Chapter 25
After riding long hours day and night, Kant was dead tired when he returned to the Oasis Lookout.
He needed some good sleep. He was not able to truly think about what to do next without regaining his mental and physical strength. His next decisions included constructing the five Swadian standard houses rewarded by the system. It was something that involved city planning, which meant he needed to carefully consider the matter.
The Oasis Lookout was not a large oasis with huge tracts of land.
He speculated that the area of the entire oasis was actually puny. It was likely less than 1000 square feet.
There was also a pond with fresh spring water that measured approximately 82 x 20 feet.
The Swadian houses, which were to be constructed from stone and wooden materials, need at least 1,600 square feet each. If he were to build all five buildings without proper planning, it meant that he could easily fill the entire southern side of the Oasis Lookout with them.
There was no way Kant wanted that to happen.
It was imperative that he properly planned the layout of the buildings.
Kant did not sleep for long.
He slowly opened his eyes.
Kant looked at the window. He saw bright sunlight shining through.
He rubbed his face and freshened himself up. He put on his clothes and went downstairs. Several Swadian Recruits emerged from the storage room. When they saw him descending the stairs, all of them bowed respectfully to him.
“Good day, My Lord.”
“Right, good day.” Kant nodded.
He glanced at the cabbage and dried meat in their hands. It looked as if they were getting food prepared.
The words from one of them proved his deduction. “My Lord, it will soon be noon, so we’re preparing lunch.”
“It’s noon already, eh?”
Kant rubbed his eyebrow and waved at the hardworking and humble recruits. “Carry on.”
The recruits nodded respectfully and replied, “Yes, My Lord.” They headed to the kitchen with the lunch ingredients in their hands.
Social castes were clearly divided in the Kingdom of Swadia.
The scorching sun hit Kant as soon as he walked out of the Council Hall. The entire place was steeped in unbearable, scorching heat.
“My Lord.”
The Swadian Militia guarding the door bowed respectfully as he addressed Kant.
The builders, who were all wearing long robes and hoods, were carefully transporting construction materials. They even placed handkerchiefs on top of the surfaces they were hitting with a hammer. They were afraid of disturbing the quiet and peaceful Council Hall next to the construction site.
Kant turned around and looked at their progress.
The shape of the watchtower was now taking shape.
Piled stone formed the base and platform. Strong wooden materials were used to build the tower’s walls and ladders. While the watchtower was nowhere near being finished, the silhouette was still visible. The construction workers estimated that the tower would be finished within seven days. There seemed to be no problems in meeting that deadline.
“You’re back, My Lord.”
The building foreman of the builders quickly came over to Kant. His honest-looking face was adorned with a beaming smile.
“Yeah.” Kant simply nodded at the seemingly honest yet actually cunning face of the foreman. He looked very much like a Swadian merchant. He plainly said, “Keep the pace as it is. It’s best if you guys can finish by the deadline. It is imperative that you do so.”
“Rest assured, My Lord. It will definitely be finished as planned.” The foreman flashed a beaming smile.
Kant nodded. “That is good to hear.”
“I’ll head over to hurry them up.”
The foreman was able to tell that Kant could easily see through him.
He wanted to suck up to the lord of the land but had failed. He still feared Lord Kant. He quickly scurried away after saying a few words. He didn’t dare stay around Kant any longer.
What a sly merchant.
Kant shook his head lightly as he looked at the back of that foreman.
It seemed that all characters materialized by the system had their own personalities and will instead of deadpan-looking NPC programs.
However, it was due to those personalities that emotions and behaviors, such as flattery, comparing oneself to others of a higher status, jealousy, and even bullying the weak yet fearing the strong, as well as being brutal and ill-disposed, were included. While none of those had fully been shown in front of Kant, the roots of such things were still clearly there.
He wondered if that was a good or bad thing.
Then again, as long as they remained loyal to Kant, he had no intention of interfering too much.
At the moment, the most important thing was to have all five Swadian standard houses constructed.
Kant walked around the southern side of the pond.
He had not walked for long before turning around.
This place is too small.
He frowned slightly and quietly sighed.
The Oasis Lookout was too small. It was so small that even his current plan required extreme caution.
He needed to consider the future.
He thought for a short while.
Kant’s eyes focused on the sand beyond the oasis. A thought came to mind. He connected to the system in his mind, asking in silence, “System, could I construct my buildings on the sand?”
He had no doubt made an empiricist error.
Due to help from the system, Kant’s buildings would have been just as sturdy even if he built them on the sand.
The system replied quickly, “It is permissible.”
Kant smiled.
It was something could be done after all.
Kant walked a straight line toward the south for 32 feet. He passed the Council Hall, Watchtower, and the Desert Bandit Lair.
By the time he stopped walking, it was only sand beneath his feet
“Alright.” Kant subtly nodded. “This should be the spot.”
As he confirmed it with the system, the five standard Swadian houses immediately materialized into the world. Huge streams of data began to coil and wrap around each other. It took mere seconds for the buildings to fully materialize.
The foundations and walls, which were about 11 inches thick, were constructed neatly using stone. It gave them a sense of sturdiness and heft.
The buildings also looked safe.
The top of each building was slanted. The roofs were constructed using uniformly dried wooden materials to prevent overflow from rainwater. A layer of tiles was piled on top of the roof. Then again, they were in the desert, so there was no need to worry about rain.
There was no rain to be found in the desert.
It was not something he needed to worry about.
The five houses were lined against one another, forming a straight row.
The houses were situated in the south and faced north. The doors opened toward the pond, which was located across from the Council Hall and Desert Bandit Lair.
The 32 feet that Kant had walked became the street.
There were no cracks between the houses. The walls were built against one another, making it seem as if all five of them were a single building. If a ladder were placed against the wall leading to the roof, one could have easily walked through all five houses.
It was constructed in that manner for safety reasons.
Kant had thought it all out.
If a massive amount of enemies approached, the forces garrisoning the buildings were now easily able to make it outside to the 32-foot street. It enabled them to use the buildings on both sides to form formations and securely guard the street.
His forces had the ability to block off both ends of the street.
A small force of Swadian infantry units, armed with polearms, was enough to defend the place steadily and efficiently.
As for the others, they had the option to stand on top of the roofs and use the 9-foot-tall wall to serve as vantage points. That enabled them to accurately aim and shoot at enemies coming in from both sides and support the comrades painstakingly blocking off both ends of the street.
Even if the enemy was able to get up to the roofs to fight them up close and personal, the Swadian forces had the terrain advantage, which further enabled their ability to easily repel the enemy.
The layout formed the early structure of a fortress.
In truth, that was how Kant thought things out.
The threat posed by the Jackalans was huge and nearby. It was possible for them to easily overwhelm the Oasis Lookout.
Peaceful development was a luxury that Drondheim was unable to afford.
Kant needed to build his village like a fortress, but he also needed to do more. The ultimate goal he had for Drondheim was for it to attain the castles available in the system. They were tall, sturdy constructs capable of making one side of the place utterly impregnable.
They were at the southernmost part of the Nahrin Desert, which was the location of the only oasis with a water source.
It was to become a main transport hub.
Be it to venture deep into the Nahrin Desert from the Senwaya Range or to cross into the range from the desert and enter human civilization, that small oasis was destined to become a place travelers had to pass through.
Kant’s Drondheim was expected to serve as the heart of the desert.
At present, Kant also had to deal with the most direct threat to his place—the Jackalans.
With those simple defenses put in place, it enabled him to rely only on 30 Swadian Recruits and 35 Swadian Militia to resist a nightly ambush from over 500 Jackalans.
As long as the Jackalans did not bring anything out of the ordinary, they would have the capacity to resist those attacks.
I’ll at least have the capacity to defend myself.
Kant nodded to himself.
While the threat from the Jackalan Tribe was still out there, Kant’s development was carried out quickly.
Things were changing.
At that moment, a dialog box instantly appeared on Kant’s retina.
[Ding… Refugees of Swadia incident triggered]
[A group of Swadians, who were robbed of their homes due to war, are coming. They see the empty houses in your village. It makes these people, who have suffered from drifting about, see hope. They request to join your village.]
[Swadians x 50. Do you accept?]