391 Reasons for cooperation

As if a comet struck the world and upset the balance of all things, my worldview almost shattered the moment this woman was ready to give up her advantage that served as the backbone of her economical situation for only God knows how long. Did I judge her too harshly?

"But  I want something in return!"

Uff… The world wouldn't end yet! 

At least, someone who had to live by keeping the knowledge all for herself, she didn't just give up her advantage willy-nilly! While some might consider this a bad and unsocial attitude, since her lack of full cooperation could render my plans a bit more cost-effective than I hoped them to be, at least it meant that she was smart enough to secure her own interests! I would rather let her use this leverage to gain something rather than to worry endlessly what her true am was!

"What an insole…"

"Silence!"

Before the princess managed to smash a wrench between the gears of potentially successful cooperation, I had to stop her with a sharp order. I didn't care if this would leave a mark on her image with how I didn't follow up with her prideful stance but instead chosen to reason with someone supposedly powerless against my strength, gaining the trust of a capable craftsman was insanely more important than pleasing some ambitious chick!

"What is it that thou desire?"

Letting my inner poet out, I asked the important question after silencing the princess. If my guess was right, she should ask for some kind of leverage in place for the one this craftswoman was about to give up.

"I want to keep my position as a craftsman in the place you will be taking us to. I'm too old to move, so I can't thank you enough, hero, for your help. But no matter what, my age won't let me learn any other craft and I don't want to spend the rest of my days being useless!"

So that was her drive! With how primitive the society here was, being the only one capable of making proper stone tools had to provide her with some kind of work that allowed this old woman to keep her thoughts and hands busy alike. Since I was going to take away the only advantage she has when it came to receiving orders from the villagers, I had to compensate her with something else!

"You don't need to worry about it! While we are really on the clock now and every minute matters, I can't really get to explaining the complicated concept behind what I can offer you to do, but you can trust my word, that your input won't be forgotten, but will be rewarded handsomely in due time!"

In fact, I was simply bullshiting my way out. With how primitive their society was, no matter what kind of crafting job I could offer her, even if I forcefully taught half of the entire population of my small world, there still wouldn't be enough work to complete it at a speed that could be satisfactory for me!

Letting my thoughts run free just like that, ended up with me smiling creepily and uttering this small thought of mine that should remain in the confines of my mind. By the time I realised I actually said those words aloud, there was nothing I could do to take them!

But contrary to the instant worries that sprung up in my mind, the elder woman actually smiled with content, before bowing deeply.

"It will be an honour for me to work for you, hero!"

After saying those words, she straightened her back and returned to the rest of the crowd, that was still processing the meaning behind my previous statement. Just by comparing their ability to understand greater picture portrayed by my words and how energetic this elderly woman became just at the notion of her life turning hella busy from now on, I could tell how important and usefull she would become later on! If I could use some sort of technique to prolong her life and make sure she would stay in this society for a long time, I could find the best seed for an actual middle class of my future society!

Pushing those thoughts to the back of my head, I confirmed that the craftsmen gathered in a small circle and were listening to the woman recounting the knowledge necessary to make the heads of the stone axe while approaching the line of the threes myself. If I were to leave the locals to do all the work themselves, what kind of hero I would turn out to be?

While there was a need to preserve my strength before the fight with the Overlord, his lackeys and allies from the neighbouring tribe, moving everyone away from the island had to be as swift as possible! Worst case scenario, I could always use the energy of my core to replenish my reserves before setting out back to this island for a war!

"Why did you let her dictate the terms? You are a hero of our people, she should fall down to her knees and praise her luck for being usefull for you!"

Ah, it seems I couldn't disregard this attentive little chick. While I had to commend her for her efforts in organising this mass of people into a more or less efficient organism, her ability to govern people… was lacking at most!

"Listen, it's not like I couldn't get everything that I want without her help. Crafting axes? Stonework? I could do it myself in just a few minutes. But it's not about being absolutely efficient here."

Just like I said, if there would be any problem during our earlier negotiations, I could always pick up one of the logs and cut it into pieces with a strand fo my entropy, before getting into a bit of detail and carving an entire set of sharp, wooden axes from a single log, in a matter of seconds. But for what reason?

Even though stone tools were primitive and as far from efficient as one's tool could be, they were still several classes apart from what I could do without showcasing my actual crafting skills. Using entropy was acceptable because of the same principle as the barrier while abandoning it in fear of surveillance, would only be a hint to those who would want to observe me, that I was actually trying to hide it. 

On the other hand, doing all the work myself would tire me to no end, pushing back the battle even further into the future, and forcing Bonger to cope with his burden for longer than necessary. That's why using what I already had on hand to secure the tools that I wanted was far more profitable than just disregarding this old woman and her wish!