Chapter 174 - Isabel's thoughts.

While King Michael was getting everything ready the next day, lending a hand with loading the Cargo primarily after he gave this little troop a set of rules, instructions they should follow in hopes of avoiding any possible problem. The main rule the entire unit was urged to remember is to keep their true identity and intend there, hidden.

If anyone asks them where they are from, they would reply with. "We come from "Gravel Kingdom", we are running low on food so the King sent us to manually pick good grain." It's rather believable, especially after considering the economical standards in Gravel Kingdom or the fact that they go for quality, however it might make bargaining a bit expensive. Commander Alia will have to find a way around that.

You might have figured it out from the name, Gravel Kingdom doesn't have farmable land. It is built on a huge patch of naturally generated Gravel. I guess the fact that it was generated on a flat land, makes its size a bit more understandable. It's large, stretching an estimated 200 kilometers long! Yes, 200 kilometers! Apart from that astounding length, it's also 100 Kilometers wide, but at some portions its smaller in width. It is almost shaped like the letter "C" but highly deformed instead, so that should help portray a proper Image on your head on how it looks like. Gravel Kingdom is located on the bottom half of this patch.

About 40% of this Gravel patch, stretches through one Forest branch above the Kingdom (About 25 Kilometers away.), it reaches through the other side of this 30 Kilometer wide forest branch and meets an end on the uninhabited beach shores. As for the other part below the Kingdom, it only stretches an estimated 50 Kilometers long. But it is half the time smaller in width compared to the part above the Kingdom (Forest excluded).

Although there are other smaller patches of Gravel spread out through Ignis, this is the biggest one in the whole Continent, it is incomparable to any other Patch. The disability to Farm here is a disadvantage when it comes to food distribution or dependence especially with hunting difficult because of the Forest being an estimated 25 Kilometers away. The two above issues however, don't affect the Kingdom financially. On the contrary, they can put more staff on the numerous Gravel Mines. That necessarily equals to more income in many aspects, especially after considering the population of eleven hundred inhabiting the Kingdom.

This place is a wonderland for Stonemasons, the import demands for Gravel from this Kingdom are high, especially from Meridionali Ignis(ill.u.s.tratian motherland). Thanks to such high demand, the salaries on Gravel Kingdom are 1,000 Gold Coins on average, their standards are immeasurable here in Ignis. The lack of population works to a Domain's advantage for once. Because at this point, the less people there are, the more the Kingdom can afford granting bigger salaries for its people. Even the ill.u.s.tratian motherland can't catch up to such economical standards, but they sure monetized this Kingdom both to get a profit from and to increase building material for individual domain purposes.

As for what the troop requires for this trip to Silver Kingdom, they will need food primarily for this likely week long trip towards Pameres Kingdom. No long trip can be started without a proper amount of food for the trip. Now since the road is covered with Snow, Horses can't run at full speed or medium speed for that matter, so King Michael took extra precautions and longer proper calculations for this trip that will likely take longer because of the environment. He can't risk starving this unit, Commander Alia would chase him with a stick when she returns. Alama would help her too!

Apart from food, the unit will of course need camping equipment throughout this trip or at least until they have more Wagons on their hand, because you can't simply put 24 people in two Wagons. In Fact they won't be able to access the Wagons at all while the Horses are travelling, it would just make everything more difficult and more than two or three people likely won't be able to fit because the Wagons are loaded.

They will have to travel on foot instead and likely help push the Wagons out of snow if it gets stuck. Small to large hills will be their worst enemy throughout this journey, no one would want to risk being run over from a sliding down Wagon, but there is no one else to risk it. They will move as a unit, they will work as a unit. There will be two Ignites to melt the snow if things get too difficult after all. If they are lucky enough, the Snow might melt before they reach Silver Kingdom at the end of February. After that of course, mud might prove even more difficult, because it's dirty and cold too! But maybe Fire will help with those issues as well?

The bad thing is, they might not be able to enter the Wagons even after they send the first couple of Wagons from Silver Kingdom. Because they would need to go towards, Green Kingdom right away, they can't waste time. Luckily that Kingdom is below Silver Kingdom, roughly 35 Kilometers away. After Green Kingdom, they would need to go towards Dragon's Flame Kingdom which is located approximately 130 Kilometers away from Silver Kingdom, towards the North East.

Green Kingdom isn't their primary choice because it might not have as many opportunities. It only holds 800 people in it's two claimed Domains, it might even be a complete waste of time if the unit goes there to bargain. How do they have two Domains you might ask?

Well, Green Kingdom was first built on the Clear Lands. Specifically a bit over 10 Kilometers above the Dense forest. Farming became their main food resource no doubt at first, but when they started including Lumber in their Kingdom as a form of profit, they became quite independent. At least they were before the ill.u.s.tratian Alliance spread wide.

Since Lumber is a big source of their income, they have a second smaller... I'd like to call it town, approximately 115 Kilometers away from Green Kingdom. About 200 people live there, but they are all grown men who are able to put work in. They are toned and physically fit. Mostly men from their 20s to their early 40s. There aren't any Elderly, Children or Women there. Men that work there, risk the chance of never being married. It isn't fun for any of them! As for Dragon's Flame Kingdom, we shall describe it on another Chapter.

Isabel didn't want to come at first, she didn't want to join this Project surprisingly! But Commander Alia talked her into it throughout some... let's call it love bribing. Luckily the rest couldn't understand what they are talking about, infact they weren't and still remain unaware that she actually disagreed at first, which is a big advantage if the two ladies wanted to avoid unnecessary drama caused from this little disagreement.

When Commander Alia told her that she will be a part of this Project, Isabel simply replied. "No. I want to stay here and train!" This of course is translated from the Calidum Lutum language so we can describe this situation a bit quicker, so I hope it doesn't bother the Calidum Lutum Language fans.

Shocked how Isabel refused such an important task for something as simple as training, she asked her calmly in order to avoid attention from the rest who were talking it up about similar topics. "Are you sure you don't want to come? What do you need to train your abilities more for? You are an Elite(Level 4) Swordswoman! You can afford to pause your training for a while."

As soon as Isabel was about to express, Woldemir walked towards them and asked the ladies. "So is everyone ready?" Afterwards with a bit of guilt he added. "I'm sad that I can't join you on this little mission, I have to stay here and train the men." His reason for staying here is strong indeed. But the unit has enough powerful people on their arsenal, they don't need more. So this is the best choice!

Being reminded that Woldemir won't be able to come, gave her a quick theory on why Isabel might be acting strange about this task. She didn't say anything about Isabel though and simply acted like they were all ready, acted like Isabel agreed. "Yes yes. I'm just telling Isabel about the mission, the main points to remember." She had to lie of course until she figured this out, they need an abnormally physically fit woman on their Arsenal. Furthermore she can't tell him about a little theory even she wasn't yet certain about. She can't directly say, "She isn't coming because she wants to stay with you." It would just cause unnecessary drama and awkwardness.