" Lord Damon, I have gathered all the slaves to the wall". Sir Barksdale said to Damon who was standing on top of the castle wall.
A month had passed since the wall around Merula had been built and now the ten knights had returned with the slaves that they were sent to purchase.
Damon and Barksdale then made their way to the eastern part of the wall where the slaves were gathered.
" How many have gathered?" Damon asked
" Two hundred and thirty my Lord , one hundred and eighty men and fifty women."
"That's a good number, announce my presence so I may speak to them" said Damon.
Barksdale then stepped to the area that the slaves gathered and announced in a loud voice. " You stand before Lord Damon of the house Merula, first of name and Lord of the Merula plains. Kneel before your Lord ".
Immediately they all knelt down none of them even raising their heads to meet his gaze . Damon then came up releasing subtle gusts of cold.
"I welcome you all to Merula,and I want to let you know that from the moment you stepped foot into this territory, you were all considered my citizens. I don't know how many of you came to be slaves , most of you were sold by family, some were kidnapped and most of you were born slaves but know this, that you arrived here is a sign from God that things are going to be okay for you in the long run , so get rid of your gloominess because you all will be treated with dignity unless you give us a reason not to.
Within the week you will be given tasks , complete your tasks and you will have a chance to move out from the tents into a better living environment. Be well." Damon said leaving them in awe.
When he left there was an uproar. The slaves were asking themselves,' are we going to be really treated as citizens or is this a lie that nobles usually concoct to make their slaves work hard.
It was just a cataclysm of emotions going around. Many of them had never had a family to call their own because the one that they had are either dead or betrayed them by selling them into slavery . But regardless of their situation Damon had just planted a little seed of hope in them only time would show what germinates.
Today in the council chambers Damon had brought out several parchment with plans and blueprints for different projects in his territory.
First he gave Barthos a blueprint for a distillery and two furnaces. These were to be built in the northern area of the wall which had been delegated to be used as an industrial area. He was to work together with Alaric for further specifications in building the furnaces specifically a blast furnace.
He also asked that the best cloth maker in the region should be brought to him. He was tired of wearing uncomfortable clothes.
By the weeks end the distillery was already up and running. Damon remembered making wine and moonshine with his army buddies back when he was still fighting insurgents in the middle east , and if there was one thing he remembered it was that alcohol, no matter what kind was an ever selling commodity. He didn't know much about farming so he did what was most reasonable to be able to provide funds for his territory .
First thing he did was to buy large amounts of fruits , grapes mostly . He also purchased large amounts of barley which was going to be used to make beer .
He then asked that someone who had knowledge of wine making be brought to him whether it was a slave or freeborn .
After a while they brought to him a man named Jonas who after pledging to keep the secret of Damons brewing till the point of death was given a parchment where the steps in brewing beer ,making wine and distilling other spirits were written.
He was then to go the town herald who would help him announce that a job position had opened up. Which would now enable the jobless people to be able to get jobs.
Damon had been thinking for a while about managing a territory which he actually had no idea how to do until he got an idea, why not run the territory the same way you run a company. He had capital and he also had land to be developed and now the poor jobless citizens will be the workforce necessary for the development of the territory.
This seemed like the only rational approach to an alien situation.
So that is what Damon did, within the course of months he had overhauled every aspect of the region. Now he had separated everything down to departments like the department of works who were responsible for building now headed by Lord Barthos who was the former Lord of building. Now he was regarded as the director of works.
The department of finance was headed by Lord Teruss , the department of mining was headed by Alaric and then the department of agriculture.
Damon had already assigned people to start breeding animals especially cattle. He didn't actually know anything about farming so he listened to the experts who had already been involved in the practice for years .
All that was left was the creation of an army because soon enough fifteen knights would be unable to defend the region.