brother.