'Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 2: Here Comes The Witches

A Commode That Shapes The Future

The next morning, after a light breakfast, the citizens gathered around to get updates on the work orders as they heard about the plans for an Engineering Guild. They also learnt about the new privvy designs and a new production area would be set up. Plus, a new clay production area would be expanded as well.

The citizens were excited and were all raring to go. The first thing was to produce a sample so that the residents would be able to replicate them for future references. The squatting pan that was designed last night was scrapped and replaced with a whole new design.

It was shaped like a present-day commode with a lid to close it up when not in use. There was a secondary lid too, to use it as a cheek spreader seat. If anyone wishes to pee, all they have to do was raise the cheek spreader seat so it won't splash anywhere. Actually, for boys and men, they would just pee anywhere, behind bushes, even trees or downriver.

So, having a cheek spreader seat would be beneficial for the ladies as well. This new commode will be made from clay and the cheek spreader seat and the secondary lid would be made of wood as it would be held in place by hinges.

Old Jack was going to be busy making those hinges as it needs some precision, just like the ones he made for the oven doors. This includes the involvement of the Engineering Guild to procure the iron hinges and also screws to attach the hinges securely.

2 new departments were being arranged and deployment of manpower had been settled. This would be a permanent post until they had made 300 privvy for every single residential lot. Even if the houses were not being erected yet, the privvy could be installed since it needs to be aligned with the drainage system.

The cubicle was next and it was made from wooden planks. This cuts down the time of weaving them. Besides, there will be no roof and its an open-top design. There was plenty of wooden planks, so the trees would not be felled this time.

After getting the dimensions ready, the launch of the new department commenced and everyone was cheering as they went ahead to their respective stations.

Since there was no need to dig for clay anymore, Earl helped to create a clay mound, which would be refilled every time it was emptied.

This saves a lot of time and the clay that was being used this time was reddish-brown in colour. So the next batch of clay bricks, rocket stoves and modular ovens would be reddish-brown in colour.

When Frank asked about the clay, Earl mentioned, "This is a common red clay and it's best used for stoneware or even porcelain ware. Besides, this is pure clay with no soil but with fine sand. It would create something called concrete it is non-porous and harder than clay by itself."

Frank nodded and asked Earl on why he can't conjure up these commode models instead. "Hahaha... If only I could then I would be able to make a castle with underground tunnels et cetera all within a day...! Don't you think so? I could only manipulate the earth itself but I can't manipulate the earth to be made into objects. Hahaha."

Frank laughed along and it seems that both really got along very well indeed. Ben was manning the other new station which was actually situated within his woodcutter area. The 5 foot long and 1-foot wide wooden plank was just right to be made into the sidewalls of the privvy and he had some men to design the cheek spreader seat and also the secondary lid.

300 of such would be produced and it was to be designed by joining 2 pieces of planks together. The outline was drawn by a piece of chalk and then carefully sawn out into the appropriate shape. It was precision work and Old Jack was happy enough to produce more bow saws that can cut through curves.

There was virtually no hurry to complete the job and the hardest part was making the cheek spreader seat as it was shaped like a 'U'. 6 men worked with Ben as he oversees the whole operations and making sure that every single piece was identical.

As the clay vats were mentioned by Heather to be used as a sink to flush and wash their hands inside the privvy, a 2 man team was assigned, thus dividing the works over at the stove and oven area. As the demand for those items fluctuated from time to time, less production was being made for these 2 items.

The whole production was in full swing form the moment the day started. As Farah would only be able to interfere with the baking schedule only in the afternoon shift, she, Wendy and Imelda went out looking for pebbles, the size of 2-3 inches in diameter.

Since Earl was busy helping out in the commode production area, they left him there instead and looked for these pebbles higher up near the shallower part of the stream. There, the river was only ankle-high and the fishes that were visible were the bullhead and trout.

With Wendy's kind assistance, these pebbles were made featherweight and were easily brought back to the Town where they sat on a dining table near the tailor as they fashioned out the hand warmers in red linen cloth. A yard of those could make quite a considerable amount of hand warmers.

After each pebble was placed inside the pouch, it was then sewn shut by the 3 ladies. The initial cutting and sewing of those pouches were being made by Innes and soon a pile of hand warmers were ready to be sent to Gracehaven's General Store to be sold at 10c apiece.

Heather and Michelle were teaching the 1st and 2nd batch of students who had grown to close 50 students. As one teaches, the other would act as a guide to ensure that the children were able to cope with their studies. Furthermore, it would be great if they could add other subjects but in the meantime, the teachers added nursery rhymes instead.

The classes were split into 3 sessions. The first 45 minutes would be in writing and reading and then would be followed by a break of 15 minutes before resuming with math for another 45 minutes. The third session would be based on general knowledge, ethics and so on for 30 minutes.

Soon after the children had ended their class, they all went about their ways to find something to do and help around with the others.

When they saw that Wendy, Imelda and Farah were making those hand warmers, they too wanted to help by gathering the pebbles and the whole horde went upstream near the shallower parts of the river to retrieve it.

Soon, in one afternoon, after Farah had completed injecting the radiating heat energy into the pebbles, they managed to complete 100 hand warmers. "Haha... I would never expect to be making them for sale here for our town folks."

"At least the stores are making money and one day it would be distributed out of Gracehaven and into other parts of towns as well," Farah remarked as she felt a bit mentally exhausted and was yawning incessantly after dealing with 100 of those stones.

What she need was a power snooze in order to prepare her to 'install' the radiating heat for the 20 ovens. So a power snooze would just be a nap on the table and she would be up for it.

It was already past midday and the first few clay commodes were ready. Since it was not being produced like a normal clay would be, the product was much sturdier and was left to airdry and sunbaked. Very minimal liquid was used to mould the commode except only during the final touches.

The commode looked simply like the modern-day model that you might be sitting on right now and taking a crapper...

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"It seems the citizens here are quite excited and would work diligently when it comes to project, don't you think so, no? Look, even the children got riled up in helping to look for the pebbles in the upper river."

"That's right, your Majesty. It does seem so. Besides, this town has not had any projects for quite some time and this makes them excited. The privvy is sure going to be a boon for all the citizens here."

"A private privvy on each residential lot. How wonderful could that be?" Old Kayla highlighted to me as I looked on from the balcony. Previously I scorned at the idea of using the balcony to address the citizens but later I found out that the balcony does have other perks.

It could be used just a focal point for me to see the overview of the work done by the citizens. In this way, I would be able to observe the progress in every single work done.

Wendy, Imelda and Farah looked up to the domain and saw me and old Kayla by the balcony and I waved at them. Seeing me waving at them, the three excitedly waved back. A little gesture sure does mean a big thing for them.

It seems the project they had initiated did work out for the rest of the citizens. The work hours were now back to normal as more people who weren't deployed before, now stationed themselves at various work areas that need attention.

Most citizens take up the initiative to work together towards a common goal — getting things done. The scheduled work for the 300 privvy would normally take about a month to complete. This was due to the commode that they had designed and would need to be air-dried and sun-baked for a single day before it would be fired in the pit.

However, with the many hands involved, the work might be reduced to 10 days with 30 commodes being made each day. The design was without a cistern so basically, these commodes would be able to meet the target by then.

From the balcony, I would be able to see rows and rows of red coloured commode being slowly shaped and set aside. I saw Earl was walking alone on the residential lots and he was marking out the ground with a stick. He then pointed his hand towards the direction of the latrine pits and proceeded to remove them thereafter.

Later on, during the nightly conference, I asked Earl what he was doing at the residential lots, he nonchalantly replied that he had directed lines of underground tunnels leading to both the latrine pits in both sides of the residential lots.

"These underground sewage system was elevated in such a way that sludge would be easily rolled off and converge directly into each latrine pits. This sewage would then be able to deposit its waste inside latrine pits effectively."

"Since the underground sewer system had been implemented, Walter would come in next to make the water riser to the clay vats that would be used to wash and flush. Once everything is in place, we can shut off the latrine pits, make it higher with sidewalls and a dome."

Heather added, "If the privvy was used as a personal bath, would it be alright? But could Farah be able to have an insulating heat like 100°F so those taking a bath during winter or any time of the season would not feel chilled?"

"Oh Yes... Your Majesty...! It could be done, something like the latrine pit as the radiating heat keeps the water constantly warm." Farah announced and the rest of the Ministers along with us were elated. This shows that the people of Gracehaven would have a higher stand of hygiene instead of a bath in a tub...!

Everyone heard the plans and the progress that they had achieved for the day and was ecstatic since the progress would greatly impact the lives of everyone in Gracehaven.

They would not know how the underground sewer was being made or where the water would come from to fill up the clay vat, but one thing for sure — they won't need to carry their potties anymore to dispose of their night soil.

The evening concluded as the hard-working men and ladies arranged some tables at the Gracehaven's Greasy Spoon to have their supper in the makeshift outdoor dining area and enjoy a mug or two chilled ale that had been a great favourite for the past night.