A Modern Mind in Medieval Times

“Sire, you seem distracted today.” Erickson stated the next day.

Damn right I was distracted. Jack hadn’t spent much time with any of the Cha during their exodus, so how the heck did anyone figure out I’m not really him?

“It’s nothing. Let’s get back to our work.” I replied.

I had put the plans to secure the settlement in motion. Next came my personal security. Bodyguards weren’t really necessary while I was in the settlement (or maybe they were?) but being seen with them would establish my authori..tah among the people. I mock sniffled as I lamented the loss of my favorite show. It would be one of the things I’d miss from the modern world.

Bodyguards wouldn’t just provide me with security and authority, but by interacting with the most skilled fighting-age men of the settlement, I would be able to pick the right people to lead Chadom’s budding military / police. I also needed them to be on my side if Elder Hyde, or the guy who knew my secret, tried something stupid.

“Lothar, do you think you could spare a third of the day of your best five hunters?” I asked my new General.

“Five, Sire?”

“Yes. I want to establish a personal guard. Two men per shift, so six of you. Each shift will last a third of the day, as I can’t expect a man to remain fully vigilant for longer than that.”

A pained expression came on Lothar’s face. “That might be difficult; we’ve had a setback. We found out this morning that the nuts we thought would help with our food shortage problem are not edible. Two of the hunters got sick from eating them.” He explained.

“What kind of nuts?” I asked.

“Nobody can identify them. We found a grove of large trees laden with them.”

“Let me take a look at them. Some nuts can be turned edible by repeatedly boiling. Still, do introduce me to your best five men and assign them as my bodyguards. They can keep on hunting until the food crisis is solved.”

He nodded and went to fetch the men.

“Sire, this is Theo, who is the best hunter and tracker among us, despite his youth,” He said, pointing to a young man only a few years out of his teens, with a thick mop of black hair on his head.

“These are Ethan, Wenik, Helad and Noah. All fine hunters. Old enough to have plenty of experience so they won’t shame you, but young enough to stay up all night and still be functional the next day.”

I looked them in the eyes one by one. “I need capable, loyal men to guard me from any threat, man or beast. I would choose you lot over most soldiers, even if we had any, since you have sharper senses. I expect you to be vigilant, detect any threat approaching me and neutralize it before it can act. Do you believe you could do that?”

The men nodded stiffly.

“Good. Lothar, you will be in the morning rotation, so we can discuss how to improve our security and expand our forces. Your second and third best will take the evening and night shift. The rest you can assign yourself.”

He nodded in response.

“Let’s decide the timing as well. How about 6 AM to 2 PM, 2PM to 10 PM and 10 PM to 6 AM?” I blurted out before thinking.

“Two pee em?” He and everyone else looked at me quizzically.

Great, no concept of accurate time. I sighed and added another item to my ever growing To-do list: build sundials and water clocks. Maybe I should be more cautious with the knowledge I reveal?No. These people needed as much help as possible. No place for half-measures here. I would not let fear decide my future.

“Afternoon, when the sun has moved two hands below its peak position.” I demonstrated with my hands.

“These are the nuts we found, my lord.” A hunter showed me some nuts that looked like acorns.

“Hmm. We don’t have them in Nanon, do we?” I tried to recall. “No matter. I believe I know how to turn them edible.”

I told one of the men how to process the nuts: Smash them to get the meat inside, dry it, then boil it multiple times, while changing the water, until it stops tasting bitter. Then grind it, followed by drying, and you have nutritious nut flour.

“Oh, and don’t just throw away the water,” I told him. “Give it to the tanner.” The tannin rich water was far less disgusting than what tanneries used traditionally to make leather.

“If this works out, I can put the six of us in your service immediately without risking food shortage, Sire.” Lothar informed me.

I just smiled in response. I wasn’t going to tell the poor bastard prematurely that I was going to run him and his men ragged with the plans I had in mind.

While Lothar discussed the rotation schedule with his men, I considered our sanitation situation.

“What are our people using to clean their clothes, utensils and bodies?” I asked Erickson.

“Ash.”

“Hmm... It works, but it’s not as effective as soap. Do you have any?”

“No,” he hid it well, but I could see he was confused. I recalled that high quality soap used to be a luxury item in pre-industrial times. It won’t be anymore.

“Do you have any soap-makers among your people?” I inquired.

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, you will now. Get me some enterprising men, and I will teach them how to make it.”

I explained the process to the men he brought to me:

Mix clean hardwood ash in soft water. Filter the solution and boil it in a ventilated area to get lye solution. Then slowly mix one part lye solution to five parts vegetable oil or rendered animal fat. Gently heat and stir the solution until it starts thickening. Pour it into a mold and when it solidifies, you have soap.

That would get us clean people and items. Water wasn’t a problem thanks to the river. It would also wash away our waste, but that would be a waste... heh, since it had so many uses.

“Hmm... biogas.” I muttered to myself.

“Bayo gas?” Erickson tried to repeat.

“Yes. It’s an excellent fuel, although we will have to scrub it with water to make it more potent. Once we’ve built the palisade, we can build latrines, which will dump all the waste into a biogas plant.”

I thought aloud. Poor Eric looked confused.

“A biogas plant is essentially a big hole in the ground, properly sealed and connected to two smaller ones; one through which you add the ’ingredients’, and one from which you take out the digested waste, ready to be used as fertilizer. While the waste is being digested by tiny little creatures, they release a flammable gas called methane.”

That reminded me of urine, and how to make saltpeter from it.

“We’ll have to collect urine separately though.” I told him.

“Collect urine?” He asked incredulously.

“You wouldn’t believe what can be made from piss, my friend. It’s a long term project, but if it succeeds, we will become the de-facto power in this region.” I declared smugly, while the poor Steward looked constipated, his face switching between disgust and confusion.

I could not recall Jack ever seeing a firearm, so my statement was true. Having firearms would guarantee our safety and security.

“I know it’s a nasty job, but it is necessary. Trrussst me.” I tried to reassure him. “Are there any nearby caves that house bats?”

“We haven’t found any,” he replied apprehensively.

“Right. Life can’t be that easy.” Bat or seabird guano would have made it so much easier.

“We will have to set up a nitrary, then. Please get me a few people who wouldn’t mind a job involving lots of urine and who can be trusted to keep the process secret.”

This is why I wanted the position of leadership. Many of my projects would make no sense to them without seeing the results, and everyone would lose if I fail to convince them to follow my plans.

Erickson found two older, hard looking men and I made them take a vow of secrecy before divulging the process to them: regularly dump urine on beds of chopped straw and soil, and flip the mix every two weeks for a year, while keeping it safe from rain.

I didn’t give them the full explanation, nor told them about the final process, as it would be useless without proper education:

Over time, soil bacteria convert nitrogen compounds in the urine soaked soil into nitrates. You then extract potassium nitrate from it by scraping the top soil, adding it to boiling water, filtering the solution and adding hardwood ashes, for potash, to it. Filter it again and boil it until you are left with saltpeter crystals.

Saltpeter was a very versatile substance. You could make gunpowder by mixing saltpeter with sulfur and charcoal, while burning it with sulfur in the presence of hot steam would produce sulfuric acid. Add more saltpeter to sulfuric acid and you have nitric acid, opening the doors for producing guncotton, grenades, photographs and plastics.

There were far more cleaner and efficient methods like the Haber-Bosch process for producing essential chemicals that led to the modern civilization, but I didn’t know the details, so the nastier but easier versions would have to do.

That drew my attention to the fact that I remembered all these facts with such clarity. I was a bit of a prepper in my past life, so I occasionally read up on random trivia on how to rebuild civilization in my free time, but I shouldn’t be able to recall the details with such clarity. I guess it was another effect of the health blessing. Thank you God... or whoever you are.

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The Capital of Nanon Kingdom

Adlersthron was an ancient city, situated on the shores of the Glimmerau. It boasted two sets of walls, the inner, higher wall which separated the city’s administrative offices and aristocratic manors from the dwelling of commoners, and the outer wall, which was like the skin of a cell, keeping the slum dwellings out of the “proper” city.

As the sun went down below the horizon, one of the manors owned by the royal family echoed with the sounds of moans and gasps of two people, entangled intimately on a large expensive bed. As the young man with fiery red hair drove himself into the curvaceous brunette, she clung to him with her arms and legs like a barnacle stuck to a rock.

Linus grunted as he released himself inside the woman, her hips rolling against him to milk him. Finished, he turned to lay down on his back, his breath ragged.

The woman moved to lie on top of him. Looking at him through her long lashes, she asked him in her melodic high pitched voice, “Did that improve your mood, my Prince?”

“A bit,” Linus huffed. “I still can’t believe my father would make such a foolish decision.”

It was a surprise, indeed.

“Your sister is a clever woman,” she remarked.

“Clever, my ass,” Linus sneered. “More like good at sucking up,” he said, chewing his lip. Drusila knew not to disturb him when he thought he was coming up with a clever plan.

“You’re not considering getting rid of her, are you?” she asked, some time later.

“I should have gotten rid of her a long time ago. She is twenty three, for God’s sake! She should have been married off to form an alliance years ago,” he said in frustration. “Now, I fear it might be too late.”

“Is twenty three too old for you?” she asked, in a hurt tone.

“What? No, no,” he said, cupping her angelic face. “You are a gem, my dear. I doubt your shine will ever fade.”

She put on a simpering smile. “I’m glad. I’m sure you will find some way to get your birthright back.”

“Oh, that I will.” He said, with steel in his voice. “That I will.”