“There’s an airship coming.”
“Really? Where?”
“There!”
Remian overheard the conversation while he was tending to Mandy the next morning. He glanced at where a raised finger pointed; there was indeed, a little blimp in the distance that looked very much like an airship.
“Could it be?” Remian perked up.
He glanced around; they were in the Guild Hall along with half the injured; the other half had had to be placed in medical tents in between the Guild Hall and the workers’ quarters along with other temporary shelters set up for the survivors of Frontier Town.
To put it simply, they were in bad shape. There wasn’t enough medicine, clothing, or proper shelter. They had plenty of beast meat, so food was no concern, and they had water to spare, but there were many injured who needed better treatment or suffer permanent disabilities.
They needed medicine and bandages. Actually, just clean fabrics would help a lot. Better yet; the injur
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Kingdom of the Weak 49. Choked
“The road.” Markus said the first word. “We need to build the town around the road. If we have a road, supplies, reinforcements, trade and even new colonists will get here more easily and more cheaply.” “We need to develop industry.” Arnold glanced at the Andros. “Weapons and armor aside, tool-making is the heart of any development. Without a strong industry supporting it, the kind of defenses you want will be difficult, expensive and slow to prepare.” “We need to develop commerce.” Andros shook his head. “People won’t work for free, especially not my crew. You’re going to have to pay us properly, and whatever we earn had better be worth our time and effort! The other side of that is that there’s nothing left in town to spend on. Shops, entertainment, good food… we need lots of businesses.” Remian cleared his throat. “We’ll need something to draw those businesses here. Fresh air and clean water won’t be enough to draw people and businesses to the Frontier, especially not with the Be
Kingdom of the Weak 50. Airships
Airships were generally one of five different types. The first time was the no-drive airship; basically just balloons and baskets (or whatever carriage vessel you prefer), they were held up by lighter-than-air gasses, and had no propulsion system of their own. These kinds were usually stationary or towed around by other vehicles or creatures. Even the Storm Cloud Chariot was classified as a no-drive airship. The second kind were the fan/propeller drive airships. These used some sort of turbine propulsion, whether horizontal or vertical. Even turbofan jet engines were classified as fan drives. The third kind were rocket drive airships. Rather than relying on airflow, these relied on the explosive power of combustion to move the airships around. The fourth kind were magic drive airships. These were especially popular because they were generally cheaper to maintain and operate, especially if you yourself were capable of wind magic. While most of the ships had hu
Kingdom of the Weak 51. Espionage
The first Lynx Mice reports started trickling in that evening. Remian summarized it in his head, then glumly sat down at the far corner of the Guild Hall mumbling to himself for ten minutes straight. Mindy, George and Tim tried to give him privacy and space to think at first, but after a bit, Mindy’s concern and curiosity got the better of her and she went over to ask, “What happened?” “It’s like this.” Remian squared off and spoke to her frankly. “The Lynxmice have thoroughly covered the entire East Side and divided it into four regions. The first region is the safest, where they need only worry about cats. There’s not much there, they say, just a lot of flour and old rations.” “Uhuh.” Mindy nodded, still a bit blur. “The second region is a little farther in to the East Side. There, they say that the humans drink more burning water than eat. There are a lot of humans in that area, and they like to chase Lynxmice around for no reason, or sometimes try
Kingdom of the Weak 52. The Roving Albatross
Meanwhile, Charlie brought Mandy and the kids home. After the relief airships dropped them and the casualties of Remian’s crew off at Fal’Herim, Charlie brought these few farther north, across the Midlands Sea, past the peninsula where the Iron Legion first rose up, to a particular city in the southern regions of Ashdale Kingdom. With the help of Deutero services, they were bundled into carriages and delivered safely to his family’s front door. “Charlie… this is the fifth girl you’ve brought home, but I’ve never seen one so badly beaten up before…” his mom noted as the servants wheeled Mandy in. “What did you do to her?” “It wasn’t me!” Charlie protested. “The town was attacked by Wilds. These are just some of the survivors.” Charlie’s family lived in a hilltop villa. Among their neighbors, theirs was the very highest on the hill. It wasn’t overly large, or anything; it was simply where Charlie, his parents, siblings, grandfather, and his brother’s wi
Kingdom of the Weak 53. The Mines of Kara-Goth
“Heave!” Markus called. “HO!” Ten trainees and forty workers chorused and tugged at several long ropes. With a crashing sound, boulders were dragged away from the mine entrance and two trainees with prospecting experience clambered into the re-opened tunnel. Remian watched them from where he sat atop Carrie. She and the wolfcats were running guard duty around the site of the nearer mine they had targeted earlier. Early scouts had reported that both mines had been sealed up, but could easily be re-opened. One mine was a Fire Copper lode; the other contained small deposits of jade. Both had previously been mined by the Kara-Goth family, who then sealed them up upon leaving the Frontier. They never came back. More than five years (more like fifty!) had passed since they left, thus all claims to these mines had long been forfeited. There were other mines, other claims, all over the Wildlands. Many of those mines had been claimed by different natio
Kingdom of the Weak 54. The Foresight
“For your own safety, nobody is permitted south of the Mines of Kara-Goth!” a poster read in front of the Iron Legion camp. Below it was another poster; “Workers wanted, good pay, food and shelter provided, please contact Quarter-master Max at the Iron Legion camp.” A third poster next to that said, “Defense demonstration; the invincible airship gunboat ‘Foresight’ debuts Starday evening! Wilds cannot bite what they cannot reach!” followed by a few bullet points saying; ‘High-powered XL-ballista’, ‘Ammunition for 100 rounds’, ‘Tier 3-4 Wilds leather envelope’, ‘Ironwood deck’, ‘Frontier Town’s first custom-made ground-support battle airship!’. Remian considered that third poster which also sported a rough sketch of a ballista on it. One hundred rounds of ammunition was a bit of an exaggeration; that much ammo was only possible if they were leaving out all the other shooters and their weapons. If they wanted to put a squad of crossbowmen on the airship along with thei
Kingdom of the Weak 55. First Trade
Charlie brought the Roving Albatross in for a landing at the Frontier Town temporary airport. Ropes were dropped; workers began to tug his airship down from the sky and maneuvered down next to a long platform. Boarding ramps were extended and attached as the ship was tied down. “Nice ship!” Remian complimented, looking over it. Charlie grimaced. “Not as nice as I would have liked, but it’s all ours. You have a 40% share.” Now Remian grimaced. “How much do I owe?” “Eight million.” Charlie didn’t pull any punches. He showed Remian the bill and the loan receipt. “Bank interest rates are 10% per year.” Remian felt the blood drain from his face. 800,000 Lir in interest payments every year…! He suddenly felt like throwing up. “Relax. You’ve already made hundreds of thousands in a couple of weeks. At the rate we’ve been going…” Remian handed him a wooden box. Charlie sneaked a glance inside. “More mana potions? How many of these thing
Kingdom of the Weak 56. Brother from the Sea
They ended up agreeing to bring the families of the workers over as worker perks. They would not be paid, but they could live together. That ‘family’ would extend to the entire clan was an issue everybody was simply going to overlook. This also set a precedent for future workers, but Remian was fine with that. Frontier Town was severely underpopulated at the moment. Before the dust could settle, however, there was yet another surprise on the airship. This was the last passenger who got off the ship, a man dressed like one of the sea-people in a colorful short sleeve shirt sporting pictures of tropical fruit and khaki cargo shorts… “Kekoa! Who has seen Kekoa? Has anyone seen my brother?” the Sea Nation person went around asking everyone, showing them a picture. Remian frowned. He recognized that picture. That was the Sea Nation guy who didn’t quite make it here. “Have you seen Kekoa?!” this new Sea Nation person asked, shoving the picture at hi
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