Age of Empires From Scratch

  Chapter 9 A Visit from Mars

   "Rinwinter Village?" After thinking for a few seconds, David didn't choose to copy it directly, but "changed" it a little bit, so that the meaning changed completely, and it shouldn't be associated with that unlucky family.

   "Winter Village? Sounds good. According to your previous description, the name reflects the characteristics of this place very well." Fording learned from David that this is a very cold area, and winter is especially difficult.

"Since you think it's good, let's call it this name!" David took out the development order that he always carried with him, and wrote the name of the village 'Winter Village' on it: "The big river next to It could be called the Winter River."

   David, who wanted to save trouble, also gave the name of the river next to him. Anyway, according to the kingdom's decree, he has the right to name this river. In the event that two pioneering teams name the same river, it is up to the kingdom to decide which name to use as the official name.

David felt that this situation would not happen this time. The pioneering team that set out in the same batch did not go further north than theirs. A river may be named by another pioneering team.

   Watching David write a few strokes on a scroll and carefully put it away, Fording asked curiously: "Is this a territory recognized by the Kingdom of Tilan?"

   "No." David shook his head, saying that it is not that simple: "To become a formal village, at least there must be a stable residence, fields that can continuously produce food, and a certain number of villagers."

   You also need to take the development order to report to the department that handles such things, and then the relevant department will send officials to conduct on-site inspections. After confirming the situation of the village, various information including the newly drawn map will be compiled into a file for reporting.

  In the end, the village chief will be officially appointed. Only then will he truly open up new land for the kingdom and become an officially recognized "little lord" by the kingdom.

   "So troublesome?" Fording did not expect that the 'appointment' of a village chief would be so cumbersome.

   "Because the situation is special?"

  A person who holds a development order to establish a village cannot be regarded as an ordinary village head, because he has a lot of autonomy and is even qualified to expand and upgrade the village, which is completely different from the village head in the kingdom. If the size of the village can be expanded within the specified number of years and the population reaches a sufficient number, he can be directly promoted to mayor, and this piece of land will also become his territory.

   "So it is."

  Strictly speaking, David can barely be considered a small lord, but it has not yet become a formal one.

   It is with such benefits that David will join the pioneering team. It's just that at the beginning, he didn't expect that he could become the village head. At that time, he wanted to see if he could be a knight, and he could be regarded as out of the common class.

  Now... His thinking has become very simple: since he has taken this position, he should sit more securely, and he has already begun to think about how to make the village develop.

  Currently, his biggest reliance is the golden finger that attracts people from all over the world. As long as he makes good use of it, the current problems will not be difficult to solve.

  For example, if the land is barren and the crops are difficult to survive, he can ask Laura to buy some high-yield crop seeds that are hardy and easy to survive in her world, and he can even ask her to make some fertilizers to improve the land conditions.

  He can also wait until the relationship with Fording is better, and ask Fording to find druids for help and get some special seeds to improve the land conditions.

  Even if these two methods are not feasible, David is not ready to give up this place-can't be a food base, can't you do something else?

  As long as I can maintain the normal use of the golden finger, I will send him a super genius someday. It would be interesting to build an industrial base at that time.

   "I just don't know what minerals are nearby?"

   After thinking wildly for a while, David fell asleep in a daze. When he opened his eyes again, it was already light.

Turning his head and looking at the side, the fire was about to go out, and Fording was resting on his bed. The water, broth, weapons and medicines placed next to him had not been touched. It seemed that after he fell asleep last night, Laura Haven't been back.

  Getting up from the bed, David added some firewood to the fire to make the fire burn hotter again, and then hung the cauldron of broth on the bonfire, and he could eat the broth when he returned from washing.

   Walking out of the wooden house, breathing the cold air, David moved his body briefly, took some water and began to wash.

After he finished washing, Fording also got up, and moved his limbs in front of the wooden house as David did before, but compared to David, these activities of Fording looked much more ferocious. If the arm is swung, it will definitely not end well.

   "Any plans for today?"

  After the activity, Fording asked David about his plan while wiping his face with water.

  A lot of wood was cut yesterday, and David also hunted and killed several gray wolves. There is no shortage of food or wood. Maybe we should consider building a house?

   "Or, dig a well first?"

   "To build a well, do you need stone?" Fording didn't know how to make a well, but he had the impression that a well needed stone.

   When it comes to professional stonemason work, both are silent.

   "Let's cover the shelter first!"

  Anyway, there are only two people living in the village, and fetching water from the river is just troublesome, not an urgent problem to be solved.

   It’s the house. If you can’t build a strong and warm house as soon as possible, you will suffer again in winter.

Just when David was thinking about whether to wait until Laura solved this trouble and returned to her home in England, let her send David cement, bricks, glass and other building materials to directly build a beautiful and comfortable house, The vague figure appeared again in his line of sight.

   "Laura?"

  When David and Fording saw this situation, their first reaction was that Laura was coming again, but it didn't take long for them to realize that they had guessed wrong.

  The figure gradually became clear, and both of them had good eyesight. It was immediately clear that the person who came was not Laura, but a man.

   "It seems that a newcomer has appeared." Fording knew that there was only Laura in front of him, so this stranger was the newcomer who appeared for the first time.

  Looking at the newcomer carefully, the other person's height is average, his appearance is not unusual, his clothes are a bit strange, and he is looking around in a daze.

   Soon, the other party noticed David and Fording standing in front of the wooden house, and walked over without hesitation: "Hello, what is this place?"

   "Hello, this is Lindong Village, and I am the village chief, David." David was still looking at the other person. This person had a 'familiar' appearance, but he couldn't be sure of his identity for a while.

"Hello, I'm Mark Watney!" Mark Watney reached out and shook David's hand, as if to confirm something, he shook David's hand slightly, and a little flash of light flashed across his face from time to time. Doubt: "This is..."

   "My name is Tirion Fordring." (David acts as translator)

   "Hello." Mark shook hands with Fording again, and then asked David: "Winter Village... Where is it?"

   "This is the northernmost area of ​​the Tilan Kingdom... I know you want to ask where the Tilan Kingdom is, and I will briefly explain various situations."

  Telling the situation to Mark Watney, the newcomer immediately plunged into massive self-doubt, thinking he was crazy or dreaming.

  Looking at the reaction of the person in front of him, David carefully recalled the information about Mark Watney: From the face of the other party, David judged that this Mark Watney was the protagonist of the movie version of The Martian.

  In the movie The Martian, Mark Watney, a botanist, landed on Mars as a member of the Mars exploration mission, but was thought dead by his teammates in an accident, so he was left alone on Mars.

  The whole film tells the story of how Mark Watney survived in the harsh environment of Mars and waited for rescue.

   As for the Mark Watney in front of him, after observing it, David can be sure that it should not be the Mark who has been struggling to survive on Mars for a while. At that time, Mark was thin and suffered from many diseases due to insufficient nutritional intake.

   "Is this a joke, right? Or I'm dreaming! If this is another world, why do you speak English?" Mark rubbed his temples and kept asking, still not believing that he came to another world inexplicably.

"This language called English, I just learned it not long ago. Before you, an English speaker came to me." Suddenly learning a new language sounds too unbelievable, David just changed This way of description becomes much easier to accept.

   Sure enough, with just such an explanation, Mark no longer struggled with language matters, but continued to be shocked by how he was in another world?

   "However, this doesn't seem like a bad thing to me." Thinking about the predicament he was about to face, he felt that maybe God was helping him and giving him a new life.

After figuring this out, Mark, who is optimistic by nature, no longer struggled. A smile appeared on his face again, and he re-introduced himself slightly solemnly: "Mark Watney, botanist, NASA astronaut , Before I came to you, I was working on Mars exploration. I encountered some small troubles, and I may need your help."

  David listened to Mark's introduction and guessed what state Mark Watney was in at the moment—the time when he was just forgotten on Mars.

   "Can you tell me in detail what kind of trouble it is?"

   "If possible... I would like to live in your village for a while."

  (end of this chapter)