Chapter 166 - Political Statement!

Since King Zar put a lot of employees into work a bit earlier before the messenger with the signed Contract arrived at Pameres Kingdom, the Governing team along with some employees, were all ready to start their journey towards Bale Town a day after the Contract arrived. 

As soon as dawn broke, they were already on their Wagons not bothering to load the Cargo. How and most importantly, why? Well because the Cargo was loaded a day ago, the task was tackled yesterday so they don't have to worry about finishing it in the last minute. The people of Pameres Kingdom commonly don't prefer hard productive work, but once they get a job and start adopting King Zar's influences, loving work becomes a habit. Those under his employments don't leave the task to the last minute, ever.

They arrived at Bale Town almost at dusk, so the Governing team couldn't start their full scale work right away since the road can sure be tiring throughout this February cold, especially since they were on the road for about 6 days. They of course had Horses to deal with the travelling speed and Cargo, but since they were carrying over a ton of it plus a ton's weight of people, the Horses could roughly travel 15-18km a day, mostly 15km and even dropping to 12km a day a couple of times, poor Horses.

Since there weren't enough Horses to spare in Pameres Kingdom because a lot of them are in Bale Town, the Governing team along with the employees, had to be crammed up into two Wagons. Neither of them regardless of status had the option to ride a Horse on their own, so none of them would be able to arrive any day before the rest of the second Batch of people.

The entire Governing team did help with unloading the Cargo once they arrived, even though it wasn't necessary considering 100 Guards being there, able to lend a hand. Larger numbers sure can prove useful if fast unloading is the primary goal, the goal of which they faced today because as mentioned a bit earlier, they arrived a bit before dusk.

Apart from the Platoon of 100 able bodied Guards, there are 160 capable helpful and healthy native people in town. Since there are so many people who could have done the work instead, the entire Governing team along with the Construction Workers didn't agree to work at first, claiming that they are very tired thanks to the long journey.

Gustav Iron begged to differ, using his own position to his advantage this time, he made everyone work due to various reasons he held captive in his mind, he only partially revealed those thoughts to the rest. He mostly scolded them and commented on their lack of work motivation. After all, this is a messy start since there isn't enough staff to tackle every task. Everyone needs to contribute until priorities for certain groups of people are set. 

Gustav Iron unloading Cargo? Fairly back to basics for a man of his success. You would think that he as an ill.u.s.tratio and as a wealthy man no doubt, wouldn't ever lift anything more than a parchment? That's something no doubt common but the thing is, he had respect for these people who put in so much effort already in hopes of change and a better future for their families, even if these people are Ignites who oppose the force of which most of his race stands in solitude with. He doesn't see the color on their skin as a Problem and is happy to coexist and cooperate.

Gustav Iron wasn't born a rich man, his family went through terrible poverty throughout fairly more than half of his life. Although he managed to dig most of his family out of that terrible rat hole, he couldn't do anything about one very special person, but that's a story for another day. Getting back to the point, since Gustav Iron started from absolute 0 himself, he doesn't see shame in hard sweat breaking work. Often he was seen working along with the Farmers he hired, so their work would be a bit easier when there were big tasks to tackle. In these times, that's a very rare case.

Another reason why he lent a hand with the Cargo, is to form a good political statement from the very beginning, he didn't want to lose this chance even though he could afford it with ease. He wants to show this town that his presence here is due to a pure intend. He is here to help these people more than himself. He is rich, he doesn't need more gold, all he feels like he should do now is contribute.

Profit wise, he asked as little as 5% of the future monthly income from Bale Town even though he could of asked for at least 15% easily thanks to the handsome sum of Gold he donated. Such a sum equals to a thousand salaries for some, it's not an amount easily donated for the good of others, yet he did it against all odds.

Apart from setting a political statement, Gustav Iron wanted to be accepted by this Town of Ignites. Their race met a mass massacre throughout the one hundred year war and even after it but at a slower scale. Even though this town is fairly accepting of King Zar and his revolution, it wouldn't be a big surprise if there still are people in this town who don't favour the ill.u.s.tratios to the point of murderous hate.

To undo what the ill.u.s.tratian Alliance has done to these innocent people and their close ancestors, it would take years and even decades. Even after a longer period of time, a good portion will remember the Civil War and use it as a point of reference when on arguments about Equal rights or opportunities and even business deals. War crimes are never easy to forgive and forget and shouldn't be if you think about it. Not everyone is as pure hearted as King Zar and the people following his revolution.

Night fell upon Ignis, they all managed to take care of the Cargo through teamwork, but one problem did occur mid task. The Storage room wasn't big enough to fit everything since the first shipment arrived roughly a couple of weeks ago, this second shipment wasn't small either. When the lack of Storage was reported a bit too late unfortunately, Gustav found it best to take most of the Tools out of the Storage room and place them on the Wagons. 

They prioritized the food supply, because animals can't eat Iron or wooden tool tails after all. This cold weather proves very useful with food preservation as well, so everything is slowly forming together if you take some time to think about it, thankfully! Upgrading the Storage room should for sure be prioritized because the Tools can't stay on the Wagon Forever, the Wagons can be used for delivery or should he returned back at Pameres Kingdom too, they likely need some of them at least.

After putting in all of that hard work through the pitch dark with torches aiding to illuminate the scenes a bit, making the task a bit easier and safer. They finally called it a day and fell asleep. They slept like baby sheep thanks to the road and this little task tiring them out, but they had to sleep along with Guards since there isn't enough space. 

Since food distribution is tackled by the Platoon of Guards, under Delrus Aze's careful supervising of course. The Construction Working team immediately put in work the next day, early in the morning. Before this team of 10 arrived, the Town originally had 3 people claiming to be Construction Workers. And since this Town can't be depended on employees coming from another Kingdom who might or might not choose to permanently live here after this Contract reaches and end, these 3 plus another 2 were immediately hired as Recruits, taken under the experienced Construction Worker's wing. 

Now since there are 15 Construction Workers in Bale Town, 7 of the experienced and 3 recruits set a task to turn Lumber into Wooden Planks. While 2 experienced along with a recruit were currently send to fix old Houses as much and as fast as they could with the given currently limited resources. The remaining 1 experienced and 1 Recruit will be working on the Storage room, trying to expand it as fast as they can to make space for the sets of various Iron tools.

Of course there aren't enough Construction Workers spread in the Town to build or repair, but Planks are desperately required if they wish to finish this Housing repair plan quickly. Without the Wooden Planks, everyone else would just stand around wasting time. In order to get the best Planks, they have to cooperate with the Lumberjacks for a bit to make some requirements clear for them, describing what they need for a more productive progress. That at least wasn't a hassle since there are a lot of Lumberjacks here, plus the Construction Workers are used to cooperating with Lumberjacks back at Pameres Kingdom, so no problem occured. 

As for the Salaries, since there now technically is a budget they can work around, the hired employees have to be paid, even the temporary ones! Although the town can't chip in to afford paying big salaries, a small one had to be secured. The governing team has to show these people that they mean business.