SS - Chapter 40 - Moving up in the world

Not super happy wiht the last line, I feel like it should be something like that... but couldnt think of what to put!

Camille zipped around the room, sticking her nose into every closet and corner as I slowly sunk into the heavy chair, behind the massive hard wood desk in my new office. 

Even though I knew my mother was correct, that I needed to stop trying to micromanage everything, I couldn’t help but stick my nose in and check whatever one was working on, and provide feedback. After several hours of that Siegfried, my mother, and Lady Amber had ‘suggested’ that I move into the citadel. 

I knew they were right to do it, they were more than competent enough to perform the work without my help, and I had been putting off moving into the fortress, but it still hurt a little to be kicked out.

“Nice digs!” Camille exclaimed, once she was done exploring. She vaulted over the back of the nearby sofa, landing in a reclined position, much to the disappointment of Selena who was sitting in a nearby chair.

“It is lovely,” Selena admitted. “I never expected the citadel to come furnished.”

“It’s apparently only the core structure. The outbuildings and city structures will only come with the required tools, nothing else,” I explained. 

Both Selena and Camille turned and looked at me curiously. 

“I’ve been reviewing the reference materials,” I admitted.

“Find anything interesting?” Camille asked.

“I found more details about the different structures, and upgrades I can implement. Some basic information about the constructs, but I haven’t been able to find anything about why the Hoarfrost stone was hidden, or what I did to trigger it,” I sighed.

“That’s not a huge surprise,” Selena said. “If the other kings and queens had access to that sort of information they probably would have taken advantage of it by now. To try and either destroy or subjugate other stones before they can be activated.”

“Greedy bastards,” Camille muttered.

“Please… don’t pretend that we wouldn’t do the same,” I chuckled. “Having a couple allied countries just pop up around us would do a lot to stabilize our position. The constructs alone would be useful.”

“I won’t deny it,” Camille pouted before looking over at me. “So, have you figured out what you’re going to do next?”

“Well, Siegward and my mother are concentrating on getting the second farming village up and running, which should solve our food problems long term, but I’d like to help with our short term yields. I’d also like to start investing in some of the other infrastructure buildings, now that we’ve got an excess of magic again,” I explained.

“How about investing in some of those magical resource nodes around the castle grounds? Sure, they take up some of the facility slots, but I’m sure the miners, stonemasons, and metal workers would love to have something to do,” Camille suggested.

I winced. “About that… I forgot I could enable a resource overlay, which displays all the major deposits in the area, for a tiny amount of magic. I was reminded of that when I was going through the reference documents last night.”

“Okay, well, that’s not ideal, it’s not the end of the world,” Selena said. “Although you could have sent people to scout out these resources several weeks ago, most of those people have been involved in the emergency construction efforts. It’s not like they wasted their time sitting around. The construction was important.”

“That’s true,” I muttered. “I still feel a little stupid for not discovering it earlier though.”

“Stop beating yourself up about it,” Camille said. “Now that we know I can review the map later, and make some plans.”

“You? It’s my…” I started. 

“Not anymore!” Camille exclaimed. “You’re supposed to be delegating, remember.”

“That might be true,” I replied, “I just didn’t plan to delegate it to you.”

“I’m trustworthy! Just give me a chance! Please!” Camille pleaded.

“I’m not sure why you care this much, but I guess I can let you handle it,” I muttered. 

“Now that my mother’s around I feel like I need to prove that I can do more than perform gratuitous violence upon our enemies,” Camille admitted.

“Don’t worry,” Selena said. “I’ll help her, make sure it’s done properly.”

Camille pouted, but didn’t say anything.

“Fine,” I finally agreed. “That means I can concentrate on figuring out how to prioritize construction. Our magic supply is so limited, I can’t waste it on frivolous projects.”

“Well, you can,” Camille said. “You just don’t like to.”

I shot her a disapproving glare, and she shot me a shit eating grin in return. 

“So, do you have any firm plans yet?” Selena asked.

“Not yet, just some general ideas,” I replied before mumbling, “System.”

As soon as it appeared I disabled privacy mode and navigated over to the map, then turned it so Selena and Camille could see. 

“Right now I have three priorities, making sure everyone's basic needs are taken care of. Connecting the three, going on four, settlements are properly connected. And finally, making sure we have an early warning system in place in case Iskel, or someone else comes snooping around,” I explained.

“And…” Camille asked.

“The first two things are pretty simple. I can activate a resource boost to increase our crop yields for the next couple months. Even if we do get the second farming community up, we still need to produce an excess before winter hits. Best to not take any chances,” I said. “I can also create some residential housing around the citadel, so the construction crew doesn’t need to spend the next few months just to create hovels for everyone. Finally, I unlocked the ability to create roads, so I can connect the different settlements with that,” I said.

“Those are boring choices!” Camille muttered. “You have all these incredible citadel upgrades you could build, and you choose to build roads.”

“It’s what the people need right now,” I replied cooly. “The big citadel upgrades can wait until I have a reason to buy them.”

“You should buy at least one, make something fun. At least consider it,” Camille pouted, before turning back to the map. “What about the early warning system?”

“It’s something you might actually enjoy,” I said, scrolling the map to the south-east. “We’re actually in a pretty good position here. The Razor’s edge mountains are harsh, and provide a natural barrier against our neighbours. There are only a handful of passes, and even if you know the way it takes a couple days to cross.”

“Yes, yes. It’s very difficult,” Camille grumbled. “That’s why we all fled here. Your point being?”

“My point being, we could easily fortify the closest passes,” I explained, gesturing to two points on the map. “The northern one leads to Skylia, while the southern one leads to Tal’Home, and beyond that, Iskel. A fortress in the right place would make it exceptionally hard for anyone to get to us.”

“Hmmm… Place them on a high enough point and they’ll not only be of strategic value, but exceptionally hard to take. I approve!” Camile declared.

“I’m glad. The only problem is they cost a fair amount of magic to build, and have a permanent upkeep. We already have a limited magic supply, I don’t know if I want to restrict it further,” I muttered.

“Don’t look at it like an upkeep, look at it as an investment in the future of the country,” Selena said. “You were already worried about Iskel discovering our location, and invading. Although the magical construction is fast, it’s not something you want to be doing at the last minute.”

“True… Fine, I’ll build the southern fortress, and hold off on the northern until I’ve worked through the construction queue some more,” I agreed.

“Are you sure you don’t want to build something fun?” 

“Let me do some calculations,” I sighed, flicking back to the Domain menu. “The roads will cost thirty magic, the fortress another thirty, and the housing will cost twenty. I’m still investing twenty in construct creation, leaving me… twenty points.”

“The roads cost thirty? What a rip off!” Camille exclaimed.

“Only for the initial construction. Once they’re in place they only require 5 magic upkeep, or I could cut the magic entirely and maintain them manually,” I told her. “The construction is quick though.”

“That’s not the important thing,” Camille declared excitedly. “Twenty points means you have magic left over.”

“You’re right, I should plan for…”

“Build an arsenal!” Camille shouted. “The maids need reloads for their weapons, and I wanna see the little ones build tiny cannons.”

“I don’t think…” I started again.

“Hey, you’re the one that was concerned enough to build an entire fortress in case we’re discovered. The maids are never going to be able to defend it without weapons. Build the arsenal,” Camille explained.

I slowly raised a hand to my brow, and slowly rubbed it, trying to alleviate my slowly growing headache. “You’re not going to stop bugging me until I agree, are you?”

“Of course not. Besides, you’re the one that believes guns could make a serious difference on the battlefield. Prove it,” Camille replied, bouncing from one foot to the other. “Doit, doit, doit, doit.”

“Okay fine,” I snapped. “I’ll add an Arsenal to the construction queue. I still need to enable the harvest increase so I can’t do it right away. It’ll have to wait…” 

“Horray!” Camille yelled, not waiting for me to finish before going on a victory lap around the room.

As Selena watched this she developed a small, wry smile.

“What?” I asked sulkily when she turned towards me.

“It’s a good thing that girl’s on our side,” she replied. “She can read you like a book.”

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