NOVEL SIMPLE [Vol.5] Ch.27 Auction Part 2
We waited about five hours for the tide to rise enough for us to dock and unload everything from the ship to move to the fort. I kept an eye out to analyze how Kao designed his fort to compare it to our own defenses to see what I could learn. From what I know about this location though, it's considered an outpost more than a fort, which might mean that it's defenses are relatively simple as compared to their normal defenses.
As we approached, the first thing I noted is that this island is incredibly windswept. The wind was blowing even harder than it does on our island, and ours has an abundance of wind. There aren't any trees here, only tall grasses. I did notice a few birds I didn't recognize flying about, so I'm assuming that the whole ecosystem is a bit different on this island than on ours.
As we got close to the fort walls, I noticed a pair of large barrels coming from a defensive position that look very similar to the rifled artillery we built for our island's defense. Considering I had the help of some of Kao's military engineers through that endeavor, I figured this would happen. It's probably the beginning of the end of fortified defensive positions when it comes to war. Once those artillery get scaled up and go through a few design revisions, they'll be able to outrange any mage who might be in a fort.
Though, it may not be the end of forts if demons still present a recurring threat to people on the mainland. Forts will probably remain useful for that reason alone, let alone if they have dangerous beasts they need to protect themselves from. Though they'll probably have to adapt to new war strategies after those artillery become commonplace.
When we finally entered the fort, I noticed that the walls are a bit over ten feet thick, which was quite impressive. Unlike our walls, which are smooth, these walls are made from solid blocks of stone, with some form of mortar between them. The inside of the fort is developed and built into the slope of the hillside, with the entire inside divided into terraces with stairs between each terrace. The center of the fort features a cart and rail system similar to our own, but quite a bit higher quality.
As we made our way to where we'd be staying, I spotted a fairly large opening, about twenty feet wide, going diagonally down into the hillside, with it's own rail depot. I can't say for certain what goes on in there, but they had to get the stone for construction somewhere, so at the very least, I can probably assume that they cut some of their blocks for their walls from there.
We got all our crates moved to a secured warehouse with dwarven guards, along with the crystal. For today, all our goods will stay in that warehouse. Tomorrow, Shasta will show me the facility where the auction will take place, and we'll get started with some of the preparations for that.
I did find out more about that large opening that led underground, as we went down there as part of being shown where the auction would take place. As we went into the underground through the opening, I found out that it wasn't just some mine. This tunnel leading down opens up to more facilities underground, just like above ground. I didn't get to see what was inside most of them, but there were plenty of openings along the sides of the downward tunnel where you could go in and out of a facility.
One side of the path down had rails, and there were landings every thirty feet or so where the carts could turn around or enter a facility on that side of the tunnel. After we travelled about two-hundred feet, we came across an ornate archway. Inside was the location that the auction will take place. The walkway in splits quickly into two paths, left and right, and a closed doorway ahead of us. We went through the doorway, which led to a central display area.
The display area was a decagon, and about twenty feet in diameter, with a pedestal where the crystal will be installed for the auction. One face of the decagon was the path we entered from. Eight of the faces are large glass windows with stone walls dividing eight rooms. Then, opposite the path we entered, there was another door, though this one was made of metal. Through that door was a relatively small room, surrounded by metal. This is where the crystal will be kept until the auction occurs, in a vault that the dwarves have constructed here.
I was curious how the dwarves maintained contact with the mainland in order to communicate from their outpost, so I asked Shasta. I shouldn't have been that surprised by the response, but they pay a very hefty fee to have a dark elf with their specialty trained birds relay messages to and from the island. The birds are apparently trained enough that they can wait until the morning after a delivery for a response message.
The island itself doesn't have an elf, and can't relay messages back to Kao easily, but when he has information for them, or does a routine check-in, he can send a message from the mainland. I'm definitely starting to see how a year's notice was probably very expensive to coordinate this auction. Though that does tell me that the large crystals must be considered quite valuable for him to put all this effort in when his payment for this time is one of these crystals.
Given those costs though, and the construction of the vault that he put in here, I think I'll give him whatever crates are leftover after the greeting gifts are given, rather than just ten of them. It's best to show appreciation for hard work, and salt and paper are relatively cheap for us to produce. They'd just sit in our warehouse for a whole year anyway if I don't give them away. Though, if I'm just giving them away anyway, I should probably increase the gift to the participating warlords from 6 to 8 as well. With six warlords attending, that'd still leave 32 crates for Kao, which is quite the gift. It's hard to justify it in terms of lost trade value, so instead I'm thinking about it as buying a good impression.
We aren't expecting any of the warlords to arrive until the middle next month, which leaves us with about thirty days until any activity starts to pick up. On one hand, it seems like a bit of a waste for us to have come here so early, as we could be doing something more productive, but if we had potentially cut it closer, weather or other issues could cause plans to fall apart, so this extra time is fine.
I've been meaning to try to learn written dwarvish, so this is a good opportunity. I already speak some of it thanks to my interactions with dwarves over the years, and recognize a few words like month names, but learning it more properly should be beneficial, especially since we're using it for record keeping now.
I asked Shasta to teach me what she could in the short time. She agreed, but I'm being put to work on other tasks in exchange. Given that I can do labor for part of the day when I'm partially asleep, and then focus on learning language during the the rest of the time, that wasn't an issue. If anything, I'm glad to have something to keep me busy. The hobgoblins have also been helping haul materials for the dwarves.
When I'm half-asleep, I'm either hauling or cutting stone from the deepest part of their tunnel cutting into the hill, which I'd gauge at about a third of a mile long at this point. The hobgoblins aren't working particularly hard, and only do about four hours of work. Though that's largely because there isn't that much work to be done. The dwarves and I only have so much mana to cut stone with, and although we do have the large crystal here right now, we definitely won't be using it to recharge ourselves given it's going to be sold. We've only been at this for a few days, but I can tell that it's making a good impression on the dwarves we're helping.
As for food, the diet here consists mostly of fish and dry grains. The grains are kept underground in one of the many storerooms, and the fish are caught from the waters around the shore on a boat. Seeing them using a fishing boat with rods mounted on the boat itself makes me wonder if we should make a fishing vessel or two once we get our harbor built. The artificial tide pools are great, but they're also limited by location, and fishing boats would expand our food supply, especially if we introduce netted fishing trawlers.