chsdbacks Chapter 51 The Harbor is Completed!
Chapter 51 The Harbor is Completed!
Tasha and her group did not linger in Sapphire Bay.
They had already prepared supplies for the long journey, so they didn't need to replenish anything at Sapphire Bay.
The guards were all well-trained and could easily handle long journeys; only the sailors would be a slight hindrance, but only a minor one.
Allen saw Tasha and the others off, and was in a good mood.
Tasha's unexpected visit not only allowed him to reunite with his old friend, but also gave him the opportunity to contact the tribes in the North.
After Tasha and her group left, Allen Ten took action and began to take stock of the slave refugees sent by Lyriel.
The three slaves he negotiated with yesterday were used as representatives of the three categories.
The half-orc Grugg represents a group of refugees who lack clans, ethnicities, and family and friends.
This is the easiest to deal with; they are homeless and only need a place to stay and a meal.
Their value was also diverse; some were good at fighting, some were good at socializing, and some had mastered craftsmanship.
To fully understand this aspect requires a lot of time and effort.
The half-snake woman Sharak is the second case; she has an entire tribe among the slaves who were defeated in a tribal war.
Therefore, they longed for a large enough area to become a new home for their community.
It is worth mentioning that although the representative is the half-snake person Sharak, her people are almost all pure-blooded snake people, with snake heads, four arms, and scales all over their bodies.
Sarah's appearance was simply more acceptable, so she was chosen as the representative.
This snake-people tribe has development potential; it is capable of training snake-people warriors and passing on snake-people crafts.
Although they are far fewer in number than lower-level monsters like kobolds and gnolls, they are potential future threats.
The Serpent People are currently very keen to join Stone Fortress and hope to be accepted so they can start multiplying again in Sapphire Bay.
Allen wouldn't refuse such a situation.
Finally, there is the third case, represented by the fox spirit Linor.
Among this group of slave refugees, including the fox-people, there were many smaller tribes.
They were captured by slave traders and enslaved for various reasons.
They longed to return to their home in the Western Islands and to be with their families.
But with only the small boat Tasha left behind, they would only perish in the raging waves of the Howling Wind Sea.
Therefore, their demands are very complex.
Hopefully, Allen can take us in temporarily, and then we can return to our home in the Western Islands once we build a large ship or establish a trade route.
However, this was undoubtedly a one-sided effort by Shibao.
The stone fortress had to set aside an area for them to live in, provide them with food, and finally send them away.
Even if Linor herself had the best ideas, she knew it was impossible to achieve.
Linor then proposed that she would first serve Stonecastle, and that Stonecastle would not obstruct her return to the Western Islands once she was able to do so.
Allen rejected the proposal outright.
What a joke! Keeping a bunch of ungrateful wretches in his own territory, thinking about leaving every day, is an unacceptable expense for Allen.
With such thoughts in mind, it's impossible for them to carry out production and construction here in a down-to-earth manner.
Rather than that, Allen would rather have none of them at all; in Allen's eyes, these people weren't of much value to begin with.
After Allen rejected the second proposal, Linor was clearly flustered.
After some internal discussion, they quickly came up with a final proposal.
They will pledge allegiance to Stone Castle as its permanent inhabitants.
They hoped to establish a standard of contribution so that Allen could see their contributions.
After accumulating a certain amount of contributions, an ethnic group can "buy" back the freedom of a small number of its members.
Hopefully, Allen will allow a small portion of them to return to their hometowns at that time.
Although this is tantamount to exchanging the freedom of family members and clansmen for the freedom of a small number of clansmen, it is still acceptable to them.
Most of the clan members who are willing to stay are elderly people and parents from the clan, who hope to at least fight for something for their children.
Allen reluctantly agreed to the proposal.
At least this proposal can bring some value to Sapphire Bay.
It's better than nothing.
Alan agreed to the proposal in part because of Lenor and her fox-people.
This group of fox-people, fluent in multiple languages and skilled in communication, can become Allen's tool for managing scattered refugees and small groups of refugees.
With the management costs she saved, Allen didn't have to spend too much energy on this group of people.
So, after three rounds of negotiations, Allen announced that he would accept the refugees as residents of Sapphire Bay.
They also allocated a flat area near the harbor foundation as land for these refugees to build their homes.
They also had the jackals allocate a batch of timber and stone so that they could build houses on their own.
The remaining factor is the value they can demonstrate, which will determine whether Allen should invest time and resources in them.
After settling the refugees, Allen focused all his energy on improving his own strength.
He once devoted himself to improving his strength because he was worried about being hunted down by the dark wizard, the Decayer.
Later, after several months of peace, he gradually relaxed.
But the arrival of the silver dragon Lyriel and this group of slave refugees made him realize once again the importance of strength.
With the Kuroshio Trading Company in existence, there will inevitably be people reaping the benefits once the port is built.
To protect the hard-earned foundation, one must possess fangs that instill fear in the enemy.
……
In the blink of an eye, several months have passed once again.
When the cold wind from the north finally broke through the blockade of the northern mountains, the pleasant air in Sapphire Bay gradually took on a chill.
Sapphire Bay has changed dramatically by now.
What was originally just a foundation on the beach has finally given rise to the outline of an integrated harbor, embracing a large crescent-shaped shallow bay.
The first thing that catches the eye is three deep-water docks, built of hard and regular black stone. The kobolds put in a lot of effort to collect special stone from deep underground.
The pier extends straight into the sea, large enough to accommodate four medium-sized ships or two large ships at the same time.
On one side of the dock, there is a large shipyard directly connected.
Allen originally planned to build an outline first, without rushing to build the interior, since there weren't enough shipbuilding craftsmen and it wouldn't be usable anyway.
As it turned out, the group of refugees gave Allen a pleasant surprise: several of them from the Western Islands had mastered shipbuilding techniques.
Although their skills were still relatively rudimentary, with a standard dry dock and a ready-made ship that they could dismantle at will, they took some bright refugees as apprentices and within a few months, they actually got the dry dock up and running.
At least they dismantled the ship Tasha brought, reassembled it, and successfully set sail once.
As for the extra planks and nails... they said it was just redundancy in the process and not very important.
As for iron nails, it's to be expected. The snake people are skilled at making hidden weapons and poisons, so they naturally have a tradition of blacksmithing.
After Allen allocated some kobolds specifically for supplying ore, their blacksmith shop opened, finally solving Allen's critical iron shortage problem.
South of the dock, a tall tower stands atop a cliff on the south side, its body constructed from massive timbers and thick stones.
This is a lighthouse prepared for the official operation of the harbor.
It just hasn't been lit yet.
Once ignited, it can illuminate at least ten miles of sea, becoming a reliable coordinate on the howling sea.
If special magical materials are used to create the lighting, the illuminated area will be even larger.
The harbor was surrounded by high stone walls and arrow towers, which were also included in the architectural plans as defensive fortifications. If equipped with long-range cannons, they would provide a strong defensive capability against enemies coming from the sea.
Inside the walls were neatly arranged open-air storage yards and warehouses, which were empty at the moment, only piled with construction timber and stone, as well as dried seafood, animal hides, and herbs.
These buildings are standard structures included in Allen's architectural drawings, and their construction is flawless, making them magnificent and imposing.
The entire harbor has only completed its core area so far, but it is fully equipped with functions such as docking, repair and construction, supply, storage and defense.
Allen did not include these new subjects in the labor force scope of the Lord's Handbook, and therefore did not allow them to actually participate in the construction of the harbor buildings on the blueprints.
Involving them in the construction might speed things up, but it would also expose Allen's special abilities.
Compared to these complicated people, Allen has more faith in the simple-minded monster race.
Apart from the buildings in Allen's architectural drawings, the area around the harbor is a settlement built by the new residents, with smoke rising from their chimneys every day.
Many new settlers have also built artisan buildings—such as blacksmith shops and leatherworkers—and towns are beginning to take shape.
Besides the construction of the seaport, these new residents brought Allen many surprises.
Just as Sarah said, the Serpent People have made Sapphire Bay their new home for breeding and reproduction.
Skilled in using and making poisons, they found a spider's lair that Allen had explored long ago.
Through the unique methods of the snake-people, they actually managed to gradually tame a group of demonic spiders!
Originally, they only wanted to obtain enough spider venom, but after the fox people discovered this, they asked Allen for the spider silk.
The fox-people, skilled in weaving, wove the spider silk, a byproduct of the magic spider, into a cloth and presented it to Allen.
Although spider silk cloth is produced in small quantities and can only be made by the most skilled craftsmen of the fox-people, its effects are truly excellent.
Not only is it warm and breathable, luxurious and soft, but it also possesses remarkable magical conductivity due to the characteristics of the magic spider!
In other words, this can be considered a magical material.
Aside from not being fire-resistant, it doesn't have any major drawbacks.
This coincided with Allen's original idea, and he immediately made Spider Silk Cloth an important commodity in Sapphire Bay.
He also promised the fox-people that as long as they passed on this skill to other people, they would receive a contribution to leave Sapphire Bay.
With Allen's promise, the fox-people's enthusiasm soared, and they began producing spider silk magic cloth day and night.
Linor also diligently selected intelligent refugees who were willing to settle here to teach them weaving skills.
Besides iconic products like Spider Silk Cloth, other artisans in the new colony also began producing various other products in Sapphire Bay, adapting to local conditions.
The [Fishing and Hunting Hut] and [Wild Hunting Ground] originally only produced food.
Now, various by-products have also emerged, greatly increasing the variety of goods available in Sapphire Bay.
Besides the new settlers, the development in other parts of the territory is also very encouraging.
The jackals re-established their home in the northern mountains and, under the leadership of their former chief, Kag, quickly adapted to their work in the [Wilderness Hunting Grounds].
With a sufficient food supply, the gnolls, who were already more numerous than the kobolds, accepted the new job more quickly.
Now they patrol the territory within the Stone Castle area every day, responsible for summarizing and reporting all the situations within the territory, giving Allen real control over major and minor matters within the territory.
At the same time, they also became the regular army within the stone fortress, and their strength was much greater than that of the kobolds.
With the addition of new inhabitants, Allen requisitioned a batch of leather armor and scimitars from the snake people to give the gnolls a complete makeover.
Since it's an army, the weapons and equipment must be the best.
As a result, the jackals' strength immediately increased significantly compared to before.
Allen deployed them to the conquest of the Boarmen tribe and instructed Solina not to intervene.
The goal is to test the strength of a purely monster army, equipped with weapons and adequate logistical support.
On the other hand, after a long period of communication, Viola finally maxed out the little wood spirits' favorability.
These timid and weak little fairies, finally led by Viola, moved to the Tree People Forest in the northern mountains.
The ancient tree elder was very pleased with the addition of the little wood spirits, as their magic would promote the growth of the tree people.
So he gave Viola higher authority, allowing her to command more and more powerful tree beings.
Since Viola began studying arcane magic with Solina, her magical manipulation skills have benefited other spellcasting classes, and Viola's Ancient Tree Priest class has also made significant progress.
However, relying solely on Viola's elven magic is still a drop in the ocean when it comes to expanding the Treant Forest.
The ancient tree elder was already quite satisfied with this; its lifespan was so long that it seemed endless, and it had become accustomed to the longevity of the elven bloodline.
It believed that given enough time, the tree people could prosper.
But Allen wasn't going to wait that long. He had already planned to build structures directly within the Tree People Forest in the future.
Although Sapphire Bay's main function will inevitably focus on commerce in the future, Allen still has other plans.
But Allen still wanted to establish a certain scale of agricultural production within Sapphire Bay.
In addition to food crops, with the help of elven magic, potion cultivation will also be an important output of Sapphire Bay.
The buildings used for agricultural production can be incorporated into the Shuren Forest.
Tree people are also trees. By allowing the effects of architecture to directly affect the tree people, the expansion of the tree person forest becomes a natural process.
Allen wouldn't let go of the most cost-effective soldier in the current [territory].