Ina Knox
"A week more and the wall would be fully ready to deal with any danger that came at it," said Architect Harrison.
"Let's hope so," I replied as I checked the wall.
They are making progress fast, but I hope, they will be faster. Our patrols have spotted the undead, and that is making me worry.
We didn't attack.
They have kept their distance. If they had got closer and crossed into the boundary of the city, we would have attacked them.
Still, to be cautious, General Azalea sent the teams. Including the earth mages and a few specialized officers to check the underground.
The undead are notorious for attacking through the underground tunnels. Getting caught off guard was the last thing I wanted to happen.
I got off the wall and saw a few carriages leaving the city.
They had minors in them.
We are slowly taking infants and children out of the city. We are also making progress for the ones that are in the city, especially the schools.
Seven schools will open at the start of next month, along with the three hospitals. It is far less than what the city needs, but it is all we can currently manage.
I stepped into my carriage, and it moved, while I watched it through the widow.
A lot had changed in the past twelve days since we had conquered the city.
There is no trash on the street or sewage floating out in the streets. Unfortunately, it is not the state of the entire city, but we are making progress.
We have chosen three areas for the reconstruction. The market area, residential area, and central area, that houses the city hall and other official buildings.
Covering a fifth of the city.
We have shifted 70% of the people into them and plan to shift the rest of the 30% as well by the end of the month.
Every day, more people are coming to the city. Most are temporary, like workers working on the reconstruction. They will leave after their work is finished.
Though some are here to stay permanently despite the risk. Like that group of orcs walking by the road.
They are miners; they came here to work in the mines.
We need miners, a lot of them. There are good mines in the city. The sooner we start them, the sooner economic activity will return to the city.
Currently, the economy of the city is completely ruined, but mines are things that could fix it.
We are very close; I have a meeting with a man responsible for fixing the mines in a few minutes and I hope, he has good news for me.
A few minutes later, the carriage stopped at the city hall, and I got out.
People stopped as I walked toward the city and bowed, but not as deeply as they would to the Master Silver, and many had contempt in their eyes.
I could hear them whispering 'whore' and 'prostitute' now and then and it hurts, but I do not hold it against them. They are part of my identity and will be with me as long as I will live.
The only thing I hold against them is they not doing their work.
They may hate me, feel jealous, or have contempt, but they should do the work that had been assigned to them.
Most are doing their work as they have been ordered, but a few are creating some problems. The warnings had been given. If they don't listen, they will be thrown out.
Master Silver had given me complete freedom to deal with them as I see fit, within a reason.
Soon, I reached my office, and the guards bowed, before opening the door for me. I entered inside and nodded at Anika.
Carla had sent her from her office. She is temporary, till permanent replacement comes.
I would have liked to have Andrea or Varza, both of them are capable and I have trained them myself. Andrea is busy handling things in Carla's absence, while Varza declines the offer.
She would have come if I had insisted, but I didn't. Seeing the new responsibilities she had got.
She had gotten the promotion and taken the post that Lola used to have. She had already gone to the empire with Hardt a week ago.
"My lady," greeted Anika.
I nodded and sat down, feeling the joy at the greeting. It had been nearly two weeks, but the novelty of my new position hadn't worn off.
I love my new position. It is stressful, and I am awake most of the time, but I love it.
"My lady, Mr. Artik is here," said Elah. "Send him in," I replied.
Click!
A second later, the door opened and a man in his fifties walked in. His eyes roamed over me, with lust flashing in his eyes for a moment before he controlled his expressions.
"My lady," he greeted.
"Take a seat, Mr. Artik," I said to the man. "Thank you my, lady," he replied and sat down.
He is a mine specialist from a merchant state. He and his people had been here for the past week, working on different mines.
The months of neglect had made the mines worse, and animals were turning into monsters because of the high-energy environment of the mines.
Though we have dealt with them. Monsters are bad, especially the vermin types.
"I hope you have something for me, Mr. Atrik," I said to the man.
"I have my lady, both good and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" he asked back with a smile.
"Bad one," I replied.
"The whole mine support system of the third mine would need to be replaced," he said. I wanted to curse and bang my fist hard across the table, but I controlled myself.
Changing a whole mine support is expensive work, and we can't afford expensive right now.
However, since it is related to mine. I have no choice but to do it and that will mean cutting the expenses from something else.
The budget is on the knife's edge and this additional expense is going to make things even more difficult.
"Can it be fixed temporarily?" I asked, and the man shook his head. "No, there is a good chance. If we tried to fix it temporarily, it would collapse," he replied, and I sighed.
"Then what is the good news?" I asked, hoping it would be best.
"The other mines are good. They will require some repair, but they can be fixed quickly and cheaply," he replied, and the relief flooded into my body.
I do not want to pay for any major damage.
"The second mine is most undamaged. My men are working on it and if everything went well; it could be opened in two days," he added, and a smile lit up across my face.
"You should have started with that, Mr. Artis," I said to the man, and he smiled.
He stayed for a few more minutes before he left, while I added this news in the evening missive to the Master Silver.
There are many mines, but we have people to support only one mine, two at most. We need more people and Master Silver is sending them little by little.
Few people want to come here. Especially the humans; nearly 80% of miners who came to the city are the orcs.
The humans too will come eventually as long as they see steady employment and safety.
Orcs are good, they are hardworking people. Master Silver is negotiating with a few more mining tribes to move them into our cities.
The conditions around Fort Renin and Nakar Forest aren't good.
They are managing it well and even constructing a fort to contain the monsters. There is a huge trade that goes through there, that Blackwell and baronies do not want to get disturbed.
However, the monster problem is increasing, and it is troubling the orc tribes closer to the extreme magic region.
It is forcing them to move and many of the orcs and even the entire tribes are shifting. Greltheaven, Fort Renin, and Lauryl are benefitting a lot from this.
All of them need the people to support their expansion and development.
I pushed those thoughts and focused on the work.
A few hours passed, and soon, it was evening. I have one more meeting and then I will have dinner with Barb.
I have asked her to stay with me. It gets lonely, and the company of friends helps a lot, but she is busy with her job and can only do one dinner weakly, which I cherish a lot.
"There is a message from General Azalea. She wants to meet with you," informed Mage Osward, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"When?" I asked.
"Now," she replied, and a frown couldn't help but appear on my face. She didn't ask for an emergency appointment unless it was important.
The last time, she did, when our patrol spotted the undead.
"Ok," I replied, wishing it wouldn't be something serious. I will know when she comes, and with that, I focus on the work in front of me.
'Governor, General Azalea, is here for you,' informed Elah through the intercom.
"Send her in," I replied.
Click!
A moment later, a raven heard a woman come inside through the doors.
"Governor," she greeted with a bow. "General, please take a seal," I replied.
Our relationship isn't warm, but it's cordial. That's enough for now.
"What happened?" I asked. "Our people engaged in a small skirmish with the enemy," she replied, and I sighed internally.
"What did the undead do?" I asked. "They crossed the boundary," she replied.
We are adhering to the boundaries that the empire had drawn for the domain of each city. We had clarified that to the undead.
We had warned them we would attack if they were across the boundary, and now, we did.
"Any casualty?" I asked. "No, but there are a few injuries," she replied.
"Thank you for informing me, General. Don't hesitate to ask, if you need anything," I said to her.
The conflict with the undead is the last thing we want.
We have a good army and even Commander Stone is in the city as a deterrent, but it might not be enough if the undead attack.
Though we will respond to any aggression. Whether it is crossing the boundary or attacking the city.
"Thank you for your support, Governor. I will send you the detailed report of a skirmish in a few hours," she said and got up to leave.
"General, how is the response to the recruitment?" I asked the woman.
We are recruiting people for the army. Today is the first day to receive the applications.
"Immense, we have already got three thousand applications and more will come in the coming days," she said with an expression on her face lighting up.
There are a lot of young people in the city. We had hired many for different jobs.
Not the heavy ones, Lord Silver is very adamant about it. Just like how he is adamant about recruiting only sixteen and above for the army.
They will only see the combat after they reach eighteen.
It is one thing General Stone, and the army disagreed with Master Silver.
I am also with them, in that opinion.
Fifteen is the norm in recruiting people for the army, some countries recruit at fourteen and send them to fight the battles at fifteen, but Master Silver vehemently disagrees with it.
He loosened a little. Listening to his trusted people and seeing the needs of the city.
Before the age of recruitment had been seventeen and above, but now it is sixteen. However, the recruits, won't be sent to combat, till they reach eighteen.
In that, he is inflexible as an iron rod.
I finished my last meeting and compiled the missive before sending it to Master Silver.