62 Expansion

Charlie's next shipment brought in no less than four tons of cheese as per Tim's earlier visionary request. With such resources made available, Tim suddenly became the most powerful figure in Frontier Town.

In a matter of hours, twenty squads of Lynxmice were dispatched from Miik's Clan and three other friendly clans, loaded on board Charlie's airship bound for Fal'Herim. No less than forty squads were dispatched to help the miners at Kara-Goth. They were better diggers than the workers of High Rock and Desert Moon clans; pretty soon Remian had his workers shift over to clearing the rubble of Frontier Town. Tim set twenty more squads of Lynxmice to help the workers with the rubble.

Remian had never seen so many Lynxmice in his life. They were everywhere, digging, salvaging, sorting, chomping up whatever they found that could (in their estimation) be eaten (even stuff everyone else honestly thought was inedible). Everywhere he went, whether it was the town ruins, the western settlement, the Guild base, or the mines, Lynxmice were scurrying around busy or at least acting busy in order to earn their little bits of cheese…

Not to be outdone, the Wolfcats sprang into action. At first they competed to dig out the mines, but then Tim noticed that the Lynxmice were scared into inaction and so asked Remian to call them off. He set them on hunting lower Tier Wilds around the town area…

Six hours later, the Blood Rabbits were hunted practically to extinction and the entire area from the town to the mines of Kara-Goth were cleared. Considering that George just put in a huge order for cattle and dairy farming equipment with Charlie, Remian set the wolfcats and the Desert Moon clan to expanding the farm next.

The Desert Moon Clan was amazingly enthusiastic about preparing farmland. A good many of them spent their first five minutes just running their hands in the fertile dark soil, relishing the farmland…

But once they got to work, between their enthusiasm and the wolfcats, the land clearing proceeded at at breakneck pace. Remian left them to it for a day and when he went to check on them the next morning, he found the farm had outstripped the town for size. The Desert Moon Clan and the wolfcats had completely cleared all the Blood Rabbit territory and all the Wilds nearby for good measure. They had set up stockades, leveled hills, dug up stumps, crushed and removed rocks…

"Fifty acres." George reported. "The farm has grown to fifty acres, and about half of it is meant for cattle grazing. The actual crop fields would be over there, the scroll materials over that side with the jellyfish lake, and I think we better set up a bigger farmhouse over here, something that can house the equipment and the workers."

"Workers? Where are you getting workers from?" Remian asked.

George stared at him blankly. "Aren't these the workers you sent to farm here?" he pointed to the Desert Moon Clan.

"Farm? I only sent them to clear the land…" Remian suddenly realized why the workers had been so enthusiastic. "Uhoh."

"So… are you going to tell them it was all a misunderstanding? Because I really can't manage this much farmland by myself."

"Uh… no. On second thoughts… perhaps we should just let them farm." Remian scratched his head. "If you think they're capable."

"Capable? Didn't you know? The Desert Moon Clan is famous for being able to make crops grow even in harsh desert conditions. With arable land like this… it's paradise for them." George informed him. "The day I heard you hired them, I thought that sending them to farm was your original intention."

"Uh… no. But I have to say, I like the idea." Remian admitted. "Can you manage their salaries from now on?"

"With what? You do remember that I've just invested as much as I could in the dairy farm. Nobody told me I had to take care of workers so soon."

"That's on me." Remian admitted. "Fine. I'll keep paying their salaries. But in return…"

"Fifty percent share in the farms net profits." George offered. "At least, until I can afford to buy you out."

"Do you think the farm would be that profitable?" Remian asked.

"Not right now. But beef sells well, I'm told."

"Not when compared to Wild meats." Remian pointed out.

"Uh…" George thought for a bit. "Cripes. Farming really isn't that profitable, is it?"

"Not like this, no."

"Can you tell me how to make it more profitable?"

"I could, but I'd rather you figure that out yourself. I expect a clear and detailed answer in one week."

***

But long before George could figure out how to make his farm more profitable, Tim already figured out a way to make scouting the Wildlands cheaper.

The very next day, offering promises of roasted meat, Tim managed to hire wolfcats from nearby clans (not Carrie's – those were still working on the farm and guarding the cave). Remian needed only pass the message on to Carrie before Joshu, Xia, Candice and Denise had a pair of wolfcat companions each to carry gear and guard their backs. Then prospectors were assigned to each of the scouts, and an additional couple of extra hands from the High Rock clan. Thus teamed up, each of the four scouts led a team to map out the available resources and valuables in Shadowflash Fief.

"Why didn't you send the Lynxmice?" Remian asked Tim.

"Because the information they could bring back would be sketchy, at best." Tim explained. "They would be very clear on the Wilds around, and how strong they are, but suffice to say they wouldn't recognize the value of a gold mine if they saw one."

"But you're fine sending them to Fal'Herim without you?"

"They're just laying groundwork." Tim explained. "Later on, I'll have to teach them how to use the recording crystals I ordered from Charlie."

"Recording crystals?!" Remian stared. Goodness, this espionage department was getting serious.

At the same time, Charlie's most recent airship trip had been chock full of family members from both the Desert Moon and High Rock clans. Seeing the inflood of children running about, Remian thoughtfully opened up Adventurers Guild recruitment.

Forty people signed up the very first day. The children of the workers in the settlement seemed almost desperate to find a way to earn some sort of usable currency to purchase food and tools. News of being able to learn how to use magic scrolls and use points to buy them spread like wildfire. Forty more signed up the day after, even the elders had decided to take part once they found out there was no age limit. The bulk of the elderly and children Charlie brought over on this most recent trip had all jumped in on the opportunity, and the rest seemed likely to join up soon. Overwhelmed with the number of eager students, Remian could only turn to Kairos for help.

Discovering that he was given an opportunity to teach the young, Kairos pulled in the entire priesthood. They would teach more than just Inscription; they would have to teach language also, and all they asked in return for their services was that the language classes used some church lore. Also, that the children be permitted to attend church on Sunday if they so wished.

Remian wasn't going to try to control a horde of unfamiliar children and tell them what they could or couldn't do on Sundays. So long as they didn't cause trouble (like provoke Spike into attacking the town), whatever they did in their free time had nothing to do with him.

That very night, twenty Light scrolls were bought with points from the Adventurers Guild and orbs of light went flying up and around the workers' settlement like fireworks…

Markus had twenty new students joining the Legion training the day after, all teenage boys. They were there not as recruits, but as Adventurers, in a similar vein as Tim and George. The deal was, they learned to fight and use weapons, and when the town was threatened, they would take up arms and fight alongside the Legion. Since the town now consisted mainly of their own families, the new Adventurers readily agreed.

Andros' smithing classes started two days later. He had to limit his classes to ten students; he only had four smiths with him, and they were going to be busy with actual forge-work and so could not spare that much time in training others. Still, the clans nearly fought over the ten spots, retaining peace only by insisting on five slots each.

Candice and Denise quit scouting the day after that and a new archery training course began. Markus sent out a pair of Legionnaires to take their place in scouting, then another five more with matching squads mere hours later. The archery (and crossbow) class pretty much swallowed up everyone else Charlie brought in the airship this time around. At this point almost everybody in the two clans were either hired as Remian's workers, recruited into the Adventurers Guild, or training with the Legion, the shooters, or the smiths. The exceptions were the eldest, the nursing mothers and the toddlers in the clans.

Remian had to say the clansfolk deeply impressed him. "They're… really industrious…"

"The lazy ones wouldn't be here. I'm guessing those are the clansfolks who stayed behind." Markus commented. "Just how much more of their clans are back at Fal'Herim?"

"About a quarter, I think?" Remian guessed. "We could clear them all by the next shipment."

"I don't think so." Markus shook his head. "We ordered a lot of gear this time around. Also, I think Charlie's supposed to be bringing a number of cows."

"Cows." Remian stretched. "It feels good to be expecting peaceful animals arriving next weekend instead of another Beast Wave."

"You think the Beast Waves have ended?" Markus glanced at him sideways.

"You think they won't? The Secret Waves are gone. There's nobody here left to set up those Beast Wave-caller crystals. Why would another Beast Wave attack?" Remian asked.

"You're forgetting that the Secret Waves had someone behind them." Markus said in a low voice, careful not to let anyone else hear. "We had best keep our guard up."

"Agreed." Remian said at last. "There's no telling whether or not we'll get another Beast Wave this weekend."

"I'm betting we will." Markus said grimly. "And I fear this one's not going to be easy."