Building a World Class Empire in another World
Chapter 115: Furnace

Chapter 115: Furnace

Ariel did exactly what Aric asked; she instructed that all construction work be called off for the day, and every worker should take a rest. The hunting team gathered food and a feast was getting cooked. Turned out the female ogres had a lot of knowledge on cooking, and where to find the best natural ingredients in the entire forest.

While everyone was busy getting the food ready, Aric met with Ron, Gunam, and Lucas. He stood amidst the houses, observing their work closely, and then after a few minutes of watching, he spoke.

"You guys really did a good job, that’s all I can say."

"Thank you, Master Aric, but it was your guidance that allowed us to come this far," Ron said, as usual trying to push the praise to Aric.

"Ron, learn to take pride in the work you do. I didn’t lay a hand on any of these buildings; you are the ones that did it. Yes, I gave you the materials that you needed, but even then you built on the idea I gave you and created something even better," Aric said. He didn’t look at them, he kept his eyes straight, still observing the building.

After he had gotten his fill, he turned around and faced them. "But now, a different task faces us, and that’s the road," he said.

"A road?" Ron asked.

"Yes, movement within the town is not going to be easy if we don’t have well-built roads. We need to build the roads for this village. It will enable safer and faster movements.

The issue here is that I can’t even begin to teach you what you’ll all need to get the road working, and from my guess, you haven’t fully learned how to read, right?" Aric asked.

"We are getting better, Master, and in a few days or so, we will be better," Gunam replied.

"It’s fine, there is no rush in it. Just do it at your own pace. That being said, I’ve found a way to enable that you’ll learn how to do things without needing to read," Aric said and suddenly pulled out a crystal.

"These are called memory crystals. They are really expensive and precious, so there aren’t a lot of them lying around. This crystal uses Mana and runification to record information and display it in a way that you can watch and understand.

This one in my hand carries the full information needed to make roads, from the planning to the execution. I want to give this to you because I believe that you three will put in the full work and actually learn it," Aric said. He tossed it over to Ron. Ron grabbed the crystal midair and the three of them bowed to Aric.

"Thank you, Master. We will do our best to ensure that we learn the contents of the crystal immediately," Ron said.

"That’s good, but again, don’t push yourselves too much. Learn at your pace. When you want to use the crystal, infuse some of your Mana into it and it will activate," Aric said, and then left them.

He headed back to his room in the house and got on his bed. He opened the system and started reading information on glassmaking, as that was the next phase in his village development.

He didn’t want Ron to finish the house he was building simply because he was yet to introduce glass. He wanted the windows to be made of fine glass, and he also wanted to start making glass items, like cutlery and plates.

According to the system, glass was a mixture of different simple materials—sand, soda ash, and limestone—melted under intense heat and formed into the perfect shape.

But Aric didn’t want to stop there, because this world had magic and Mana. If infused perfectly into glass, he would be able to create a very reinforced glass.

He already had the template for the furnace that they would use and every tool that was needed. All he had to do now was get it built when he was ready. He kept going through the plans and the details until he fell asleep. Seemed he was more tired than he expected; the fatigue had gathered inside his body.

[.....]

His eyes opened under the light of the morning sun. Aric groaned and rolled on his bed, rubbing his eyes as he tried to sit up.

"Did I sleep?" he asked himself.

"You most definitely did. I even had to call off the meeting because you were asleep," Ariel said. Aric turned to look at Ariel seated at the edge of his bed.

"Argh, what are you doing here this early?" he said, his voice still droopy from just waking up.

"I came to check up on you. After all, you crashed entirely," she said.

"I didn’t crash, I was just tired a bit," Aric said.

"Whatever you say, but that’s not the only reason I came. I have two other reasons. I was thinking maybe we began house allocations for the citizens of Terra.

I also wanted to ask for your permission to give the go-ahead for us to furnish each house with the basic amenities. Elisa is working with some of the goblins to make comfortable beds and chairs.

Since you allowed her to learn clothing and more, she was able to use that knowledge to make beds," Ariel began rambling about what needed to be done.

"I think I know why I crashed. Waking up to all this work is definitely part of it," Aric said in his mind. He sat down straight on the bed and looked at her.

"Yes, start the allocation and also the furnishing and whatever, but we are not going to lose everything by giving them for free.

Whatever I’m about to tell you will require some calculations, but this is the summary. Everyone basically helped in the building of the house, so I want them to feel like they are rewarded for it.

So basically they get the house for free, but that’s free in name. They have to sign a contract that in future they’ll pay for amenities and maintenance of the houses by us—the kingdom.

They also have to pay a seasonal rent for being on the land that belongs to us. But we won’t make them feel like they are paying for the house at all, that way the house still remains free," Aric explained his plan to Ariel.

"You are trying to start incorporating economics into the village, I see," Ariel said.

"Exactly. But for now, we don’t have any money, or in better words, instrument of exchange. So have them sign the contract in anticipation for when we have our own money system," Aric said.

"I see. I’ll get to it right away then," Ariel said and got up to leave.

"Wait, one more thing. We will be heading to the wolf and the lizardmen tribe tomorrow. It’s time we finally get rid of the terror.

I have a bad feeling that our progress will be hindered if we don’t get rid of him soon enough," Aric said, a cold light in his eyes as he spoke. When he had said he was done playing around, he was very serious.

After Ariel left, he got the blueprint for making the furnace for the glass and headed out as well. He searched for Quadoris and Treshan immediately, taking them to a clean space close to the new manor that was being built.

"Your new home is looking good, but why did they stop building?" Treshan asked as they arrived there.

"I asked them to stop. There is something I need added to it. It’s part of the reason I brought you here today. I want to make glass.

The furnace he wanted to build was a very crude and simple one; anything more could come later in the day.

He took out the blueprint and handed it to Quadoris. "I need you to use your strongest rock form to make this for me," Aric said.

"Exactly as it is? I can see some grooves and holes that seem like there should be something inside them," Quadoris said.

"Yes, you have to make it like that exactly. Those spaces are there so that certain metal wires and frames can be fitted inside of the furnace.

When Treshan uses his flames, I want it to be conducted faster and hotter, to melt what I’ll put inside of it," Aric said.

"I feel there’s no need for the wire frames, Master. There is nothing my flames can’t melt, or so I think," Treshan said.

"True, I understand that. But what I want to do is a test, because after now, the goblins will have to use it without your fire," Aric said and then turned to Quadoris.

"Just get to it. I’ll head over to find Pentharis now. I need him to come and make the frame," Aric said and walked away.