8

Chapter 6

-VB-

I hacked out coughs like an old man with asthma as I sat outside my tiny vertical mine. Grabbing the candle miner hat, I dropped it to the ground and kept coughing.

Having spent the last four hours underground with only a candlelight to show me the way, I came back out with a very meager return. I had hoped to find some good things, but unlike my hopes, most of what I had found underground so far have been smattering of minerals and base metal ores.

I checked the reinforced burlap mining bag to check what I had.

Gold Ore x2

Raw Malachite x1

Raw Garnet x1

Raw Jet x90

Feldspar x522

Low Grade Hematite x201

High Grade Hematite x43

Coal x728

Dirt x5090

Cobblestone x3111

With each unit being one cubic centimeter, I supposed that cobblestone could be used for construction, and all of the Hematite could be smelted down for their iron. Coal would help with that.

As for the gold ore and the raw gemstones, they needed to be smelted or cut, so the end result would be far less than what I had now.

And what was feldspar for?

[Feldspar (Ore)

Despite being an unassuming ore, it is used in glassmaking and ceramic making both its aluminum's hardening properties and flux capabilities, respectively.

*Available Quest: Porcelain

*Available Quest: Glassmaking]

… That's new. I've never had an ore give me a quest before.

[Quest: Porcelain

Porcelain is a very valuable trade good that all of the world is willing to have. Learn how to make one yourself.

Time Limit: 6 months]

[Quest: Glassmaking

Don't you want glass windows? Start learning how to make one and make one!

Timelimit: 6 months]

They were very vague quests, too, and showed none of the rewards or requirements beyond a time limit, but then I paused my thoughts as my System pinged me, and saw that the [Miner's Dust Lungs] debuff finally ran its course, which meant it was time for me to head back into the mine.

I hefted up my [Iron Pickaxe], which I had forged from two iron swords.

[Iron Pickaxe]

A proper tool for rock mining!

Grade: Moderate

*+8 Damage

I turned back towards the mine but then stopped. I just spotted something in the periphery of my vision and turned to look.

To my surprise, it was the Travaos chief.

'Umm… what was his name again?' I thought to myself before setting down the bag and the pickaxe before walking up to him, meeting him near the boundary of my so far claimed land.

"Hey, chief!" I greeted him with a wave of my hand, and I also noticed that he was with a few others. "What brings you here to my corner in the gorge?" Calling this tiny valley a gorge was doing it disservice but it also wasn't wrong. The widest portions of the valley was only two hundred yards across and fifty yards at the narrowest. In my opinion, this "valley" was narrow enough to be considered a gorge.

"Just checking up on you, Hans," he greeted me with a gruff and smile. The smile felt uneasy to me.

I looked over his shoulder. He brought with him a young woman and two young men. "And who are they…?"

"Ah, these are two of my children that you haven't met yet, though they have seen you in action when you sparred with that man-at-arms at Travaos. The girl here is my daughter, Alvia, and the boy here is my oldest, Arnold."

Arnold bowed and Alvia curtised, and I nodded back to them.

Wait, wasn't Arnold older than me? Why was he bowing?

"Well, welcome to my humble abode," I greeted them with a wide gesture towards my house and more.

…

Alvia looked around this place.

It looked … too much like her village.

For someone whom papa had sung praises in fear and respect about, Hans lived a very normal life. He lived just as she and her family did. He farmed (odd garden plots with odd plants), hunted (fish traps and a bear hide being tanned), and … mined?

His house was different. It wasn't a house; it was a tower. It was also constructed using stone for the first floor and wood upwards.

"Didn't your house used to be completely made out of wood, Hans?" papa asked him.

"Hmm? Oh yeah. I changed it up a little."

Papa looked at him oddly.

"... Right, from wooden walls to stone walls within a week."

Hans laughed nervously. "I'm just … strong!" he tried weakly.

Papa looked at him suspiciously now. "If you say so."

"What do you do out here?"

Alvia turned to her brother, who looked around in confusion. "I don't see farms in the making or enough fish traps to feed you."

"Oh!" Hans smiled. "I mine."

The three of them looked at the odd man.

"You mine?"

"Yup. I dug a hole in the ground, and, well, I haven't gotten much," he replied. He reached into a pocket in his pants and then pulled out -.

Her eyes widened as she saw the uncut green rock shining between his fingers.

Oh my.

"I don't know who can facet the gems," Hans spoke as if he wasn't holding the yearly wage of their family in his hands. "So I guess I'll have to do it."

"... There are gems in our mountains?" papa asked quietly.

"I mean, all rocks and mountains have gems," Hans shrugged. "It's just hard to find the right place for a profitable quantity. And let me tell you, these mountains are not worth the gem hunt."

"Then why dig a hole, as you say?" her brother asked.

"Because I wasn't looking for a gem, not really." Then he crushed the gemstone between his fingers. Alvia froze at the casual disregard for material wealth. She watched as she rubbed his fingers together and showed them his colored fingers.

"I am looking for pigment."

"... Are you sure you're not some noble?"

"What? What made you think that?" Hans asked cluelessly.

"Regular folks don't go mining for colors."

Hans paused and shrugged. "I guess we don't. No, I just have a lot of free time, that's all. I mean, I am not a farmer, so when I pay tax, I'll be paying in either iron or random gems I do find."

"How…"

Hans turned to look at her.

"Yes?"

"How would you turn them into gems?" she asked.

"Ah! You would need a few tools for it, but I know how to make basic tools, so, yes, tools."

"Can you tell me more?"

She found what she wanted to do for her life.

She wanted to be gem cutter.

…

I wasn't sure what happened. One moment, I was having a conversation with the chief and his two children, and then in the next moment, the girl was right up against me, holding my hands, and asking to learn more about gem cutting.

I looked panickedly at the chief, who blinked in surprise as well.

"Um, Alvia-" I spoke up.

"If you agree, then I will let her stay here."

I turned to Kraft in shock. I thought medieval parents were supposed to be stricter than their 21st-century counterparts!

"But why?" I asked. "I'm not even a gem cutter!"

I did not like the way Kraft shrugged. It felt like he was foisting her onto me. Was she an unwanted child or something?

"While you're taking my daughter, can you also train my son?"

Bruh.

"Maybe if you get me five bags of wheat a month, sure-"

"Done."

Fucking what?

"What?"

"Five bags of wheat, yes? For making food? Done."

I looked at him incredulously as he walked away, leaving the two kids - adults? - in my care.

What in tarnation-?

Chapter 7

-VB-

Arnold liked working here.

There was a sense of improvement and creation that was lacking in Travaos and its monotonous daily grind.

Here, Hans built himself a new home, and Arnold got to help out. He wasn't sure, however, why Hans bothered to make timber walls around a massive area. In fact, it was so massive that there was only one real way through the valet now: through the walled-off gatehouses that now led through this keep.

Hans was an unnaturally strong man. He lifted and dragged an entire timber log by himself, dug holes by himself, and brought the timber log to its place so that it could slide in.

He was also smart and educated. He knew things that boggled Arnold's mind.

Though Hans claimed that he was not a noble, he spoke well and had manners befitting a noble or knight. He spoke of alchemy and astrology. The beginning of all creations, the way God Almighty shaped this very world, and the wonderful creatures he put on it all for His children's sake.

It made him like Hans. He shared freely and laughed without contempt. He didn't belittle him or his sister for not knowing what he knew.

This, however, made him feel guilty about what he and Albia were supposed to do.

Father had asked Alvia to … seduce Hans.

Arnold got into a fight with his father over that, but now that he was here and saw a lone man build a wooden keep - and wall it off - by himself with no help from the only other man in the gorge, he knew why his father had asked so.

Still, what had he seen on the battlefield to get him to make such a decision so decisively?

"Arnold, can you check if there are fishes in the trap?" Alvia called out from the other side of Hans's tower.

"I will!" he called out to Hans.

It was also shocking to Arnold that Hans insisted on cooking, and in the week he and his sister lodged here, Hans had been not just gracious but also generous.

Every dinner, he served fish or meat and knew how to cook.

His mouth watered at the thought of fish "pan-fried" with salted butter. Sure, he liked meat more, but Hans cooked everything well. Alvia certainly liked learning how to do the things he did.

He left the walled compound and walked towards the river.

He frowned as he came up to the river and knelt down by the fish traps.

No fish.

… this could mean meat dinner.

Grinning, he stood back up but then paused.

"Ah, man. There's fish in there," he muttered to himself as he walked over to other traps and found the fish.

He reached in and grabbed the slippery beasts before walking back into the keep. He walked around the edge of the compound and then made it to the front of the tower.

To his surprise, he found Hans training.

He swung his massive sword (Arnold might have made a joke about overcompensation, but Hans wasn't small down there as far as their river bath had shown him) at a steady and fast pace.

The wind blew gently but firmly with each of his swings.

Arnold walked around the training man and stood next to Alvia, who watched Hans with eyes no brother liked to see in their little sister.

"How long has he been doing this?" he asked her.

"For the past hour."

Arnold's eyebrows shot up. "An hour of swinging that massive sword?"

"Yes. And that's after he did that 'push up' of his."

"He did a hundred and he still has the strength to keep swinging?"

One of the things he learned so far was how to count and do "basic" arithmetic. Hans taught both him and Alvia in this.

Being able to count higher than fifty was great.

"Yes," Alvia hummed with a faint blush on her cheeks. "At this rate, I'll be the one seduced."

Argh, he did not want to k on the details.

"Where do you want the fish?" he asked.

"In the kitchen."

The kitchen was a newly constructed attachment to the first floor of the tower. It had the same size-sided shape as the tower.

He dropped the fish into a small tub filled with water. Hans liked to keep his fishes fresh and did something with them with his very fancy and sharp knife. Something about a quick death for better taste.

When he walked back out, Hans was still swinging.

Could he become as strong as Hans?

He looked up. Oh, the sun was setting.

"Herr Hans! It's time to make dinner!" Alvia called out as she moved towards the kitchen. Hans paused mid-swing before he let the sword drop gently.

The lightly sweating man walked over to a "showerhead," which was a device Hans made to drop water on top of him for cleansing and pulled the lever to let himself get soaked.

Arnold was going to wait until the fires in the kitchen started; Hans had made it so that the stored water for the "shower" would get heated when there was a fire on in the kitchen.

"Coming."

-VB-

Alvia saw a world beyond the valleys, gorges, and mountaintops of her homeland.

When Hans described a flat plain as far as the eye could see, she didn't believe it.

But then he drew it.

Using charcoal and on what he called "paper," he drew for her the "Eurasian Steppes." It was a place of unending grass and a sky dotted with fluffy clouds.

Oh, she knew why she was here. She was here because her father was afraid of Hans, but now that she spent time with him, she wasn't sure why he was afraid of Hans.

Sure, Hans was monstrously strong. She knew of no one else who was capable of picking up a long log thicker than he was and put it on his shoulder, carrying it over to a hole, and then planting it deep inside.

Well, she didn't really care about that.

No, she was far more enthralled by his "toilet."

It wasn't a latrine, but some kind of complex device that vacated the large bowl with a comfortable wooden seat of the filth it received. With a clean flush of water from a jar above, it sucked up both water and the filth up, and according to Hans, and tossed them far away far down the stream and away from any wells.

There were other devices in Hans's house just like the toilet. Things that she never thought of or heard of. It made her wonder if these were normal outside her village's quaint valley.

"And done!"

This was another thing.

It was a new device he just made on the spot over the course of the day. It had a round wooden board on top, but if someone pressed down on the "pedal" at the bottom of the device half as tall as she was, then it would spin.

Then he fitted some kind of stone he'd prepared yesterday.

"This will help you facet the gems I find," he grinned. "Don't worry about making mistakes!" he added as he pulled out another "paper" and set it down on the table next to this grinder. The paper showed her all kinds of shapes and sizes that she could learn how to "facet" the gems into.

She watched as Hans sat down and pulled out a few gemstones, though none of them were particularly big. It took him a few gemstones, but by his third try, he had a cube of malachite by using the rotating stone to grind away at the gemstone.

"Like this!"

She held the roughly cut malachite cube, and fell in love with it.

"C-Can I try?"

"Yup!" Hans grinned. "It's not like I can sell them since no one passes by this place, and I'm too busy, so have fun with the gemstones I leave at the table. Just know that if there are none there each morning, then it's either that I haven't gone into the mine or there was nothing for me bring back that day."

And then promptly unloaded from his pocket a small burlap pouch. He untied the string holding the mouth of the pouch closed and gently emptied the pouch sideways onto the table.

Alvia's eyes sparkled at the sight of red, blue, green, and more.

"Oh, by the way, if your village has scrap metal, you'll tell me, right?"

She nodded absentmindedly.

Chapter 8

-VB-

Zernez

Fingers drummed on the wooden table.

Only two valleys away from the Bishopric of Chur, the head of the Wildenburg noble family sat within a small room dedicated to his family's gathering. All of the family's important members were here. His retired father, his son, his daughter-in-law, his grandson, and he all sat in a circular table wide enough to comfortably keep them occupied but not too wide enough to make them feel distant from one another.

"The Bishop of Chur lost," he opened up. "And lost a significant chunk of his levies along with his men-at-arms."

"You wish to use this chance to break us away from the zealous bishop's influence," his elderly father, Ulrich von Wildenburg, spoke up.

"I do, father," he nodded. "Unfortunately, the damn baron who won against the bishop stands between us and the bishop. If his martial prowess is anything to go by from his victory over the bishop, then he would not idly let her pass through his lands."

"But of course. Our two families have been at odds for years," his son, Terrance von Wildenburg, agreed while ruffling his short light brown hair before letting his hand drop again. Ruffling one's hair was kind of a trait among the Wildenburgs*. "But is the baron not also weak from losing troops?"

"Ha!" Rudolf von Wildenburg barked out a laugh. "Saying he lost troops is like saying he gained nothing. He lost a few men-at-arms and levies just like the bishop but not in the staggering numbers. Why, I heard that the baron barely lost a hundred troops!" This came from a merchant who sold goods at baron's seat of power and had traveled south and then north to sell his goods at their castle town. "In fact, I wager that he is very tense right now and more than a few levies have been hired on as full time men-at-arms to replace his lost ones. He must know that the beating he gave the bishop won't go unnoticed or not taken advantage of."

"... Then should we not strike when we have the chance?" Hugo, his grandson, asked.

"Yes, but the baron will have his troops ready. Our Greifenstein Castle does not hold enough men to surprise attack the baron and win. No, if we must attack him, then it must start from here in Wildenburg Castle and Zernez."

"How do you suppose we do that in a timely manner?" Terrance asked him.

"The Fluela Pass," his father hummed. "We can use it to cross directly into the baron's lands. If we capture all of the villages in the valley while moving quickly, then we will no doubt prevent him from raising levies in that area. I suspect that depending on how quickly and successfully we conquer, the baron might not be able to raise any levy in the Landwasser Valley."

"How many men do you think we need, great-grandfather?" Hugo asked.

"I wager at least five hundred."

"Which … would be everyone we have," Rudolf grunted. "It'll leave Wildenburg with barely a hundred men as a garrison."

"But to miss this opportunity of a lifetime?"

"It'll be the fall of our family if we lose," Ulrich grunted. "But it is a risk worth taking if only because there will be too many other vultures who are after Chur."

Rudolf agreed with his father.

"... This will be a low war, won't it?" Hugo asked with a sigh.

"It must be if our family is to secure our future," his daughter-in-law, Adelina von Wildenburg nee Bormio, sighed. "We will do what is possible to keep the soldiers disciplined. After all, those villages will soon be under our control."

Rudolf agreed with her.

"What about our neighbors to the south?"

His family continued their discussion until the sunset, but by then, they had come to a decision.

Landwasser would be theirs.

-VB-

Landwasser-Fluela, Barony of Vaz

"Did you hear?"

I did not hear anything but gestured for Kraft to go on.

"The bishop got into another war. His northern neighbor, the Count of Sargans, is attacking him for Freudenburg while the Count of Toggenburg is attacking him for Maienfeld," he told me.

This was the first time he's visited me since he dropped two of his children off with me (it felt weird for me to call someone around my age "children" but then they were his children), and brought with him news of the outside world.

Apparently, the Bishopric of Chur was under assault from all sides, and shit didn't look good for us, too. Travaos was within the Barony of Vaz, which had been a part of Bishopric of Chur until a month ago. The short duration was enough casus belli for most lords to bring Vaz under their control.

I think I needed to prepare, one of which included finishing this month's scheduled training quest for a stat boost. I might also have to block off this valley so that no one who used the Fluela Pass could strike at Travaos without running over me.

After all, that village was Arnold, Kraft, and Alvia's home village; I wasn't going to let it burn without doing at least something about it.

"Thanks for telling me," I grunted. "I'll have to improve the defense of my home, just in case someone from the other side of the mountain decides to come over here," I said while gesturing towards the pass.

Kraft stared up at it, slightly pale, and then looked back at my home.

"I think you've done well on defenses."

I snorted. "It's not wrong to be overprepared but it is certainly wrong for one to be underprepared," I remarked before standing up from the log facing the small campfire near one of my guardhouses. "It might be time for you to take your kids with you."

He hesitated. "Have you… done anything with them? My daughter?"

I squinted, looking down at him while trying to determine exactly why he was asking about Alvia specifical…ly…

My eyes flew open as the implication set in. "Oh no no no no!" I vehemently rejected. "I haven't touched her that way!"

"But you touched her…?" he asked with his eyes covered by his bangs covering top half of his face.

"No! I just had to show her how to cut the gemstones!" I begged.

I was not going to be accused of eloping with a girl when I haven't even popped my cherry in this life yet!

"... I trust you."

"You do?"

"To take care of my daughter."

Oh God No.

It took me the whole day that nothing had happened between us, and Arnold attested to it. I wasn't sure why Kraft looked upset with his son about confirming that nothing happened.

Kraft took his children with him as he left, and that left me free to operate as I needed to.

Which meant no more dragging logs like I had to last time! No more stacking logs one at a time into a hole! Or digging holes!

Huzzah!

Seriously, building the high wooden walls took me so much longer than it had to because I had to hide my supernaturalness from the two Kraft-Travaos (my way of giving them unofficial surnames: a mix of their known parent's name and their village of origin; officially, none of them had a surname that my System recognized).

I rolled up my sleeve and walked over to the pile of logs waiting for me.

It was time to start making more walls, and after that, training time!

-VB-

Vaz, Barony of Vaz

Fredrick, the newly independent free-baron of Duchy of Swabia in abeyance, glared down at the letter in his hand.

No, it was not a letter but a declaration of war.

The Baron of Sax-Misox claimed the Mans*** portion of the Aluenude**** that was under the Barony of Vaz. The greedy baron cited "historical ties" and for him to hand it over.

It was all rubbish, of course. Sax-Misox saw an opportunity and wanted to jump in to claim a piece of the wounded lion. Frederick would fight against this greedy bastard. Let him come!

… But he knew as well that he was not strong. In fact, the only reason he won that battle in the first place despite numerical disadvantage was because of Hans. He wanted to call Hans to Vaz, but also knew that Hans was better used fighting potential enemies who might use the frequently traveled Fluela Pass to invade the Landwasser Valley.

No, he had to fight this out himself, no matter how painful it would be.

Perhaps it was time to hire more men-at-arms and, failing that, mercenaries.

He began calling up his men.

Now was not the time to celebrate.

War was coming to Vaz once again, and he and his men will stand against the tide of would-be plunderers!

-VB-

Landwasser-Fluela, Barony of Vaz

It took me only one day to complete what I had to slow down to complete.

Not only did I surround the first set of walls with a "china wall," a Rust in-game term for a high wall made using foundations, floors, and walls from the Construction Blueprint and not High External Wooden Walls, I also built a second set of high external walls around that! The china wall also served as an internal pathway for access up to the battlements of the china wall.

Then I also extended the second external high wall to completely wall off the more easily traversable areas of the valley.

My home stood out like a true fort from a distance, which also unnerved me. Would I and my home be mistaken for the local noble's fortification and come under assault?

… Maybe.

Probably.

Most likely.

Still, I preferred that I came under assault since I could take it better than a normal villager.

Now, it was time to put up additional defenses like wooden barricades all along the outer wall. Each wooden barricade consisted of lap-jointed three-inch-thick wood poles sharpened at both ends and separated by six inches between each cross and took up a volume of two yards long and one yard high and wide. I placed down at least a hundred of these.

As I did so, I lamented my lack of iron which I could have forged into wires and metal barricades. It would have done a much better job than wooden barricades which broke much more easily than metal barricades did. In fact, I was half-tempted to make World War I trench wire set up, but again, I lacked the iron reserve nor time to make those.

It took me another day to finish the new line of defensive barricades.

Perfect.

Now, I had time to train and finish the monthly training quest.

"718! 719! 720!"

I was going to be here for a while. Probably do away with sleeping, if only for a day or two, because I wouldn't be addling myself with sleep-deprived exhaustion with unrest about to hit the area. Still, I guessed that I was being ultra-conservative with those time estimates. Despite my past life's modern sensibilities still believing that the medieval world was filled with nothing but agony, pain, and war just like how movies and games liked to portray, the truth of the matter was that the Vaz-Chur war was the first big war that's happened around these parts.

There's no way that another war of that size would break out less than two months after the last one ended, right?

Right?

"734! 735!"

Just keep swinging~. Just keep swinging~.

"736!"

Just keep swinging~.

-VB-

[Character Status]

Name: Hans, son of Louis of Ourzcvelt, of Travaos

Age: 18

LvL: 27

HP: 490

MP: 200

ST: 245

STR: 39

END: 49

AGI: 60

DEX: 44

INT: 20

CHA: 8

Current Objective: Set Up Home [3/?]

Current Quest: N/A

-VB-

*Not much is stated about the Wildenburgs. This is one of the things I made up.

**Changed Vas to Vaz to clear up confusion.

***modern day Mons Albula

****Modern day Albula/Alvra