章 16: Future planning.
Nicolas sudden fainting caused the group to quickly excuse themselves. After they returned to the keep and put Nicolas to lie down. Galahad called a meeting with his two new subordinates.
Galahad first looked towards Karlos and asked.
"So how did you meet my brother, what are your skills and what did you do for him?"
Karlos gave a quick bow and said.
"Well, Sire I met your Brother through a common acquaintance. After I finished my apprenticeship with the scribe's guild, he gave me a job as one of his copier scribes. After a while, he noticed that I am semi-capable in long-term planning and finances. After a while, I rose through the ranks and eventually, I ended up managing your brother's numerous investments and his house's income in general. As for my skills specifically, I can read and write in Boreian, Frankian, and Occitan. I have experience in management and stewardship and finally, I have a good understanding of mathematics."
Galahad nodded and said.
"Alright and how about you Theodore?"
Theodore gave a deep bow and said honestly.
"Well, Your lordship me and your brother had the same tutor for magic. He was rather gifted, and I was not. But he tried to help me out, and we became fast friends. I was frankly a much better talker than anything else and after we both finished our apprenticeship, he took me under his wing. I ended up dealing with most of the house's matters. While he focused on research and deepening his understanding of magic. Since becoming an elemental manipulator rather surprisingly but at the same time unsurprisingly enough involves one with the politics of the realm, my workload was surprisingly heavy and I needed an assistant to manage the internal matters. Don't let Karlos fool you he is way more competent than he claims to be. But I am getting sidetracked. As for my personal skills, I can read and write in Boreian, Frankian, Occitan, Karelian and Eriminian I am half-decent in math. But I am much better at striking deals and socializing in general. In terms of fighting, I am better than the average man. But that is thanks to mostly my vast tavern brawl experience rather than any real fighting. Additionally, I am a tier one Generalizer mage."
Galahad raised an eyebrow and asked
"Generalizer mage?"
Theodore quickly responded.
"Wait before I explain Sire. What do you know about the magic systems?"
Galahad shrugged and responded.
"First and foremost systems? additionally, I don't know much. It never really occurred to me to ask George. After all, it didn't really matter much at the time I knew he would be useful in creating a more permanent keep and that is why I picked him. I just assumed people are born with magic and then they are trained by an older and wiser wizard similarly to how craftsmen pass on their experience to the next generation."
Theodore nodded and responded.
"I see, While your assessment is partially correct Sire it has several glaring holes."
He then sighed heavily before lamenting.
"I just expected your brother to have informed you of such matters.Then let me be the one."
Theodore then smiled and started explaining slowly.
"First and foremost you need to understand that there are several "systems" of magic. The standard one is the four elemental system. Where the four primordial elements are earth, fire, air, and water as defined by Lucien Terans. Most scholars split them into seven tiers. Even though such tiers are to say the very least inaccurate, poorly defined, and lacking any real connection to reality. But they are useful in quickly identifying the status of a fellow mage. Even within the mainstream system, there are several approaches to increasing one's tier. The classic one is the elemental focus. Where the magic-user focuses on one element such as fire or water. After reaching the seventh tier he picks one of the close elements in the case of water either air or earth. The elementalist then will either start building a foundation from the ground up or he may attempt to connect a bridge and then build from there. Building a bridge has as a goal to better control composite elements. For example in the case of fire and earth lava. Other schools of thought consider each composite element unique and a separate mastery subject. Others consider that the elemental idea is rather silly and instead believe that there is a fundamental force of nature used to manipulate other secondary fundamental forces of nature so they can, in turn, manipulate the smallest building blocks of nature the atoms. Others take the rather simplistic view that there is only one force called mana. With this faction's members fighting about mana's nature. is mana pure? is it elemental? or do both exist? A lot of people tend to mix and match. Your brother, for example, believes in the four element system but he also believes that elemental mana does exist and it is a fundamental force of nature. I personally wasn't much of a ponderer but I managed to get a shallow mastery of several different types of magic and since I never focused on one element I am called a Generalist."
Galahad nodded and said.
"This does seem rather complicated and not something I need to know all of the details about. But I have a serious question. How do people even improve at magic and what defines the tiers?"
Theodore quickly replied.
"Well, a tier is a very very general term. Each school of magic has a different understanding of what a tier is. But generally speaking, magic is connected with two things how much elemental force a mage can use in a given amount of time and the level of control of the force. The improvement in the elemental force and the level of control is mostly through practice or sudden enlightenment additionally there are certain rare materials that can expedite the process. All in all a tier in itself is fluid but there are some general classifications. Tier zero or The Unawakened one is someone with some magical ability but he hasn't unearthed it yet. Tier one or The Newcomer is someone mostly unable to do much more than party tricks, examples of magic use in that tier are, changing the color of a flame, slightly increasing the speed of the wind, minimal change in temperature and so on. Tier two or the Novice is someone reaching the point where magic becomes slightly useful a blacksmith could use air magic to feed more air to the flames or better unify the temperature through fire magic. Tier three or the Apprentice is an elementalist with enough control over an element to the point where they can launch an efficient attack but after that, they are pretty much spent and virtually defenseless. Tier four or the Journeyman is the last point where sheer practice can and will improve one's tier. From that point onwards a deeper understanding of how elements work is needed to advance. Generally speaking at tier four an elementalist can use their elemental power for an extended amount of time. While one's elemental capacity can increase indefinitely through sheer practice. For further improvement in finesse, only a deeper understanding will do. Elementalists between Tier Five to Tier Seven are the true powerhouses and to us normal folk all of them seem insanely powerful it is just a comparison between them at that point. Roughly magical Tiers can be split into three categories tier zero to one candidates, tier two to four trainees, tier five to seven researchers."
Galahad raised his eyebrow and asked.
"So how can people tell if someone is magically gifted?"
Theodore responded.
"Well, there are some common traits most of the time magically gifted kids are slightly more cunning, more inquisitive and slightly stronger than their build would suggest. Additionally, someone can get magical attunement through exposure to certain extremely rare materials. But to make sure if someone is gifted another Elementalist is required. But after that, it is rather easy. Let me make a presentation."
Theodore then released a small wisp of blue energy from the end of his finger which then proceeded to fly on the top of the roof of the room and disperse shortly after. Theodore then added.
"This is how we do it. After the "wizard" finds a prospective candidate he releases a small amount of pure elemental power in the air. Which then gets drawn into someone who is magically gifted. Since neither you nor Karlos are gifted. The magical energy will just fade into the air."
Galahad nodded and said.
"So what Tier of Generalist are you."
Theodore smiled and said.
"I am tier two across the board"
Galahad nodded and said.
"I see I will keep this information in mind. Outside of that, I would like to officialize your positions, mister Karlos, as my Steward and mister Theodore as my Adviser and Diplomat. Mister Theodore currently your workload will be quite light. But after the completion of the trading post, you will be stationed there. Now that this discussion is over I would like to know your opinions on what future projects we need to focus next."
Karlos bowed and said.
"Sire I thank you for showing trust in my abilities. As for my advice repairing the current roads and improving them would be rather wise. For that, we could use the Mason's official road construction technique."
Galahad raised his eyebrow and asked.
"What is the difference to the current way we are building our roads?"
Karlos nodded and quickly explained.
"Well, most of the roads out here in the frontier are made up of either packed dirt or packed dirt mixed with packed gravel. While the mason's roads are constructed out of several distinct layers. First, they lay sand or lime mortar to create a level base. The next layer up is made out of lime concrete mixed with broken stones. On top of that, they lay another similar layer made with lime concrete mixed and pebbles instead of stones. The final layer is the paving of the road with large stone rocks connected with lime concrete. The road is generally slightly taller than the surrounding terrain. With one meter ditches dug on either side of the road to prevent flooding. This type of road rarely needs any repairs and is a great investment for the future of the fief."
Galahad nodded and asked.
"So what would be the cost for the construction of such a road between Highkeep and Gragon."
Karlos smiled and responded.
"The distance between the two settlements should be about eight miles give or take. The cost for paving a mile of road is forty-five whole gold coins. So the cost should be three hundred and sixty whole gold coins. Now if we used stones from the mines the cost should drop to about a hundred and eighty whole gold coins. If the laborers are unpaid it should drop a hundred more. We can get sand from the river but we will need to import lime so the cost will at minimum be eighty whole gold coins. If you have twenty men working you should be able to build ten meters of the road a day with the whole road's completion in about four years. The cost of the project each year would be twenty whole gold coins a year. Additionally, your keep is still rather barren you will need to buy some more furniture that should cost you five more whole gold coins. Mine and Theodore's wages are a rather modest one whole gold a year each and the cost to buy the land where your brother will build his keep should be an additional ten whole gold coins."
Galahad paled when hearing of the monumental amount of money he will need to fork out to finish the construction project and pay for his two new advisors."
Galahad then said while trembling.
"I seeeee emmmm soo I will need thirty-one whole gold coins just to keep everything moving for a year. Thankfully with the harvest, I will not need to buy more wheat. But then again refugees will very soonly start flooding my lands looking for safety. Any ideas on how I could raise some money?"
Karlos smiled and asked.
"So my Liege how much gold are you getting each month?"
Galahad sighed and answered.
"Four whole gold coins a month give or take. Three from taxes and one from the mine."
Karlos then smiled and added.
"Then you should be fine. After all, you should start getting some extra money from the traders coming through the trading post."
Galahad sighed and said.
"While this might be true. I need to remind you that I am not currently taxed for a year or so after that, I will need to pay twelve whole gold coins a year as a tax. Outside of that, it is very likely I will need to fight a goblin horde or some other type of natural disaster. After all, this village has been destroyed several times in the past. Diseases and other natural disasters are also likely. The frontier is a harsh place and can't be judged through normal lenses."
Theodore nodded and said heavily.
"Well, sadly those things are part of life. But on the bright side at least you didn't need to go to war. Additionally, your brother's presence will eventually prove a huge net positive for your realm."
Galahad raised an eyebrow and asked
"How so?"
Theodore then smiled and answered the question.
"Well, you see your brother is one of the most powerful elemental users in the realm and you are his brother. Many Nobles and Merchants would like to send their children to become his apprentices. After all, being even a mid-tier elementalist allows someone to protect themselves or improve their skill set's value. If a mid-tier elementalist joins the army he will start his career as a captain's second lietenant. Furthermore, there are several powerful institutions where even novice elementalists can become a member. Such connections, in turn, can provide them with several benefits. The presence of those nobles, merchants and their retinues will prove invaluable for the economy of this fledgling fief. Additionally several of them might attempt to curry favor with you. After all, you are the brother of that said elementalist."
Galahad tried to process all this new information for a minute before asking.
"Then sorry to be blunt. But why did my brother come all the way out here in the frontier to build his tower when he could get much more benefits in the capital?"
Theodore shrugged and said.
"Your brother is a true scholar and as such he prefers to focus on his research and doesn't care about titles, petty power, and the noble's squabbles. To be frank I am sure that when his tower is still half-finished several of his old colleagues will suddenly disappear. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if your fief ends up becoming a city connected with a new elemental college."
Galahad then asked curiously.
"What is an elemental college."
Theodore smiled and answered.
"It is a place where elementalists gather to pool together their resources. Most such colleges have a bias towards a magical model. There are several colleges even inside this Kingdom the capital has the second biggest one, while the biggest one is in Mertinia the capital of the ArchMagos's fief. There are several smaller ones peppered across the landscape but most of the time those "colleges" are just some mid-tier elementalist with half a dozen apprentices."
Galahad nodded and asked.
"Any other glaring absences"
Karlos quickly responded.
"Well, there are several. First and foremost your territory barely has any craftsmen you have one blacksmith, an alchemist slash botanist, and a mason. You should try to acquire at least a potter, a tanner, a shoemaker, a tailor, a bowyer, a fletcher, a woodworker, a miller, and a ropemaker. Constructing a mill should be your top priority as well."
Galahad nodded and said.
"Alright, this is good enough for now. Karlos start construction on the road and do a thorough analysis of other needs my fief may have. Theodore try to get some craftsmen to move over by promising them no taxation for a year and a free workshop also try to create some more connections perhaps some of the guilds might be willing to create a branch in my territory soon. Tomorrow I will go over to Gragon to get the land deed for the territory my brother needs."
Both Karlos and Theodore responded in synchrony.
"As you will my liege"
Galahad nodded and said.
"Good meeting over you are dismissed. I will see you in two hours when we will be having our banquet my brother should be awake by then."
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