《Land of Opportunity》 Chapter 0 - Exile The Dragon Isle was in a worse condition than Issac could have even imagined. No mineral resources, no quarriable stone, no suitable trees for lumber. The vegetation had been devastated in a huge storm only a few years ago and was still recovering. Housing, industry, and other infrastructure was destroyed in the same storm, and is barely operable. No major wildlife except for the fish in the sea. Not to mention the pirates and ''privateers'' hired by the family to pressure Issac even more. Worst of all, the people of the island had a beaten, defeated attitude. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Issac needed to work a miracle if he was going to survive. He''d need more than one if he wanted to save the people he now ruled. Chapter 1 - Engagement Back when I was a na?ve little prince, I met the love of my life. Nadine and I met at a soiree held between our parents. I was a tall and lanky teenager in a well-fitted suit made by our family''s tailors. She was like golden sunshine and cool breeze, slightly tan skin, lustrous black hair, bright inquisitive eyes. I felt totally out of my league but we managed to hit it off and spent the rest of the party in each others'' company, awkwardly flirting. I never saw her again until the day of my exile, but I held a flame for her throughout the years. Later, I would discover that our little party was much closer to open extortion than it was any kind of cooperative effort. My family runs a significant portion of all trade between western Europe and the south-eastern hemisphere; they have fingers in almost every pie possible across the African coast, the Americas, and small island nations like the one I am currently heading to. Only recently would I learn that my affection for Nadine was used to oust me as heir to the family fortune. Some of the specifics are unclear but a branch family had staged an effective coup to take over the company, and I was one of the victims. My parents were spared death, at least, but remained under house arrest in a forced retirement. I lost my provenance as Issac Friedmann, and was marrying into Nadine''s family, I am now Issac Roche. Looking at the report in my hands, I knew I was screwed. The Dragon Isle was very successful for a brief period when the titular dragon fruits were popular with the aristocratic and rich who paid unreal premiums for imports, but that fell apart like any other passing fad. Other than that, there is some small trade in spices, especially nutmeg and mace, but little else. Agriculture is the single most important industry on the island, and it was all devastated only a handful of years ago in a record-breaking hurricane. The citizens of my new country were living little better than subsistence. The Roche family had a little bit of cash stored away, but it wouldn''t be enough to feed everyone if we had to import food. My heart panged a little thinking about the conditions Nadine was living in. My heart panicked for my self too, this was a fall from grace I never saw coming and I wasn''t sure I could cope with it. "What should I do, Sebastian?" I asked my butler. Sebastian sat beside me with sage tranquility. Sebastian had served my father before me and I had no doubt he would be the single most important asset for my new life, if only for his stable presence. "I trust the young master." He said simply, "You''ll have a better grasp on the situation when we arrive." He motioned to the report in my hands, our people had gathered this information for me but it was necessary to confirm things with my own eyes. Any more conversation died in the anxious pit occupying my stomach. At least I had some human resources, almost one hundred staff from my family and the company accompanied me on this trip. I was in exile sure, but they couldn''t leave me to rot or it could damage my mutinous cousins'' reputation. Probably why they spared my parents too. I looked back to the report. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The island has no mineral resources to speak of. Some of the other islands in the region had decently rich iron veins. Tin could be found, bauxite, small amounts of gold, any of these would have been a ticket out of poverty for the whole nation with enough hard work. Dragon Isle is a volcanic spit of land, a little more than one hundred and twenty square miles large. Unfortunately, most of this rock was available in nodules the size of a skull or in boulders the size of a carriage. Clean granite deposits could have worked, quarried stone would be expensive to ship, and there were any number of quarries on the mainland, but a mosquito is still meat. Such stone was difficult to use for building the kind of sturdy buildings that would survive fierce tropical storms. This was a paramount issue and I hoped to power through it if possible. I was going to be stuck on this island for years to come, I suspected, and I would not risk the massive loss such a storm presented if I could help it. Secondly, there was little in the way of timber. Exotic hardwoods that thrived on the island were largely destroyed, and wouldn''t grow back quickly. I had no idea what my new citizens were using to build houses after the destruction, that kind of information wasn''t available in any of our records. We could grow more wood eventually but I still preferred the safety of stone. Cut timber could be a profitable business within a decade, but it could still fluctuate with the fads of the aristocracy. I made a note to investigate the historical prices of mahogany, teak, ebony, and rosewood, as those were the most stably demanded products. Third, all major animal life on the island had been hunted to extinction. The fur and leather trade was extremely profitable, the Friedmann corporation made obscene amounts of wealth from furs alone. No such luck here. There were, I supposed, exotic birds. If I could get lucky enough to have an exotic bird pet fad rush through Europe, I was in the clear. The other issue with no significant hunting was food. The only readily available meat was fish, maybe chicken if there were still any on the island. There should be fruit available even within the two years since the hurricane, but there wouldn''t be any plantations. Vegetables were a total wash, we had no idea what vegetables would be available. There was a path out of this situation, I was sure. I would need to push hard to restore the country into working order, and get enough food for everyone to survive. Agriculture was the ticket here. Volcanic soil meant nearly anything that could stand the heat would grow explosively, but it needed order. Food was a priority yes, but so were the spice plantations that could fuel other projects in several years. All projects will inevitably require huge amounts of back-breaking labor. Specific details need ironing-out. This was going to be a long-haul race, and I wasn''t sure I was up to the task. Some small portion of the knot in my stomach wondered if Nadine would even be happy to see me. Chapter 2 - Arrival Nadine was not happy to see me. That''s not to say that she was unhappy per se, but it wasn''t anything like the striking and happy reunion that I''d hoped for. My cohort had arrived early in the afternoon; I had the pleasure of standing on the tip of the bow as we pulled into harbor. Despite all the emotional turmoil of meeting Nadine again and having to support tens of thousands of people, despite the political turmoil of my exile to the Isle and the loss of my family status, I couldn''t help but find the view breathtaking. The tropical sea water is a bright and clear aquamarine, almost turquoise. Blazing white sand beach stretched around the expansive natural harbor, marred only by the jutting old docks. They didn''t look new and I was a little surprised they even survived, given what the report said about the state of damage on the island. Squat and gnarled trees littered the beach, backed by tall young palm trees. The island cut a gorgeous figure into the air, sloping peaks and gorgeous valleys ran along the coast in either direction. Little harbors and inlets probably dotted the coast for its entire length, some of the peaks in the distance faded into blue-green shades. For a little island of one hundred twenty square miles, it sure felt big. The Dragon Isle was close to a neat oval, maybe a little bent on the windward side. From the perspective of the ship this small dent ended up in a huge valley and bay. Ramshackle houses sprouted from the mountainside in bright colors, were those natural dyes? I wondered. The only serious construction I could see was the Roche ''palace'' done up in mortared stone walls and adobe facades. At least the place I was staying would be pretty nice, I thought, even though it felt a little selfish to do so. I was surprised at how much vegetation I saw was actually present, there seemed to be too many trees. "What percentage of the forest did they lose in the storm?" I was calling to Sebastian who once again accompanied me on the deck. "Something like ninety percent, is our estimate." Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. "Are we sure on those numbers? Look at all that growth!" "Its just our estimate Sir, there is no accurate count. It could be higher or lower by a few percentage points." Sebastian had taken to calling me Sir, rather than Young Master, now that I was to be the head of the Roche household. If the forests were less damaged than I expected, maybe this was the result? It stood to reason that only the strongest or sufficiently protected trees survived. If the forests kept some of the tallest and strongest trees, three years would be plenty of time for under growth and quick sprouting varieties to fill in the gaps. Sailors were bustling now, trimming sails and preparing to drop anchor as we closed in on the docks. A couple other vessels floated on smaller sections, they didn''t look native. Small dinghies and fishing vessels occupied almost everywhere else. Oars sprouted out of the side of our great ship as the vessel rowed the remaining distance into port. I took some deep breaths, my heart racing despite myself. I had seen Nadine and her entourage coming to greet us. A wide ramp was lowered onto the dock, I led the way down followed by the rather unfriendly captain, Sebastian, and a few other support staff. The dock was just about as worn rotten and sandy as I had feared. My mind seemed to focus on these little details rather than gather the courage to look up and see her. Eventually, aristocratic training took over and a fake smile plastered itself across my face. "Good afternoon Sir Issac, and welcome to the Dragon Isle." Nadine curtseyed in the fashion of mainland aristocrats. There was no recognition in her eyes. Oh dear, I thought, she doesn''t even recognize me. Nadine was beautiful, of course. Dressed in a pale blue pleated dress, her long hair was braided and tied in matching ribbon, reaching her low waist. Lost was the cute charm of my memory, replaced by the mature figure of a blossoming young woman. Her outfit was modestly cut, but the cinch at her waist showed off wide inviting hips that made my face flush red. Sebastian cleared his throat. "Good afternoon Nadine," was the best I could get out. "Are we so familiar that you would not call me Princess Nadine?" she teased back, with a hint of outrage. I couldn''t tell how much of it was genuine. I cleared my throat this time, "Of course Princess, forgive me!" she smiled like the sun rises. "Our wedding is but a few days away, you may call me by my name then Sir Issac. Now, follow me to the Palace. There is much to discuss." She beckoned and we walked inland. Chapter 3 - Brass Tacks I stared down at a small pale coffer, it was half filled with silver bullion coins. "This is all I have to work with!?" I was incredulous "This is what remains from keeping our people alive!" Nadine countered. I opened my mouth to respond but no words came out. Nadine was right here, feeding the people certainly came first. After a moment more, "How bad is the food situation really?" I asked. "From what I can see there is a shocking amount of fruit ready for the taking." "You aren''t grasping the real scale of the problem. There are close to thirty thousand people on this island, practically every family grows vegetables in a private garden. Every family forages for fruit, every family fishes for meat. There. Is. Not. Enough. Most of the fruit you have seen here isn''t even ripe, we''ve eaten lobster to near extinction!" Damn. Calculations started running through my head, thirty thousand people split into an average family size of five still meant six thousand family units. Six thousand families acting primarily as laborers, with only one to three able-bodied people able to assist in gathering daily sustenance. Unlike the aristocratic meals I was used to they would require much less variety but much more staple products. That''s eighteen thousand meals a day, there really wasn''t enough food to go around. "Are the other ships I saw from delivered food?" A grave look had lit my face. "Yes." "Hmmm. How many more shipments can we afford with what''s left?" I had been trained at the academy to deal with problems similar to this. Purchasing, shipping, costs of goods sold. Even so I felt blind with so little detail, so little structure. "Three, maybe four depending on how much salted meat and grain we get in each shipment." Nadine replied. Still not enough. Buying food with our limited funds and no cashflow was going to be suicide in the long run, not buying food might be suicide in the short run too. The balance of the nation hung in the next question, a part of me didn''t want to know the answer. "How long can our people survive with no new food, at our current rate of consumption?" Nadine''s heretofore confident expression started to slip. "Maybe eight months... it''s the end of the wet season, dry season is going to be hell." I''m doomed, is all I could think, and I''m going to bring down thirty thousand innocents with me. Nadine continued, "We also don''t have sufficient housing, already we are dealing with flooding issues, inadequate cover from the rain is going to become inadequate cover from the heat. People are going to die before they can starve, maybe not everyone but some will." she was properly frowning now. "I need... I need to know more." I called Sebastian in. "Sebastian, clarify for me exactly how much manpower we brought with us to the island. Nadine, please summarize how much manpower you can mobilize after his report." Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "Reporting Sir, two doctors, thirty honor guards, mostly made up of retired soldiers, fifty or so chefs, maids, and other support staff, almost a dozen tradesmen." Sebastian promptly answered. Nadine took a minute to tabulate in her head, "Two hundred or so laborers and staff loyal to my family? We can''t afford to pay them any more but might do what we ask anyway." "Just under three hundred then, that we can directly manage. I don''t intend on starving to death. I fear we are going to need drastic measures." I paused again. "How open to barter and negotiation are the traders? Sebastian, how likely are those traders to be interfered with by my old family? What are the fastest growing crops on the island? What do we have available to build with? Is there any illicit trade on the island? How long does it take the most profitable crops to grow? Do we have any maps of the island, and if not how long would it take to tour the island?" A rapid series of questions left my lips, they would decide my plan of action. And so our conversation continued, much was revealed to me, much left me hopeless. The traders we had encountered so far had only been open to transactions in bullion, probably due to political pressure. We might be able to sell other products to them but it would be a losing deal until the politics were out of the question. Many crops were fast growing but still outside our survival range. Bananas and plantains took ten months to a year to start fruiting, a year for a harvest. Starfruits, passion fruit, and papaya took similar timelines. Dragon fruit could produce in a little more than a year if taken from cuttings, several years from seed. Almost every other fruiting tree or bush would take several years to the better part of a decade to produce sufficiently. Cash crops had much more forgiving cycles, but wouldn''t feed our people and are still vulnerable to political pressure. Sugar cane grew well and could be harvested in as little as nine months with luck, closer to a year with bad luck. Indigo grew in a matter of months, same as saffron. Coffee and cocoa both took a handful of years to reliably produce. Nutmeg took as long as five years to grow. Luckily Nutmeg was one of the most popular cash crops and had been replanted after the storm to great effect, only a couple more years until those plants could be harvested, but still at smaller scales. There were a couple of maps of the island in Nadine''s hands, but they weren''t necessarily accurate, and wouldn''t tell us exactly where was best to grow. It quickly became obvious, however, that the windward side of the island was much steeper and cut with deep valleys. The heart of the island and the leeward side of the island had more mild slopes that would be more conducive to agriculture. I would need to see for myself to be sure on the specifics, and touring the island would take several weeks. Too much time would be lost doing so without action, we needed to start now or risk total collapse. I was correct in my earlier assumption that the fallen trees were snapped up to make the existing houses, there was an issue with how well such timber could be made into planks, and a huge lack of nails or proper tools to make lasting structures. Adobe was a viable building method but not a quick process or particularly stable with only mud bricks and no stone. The saving grace was bamboo. The island was flush with it, it grew fast, and could be assembled without nails. Processing it was still a bit of an issue, it wasn''t easy to cut down without a sharp axe or saw, and it would need cutting to size as well. Lack of sufficient quantity and quality of tools plagued all ventures. There was and illicit trade on the island, namely in the production and smuggling of rum. Sugarcane could be crushed into a sugary syrup and boiled down to a strong rum with relative ease. Mostly done on small scales and for private consumption, it was nevertheless an option on the table. If we could sell rum to traders or pirates, it would greatly change our cashflow situation. I would need to decide in the next few days how best to spend our remaining bullion, how best to allocate space to food, cash crops, and balance the growing times of each. Furthermore I needed to decide how dramatic the changes made could be; what will the people accept, and what will be too slow to stop our collective starvation. Lastly and most importantly, I would need to make manpower decisions to implement everything. The more buy-in from the people the more willing they would be to take orders, the less so the more I would need to rely on my three hundred loyalists. Best of all, I had to do this before I got married in a few days. No pressure.