"All I am saying is, are we sure this is the right time for any military action?" Lord Elron surmised his lengthy speech.
"The people collaborated with the enemies and attacked us! What will that say about us if don't hit back?" General Harrison asked. He was one of the generals that had been left behind. He too had led his men in fighting the invading army at the last minute.
"Now is when we have the advantage. Now is when we should strike!"
"They are running scared. If we do not attack they will think we are all show!"
Suddenly, the peaceful meeting turned into chaos as everyone present was busy putting forward their opinions. Barda took a moment to look at the people present in the meeting. These were the top shot callers in Tristan and they had requested the Queen for an audience.
Due to the agenda of the meeting, every important figure had to attend. Barda understood that these were the aristocrats of Tristan, although most of them lived in Alcove. The industry controllers, the lords. Barda was reminded of a parliament and a house of representatives. Perhaps that would be preferable in this case.
They were concerned about the direction the city had taken. Many among them had been in favor of submitting to Gumina when they first approached. However, a Queen cannot rule alone. These people were all she had.
"Madame Ismay, We have not heard from you," when the Queen spoke, everyone listened. The woman she had singled out, Madame Ismay, was one of the most respected people in the meeting. As the Matriarch of one of Tristan's grandest founding families, her position in this council was second only to the Queen.
"Before I speak, Your Majesty, I would like to pose a question to the newly appointed Lord Commander of the Armies of Tristan," Her regality and mannerism made her out to appear almost larger than life. That coupled with the respect she commanded made Barda's ears perk up. "Being as honest as you can be, how likely are we to win against Reuze?"
Barda didn't even have to think much before answering, "Victory is assured, the only question how much you want to beat them."
"Do explain," Everyone's ears were perked up.
"I mean, we can do everything from capturing the city to burning it to the ground. All options are available." While that statement sounded ludicrous and overly confident, Barda had more than earned his credibility in this city. That did not mean that there weren't those that scoffed. Barda didn't mind, just more people to disprove. Plus, if people don't hate then it's not right. With that in mind, time to push some buttons.
"At the moment, we are trying to create enough supplies to be able to raze not just Reuze to the ground, but all other cities that collaborated with Gumina at the time Queen was in exile," Barda's statement caught many off-guard.
Here they were deliberating on whether to attack Reuze yet he had designs on the other city-states? Moreover, Barda was considering burning them all to the ground? Was he insane?
"Listen here boy," Lord Kravian said, "We are not mass murderers. If there is a peaceful option we take it."
"Show some respect!" Commander Greer barked.
"He is not wrong..." The commotion was back again. This time, Madame Ismar interjected,
"Lord Kravian, what would a peaceful solution look like?"
"We sign a treaty with them ..."
"Sign a treaty with the very people that betrayed us in our time of need?" This was Lady Maara. She was trying to keep contained but hearing the idiocy of the man's ideas, and the fact that he insulted her beloved, she couldn't hold back.
"Your Majesty, peace is made by among enemies."
"Yet it can only be maintained by those with honor!" Lady Flani interjected. "The city of Reuze has shown that they are without honor, therefore untrustworthy. Besides, we all know you are defending them because you have businesses there."
After such a snide comment, another wave of arguments ensued. Lady Maara's father had been quite lax and hence these old guards assumed it was as usual under the Queen.
"Your Majesty, I understand Lord Kravian's concerns. I am sure that he is not the only one with such concerns," General Harrison said, "However, the insult to our nation remain unanswered. Our King died by their hands, so did many of our soldiers!"
"And you propose to continue the cycle of violence and war?"
"If I may, might I make a suggestion," Barda remarked. This was a matter that he had thought about for long. "What if we introduce citizenship?"
"What the hell is that?" General Harrison asked.
"First, we establish a form of registering the people in Tristan. We add incentives such as once someone is registered, they are recognized by the city as one of their own. We have a way of safeguarding their property and peace, not just the wealthy, but everyone. Citizenship will be a way to recognize who is one of us and who is not."
"What does that have to do with Reuze?" someone asked. Others were still trying to understand the concept.
"Once we conquer a city, we can give them a lesser form of citizenship. It may be bought or acquired through marriage or such things. That way, we bring not just Reuze into the fold, but the people or Reuze as well."
"Why would anyone want to be a citizen?" Lady Flani had to admit she was intrigued.
"We add incentives such as keeping them safe, giving them a voice in important matters, and the like."
Like that, Barda patiently explained the concept of citizenship to this group of Tristanites. Like many he had had, this was another revolutionary idea that seemed so basic when you thought about it.
"So we are still attacking?" Lord Kravian asked after much deliberation.
"Of course, but with peace in mind," Barda replied with as much sincerity as he could muster.
By the time the meeting was done, the people seemed to have more questions than answers. However, this was encouraging since this meant they were interested enough to try it. Barda was overjoyed to have sold the idea to them so simply.
***
In Icutum, Batoo and Kia had managed to acquire large tracks of land, built 2 warehouses and reinforced them as Barda had instructed. They had also gathered and made the pieces Barda had required. To make a factory, as Barda intended, one needed small bits and pieces such as nuts and bolts and spanners.
On that day, Barda introduced mechanics to a world of smithing, pushing technology miles ahead. Furthermore, Barda intended to make more and more industries so he had gathered all smiths who wished to learn a new craft and added them to the team.
Even with so many participants, it took Barda an extra 2 days to make a fully functional Steel Plant. It was fully mechanized such that all one needed to do was feed the materials and it would do the rest.
In an instant, steel processing became so much easier. This, in turn, improved the speed and quality of weapons that were coming off the plant. The added advantage was that several smiths were freed to work on more important matters such as manning the factory.
One down, one more to go, Barda thought as he walked into the adjacent warehouse. From there, he would build the other factory, the oil refinery.
Like with the steel plant, Barda chose the most simplistic but efficient designs. He didn't want to overcomplicate things in the beginning. That being said, he built the refinery itself behind locked doors, without disclosing the designs.
Just thinking of the number of products that he would be able to obtain from the crude oil and the possibilities they offered made him joyous. Unfortunately, there was one wrinkle. Tristan did not have an oil well. However, they had enough oil to cater to his immediate needs.
Hopefully, by the time the world needs crude oil enough to matter, Barda would have introduced alternate fuel sources.