Reincarnate as Prince: Change Magical World with Industry

82 Might

After construction of the Aiden's College, which they were now calling Scallion Spire due to its peculiar bulb shape, they started searching out members with magical affinity in the village. They tested each potential individual and found more than thirty candidates, ten of which were currently capable of basic magic, while the rest had the potential to pursue magic for the rest of their lives.

This provided a huge responsibility for Haruna the most since she was the best teacher of them all. Out of each one of their friends she was the one whom the students gravitated to, whom the students had better progress studying under.

Which made sense. Cornelia would soon threaten students who were slacking off on their assignments or those who held little talent with fireballs. Aiden was too busy with his research and experiments that he would often sleep in class and would constantly ask students to volunteer as a test subject. Lysie wanted to train them as soldiers, so much so that she prepared a training regiment at her own department in the Mystic Flames Barracks.

Haruna was simply the one whom the students liked the most. Much like Yvaine, she was kind and hardworking and had a lot of patience for those who had a hard time grasping the lessons.

Janus and her had regular lessons during the beginning, but these were getting fewer now that Janus was catching up in power. By the mages estimation, he had already risen up to Journeyman level, which was the average rank for most spellcasters registered in the Arcanum. It was the same rank that every one of them had, save for Cornelia who was supposed to be a Master level if only she continued with her studies.

Still, he spent a lot of time with Haruna during classes with the Elders. She was officially assigned as the council representative for the spellcasters in the village, now that they were swelling up in number. She would still visit Gaddi every now and then due to her obligations to her father, but she was now considered as Wayward's foremost adviser when it comes to magical matters.

Her next project was to recruit several other spellcasters in her network of contacts to join the village. They were in need of more teachers and spellcasters in their ranks. She started accompanying Master Roban during his trade missions to recruit individuals in neighboring areas as well as other College dropouts like them who were interested in joining. Janus jokingly said that their school was indeed the College of Dropouts. To his surprise, none of the council members laughed or disagreed, they mentioned that it was the best way they could describe the whole village.

After shaving and having a quick shower, Janus took his white coat and walked back downstairs to his first rounds of visits. Paperwork had to be postponed for later, he wanted to personally inspect a few other facilities that they had erected in the last three years.

When he got out off his doorstep, Dulfo was already waiting for him with an ox-driven sled. The man had changed since he first met him at the manor. He was now married with a child on the way. He worked in the kitchens most of the time, but since he was on his day off for today, he volunteered to be Janus' coachman.

"Good morning Dulfo, how's the snow today?"

"Nothing we can't handle your highness. Adduk's workshop came up with new upgrades again. Now we have wheels on the sled to make it easier for the oxen to carry it. Last night's buildup shouldn't be a problem, the blades will plow them right off. Where are we heading?"

"To the new greenhouse. Master Nikolai's plot to be exact."

Now that they had access to glasswork and plastics, they started the construction of greenhouses to have a steady supply of produce even during the winder, giving them an edge in trades. Their neighbors wouldn't need to stockpile as much when they could provide a surplus of food themselves.

Janus arrived at the greenhouse at ten minutes earlier than their previous trips. This was now due to the newly constructed concrete roads and the newly improved wheels on the sled.

The discovery of oil in the northern territories was what led to this technology. Two years ago Makkie and her group of earth-sensitive shamans found a large deposit under the ground.

They pooled their resources and built an oil rig to drill for the precious resource. It was a challenge at first, since handling the oil was dangerous, especially if it got mixed with the water supply or spilled to the crops. Janus and Haruna took turns in handling these problems with their magic, they created barriers and bent the liquid whenever an accident happened. Soon the goblins found a way of transporting it safely with large steel cauldrons that they attached to the wagons.

They didn't have the means to use oil in engines yet. Janus was researching for ways using the books on the Golden Library, but he was drawing a blank on that. Instead, they used the oil products in the formulation of plastics and in asphalt roads.

Master Nikolai greeted Janus on his arrival along with his kids, who were also Janus' students.

"Welcome, Prince Janus! It is good to see you. Might I say, you've grown taller than I first met you? I'm sure the sweet potatoes are growing on you yes?" said the man, who now wore a large braided beard that was fashioned similar to the dwarven elders.

"It is good to see you too Master Nikolai. As my messenger might have already told you. I came to inspect the production of our greenhouses. This is my first stop so far. What do you think? Can we produce just as many crops for the whole season?" he asked.

"Why of course your highness, with the Spire's lights providing heat and the glass fixtures sheltering our crops from the cold, there's no need to worry that we'd run out of supply. The water facilities are running smoothly. If you asked me two years ago I'd never thought it'd be possible, but here we are."

"Well, were doing it out of necessity. A hundred more refugees are about to join the village. We can't prepare enough, especially in the harsh winters under Brimstone."

"Again? Wow, those Whiskers are really doing their work are they? Forgive me for asking Prince Janus, but I'm dead curious. How many citizens do we have right now?"

Janus smiled "With this new addition, we are three thousand strong."

"By Almighty! That's a staggering growth. We were but a thousand only--"

"Three years ago. When we first started, yes. Now we got more mouths to feed but more facilities to keep everyone comfortable and busy."

Janus scanned the greenhouse crops, funny to think that just years ago they stumbled across an evil necromancer at this very same plot of land. Now it contained a glass structure with all of the crops inside, and it had better coverage of the land than it once had despite it being winter.

"Impressive isn't it?" said the farmer.

"That it is. I've seen what I came for. Forgive me, Master Nikolai, I'd love to sit down and have a drink with you, but there's still a few stops I need to make this morning. Please start sharing your methods with the other greenhouse keepers as well. I'll need every one of you in full cooperation. You'll have a meeting place assigned in the council hall."

#

Janus took his leave and headed out for the barracks.

There he was greeted by Commander Arthan, who wore a gleaming white armor with a full head of beard that covered his face. He looked a lot older now, and his face was more chiseled than before.

Their army also grew substantially during their time in the village. The Commander's assistants had compiled a strict training regiment composed of formations and exercises that were designed to defend the village for every scenario. They were learning constantly since they always needed to respond to incidents almost once every week. More if there was an outpouring of especially strong monsters in the area which the Merrimen couldn't suppress.

The Mystic Knights now had a magical wing courtesy of Lysie, who was herself ordained as a knight due to her skill in swordsmanship. Official knights now numbered to three hundred, with a hundred rangers and scouts to top them off. Each of these three designations each has a different training program for them, but they operated in tandem exercises together with the guards and the monster hunters to cover every threat that the territory encountered. Constant expansion of their land demanded them to keep up. There were a few regrettable losses during some defense missions. Especially if one of their outposts signaling systems were destroyed or faulty, but the construction of the arcane posts should fix that problem.

After his inspection, Janus also wanted to check the other wing of the military, the one that was only known to a select few of the citizens.

He had to be discreet, or else he would be caught by surp--

"Hello, Princey" a monotonous goblin voice came up from behind him.