"We can use the training grounds for the defence force for the meeting."
"Thank you for letting us use your space, brian."
"No problem, I'll have the others bring a big table for us to use."

I'm thankful to brian, the head of the defence force, for lending us the training grounds to be our meeting place. This village doesn't have any large enclosed space we could use. We usually use the village centre to hold our announcements and such but if we want something more private then we would move to the farmlands or the pastures of bron.

The pastures are huge and spacious but the animals would likely interrupt from time to time. On the other hand, the farmlands are nice and quiet but you would need to watch your step or you might step on the crops.

"Well then, my villagers, allow me to start by giving you all of the information the mayor has given me."
"Wait a moment, village chief. I'll just get something for us to drink."
"I'll get the snacks."
"I'll grab the sandbox."
"This is a serious matter, so don't take too long."

Bandits are coming and we still have time to properly set up food and drinks. At least the morale of this place is high.

It would look bad if I'm the only one who didn't bring anything. I'm not one to fall for peer pressure but I actually like this community. I also have to build up that camaraderie for when we battle the bandits. No one wants to get caught hesitating in a battle because you are unsure about your own team members after all.

"I'll be back in a bit."
"You too, brill? Alright, gather everything all of you need and come back here later. Notify your families that we might take some time to finish our meeting. We need to have a plan started by the end of the meeting. We don't want to be caught unprepared."
"Yes, village chief!" xAll

They already have the food and drinks. Even the sandbox to make a mock simulation of the village has been prepared. I have some plans prepared for the defence of the village. The best thing I can add are some samples for the weapons and armour.

"Is everyone here? Did you have everything ready?"
"Everything is prepared."
"All right, Let's start this again. As I was saying before, Bandits are moving into our region."

*Munch* *Munch*

Goat cheese wasn't as bad as I thought. It still feels weird for me but it is a good new experience, maybe I'll get used to it as I eat it some more.

"There are two different bandit groups that have been spotted. They have been attacking travellers along the road, and the only reason that we know they are moving to our region is because the attacks have progressively been happening closer and closer to our region."

Is the bandit group that attacked me when I moved here part of that statistic? That happened so long ago, so I doubt it. That also happened somewhere near the capital, which is somewhere in the middle of the dwarf continent, more or less.

"From the report that has been gathered based on the survivor's words and the mercenary who fought against them, the strength of the bandits should be around medium sized bandit groups. Their skills vary but a single one of the bandits, except the top officers, can be beaten by a member of the defence force one on one."

That is weak. I don't mean to underestimate the village's defence force but their fighting skills aren't that high. They are stronger than me but I can confidently say that I can outskill them, except the leader of the defence force. Most of them don't have any live combat experience. Monsters are one thing but they don't have much experience against humanoid opponents.

"They are weak but most of them are cunning and tricky. Not to mention that the ones who made it to be leaders of those groups have to be even more so. However, the only thing we can get from these reports are that two medium sized bandit groups are slowly heading towards our region. They haven't been caught and all of the fights have been fast with neither side gaining advantage. They retreat as soon as reinforcements come, which hides their true strength."
"Village chief, when has the report been sent? How long ago has it been?"
"The latest sighting of the bandit group has only been a month ago."

A month ago, huh. Depending on how fast they want to get here, they might have already reached our region. It's a shame that we don't have any more news than that. Messengers are the most reliable way for information to circulate in this continent but they take time to arrive.

"Now, I don't want to base our defence on the current news that we have since we have no definite information about the whole bandit group. For all we know, they might not be the only group that are migrating to our region, or worst of all, they are part of a large bandit group heading to this region and only the grunts are the ones we have seen. The plan is to fortify the village as if we are fighting against an army. I would need each and everyone of you to help our village survive this problem."
"Don't worry, village chief. I will make our defence team stronger. I'll switch the training regiment to a stricter and harsher one to make sure they all survive fighting against bandits."
"Thank you Brian. However, with the number of people that we have, I don't think we can survive with just all of you, so the first thing is to build a defence. Walls, gates and maybe some watchtowers."
"Chief, we carpenters will be in charge of that. I'll start designing a few things and show it to you. If you are satisfied with the design we can start building it, as soon as we have the materials."
"I'll help with the materials. My cousins in the town can help me contact some merchants that can get the materials. I'll also stock up some crops that we can store for a long time."

The carpenter's family takes care of the building and the farmer's family will take care of the materials, while also taking care of the rations. Is this the part where I give out my part of the suggestion?

"Good, I can count on the two of you. However, we will still need to send some people into the town to live there until things settle down a bit more."
"Village chief, We can send a few of the teachers and all of the children to the town. Those are the ones that we need to evacuate, no questions."
"She is right! The children are the next generation of the village. We need them to survive this ordeal no matter what. Some of the teachers might be against it but someone knowledgeable and responsible needs to accompany them to the town."
"Other than them, I guess we can send those who don't want to take part of the defence. We can't force them to fight after all."
"That is true. Those that are forced to fight might crack under the tension of the battle. It would give us more trouble to keep them here. Might as well send them to the town to look after the children."
"Those that decide to avoid the fight have different reasons. They don't need to feel ashamed about it. We won't blame them nor will we resent them for it. We all love this village and do what we can to help it. If they can help the village by watching over the children at the town then that is where they need to be."

The flow of the meeting is advancing so fast that I can't get a word in. If I don't bring up the plans that I planned then we might disband before I even mention them.

"Good, now that we have that decided. I want to bring up the next stage of the fortification. I want to expand our borders. This might mean that we have to defend a larger place, and we have to build a fortification for a larger village but this should give us a bigger place to fight. We will have a clearing where the battle can take place if they breach the walls. This will reduce the damage to our village."
"I understand, village chief. I'll expand the design accordingly."
"Thank you. Next is to upgrade the weapons and armour of our defence force. Our newest resident, Brill, will help with the upgrade."

Oh! Nice going village chief. Now I have a good step inside the conversation.

"I'll need to coordinate with the head of the defence force about their preferred weapons and also need to know the sizes to make the armour. I'll have the preliminary designs ready as soon as I get the information that I need."
"That is good."
"Village chief, I also have some things that I want to recommend. This is a design I thought about the walls. This is for the watchtowers. This is about the moat I want us to have. This is a drawbridge design along with the gate. Finally, this is for the siege weapons."
"Eh, Ah, wow. This is a lot of things. Hmm, I did say that we need to plan as if we are facing an army. Alright, brill, brian, and the carpenter's family will discuss these plans brill has brought forward. I think we should be able to do them all. The last on the priority list are the siege weapons since our main focus in the meantime are the defences."

Good! I felt like I just dumped the proposal on everyone but I can't really do anything better than that since most of them already have the same idea in mind.

"Alright, the plan has some foundations now. However, we still need to see if our budget can fulfil our plans. I don't want to do this but I want to add some added tax to help improve our town. This will only last until we build up our fortifications. Finally, before we disband I want to ask everyone to give a tally on the things we need and I want others to help us find ways to make our expenses cheaper without compromising the quality."
"I have some friends that can give me discounts."
"My relatives live in a town where they can buy cheap materials. I'll try to contact them."

Good, everything seems to be falling in place. I'll need to finish up the plans. I won't know what I can do to reduce the cost if I don't know what the full price is after all.