Five months after the meeting in the war room. Road to Brown Stone Village.
…
My name is Khalil Shihab Ghayth Sharif, the two-hundredth sixty fourth son of the twenty-fifth elder of the Ghayth family.
Some kind of god has forced me to monologue as I enter this village, although I’ll forget all about it as soon as I stop.
Why that happened? I have absolutely no idea, and my thoughts and actions are being partly controlled, so I can’t even think about why.
Either way, elder Naveed, one of my uncles, sent me to this village to get some spells from the local lord. Rumor among the guild is that the elder favors that lord very much, since he seems to be around my age, but his accomplishments as a spell tailor are astounding.
It seems like he’s the one that created the [Automatic Control] inscribing spell and sold it to the guild. That spell has been widely used since it was created, since it basically allows for one to use magic tools that require high control without meeting the requirements, although the mana consumption is increased.
“Still, he’s just a bastard. Even if he is a good spell tailor, Mi-jo has hundreds of tailors better than him.” I snorted.
How can a mere bastard compare to the Mi-jo tailors, that have received the highest education since birth?
“What’s so great about him being a young tailor? I’m already a tailor as well, and I’m just a little older than him.”
Indeed, I’m one of the youngest tailors in all of Mi-jo, one of the geniuses of the new generation.
Not only that, I have already reached the second level as a magus, so I’m also stronger than him. This lord just got lucky and made a few passable spells.
“Young Master Khalil. We will arrive at Brown Stone Village soon.” The coach, an old butler, notified me.
“Good.” I nodded.
Though I must say, the lord did spend a good amount of money in the roads. All the way from Argent Heart City to here, the roads were paved with stones. It seems like the lord paid some earth magi to connect the main road to here.
“Even then, what kind of stupid merchant would come here? It’s just a small village.”
I might not be a skilled merchant and focus on tailoring, but I know for sure that there are no sane merchants of name that would come to such backwater village.
The horse galloped for a few more minutes, before the coach notified me again. We had arrived in Brown Stone Village.
“Good, at least this place doesn’t seem to smell of feces.” I said, getting up from my seat in the carriage and poking my head out through the coach’s side.
It was then that my jaw hit the floor.
There were big walls in front of me, standing more than fifteen meters tall. We were behind an enormous line of carriages and peasants on foot. The fields around the walls were filled with animals and further there were many crops such as wheat and cotton… The number of peasants working the fields was even more astonishing, only in my field of view there were already hundreds of them.
“Alexander, did you take the wrong route?” I asked the coach, this is obviously a big town, we were supposed to be heading towards a village.
The coach, however, shook his head while wiping the sweat from his forehead, he seemed a little exasperated.
“I thought so as well young master, but I already asked people from the other carriages, this place is the village we are headed to.” The coach ascertained.
How can this be a village?!
Have you ever seen a village with fifteen meters-tall walls and a line of merchants waiting to enter?!
After the initial shock, we kept waiting in line, and after a few dozen minutes we reached the front.
The gatekeeper was a fully armored man, with a long steel halberd on his back. He had a list in his hand and wrote on it using an ink pen.
“Identification please.” The guards said sternly.
Identification?
“What kind of identification is necessary?” I asked.
“All non-citizens of the village need either a golden card or a valid certificate from any guild or national institution. As well as pay an entrance fee.” The guard explained calmly.
I was surprised that they would ask for identification, it’s not common for cities or towns to ask for identification in the kingdom, only a few do so. The entrance fee, however, was usual.
“Here, this is young master’s certification as a member of the Mi-jo Guild.” Alexander handed over my certificate to the gatekeeper.
Although he received my certificate, the guard didn’t get flustered as I thought he would, instead he quietly scrutinized the certificate.
“The seal has been verified, there are no signs of it being counterfeit. As a member of Mi-jo, there is no entrance fee.” The guard said calmly and handed the certificate back. “Have an enjoyable stay in Brown Stone Lord Khalil.” The gatekeeper bowed and we were allowed to pass.
As soon as we entered Brown Stone, we saw something completely different from what we expected. Usually, the outer area of towns (in this case village) use the outer district to house the peasants, that is if they are even allowed inside the walls. Here there were many houses built out of masonry, instead of common wooden houses prone to diseases that peasants usually lived in. There were also many small shops and communal dwellings and judging by the clothes the people walking by were wearing, they were all peasants.
Who would set shops in a place peasants live? Usually only wandering merchants would sell things to peasants, and most villages only had a small general store.
While not understanding very well the current situation, we went through the wide main street towards the inner district. We were then even more surprised.
There were many medium-sized shops, and many merchants walking around as well as the usual noble or aristocrat. Be it brothels, slave markets, hotels, smithies and even an auction, there were many places to visit in the town, especially the main square in front of the Lord’s mansion.
There was a big water fountain in the square, and many stalls were set up, and in the chairs many noble couples rested to appreciate the gardens of the square. A prime tourist spot that can’t be seen anywhere else in the barony.
“What kind of place is this… Even a few mid-sized towns can’t compare to this place!” Finally, I lost all composure.
This place was handed over to the current lord only five months ago, even with Bosta’s help, the village would never have developed so much so fast!
Most importantly, the guards all over the town moved with utmost discipline and there were many of them, some of the patrols were even heavy cavalry squads!
Even Bosta wouldn’t splurge on some baronet like that, even if he’s a spell tailor. There can only be one explanation for such development…
“This new lord is terrifying…” I sighed, recognizing my inferiority.
For a single lord to transform a village into a town in only five months… That’s a level I can’t compete with.
“We should just go visit Lord Adley. After that, I’ll stay a few days to check out this place.” I said, exiting the carriage and entering the Mansion alone.
…
It’s been five months since I the meeting in the war room. For five months Violet and I changed the village completely. All of that took a lot of money of course. Hiring magi to build the walls, investing in caravans to bring more people to the village, creating incentives for small merchants, building the roads, equipping the undead, killing bandits…
I already spent more than a hundred thousand gold, and I kept selling spells to Mi-jo and Bosta frequently. In five months, the village’s popularity spread among the nobles which attracted bigger merchants. I then built an Auction house and exchanged spells for rare items with Mi-jo and Bosta.
All the development attracted Lord Angus’ attention, and he gave me a right for expansion which I used to occupy a few dozen mines, two which produce elemental crystals, and create five villages to expand my territory.
After five months, we are starting to turn in a slight profit, and our development has stopped to stabilize our position.
I also capped the amount of normal undead I can have for the fourth rank: 12.5K zombies, 125K skeletons.
As for special undead, I have 12.5K Death Creatures(horses) and 340 ghouls (out of 1.25K maximum).
Still, I’m nowhere near the fifth rank after killing more than a hundred thousand bandits, inside and outside the barony…
But aside from Lord Angus’ army or elites, even if all the baronets in the barony combined their armies, they would still be squashed by mine easily.
It’s no wonder necromancers are so strong. I can basically drown armies at rank four, and at rank five the number will grow really absurd.
At fifth rank, all of those numbers will get ten times bigger, which will give me enough undead to fill a town.
Today I had another transaction with Mi-jo, which got me another good sum of gold.
But it was also today that a letter came, I am to report to Bosta in twenty days, and bring my army along. I should report to them before reporting to the kingdom.
“Well… The war is finally near… My stomach doesn’t feel good.” I said, the stress was getting to me.
“I’ll deal with things like that as they come… Now, I need to deal with this.”
Currently in my office, I sat on my chair with a document on my hands.
It is a qualification sent by the kingdom, that recognized the fief of Brown Stone Village as a town. I now could choose to keep the name, or change it…
Obviously, I would change it, but the name itself is hard to think about…
“Konohagakure, Mordor, Eden, Babylon, Gotham… So many great names but only one town…” That was my worry.
It was then that I remembered that TV show I liked a lot when I was younger… Although that place doesn’t have an amazing name, it has a greater sentimental meaning to me, and it’s less likely Violet will kill me if it’s that name.
I took my pen and signed the name I thought of…
From now on, this fief is known as the Town of Brooklyn!
