Book 2 C5 Progress.

I finally calmed down, my inner anger dissipated as I slowly ate my breakfast, then I noticed the chair I was sitting in was comfortable, like really comfortable. I look and the chair had armrests covered in a red cloth material. Part of the wood was showing and it was a dark lacquer finish. I looked at the table, it was also different, the top was a sturdy wood polished dark lacquer. I slowly look around, the entire Cafeteria had been transformed, and in my rush to get here and get breakfast, followed by the Wilfred incident my mind did not register right away the changes.

The Entire place had a medieval look to it, however the tables and chairs were very modern wood and cloth designs. A giant fireplace now stood against the south wall of the room, able to bar-b-que a a large Boar if needed.

The Table designated for the King and his court, was on the far east side with four throne chairs placed side by side, facing the room, smaller chairs lined the up side by side next to them. No one was sitting there. The walls and ceiling all had a smokey stone look to them, while the floors were black polish marble looking.

“So you finally noticed huh?” Cindy asks with a smirk.

“Yeah, this is incredible”, I say slowly taking it all in.

“I am looking forward to future upgrades if this is a simple level 1 Keep” Julie says smiling.

“It seems it can fit less people in it than before, tho it is more comfortable and feels warm” Ki'Diera replies.

We continue eating our breakfast, talking about the upgrade to the Cafeteria. After I was done, I decided to head for the roof and get a top view to the place. Cindy decides she wants to practice her Fire Magic some, Julie has more work to do on the scheduling, while Ki'Diera needed to talk to her father and consult the Shaman on curses.

Alexander joins me on my tour as we head for the roof. “Your Majesty as you can see the upgrade is complete.” He says.

“Yes I want to see what this did for us.” I say to him a little excited now.

We get to the roof and head for the west side. All along the roof, battlements have been erected, with turrets on each corner. I look over the battlement and see the West Gate and gasp in surprise, there fully built was a new structure attached to the gate, A guard house. “The new Guard House can house 150 Guards. My men and I have already begun moving to it as our new residence”. Alexander remarks seeing me eyeing it, anticipating my question.

“Also the Blacksmith, Stables and Soldier barracks are completed as well.” He adds.

I turn and look at him,”all of that was done too?”

“Yes Your Majesty, and a few other things as well. All of the rooms have been fully upgraded as have all the walls and ceilings, the floors were mostly done on the first day when the upgrade began, The entire structure is now made with re-enforced Stone supported by mana, future upgrades will change that of course.” He continues.

“So I should get started on the next upgrade then” I ask.

“Your Majesty, having too much defense is a never a bad thing.” Alexander smiles.

I pull up the Kingdom Satuts and see upgrades. I look them over:

Keep level 2 upgrade 60 days 10000g

Walls level 2 upgrade 30 days 4000g

Watch towers level 2 upgrade 15 days each. 400g each

Flanking tower level 2 construction 20 days. 750g each

Main Gate and Guard house Level 2 upgrade 30 Days 1500g

“I have some new options too, Alexander, Flanking towers.” I say to him.

“Yes they are useful as they stick out from the walls and allow our troops to fire down on those who wish to breach the walls, allowing us to hit them from the sides or rear even, your Majesty.” He says smiling.

“Why is the main gate and guard house separate from the walls?” I ask seeing the last option.

“The main gate is a re-enforced structure able to withstand sieges as the main point of entry, and is also the easiest to breach when considering the walls themselves. Right now one of your vehicles like a tank could probably breach it, where the wall with the mana enhancement would stop it. The Guard house is attached to allow guards quick access to defend it, giving us a fortified position to sleep and rest, and defend as needed.” Alexander explains.

“What about the South gate?” I ask.

“At this time it is not as large as to allow so many thru unlike the main gate, as it is more of a door way, thus harder to get thru. But Future upgrades will widen it for faster entry and it too, will have a guard house eventually if you upgrade enough.” He explains again.

“I see you have seen this before or experienced it at least, the upgrading I mean” I say to him,

“Several times in fact your Majesty” He smiles.

“Alright 30 days for the walls so lets do everything 30 and under and get those out of the way, Then we will do the level 2 keep after, to keep costs down.” I say and he nods smiling.

I select Walls level 2, Watch towers level 2, and Main Gate and Guard house level 2 upgrades, Then check the Flanking towers and see I can only build 3, North South and East.

But then I change my mind

KINGDOM NOTICE!You have selected the following upgrade:

Watch Tower Upgrade level 2 15 days 400g each

Please confirm

Yes or No

I select yes.

I decided to start on the Towers only or I would have to pay for 30 days of upgrades when also building the walls and speed ups, costing me twice as much.

The Builders were still here, as their time allotment had not run out and had finished ahead of schedule. Then as if they received some kind of order, some ran towards the Watch Towers and began to work on the upgrade. Others began to vanish in a flash of light. The workforce reduced down to the needed amount for four Watch Towers, while the rest returned home.

“Ok now to Speed this up....” I say to Alexander. “ I am formally putting in a rush job of 15 days”. I say

KINGDOM NOTICE!You must wait 24 hours after start of upgrade

before starting a rush job.

“WHAT? Seriously?” I sigh seeing the message.” Did you know that Alexander?”

“Know what your Majesty?” Alexander asks.

“Oh right, you can not see this, it says I have to wait 24 hours before I can start a rush job.” I say with a sad tone.

“No your Majesty, but then again none of my former employers rushed any of their jobs as the costs were too great for them.” He says smiling.

“Sigh, very well, this just adds to the days we need, but will still be faster in the long run.” I say to him, ”But then again we will have the Builders around for twice as long too”, I then smile.

“Yes your majesty, you are right.” he replies.

I continue to look about the area from the roof, on the East side the Ny'Har'En had set up their camp where the baseball fields used to be and were starting construction on houses, it seems our newly profession'ed Builders were working on it with them. Deep rectangular holes had been dug already, probably using some kind of magic, which was most likely to be the basements of the houses.

Trenches had already been dug, coming to a central point, and outlines of other houses were already taped off. A few Builders were there as well to my wonder. I look about and see the Blacksmith attached to the Keep and smoke is billowing out of it already, the sound of a hammer ringing.

The Stables nearby on the South side are empty. They look like the could hold 50 horses, but we have none to stable, guess this was an added feature to be used at a later date. However a new Structure was being built next to the Stables. It looked more modern and on closer examination, it looked like it could house vehicles, more like a motor pool of some kind and was going up fast, like magic fast. And then I see them, more Builders. Huh? I thought they all got recalled except those who had to work on the towers?

I decide to head down and find out what is going on. Alexander and I head down to see the new structure up close. After a little while we arrive and see 5 builders working on it and Terry Williams taklig to them. As we approach, “ Hey Scott, good to see you!” Terry Williams smiles.

“Hey Terry what is going on here?” I ask curiously.

“We are building a motor pool, none of your vehicles have had any maintenance lately have they?” He says and then asks.

“Uh no, we just have been using them sparingly” I say to him.

“Well all vehicles still need monthly maintenance to keep them in good running order, especially if they are used in combat a lot” Terry replies.

“you are probably right, so how did you get the builders to do this?” I ask of him.

“I was commenting at the fact we had a stable with no horses and vehicles without a motor pool and that is was ironic” He says “then one of the builders offered to start on a motor pool for us.”

“Really now?” I ask in surprise.

“(Yes your Majesty, you do plan to start rush job on the towers tomorrow right)?” a Builder ask me in thought.

“(Of course, and each upgrade there after)” I reply to him.

“(Then it is not a problem that we can spare a worker or 2 from each tower for a day till then, as such we have 8 Builders who are going to assist in various other projects you have going on as well.)”, thinks the Builder to me.

“(That is very helpful to us, thank you)”, I say to him. He nods and returns to work.

“If you will leave the Vehicles here with me I can get started on some of them.” Terry says to me.

I then pull out the 16 Hum-Vee's, My Truck and the 6 Tanks and line them up according to Terry's instructions. My Truck is really looking sad now.

“Umm you really want to keep that?” Terry asks hesitantly seeing the Truck.

I sigh. Look at the Truck and sigh again, it was paid for, and served me well during this time. I felt a bond to it for some reason. “No, do what you need to it, if you need it for spare parts”, I say sadly.

“Very well, the rest should be put on a regular scheduled maintenance. I am going to need maintenance supplies and tools as well. Oils, and such” he says to me, and I nod.

“I will get a team to go grab an auto parts store for you” I say to him.

“Unfortunately most stores do not carry the parts we need, we may need to go back to Fort Carson to get the motor pool stuff there.” He says to me shaking his head.

“Alright back to Fort Carson, guess we can check the Drow cave too, then, to make sure they are gone, since we will be in the area.” I say to him and take my leave.

"If it is not one thing, it is another", I mutter and just then I see Annabelle running to me fast on her short stubby legs, her pony tail whipping the air “Your Majesty your majesty!” she cries.

“Yes Annabelle?” I say to her.

“Your Majesty with all the added people the food is now going fast, we will need to resupply soon.” she says in a rushed voice and her face is flushed.

“Ah yes, more people means more food. Plus the power being out means most has spoiled by now. So only canned goods and such will be available to us.” I remark. “Alright I will get a few teams on it too.”

I head for the Keep, Alexander has been quiet the whole time since the roof.”Your Majesty would you care to see the meeting room for the court?” He asks

I look at him, “sure”

He leads the way and the former Admin office loomed ahead. Two Guards stood at the thick Dark wooden double doors. They open the doors for us and we enter. The place was wide open , the offices and filing cabinets gone. I look at the entire place speechless and in awe. I felt like I was in NORAD

On the wall was the Kingdom Status displayed with running numbers and a Map that outlined out area.. Next to it on either side were various displays showing agriculture, military, education , commerce and the Treasury. On argiculure it showed food days left, and 9 days showed

“Hmm 9 days for now and we can get that back up in no time, but in the future when no more canned goods exist around here, we will have to live off the land. And there will be no more fresh protein either, since most, if not all the farm animals and wild life have been slaughtered as well. Jeeze Alexander this is exhausting thinking about it.” I say to him feeling down now.

“Your Majesty, it is the test of your abilities to be able to keep your people fed and safe.” He replies.

"We need farms to get started now, we need to find and raise animals as well, and begin stockpiling. Tho the warehouse we have now is big, we will need bigger to house the future foods and such, more freezers and refrigeration's as well. Sigh so much to do Alexander.” I complain to him.

“Your Majesty, you did appoint a head of Agriculture did you not?” He smiles to me

“Hah! So dump it all on him?” I laugh at that.

“Precisely your Majesty!” He smiles

“Alright then, fetch me Larry Benally please!” I say to Alexander with a smile

Alexander turns and speaks to one of the guards at the door who rushes off in an instant. I keep looking at the displays, reading the different graphs and numbers, so much information here. This is like a strategy room. After a few moments Larry Benally, escorted by the guard, arrives.

“Hey Scott what's up?” He asks.

“Larry as head of Agriculture I need you to take command of our food situation.” I say to him.

“ok, but we will need a better place to store it all then. We have no where near enough space for everything needed. Also going to need farming equipment, like Tractors and Harvesters, plus going to need more hands as well if we want to get fields planted.” He says “Then there is irrigation and such to consider.”

“I leave it all to you Larry you know what is needed! I give you Authority to get it done. If it needs to be built, ask the Builders and our Builders to assist, but right now we need housing so hold off on that for now ok? It will be a while before you can harvest right?” I ask him.

“There is that, but I can also accelerate crops, at my skill level, I can get two harvests from a field in a season it looks like and it will go up as my skill increases.” Larry says

“All this has to be done outside of the walls you know.” I say to him.

“It is my understanding that the area around us is pretty safe, so having the fields outside will be ok. Seeing a patrol or two would not hurt to ensure our safety too.” He remarks.

“I will have Rick coordinate with you on that.” I say to him with a nod.

"There is also the need to bulldoze and remove the housing and shops in an area to clear the land Scott”, He says to me.

“We will have to designate a farm area, scout out the lands and see which is appropriate for your needs and how much land you will need.” I say to him.

“The lands by the river would be best, as it will be easier to irrigate from there.” He replies.

“So the south side then?” I ask, as a river, the Animas River, flows near there from the Colorado Mountains which sends us it's annual melted snows.

He nods.

“Well then lets begin project Food!” I say to him with a smile and a nod.