AK - The Alchemy Kingdom

Chapter 126: Management

Year 3, Fall, Third Month, Second Week.

Good morning, Councilors I would like to take a moment to thank the Origin and all who sacrificed themselves to get us here. It was a long journey but we survived and now we should thrive. This is our home so we dont need to run anymore, and if one day its threatened, we shall be ready to defend it.

The general mood in the Council pavilion was higher than ever. All the Councilors were finally moved to the settlement and they could now carry a proper meeting, after all, the problems wouldnt wait for them nor solve themselves. With a nod of consent from Omero, Kanin started speaking.

Unfortunately, our staple food is practically over. A few foraging groups still remain in the camp and theyre trying to gather as much food as possible before theyre moved here, but its not enough. The decrease in hunts only aggravates the food shortage. We need to do something immediately, food might not last until winter, much less support us through it

Although the problem was serious, nobody panicked. They werent the same villagers that once starved through many winters. Now, they could even control the weather if needed. Since the Alchemy Department was majorly responsible for controlling the temperature and building the magic fields, Reiner was the next to speak.

Were on track to activate the heating Array one week before winter, but we could push the launching for this week if needed. The magic fields shouldnt take more than a week too.

With the possibility of growing crops at any season, their food problems could be easily solved. The Council also wanted to check with Katlyn about the decrease in hunts, which she attributed to their location and the security tasks being carried by the hunters. Currently, half of their numbers were occupied helping move people, securing the camp or the Path construction. The other problem was the high number of MT beasts close to the vein, which made it difficult to hunt and even find LT beasts.

To solve these, the Council came up with a few ideas. First, organizing large-scale hunts in other regions. Every week, large groups of hunters could travel to another area and hunt there for a few days. They could build a temporary camp and use the carts to transport the beasts back, this idea could also help with mapping their surroundings. Although the idea might not be widely welcomed by the hunters who just settled in their new homes, they could receive some benefits, like days of rest after coming back or a larger wage.

The second idea, which could be implemented slowly, was to hunt the MT beasts around their city. Besides having MQ crystals, the beasts meat and materials were of better quality and would last more. Unfortunately, this could only be done by focusing on one beast at a time and using some specific tools to contain the beast.

In regards to the hunters doing too many tasks, Diana proposed to divide the hunters into different groups, as they did with the shadow unit. In fact, calling them hunters wasnt accurate anymore as they executed more other tasks than hunting. Katlyn wasnt happy about this, she felt betrayed by Diana and argued that reducing the department would only worsen the situation.

Diana knew the attachment people could develop with power, so she wasnt offended by Katlyns reaction. She explained that her proposal came from observing the results with the shadow unit, which was operating more efficiently and ended up relieving pressure from the Hunting Department. If the hunters were already doing other tasks, why not make it official and free the department to deal exclusively with hunting? Another reason why Diana proposed this was something she discussed with Lew. Military, security and adventurer training had differences, as managing them also did.

The proposal met objections and had to be voted. Omero, Marlen, Katlyn, Alfeur and Lonni voted against it, but the rest all voted in favor. So, the Defense Department was created. The first indicated to command it was Diana, but she quickly shifted her support to Lew, he had more experience and could offer more in terms of training and management. Even though the department wouldnt be focused on hunting, they could still do it for training, or when the beasts threatened the citys security.

The next topic of discussion was the upcoming trade in winter. In two weeks, a group would need to travel to their old camp to meet the Adventurers. Although their goal was to establish a trading hub, they didnt have a lot to exchange right now, but it was fine since they only planned to attract the Adventurers at this time. The only possible way of drawing trade into the Forest was creating a big opportunity. By helping them, they hope to create a gathering point for Adventures and thus attract bolder Merchants.

Therefore, the Council had to decide the extent of what they would offer to the Adventurers and how could they profit from it in a short time. They already promised to help them locate the beasts in the region, so charging for it was off the table. Actually, offering some free benefits wasnt a bad deal because it would attract more Adventurers in time. However, they needed to find another way to earn profits, or else even the greedy would suspect their goodwill.

The most obvious and simple idea was to charge for food and lodging. Every outsider always talked about how their food looked like prepared by a nobles chef. Their accommodations, on the other hand, were said to be the lowest people encountered besides sleeping on the ground. Even Marlen and Omero couldnt say how bad their beds were since they barely remembered sleeping differently. Fortunately, Lew had suffered enough and could point it out.

To make it comfortable, we would need to add a lot more straws, leaves, or whatever, like ten times more Also, use a bag or a cover to store it, nobody likes to lie on hay directly If we can afford some LQ fabric to make covers would great too

Although they didnt see the need of making it so soft, they agree to do it, after all, it was something simple. To improve the lodging, they also decided to build some simple wooden huts, which looked better than plain earth buildings. Previously, they wouldnt be able to afford this time-wisely, but with the magic wood builder, they could build a hut in a few hours.

Next, they had to decide about whether or not to protect the place against high-density energy and beasts. On one side, they could be revealing too much, on the other, the Adventurers would be able to stay longer instead of spending a couple of weeks like they usually did. Their distance from the Kingdom allowed them to be bold, not only because of the forest between them but also because it wouldnt be easy to even find them. Then, Karl proposed something.

Theres a way of making the bubble barrier invisible, it takes more energy, but we can reduce its size. Even if they gather many Adventurers, they wouldnt be more than two thousand I think

Karl also proposed a few things to help the Adventurers and earn more. Of course, all of the tools and effects he proposed could hide the drawings, like the magic net container. They discussed the ideas a little longer and finally decided on what they could use and do without showing too many secrets.

Deciding who would go meet the Adventurers wasnt easy, a lot of suggestions were made, but the Council couldnt agree on names and numbers. Some Councilors thought it would be better to send more numbers to show their attitude while others were against sending too many while they didnt finish building their city. However, Karl offered another perspective and a different approach.

We could send a bigger group to help setting up everything, and then only keep the necessary number there. We could also use this chance to start our mining operation and make some improvements to the magic tunnel to allow long-distance communication. Maybe we could even establish communication with the Adventurers camp

The possibility of communicating with the camp and get more MQ crystals convinced the Council to send a group of 12. The number might appear small but they would be sending some high-skilled people, Karl, Diana, Lew and Samia would be amongst them. Besides the four Councilors, Oliver, Johann, five top-crafters and their best magic operator would complete the team.

However, they still needed to find a way of moving fast, otherwise, the trip could take months. The first obvious choice was to use wind horses, but they only had three. Fortunately, Karl surprised them by revealing he had a method of taming a beast in a few days, so they would only need to find another nine beasts before they left.