Civilization

"Leader Ian, it is time to wake up."

I open my eyes to Gibing shaking my shoulder.

"Thank you for waking me up. Is everyone well and rested as well?"

"Yes, it seems like everyone is fine and ready to head back home."

"Good, then let us make haste. I want 2 goblins to stay back with Luna, they are to report back if anyone approaches the cave."

"Of course, I will let Gowto and Gitpo stay with Luna."

Leaving behind the two goblins and Luna, we made our way back to HavenFall. On the way back, I was determining the route for the road as well as the bridges. An efficient path needs to be created so that wheelbarrows can carry the copper ore and golem stones away from the cave easily and effectively. The uneven ground is already posing to be difficult to replace. Digging it all up and then placing bricks down layer by layer might be easier. 

As I ponder on the solution needed for the road, we eventually arrived back at HavenFall. Lucina, anticipating our arrival, had already prepared breakfast, consisting of more healing soup and some fruit. At the same time, some goblins came down and helped put away the weapons and armor. 

I let everyone go to their own devices while I head towards Noah, who was currently placing more firewood into the kiln and firing the clay bricks.

"Noah! How is the brick production going?"

"Steady, with all kiln constantly firing bricks we should have enough for our final house, making it a total of 20 houses. There might be some empty houses since the people here have grown accustomed to living under the same roof, but at least now they will have an option to move."

"That's good. After that start, creating more bricks for the road. Pile them up near the kiln but not next to it. We need to dig into the ground in order to create a leveled surface before we place the bricks in and create the road."

"Of course, should we get started on the digging? I know that about 7 or 9 people who are more or less free. They usually attend class in the morning and then help with construction and train."

"Yes, and get Owen and Frank to lead them. I will also be accompanying them, as they do not know the route I want the road to take.

"Okay, let me go get them after I finish here."

"I will be with old man Hus if you need me."

After discussing with Noah the plan for the road, I head to old man Hus. 

"Old man Hus, how are you feeling?"

"Fine lad. Something you need?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. The weapons you made from the white stone that made up the golem's body were very effective in defeating them. Resulting in our victory, and furthermore, there is a lot more stone where that came from. Once we have transported everything here, I think that you will have enough materials to create armor and shields from them as well. That's not the most exciting thing though, we have found some copper and while it might be small, once we mine the tin as well you will be able to forge bronze things."

"Lad, you sound very excited about all this."

"Of course I am, but first I will be needing you to make be shovels and pickaxes. They can be normal stone since they will be used to dig up the riverbed, I also want more wood to make multiple bridges. Do you think you can handle that old man Hus?"

"Young lad, if I can't handle something so simple, I would rather die." 

"Thank you, old man Hus."

Nodding at me, old man Hus turns around and calls for Lime. Seeing her energetic and ready for work put a smile on my face. Leaving them be, I go towards Melody as she proceeds to teach everyone available in the morning the alphabet. The training grounds Gobi uses had been converted into a small open classroom. Melody stood at the front with a pointed stick and the clay cheat sheet with the alphabet. There were about 14 humans, 2 demi-humans and 28 goblins in class. A huge number by normal standards, and what impressed me the most was they were very intent in learning.

In front of them were soft clay spread out relatively thin, and with a stick, they wrote down letters. The method of learning was simple, brute force muscle memory. By constantly writing down the letter and sounding it out, Melody was able to teach them all 26 letters, and now she is in the process of teaching them words. Luckily for her, she was a fast learner and was able to pick up on spelling relatively quickly when I was teaching her and Ash. I can tell, the moment we get paper or papyrus, Melody will be the first to create a book or novel, and with it, a library will be born, but that's deep into the future.

After watching the class for a bit, I head towards Lucina who was busy watering her crops. Having old man Hus make a watering can from wood was relatively easy and once he made it, it helped Lucina greatly in her farming. 

"Lucina, is everything okay here?"

"Yes, I estimate that the first few crops I planted might be ready in a couple of days to a week. They are the most common crop found in the forest next to us and while there is still an abundance in the forest I thought it would be good to be self-sufficient."

"Excellent idea, Lucina! What of the herbs I asked you about last night?"

"Unfortunately there was none left in the small storage where I keep all the fresh crops and herbs."

"I see…You can ask Lime to help find some as well as instruct her to tell other scouts about the herb. Take a few and try to plant them. Hopefully, they will be able to thrive and we can farm them."

"Of course Ian. How are you feeling by the way?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you have been constantly running around every day doing different tasks. It seems like you never have a break." 

"Ah, well, don't worry about me so much. I do take breaks but right now I want to get as many things completed as possible. Creating more housing, building the road, expanding the farm and then eventually mining. A lot to do with not enough time and manpower."

"That is true, but it is definitely better now than it was before with just the 5 of us. As more people join us, the place has gotten more lively. I used to be able to only hear Howard speaking but now the sounds of Gobi training the goblins or even the clanking near old man Hus drowns out his voice. People chattering while they build the houses and some even come to help me. It feels like a dream."

"It's not a dream. We have become bigger as a family, as a community and we will only keep becoming bigger."

"Yes, thank you Ian for saving us before."

"No problem, Lucina."

After a small conversation with Lucina, I proceed to help with the construction of the house. I had finished talking to the NPCs about the situation of HavenFall and with nothing else to instruct them about I can only help build and quicken the construction process. I started to make more clay bricks and set them aside to dry while I instructed Kingston and 3 demi-humans to go into the forest and cut down some trees. I would have liked to create a stone bridge like the Romans but making a wooden bridge might just be a little bit easier. Following the path towards the cave, I would need 3 bridges in order to make the journey as smooth as possible. Furthermore, the bridges need to be able to support the weight of not just a couple of humans but also the weight of the copper ore and stones. Will have to look into bridge-building once I get out of the game. 

I converse with some of the different NPCs as I continuously create more and more bricks. Talking with them helped me understand their thoughts. I asked questions to do with the living standards, their general day-to-day life as well as how they felt about the other NPCs around them. Interestingly enough there was not one negative comment. 

They were shocked by the cooperation between different races as well as the harmony built between everyone. No one was discriminated against as everyone was friendly towards one another, asking questions and asking for help. Fitting in was easy and finding something to do was easy too. Since HavenFall was only just starting to grow there was much to be done.

I was more surprised to hear that Gobi was a source of inspiration. A commander of the goblins, a taskmaster pushing for more effort and work but a kind superior ready to lend a hand when someone was down. I almost burst out laughing considering I know about his previous life, as a goblin that attacked us and then got defeated. However, I was glad that people were talking to each other and conversing creating a friendly environment. As I was talking to one of the goblins near me I heard a shout from above.

"IAN! HE IS BACK! LUKE IS BACK!"

Howard's shout boomed above me, his excitement shared with me as I place down what I was doing, rushing to the river to wash off the clay on my hands.

"Hurry up!"

"I'm coming, Howard. Give me a second."

For about a month now he had been gone. My most OP NPC, Luke!