Chapter 144: A Bigger Dominion

The first thing Tanaka noticed that morning was the noise. Hammers, saws, goblins shouting directions to each other and orcs shoving planks of wood towards a half finished building. A small group of ogres were busy clearing rocks away from the ground and a few greater goblins were arguing over the designs of the building. Eldoris was growing. And obviously, there wasn’t a single soul that was going to let the young king sleep in.

Tanaka bounced past a group of goblins that were carrying wooden planks. "Careful there, you’re going to run someone over!" The group of goblins immediately moved out of his way. "Sorry King Tanaka!" Tanaka continued on his way, looking over the new buildings that were being built farther from the main settlement.

A few of the older buildings were being repaired while others were being reconstructed. The arrival of the Varkesh families meant that more housing was needed and Eldrin had wasted no time in building them. Storage buildings, workshops and a larger market were also being planned. The dominion couldn’t have all the monsters living in the original settlement, not now. Tanaka expected Eldoris to grow eventually, but war had just made it happen faster. The alliance with Varkesh and the arrival of the new families just made it impossible to stay in the same spot.

Tanaka was looking over the new foundations when a group of goblins laid stones down for the next building. "How’s the work coming?" The goblin straightened up. "Good Your Majesty, the foundation should be done today if the weather holds." "How many people will it house?" "Four families, maybe five if we split some of the rooms." Tanaka nodded. "There should be enough room for everyone. Don’t crowd the families just because we need more houses." The goblin scurried back to his work.

Tanaka made his way to the other side of Eldoris where a group of workers were gathered around the communal pool. The pool had served its purpose, but it was simply too small for the growing population. The edges were lined with mud and weeds while the plants around it were creeping closer to the water. The workers were cutting away at the weeds and the others had begun widening the banks and reinforcing them with stones.

Tanaka watched the group for a moment. "Are we going to expand the whole pool?" A goblin supervisor came up to Tanaka. "Yup, we don’t want to crowd the people living around it. The banks need reinforcing and the drainage ditches cleaned out. We don’t want to get mud in the water when it rains." "Good, I don’t want the ground around it disturbed. I want the pool cleaned, not the ground turned into a mud pit." The supervisor nodded before returning to his workers.

Tanaka was taking in the sight when he remembered the children. A group of them had been sitting by the pile of discarded wooden boards earlier. One of the children had found a piece of charcoal and was trying to mimic the marks on the construction drawings. Tanaka approached the group. "What are you doing?" The child whirled around in surprise. "Nothing!" His friends quickly scattered, leaving the boy with the charcoal in his hand. Tanaka looked over the markings on the construction drawings. "You’re trying to copy these?" The boy hesitated before nodding. "I wanted to know what they mean." "Can you read?" The boy shook his head. "Neither can anyone in my family. My father knows how to count, though."

Tanaka fell silent. He had been worrying about expanding buildings and reinforcing the settlement, but he had barely given any thought to the children. How many monsters could read? How many could write? How many were denied the chance to learn anything outside of what their families or masters taught them? Tanaka turned to the other children, who had been watching the exchange from a distance. "Do you want to learn?" The boy’s eyes grew wide. "Learn what?" "Reading and writing. Math as well, eventually." The boy gaped at him like Tanaka had just handed him a treasure chest. "Can we really do that?" Tanaka turned to the construction drawings. "Why not?" Tanaka turned to the workers. "Could someone get Eldrin for me?"

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Eldrin arrived with a notebook and a stack of parchment in his hand. He had been touring the workshops when Tanaka sent for him, and he narrowed his eyes at the look on Tanaka’s face. "What are you planning now?" "Why do you assume I’m planning something?" "Because every time you get that look on your face, my workload increases." Tanaka ignored the remark. "I want to build a school." Eldrin blinked. "A school?" "To teach the children. We should teach them to read, write and count. We’ll eventually teach other subjects as well." Eldrin glanced at the children nearby. "It’s not a bad idea. Some of our goblins can read basic records, but most learn through apprenticeship or watching their elders.

The rest of the races have their own ways of passing knowledge from one generation to the next." "Exactly. We can’t make every child learn the same thing their parents know." Tanaka looked over the growing settlement. "The school should be available to every child living in Eldoris. The ones that arrived from Varkesh included." Eldrin began writing. "We’ll need teachers, a building, supplies and a schedule. We should also decide what subjects to teach first." "Reading, writing and math to start with. We can branch out into other subjects as we find more teachers." "The human mages?" Tanaka stiffened. They could teach the later subjects if the classes were divided up properly, but he didn’t want the school to become a magical institution.

"If we set up classes on mana theory and spellcasting, the mages can help with those, but I don’t want the school to be a magical school. Let every child learn the basics, regardless of whether they have mana or not." Eldrin hummed in thought. "It’ll take more preparation than you think." "I know." "Do you?" Tanaka looked at him. Eldrin closed his notebook with a sigh. "You’re planning on building a school while we expand the houses, workshops and finish cleaning the pool. While we’re trying to establish trade with Varkesh." "We’ll need better roads." Eldrin stared at him. Tanaka smiled serenely. The goblin rubbed his face.

"At this rate, I’m going to die of prep before we even finish building anything." Tanaka laughed. "Then make sure you finish all your preparations promptly." "Don’t be silly!" "Thinking back, it was somewhat funny." Eldrin growled in frustration before opening his notebook again. Tanaka knew he could trust Eldrin to handle the preparations, he just had a tendency to forget the other projects. Eldrin had proven himself to be more than capable with the construction work and the goblin masses. He could turn Tanaka’s ideas into realities, if given enough time. Provided Tanaka stopped giving him a dozen new projects before the old ones were done.

The road to Varkesh still remained Tanaka’s largest concern. Later that afternoon, Tanaka met with Eldrin and Drakar to go over the plans for the road. Drakar laid a map on the table. "The fastest way to Varkesh would mostly follow the road, but there are a few places where we’ll need to clear or reinforce the roadbed. We’ll need to build bridges over some areas as well."

"How long will it take?" "That depends on how many workers and materials we have." Tanaka studied the road. "I don’t want to deplete Eldoris’ workforce just to finish the road. We still have buildings to construct and the people from Varkesh will need repairs as well." Drakar nodded. "We’ll need to divide the work between the kingdoms. We’ll both work on the sections nearest to each of our capitals while the surveyors deal with the rough parts." "That’s better. We’ll need regular communication so they don’t end up building in two different places." Eldrin added a note to his notebook.

"Workers won’t be able to carry everything they need from Eldoris. We’ll need supply depots along the road." Tanaka looked at him. "Add it to the plans." Eldrin slowly put down his notebook. "Of course you would say that." Tanaka feigned ignorance. The road to Varkesh would take time, but it would be worth it. Trade would be easier and supplies would be easier to transport. If another enemy appeared on the horizon, the kingdoms would be able to support each other. For now, the kingdoms would have to survey the road, determine the supplies needed and agree on the division of labor.

Construction on the road would start as soon as the preparations were done. Tanaka studied the map for a moment before turning to Drakar. "Make sure the survey includes possible future expansion. I don’t want us to build a road that becomes useless as soon as the dominion expands." Eldrin slowly closed his notebook again. "That’s it. I’m going to die of prep." This time, Drakar laughed. Tanaka bounced away before Eldrin could find another complaint to nag him about.

By evening, the settlement was quieter. The new buildings were still being finished, the pool was still being cleaned and the road to Varkesh was still only a concept. The school wasn’t even designed yet. The work had already begun. Tanaka stopped by the children from before. The small boy was still holding the charcoal, copying the markings. "Finished?" The child quickly tried to hide his work behind his back. Tanaka waited.

After a moment, the boy showed him the board. The markings were lopsided and some were even backwards, but the boy had managed to try. Tanaka nodded. "Keep practicing, we’ll have lessons soon enough." The boy’s face lit up. "Really?" "Of course we will." Tanaka continued on his way. He had wanted to build a kingdom where the monsters could live without having to fear the monsters around them. Now, he wanted more.

He wanted the monsters to have the opportunity to learn and grow, instead of having to rely on what their parents or masters taught them. Eldoris would be expanded, but the road to Varkesh would guarantee that trade and supplies weren’t an issue. The children would be taught, so that one day, they would inherit a kingdom that wasn’t ruled by war. Tomorrow, Tanaka would have another dozen things to plan. Eldrin would almost certainly complain.