Apinsig
patreon
Chapter 173 Homesteading in a fantasy world
🕑 Added 2023-02-27 19:34:41 +0000 UTCWhile eating some pastries after lunch I walked around a bit in the village and ended up in the glass smith workshop. I was glad to see smoke coming out of the chimney and when I made it near there I could see the large workshop doors open and heat radiating out.
He was busy working, and it seems that he had acquired a few helpers. I did a quick count of the glass panels I could see, and it seems that he was probably half done with my order which I was glad to know although I did wish that he would have been a lot closer to the target number.
I looked at how he worked and understood why he was called a glass smith. I don’t know what it’s called is it a glass over or a kiln but whatever it's called they pulled out clumps of half-molten glass with a rod and then placed it on a table where it was smooth down with a special tool by rubbing and tapping it against the half molten glass, forming it into a certain shape. It seems that he could do a lot bigger panels but currently the table was set up to do 1 by 1 meter ones.
I looked around and saw some other specific tools and had to rake my brain to figure out what they were made for but in the end, I figured it out. They were for making shapes into the glass so you could have beautiful patterns on glass bowls and stuff like that. I had long ago finished my pastries, but the work seemed quite interesting and for the first time in a long time I was able to grind my heat resistance abilities.
I knew that it could be rude but I just walked into the workshop so I could feel the heat coming off the furnace. The glass smith was so concentrated on his work that it took him quite a long time to figure out that there was another person in his workshop. At first, his face morphed into an angry one but when he figured out who I was the anger mostly disappeared, but he was still displeased.
“Sorry for barging in like this but the heat is good for my ability grinding. I’m glad to see that you are working hard on completing my order.” My words seem to placate him but before he said anything back to me, he started to work again never resting.
“Well, I was glad to get some work again I had missed it, but if you don't mind me asking why this order? I have never gotten on an order like this before.” He asked while still working.
“I’m building something called the greenhouse have you heard of it?” He shook his head, so I continued. “Basically, I was able to buy some seeds for some good fruits and vegetables, but they are not really meant for this climate. So, I’m building a small house for them to keep them warm but I still need the sunlight, so a small house made of glass is the solution.”
After I finish saying that everyone in the workshop actually stopped working. I could see them all processing my words at different speeds but none of the people in the workshops was the one to speak up.
“You said you can keep it warmer like that but still have sunlight could you keep the temperature exactly how you need it within 1 degree with this kind of glass house?” Asked a quiet voice that was hard to hear with the furnace roaring and I was quite certain that I was the only one here that actually heard the question others didn't have the same senses as I have.
I looked towards the voice and noticed a girl in her mid-20s. If I had to describe her, she looked exactly like someone you imagine that grows plants in a fantasy world.
“I’m afraid keeping it at a certain temperature is quite hard at least not without enchantments or runes or something like that.” Her face started to fall when I spoke but when she heard the later part of my answer, she brightened up again.
“That’s so incredible. With that, you could grow magical herbs so they would be the most potent they could be. I think I have read this in a book about growing medical herbs but I never could imagine exactly what the book described.” Now she was a lot more certain of herself, so her voice carried over to the rest of the people here.
Our small conversation helped everyone else get over their shock so they went back to work but after a few moments, the glass smith spoke up. “I have learned a special glass mixture that's good for keeping out the cool temperature for winter, but it would work to isolate any kind of temperature.” There was a pause when he helped pull out a new clump of half-molten glass. When it was placed on the table he continued.
“With that, you could get a lot closer to the target temperature although I don’t know how you could control it so exactly because the sun itself could heat the greenhouse a lot and I would need bronze to make the glass mixture needed.” He answered in a gruff voice, but I could hear the pleasure in it as he was talking about something that he loved to do.
The woman's face got even more excited, and I could see how she was planning how to make her ideas come true. I also thought about it and soon I got an excellent idea. “I don’t think it would be hard to get items to keep the temperature exact even the humidity. You could use the same items that keep the underground cellar at a constant temperature.” When I finished speaking, I could practically see her eyes start to glow.
I had to look again to verify that they didn't actually glow. You never know in this world. It seems like I might have found my next apprentice. If she is interested in getting a class that is. I gave a nod to the glass smith and walked out while indicating for her to follow me.
We introduced ourselves to each other, but she already knew exactly who I was. “I recommend you keep your options open as I will be taking a few apprentices in a month or two. With it, you will get a class that would help you a lot so you should start thinking about it.” I said it to her after we had gotten to know each other a bit better.
She was extremely interested and when she learned that it could help her dream of growing magical plants, she tried to convince me to take her as my apprentice right away, but I ensured her that she didn’t have to worry as her position was guaranteed if she still wanted it when I started to recruit.
We separated soon after. She headed off to her work and I climbed back on top of the village hall as I needed to think. I had to come up with my apprentice recruitment idea up here during the night and I was quite pleased about it.
I was going to post a notice on the notice board that I was looking for apprentices and all the requirements I was looking for. This would mean I would only get people who are actually interested and not people I choose because I think that they have potential.
It was a nice evening up here when I looked around after figuring out the first version of the military structure. The only question that remained was whether I could I make that into a clan as I was quite certain it would be quite beneficial if that was possible. Thinking about this didn't achieve anything even when I tried to force it to happen so perhaps action was needed to make this clan.
This system could not just be the modern military that just wouldn't work, nor could it be a specific ancient military system. I needed a hybrid system. Why did I need to do that because of the stupid power gap between first rank and anything below it?
False gold, silver, bronze, and technically wood were all people who were stronger than regular humans but still, you could not call them powerful. These ranks made up the majority of the population so some sort of a system from the age of cold steel was needed.
I landed on the legion from the Roman era. I figured this to be the best solution as everyone in our nation will be able to fight a lot better than the medieval levies so a more professional outlook was needed plus I like the discipline and the extra features of the Roman legions.
With this system, we could maximize our unique advantages with the homesteader class where absolutely everyone would be quite good at fortifying any position. Not to speak of the movement ability which would allow us to deploy quite fast and other things we might discover.
But this system would only work so far and when you reach the first rank this system wouldn't work anymore. It will be too rigid and too limiting. Something a lot more flexible is needed and I thought about the modern military, but a lot of people used melee combat. That didn’t mean that I couldn’t use some modern military aspects in this system that would help it. I would be doing that with the legion as well but to a lesser extent.
I looked back to all my knowledge of warfare and history, and I landed on Vikings. Now I know that Vikings were just the people who went raiding but that style of fighting seemed to fit quite well. They could fight individually but still come together to fight in a large group. While we don't have a lot of water nearby the tactics of fighting and then disappearing when it was no longer advantageous was quite good.
To my limited knowledge Vikings didn’t have a specific ranking system for their troops so I will just use the system I’m familiar with. They will start out as a private and go from there. This will start their training in the new tactics appropriate for their power level and as they learn and gain experience their rank in the military will rise.
But even before the Viking and legion classifications there will be militia and recruit classifications. Militia will be anyone recruited for some sort of military activity. Recruit will be someone that wants to join the military, but they will have to go through basic training before to see if they would even be able to join.
Every military personnel will know first aid but of course, there will be specialists like medics, but I wanted to expand this specialist occupation a lot more. In this military, anyone can have a specialization but still be a recruit for example. It just means that they are good at a certain job that the military values. I could just imagine all the different patches we can come up with and make.
That reminded me that I had to make a patch for my own clan as well as I wanted this to become a new norm to wear your clan patches and whatever rank and specialization you had. I think it would be quite important for the future and why not take advantage of the clan symbols that come with the trait? In my opinion, it's quite natural to make patches out of them.
I joined the late evening meeting and took it over for my own needs. I started to explain the military system that I had come up with in great detail which took quite a long time, but everyone was quite engrossed in what I had to say. When I finished, I could feel it. My trait clan administrator pulsed and guided me on what to do.
I stood up and cut my palm and placed my now bloodied palm above my heart. “I swear by blood, by heart, by sweat to protect this nation against enemies foreign and domestic. I will give this nation my sweat while training myself to protect it as best as I can. I swear on my heart to uphold the values of this nation. I swear upon my blood to bleed it for this nation when needed.” I felt the vow sink into me. When I looked at my achievement page, I could see a new trait, clan military.
