Reincarnate as Prince: Change Magical World with Industry

36 Plans within Plans

It turned out that the first night in their new territory would just be as stressful as the previous days.

It was by all considerations a peaceful and quiet night, with all the stars sprawling across the sky like diamonds in a vast ocean of darkness. The camp was formed haphazardly, just enough to last them the night. It was built in the same formation that they had when they encountered the storm just a few days ago. The wagons were huddled in a tight circle, draped with several lines of rope and roofed with as many blankets of cloth as they can cover. There were hammocks and bedrolls all over the place along with an assortment of campfires, pots, and pans splayed all over.

The livestock also had to be close by, as they couldn't risk them being taken by the wild animals lurking in the woods.

Indeed an hour wouldn't pass by where you couldn't hear the sound of a howl reverberating across the land. It could be anything, wolf or bear or feline -- they all blended together and was indistinguishable after the while. It made the back of Janus' neck crawl. It alarmed the farm animals too.

It must have been past midnight when everyone was asleep, save for the guards who were on patrol in the outer borders of the camp. Janus could see their lamps hanging on branches and on top of crates and barrels serving as temporary tables and chairs. Before camp was established, everyone was tasked to chop off sticks of wood and sharpened the tips. They dug holes and placed these stakes around the perimeter as a defensive measure for anything that dared to come near.

Despite his exhaustion and the toll that the journey had taken on his mind, Janus couldn't sleep a blink tonight. Like the guards, he had set up a table from various crates and was sitting on a barrel with a lamp and several rolls of parchment and books in front of him. He tried to lie down an hour ago but he couldn't get himself to do it. Autumn was chasing down on them hard and the threat of winter loomed in his head.

The slip-ups on the journey had hit them hard. Some of the workers were getting wary, and for good reason. He could even see it in Yvaine's eyes, much as she would like to hide it. He had to do his best to regain their confidence.

So Janus opened up the library, and laid out his plans for the infrastructure and the future of this colony.

 The top priority and first phase for his plan were to simply survive. That meant taking care of the basic needs of his people.

First, he painstakingly listed out which type of foods to make a stockpile for the winter. They cannot rely on agriculture for this one as they are currently at the tail end of the season, so they will be relying on hunting and fishing along with cooking and preparation techniques to preserve their food.

They will be making jerky from their hunted game, making smoked and salted fish for anything they can find in the rivers and streams, along with canning and drying whatever edible fruits they can find in the vicinity.

Stacks of papers piled on in front of him as time went on. He had copied blueprints of hunting tools and implements. There were also schematics for fishing and crab traps that would need less manual labor, along with field guides that gatherers could use to see which type of food was edible.

Second priority was for shelter. This was a tricky one, since they would be mostly using materials that they could gather along the area. The wood, metal and stone they carried with them from the wagons was hardly enough for everyone. On top of that they had to dismantle some of the wagons for their precious wood.

So he researched carpentry techniques that didn't need nails from ancient eastern civilizations as well as elven texts on using every part of the tree. From root to leaves to wood, every part would be used as either medicine, food products or thatching. Log cabins would be their best bet for this winter, and they would be forced to make large dormitories, sharing bed spaces until the season was done.

Another stack of papers stacked in front of him as he reviewed this list.

The next agenda in his list included plans for clothing, which involved processing the skins from all the animals they would catch. Rabbit, bison, deer or elk.

He also had plans for water purification stations for winter. It was something he copied from another book. It resembled something that looked like an alchemic contraption to the layman's eyes, where you would put snow in a spout and it would collect drinkable water on the other end through tubes and barrels. The mechanism ran with a constant supply of firewood in its base, something that wouldn't be much of a problem for Adduk.

And then there was the matter of health care and what to do if someone were to sustain an injury. Janus had brought with him poultices and salves as well as basic remedies but he had scrolls of recipes for other sicknesses and ailments as well.

Last but not least was the matter of law enforcement. He had planned for Captain Caleb to be the sheriff of the whole settlement, with the whole guard force working under him. But he had to consult Sir Arthan regarding that matter.

This added another stack of papers in front of him.

At this time the table was full, so Janus had to take a few more crates that were unused to extend his makeshift table.

He scooted and slithered across a camp of bedrolls and animals, of foodstuffs and chopped logs and found his way back in his table with a newfound sense of joy as he found a few more crates that was just the right size. It was difficult work, but he was finding it quite fun.

Lamps flickered in the darkness from where the guards were stationed, bobbing glimmers of light across shades of the pitch-black night. He could hear the sound of crickets and owls hooting across the distance. He took a mental image of the scene, then went back to his papers.

Janus had already prepared everything before they even departed, but he had to make sure that the data in his parchments were accurate. He crossed-referenced them again with the books that he had procured from the Library. He cannot afford another mishap as the one he had previously done.

They were in the middle of nowhere. The last thing he wanted was a mutiny or a civil war amongst his men.

Janus shuddered at the thought, but came straight back on his work to escape such musings.

The last thing that he had to check was the assignments. Before leaving Galedon, he ordered a census of every able-bodied person in his group and assigned each one to the tasks that he prepared.

He had a list assigned for each discipline. Man, woman or goblin-folk alike.

A population of three-hundred and fifty-two were distributed into tasks, and tasks were then assigned into small bands. Hunting, Gathering, Food production, Building, with each role having an ancillary task.

Hunters were to be assigned with scouting the area for other possible settlement spots or areas of interest.

Gatherers can move into food production or leather working when they returned to camp.

Builders were separated into settlement building or tool building.

Even guards had to put in work once in a while to either building or scouting during their spare time. Woodcutting could be suitable for them.

The children weren't spared as well. They had their tasks to attend to, mainly to assist their parents on their work. Although these should only be minor tasks within the premises.

Janus was amused at his roll of parchment that had all the assignments. It was almost as long as the table itself, and without the extensions he erected it would have fallen to the ground.

Looking at it closely, it resembled an excel sheet. He laughed despite of himself.

He looked around at the sprawled bodies around him. Any newcomer at the scene would think if this group as from a war, a war that somehow involved goblins working in harmony with humans.

He was proud at his group, they were once slaves or was treated as one by a system that looked at them as a resource. Janus often questioned if he was doing the same thing to them. He admitted that there was some truth to that.

Except for one thing.

He was also a resource to them, and the evidence of that is the wealth of information stacked in front of him now. He re-checked them again and collected them into storage barrels to distribute them the next morning.

Before he could even finish sorting his papers, Janus' head fell on the table and was lulled into a deep sleep by a hopeful sensation that everything would turn out well.