"Thank you all for joining me this evening." Dom started, looking down at everyone with a gentle smile. "I have spoken with Chef Benoit and he will be providing a fantastic spread of food for you all shortly. Using a variety of goods that have been brought in from the market, as well as some of our own meat grown on our farm and stunning fish caught from our river."
Dom turned to the Chef who was also sat at the table with his wife and nodded his head at him, causing the others to do the same in thanks. Francois Benoit was the leader of the Benoit family that had joined Riverside and gratefully took the thanks.
"Now, before we eat and celebrate the fantastic victories our forces have achieved for Riverside over the last few days, I need to pass on a special thanks to all of you here. Without you, Riverside would not be growing as successfully as it is today. From our Warriors of Octavian and Alexander who have fought alongside is from the start, to Banas and Pullo who have joined us most recently, thank you." Dom continued, "from a domestic perspective, Wang Shu, Helena, Lars and Benjamin, your families are the heart of Riverside and have brought us the food that we eat and built the houses that we live in."
Dom clapped his hands in thanks, and the others followed, most not understanding what a clap was as it wasn't part of their cultures, but followed the lead of their lord nether the less.
"Then a special thanks to Hua Tau and his family, as well as Phoebe, you have been instrumental in to a healthy town and your help with Banas's tribe were selfless. Sostratus, your support with helping us grow Riverside's buildings is key and again thank you. I will not go through all of you, but you have all either contributed heavily or you will in the future." Dom continued.
"To the lord!" Subutai stated, lifting his cup in salute, followed by the others, "To the Lord!"
Dom waited for the salute and chant to finish as "To the Lord" was repeated several times, before continuing.
"So to reward you all, and to help further the growth of Riverside, we have agreed three things that will affect you all in some way." Dom continued. "Firstly, we are bringing in Currency to Riverside, you all currently work for Riverside in some way or form as a leader of your industry and therefore will be paid a high salary to recompense that. Any of you that have staff, will also be provided currency to pay them a reasonable salary. Further down the line we may privatise some industries but for now they will be paid for by us. For those of you that do not have a specific role, such as Gu Kaizhi who has just joined, you will be compensated as part of the Riverside government."
This caused there to be some mumbles within the guests, especially those such as Wang Shu who felt that since he joined Riverside it had been one good thing after another for him and his family. Gu Kaizhi and Aristarchus who didn't have a specific role also seemed happy and spoke with each other about it, as being part of the government meant they could advise and be involved with key decisions.
"The second thing is that we will be creating a class system within Riverside, where those that contribute can become a noble class, this will give you additional wealth opportunities and the options to live in more prestige areas. Those that are not in this class can work hard to join this class, where as those in the class who do not contribute can be demoted away from this class." Dom continued, "This has been designed by Chief Advisor Shang Yang and I believe it will be a great way of creating a thriving culture for growth."
This caused further whispers, especially for those such as Lars the Lumberjack and Benjamin the Farmer who were from the peasant background and had no previous aspirations of nobility.
"As you are all here today, be it commander in my military or a key member of our domestic growth, I am inviting you all to be the first members of Riverside's nobility." Dom announced, causing a huge uproar in the room as people looked at him with wide open eyes. "The current housing plans will continue in new areas designated as part of our stage 2 growth, the current district will be converted to a noble district. Any houses built within the Stage 1 boundaries will be noble housing. You can purchase the land with your new wealth and build a house that suits your needs, these can be designed via Sostratus and built by Wang Shu, but these will be private projects and not funded by Riverside. Now I'm sure there are lots of questions but tonight is a night of celebration. So, Chef Benoit, please serve the food."
The Chef got up from his seat, with a huge smile on his face, he had originally been a fallen noble which is why his family had decided to find a new home, now he was able to join the ranks of the nobles once again. He quickly reached the kitchen and flagged to his family who were working and the support staff that had joined them to start to serve the food for the feast.
Soon men and women arrived from the kitchen, carrying large silver wooden crafted trays made by Lar's daughters. The plates were covered in edible fresh leaves that had been picked from some edible plans that had been discovered in the Silver Forest, on top of the leaves were either succulent fish of different colours or cuts of red meat from the ox from the animal husbandries. There were also trays of fruits and vegetables that were either steaming from being steamed or had a gentle drizzle of a sauce created by the Benoit family on them.
The trays were spread across the two tables that were being used tonight, and everyone looked at the food with glee.
"Please do not wait on ceremony, you can eat as soon as the food arrives." Dom stated as people waited patiently.
As soon as Dom said this, Gan Ning grabbed a piece of fish from his area and started to eat it, this caused a couple of looks around him, before others then started to took in to the food. Dom sat back in his chair, as a small tray was placed beside him which had a collection of the dishes being served on it. He turned to his side and saw that Meritamen had been watching everything that had taken place.
"An interesting decision to make." Meritamen commented, "It's an interesting place that you are building, my father would have kept as much control and power as possible, where as you are happy to give some of it away."
"I do it so that they want Riverside to grow as much as I do." Dom replied, "I could try and do everything myself, but it would be hard and tedious, this is more enjoyable and can lead to a much better future."
"No, I do agree with you." Meritamen replied with a gentle smile, "I need to thank you as well, giving me the position of chief diplomat is a lot of trust, especially when we know each other for such a little amount of time."
"I mean, I met you at a meal and then suddenly you was my wife." Dom laughed at her, cutting the tension that occasionally appeared between them since she arrived in Riverside. "But I know you have key skills that can help Riverside grow, and for that I am grateful to have you here."
Meritamen smiled, before grabbing a fruit that was very similar to a peach and taking a bite of it, the juices squeezing out of it and dripping on the floor. Meritamen blushed at the mess and quickly whipped away the juices from her chin. Dom laughed at the scene and grabbed himself a slice of beef and took a bite, it was juicy, salty and tender to eat.
"This food is amazing." Meritamen commented shortly after trying a few more things, "If we had a Chef like Chef Benoit, I don't think my father would have ever left for war."
"If we ever meet him again, I'll have to get Chef Benoit to cook for him." Dom replied kindly.
"That would be nice." She replied gratefully.
The feast continued late in to the night, Dom had left Meritamen and had made his way around the tables, casually chatting to different members of Riverside and speaking with them about their roles and what they were doing or thought would be a good improvement.
Darkness soon took over riverside as the sun had set and the stars shone brightly in the sky. People slowly started to depart and head back to their houses, excited at the news and changes that would be coming and how they would affect them. Dom was grateful to see that everyone was leaving with a smile, even Shang Yang who normally had a serious face.
Meritamen and Tomoe had disappeared upstairs to their new rooms and Dom was left with just Subutai, Gan Ning and Lucius sat on one of the tables downstairs. Gan Ning was facedown on the table asleep, whilst Subutai and Lucius were chatting casually with Dom.
"I think that went well?" Subutai stated, eating some of the remaining fruit. The Benoit family had offered to clean the tables, but Lucius had declined saying that the morning team who baked most of the bread for Riverside could do it.
"It did." Dom replied, "I'm tired now, but I think we are in a good place."
"Much further than I expected we would be at this time." Lucius stated, "We have a lot to do, but I am less worried about Tongpai Town today than I was a couple of days ago."
"Yes, me too." Subutai agreed, "I am planning to have the first group of trainees from Pullo join me as a century in the east, I want to build us a shield there as the north is the most worrying point."
"That's a good plan." Lucius replied, "What are your plans tomorrow then Lord?"
"Visit the market and see what we can order, and then head across the River with Gan Ning." Dom replied, "I want to have a look at the current state of the Underground Ancient City."
"It should be nearly fully excavated." Subutai agreed, "Hopefully we can relocate the Town Centre once it has been located."
"A task for tomorrow then!" Dom happily replied.
"You've got a more important task first though." Gan Ning laughed as he sat up half asleep.
Dom, Lucius and Subutai all looked at him in confusion.
"You've got a wife and a blood thirsty warrior upstairs that you need to sneak past or you won't be getting any sleep." Gan Ning laughed again, before putting his head back on the table and suddenly snoring again.
"Any room at the Heroes Hall?" Dom pleaded, looking at Subutai and Lucius, who both laughed at him in response.