The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 189

Chapter 189

Chapter 189: Inside the Vault

My thoughts veered back to the sight of Sylvie’s form changing as she absorbed the mana from Uto’s horn. It had been a few days since that night but her unexplainable shift in form worried me. My days had been hectic; if I wasn’t training, I was either in a meeting or advising Gideon with the train project or personally advising Virion on various aspects of the war. Even then, my thoughts always drifted back to what I saw that night.

Sylvie, didn’t seem to feel like anything was wrong—just the opposite, rather. My bond had become fully infatuated in the horn and the mana it provided for her. After that night, she had asked me for a private space so that she could continue absorbing the retainer’s mana without interruptions. I haven’t seen her since then—the only thing comforting me being the calm traces of her mental state she emitted through our bound connection.

“—neral Arthur!”

I jolted upright in my seat by the booming voice, only to see that everyone in the room had their eyes on me. The large round table that had replaced its smaller predecessor had the three remaining lances aside from myself and the five members of the Council all sitting in large cushioned chairs. Joining us today for the exciting and fun-filled meeting was Gideon, who seemed to be wholly concentrated on picking something out of his left ear.

Oh right, I was in a meeting.

“Are you feeling okay, General Arthur?” King Glayder asked, his expression laced more with irritation than concern.

I shifted in my seat. “Of course.”

The king’s line of sight lowered to my hand. I followed his gaze, only to realize that the quill I had in my hand had snapped in half from my grip.

Clearing my throat, I faced everyone. “My apologies. I was lost in thought for a moment. Please continue.”

“We were moving on to the topic of the so-called ‘train’ that you and Artificer Gideon are planning on. We were hoping the two of you would be able to give us an update on how that’s coming along,” Queen Eralith stated, her gaze switching between me and Gideon, who was sitting a few seats to my left.

Gideon and I had discussed just the day before on the final details of the project. We were ready to move on to actually building the vehicle in order to secure a safe and fast supply route from Blackbend City to the Wall.

“Ah yes”—the artificer smoothed out a crease on his dirty lab coat—“the landsh—I mean the train will be able to hold at least twenty times more supplies than utilizing squads of carriages like we have now.”

“What about the potential dangers while traversing between Blackbend to the Wall?” Varay asked with an inquisitive look. “From what I read, this ‘train’ seems to have a set path that it’s limited to. Wouldn’t this make it easy for bandits, or even Alacryans to attack and siege?”

“I agree. I’d imagine it being easy to destroy a portion of the track that the train relies on,” Aya added casually.

“Both good points, generals!” Gideon exclaimed. “Arth—General Arthur and I saw that as one of the pitfalls as well and came up with a solution.”

“Oh? And what would that be?” Virion asked with a raised brow.

The artificer replied with a snarky grin. “To put it underground, Commander!”

There was a moment of silence where the royals and lances present pondered the solution before King Glayder spoke up with a gruff tone. “The cost of doing all of this would be excessive, don’t you think?”

Gideon let out a cough and looked to me, his eyes practically begging me to take over. Being the renowned artificer that he was, Gideon had the wealth and influence to build most of the inventions that he wants, but actually calculating the cost and benefit of creating something as large-scale as this was foreign to him.

Luckily, having read numerous books on economics and being personally taught by the shrewd and resourceful leader of the Council in my previous world, Marlorn, I had the answer. “You’re thinking about it the wrong way, King Glayder. The costs up front might seem like a lot but this project serves to potentially solve three problems at once.”

“I’m listening,” he replied with a raised brow while everyone leaned just a bit closer.

I took a breath and gathered my thoughts. “Aside from the main problem we’re trying to resolve, which is a more efficient way to transport supplies for soldiers stationed at the Wall, building the train helps to work out two peripheral issues. One is the detrimentally rising cost of purchasing domesticated mana beasts because of the state that the Beast Glades is currently in, while the other is the increasing poverty.”

“Increasing poverty? What nonsense.” Bairon blurted. “Because of the war, business is booming!”

“Let General Arthur finish!” Queen Glayder clipped sharply, surprising me.

“Thank you,” I addressed to Kathyln’s mother before continuing. “Not to sound cold but booming business benefits mostly business owners and highly skilled patrons, not those of lower class citizens. Queen Glayder, I’d imagine that your reports from various cities mention increasing number of riots from increase in taxes and prices of basic goods because of the demand from the war, correct?”

She flipped through several pages of the neat stack of papers in front of her. “How did you... know that?” _{ƒгeewebnovёl.com}

Explaining everything would become cumbersome so I merely shrugged. “Simple cause and effect. This war is taking precedence over everything else, which means that priorities will be given to people who are a part of this war. To those not part of it simply means an increase in the cost of living while their wage might not necessarily increase. More than that, because of the various attacks near the coasts and borders, fishers aren’t able to fish and farmlands have been destroyed.”

“And so you’re saying that this project will be a means to create jobs for those people?” King Eralith finished.

I nodded. “This underground path using the train will be a big project that can’t be finished with just a few competent earth mages. And while mages will be necessary for security of the tracks in predetermined locations, there are lots of duties that can be done by normal workers during the building process and for maintenance.”

“Those are good points, General Arthur, but what about just using slaves?” King Glayder argued. “Wouldn’t it just be more efficient and cost-effective to have slaves doing the labor rather than paying workers?”

Rather than answering, I glanced at Virion. One of the many topics we discussed involved slavery and Blaine’s question just now fell into one of the explanations I had given to the commander.

“Slave labor has its limits as work becomes more skilled, King Glayder. I don’t think we should think of this train project as a one off venture, but the beginning of a new era. The introduction of the steam engine provided a new line of work for laborers that did not need magic. This too, whether it’s workers actually building the tracks or the designers planning the routes from one city to another all require skills that will never stem from what a slave is forced to do,” he stated with confidence.

The meeting room was quiet for the first time in what seemed like hours until a white-sleeved hand shot up.

Everyone turned to Gideon, who was leaning his head on one hand while he raised his other. “I didn’t know if it was appropriate to speak in this rather uncomfortable silence. Anyway, I just wanted to say that this project will indeed be the beginning of many, and it’ll be a breeding ground to foster new skill sets. If possible, I’d prefer not to work with slaves forced to be there since they’ll no doubt be doing the bare minimum which will cut into the productivity of this rather urgent project.”

With that the discussion came to a close and everyone cast their vote anonymously on a piece of paper. After going over the results, I was glad that the hours of discussion on the issue weren’t for naught. The project to build the underground route and train was granted along with several policies pertaining to the project—one of which included the ban on slave labor. I trusted Gideon, who would be the head on this project, to be able to properly manage the chain in command so that the people working on this project will be able to work—if not lead—the next train route project.

It was interesting to see a new era slowly that only existed in textbooks in my old world unfold here. This ‘industrial revolution’ that perhaps started with my introduction of the steam engine was undoubtedly hastened by the war with Alacrya.

While I would never be one to support the war, I had to admit that it did bring some favorable aspects to the table.

<p class="p1">***

“Our little ‘talks’ seem to be bearing fruit,” Virion chuckled as we walked down a narrow hallway barely wide enough to fit three people abreast. Two armored guards followed closely behind while one led the way just a few steps ahead of us.

“You mean my insightful lectures on war and economics?” I corrected.

“Oh shush. I consider it payment for housing you while you were a wee child for over three years,” the old elf retorted.

I shrugged. “I don’t mind. I’m sure you would’ve come to a similar conclusion about using slave labor anyway.”

“Probably not so eloquently as I put it in the meeting though,” Virion admitted. “Elves have prohibited slavery for over a hundred years now, but it was for moral reasons. I hadn’t thought about the economic benefits of it until you pointed it out last week.”

“Well, in a world mainly divided by people who can either use magic and people who can’t, it’s hard to see past a lot of things,” I said as we continued our walk down the descending hallway.

“You sound as if you’ve been in a world that isn’t divided by magic users and normal people,” Virion teased.

I replied with a smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes, opting for some silence that lasted until we reached a thick metal door with only one guard present.

The young elf—evident by his long ears sticking out from his cropped hair—was small-framed but toned with flexible striated muscles that minimally protected by armor. I could tell by his rich yellow aura that, like me, any form of thick armor would hinder more than protect. The stationed guard had two unadorned short swords that curved at the tip hanging by his waist as opposed to the gaudy spears of the soldiers following us, but even at a glance, I could tell that he would easily wipe out all three soldiers ‘protecting’ us.

His eyes that were glazed from boredom perked up when he spotted Virion and me. “Good evening, Commander Virion and...General Arthur. Or is it morning already? My apologies as there are no windows here for me to tell.”

“It hasn’t been that long, Albold,” Virion replied with a smirk before turning to me. “Arthur. This is Albold Chaffer of the Chaffer House. His family has been a strong military family that served the Eralith family for generations. Albold, I’m sure you’ve heard of who Arthur Leywin is.”

“I’ve been told that he might become the new heir to the Eralith family,” Albold said, his sharp eyes sparkling with interest.

I let out a cough, shooting a sharp glare at Virion. “New heir?”

“Well you see, General Arthur, when the royal family doesn’t have a son, the man marrying into the—”

I put out a hand. “I get it.”

“I’d always wanted to meet the young general in person, but I’ve been stuc—blessed with the paramount duty of guarding this door,” he said, motioning at the thick metal door. “I made a guess that it was you coming here but it’s hard to believe that you’re even more imposing than I imagined.”