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 Beast Waves causing havoc. We need to stop the Beast Waves, but also, we'll need to develop natural resources. Mining, hunting, fishing… there are rare creatures and minerals to be found out here. What does the Frontier have that people would want to buy? We need to find those things and develop our economy around them."

"Airships!" Mindy yelled from across the Guild Hall, just so they'd know that she, too, had a vested interest in the matter.

"Joshu? We need a map of the natural resources in the area!" Remian called.

There wasn't one. There were five different maps of their area showing different kinds of natural resources, one showing woods and plant-types, one showing ores and minerals, another one showing rare animals and so forth, but no single map showing them all. At least not for Shadowflash's territory.

But Shadowflash's territory was as far as Remian dared to look. There was still some form of protection from his benevolence, although Shadowflash himself appeared to be missing, maybe even dead. Still, until or unless a new Lord of the Wilds claimed this territory, it was clearly a lot safer than the rest of the Wildlands.

"How long will it take to extend the Road from Fal'Herim to here, given the manpower and resources we currently have?" Remian dared ask.

"No more than ten years!" Markus said confidently.

Andros choked. Arnold patted him on the back. "There, there."

"Airships!" Mindy's voice floated over again, not quite accidentally.

"But it won't be ten years." Markus assured them. "As long as more and more Legionnaires arrive, that time will shorten by the week. So long as we don't lose any, we could have a hundred Legionnaires in nine weeks, and five times that in a year. That would definitely speed up progress. Depending on the conditions in the desert, with the help of the Desert Moon and High Rock clans, we could very well finish in that one year."

"Or there could be freak sand storms and disasters all year around and we'd never make any progress." The leader of the Desert Moon clansmen said gloomily.

"That, too." Markus admitted. "Can't argue with the desert."

"Aye." Both the Desert Moon leader and the High Rock leader agreed solemnly.

"Other than manpower… Arnold is right. We need materials, processed materials. If we can't get them here in Frontier Town, we would have to import everything. Considering my weekly budget, that's going to take an extremely long time for otherwise common goods."

"Airships!" Mindy's voice floated over again.

"So, basically, the road is a long-term project, not a quick solution." Remian cleared his throat. "In order to build it, we would need a great deal more manpower and industry, both of which would need to be secured from Beast Waves. Am I right?"

Markus and the clan chiefs nodded.

"Defense is still our top priority. So far, the most effective weapons we've had against the Beast Wave have been the Ballistae. Can we build something even bigger and stronger?"

"Given the parts I've salvaged, and some help, I think I could have something twice as big and strong by next Wave." Arnold said, with a grunt. "But again, we'll need to import some expensive parts and supplies. Also I'll need skilled hands to help me out, bears and wolves won't cut it."

"Twice the size?" Remian shook his head. "Facing a Tier 5 Wild, I think we need something ten times bigger!"

Arnold choked.

"There, there." Markus patted him on the back.

"But… parts… materials…" Arnold spluttered.

"We'll have to see what we can get." Remian frowned.

"Airships!" Mindy's voice haunted them.

"This is all going to take a lot of work. Just my boys and I won't be enough to keep up. We will need more people, and yes, equipment and quality construction materials. All this means money. A lot of money, and a lot of time." Andros grunted. "Of course, we expect to be paid for all our efforts. We are here for our lives to be free, not our work."

"That, and you also want something worth spending your pay on." Remian remembered.

"Of course. But before we even talk about that, we need to discuss how the quality of your needs and demands have skyrocketed, so how we put together a runic forge, a precision workshop and a mass production factory?"

"Just how much money would those facilities cost, roughly?" Markus asked.

"If we have to rush and import the equipment, maybe… twenty million Lir?"

Remian choked.

The Desert Moon chief patted him on the back. "There, there."

"It would be cheaper if we bought some stuff elsewhere and brought them back ourselves." Andros mentioned. "But my boys and I are safer staying far away from large cities. Incidentally, large cities are exactly where we can buy the equipment we need."

"What about Arnold? You have some protection being in the Iron Legion, right? You're not going to get arrested outright if you went shopping in Fal'Herim or somewhere."

"True, but I'd like Markus or some other officer to come with me, just in case." Arnold said. "Some of the trainees for protection and to do the heavy lifting would be nice too. Maybe… ten of them, for two or three weeks?"

Markus choked.

Remian patted him on the back. "There, there."

"We… only... HAVE… ten…"

"But you'll get more next week." Arnold pointed out. "Assuming Deutero assigns us another airship."

Markus barked. "We can't have them gallivanting off on a shopping trip when they come here for training! They need to TRAIN! Just carrying your stuff around a city simply won't do! They need to be in an environment of constant danger, where they have to trust each other for their backs…"

"If all you need are guards and haulers, my clan has those." High Rock chief mentioned.

"Ah, but sand people mercenaries won't keep bounty hunters from trying to take my head. I need Iron Legion officers for that."

"Fine! I'll come with you myself! But the trainees stay!" Markus growled. "We shouldn't take too long on that trip either. We should get there and back as fast as we can."

"Airships!" Mindy half-sang as she walked past them for no apparent reason.

"We'll need to clear a lot of land." Remian said then, studying the map. "In order to pay for everything we want, we're going to need to exploit natural resources in a hurry. Everything nearby has already been depleted and then some. We need to make a mining expedition to these two spots half a day to the south."

"Is there anything dangerous there?" the clan chiefs looked over the spot.

"Mainly Tier 3 Wilds. Hundreds of them, everywhere."

The High Rock chief choked.

"There, there." Markus patted him on the back. "I'll bring the trainees out on that trip."

"It won't be as dangerous as a Beast Wave." Remian comforted him. "We have Tier 3 and Tier 4 Wilds right here with us, and they're actually our friends. The Beast Waves come from a territory several days to the south; the nearby Wilds aren't so hostile. If our wolfcats accompany us, the locals may very well just leave us alone."

"Ah." The High Rock chief subsided.

"There's something else we can export, something closer by, but perhaps not so easily picked up." Remian observed.

"Which is?" Markus glanced over the map.

Remian pointed to the river. "Water."

The Desert Moon chief choked.

"There, there." The High Rock chief patted him on the back.

"I like water and Fal'Herim would surely buy any, but we would need to send back a lot, or we would consume more on the way than we actually sell." The Desert Moon chief managed at last. "You're not planning to have us cart barrels across a road-less desert, are you?"

"Airships…" Mindy sighed, passing by coincidentally again.

Remian cleared his throat. "Mindy!"

Mindy half-jumped in fright. "Y-yes?"

"Sit down. We need to talk." Remian said grimly.

Mindy saw the dark look on his face and shivered. "Uh… what about?"

Remian's mouth twisted as he told her in all seriousness. "Airships."