The next day, Jerimiah informed me that the first round of trade had left the town and returned several times richer for the effort. I already knew thanks to the power of my eye. The farmers had gotten a good price for their produce thanks to turmoil in the Kingdom making farming difficult. Many people had fled their homes or had their crops burned by soldiers, pushing prices up.

That meant that the farmers could now pay for goods and services. I had made it clear that until we were connected to the rest of the Kingdom, money would be precious and in short supply. The people of the town were rational enough to realize that hoarding it wouldn’t benefit them, nor was is worth more because of that. The value would return to normal pretty quickly once everyone had access to methods of earning it.

This ‘communist paradise’ experiment I had accidentally created couldn’t last forever. The town was collectively purchasing food from the farmers by offering them free tools, clothes and other necessities. It wasn’t convenient, and it meant that the people who produced those things were paying for everything. That wasn’t very fair – and they were liable to complain about offering their work for a discount price.

There was also the difficult question of taxation. Along similar lines, people were working for the collective good of the town – but when that sense of identity weakened in the future, we’d need money to pay people to do and maintain things. Someone would have to have the unenviable job of tax collector. We’d need to keep track of people’s earnings (easy to do with my power,) and tax them appropriately.

All of these issues pointed to one solution – expanding our government.

Emmerich had dropped by the office that day, and saw me furiously working on my documentation. I found writing down my ideas allowed me to refine them very quickly. I’d aired some of those issues to him previously. Emmerich didn’t pretend to understand them fully, but he was a good person to bounce things off of.

“Tax money, keeping things running smoothly. It’s going to be a lot of work, which is why I’m thinking about our government.”

Emmerich nodded, “I see. There’s a lot of folks out there who make a good living by helping out the counts and dukes.”

“They’re probably just ‘advisors’ who he can ignore as he wishes, I want to do something official. I want experts from our major sectors to make issues known and help implement ideas. Like you! You’re connected with the woodsmen and know your way around an axe.”

I wandered over to my board of papers and hung up a new one. It was a rough list of ideas that I had for those ministers and their roles. As we were only a small village, the ones I decided were needed were as follows. Agriculture, trade, forestry, business, housing and mining.

The agriculture minister would be responsible for handling the farmers. We had a lot of them, so it was going to be the hardest job. I already had a few people in mind for it, but I suspected that Jerimiah wouldn’t accept the position if I offered it to him.

The forestry minister and the mining minister had a similar position, communicating key issues, implementing ideas, making things more efficient. The business minister was for the secondary goods producers within the town centre. They were all to be connected by the trade minister, who was ultimately responsible for getting things in and out of the town.

“Can you get the word out for me?” I asked. I still had to go and see how Amelie as doing, I didn’t have time to go to the four corners of the town and negotiate getting volunteers for the position.

“Sure. I think I get the picture well enough.”

With that business concluded, I packed away my things and locked the office behind me. One of the benefits of my magical eye was that nobody else could see the sensitive information that I was working with. Still, I didn’t need someone breaking in and messing up my stuff. I waved to some of the people still living in the building as I passed and left through the front entrance.

It was a sunny day on the coast, so I enjoyed a pleasant, short stroll down to the waterfront where the men were working on setting up our first dock. It was already taking shape, with several logs already placed vertically in the water to act as supports. Three workers were cutting some other logs into planks to be used on the boardwalk.

Amelie looked like she’d been through a war. She was covered in sweat and dirt, and her clothes were waterlogged. “Ah, come to see our progress, have you?”

“Looks like you’re making very good time. Maybe we’ll have some fresh fish sooner rather than later.”

Amelie nodded, “I have a fondness for seafood, it’ll be nice to have something else to eat around here. I’m tired of bread.”

“Bread’s practical. Lasts for a long time, doesn’t need specialized storage.”

“And it’s as dull as dishwater,” she replied.

The farmers were working hard to plant a variety of different crops themselves. Though the end consumer probably wasn’t thinking about how much moving their entire livelihoods to the middle of nowhere on the back of a cart messed with their production.

“This first arm will only take us a few more days to complete. The blacksmith is already working on mooring posts for us. It’ll be long enough for most trading ships to drop by and make some trades. The other side can be reserved for fishermen mooring their boats.”

“We don’t have any fishermen right now,” I explained, recalling the job statistics in my office. Temping a few over would do wonders for our food situation. The waters off out coast were very lively. “We need to inform people about how amazing our new town is.”

“I wouldn’t go that far just yet, Mayor. People are attached to their lives at the hip, they won’t be willing to upend everything and move out here that easily. You need to show them that doing so is in their interest. The dock and opening trade with the neighbours are a solid first step.”

Our nearest neighbour by water was the large coastal city of Senton, located within the Duchy of the Black Cove. The Black Cove was ruled over by a man named Duke Polemarch. The book didn’t contain any personal details about him, but they were likely to be interested in trading with us. The town of Glenfield rested to the direct north. Any of our goods, imported or exported, were going to come and go from there. Both locations belonged to Lunarmar. Though that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Co-dependence would grant us leverage in time.

Everything was coming together.

Duke Polemarch was seldom seen in the halls of the Lunarmar Palace.

Heavy set, with thick bushy black eyebrows and an eternal scowl on his craggy face. He wasn’t the most welcoming person to see storming down the polished marble corridors. Servants and nobles alike gave a wide berth as he passed them by.

He was a man more concerned with ensuring the continuation of his own success over the Kingdom itself. The Black Cove had exploded in size and wealth thanks to an influx of refugees taken from surrounding towns and cities. He was revelling in it and extending rights that those people couldn’t enjoy elsewhere to cement their loyalty.

For once though, the King of Lunarmar had called upon him for consultation on an important matter.

Polemarch was not under the mistaken impression that his words would be taken as gospel. Everything in the palace was buried under two layers of deception and vested interest. The King was no different. He wanted to be in and out as quickly as possible, so upon arrival he made a charge for the drawing room where he was awaiting him.

He knocked on the door thrice.

“Enter!”

He pulled the handle and bowed his head in deference as he stepped inside. Sat upon a comfortable wood and leather chair was the King. King Sebtlander the fourth, to be specific. The King was a decade older than Polemarch, but from appearance you’d be forgiven for thinking it was three times that. The King had increasingly come to resemble a scrambled old man, with grey hair pointing wildly in every direction, and baggy lined eyes that sunk into the back of his skull.

“Good evening,” Polemarch stated politely, “I am here at your request.”

“Good!” the King barked, “They’re driving me crazy in here. I threw the ledger at my chief minister and told him to bring you.”

“…And why would that be, your highness?”

“That blathering buffoon Lomarac assuaged my concerns about this new town he had his eye on with promises of a quick resolution, now, two weeks later – he comes crawling back to me in tears because his idiotic plan of marrying his daughter to the count didn’t work!”

Polemarch bit his tongue and reserve his most powerful venom for less polite company. Frank Lomarac was the head of the self-titled noble family. A man devoid of character, wit or charm. He was utterly foul company. “A new town, sire?”

The King sighed and sank back down in his chair, “Some people fleeing the fighting have laid claim to a plot of land we had our eyes on. Naturally, I asked Sir Frank to handle the matter and ensure the timely delivery of the appropriate tax money to the treasury, and if possible, control over the town itself.”

“And he failed.”

“Yes! Spectacularly! I dismissed him and called you instead – you always seem to know what to do, and they’re close to your Duchy anyway. He sobbed that they already had a leader in place, and they wouldn’t send us any tax money.”

Polemarch now had a rough idea of what land the King was speaking of. If it was close to him, unclaimed and desirable, there was only one space that fit the bill. Polemarch had been eyeing it himself in the hopes of having it added to his jurisdiction.

“If I may speak out of turn. It begs to reason that those people may not have the money to pay. I have an alternate solution that will make everyone happy.”

The King waved his hand, “Let’s hear it.”

“I see little reason to displace this… peasant count. Should he die, we could merely replace him with someone new.”

The King nodded along, granting him the right to continue.

“I say that we use this situation to our advantage. They won’t have the military force to fight back against us, but we don’t need to fight. We offer them a ‘concession’ or two, and get some in return. They can keep their appointed leader, but we get tax money. We ‘assist’ them with establishing trade routes with the Black Cove, in return for a claim on the land and their incorporation into our borders.”

“I see.”

“We get the town, control the leadership and the tax money without any bloodshed or… political marriages,” Polemarch spoke the term with intense disdain.

“Hm.”

Sensing that the King saw his logic, Polemarch moved onto his own concerns, “I agree that it is a matter of some urgency. That town is located on an important chokepoint between the oceans. Several valuable trade routes run through there. Should an enemy obtain control and establish a blockade, it would have serious consequences.”

“And who will be responsible for these negotiations?” he grumbled.

Polemarch moved in for the kill, “If you will allow me sire. I will attempt to bring the count here for a proper discussion. We can hammer out the terms and see where their loyalties lie.”

The King closed his eyes and pondered Polemarch’s proposal.

“I’m interested,” he concluded, “We don’t have the men to spare for a pointless fight with some farmers, and Lord Frank has been less than helpful on the matter. I will delegate responsibility on this issue to you. I expect progress by the end of this week.”

Polemarch bowed, “It will be done.”

“Additionally, my commander wishes to speak with you about our supply lines. You will find him in the usual place.” Polemarch nodded and left the chamber. His shoulders sagged as the King finally moved out of sight. A heavy sigh of relief escaped from clenched teeth.

“Another job for the list.”