Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

With unlimited financial backing and direct orders to do anything and everything possible within the confines of the law to speed up the process, Victoria hadn’t hesitated to offer a base salary of 40 Coppers a day as well as 3 square meals to even the dullest of workers. As far as she was concerned, as long as they could dig a hole and move dirt, she wanted them.

40 Coppers plus 3 meals was more than double what many of these low-skilled labourers were used to making, so it wasn’t surprising they all flocked to the recruitment posts Victoria and Laura had set up.

If someone was willing to offer more than that, so be it. If not, too bad.

Victoria also had the backing of her boss, his Master, the local Lord of Falcon’s Bend, and the General of the Swift Current Legion, so she didn’t feel the slightest need to pay her competitors anything more than the most basic of lip service.

While many business owners were furious with Victoria’s dismissive attitude towards them, many others were falling over themselves to ingratiate themselves to her.

The latter group mainly consisted of anyone who had anything to do with producing construction materials or equipment, or who had a wagon capable of moving said materials and equipment.

Every day, at the various construction sites, trees were chopped, stones were broken, debris was moved, dirt was compacted, stakes were driven, foundations were laid, and huts were being built.

Some of the materials for this construction were sourced on site, but the vast majority of it was hauled in from Falcon’s Bend.

The massive demand for supplies and the vast quantity of Gold changing hands caused a huge boom in all the sawmills, stone quarries, and blacksmiths of the city, something these craftsmen and their bosses were all greatly appreciative of.

While construction was the focus of over 90% of Victoria’s staff, a couple hundred specially trained individuals who the Head Manager and Lucas had a higher level of trust in were given a different task, scouting the nearby forests and ’tapping’ appropriate lych trees.

Thanks to months of research, a guidebook had been put together regarding which trees could be tapped, how many taps could be installed, and what the best placement for these taps was. This knowledge was taught to these trusted workers who were then sent into the forests around the new settlements to carry out this vital job.

Of course, the knowledge in the new guidebook was hardly comprehensive, so each team of tappers included at last one more-educated member who was tasked with recording field data as well as setting up additional experiments in order to continue accumulating know-how in this brand-new industry.

Hiring people, getting them motivated, supervising them, and even paying them wasn’t too big a concern; what was a concern was keeping everyone safe and healthy.

Each of these new settlement sites was located in a thick patch of forest, so naturally there were some aggressive Wild Beasts lurking around.

Most beasts were less active during the winter months, but those that were active tended to be strong and dangerous; they had to be in order to survive in this kind of cold weather.

On the human side, the workers were mostly in the upper Body Tempering or early Vein Opening Realm, with many having little to no combat experience.

These people would be easy prey for hungry beasts if left on their own.

Fortunately, this problem had long been anticipated and appropriate measures had been put in place.

Given the importance of this project, Marquess Balfour had ordered a full Battalion led by a Mid-Rank Spirit Initiate from the Balfour Guard to serve as security for the operation. General Oscar Caldwell and Lord Lester Randolph had also committed 100 soldiers each to assist in keeping the roads clear and the forests quiet.

Victoria had further bolstered these numbers with adventurers from Falcon’s Bend who were familiar with the local terrain and wildlife.

Lucas even struck a deal with Lady Frey to send a few Snow Spirit Foxes, led by an older Fifth Order individual, to serve as scouts and hunters.

With such a strong force, unless a big pack of rampant beasts led by multiple Fifth Order individuals appeared, the human workers shouldn’t be in any danger.

Despite all these preparations, however, many problems still popped up.

A perfect example of this was the weather.

It was the beginning of March when Victoria and Laura arrived with their team in Falcon’s Bend, so while the daytime wasn’t terrible, the nights were still very chilly. That, and the fact that there was still snow on the ground in many places left many workers shivering despite all the hard physical labour they were doing.

Victoria had originally wanted to have the work teams set out for the settlement sites, pitch temporary camps, and then stay there until the construction work was completed, but that proved to be impossible during the initial days.

Firewood was fairly abundant, but there simply weren’t enough thick fur tents to keep so many people warm at night.

Victoria could have ignored the health of these workers and treated them as expendable, as this was a fairly common practice in the Rockwell Kingdom, but Lucas had absolutely forbidden her to do so.

Her young boss had even warned her that, although accidents were unavoidable, if he learned that anyone died or was crippled because of her negligence or indifference, he would punish her severely.

He hadn’t specified what that punishment would be, but Victoria wasn’t eager to find out.

Victoria understood that Lucas cared deeply about the people who worked for him and treated them all exceptionally well, but she was under no illusion that he was naïvely kind and generous. Her current employment situation, which was basically achieved through coercion, was enough to prove that much.

Lucas had high moral standards and a strong sense of righteousness, but he wasn’t above using underhanded means to achieve his ends when he felt it was necessary, and could be decisive and ruthless if the situation called for it.

Was that a contradiction? Yes, it was, but humans were inherently contradictory beings while most things in life were also neither black nor white, just shades of grey.