Lawrence had turned the front of his house from a small clearing to that of a mini office by simply laying a table in front of his main door, with a small pole that had a crudely written sign saying ‘NOW HIRING’.

A small line of villagers, mostly youths who were unemployed or limited to doing odd jobs to make ends meet were enticed by the words of Roland, who had casually said that Lawrence was paying a good wage to anyone who was willing to learn and earn his keep.

Lawrence’s contract was plain and simple. Food for all three meals was covered for, with one silver piece a day. They were bound to work for Lawrence two years. Performance bonuses were eligible for each employee as long as Lawrence felt that they deserved it.

Next, healthcare for the employee was covered for and that of their family.

Apparently, the concept of going to see a doctor or herbalist in this world is almost otherworldly or rather, out of this world. Apparently to quote Craig, “I rather die than see a herbalist. I’d have to sell my wife, my daughter and my house to afford them!”

However, since Lawrence was able to examine them, he would be more than happy to do so if they wished to. He had tasked Craig to spread the word to the nearby lands as well as letters and job notices that he needed people to work for him.

Jacob had gone off to purchase livestock for Lawrence and as Lawrence handed out the contracts to the 15 or so enthusiastic job-seekers, all of them signed almost immediately, not even asking a single question.

“I will now be handing out the first month’s wage in advance at some time will be needed for construction,” Lawrence said, taking out small pouches filled with 30 silvers each. He had gotten Roland to exchange a few gold bars for small mountains worth of silver in this world’s currency.

However, Lawrence’s dream was to own a large company that was able to take care of its workers responsibly and give back in kind to the people.

The first step will be to control the essentials. To Lawrence, that will be the bare essentials needed to survive for a person, which will be that of bread and butter.

Followed by that, Lawrence will then see what he can do about Black Bay Village’s defences and housing.

From there, perhaps Lawrence will see what he can do about trade over the seas once he understands the socio-economic balance better.

However, he had the concern of upsetting the political power of this region. He wanted to be the Samsung of South Korea instead of being Samuel Zemurray in Honduras.

The large companies of South Korea sometimes referred to as Chaebols are sometimes accused of being the true political powers in that nation. There was a scandal where leaked texts revealed how newspaper editors attempted to curry favour with Samsung executives by writing positive reviews in return for securing positions for their children or relatives in the large corporation where their future is almost guaranteed.

Samuel Zemurray, on the other hand, was a prominent player in the South American Banana War, who was sick of having to deal with Honduras through the United States government and went to the former leader of Honduras and later with the support of the former president, he toppled the Honduras government.

Lawrence was not interested in those things. He intended to live out his new life in the most fulfilling way possible, pending a way to his actual real life if possible.

Lawrence has also come to realize that people in this world that can use magic was far and few in between. However, there was a clear distinction between magic and combat magic.

Normal magic will be for things such as Fireball or Ice Storm that sorcerors in Ever Dawn would be able to cast, or more terrifying spells such as Raise Undead that belongs to the realm of necromancers.

However, combat magic would be that of skills such as Howling Lion, where a blast of coloured air resembling a lion would tear through an enemy.

Magicians are revered and feared universally and often regarded as a nation’s protector or backing and their ability to change the tide of a battle or topple nations from behind the shadows.

A proficient combat magic user will be regarded as an extremely capable knight as most. Apparently, according to the knights that frequented his bakery in the village, having travelled once a week from the fortress to buy his products would trade stories with him.

Apparently, Lord Black has been caught in a rather sticky situation between the territory’s management and King Carmine’s ever-increasing finances.

That aside, as Lawrence spent time secretly coming out at night to build a beautiful storefront, complete with a large signage that in bold golden words, announced the name of the store, The Guardian’s Bakery.

The story was decently large, mainly decorated with oak and potted lavender wood, pillars adorned with cute carvings of bread, doughnuts and other items.

There were numerous circular tables and chairs that allow their customers to eat and drink there instead of having to bring them home.

After villagers shrugged off the initial shock of a building popping up overnight, it was a common scene to see families gather together in the café, enjoying a cup of coffee that Lawrence had declared was from a nation called Arabia or tea from a place that Lawrence had called Sri Lanka.

Of course, those were all nonsense.

Lawrence had even gotten around to hire Craig’s wife and daughter to help him run the shop, paying them the wage of 2 silvers a day due to the sheer volume of customers, near or far that have started to trickle in.

Aside from the doughnuts and croissants that Lawrence can make easily, he has also placed his cooking skills to great use by coming up with some items available in limited quantities. All Quenya and Laura need to do will be to heat them up and serve them until there was none left.

For a start, he tried to make things that would go along well with bread, such as cream of mushroom soup which apparently sold out in the first two hours of opening, followed by clam chowder, which was sold out in the first hour.

As time went by and Lawrence placed more and more people on the payroll, Roland had brought him a breakdown of people who have come in search of a job and was actively being hired under the Carstein Merchant Group, which was what Roland had used as a name for official documentation.

Now, Lawrence had on his payroll, the following strength.

21 craftsmen (Wood)

32 craftsmen (stone)

40 builders

23 farmers

26 labourers

Lawrence smiled, pleased with the numbers. On the other hand, Roland was absolutely furious. He has had to reorganize the storehouse in order to accommodate the massive increase in the number of people in the village which has almost doubled.

However, Lawrence has quelled discontent by hiring Jacob’s wife to cook amazing meals for the workers involved and keeping them on the payroll.

One fine night, Lawrence had gone over to a large piece of land he had purchased and built a row of extremely comfortable dormitories and a few inns as well as a massive storehouse. The dormitories were three stories high, with a single bed, a mirror and a bit of extra space. The colours of the rooms were predominantly that of white and brown, simple and sparse.

The inn had six levels, with the first three levels called by the user interface, the ‘Three Stars Lodge” where there was a simple bed, and a small shower.

The next two levels were the ‘Hallowed Rooms’ where they were significantly larger, with red carpets, chandeliers of Ever Burning Candles that gave the room a never-dimming light which can be extinguished with the clap of a hand as if the candles listened to the wind for your command.

The top floor was ‘The Honoured’ where statues of fine make decorated either side of the door, the walls were adorned with beautiful paintings and amazingly detailed furniture with carvings of angels was present in the room.

Now, with enough to house all the workers, Lawrence turned his mind to how he envisioned his community to be. Water, hygiene, food and more…

To solve the issue of getting clean water, Lawrence opened the construction map once more. Surveying the area, within his large plot of land, Lawrence could tell that the hill nearby had a large spring, where the water was clean. Taking a look at the possible things he could do, he opted for an aqueduct instead.

In ancient times, the Romans have used aqueducts to deliver clean water to an area, having been approved after strict scrutinization by civilian authorities, surveyed by Roman engineers then constructed by Roman labourers and workers.

Even in modern times, in war-torn countries such as Syria, the aqueducts, having stood for thousands of years, provided water that was more precious than gems and gold even after so many years.

With that in mind, Lawrence chose the Consecrated Stone Aqueduct, the pipes within the aqueduct to be lined in ceramic instead of lead.

Back in the days, Roman and Greek physicians were knowledgeable of the fact that mining and accidental consumption of lead was harmful, which was why ceramic was the preferred choice. However, Lawrence, with his extremely high skill in construction, had enabled a special bonus with this building.

The Consecrated Stone Aqueduct cannot be damaged by dark magic, any water or liquid that passes through the structure will come out as pure and clean water. No form of necromancy, magic or poison is able to contaminate the water that flows through it, even if the water source has turned completely vile.

Lawrence was thinking in the long term. What if there was a siege? During the Winter War, as the Soviets stormed into Finland, the Finns poisoned their own wells by placing animal carcasses or animal faeces in them, to place a strain on the Soviet supply chain. However, if Lawrence’s wall was only to protect the buildings in the near area, the logical thing to do would be to actively sabotage the water supply and throw the people into chaos.

He would be fine because he could Purify Food and Water. However, what about the people living here?

Therefore, the only way to sabotage the city without outright destroying the aqueduct would be via the means of poisoning their water supply.

Once the people realize how useful the aqueduct was, Lawrence was certain that to an extent, they would prefer to capture as much of the aqueduct whole as possible instead of having to find an alternative water supply, such as spending manpower to dig for wells or to construct another aqueduct from another location instead of being able to use all that manpower to crush any possible resistance.

Lawrence could only thank himself for his immense knowledge of history and the unbalanced power of his abilities that he is able to even think, conceptualise and make these items. As he watched his handicraft, Lawrence turned his mind to that of commerce.

Lawrence envisioned a three-tiered town, where agriculture was the most exterior one, commerce in the second tier and living quarters in the innermost. As for expansion, he envisioned two things.

Mini-hubs will be built right outside of this new area, linked by well-paved roads and guard posts and with stables and other essential facilities so that various industries can thrive separately.

Yet, all roads will lead back to…

Right, he needed a name for this new area that he was sure would eventually swallow Black Bay Village whole.

That simplifies things. He will just call it Tears, as he noticed on his minimap that the area that he constructed resembled the shape of a tear.

Historians in the future recorded that Tears, later to be interchangeably called Black Bay City or the City of Tears, was the site of several brilliant innovations, the true hub of commerce and even the turning point several times for the Black Family as they stood with their backs to the sea, trusting in the defence of the city. Urban lore even says that the water of the aqueduct can never be poisoned, but no one has ever lived long enough to witness it nor has anyone been foolish enough to try it.

With the construction of the buildings ready, Lawrence planned to raise a wall once enough people resided within them. However, Lawrence wondered how should the people who guarded his territory eventually be called and be like.

“You aren’t normal, are you?”

Lawrence spun himself around and there was the village chief, Roland, looking at Lawrence’s handiwork.

“No, I can assure you I am very much normal,” Lawrence said and Roland looked at the Guardian, whose armour seemed to glow a pale white light even under the cold moon’s shine.

“Very well. Just try to let me live a long time, will you?” Roland replied with a smile, patting the Guardian on his shoulder as he walked away. The Guardian looked at the village chieftain wordlessly and he shouted, “Roland!”

The village chieftain turned around, confused.

Lawrence bowed, the same 90 degrees bow you often saw Korean and Japanese officials take when they are embarrassed or trying to express their sincerity. With that, he heard another laugh as Roland continued walking as if shrugging off the entire incident.

Lawrence smiled as he straightened his back. He did not know well, although Roland had been wary of Lawrence at first, the two bonded quickly over Lawrence’s intensive injection of capital to the development of the area.

Roland himself, perhaps wondered why he believed a man decked out in heavy armour staring blankly at a city that he constructed overnight. Years after his death, his daughter published his father’s diary, nicknamed The Memoirs of the Watcher.

In his diary, Roland had said that for some reason, once anyone cast a look upon Lawrence, they were filled with hope, as if they would be able to weather the harshest storms as long as the Guardian had led them.

He also wrote that on that day, after witnessing an impossible feat (which has led to centuries of debate as to what it was), he had roused Craig and Jacob for a little fireside chat at his home. The conversation lasted all but fifteen minutes.

Roland wrote no details of the conversation, but simply said that:

Everyone was at a consensus that sometimes, living as a rich fool would be better than a dead genius. No one disputed that at any time during our small talk, which we made while drinking the wine that Lawrence distilled and the bread that his bakery made.

Roland Ritz, The Memoirs of the Watcher (Published by Anna Ritz)

Of course, unknown to them, Lawrence had the passive skill called Inspire Courage, but that shall be a tale for another day.