《Careless Wish》


 first chapter.

    I have always wondered if there are more than one choice after death¡­ reincarnation never was apart of my future. After death was purgatory¡­ which sounds like a waiting room then infinite happiness.


    I was always thought that my soul was given to me because my God wanted us to chose him¡­ i believed it¡­


    Here is the deal¡­ after death there is purgatory there is judgement there is a perfect life¡­


    There are also the chance to get reincarnated¡­ only you live life on hard mode...just because life is perfect does not mean you don''t screw up¡­


    I volunteered¡­ why¡­. I was dared to do it...the soul was already saved¡­ the body and life i had was perfect¡­ the friends were good¡­ i never understood why i volunteered i was very satisfied with my life.. I just did.


    Welcome to my rebirth. well i came into the life of a 10 year old child¡­ with magic power¡­ and memory of my ex life plus a fuzzy memory of life in heaven.


    I am male, short reddish brown hair blue eye and a very pale complexion.


    I am not a noble or prince


    Im a commoner¡­ the best advantage for me is my grandfather is wealthy for a commoner and saved up enough for his family.


    with lots of guards he makes about 3 trips a year to a different kingdom which is part of this empire¡­


    My mother had children out of wedlock and was a hysterical women¡­ she died in a riot or a dual...i have one younger sibling from that mother and many cousins and siblings from my aunts. I have 5 grandmas..


    Poygamy is the standard.. However the more wives a man has the more respect he garners..


    Women however rule this city. And a woman''s rule has deep roots¡­ how about i tell you about are home


    First unlike other ln/wns¡­ every home in this city is basically a tower¡­ with the bottom floors not having doors or windows...engineering is huge¡­ however metal is not used that much in construction¡­ ceramics adobe bricks and other materials are used¡­


    The walls are massive


    The castle strides pillars and sits in the middle of the city at the highest point¡­ most towers which is where we live, have the top floors as gardens¡­ mirrors magic and engineering¡­ do their utmost to create the best vertical gardens¡­ many gardens have turntables so that plants on the inside also get several hours of sunlight.


    Water is supplied from reservoirs and aqueducts that travel throughout the city using gravity and channels and flow charts.


    When looking at the city from the outside the first thing you will notice is how massive the walls are¡­ 80 meters of smooth magically polished walls


    you actually don''t see big gate houses, of any sort. just many small little gates...there are a few hills near the walls on the backside of these hill facing the walls are smaller gates big enough for wagons to go through...all merchants travel underground with their wagons no pedestrians are allowed down there ...many of these gates have one way of travel.


    To be honest it makes me think of a parking garage back on earth.


    Are home has an elevator that travels up the support pillar of our tower¡­ grandfather moves his merchandise in and out of the tower using this..


    There are farms abutting the walls¡­ and near the castle there are well made roads traveling between point of interest...however unlike most pictures castles they''re not massive planes of farms¡­ nor are there many small towns that surround the castle¡­ a few building heavily fortified hear and there...then the roads simple stop and turn into trails. That all there is¡­ there are some orchards¡­ however beast like to make dens in these orchards and regularly have to be cleaned out many orchards have smaller walls to help with this problem.


    The kingdom subsides on hunted food and food grown from family gardens. Fields of wheat ¡­. Those don''t exist. Breed staple foods also do not exist¡­ you would think the city would starve...well to be honest every winter the city does starve¡­


    I just survived this winter as skin and bones. However i belong to the family...thanks to being a part of a family i got at least a little something to eat every day from the house garden¡­ in the summer the city stinks¡­ the shit and piss from a chamber pot is poured into holes in the wall that shoot it out onto the streets below¡­


    However no one really walks down there¡­ there are skyways that are regulated on the 4th floor. 6th floor 8th and on¡­. Through tamed slimes and water works slaves and other public works the streets are guaranteed clean every 4 days...it makes me think of garbage collection day back on earth except there a variety of services that clean the roads of trash and refuse.


    There no limit to how many beast can be tamed¡­ i have four beasts tamed to myself¡­ however you share a conscience with your beasts. I have two large house cats i inherited from my mother and two slimes...having to many beasts sharing your mind is difficult thankfully cats are nocturnal and slimes really don''t have a mind...however they do have a presence¡­ beast prohibited by the kingdom from being tamed are large pests such as rats ferrets rabbits. Crows..there more but in that general vein.


    Slimes can eat smaller pests such as bugs but larger rodents they have trouble killing¡­ thankfully we have house cats¡­ to kill larger rodents..


    Slimes can remember something after all they do share a mind with a human for instants they know not to eat a plant¡­. But if a fruit is shoved down a chamber pot they know that it okay to eat¡­. Basically every action a slime takes is like a instantaneous ping to your brain.. Take action yes or no¡­. And your the computer¡­ it''s annoying at first¡­ but after about 4 months you get used to it children faster than adults.


    I tried more than 4 however that was too much information for my mind...there are some with more talent of course as tamers. There are others with less talent one in 5 people probably has some taming ability.


    For instance there are tamers who only want to tame beast that can be used for warfare or to carry equipment. Guess who as children normally go this route boys majority of the time¡­ strangely enough young boys trying to tame beast used in warfare...don''t have a high survival rate¡­ the few who do often bring in more game.. And hiring bodyguards and such is fine or even battle slaves they don''t cost much however you are required to feed them...and food is always at an all time high¡­ so commoner boys without resources often take risks¡­


    Thankfully my grandfather was wealthy enough to equip us children. with slaves, food and even some minimum equipment, when we left the city to gather resources...equipment might only be a long dagger and a wooden shield for me and the slaves...the front line might have grieves and a better shield however none of us have cloths on¡­ i own a leather belt with pouches¡­ grandfather has a kelt. All my grandmothers have just a belt or a sash. But that pretty normal for commoners¡­ everyone being naked or with just a bare minimum of clothing....


    Now as a hunting society leather would be the norm for clothing¡­ however it much too valuable for other industries¡­ for instance leather armor is a hot commodity...furniture is often a mix of leather and wood¡­ carriages use lots of leather instead of cotton or canvas¡­ windmills use leather. In fact bags to carry goods have leather¡­ there no cotton wool or canvas¡­


    Ropes are made of leather¡­


    Everything you can think of made on earth with any of those products of hemp, or cotton is made of leather¡­


    Society is very unbalanced...here¡­


    Because lower beast reproduce faster than on earth and are more dangerous than earth¡­


    Living close to water sources is very dangerous¡­ there is another problem¡­ resources have to be fought tooth and nail to get a hold of...so below the castle are mines below the merchant road¡­ for every little bit of metal that we can scrap we can not allow that to get outside of city walls unless who ever carries that metal can be assured to bring the metal back inside the wall¡­ goblins are attracted to metal¡­ big time.. They will tear down a house just to get to the nails...not only that they have a strong cunning to them¡­If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    A normal human might kill a goblin on a one on one fight¡­ if the human is a adult has a weapon know how to use the weapon...sees the goblin first and decides to attack first¡­


    A child would be food for a goblin...Goblins are light green with dark veins...have large ears ¡­. Are not cute nor do they have a disgusting beer gut¡­ there like ripped with muscle¡­ have long four fingered hands with nasty edge nails vicious teeth move quite fast, love to move in packs and they become a full grown adult in only 11 months not as fast as ln wn but fast enough to reproduce a second litter in less than a year and a half¡­


    Also the little bastards won''t be put down easily with a regular arrow or bolt¡­ there smart enough not to take it out of there body while in combat...unless it is a instant kill they will keep fighting¡­


    Most arrows have spells attached to them...goblins bane= the favorite are explosive and stun...bolts for crossbows often come with fragmentation and a bunch of glass is often layered onto a bolt¡­


    For other beasts¡­ depends on the animal...however arrows are expensive and commons often used ceramic or glass blades¡­ they break easy...however it easy to get them enchanted...shields often are bone or wood with leather buffering on them..


    This is a bleak world ¡­ everything is against humans it seems¡­


    Everything is against humans it seems¡­. Huh my slave has cat ears¡­


    Everything is against humans it seems¡­.. Uhhh my king and queen are elves¡­


    Everything is against humans it seems¡­...the city baths have no gender discrimination


    Everything is against humans it seems¡­. The city baths have easy sex you only have to pay coppers if you screw the baby making hole...that for the bath attendants¡­ otherwise it part of the bathing services¡­so anal is okay and free¡­.


    This is a bleak land¡­. But not everything is bad¡­


    3 more years and i will screw my brains out at the baths¡­ ill take a bath twice a day. when i''m in the city...


    Grandmothers makes the decisions in the family¡­ remember i have five of them...i have 18 aunts and 3 of them still live at home i have 14 cousins only two are male¡­


    Today the house needs about 20 bags of dirt and ores and other stuff for the house..my 3 slaves are with me, my two cousin males are with me. each of them also have 3 slaves...my oldest cousin todd wants to be a warrior and aims for that¡­ his slaves are all big men...daryl is the next oldest cousin he has 3 slaves¡­ two are women and one is a man. One woman holds a crossbow dagger and a small buckler¡­ she also has many different small magics...the male slave of daryl''s is good with books accounting also manual labor..the last slave i don''t know much about¡­ she a mage.. She probably the oldest women other the grandma however she looks 16...my guess is her magic is around 1500mp points¡­ she the support..she is in her 80s¡­ and she did not get married when we first got her she was fat...one of the few women who are fat i have seen in this city¡­ however her family forsook her¡­ and she could not afford to live on her own¡­


    From what i heard she was a horrible slave to begin with very lazy¡­ now she is very obedient


    She had a name however her family took it from her and gave it to a newborn child.


    That sounds like a lot to know about someone i know.. But she the oddest slave we have in the house..and that all i know about her¡­ one paragraph is not much.


    Now about me i have 3 slaves also¡­ all of them are around 4+ years older¡­ so around 14-17


    I picked all of them for having the same attributes as myself. Tamer and healing...of course each of them holds a shield and slings¡­ with spelled stones¡­ to be honest i picked them because they were the cheapest...with a big power¡­ however goblins can dodge a slung stone...they also have a glass or ceramic dagger..


    Since there are so many of us i did not worry about that fact.. If nothing else spelled stones with fire damage or other attributes was good enough for crowd control.


    Unlike rpgs of a party of five where you enter dungeons and level up¡­ there no levels here¡­ you get stronger as you age¡­ but its not linear age equals strength¡­ everyone is at level one and no one get to level two they just get stronger with experience¡­


    For instance most nobles have been breeding with other species such as elves dragons dwarves¡­ and they get a increased mana from start of birth¡­ a pure human is much like a weak goblin we only get as far as we make ourselves¡­ also most magic beasts have magic cores¡­.


    If you grind that up and apply it to your diet everyday¡­ this helps increase your mana strength health and even helps you slow your aging by a noticeable amount¡­


    Humans will still age however even with this¡­


    Elves with a constant diet of ground up mana stones appear to stop aging...they also get stronger¡­ but again it not a level it just they can do more with what they have¡­ you won''t see a great old elf jump from the top of the wall to the bottom and not suffer an injury no matter how old they are¡­


    However you may see them expend a lot of mana at one time¡­


    A common human has around 800mps in their middle aged years...a newborn might have 2 or 3mps


    I have around 900mps since i used my mana up every time i woke up¡­ as a child¡­


    That enough mana to stop the bleeding in an artery...and repair if from a dangerous sword slash.


    The gash will still be there¡­ i would need about a week to heal that gash unless it is a shallow one¡­


    To regrow a limb is months of a daily use of mp..unless other give their daily mp to help you out


    I made some money giving my mp every day at the healers hall¡­ after my own chores were done that why each of my slaves actually have ensorcelled stones to throw.


    Anyone with healing attribute could easily make a wage there every day if they wanted to however few excepted dedicated healers will do so¡­


    My two house cats¡­ have armor on...it is ceramic plates with leather drilled into holes..like shoestring¡­ the plates are small and are made to withstand one killing blow each..that little bit of leather was almost 5 silver pieces only food cost more for so little in perspective.


    We are currently outside of the walls following a road to the farthest orchard¡­ that happens to be fed from a stream¡­ water carries mana diluted¡­ so big water ways will always have mana beasts..hopefully we only meet up with other wildcats or beasts ¡­. My biggest worry is a bear¡­.or worse goblins¡­


    Right now mana potions are not really around...sometimes you will see them on the market¡­ it is easily a gold for a mana potion¡­.that kinda rpgish¡­ however no health potions¡­. This world really is hard mode¡­. Daryl warpig is dragging the cart we will use for collecting items¡­ it is slightly bigger than a garden wagon...you would see on earth¡­ however it has 8 wheels instead of the normal four¡­ once you get past the roads the extra wheels help it roll. Off to the side of the wagon is a simple horn to stand on with another horn to sit on¡­ he ride on that and uses a clever lever to turn the front four wheels it unassisted steering...


    By the way that warpig is not tamed with a tamer¡­ it was just raised by a pig farmer¡­ who lives in a hill around here and takes his pigs indoors each day¡­


    There is a adventure patrol that leave the castle each day goes from house to house to tell them there no goblins sitting above the doorway waiting for a farmers head to peak out¡­


    Its a copper a weak¡­ but they get to keep any wild beast they hunt while on the farmer''s property when he is inside his home otherwise the farmer hunt there wild beast once out of there home¡­


    Who would have thought there would be a industry of door knockers. It brings the meaning of neet to a whole new realm. There really are monsters out there that will get you if you let your guard down.


    It takes about 2 hours of walking to get to the orchard...when we arrive i thought we where lucky.. We walked around for a bit and found no mana beast magic beast of any sort¡­ then we got to work filling bags of food twigs¡­ stones.. Clay from the riverbank.. And checking to see if there where any stones knocked off the wall..


    Todd went to the outside of the wall with his battle slaves and patrolled the orchard¡­ two of my slaves watched are back while me and daryl and his slaves actually collected the materials we were required on the list.. Loading the cart¡­


    The sun was about to come down and todd had gone to the gate at the far side...waiting for us there¡­ i was in the lead daryl was back on the cart¡­ the slaves were all facing the gate headed that direction when two goblins dropped from the tree¡­


    they went right after daryl and the male slave¡­ male slave had his head chopped off then and there daryl lifted his arm and lost a hand i had already reached for my dagger as i brought my shield up the girls each did their own thing however the pig was startled and burst straight for the gate¡­ having me jump out of the pigs way¡­ that definitely saved daryls life¡­ however it was now me and five girls with two goblins in the middle of us...daryls female battle slave among other things had actually jumped for the goblin that killed the male slave.. While i noticed daryl goblin was racing towards me...i was lying on the ground¡­ daryls female mage slave threw a fireball between me and the goblin making him hiss angrily. The goblin pausing that moment gave me a moment to get up on my knees and point my dagger at him¡­ when that goblin was hit by two explosive rocks...followed a moment later by another...killing him off however wounding me with several shards of rock¡­ the last goblin was doing well against that goblin she was fighting every time she tried to back away the goblin would close the distances¡­ making it impossible to attack the goblin alone¡­ i looked at them¡­ then decided what the hell why not.. And threw a stone right at her back thinking that she would eventually switch positions¡­ with the goblin¡­ it almost did not happen¡­ she stumbled back and the goblin jumped forward the stone i cast hit the goblin right in the mouth the goblin lost its head however the slave lost an eye and a ear¡­ with damage to her mouth¡­


    The girls were stunned looking at me then the girl¡­ grimacing i screamed hurry up put dirt on here wounds so they clog up.


    There is no first aid¡­ there are no bandages.. Pulling off my belt and the sash the mage women had when tightened the flesh to the girl''s face as we applied healing magic to her¡­ one of my girls ran to daryl to stop his bleeding...the other two and myself poured all of are magic into the girl...then we meet the others at the gate¡­ and hurried home...i asked todd for the two slaves he had to sell to me while his arm regrew¡­ he agreed easily...once home


    Todd daryl and i went and reported to grandmother¡­ not much was said about it other then we were lucky to survive which i agree...daryl handed off his slaves to me to keep in front of grandmother¡­ the slave seals were changed¡­ he could use that extra money to regrow his hand¡­ while i would have to spend more resources...taking the two additional slaves in¡­ however it would be cheaper than having to go to someone outside the family to heal the slaves even daryl got the benefits of having several healers in the house¡­ for lose of a limb however a dedicated healer is still best.


    That night all the slaves gathered in my room like normal and again all of our mana would be dropped into the slave who had her face injured...we went to sleep¡­ while one girl suffered...the next day i took her to the healing hall so that the base of her ear and eye could get regrown¡­ and we at the house would continue to just apply healing mana to it so it could speed up. This continued each day we would get up dump are mana into her.. Eat a meal then do some physical work around the house¡­ get a second meal and sleep¡­ for one weak¡­


    After all the major wounds had closed up¡­ we got assigned are next mission¡­ it was to go right back to that orchard and collect more food wood and clay daryl on his cart with some new slaves me and my five and todd with his three.


    I had used up all the extra money i had on food and getting a dedicated healer to look at the slaves face¡­


    My house cats were with me again.. This time i sent them into the trees like i should have last time..


    The warpig was excited or skittish it was hard to say daryl kept looking around¡­ all of us where jumpy...after checking the orchards¡­ i had my cats comb the trees this time. Then we started working it took longer and i was determined to harvest more food¡­ in fact all of us where¡­ it was dusk by the time we headed back.. I actually had my cat''s guide us home...on the way back a wild beast came about however todd got to be a warrior with the help of my cats directing them into the spears and arrows they used¡­ we got meat to take home we didn''t even bother to drain the blood the meat was cut fast and thrown into the sacks it was to dark to see well enough and the dark was not the friend of us humans¡­


    At the city gate it took a bit to get in there was a line. However there no fee to get in or inspection¡­ terrorism does not matter or even happen...spies well what''s the point of spying¡­intelligence network there simple no point to it... the only reason it took so long was there was a line and the guards had to make sure no vermin got into the castle...simple put there is a slime at the gate big enough to cover the portal you have to walk through the slime while it eats all insects off of you. You have to pass materials through the slime piece by piece¡­ the guards tell the slime what to eat...this helps with lice and bedbugs not to mention parasites..for instance fruit with parasites in them will have the whole fruit eaten¡­ they have the biggest slimes in the merchants quarter..


    Making it home.. Again we report to grandmother. After a month daryl''s hand is back my slaves all look there best...everything is healed up and everyone is healed up. ¡­. There are no sheets¡­ there are no blankets a simple animal fur is the bed. Possible even two¡­ sleeping with others to share heat is the best...and all these teen slaves are mine hehehehehe i wake up late often.

 chapter 2

    Waking up is the best part of life¡­.. I just wish i had some folgers to put in my cup¡­. How i miss coffee¡­ well i never actually drank it¡­ i just miss that i had that option¡­ coffee is like a security blanket¡­ even if coffee was in this world¡­. How could you grow it commercially¡­


    There is one great thing about this world ¡­ there no worries about unemployment¡­ none notta zilch¡­. There is always a job around here¡­ even if you are a shit servant you can get a job¡­


    After all you only get paid after a job is done it does not matter how long you take to do it¡­ and the lowest job come with a motivational collar. Indentured slaves¡­ have this nifty motivational technique¡­.they stick this magic collar on them. And if they don''t follow the orders to the best of their ability. Not someone else''s but their very own ability. Then that collar will shock the ever living shit out of them¡­. Then there ass will get up in a hurry and race off to do what they are supposed to do¡­


    This morning i heard an amazing sound¡­ i at first thought i heard a electric bug zapper¡­. Then i heard a squelch followed by a weird keening sound my door burst open and that slave i picked up from daryl, the ex fat girl, super noble mage girl.. Yeah she was motivated today to do household chores like you would not believe¡­ my chamber pot was super clean before i even emptied my bladder¡­.


    When your looking at the efficiency of this¡­ you really have to wonder why did we resort to bonuses for good work in america...shouldn''t you always do good work¡­


    Well thinking so i also got to work doing chores¡­ today my aunts wanted to go shopping. me and daryl had to follow along with are slaves¡­ baggage handlers¡­


    In and out of stores we traveled up and down flights of stairs¡­.i have to admit that you will almost never see a women with flabby legs¡­ every women has well toned legs and thighs¡­ it is simply beautiful and do they strut¡­.


    Even though i have grown used to this world i simply can not see a better place then this¡­ healthcare who needs health care, pay a little for healing magic¡­ jobs there is always a job to do.. Food could be better but honestly once you get used to eating fast food this food is way better. Then fast food or tv dinners¡­


    You miss your tv show friends¡­ well here you can hang out at the bar and relive that life of nothingness.


    Speaking of a merchant from another city that is still part of this kingdom passed news that are neighboring kingdom is under siege¡­. Some kingdoms are seriously stupid¡­ how are you going to maintain your lines¡­. Even if that kingdoms castle has shorter walls¡­ or is easier to breach then are current city walls¡­ how are you going to maintain a distant castle from your own kingdom¡­ your supply lines will be cut¡­ there a reason merchants make a killing traveling between each kingdom or even between cities within a kingdom. The rewards are proportional to the risk.


    Well I watched merchants buy a surplus of battle slaves, while cooling my heals just outside the door waiting for my aunts to finish their shopping they are currently doing inside this store.. Looking around you will also see other men doing exactly what i am doing. some even look like they are in there 40s. Following a little girl who comes out from shopping¡­ this just reinforces the fact. This kingdom and this city is a matriarchal society¡­ i bet that man was older then that girl by a 100 years...yet she still has the power to order him around.. And he was probably her uncle. No slave collar on him.


    Honestly it does not bother me. But it does jar me from time to time. I was from america¡­ we pretended that men and women had equal rights. However when it came down to a judge a women would always get more than just a benefit of the doubt some laws were written in favor of women even if they were found incompetent.


    Here in this society¡­ which was extremely harsh to men¡­ incompetent women also had a learning curve those who did not cut it often landed on the 1st floor to be pushed out with garbage¡­


    In city almost all fights were between women and women. Rarely would you see a man get into a fight with another man¡­ and a man fight a women¡­ know your place...even a man from the same family would beat the ever living daylights out of the man who raised his hands up to a women¡­


    The one exception to this would be a duel between a pregnant women and a women not pregnant ¡­. While the man could not fight back¡­ he could step between the two women¡­ life expectancy was as good as a mayfly¡­


    Watching my aunts come out i go to gather the bags off there arms. Following behind them is nice. All my aunts have bountiful breasts and they seem to levitate¡­ when walking i often see them bounce¡­ this really is heaven on earth.


    Following along behind them.. We stop by a guild hall. Here the youngest aunt goes in to get her mana evaluated¡­ this is mostly like a yearly check up to see if you have improved nothing major.


    After that we stopped at a local pub¡­ there we ate honey glazed boar each of us received about 4 ounces of meat and paid around 8 silvers for each serving. The slaves received a soup that had the smaller chunks of meat from cutting stirred in¡­ there probably about 1 ? ounces.


    People are going to say something like why would you spend so much money to treat a slave like that¡­ well honestly slaves need food.. And there only two options¡­ also meats important¡­ not enough fatty foods and you could lose a slave over the winter...now slaves are cheap admittedly but you''re going to have to buy enough food for them to live and there property.


    I have heard of summoned heros¡­ some who have even grown a conscious and tried to change the world¡­Ie break the slavery system, well slavery still here. Looks like the heros are the type to just complain about the world and not actually fix it. ¡­. Well a hero can only be in one place after all...so if they go conquer a dragon¡­ there path back to the kingdom will be filled again with strong beasts...there are no levels in this world...so every attack that lands does damage.


    You would be surprised at the stories of heroes summoned who demand lots of cloths¡­ then try to connect to the commoners¡­ in general however male or female heros get a harem pretty quick there are a few odd ducks out there¡­ a few times a female hero tried to have a all male harem or even bl love...


    This world really does not work to those sorts¡­ and often you will hear of a second summoning performed¡­ by the time it gets to my ears it is old rumors. From distant kingdoms¡­ heroes really have limited utility.. Also hero children get commoner base mana¡­ so you can''t breed stronger from a hero there strength is a gift from the god not to be shared.


    there is another problem with summoning heroes...a god of humor or irony i am not sure which¡­ filters who can be summoned¡­ well you get a lot of neets who can''t deal with real life. In easy earth¡­ the heroes often have this horrible chunni problem many often say weird things in public¡­ thankfully most heroes are assumed to have a mental health problem¡­ and anytime a hero starts to talk about justice¡­ most legal problems start to sympathize with the hero''s victim¡­


    If you can get a hero to fight ¡­ they''re often used like disposable grenades...some reason the majority of god''s agree that heroes should be used like this...so no temple will look down on a kingdom for their harsh measures¡­.


    I often think that gods just don''t like creepy neets. Or those that refuse to grow out of there chunni habits¡­ there are two problems let''s throw the nasty problem at the problem with lots of teeth even if the nasty problem dies hopefully the problem with teeth gets a upset stomach


    This might also be part of the reason japan population was declining when i died¡­


    Well back to feeding slaves¡­ the biggest expense is always food¡­ there is education¡­ magic education¡­ basic combat education¡­ literacy education¡­. Basic math¡­.home economics education¡­ even care of slaves is a basic education¡­. We here don''t have, take your pet to school for show and tell...we have take your best slave and share how you use it¡­This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Unlike earth¡­ schools pretty hit and miss¡­.you get about an 8th graders education as a commoner with reading and writing...5th graders math education. Which fractions are a part of¡­ local history...also a propaganda course on why nobles are better than commoners¡­ and why the king is so great to us¡­


    during home economics same name as earth¡­ the tutor imparts when you can duel; how to fight as a unit; how to make sure there enough food for winter.. Storage techniques...how to skin a beast ¡­. Why it is common knowledge to feed slaves to the best of your abilities¡­ why beating a slave or even hitting a slave is a sign of personal loss of control¡­


    home economics is the high paid tutors¡­ clans pay for them to come to their tower and host them. I say clan and not family because allied families with intermarried relationships pay big bucks to bring them to your home.


    Tutors have to teach the same thing over and over to each clan that calls on them...the more knowledge they have ¡­ the more likely that clan future children midterm will be more successful.


    Home economic tutors are often one of the last tutors that will touch a commoners clans children''s lives...they are also well know for only divulging clan information to the king''s court. No noble can ask details from a home economic tutor¡­


    They are also one of the few tutors that don''t belong to any clan. They often glean secrets about a family or clans lives through the children¡­ Home economic tutors will stay inside of a clan''s tower...they are always booked ahead of schedule...to be a tutor also requires lots of testing¡­.they carry a collar of office that is enchanted. This is one of the few teachers that carries a leather bound book with chains¡­ the book is actually a external memory bank¡­ the older the book the more knowledge they will have on hand...at least that the rumor. only you can''t open the book unless a tutor has died¡­...last of all a tutor can have no slaves with them inside of a clan home so leaving a clan is dangerous for them¡­


    compared to other tutors that often meet in a hall of a civics center. Normal tutors teach groups of children that show up. As they come in¡­ at first you would think this was very haphazard...however it works out well...families and clan children will meet often before entering the civic center¡­ they stay there and work through the problems that are given to them until they show that they have a thorough understanding of whatever lesson the teacher would be teaching ¡­. Clan children coming together meet at the front office introduce themselves to the administration¡­ administration sends them to a room with a ceramic tablet that was there next scheduled lesson. The teacher takes that tablet matches it with a lesson plan then teaches that lesson.


    Often the floor level of the civic center specializes the topic.


    When the compulsory education has been certified. City hall will then be updated that basic education has been reached¡­ there children are upgraded to citizens¡­ this is also where grandmothers will loiter around watching for names of a family daughter to be placed on a board¡­ then discussions of marriage to a man that is part of the family start...think stock exchange¡­. Only its daughters of families. With a evil twist. Certain families don''t want to ever exchange their daughters with other families¡­ and a family that is in the same clan might have too many connections¡­


    One last thing. When the compulsory education is finished¡­ a history of the educators is added to the name tag that comes with the child''s name.. A old home economics tutor with a good name from past students increases the value of the current student.


    Now that you understand our education system. The reason slaves are treated to decent food. Even when the cost is so high¡­ you will understand the next part¡­. After eating dinner we dropped by the family home gathered my younger sister and a few cousins only took a few battle slaves then aunts and grandmothers sent grandfather to bed¡­ and started night work...we the young children followed them to city hall¡­


    As we approached¡­ you would start to see pillars sticking out of the walls here and there below the skyway and above the sky way¡­ each of these pillars have a selection of enchantments¡­ the only three enchantments that were lit up are¡­ Clean air...Muffle...mood dampener¡­.


    Reaching the city hall...we came across many skyways that merged here. Think dallas texas highway system and you have a pretty good ideal. As we approached i noticed that the portal ¡­. That means round door in this case with skyways shooting into the portal. Was similar to a double airlock system on a sub¡­. And that each inch of the door was written in enchanting. Spells¡­ there was no light provided for this short tunnel¡­ thankfully it was very bright¡­ partly due to the fact that so many enchantments were glowing on the walls of these metal portals.


    Before we entered the battle slaves were waved off to a waiting room. That was off to the side¡­ before leaving they gathered daggers shields a nice sash each, something that looked like combat gogo boots only had a bit of a strippers sandals look to them¡­ spiked heels. Grandmothers and aunts started to put fancy hair ornaments in there hair double checking¡­ holyshit aunt emma hairpeice has poison on it¡­ then they added earpieces that had crystals. Rings. Something that clamped on the nipples and little decorative fingertips¡­.ah¡­ grandmothers and aunts really are going for the goth look¡­ so much black. And last they started stuffing mana potions into their vaginas and butts¡­..does that make this a enema¡­


    Grandmothers might grinch but that''s the most they do.. My aunts are helping stuff them in...i overheard one say to the other make sure they''re not visible from the outside¡­ Emmas having issues shoving them in the ass. Ahhh i should mention we did this mostly in a side room also not in the middle of the skyway. Grandmas are chuckling at my erection but what''s hot is hot¡­


    Finally we are ready to go in emma kept leaking potions from her ass. Untill grandma basically told her if she does not loosen up she was going to have one of the children follow her around licking the potions mix so people think she''s a pervert rather than know she has mana potions mixed in¡­ I volunteered to be the licker¡­¡­. It ticked me off that this made her laugh instead of making her nervous...and she loosened up.


    Going into the second portal everyone unconsciously checked their equipment. Looking inside there was a pillar where city hall servants kept slowly posting new citizens¡­ and tight groups of people gathered...you could even see noble families mixed in here and there. All watching like hyenas ¡­ i watched open betting being called out¡­. With a elderly lady calling out bids. As we walked around looking for connections. And seating we also watched sections of the pillar with other older women facing groups...pillar always at their back...here i saw two families break out into battle with 3 dead women splayed on the floor¡­ i guess there negotiations failed...or was war also a part of negotiations¡­ in that section of the pillar the elderly lady looked like she was sleeping while that battle went on¡­ finally grandmothers guided us to a smaller group of women some of whom i knew of but not well¡­. Watching women kill each other in the section just before this one. Killed my sexual appetite¡­ however i saw a few commoner elves here with the group¡­ needless to say i stared.


    Grandmothers and aunts quickly hugged kissed patted each other down and basically greeted each other very friendly¡­ however soon another family followed by a clan. Followed us in¡­ then a second clan after them.. Finally about 8 clans gathered. We stayed where we were and a few more women joined us some families circulated other families stayed still.


    We had a few cousins of marriageable age¡­ however one of the elven families twin daughters were coming up for bid.


    Grandmother apologized that she could not bid to the friends. But grandfather did have 5 wives¡­ and the uncles that i had were not ready to start their own tower or really start there own family neither of them could get a good local job with great wages.. They still had to run grandfathers trade routes¡­


    Hush hush replied the cute elven lady¡­ we both knew you couldn''t. We just have to hope we get a great deal¡­ currently there are few who can marry my daughter. None within the clan. Maybe we can gain something from this¡­ hopefully this does not become a total loss...a few more clans came in a total of around 14 clans¡­ each with around 3-5 grandmothers¡­ then the next generation having 4-18 aunts followed by gaggles of children¡­ there are a total of 34 young men in this room. So few.


    Harsh realities of young men¡­ maybe. However i have several male cousins out with my uncles right now out on the trade routes. Plus i don''t see any men old enough to be a husband of any of the women right now. there are men who live with there first and second wife at their father''s home.


    The bidding starts after the elderly lady stands up¡­. Hmmm pretty lady even if she is a old bird...just starting to get wrinkles. Just a few crows feet around the eyes. Two or three creases around the mouth that is about it for being able to tell she is old. Great knockers¡­ and she shaves bald¡­ maybe she waxes.. She has no belt of office or anything at all¡­ well she does work for the city¡­ maybe there pay sucks.


    You can see the ebb and flow¡­ however at the end of it i can see the tightening of the elven ladies eyes i don''t think she is happy with the current flow¡­ and right at the end a clan in the back bids...her eyes loosens.. That last clan won the bid¡­ but i have no idea who they are.


    A few of her sister wives the grannies go and talk to the clan that won¡­ she stays back even though it is her daughter that just got bartered away¡­ my grandmother''s congratulate her.


    She thanks them and sighs with relief...I really worried who my kids would go to. But with that family at least i know they will be alright ¡­ and they almost never get into fights¡­


    To my happy discovery emma had tightened up for heated battle so grandmother and the other aunts plus elven lady surrounded her while i got to lick her clean¡­ there was some good natured jeering¡­ thank god i am in this world¡­ can you imagine if there was cloth wipes i would never get to eat up my aunt like this. By the way mana potions taste fruity¡­ so when my grandmother asked me if i was done yet i said no it still tasty here¡­ after asking a few times she caught on i didn''t mean the mana potions and got smacked hard for my continue licking of emma. A few times she was cursing emma for not relaxing. Until after emma came the second time and i still said i could taste good stuff.


    While grandmother can smack good. I left happy¡­ passing by the hall next to us¡­ only a few survivors of the battle where in there many of them heavily injured¡­. I wonder how many will live long enough to get treatment¡­ most commoners only have a little mana¡­ however you also can not offer to heal them¡­ first you personally only have so much mana¡­ second if you dump your mana into one person¡­ will that is one person from one clan. There two clans unless. Not to mention if you personally save them from a death wound that a life debt.. Those are debts¡­ you really don''t want to be burdened with¡­ as the receiver and the giver.


    In America even if you had healing knowledge¡­ if you were not locally certified and you helped someone in trouble complications could make your life after treatment bad¡­ thankfully there are good samaritan laws in america but they only cover so much.


    Here in this world¡­ it was not lawsuit but clan organizations¡­ politics really and the fact that healing magic had such a high value...for what little you could give. Dedicated healers are a neutral force. They pretty much take care of all battles like this¡­ i could probably sell some stored healing mana at the halls¡­ with my slaves...however with only those few people alive they as in the dedicated healers may be fine.. Think of dropping healing mana like a blood drive¡­ it practically equates to each other anyways¡­


    Getting home without having to see my aunts and grandma fight. Is strangely exhausting¡­ yet i am truly happy. You might say life is too hard here¡­ i find it very honest and straightforward in america you never knew when something could go wrong because no one prepared for things going wrong¡­ crazys mixed in with normal people¡­ i always found it strange that when it was basically peaceful with random crime happening that more people did not at least learn self defense. You had more time then¡­


    The few victims of violence never even prepared for it because it took up to much time on there end from binge watching tv shows..then it happened to them and they did not change there ways¡­ here violence can happen at anytime...so everyone prepares for it. Even people who hate others still generally have more respect than back on earth for life.

 chapter 3

    At the age of 14 I was sent on a hunting mission¡­ Gathering together slaves, tamed beasts¡­ I purchased a carriage¡­ we were to hunt then tame large birds named craxizs they were a flightless bird. Complete meat eaters. Extremely colorful.. There beaks are worth a lot...the carriage i purchased had not a speck of leather no leather seats of any sort¡­ in fact each section of the carriage i had purchased then had carpenters change¡­ it was more costly.


    In my past life i had been a big rig driver and had always had a large interest in expedition vehicles¡­ I had also grown up on a farm. Had a working understanding of how carriages are made even if i was not an expert of any sort.


    Useing my past knowledge. I decided to create an expedition vehicle. Useing some basic programming knowledge with the ideal of enchanting as the mode of operation¡­ through lots of error and very little success i had created some appliances that i used to have in the modern era.


    With beast of burden carrying equipment plus pulling a trailer¡­ we set off...looking back seeing cages stacked up it was easy to tell. This was a capture mission. My personal trailer was having an easier time being pulled. I had made segmented wheels with a track that sat under the trailer¡­ some skirts to hide it and on the outside the standard oversized wheels which were on a split axle that maneuvered up and down. Allowing some vertical movement.


    My tracks were linked together again with wood ceramic coated and then some enchanted plants were grown on the pad¡­ as long as the plants stayed rooted in the pad it would wear away slowly and then grow back¡­ each section was actually a reinforced pot..that a ironwood tree would grow out of however the tree was more like a shrub. As a seedling I payed some distant relatives that had elve genes and plant magic. These cousin elves, mess with its growth it grew unusually thick and short.


    On the rear of the trailer was an additional trailer hooked on with some clever walk ways between the two using my knowledge of trains and trolleys that had this type of walkway it was relatively easy to make this..


    I had tried to make sliding walls like i had seen on camper trailer. However i had failed each time even though i had a basic understanding i just could not make it correctly. My original thought was to make a sliding drawer type of wall that would spread out¡­ use a hand crank with teeth to roll the walls in and out¡­ however if you rolled the walls out past the halfway mark the walls would fall off the tracks¡­ there no (cheap rope) to use or wire to hold tension on the top so i was not sure what to do here. While you can say you could braid vines and such even making it easier with plant magic¡­. Lets just say¡­ i did not know how to braid. Even if i knew about braids. And purchased rope is costly. There was also a lack of time at this moment so i never investigated further...it was on a todo list¡­ but the trip would happen soon.


    This civilization was very unbalanced, ceramic industry was very advanced however there were strange gaps that simple stopped progress. When construction of building are made scaffolding is normal¡­ ropes and pulley systems are not used. It is not that there unknow. It more that they''re not used. However chains are normally made of ceramics. And conveyor belts are often seen in construction sites.. That actually what made me think of sticking a track underneath a trailer.


    Leaving the city. You would notice that everybody even the cook always wore armor. Most of the armor was almost a links of plate with small pivot joints between each plate. Less flexible than leather armor slightly heavier than chain male. Again with no metal used. For this expedition i had gathered quite a few slaves.. Each outfitted with large packs..the bottom of the pack would have two drawers with latches. Hanging just above the waist. Connected to the bottom where poles similar to modern day tent poles only made of wood. A shovel. Dried vines maintained in a coil with oil and moisturizer. Not as effective as a real rope. Extra ceramic plates. Extra soles for the sandals they wore. On top of the two drawer chest that they carried was almost a plate linked sack¡­ again made of wood and ceramic¡­ with a simple flap that could be hooked to keep the contents dyer. Under the armor was a layer of waxy paper that had deliberate holes punched through them this helped keep the links from pinching the skin. The holes allowed air to blow through so sweet could dry easier.. Some links had enchantments on them for comfort¡­ such as dry breeze¡­ endurance¡­. Or stamina could be written i actually seen Todd with both endurance and stamina Enchantments on his armor¡­.Does it have a difference i am not certain. My belief it can not hurt. Those types of enchantments are easy to add to the back of a armor and let hang off with just a few links attaching them¡­ Grandfather Armor has many links of enchantments hanging down from the waist. Grandmothers also started to add them on from the back of the shoulders just like a v down his back so he can still carry a pack.


    There also rules about Enchantments.. There not stackable¡­ for instance one enchantment per a person¡­ so writing endurance on two different links then adding it to armor does not give you twice as much endurance...when you make a chain of enchantments¡­ it almost became a paragraph in magic what will happen to the user¡­. For instance¡­ a chain of enchantments such as, fleet of foot¡­. Endurance¡­ easy breath¡­. Would make a great long distance runner¡­ if you changed it¡­ to fleet of foot ¡­. Strength¡­ easy breath¡­ the user gets jumping strength. And last example easy breath ...endurance...soft hands¡­. Makes a great bed partner. According to grandma¡­. I have to wonder does he still wear the armor¡­ actually with grandma¡­. I think he would she loves his armor. that armor everyday is cleaned and waxed¡­ then again so is grandpa¡­ but the wives take turns only she constantly maintains that armor. First wife.


    Right now my armor has no enchantments¡­ other than standard enchantment that everyone uses with ceramic plates. Death blow avoidance or death blow negate...depends on the enchanter¡­ the difference are so minor that no one really could tell the difference without a national study and it being in the percentile of which is better.


    All of my slaves. Have at least one extra enchantment.. Teds himself and his slaves often have several. Daryl also gets more enchantments for his slaves than I¡­ his however are mostly defensive. I however spent most of my funds on the carriages and trailers¡­ and experiments. Only the last few weeks have I spent time on purchasing slaves. In fact i got up this morning and instead of getting ready i purchased 6 more slaves before i left. They also are carrying the generic body armor. Two of them where apprentice enchanters. The rest are minor healers¡­ who are fit. I actually have purchased male slaves¡­ but there only 10 of them¡­ the majority of them are female. This was simple because they have to share my living area¡­


    Todd again has more males than females. Daryl probably at 60/40% he concentrates on staying alive¡­ I have the majority of drivers tent followers rear guard and healers¡­ Todd is obviously attacker¡­ daryl defence¡­ and i am support. It not 100% but it mostly that way¡­ i still focus on cheaper attack such as enchanted stones thrown with slings¡­ area destruction¡­ Todds has Glaves spears. Archers. Daryls book keeping, shields crossbows. Direct magic attack. Also Daryls crossbows have no metal they''re expensive¡­ they have no springs either¡­ it is all manual hooks and cranks...there enchanted and so are the bolts that he uses¡­ they carry the bolts on the inside of the shields¡­ the crossbow also snugly can perch on the shield. His rate of fire is slow¡­ however they make up for that by being superb with the crossbows much better than the average crossbow men on earth...I really want to know how they got such flexible yet still stiff bow arms¡­ i expect it going to be something like how longbows were made in england.


    I thought of using the carriages like tanks with copulas but they''re so expensive i did not want to armor then as they are. In later experiments i will figure something out.. There needs to be alternative ways to travel¡­


    The beast of burden that i chose to pull my trailer..resemble long legged crocodiles. There actually pretty tame beasts¡­ as long as they''re fed...which is easy to do they will even eat vegetables as long as it smells bad¡­ the basics of taking care of these beasts is simple stay clean when sick and there feeds been off don''t take care of them. They are also pretty smart they remember very well¡­ so abusive owners sometimes will get eaten if a opportunity is presented.


    Many drovers have muzzles for this particular beast¡­ we don''t use it simple because we will make sure to feed them well. Those goblins we came across should do well.


    One cart is wider than the rest with walls. It''s like a mini mobile stable that has a heated bed on the bottom¡­ this will help keep the dino''s on our side. They have a name in this languages but mostly there called damn beasts...I think there intelligence might actually be smarter than a dolphin¡­


    I swear sometimes they talk¡­ they talk a lot more when they see something new...but it is all like a demented evil orchestra¡­


    Watching the start of this hunting caravan¡­ was very surreal¡­ ted up front beating the bushes¡­


    We dont march off like an army...there a basic formation going along. Heavy fighters in the front. Scouts on the edges to the left and right of the caravan. Two small gaggles for the rear guard..that pretty much it¡­


    In general human military tactics. such as line formations, old sword and shield formations those pike and spear formations that i recall from earth¡­ their effectiveness is not that great¡­


    First¡­ there no metal¡­ shields break easier even enchanted shields¡­ there always the solutions of carrying more shields.. Like the vikings did with their duels¡­ knowledged from the 13th warrior the movie.


    Monsters are often heavier.. Than humans.. Or faster. Taller.. Have magical attacks¡­...you get the ideal¡­ flamethrower attacks on a shield line is suicide..


    swords men are out there¡­ however majority of people like glaves, halberds, spears, pikes,,, crossbows slings, magic attacks¡­ those sword users we always read about in those neet stories¡­ where a hero fought a monster with his claymore or one handed sword¡­ not likely.


    When we reached the first river. One of my trailers was pushed back to the edge of the river.. There a simple pontoon boat was made.. Leather bags.. With a enchanted cap simple twist the cap and it starts to push air into the bag. Think air mattress inflator. We made this to save money on bridge tolls¡­ I had the knowledge of pontoon bridges. And how the army used them¡­ slaves would then move to another trailer and drive that back over connect the pontoon bridges and go from there. Three sections.. And 2 trailers.. Each section about 12feet long..we should be able to cross every river we need to cross this trip would also test my enchantments and ideals.


    I hoped to keep making specialty trailers. That increases the survivability of convoys.


    Looking to the east where the sun was rising we finished crossing the river luckily it was only a small river 2 sections wide.. None of the trailers got stuck in the mud¡­ a bunch of the slaves hoped into the river grabbed the handles and then lifted the section out of the water.. Later when the rivers are deeper we will simply hook and drag each section to the riverbank then pull them up and over¡­ but for now we will do this.


    Todd with his slaves started to find and pick fights with beasts that were directly in the convoys way...this was often added to the pot later on.


    As we explored days away from the city. Looking for these birds. We kept finding beasts to battle¡­ some of them did some serious damage to us¡­ however still unsuccessful¡­ and not having enough damage to return home with a good enough excuse we continued to look¡­ at the same time. Any useable meat we could find. We through into are heaviest trailers. With freezing enchantments.. The outside also had clean air enchantments.. This helped keep the meat wagons from smelling strong enough to bring beast to attack are camps. Helped being the main word here¡­ giant dire wolves. In packs of 10-23 would attack us often¡­ you would only get about 8 beast before they would pull off in the bigger packs. A pack of ten might have one beast manage to get away. Even wolf meat is food to be eaten¡­ however the majority of this meat was given to the damm beasts. I saw a beast i really wanted to tame¡­ it looked like a miniature 4 tusked hairless mammoth...i seriously wanted this beast¡­ but the herd was so large and I while hunting them watch them frighteningly attack an armored rhino herd of six¡­


    The bull of this herd. Levered his tusk under a rhino and tossed him over his shoulders. Where that rhino was spitted by a cow tusks in the back¡­ the rhino was feed still alive to the smaller mammoths while still trying to get off the tusks in the middle of the herd¡­ I ran right back to camp.


    This is not earth most things are omnivores


    There is one thing i should mention¡­ while the meat is feed to everyone. The mana beasts core is ground up and feed to me, todd, daryl, the fighter slaves, and the healer slaves¡­ other slaves still just get the small amount of core ground up they normally get no extras.


    Of the 3 cousins i get half of the extra portion that daryl gets.. He personally gives me the extra.. This is because i have healing talent. Todd is the front liner. However of the 3 of us i get the most. Since then i have tamed 3 additional beasts¡­ A flying scaled bird that when is an adult will be easily 14 meters long.. No ideal on the wingspan. Two direwolves.. We checked to see if it was even possible since direwolves are not a normal tamed beast.. One of my slaves Tamed a plant¡­ how is that possible i don''t know weirder the plant shoots ice out¡­ she says it sees with noise¡­ i am thinking radar.. The plant surprisingly is not a meat eater we put it in a ceramic pot and stuck it on top of one of the wagons near the meat trailers¡­ friendly fire is doubtful.


    Many of the healers are also adding pets however not all my healer slaves can tame.. So while having two dire wolves helps out.. It seriously tiring me out.. I also got the bird watching from above¡­ however if a fucking dragon sees it for lunch i sending that bird right into a direwolves din or maybe those mini mammoths. None of my pets have names¡­ it¡¯s not like i can feed them somewhere along the way they will die and be added to are meat lockers.. The bird i kinda want to keep¡­. It¡¯s almost like having a dragon for a pet¡­ but not really.


    Ill ask the enchanters to carve into the bones on the spine of the bird. Stuff to make it better¡­ It not like the bird can send waves of fire or anything down but it does have mana.


    I should explain the spine of the bird has cones of bone popping out of the spine¡­ so the spine is spiny.


    Day 11 of our family hunting trip¡­. Daryl finally loses his temper¡­. And he is not even the hot head in the family¡­ Where the fuck are those birds...in my case¡­ i am okay because we have only lost 6 battle slaves¡­ and we are only 3 days away from the castle if we need to run at a trailers speed.


    I have also sent my bird at night to the city to drop off some wooden carved tablets¡­ this is snail mail.. Explaining the family what''s going on¡­ however the bird has always left before sunrise..


    I also asked that a roost be made for the bird on the 5th floor. Outside the family house wall. If they accept and start to build a roost. i will not kill the bird before we return¡­ i have also been trying to find these common birds that the family wanted to tame¡­ i just can''t seem to find them¡­ there as common as blue jays in america¡­ so it not like they went extinct.


    Sure you can''t find them everyday you walk out the door but you will see them every few weeks. If you''re a outdoor person. This task was not an impossible task at all. It just not working out for us.


    Not only do we need to find a breeding pair.. We need several breeding pairs¡­


    Grandfather already got the rights to a piece of property on the edge of the city land¡­


    The feathers look good and women love them.. They are a heavy bird...there beaks are worth money and they can''t fly away. The small wing bones have spiny ridges that have a mild paralysis poison.


    Grandfather also thinks they will make a perfect trap for local Goblins. I actually wonder what he means by that¡­ we can only tame so many of the birds. Which would not be enough to wipe out a goblin infestation..


    We soon arrive at a river a little larger than average¡­ here as we do with every river we cross we line up in rows and ranks. Normally 3 rows. Heavy fighters in front with battle animals.. Behind on some large tree stumps or wide stools are archers and mages.. The final line is healers at full capacity. We actually have a few fighters in back just to warn us if something come up behind us.. In this line we often have the trailers lined up..sometimes a healer will stand on top of a trailer. I refuse to do this because there are birds out there just like mine only bigger and i do not want to be a snack.


    I should note i do not order anyone on top of a trailer¡­ They are foolish people who have no fear and are gambling their lives. I Allow it because maybe they could heal my cousin a few seconds faster if they see them better from up there..


    Finally bate is set there at the river''s edge¡­ anything that goes after the bait we kill as fast as we can¡­ most of the time we can kill everything that going to come fast enough to set up a bridge. We let the bodies drift downstream to keep anything curious occupied. It works.. it is a loss of food but crossing a river is dangerous.


    We gotten used to this¡­ we had a plan from the start.. And just enacted the plan right away. So no bumps so far.


    Todd sometimes gets impatient¡­ however Daryl and me are pretty good at keeping to the rule that we have set¡­ Daryl just because he a rule stickler.. Me because i want to lose as few as possible¡­ i honestly think that 3 of the sixs deaths could have been saved.. Two from giant birds.. One from a ambush by a predator that did not kill instantly. But the battle slave was not ordered to keep pace with the camp and lagged behind to far.


    The other 3 deaths followed our rules and we could not think of a way to keep those deaths from happening¡­


    Finally we start to set up are bridge 2 hours later¡­ i forced them to wait an extra hour because one we had more fight for bait.. Two because the river was bigger. Who know if something will come downstream while we are building the bridge.


    Everyone who used up their mana right now is forced to take a nap¡­ all of our beast are actually in the back facing away from the river¡­


    All sections of the bridge are being put to use and we still don''t quite have enough bridge¡­ luckily i had thought of this earlier¡­ wedges and thin boards stretch between the bridge and the riverbank on both sides¡­ this actually was pretty dangerous.. So we did it slowly i am perfectly fine with taking a full day to set this bridge up¡­ yes this is too much time. However. While transitioning are camp would be split in half¡­ as one side grows smaller any predators might see that as an opportunity.


    I want everyone to transition over at one time at a steady pace. With full eyes on both sides to make certain we do not get ambushed.


    Looking at the bridge.. I just feel uneasy¡­ i keep looking at it wishing i had a better rear guard¡­


    Hey daryl¡­ how good do you think are map is¡­ i ask.. Well going by what you say from your birds eye plus a few other. We should be correct within about 5 kilometers.. Hmmm the advantage of bridges for major rivers is there fully staffed.. At all time so they don''t get destroyed.. Are pontoon bridges however don''t need a staff when we are near.. However we are also vulnerable when we cross we would not be so vulnerable at a taxed bridge¡­


    Looking at the bridge¡­ the river .. our lack of defence¡­ Todd come here i hollar. When Todd come and joins us¡­ i point at the river¡­ okay¡­ the pontoon bridge gets us across the river.. However it does not protect us.. As we cross from one side to the other we travel across slowly.


    That means even if we have ? of us on that side we still have a few of us in the middle on the bridge.. Plus we have some of us on this side.. If we get hit from the air. We will lose someone.. If we get hit from something that comes downstream we will probably lose someone. However we can do something for getting hit from behind¡­ let''s make a fortified position.. Here to face are backs before we cross. After we cross we will do the same on that side.. Will mark this place down on the map¡­ and use this on the way back to the city¡­ we can do this for every middle to major river we cross. And then add it to are uncles and grandfathers maps after we perfect the pontoon bridges we have made for them.


    We can abandon the forts. After we leave¡­ we can also improve them some while resting. Later we can come back with slaves skilled in construction. Because we can leave messages with the family they will not worry about us and grandfather can immediately add this fort here to his map before he leaves¡­ We also can store the extra mana beast cores here¡­ seal them in and add them on the way back home. We will use them to grow the amount of mana each family member has¡­


    Our whole winter we can add the cores to our diet¡­ when we are stuck in the castle.


    This was day 14 of are hunt for those damn birds¡­ might as well make ourselves useful.


    And every boy loves to make forts even older men can be talked into it pretty easy back on earth in the old days.. Boys and men love forts¡­. We just do. With close to 150 people building guarding and hunting we made a 6 story ugly square fort/tower¡­ with spiked wall 2 meters tall going directly to the edges of the river¡­ we used are beasts hard to help carry pull and dump dirt to make those walls. Then added the spiked fence. We were pretty proud of ourselves then..


    2 meters is around 7 foot tall. The fence maybe added another 4 feet of deterrence..


    We rested a day.. Baited the river cleaned up the beasts crossed the river in only 3 hours. And pulled up the pontoon bridges and started creating a second fort on the other side¡­ it took less time on this side. Only 5 days to make a mirror image¡­ then we rested another day as we left that fort.. A scout told us that the first fort was attacked we looked back and saw those evil little mini mammoths destroying the walls¡­ easily...i told daryl and todd¡­ watching with my bird¡­. I realized the mammoth only tore up the walls and used the tower as a backscratcher¡­ they left the dirt alone..so the two meters of dirt would actually still be there. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Carving up a letter/plank i sent the message with a different tamed flying beast¡­ one of the healers tamed beasts it was smaller. It described what had happened¡­


    Two days later my 3rd grandmother sent a letter back with that beasty. Saying send all the extra mana cores we had collected¡­ with the flying beasts they will sell them and send back enchanted bolts and other expendables ...why had i not thought of this¡­ often smaller flying beasts are used as messengers and even delivery services.


    So we bagged up everything in double layer of animal skin¡­ and strapped them to flying beasts¡­ my flying bird. Actually carried a perch¡­ that it gripped from its feet¡­ this was so as other flying beasts got tired they could rest quickly on the way to the castle..then off they went.


    Not all flying beast where birds¡­you know reptiles.. Gaseous floating animals¡­ it''s a fantasy world of course they got to have something that reminds me of overlords from the zergs. If only you could use it as a carrier¡­ then again i did just have it wrap its tendrils around a sack full of mana cores¡­ while one tendril was gripping the perch so it could get pulled along by other beasts...did i mention the one who volunteered to tame that beast was Daryl''s male scribe that kinda like a overseer¡­ only i laughed when he succeeded.. Everyone else wanted to know but how do you describe a game from your past life.


    Side note that overseer has great situational awareness, i sure hope to God that he did not think to add Karrigan to this world¡­


    I keep calling it the overseer¡­ they kept wanting to call it floaty and stuff¡­ puff and other stupid names it¡¯s a gas bag with tentacles okay.. Sure it''s got fins that make it move pretty fast like an insect''s wings.. However the wings are clear.. Unless you are super close to it. You can''t see them. Only the two tentacles.


    In the future i think i''ll try to add one to each trailer in the convoy¡­ they really do see well and apparently they taste so bad that nothing wants to eat them¡­ you can also train them as pets.. Which might be good ¡­ they can carry approximately 50kgs.. So a small adult.The scribe says they are a herd type of beast and are surprisingly smart¡­ like cows smart.. He made the comparison. Ill add the stuff that actually matters to the next letter/plank that i send out...we should have carried paper¡­ next convoy thick glass jars that are rough or ceramic jars to carry letters in. so the flying birds can carry letters¡­ add a little rubber to the outside or even weaved straw and the bird can simply drop the jar into a shoot or something to deliver. Then go rest.


    3 days later most of the flying beasts come back however not my bird or that gas bag or a few others¡­


    5 days later the birds join us¡­ carrying a cage¡­ my 1st grandmother is in there.


    The gasbag is also in the cage¡­ a real rope(leather rope) is tied to the corners. And that is how all three large birds are carrying the cage¡­


    Grandmother gets off with a cackle¡­ we simple throw the cage onto the pontoon trailer.. Not like it weighs anything maybe 5kgs¡­ it''s nothing more than a small cage with a simple seat in it that grandma had her legs dangling out of ¡­ it took here 3 days to get here. Because the birds had to fly lower since she got cold easy¡­ first night she sleep in a big tree.. Second night on the second tower we made. The birds are tired.. They had to fly low and slow¡­ we let them also rest.. My bird¡­ is complaining in my mind but i promise juicy meat and a long day of laying in the sun on top of a trailer for bringing the elderly here.. It''s not communications it simply¡­ conveying an imprint.


    After keeping the promise i have made. The convoy goes on¡­ Finally grandma tells me why we can''t find the birds¡­ we make to much fucking noise¡­ we passed many nests¡­


    She even saw a few because she flew so slowly and so low.. I always have my bird stay high so he does not get attacked. That night we got hit¡­ it was our first attack.. The culprit was goblins¡­ in the middle of the night i heard the warning¡­ my direwolves where up and out in a instant.. I raced to the largest trailer and opened up the stalls...hurrying the damn beasts¡­ they were hissing¡­ like a storm each gate i opened they raced out quick but then waited for me to open the rest¡­ finally all the damn beast where out of the small stables and raced off into the dark.


    I finally saw what were attacking us¡­ goblins.. A good sized warband i guess¡­ grandma stole a slaves spear and went a racing to the front lines with a gleeful cackle¡­ sending up a white flare¡­ well it is magic so i guess a flare the wrong word...i raced to the healers gather point¡­ and started to fire up the firewood we have set under a kettle¡­ we have some silk bandages here¡­ everything i could think of to help heal without magic.. Even silk thread for sewing flesh together.


    The water was boiling fast.. However the battle was not slowing down. Suddenly the ice plant started to fire off balls of ice right above the trailer looking up i saw two goblins again¡­ mental note find more of those plants we need them. My first customer came in¡­ The enchanter girl also had fire magic¡­ we was missing two arms and a leg¡­ goblin snuck up on her before the alarm came in. however when the goblins were killed off. The realized she was still alive the sent her back¡­ she was also no longer a virgin..


    I immediately started to pinch of veins.. And was sewing up the skin tight. In fact all the healers were doing something to her¡­ however we mostly used magic to num her.. And pinch of blood vessels.. There are going to be many more to take care of. She pretty much dead anyways¡­ if she lives back at the house we can. Spend some money and get her to heal¡­ i give her a small potion that kills off babies¡­ normally this potion good for a few months¡­ relatively cheap¡­ 3 silvers. However goblins¡­ are like a virus¡­ then tossed her into the stable where the damn beast sleep¡­ the bottom is warm.. And the damn beast are hunting goblins.. We will close up the stalls so we can put all the wounded there.


    My second customer¡­ has his guts hanging out¡­ lost a lot of blood¡­ he walked here himself¡­ i wash off his guts¡­ give him a blood thickening potion¡­ hand him off to two healers to go inside a trailer and check his guts in case there a nick. They can sew that nick then his stomach and within 3 days he can be out there guarding us again¡­ the trailer has a bright enchanted stone in the ceiling¡­ my ideal of a paramedic cart.. Only without the really cool stuff in there.


    Sometimes i wish i had the same equipment as the MASH unit had even if i did have the crazy medics.


    Those healers will test the lining of his guts several times before they sew him up¡­ in fact they might not even use any healing magic on him tonight if he is lucky and we are also. I expect to lose those healers a good 40 minutes but it¡¯s worth it¡­ he is very likely to be back up and running quickly.


    We got a wave of 6 more wounded. All at once¡­ it was pretty hectic¡­ the way to handle waves is one on one¡­ until you know what your looking at¡­ if it''s decent or good you push them off. And look for the more damaged.. Then go help them and come back.. Only if you think they will die do you do the bare minimum then stick them in the stable.


    I got a cripple his spine was cut¡­ thats a lot of healing magic to fix¡­ but he will live¡­ no other injuries.. Knock him out lay him on his stomach and toss him into the stable for now¡­ i immediately go and look at the one next to me who the healer looks overwhelmed¡­ again loss of limbs¡­ stab wounds¡­ he lost an eye¡­ heavy bleeding¡­ he is alive¡­ i actually let her continue blocking veins up.. I work on the damage behind the eye¡­ the brain membrane has been damaged and he leaking the fluid out of the brain¡­ i force mana to heal that nick¡­ then go about closing veins¡­ finally i sew up his stab wound and almost literally toss him into the stables¡­ he will probably live¡­ but next few days will be just shit for him.


    Customer four.. Dead¡­ would cost to much mana to save him ¡­ heart nicked¡­ plus organs are damaged.. And a bitten neck that needs sewing¡­ i pat the healer and point to number five¡­ as another 3 come in¡­ doubling up on customer five¡­ stab wound¡­ organ are damaged¡­ close to the liver¡­ needs mana.. Needs sewing ¡­ worth the investment¡­ i give my nod and they start working hard on him¡­. Oh it was a her¡­


    Customer six will live healer did what was needed¡­ laying in the stables¡­


    Customer seven dead¡­


    We had 23 come in for healing 17 will live. That night. Grandma came back covered in blood¡­ with lots of nicks and cuts¡­ we sewed her up but no healing¡­ when she told me to heal her.. I pointed at everyone else.. Then said no. she was mad.. But not terrible.


    Ah¡­ one of the dead was Daryl¡­. I never even looked at his face¡­ was he customer 11¡­ i only remember the wounds.. He was someone who could have lived if we all dumped are magic in him and saved none for anyone else¡­ he was also the one who fought the Goblins on top of the trailer¡­ but he died fast. Well as much grief as i feel.. I also know that we had already dumped some of our mana into other customers¡­ there still would not have been enough for him.


    He was Todd''s brother¡­ i think i will not tell todd his brother who protected me might have survived if i sacrificed everyone else...I also do not believe in that might¡­ it helps mitigate the guilt¡­ but it is still there.


    We lost close to ? of are warriors that night¡­ it is a little less but we still lost many¡­ as soon as the sun rises and the damn beast come back.. We will move camp to much blood...of the warriors ? of them are in the healer''s tent and the stables.


    I lost my cousin. We lost a few others who help make the camp run¡­ that enchanter is done for now she lived but needs to go back to the city¡­ Grandma told me to tame as many gas bags as we can find¡­ even if i feel sick¡­


    I with a scout unit found a herd of gas bags¡­ I tamed six more after pushing myself¡­ passed out.. And grandma made me tame another 3¡­ my head hurts so much now¡­ i passed out a second time¡­ then another two...passed out¡­ failed passed out . failed passed out¡­ one more¡­ she kept me trying until the whole herd of gas bags were tamed then ordered me to take them to our camp¡­ that was a simple order follow foolish humans¡­ i was carried back just so you know¡­ once there¡­ more cages were made¡­ 3 gas bags to a cage¡­ throw in sick person. On a cot tied sick person to cot then send gas bags to home¡­ now i know why she made me do this¡­ once every gas bag was sent¡­ we hunted for another herd...We¡­ hehehe well i laid in a cot with a migraine bitching every chance i got when my grandmother was not around¡­


    I looked at one guy who was guarding me¡­ hey Jacob if you get injured we are going to leave your ass to die¡­ i regret trying to keep your slave asses alive¡­ fucker just smiled and said well then i''ll have to be careful not to get hurt...wipe that smile off your face fuck face and go find something to kill get out of my sight...he stopped smiling then a few of them went and killed a small bug¡­ order kept but stayed away in case i ordered them to kill something bigger¡­ then i moaned and groaned for longer.


    Every once in awhile i was given a sip of wine¡­ or some other beverage¡­ grandma always gave me the sip¡­ after awhile i could not help it.. Clever old bat give me more i know i am only suffering because you''re making me but then you try to jolly me up with liquor¡­


    Grandma¡­ ah old bat is it¡­


    Oh sounds like you got some courage there¡­ let go and tame a second herd.. Fuck i yelp¡­


    Please grandma¡­ i know you worry about your age but don''t worry¡­ if grandpa gets killed off i pay someone to marry you¡­


    Grandma pile drove her elbow right into my stomach and i was dropped to the ground then with some anger we went hunting for more gass bags¡­ i added three more gass bags¡­ however i could not add anymore¡­ even if i woke i could not stop crying...grandma stuffed a stick sideways then tied my mouth closed¡­ she wrapped a rope under my chin and over my head to keep my mouth closed she did not sew it shut...one more patient was sent out..


    Later i found out that it took the gas bags 6 days to make it to the house¡­ the birds kept the gas bags feed other tamers kept watch over the heard¡­ the gas bags went over the wall in the cover of darkness.. And dropped the cages in the garden¡­ they stayed there for 3 days then they came back to use with new slaves¡­ at this point all i could do was order the gas bags to loiter and move¡­. After two weeks the headache started to lessen¡­ i had realized i had been fed and watered¡­ each day and someone had cleaned me¡­ the convoy had actually kept going...under grandmas leadership only we went slower¡­


    When are soldier delivery system arrived¡­ they were added to todds or my group or grandma''s group¡­ she however kept control of everything¡­ then gas bags took more wounded back.


    One month after the battle grandma had me tame more gas bags an additional 6.. However i was getting ahold of control tricks the headache still happened.. But not as bad as the first time¡­


    The others had to add one every two weeks¡­ i still had to do my job at this point¡­ start exercising.. And other things.. Some slaves reached there limit very fast to the point even under orders they could not add anymore¡­ however i was constantly feed and taken care of while grandmother kept sending me out with a scout group to add more¡­ did i level up¡­ no¡­ i still the common man¡­ grandma just didn''t mind torturing me for results. There was also a side benefit¡­ if you sent the tamed beasts far away like to home¡­ with a simple order¡­ they would do the rest for you¡­. It was a simple background awareness this was probably while messenger services could have so many birds at one time. And knew if a bird was eaten in route¡­


    If the gas bags were closer to me i had a higher awareness and my headache hurt a lot more¡­


    So in between deliveries i could add more gas bags¡­ if the gas bags where near me i could not add any. No matter how many times i tried.


    This also worked for other beasts¡­ such as direwolves.. I had to have some prior knowledge of them for it to work¡­ if they were close to me i could not add more¡­ if they were hunting and a pack came close i could add one after capture¡­ the hunting cats where a lot easier as long as they were asleep i could add cats¡­ slimes took too much mind space i guess¡­


    And of course i could have a damn beast as a pet but i could not tame a damn beast¡­ no one tames damn beasts¡­ however you will see them in almost every human city...Month 3 of my journey which the last month and a half i had mostly been laying in a cot.. Or riding a trailer¡­ we had continued to send and receive battles and supplies¡­ and grandma had set up a tower outside the city where the gas bags and birds could settle down the bottom floor was a den for damn beast and dire wolves.. They had separate entrances..


    Grandma was pulling the same trick with other tamers.. Just not as effective as her grandson that she personally poured crushed mana stones down his throat.. With his drink and lunch¡­


    After i started walking and doing my tasks.. She sent back to buy very young tamers slaves¡­ and send them here. She wanted to see if the age was why i was so adaptive¡­ i was sure she was right and after this someone else would suffer¡­ those poor tamers¡­ when they got here¡­


    I felt so giddy¡­ the slaves shiver when i smile now¡­


    We are currently 12 days away from the city by gas bag travel¡­ Grandfather has left with his convoy¡­ many of his trailers have adopted certain designs that i had¡­ he had pop out trailers also¡­ he could afford rope¡­ grandmother is right now building two towers.. With walls here at the river¡­ the bridge will be a lifting type like a drawbridge however the towers have an elevator here. So the bridge will be up in the sky. One side of the wall for the tower will lower and meet the other tower¡­ she is also building a good 14 meter wall inside dirt .. and afterwards will have ceramic tiles on the outside.. This is one of the bridges grandfather wanted built¡­ his convoy is quite large this time bigger than ever before¡­ most of the family''s funds are gone¡­ however as we continue to hunt for mana cores¡­ that are then safely ship back to the families tower.. We should be okay¡­ and that last tower the gas bags only come at night to deliver..


    Do don''t currently have ballistas¡­ but as soon as we can afford them to be made they will be...grandfather has some that he is coming with¡­


    4 weeks later grandfather arrived¡­ with two more grandmothers in tow and most of my aunts..


    The plan is each bridge once complete will have an aunt in charge of it with lots of slaves¡­ to maintain. That way they can complete the fort that will be made to guard the towers.. Then we will simple close up the forts leave a couple slaves at the fort enough to open up the gates when one of our convoys pass through and that is all. Some tamed dire wolves and pet damn beasts will get a den created near the gate. With everything to make the Damn beasts grateful and stay tame when a convoy comes by.


    We are sure we will lose a few forts¡­ it not like this is the first family to try this¡­ however.. Beasts do not normally stay in forts¡­ after a few tries¡­ we hope we get it right¡­ Goblins again are the biggest problem that''s why damn beast and direwolves will be left a den.. If we were outside the empire¡­ the success is near impossible.


    There are monstrously strong creatures out there. But mana beasts and goblins are the biggest problems in the empire¡­ and strays¡­ plague¡­ and parasite beasts¡­ there are humans who can get a parasite the parasite will cause them to go rabbid.. Until the host dies.. Strangely enough goblins love parasite humans¡­ and are immune to them¡­ those two problems cancel each other out¡­ then you just have a larger problem of goblins. Then again goblins love humans period¡­ beastkin elves¡­ anything they can fuck¡­ but they love to eat parasites humans¡­ well they will eat the rest also¡­ they just don''t try to fuck a rabbid human.. Ehhh well whatever¡­


    Parasite humans are like a drooling fast slobbering zombie¡­ that pretty much it¡­ they won''t take over the world or anything...just another danger in this world to watch out for. Ah if you get bit plague is likely afterwards¡­


    When grandmother showed up they were all excited.. Daryl had a brief moment of silence but that was about it¡­ he not the first cousin to be lost¡­ we lost entire convoys¡­. Sometimes goblin tribes can get very large¡­ in the hundreds¡­ mostly the siting of such a large goblin den will have the local cities armies go out and attack them¡­ you just need to make sure you can tell them about the sightings..


    Grandfather already making maps to be sent off that have none of the family''s bridges on them


    And will only show the approximate location of these sightings.. That''s for later but he is already prepared with special maps...


    After all if the City finds out about are bridges. It will increase our taxes and then we will have to man it all the time¡­ sure we put the family emblem on the gates.. But the city has to find out about the forts first before we will admit to them.. And each fort is quite off the route other traders will take after all we left with the ideal of finding those damn birds¡­ which we never did find¡­


    Grandpa shows Up with quite a few of them wth¡­ his convoy was like 7 times larger than ours how did he hunt them¡­


    Grampa would not say¡­ i found out later that he sent tamed birds to grab them behind the head and lift off with them. One at a time..then had them carried to the convoy. He caught about 6 a day.


    Blindfolded the ones he did not tame¡­ then stuck a slavery seal on them¡­ the tamed birds will lead and if they try to attack the humans non tamed ones will get zapped¡­ it not like the birds were smart enough to follow commands and they can not be pets¡­


    Uhhhh how does that work¡­


    This is where grandmother admitted that they used to use slavery seals on beasts before people..since they did not think i needed to know that in my history lessons it was never mentioned¡­ they actually heard about it from an old elven cousin of there own..


    Tricky old people...grandfather moved his convoy onward¡­ we simply kept working on this bridge¡­ then we were to continue on to the next bridge grandfather wanted built.. Along the way¡­ it was decided that every 8 hours by gas bag we would build a simple tower that was solid except the top two floors.. There would not be a hollow tower just solid until the last 30 feet.


    Each tower would be dirt middle then a cement type of ceramic on the outside walls.. The top two floors would basically be nothing more then stable and a living floor plan. About six slaves would live on that floor and that would be it.


    Grandmother found that the key was how young you where and how much mana potion you stuffed down a child''s throat for max amount of tamer abilities just ignore the torture you do¡­ some of the kids committed suicide.. And they were not anywhere near my level.


    However grandmother stayed in that tower and continued to experiment. I still had to add to my growing tamer beast but i was now having more fails then success¡­ i really wanted to try other types of beast to tame also¡­ The cage slowly changed also¡­ and we found out if you released some of the gas bags but still kept one tamed in a small herd the others would follow¡­ for instance¡­ five gas bags would carry a cage¡­ would not attack humans. And you only needed one of them to stay tamed¡­ Gas bags really had no predators¡­ they were just weak so if they attacked something often they would not succeed¡­ that was the main reason the sky was not filled with gas bags.. They taste bad even birds don''t like them. However if one is by itself something that is hungry will attack it¡­ better to have a larger herd..


    Grandmother was also allowing me to hand off tamed beasts to younger tamers or simple adding them to a herd..there gasbags¡­ is it maybe a flock they do not have feathers.. Maybe i should use school¡­ gaggle always sounds like a nice definition.


    After the second fort was made.. We moved on to the third...towers interspersed between each fort¡­ me pretty much made it a rule to only have gas bags move out at night. So later on we were less likely to get caught.. As fall began¡­ we stopped adding forts and towers and slowly did the finishing touches then moved back. We had news weeks ago that both uncles had returned¡­ as we headed back sometimes we would stop to create a tower¡­ or cross a river¡­ making notes as to where future developments should be placed..


    It got colder each night the last few weeks on the way home¡­ everyone who should be returning was returning no major battles had happened.. Some trailers were stored up in the bottom of the closer towers.. Those that were strange designed¡­ the normal looking trailers we returned with.. Meat lockers full to the brim and several meat trailers more then when we started out..


    Are family and the maximum amount of slaves arrived at home and moved into the city.. Grandfather returned a week after the first snow¡­ the towers and forts had their maximum amount and there was plenty of food for the whole winter this was the best winter we have had yet.


    Gas bags¡­ unfortunately hibernate¡­ and were completely useless that whole winter¡­


    They pile up.. On the ground like a pile of eggs and just sleep¡­ however all of the gasbags we dealt with hibernated inside forts and towers outside the city¡­ damn beasts also hibernate or at least lower their activity¡­ there not true cold blooded but they sure act like it.


    Direwolves however are not¡­ and they hunted constantly that winter..


    we lost two towers¡­ but not to attack by hunger¡­ one killed themselves by being lazy and not cleaning the chimney and gassed themselves¡­ the other ate all their food up fast then climbed down the tower and were eaten outside the tower¡­ all towers went into winter with the same preparations.


    While we stayed in our tower we went back to our previous daily lives.. However this winter we ate better¡­ and we had a lot of mana cores¡­ we ate more mana cores than food that winter¡­


    To be honest i don''t think even nobles will eat mana cores like we did¡­ if we got hungry we ate manna cores until we were not hungry then had a little bit to eat¡­ and we did that for every meal.. In fact the slaves on average ate more per a meal then the family did.


    The younger kids where not as good about it however i and my healer slaves did this constantly¡­ i also was motivated to study more¡­ and would get to go to extra classes i had provided the funds from are hunting while out.. Plus i got half of daryl funds also.. Tod spent his on better equipment¡­ hired trainers for his battle slaves.. And spent a lot of time training he also took mana core drinks with him¡­ he wanted battle magic¡­ that Ice plant we had found¡­ was in a heated room and the elves were doing there best to breed it with other plants. We did find some others.. That winter.. But they were to distant from the castle to send some slaves out to fetch for us¡­


    Some carpenter slaves were sent to the closest fort we had. With lumber and everything else then given directions to make more trailers¡­ the closet fort also had a good forest nearby..


    When the slave market prices went down the uncles and grandfather would go there and purchase...but they were starting to be careful not to purchase to many at one time.. We still had to make it through winter after all and we needed special kinds but without being obvious about it.


    I was now 15 years old and just as perverted as i was in my last life¡­ surprisingly it did not bother the slave girls a bit¡­ they encouraged me pretty often¡­ and would go out of there way to make me active¡­


    This evening i was talking to my grandfather and uncles with the grandmothers in attendance¡­


    Grandfather how come we don''t make a road between the forts we have made.. It would make travel time much faster¡­ all we got to do is not make a road from the city to the first fort¡­ we can even ferry supplies from tower one to tower two and then carry that to fort one in a trailer¡­ from fort one to fort two we build a road..it will be costly but that road will decrease time¡­ then we work from fort two to fort 3 or at this point in time fort 7. And use fort 3 as the cross road.


    We could even build the road underground then pave it.. So no one will come across it...or build the road wall it then cover it with a hill¡­ add some shrubs and trees and by 3 weeks later it will look natural..


    That one will cost us less but will increase the likelihood of us being caught not as much as just leaving a road out in the middle of nowhere.


    Are city makes some of the cheapest bulk ceramics around¡­ however city p has ironwood at the lowest prices.. If we make an effort to create a road here. All future developments will be much cheaper.. Plus then we can spread out where we purchase slaves¡­


    However my grandmother pointed out city p has the longest travel time in the initial building phase and has the least amount of value for trade goods to purchase or sell¡­


    Send one of the youngest uncle there to trade then¡­ they will think he got pushed this way because he has the least value grandfather can maintain the money trail¡­ and let the other two uncles roll the dice for which city they go to¡­


    It makes it look like we are being mean to the youngest¡­ until he proves himself¡­ behind him could be a second and third convoy who only purpose is to make communication towers.. And bridges.. At least the foundations.. The aunts can take control of the forts. I just wish there was some way to make the towers invisible.. Or look like a tree.


    We also need a way to stockpile enough cement and ceramic to at least make one road and tunnel from fort one to fort two plus all the building we do the only thing i can think of is after we use up the supply we gather currently to make those towers we start to purchase more from each city in small sums to be used on the forts and with communication everyone send the ceramics to that fort from each city we are currently at.. After a week of planning and thinking up problems than solutions.. The house had a road map of their plans¡­ after the first meeting where i said my bit¡­ i no longer had a right to talk...but i did listen in at each meeting.. Todd was also forced to come¡­ he was giving mental problems of how he would defend. Against certain problems as a convoy happened¡­ i was given different mental exercises. As the months went further along the problems become more twisted. We had to add people to are plans. Me and todd that is.. Todd had to have sergeants come in and sit with him and they would do mental problems the family would think of and how they would need to act..


    The healer team and i had to plan how to take care of people what we would need in the future trailers¡­ we even trained younger non healing talent slaves how to take care of wounds until they got to a healer¡­ Todd was even given merchant problems and had to figure out how to integrate those problems with his desire to make his fighting force bigger and better armored¡­


    This time around one of my Aunts would be in charge.. Her name was bloom.. Yeah i know bloom¡­ she was also given mental problems however she had a overview plus she would mostly be in charge at building sites¡­ most problems where if she got killed how would todd handle this. Or that¡­ then i was asked how would i handle the convoy if so many people died and bloom and todd were dead¡­ i actually did well¡­ of course i am reincarnated. So i had more years then todd yet still younger then my aunt¡­


    Ah did i mention at fifteen i look 11 years old¡­ My family were determined to continue to feed mana potions just like this winter and slow down my aging even further...and while i did want to actually do more than what i had¡­ at the same time¡­ i was not as worried about it because once i was a full grown man¡­ i would stay that age even longer¡­ i was eating close to 42 ounces of mana milkshake before i ate each meal. I actually got to the habit of carrying a tankard with a lid around with me everywhere i go and would sip on it as i was thinking¡­


    A second good thing that happened is i slowed down on what i had to say before i said anything...this actually made me seem wiser than what i was.. I was probably in my family the most enthusiastic about drinking the potions, Todd did a good job also but maybe only ? of what i drank in a day he drank¡­ and he still was probably drinking six to seven times what a noble would drink.


    Drinking ground up mana was like drinking watered chalk¡­ you had to force yourself¡­ nobles added flavors and such¡­ are garden did not grow enough fruit for us to do that we just had to down it.


    The benefits to having so much mana was energy¡­ longer life and slower ageing¡­ higher amount of mana available in a fight¡­ you also healed faster...you just were not wolverine.


    That''s pretty much it¡­ you''re still human if you''re killed your still killed. Drinking mana potions does not make you immune to poison. If you do not practice anything you don''t get better at something. Ah a side benefit to faster healing is more intense practice. So Todd became every woman''s fantasy made young arnold shortanager to look wimpy. When i get there i''ll be in that category for awhile¡­ Right now my slaves are very happy with me and treat me well. And i do my best to treat them well.


    I won''t be joining the expedition army neither will todd.. My aunts are pregnant again and so are my grandmothers every single one of them¡­ they stay at home most of the time¡­ every winter this happens¡­ my uncles who are not married have to make do with the women in the house when there in the mood or some of the house slaves¡­


    Grandfather might get a sixth wife¡­ the grandmothers are talking about it.. However they also want to wait until all the infrastructure has been in place.


    Next year will be a very busy year¡­ The direwolves seem to have had lots of puppies also.. And the damn beasts have laid lots of eggs.. This is great for us¡­ because soon we will have a lot of growth happening¡­ the only ones who have not gotten pregnant are the slaves¡­ well the male slaves can''t even have sex. There neutered. At least all the one in our home we never bought male slaves who were not.


    Are Cousins have been given hints¡­ and some of them will be joining us.. Only the ones that can keep there mouths shut. After all soon we will have more towers and forts to be built¡­ We are just not there yet.