'Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 3: The Prophecy

Follow That Corn...!

After we had settled down and had concluded on what we would be doing next for our products, factories, fishballs and fishcakes as well as the deployment of unemployed citizens (mainly those 560 wives who were part of the militia invalid households) to start earning their first coin as well as being released from their social welfare support system.

At least their husbands that are still awaiting treatment at the hospital would be able to be relieved to find that their wives would be properly deployed to work.

Besides, about 120 of the husbands have already started working either as farmers, general workers or even as militia forces so the womenfolk were able to leave their children off at the daycare centre.

Furthermore, the school could accommodate more children under the daycare system and moved those children who were undergoing their mandatory education system to the second floor instead.

With that underway, we decided to move on to Michelle and Gwen as the registrars and facilitator at the Adventurers Guild.

I had asked for the single grain seeder that they had used to both calculate the distance from point A to point B by listening and counting to the clicks of the pacing wheel hitting the dispensing container as well as to plant a single line of seeds through the container at the top of the pacing wheel when it was filled.

There was a trowel at the front and a 'V' shaped plough at the rear since it would be used dig a shallow drainage at the front and ever click of the wheel (exactly 2½feet for every click) a seed or two would drop through the dispenser below, depending on the size of the hole the seeds would be dispensed.

The plough at the back would be used to cover the dug up shallow drainage and thus eliminating the need to perform a back-breaking task of covering the land manually by hand.

It was a prototype and it was meant to be used by the children when the next cultivation in Spring kicks in.

Since there had would be some months left, the engineers had fabricated quite a number of these grains seeder machine.

Every single one was precise in its task to dig, the dispense the seed and lastly, bury the seeds after it.

It was to induce fun and work for the children and I thought that one day our children would also need to toil in the fields to ensure that they would know where their roots come from and learn to respect others who were working for the town and the community.

Not all royals were born with a silver spoon on their mouths. I would want them to learn the hard way too, through learning and fun, of course.

"These are the grain seeders that you asked for, Your Majesty. We have more than 70 of those to be handed out to the adventurers when the time comes." the engineers handed me a single grain seeder and I place it on the table when Jay-R asked me, "Ngeng Ngeng, Daddy?"

"It's a type of wheels dear boy. It is used to put the seeds here and when you push it, it will dig a shallow drainage then see this wheel here?"

"This is a special clicker here that would click and then a grain would drop out from here. When you push this again the plough behind here would help to bury the seeds behind."

"Ah, Haaaa... You don't have to bend down every time you plant the seed anymore. You will learn how to use this with your sister when you grow up and then work in the fields together with the other children alright?"

"How Daddy used to work in the vegetable farms, we would want you both to work just like me too, alright?"

The rest listened with an astonished look on their faces since they had never expected someone like me to drive their children to work in the fields like any other worker.

Maybe His Majesty does not want the children to take things for granted and wanted them to be normal instead.

At least they knew how hard life is and learn the value of the people they would come and serve under them in the future.

At least they would also learn the value of the coin and not be lavishly spending them on nonsense stuff.

It doesn't sound fair because I wasn't even told to touch the farms or animals before when my parents were alive until I had made an escape from the burning town seasons ago...!

The first time I had handled dirt with my bare hands was burying several of my pouches that were filled with gold and silver coins around the base of the first thatched house Ben and Frank had built for me before. Hahaha.

Alright, back to the main order of business and try not to stray away too much...!

"Marcel, Maricel, Michelle and Gwen. Since the proposal that was presented to us had been approved, the 32 new party leaders and their members would be moving out of town by this weekend."

"I hope you get that proposal ready by this evening or tomorrow morning to present it to Michelle and Gwen so it would be briefed to the Adventurers as soon as possible."

"The two parties that are left to do their multiple tasks would be leaving on Wednesday. Give them a lead of one day before setting the other adventurers free to proceed."

"The MacDonoughs and Mackenzies would be receiving their medals tomorrow as Guy and his sister would only be receiving the Macleod Star by tomorrow evening at 7."

"So Marcel and Maricel, how is the progress for the proposal? The prints had been ready to be distributed. We have done our part so where's yours?"

Marcel knew I don't like slipshod work as Heather went to the mantlepiece and took the printouts that she had prepared last night at the realm, and placed all the 500 pieces before the duo while she kept a piece to herself to show to the children.

Maricel was astounded when the 499 pieces of printouts were placed before them and they had virtually nothing to show at this moment.

This made Maricel felt extremely diffident towards a commoner that had gotten married into royalty and that she was able to produce something with a snap of the fingers.

It took only last night to discuss how the next printout would be made and voila...! Its already done and fresh before them. Even the Gutenberg machine could not achieve this feat at all within a short period of time...!

This is better than the Gutenberg machine many folds over and the first thing that entered their minds was how to make money out from this machine.

Fat chance Maricel... It is not for your own economic gains... Blueekkk...!

"Michelle and Gwen, please report," I asked since my main purpose is to show how our senior members do our work efficiently and Marcel should be able to do his job well to educate his wife and partner to buck up as well.

"Your Majesty, after we had gotten back from the meeting last night, we already had out up a simple announcement in our bulletin board."

"It simply says that we need party teams made of 1 leader and 3 members in a team. Two-star rating. 5 silver coins reward."

"Minimum 5 towns to visit and spread the news of new products, jobs availability and delivering the pamphlets to the town's messenger and paste some on the bulletin board."

"Gather contact details of mayors, duke and duchess of town and to inform them the best date as set by Marcel and Maricel later for them to be here for a full product display and presentation."

Without a proposal, Michelle and Gwen were able to put up the best response from their meeting last night. "You better buck up there, old friend. Our friends here are moving faster than you had expected, no? A few hours had passed and you are left behind already..."

"Time is money and money is running away from you. Keep chasing after those coins, my old friend. Time does not wait for anyone...!"

Marcel lowered his head and was feeling embarrassed at his own shortcomings. It seems that his old friend before him really means business when it comes to business and joke when it's time for joking around.

"Don't worry my friend, I will not disappoint you." he finally raised his head and answered because we knew he would be undertaking the whole process to pay the adventurers once they had completed their task.

5 silver coins for every single 64 Adventurers involved in this project and an additional 1 Silver coin for the towns messenger to spread the news to everyone in the town.

It's a huge sum over here since 50 silver coins would make a gold coin where out there would only require 20 silvers to make a gold coin.

Maricel had brought along a small wooden chest containing some gold and silver coins and after they had calculated to pay and deposit with Michelle and Gwen, their small wooden chest became slightly lighter.

"You have the prints before you. Michelle and Gwen do not need your proposal anymore. What they had written on the bulletin board is good enough and I believed you had them signed up for the tasks already, right?"

"Oh yeah, one more thing, please add that they would use the grains seeder from the moment they had left the town's walls."

"The grains that would be seeded by them would be enhanced and grow into a sizeable sprout the moment it had germinated within the next 2 to 6 hours."

"This leaves a trail of corn stalks, and depending on the size of the dispensing hole underneath the grain seeder, it would plant and grow corn stalks along a trail at a distance of every 2½ feet apart."

"From this trail, the villagers that they met along the way would be told to follow the trail of corn."

"Penelope, you would be able to further enhance those seeds right, to be able to germinate and sprout within 2 hours upon sowing?"

Priestess Penelope and several other members of their peers were there as well and she nodded her head and asked how many pounds of corn grains that need to be planted in that manner.

"10 pounds of grains per person, would they be alright? I think of they limit the dispensing holes of this grain seeder to about 2 seeds per click, then these 10 pounders would be able to last some miles before utilising another 10 pounders."

"At the end of the day, a trail of corn stalks that would be made by 16 teams from all around our town centre. It would sure look great and hope those animals would go into hibernation and not gnaw on the corn stalks once it is been planted. Hahaha."

I laughed at my own joke and seriously it would be a wasted effort if the adventurers leave a trail and at the end of the day, it would get chewed away by some red deers or other animals. It won't be a problem for birds though since the stalk would still be there.

"It's a splendid idea, my friend. Since they are carrying an additional load of 40 pounds of grains among themselves, and by using this grain seeder, they would leave a trail visible to the villagers to come directly to this town here to register as Immigrants."

"It would not be a hassle for them right? Since they would be leaving a trail behind, do you want the villagers to pick at the corn when it's ready to be harvested some days later?"

"Nah, there's nothing to it. By the end of 40 pounds which would be equivalent to 1,300 corn kernels per pounds, the adventurers would be able to cover 1625 feet. Once they had completed the 40 pounds, they would have covered a total of 65,000 feet which is equivalent to over 12 miles."

"That's based on 2 seeds per click and if the grains seeder is based on 1 click per stride, won't the adventurers cover over 24 miles?"

"The trail is somewhat a very basic way of guiding the Immigrants over. It is going to be like, pointing towards a general direction and once they see a trail of corn stalks, just follow it and they would be reaching our town."

"Besides, the Adventurers would be pushed out by this Thursday instead. Guy MacDonough and Johannesburg Mackenzie would move out the day after tomorrow. So get your act together, both of you and don't let time slip by again wastefully, alright?"

Marcel and Maricel nodded their heads and at the meantime, they knew that the factories would be up by next week and the production would commence on the day the factories were up.

Right now what they need to do is to set the date for the dignitaries to come and visit our town and it would be set on Friday, 14th October 1442, leaving some time for Marcel and Maricel to prepare the presentation of the products and at the same time to procure the horses.

Since the horses from the Roman Gypsies and Irish Travellers were being utilised for the passenger service wagons around town.

They made an estimate of 40 towns which means 40 horses, 40 wagons and 80 delivery guys and this would mean at least 2 or more stables.

They sat down and huddled close as they discussed the horses that would come from the nearby towns since it would be easier for the horses to be purchased that way.

A horse costs 10 silver coins and 40 horses would be 400 silvers or 20 gold coins based on the outside currency rate.

Soon, we made a conclusion for our meeting to end since we would not want to disturb Marcel and Maricel to do their own brainstorming.

After settling down, I got one of our domain helpers to summon Molly and informed her to bring all the finished porcelain ware products that she was currently making including the mugs for the peanut butter and fruit jams.

I had asked Ceres telepathically if the images of those that had been done by Heather could be made like a cookie-cutter type so it would be easily cut and be pasted using hide glue.

When I received what Ceres had responded to me was definitely a delight to hear. Ceres would be setting the printer to be able to print stickers, meaning that the images could be peeled off and pasted directly over the products.

This option could be made on the machine when we enter the realm later on.

"Dear, the realm is waiting for us, so we would be entering there once we received the porcelain ware from Molly, alright?"

I informed Heather and she was excited to hear that we would be entering the realm once again and to do some work there as well.

"Yes, let's do it, dear...!" Heather claimed excitedly as we concluded the meeting, waited for Molly to arrive and had the domain helpers to put our nodding children to their own beds.