Banished Prince Charming

Chapter 40 - Time to feast..!

Since there wasn't ample seating at the dining table and also a shortage of bowls and spoons, priority was given to the weary travellers first for the sake of consideration and being humane.

Kayla took the opportunity to cook another batch of gruel as she prepared the basic ingredients at half rate and once it was done, she poured it together into the former pot.

"Children, please have an additional serving of gruel. We insist. You had walked a long distance and God knows what troubles you have experienced on the road. Go ahead, don't be shy. A shy person is a hungry person."

Kayla addressed the new faces with the term earlier as she was unable to bear children. So these new faces addressed her back as "Momma" and I could see her face swell with pride and joy as a tear began jerking precariously at the corner of her eye as she just flicked it away as if it was nothing.

She smiled as she went around and patted the ladies' heads and the children's as though they were her own children and grandchildren. I made a quick count and discovered there were 24 people altogether. 1 miner was injured, 2 were infants, 5 miners, 6 were housewives, 6 kids and 4 were already in a.d.u.l.thood.

Out of these kids, 3 were boys and 3 were girls and the 4 a.d.u.l.ts were made up of 1 male and 3 female. I won't know whose children belonged to who but definitely, they might or might not be related to one another. Also, I don't think it was a mere coincidence that these families were made up by a couple with 2 children each.

"Hey...what are you staring at? What's going on in your head. Share it with me then." Heather voiced out to me and I told her I was making a census mentally and made a total headcount.

I turned and said, "As usual, Heidi. I am sizing the workforce that's in front of us and you would be having 6 more children to teach, so that means your total pool of students would be 12 now as of now."

"There's 1 downed miner, and 6 a.d.u.l.t men would be ideal for mining or manual labour, and there are 9 ladies that can be put into the production industry. However, since there are 2 infants so only 7 would be able to contribute to the cause."

"The involvement of the nursing mothers would be to their capabilities as they were not able to carry heavy things. However, if they were to be placed into the production industry, they would be required to work according to the hours they saw fit."

I pointed out the facts and Heather nodded her head and simply remarked, "You are a man but you also knew about women. But there's something missing and I am yearning for it."

"Kayla, Gwen and Crystal had been bugging me for quite some weeks already since we were married and they were surprised that we had not advanced further into the mating part."

Heather spoke softly to me and was whispering the part of the 'mating' part and frankly speaking, I can feel my face burning up and was feeling abashed since the ladies had discovered some secrets that were meant only to be known between a husband and wife.

"Tomorrow would be the day when we take our census. Would you be so kind as to assist me by informing the ladies to inform them as well? At least I could set the records of the population census and getting to know them too." I requested for Heather's assistance and she obliged.

"That's my girl. Thank you so much." and I kissed Heather's forehead and she blushed as I had shown my affection openly.

The weary travellers each took 2 bowls of gruel and after using the bowls and spoons, some ladies volunteered to wash them at the riverbank and then to be used by the others next. The following group to eat would be the engineers, Ashworths and Burns, followed by the pioneers thereafter.

I saw their selfless acts and I thanked them from the bottom of my heart. They really showed a good example to the rest while I noticed Ashworths and Burns's families had shown improvements in their nature, leaning towards our favour.

4 men assisted to turn the roasting wild boar as the underside was half done and the meat was slightly sizzling, as its fat helped to roast the meat faster. The spices were sprinkled over and were quickly absorbed by the sizzling meat and roasting had rotated to the top side of the wild boar.

The scent of the roasting meat wafted across the courtyard and everyone was simply delighted as they smacked their lips and were busily chatting with one another. At the meantime, Heather had relayed the message over and was told to report to me after breakfast and before the tasks of the day began.

Since I have a head start on their names, I was able to make ample preparations tomorrow and would be ready to make a proposal for the Industry Minister on the deployment of the new families.

Since their houses were ready, the men from the new families decided to take a short break and getting acquainted with the rest. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting too long, Sir Blackie. Don't worry okay, you would be rewarded handsomely. If not for your hard work, the efforts made on the farmlands would be wasted and everything would be ruined."

As if Sir Blackie understood what I had said earlier, it gave a sharp bark and then licked my hand as I reached out to pet its head. Everyone would have a fair share of the meat and Gwen informed me that the spine and trotters of the wild boar would be for Sir Blackie. In fact, that spine part had the softest and crunchiest bones as the meat was ample too.

Sir Blackie showed his appreciation to Gwen by standing almost upright on its hind legs and pawed at Gwen as it got a good rub and a hug from Gwen. If Sir Blackie is a Knight, he would definitely earn 2 medals so far by preventing certain predicaments happening to us.

"Since there were some interruptions earlier on, let us continue where we left off. The meat would not be done just by waiting for it, would it?" I resumed the conference and the new faces sat there and listened intently as they knew that every evening after dinner, the Ministers would relate the progress as well as bring up issues and be rectified immediately.

The injured man had also joined the group back as he hobbled on one foot and was using the bamboo crutch as support. If not for the support, he would not be able to move around and it was a blessing to have Ben around to construct the contraption. Ben was busy asking the injured man how he felt when he used the crutch totally forgetting about the injuries in the first place...!

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"Young Master, we would need another half a day to complete working on the second waste pit. By the way, what would happen when it rains? Won't the hole be flooded and would it fine to suggest a fenced up area so that no one would accidentally stumble inside it? "

"Good idea, Burns. Once you had completed digging the latrine, put up a barricade around it using reed stalk. Then the top of the pit would be covered with palm fronds so even if it rains, it won't actually flood the pit. Put up a torch over there to warn others too." I suggested and was received with great favour.

Frank stood up and suggested that the building materials such as walls, doorway, and the thatched roof could be made beforehand before hauling the materials over to the residential plots to be erected. "Good idea, Industry Minister Frank. Your idea is accepted and we have another 2 more dragan and wagons at our disposal."

"Once the structure has been fabricated, it could be affixed to the main beams of the house, is that what you are trying to propose?"

"That's right, young master. That's the whole idea. At least everyone gets to work in one place and it would be much faster in that manner. The 4 pillars would be erected first and then once a set is complete, it would only take mere minutes to assemble them. It is going to be a top-down construction."

I noted of Frank's suggestions and were very feasible. At least the workers could work together while Frank could deploy one group to prepare the thatched roof, one group to prepare the sidewalls, another would be attending to the rear wall while another group would be attending to the front doorway.

He planned to make a small frame by erecting some bamboo poles and use that as a guide for a slanting thatched roof.at least the would measure them against the frame before setting out to put then up. ladders made from bamboo would be made to aid the workers when they hoist the roof over.

The houses that they had constructed was made of similar materials and they had made splicing to bind the wall that was made from reed or bamboo bark strips, arranged horizontally and was 2 feet wide and 7 feet high.

Gwen would guide one or two workers under her to make the hunting bows and drawstring. Kayla would guide the women how to make woven mats, wicker baskets, hats, nets, food covers and others as well.

Crystal would need just one worker to milk the nannies and make cheese thereafter. Although she was a bit saddened as she was unable to produce something for sale, but no matter how small her contribution was, it had a significant impact on others as well. Once the cheese was produced, it would be it dried before it was placed into a weaver basket and lined with hay.

The 12 children would be monitored by me to produce the clay bricks as the soil dug up by the pit was transported back. As the soil was being utilised, the pit would be made slightly bigger from being a 6' by 6' to 10' by 10' instead. The depth remains at 6 feet.

After the clay bricks were set for 24 hours, it was lifted off and air-dried for another 72 hours. The bricks would be stacked in a circular manner and be fired by making a fire in the centre. Since the clay bricks were organised in such manner, the heat radiated would be like a furnace. This shortened the process by one step and it came from my idea since the current oven would be used to make bread constantly and stockpiled.

The firing of the clay bricks would be for a period of another 24 hours as wood shavings, branches and other combustible wood materials would being stoked to produce flowing embers instead of a roaring fire. In this way, the clay bricks would gradually be bisque dry throughout the process.

The remaining group would be clearing the reeds and bamboo and Sir Hope will be the one that was utilised to perform such tasks. These bamboo and reeds were to be made into building materials while other parts sick as leaves and rhizomes would be for other uses. Fortunately, the new families had brought a small dagger, a machete as well as hoes and garden rakes, and in the meantime, Jack would not need to forge any.

The ores and coal were then consolidated from Jack's store as well as from the wagon into the storage place and in the meantime, all Jack would convert these ores into pig irons. It was estimated that 3 pieces of ores would make 1 pig iron and a pig iron fetches a higher price than ores in its original state. At least when it comes to forging, Jack would not need to start from the very start.

Those projects that were of utmost priority would be performed first and then followed by the others. Since there would be a hike in population in an estimated 2 to 3 weeks time, projects were underway to attend to the prerequisite orders from Marcel.

Since Heather would be rotating around and observing the works done, both she and I would be preparing the ration tokens from Jack as he too would flit around and helped the others as and when one group needed an extra pair of hands.

Pretty soon time passed by and the roasting wild boar is finally ready. After checking some meat from several places, the meat about a few inches above the 4 trotters we're chopped off and left inside the oven to be properly roasted and that was for Sir Blackie as well. about 10 minutes later, it was then ready to begin our feast with the new families.