AK – The Alchemy Kingdom

Everyone stopped their considerations and waited for Omero. As risky as it could be, they were curious to learn what scheme he had devised.

“We make use of the same system that was used to oppress us. The regions enforce their autonomy and the higher nobles delegate their tasks to lower nobles. They don’t share information willingly and they would rather try to solve problems by themselves for fear of punishment. So, we use this same isolation to free people in secret.”

This time, the reply came from Lew through the communicator..

“You’re right, any Lord would try to keep matters quiet in their domain. But it would impossible for something as big as freeing a village. Guards and Merchants would talk about it, and the impacts on the market would further spread it.”

“Yes, but it takes time. To my knowledge, there’re 12 smaller regions in the Kingdom, and if we liberate one resource village from each of them, it could take a year before they realize it. If we do it fast enough, we might even escape the eyes of the Wardens.”

“That’s… Insane!”

The usually silent Kanin was the first to react, and by the expressions of the other councilors, he wasn’t the only one to think so. How would they go around the Kingdom collecting thousands of people without being noticed? They would need to cross thousands of kilometers while carrying sick, or at least unhealthy, villagers. Forget hiding from the Serions, how would they even feed and protect such numbers?

“I don’t think so… First, we’re using their pride and system in our favor. We would target only resource villages with no contact with Merchants and Adventurers, just like Caiset. So, the news would only spread slowly. We could also create diversions to justify the villagers' disappearance, blaming it on beasts or other parties, like the Sandines. We could start on the earth and water regions, and leave the wind region for last. By moving every rescued village to the next section, we avoid getting caught by the city Lord, who wouldn’t dare to search on other sections. Then, we rescue another village in that section before moving them all to the next section.”

The shocked and confused expressions didn’t prevent Omero from going on.

“After we get the three villages of the earth region, we send them through the boundaries of the fire region and enter the Eastern Forest from the Independent Tribes. The water region would be even easier if we open a path from the Tunnel to the Tribal Lands. Next, we would free the villages of the fire region, and pass through the Independent Tribes and forest again. We should save the wind region for last, though we could choose to skip it entirely to avoid confrontation.”

“How would we feed, protect and move people fast enough?”

After listening to the plan, Karl was a little relieved, as it didn’t involve confrontation. Even so, he would only consider it after Omero proved it feasible.

“For food, we would need to rescue one local farming village from each region. Normally, the best option would be to skip farming villages, as they might cause the biggest impact. But we can exploit the Kingdom system to solve this too. Marlen, care to explain the Serion Kingdom resource distribution?”

After nodding, the elder spoke.

“Each section of the four regions has three types of resources. Magic resources, tribute resources, and basic resources. The magic resources are crystals and other elemental materials obtained through hunts and expeditions launched from post villages. These villages attract Merchants, Adventurers, Mercenaries, and other private parties. Tribute resource villages produce the specialty of the region, which is sent to the Elemental Capital and later to the Capital of Elements. Last, basic resource villages serve the local Lords, providing food, clothing, and other small products. ”

The councilwoman’s flawless description lightened the mood in the Council again. Omero wouldn’t waste this opportunity, so he continued:

“We could focus on basic resource villages to avoid drawing the attention of the Wardens. They should notice eventually, but not fast enough to catch us. If we target local farming villages, we could use the crops to feed the rescued, and the rest can be taken from beasts that try to attack the convoy. Of course, we would need to send more food, but that’s manageable. They would walk during the day and rest in a protected camp at night. After fleeing their section, we could stop for a few days to give villagers time to recover. With enough potions and bubble crystals, we could push away poisoning long enough to get them to a safer location. It’s not a perfect plan, but we can discuss it further… If possible, shouldn’t we help others?”

The room turned silent as everyone considered the plan from their perspectives. Even after being outlined as possible by the ex-Chief, it still looked too dangerous and complex to work. However, he wasn’t done just yet.

“And how would you propose we solve our crisis? We don’t have enough hands in all areas. Even if Lew didn’t ask for more soldiers, he was just being sensible. Look at the size of the Kingdom’s army. If they build a post village in Caiset and start sending people our way, what should we do? How about when the Wind Lord decided to come after us himself? We need to grow, but we need more people. Imagine our strength if we could add 20000 eager workers to our cause. We need them, and they need us. We have already done the impossible many times, don’t forget that we’re much stronger now.”

The speech brought enough emotion and highlighted the right points to get through them. Even Kanin was feeling the urge to agree to it. Their workforce shortage wouldn’t be solved easily, they couldn’t just open their capital to stranges. Except if they shared the same experiences and values as the former villagers.

Then, the councilors' attitude towards the rescue plan changed. They started to throw in problems and possible challenges, not to disqualify it but to improve it to the level of becoming real.

“What about the sick, elderly, and small children? They would have higher numbers than we did, and we would be dealing with many villages.”

Said’s concern was on point, her priority lay with those who couldn’t take care of themselves. The question was directed to Omero, but unknowingly, it had become a matter of Council. Fortunately, even after facing many hurdles, leaving the weak behind wasn’t something they would consider.

At this time, Karl was the one who spoke up.

“We could still use carts to transport them…”

The voices of obvious opposition started to build up in the room, remembering the costs and difficulty of finding enough pulling beasts or wind horses, but Karl pushed through them:

“Aside from the seamstress, Keller also sent a cart builder to us. We still didn’t have time to talk, but we might be able to improve the carts from its building process. I can’t promise anything, but at least we should be capable of improving its speed and capacity. But what if we could make it independent of pulling beasts?”

The possibility was dropped like a wide-range explosion, even in the far way Tunnel, the councilors could barely suppress their excitement. For each Ministry, the access to a self-pulled cart represented something distinctly fantastic.

The previous topic was forcefully shoved away on everyone’s mind, as they started to ponder on the new possibilities. Cheaper and faster transportation between their cities, an improvement on logistics, more revenue for the Council, and more resources for everyone. Military-wise their strength would also jump a few levels. Though it was presented as a possibility, they never considered that it couldn’t be done, they trusted Karl’s ability too much.

After saving himself from calculating the changes that the new invention would bring, the architect of the grand rescue plan realized they had gone off the rails. He cleaned his throat to get their attention and tried to pull them back into his plan.

“That would solve the problem of those who can’t walk here. How long would it take to make the carts?”