Piqued
1583 Words
After Guy had read the decree to Aidi and furled back the scroll as he nonchalantly tied the red ribbon back in place, Aidi was staring hard at the Adventurer's face and couldn't believe that this young youth in front of him was literate and didn't miss a single beat in reading the scroll.
"How old are you, young ambassador? A person of your youth is able to read with such ease and I don't even have a single knowledge of how to read and write at all...!"
"I am 17 years of age, sir, and I had been properly educated back in Gracehaven with His Majesty's grace. My sister here is also adept at learning too, sir."
Guy explained to Aidi as the latter's eyes were as big as lemons as he heard how young Guy was. Besides, am an ambassador and an Adventurer at a young age and being able to carry His Majesty's words would indicate how important a person's stature mean.
That's what Aidi thought since 90% of the whole population in England remained illiterate. Only those with special privileges such as serving in the Majesty's Court would be well educated and also be equipped with several life skills.
Looking at the young party of four before him, Aidi can't help but praise in his heart they these young people would be leaders in the near future.
The blankets did little to hide the uniforms that the Adventurers were wearing and Aidi can't help but take a peek at their colours. "Dear ambassadors, do you mind removing your cloaks and exposing the fine pieces of clothing that you are wearing right now?"
Upon hearing Aidi's request, the party of four began to uncover themselves with the blanket and fold them up before tying them up to their knapsack.
The colourful red, white and black set of uniforms with the bright red and white emblem that was sewn on their left-hand side of the tunic was a sight to see.
Even the barkeep of the tavern was surprised at the colours that they had seen and was interested to learn more from where the Adventurers hail from.
"According to what you had read to me earlier, this little village does not have any serfs or peasants. We are considered as a small village where we started off with some of the settlers beginning to gather around at first."
"It had been two years since we had set up this settlement into a village and we have ample crops to last us through the cold winter seasons."
"Our crops are mainly wild wheat they had been harvested by the earlier settlers and from then on we are able to survive in the harvests. This gruel came from the crops that we had recently harvested."
Aidi began to explain and Guy pointed out to Abel who had a slice of thick bread earlier and remarked, "Old Abel here had taken a bread that had been baked more than a day, and what do you think of it?"
Abel was of course taken aback since he was not expected to be involved in the conversation between their leader and the party of four. "Yes... Yes... Its a piece of bread that is Crispy in the outside and soft and chewy from the insides."
"If they didn't tell me the bread was more than a days old, I could have thought the bread is almost baked just outside the village and brought in here...! "
Abel praised the quality of bread that he had tasted when he joined the Adventurers at the table and frankly speaking, he had not tasted such fine bread before in his life.
Even though the bread was told to be a day old but the quality of the bread could be said fit for a king...!
"Such fine clothes you all wear and such fine bread that I had ever seen for some years already...! This truly comes from your town that requires the need for manpower such as serfs and peasants?"
Aidi began to get hooked by the simple amenities that Gracehaven has to offer and began to show his interest. "Please tell us more about Gracehaven, we are most interested."
Guy looked at the leader of the village before them and knew that he needs to arrange his words properly so that it would leave a good impression on them. It may not be the present they would make the settlers packing but it would be pretty soon enough.
"We have a town square that was managed by the pioneers of the town where there's a domain in which Our Majesty and his trusted subordinates dwell."
"We also have a bakery, a grocery, tavern, tailor, treasury, administrative building, school, hospital and a Coliseum to name a few. Our Majesty needs to fill in the spaces for the available homes in town so that it would turn to be more Prosperous than ever before."
"According to Gracehaven's statistics, we would be able to have as much as 15,000 citizens and there's also 1250 crop fields that would be able to feed our citizens all year round."
Those in the tavern who were listening in to Guy's explanation had eyes as big as lemons and were surprised to hear that the town had more than a thousand crop fields...!
"Our Majesty is a just person. All citizens would have their biodata updated and then the Minister for Trade and Manpower would deploy then to work accordingly."
"At the end of the month, they would be paid accordingly and if they worked less than a month, their remunerations would be prorated."
Aidi slouched in his chair as he heard this as though it was not only himself who happened to be a philanthropist mannered person but there are others who were like him as well.
A town that could hold at least 15,000 citizens sitting some 15-20 miles from here...! How would one let go of such opportunities? You get to work and also get paid and the status would be on par as an artisan...!
"There are two types of homes, no... Three types of homes available. When a new inductee first arrived, they would be given temporary residency."
"Once they prove their worth to the town, they would be upgraded to move in to a single standing double-storey brick home or a semi-detached double-storey duplex homes."
"There are 2,000 standard thatched homes and there are another 1750 brick homes which are currently being built by a team of at least 120 builders. There's proper sanitation, cooking area, bedrooms and all the homes comes with full furnishings."
"To earn a home like that, a household has got to be involved in with community projects such as clearing of lands, farming and also in other economic infrastructures."
Those listening from the tavern had garnered the rest of the residents over to listen to what the Adventurers had been narrating.
To them, it was all sweet and honey to the ears and those who were listening in can't help but felt wanton to move out from their current living conditions and be in a place where it is much more stable in both economy and living standards.
But what about their leader who had been with them for at least a few seasons through thick and thin? Would their leader also give up his role and became a commoner instead?
The remaining settlers can't help but question this inside their heads as they thought about what their leader had done for them since their leader had brought them closer and rebuild a place where they called home.
These settlers had come from afar and had also congregated to build something livelier than roaming around the lands with no specific aim.
The settlers all looked at their current leader after they had all heard the town that promised a lot of hopes for these people and they were all wondering if their leader would give up this current village and ventured ahead.
Aidi cleared his throat before he concluded that gave an indefinite answer to the settlers who were listening around, "Ahem... I can't give you, dear ambassadors a definite answer at this moment since we are facing Autumn and Winter would be arriving in three month's time."
"Our settlers would be busy clearing the fields and then we would be discussing with the rest whether they would prefer to stay here in this village or to move on to the town that you had mentioned."
"I, Aidi, the leader of this village, would give my word to the settlers that they would be free to move if they find that there is a need for them to move. Even if they find the other town's conditions to be unfavourable, they could return back here to start afresh."
"As for me, I guess I would be staying back to ensure that any new settlers would opt to choose to stay here or embark on a new life elsewhere in Gracehaven."
After Aidi had said his piece, everyone who heard sucked in a deep breath. It seems that their leader was destined to stay put here in this village after all. There were telltale signs that the village would soon be divided so what the settlers need to do was to get prepared for the future.
As for now, it's time for them to harvest the fields before winter comes and took over.
- Writer
