The 1.000 year Great Sage ---> COMPLETED STORY

Baron Frank nodded and pointed to the left.

- Yes, it's in my office, past those doors. I've already used it to learn how it works. It seems that it can transmit the voice but if one wants, it can also transmit the image of the place where each Communicator is.

- Can you get it and contact all the village chiefs? I think I can use my Gateway Magic to bring them here. It's better if they are all with us.

- Of course, Milord.

…

When the Baron returned with the Communicator, he placed it on top of the meeting table and he started contacting every Village Chief. As soon as the contact was made, Seya opened a Gateway so that each one of the Village Chiefs could cross it.

When they first saw that strange Magic, they were very surprised and alarmed but after a brief explanation of the Baron, they went through it and seated in a chair at the meeting table.

They were also very surprised about how young the Marquess was but that surprise would turn into admiration after a brief introduction from the Baron.

Seya looked at his notes and he then looked at the Village Chiefs.

- Well, now that we are all here, I need to know more about the situation in the other villages. Mainly protection, food production, fishing, animal breeding, and hunting. I want to check if we can trade the products of each village among us.

One of the Village Chiefs timidly raised his hand, calling for attention.

- Milord, if I may. My village is near the ocean but because we have a few boats and the ones that we have are only for one or two persons, our fishing is very little. So we can't be asked to send the catch to other villages.

- You can't? And if I give you bigger ships and better fishing nets?

- That would be very good Milord but how we could deliver the fish still fresh? Or at least eatable?

Seya wrote a quick note on one of the papers while answering.

- That's just a case of getting a closed wagon, some Magic Crystals with Freeze Magic inside of a big box and placing the fish inside that box.

The Village Chief was alarmed.

- But Milord, Magic Crystals are expensive! It wouldn't be possible!

- Don't worry, I can take care of that.

Next, food production and animal breeding. I suppose that first, we need a lot of fields with grass to feed the animals. I have some equipment that I've created and are already being used in the Royal Kingdom to increase the fertility and the production of the soil.

Baron Frank had his eyes wide open, in surprise.

- If we could have some of that equipment we could increase the size of productive land!

- Yes. I have some of those with me.

Next, weapons for protection and hunting and horses to ride. I have a lot of weapons and horses that were confiscated from the Empire army on that foolish 'One Day War'.

Baron Frank smiled at that name.

- 'One Day War', Milord?

- Yes, I thought it was a good name to call that stupid attempt. It started and ended on the same day and in some years, it will be taught and laughed upon in schools. Eheheh!

So, for all the changes that we need to do on these lands, I'm going to give you the means to accomplish that. It will all depend if you wish to improve the lives of the people living in your villages or not.

Baron Frank looked around the table, and he could see a lot of heads nodding in agreement and one or two smiles.

- I think I speak for all of us, that's what we try to do always. It has been hard.

Seya smiled at them.

- I believe that.

Hearing all those plans, they all felt a great admiration for their new Marquess. Maybe with him, life would become easier.

Not knowing when one would die because of bandits coming from the Empire or beasts from the Forest, has been difficult for everyone. Even a shortage of food every time the Tax Collector came was something that they were used to. But it seemed that those terrible times had come to an end.

Every Village Chief was thinking, who is this boy? And why is there a BeastKind behind him working as an escort? Such a huge BeastKind with huge ears that they only heard some stories about! Seya noticed those glances and he felt that he needed to make one thing clear to all of them, to prevent troubles later on.

- I noticed one thing from all the looks that you are giving to the RabbitKind Knight that is here as my escort. I suppose that you are not used to BeastKind, correct?

Baron Frank nodded while looking very serious.

- Yes, Milord. BeastKind is not permitted on the Empire lands. Unless they are slaves.

Seya crossed his fingers on top of the table and he leaned a little.

- Well, I hope everyone can get used to them really fast because, in the Royal Kingdom, they are part of the Kingdom. And I'm also Half-RabbitKind. If any of you or any of the people in your villages can't really work with them, it would be better to leave these lands as soon as possible. I don't want future problems.

Baron Frank waved his hand, negating that.

- No, Milord, I don't think that would be a problem. It's mainly curiosity. We are used to be visited by BeastKind in disguise. Of course, that could never be known on the Empire or all of us would be killed.

Seya relaxed a little, he was worried.

Baron Frank answered while the Chiefs were looking at each other.

- Milord, I think my wife can do that if there's no one else. My wife learned all that with the travelers that often came here to trade, people from the Empire and some times people from the Royal Kingdom, that came to this village in secrecy.

Seya nodded and he then leaned forward, thinking.

- Now we just need an empty building for the school.

Baron Frank remained silent for a moment, then he remembered.

- We have one empty house. The people that used to live there died because of bandits. The young boy that survived that attack is living with a nice family that took him.

- Wild beasts from the forest and bandits. It's easy to die in here, it seems.

Well, we can use that building as the school for now. Later on, I would prefer a new building, even if I have to build one myself with Magic.

Baron Frank was amazed, looking at the Village Chiefs that were also surprised.

- Milord can even use Magic to that extent? Amazing!

- That's rather easy, actually.

Hearing Seya talking about Magic and talking about a new building created with his own Magic was enough to make them become speechless! Magic was something that was lacking on the people living among them. There were some children still young that could use some Magic but most of the adults couldn't use any.

While they were looking at him with surprise, Seya was thinking and reading his notes. Then, he dropped a bomb!

- Now, my idea for the future is that children will have to go to school from 6 years old until they reach 12 years old. At that age, they will have the opportunity to work as an apprentice in some business or work on the land.

Children in school have to teach their parents at home when the school day ends.

I don't accept any excuses from the parents. I want everyone to learn how to read, write and do some calculations. It will be important for the growth of these lands.

One of the Village Chief was worried. It was a huge change.

- But Milord, children are supposed to help their parents taking care of the land! How will we be able to plant or harvest? We don't have enough people!

- Children are supposed to play and learn. Work is for grown ups.

With the equipment that I have, one person, male or female, will be able to plant one entire field in just one day. The man can be working on the field while the wife is taking care of the house, hunting or working on a business. Or the other way around. I don't believe in such things as jobs only for men and jobs only for women.

The same Village Chief was scratching his head.

- One person in just one day? That's impossible!

- My mother said the same to me when I was 10 years old. Five years later, I harvested 10 wagons full of vegetables, wheat, and cereals that I had planted myself. And from only 2 cows, I reached 50. Without any help and without Magic.

Baron Frank showed a lot of interest on that, anything that could be achieved without Magic was more doable to him.

- Without Magic? How?

- Can we go outside? I need to show and explain to everyone that equipment.

...

On the back of the house, Seya opened his Compressed Dimension and from there, he took 10 of each equipment that he had already shown to the King of Rohan.

The evolution of the plow and the open wagon with his upgrades for fertilizing the soil, for plantation and for the harvest. He also took a lot of weapons and divided them into 10 piles.

Seeing all that, the Baron started to think that perhaps the gossip that he heard from the merchants that came from the Royal Kingdom about some new discoveries being implemented on the Kingdom, had something to do with Seya!

- Milord, with this equipment we can really improve our fields! They are easy to use and understand.

- They have been used in the Royal Kingdom for quite some time. There's one equipment for each village.

I have also here 100 swords, 100 daggers, 100 bows, and 1000 arrows for each bow for you to take to your villages.

I will deliver also to each village, 100 riding horses to help on the fields and for security.

Baron Frank was worried about the horses. On most of the Villages, there's few horses and even a few pastures for them.

- Aren't those too much horses? Along with the bigger horses already on the villages and the cows, I don't know if there will be enough grass for all of them!

- I believe they can be set free to roam around, let them search for their own food. When the fields are treated and with a lot of grass, the horses can be placed on those fields.

- Oh, I see. That's a good idea.

- I want also to start the fields on a four system plantation. The sequence of four crops will be wheat, turnips, barley, and clover, including a fodder crop and a grazing crop. That will allow livestock to be bred all year-round.

And after the amount of fertile soil grows enough, we will then use some of the fields to specifics crops. Some more demanding and also more profitable.

Baron Frank was trying not to shout, but that idea was too much.

- But Milord, no one uses that system!

- I know, not even on the Royal Kingdom. But considering the amount of land not prepared for crops, I want to use this. We will get more fertile soils faster, with big harvests and we can increase our livestock. I will give to all of you details on seeds to be used, schedules for plantations and harvest.

- Milord, if everything goes well, what are we supposed to do with the surplus of the harvest? I suppose we must submit most of the crops to the Royal Kingdom, correct?

- No, Baron, we don't need to pay any taxes to the Royal Kingdom for the next three years. And two years after that, we will only pay half of the normal taxes. Only five years from now, we will pay the normal amount of taxes.

- Milord, is that the normal payment on the Royal Kingdom?

- No, it was my special request so that I could improve these lands. It wouldn't be fair to start immediately to pay the normal taxes.

And I believe that in five years we will be the most important food source of the Royal Kingdom.

Baron Frank had a dreaming look on his face. He could almost see that future.

- That would be very good.

Seya thought that so far, all went well. Everyone was excited about all the new changes. Especially the exemption of taxes to the Royal Kingdom was also well received.

Now, time for the next bomb!

- But we will pay taxes for the villages, of course. We will discuss a reasonable fee. And I also want to create a Sellers Tax. For each item sold, the seller must pay a tax to the village.

- But Milord, how can we make sure that the seller pays the correct amount?

- The seller will make two records for each sale. One record he will deliver to the customer along with the item sold, the other record, the seller will keep it to calculate later the tax to be paid. It doesn't matter if it's a foreign seller. If any merchant wants to sell on these lands, he must keep records and pay taxes. No exceptions.

Baron Frank was looking at the other Villages, and they all seemed to be thinking the same thing.

- But Milord, with that kind of Tax, merchants from outside Milord lands will not want to come here!

- That doesn't matter. We will soon be self-sufficient, we will not need merchants coming here from outside.

Soon enough our merchants will be able to travel and sell our products. And by doing that, merchants from other countries or lands will come here, even with the Sellers Tax.

One of the Village Chiefs took one step forward, trying to call for attention.

- But why the monthly tax and that Sellers Tax if we don't need to pay taxes to the Kingdom?

- Because the Villages will need money, especially to improve the life of the people living there.

Seeing the worried faces on the Village Chiefs, Seya understood that was something never heard of and a little scary.

When they were all thinking that the people will be relieved from the heavy taxes of the Empire, that new tax was a little frightening. But Seya was prepared for that.

- I want that all of you gets a monthly salary, for your work. I also want to have money to pay the School teacher and the people working on the Healing House that will be created. I want to pay the Village Guards for their work defending the Village.

All the money from taxes will be posted on the Village Chief house, along with the money spent. That way, anyone can see where their taxes are being used.