MERCHANT ADVENTURER

Settlement

"What do you mean that was all?!" Midas interjected, from out of nowhere. She had been lurking in the shadows, eavesdropping on our conversation.

Swoosh!

Septimus suddenly dodged her blow. Then he ran to hide behind me. Midas began to scream out every foul epithet she knew. Her face boiled with rage as she did so. At times, her spittle flew into my face, causing me to wipe my face several times.

With a pointed finger, directed towards Septimus' face, she began to explain her side of the story.

"You didn't just kiss me. Why you were quite fresh with me. You took liberties, all kinds of liberties. You embraced me and even, even dared to curl your lips to call me darling!"

I was left speechless by the ferocious Midas in front of me.

In future, I promised to myself, to never ask about the issues between these two. When it comes to relationship problems, I wasn't too keen on how to resolve them. People like Bacchanal might be more knowledgeable.

Because we didn't want to frighten the new inhabitants, we decided to have them build their own homes rather than pull homes magically out of nowhere.

I learned from Septimus that every time he used his powers, he would lose a bit of his aura. So, he didn't care to use his power and diminish his newfound restored aura. He called this the Exchange Rule.

I asked Midas if this was the reason why she needed me to submit precious items, in exchange for items from the tradeshop. Midas answered that it indeed had to do with the Exchange Rule. In order to maintain the balance of the world, something must always be given, in exchange for something else. Without proactively submitting exchanges, then the world would devolve into chaos. The chaos would then seek to equalize, restoring order.

In a way, when people offer prayers and sacrifices, they are in their own way exchanging something in order for their wishes to be fulfilled.

Knowing this rule, helped me understand a little bit more on how the wider world worked.

The people temporarily stayed in tents, provided by Midas' tradeshop, while they built their houses. The construction was done quickly, making the empty space full of new homes. In a month, the homes were rapidly finished. The people were all warm and well-fed. They loved Lakeburg.

At this point in time, Septimus also divided the land based on family size. It was the fairest way to ensure those with more mouths to feed, had enough land to grow enough food. It may seem unfair, but as time goes by, when the population grew, more land surrounding the lake would be cleared to add more farmland. Also, in due time, other jobs would be needed, like a blacksmith or a doctor. These non-farm jobs would be available for the children who would be attending school now.

The current Lakeburg residents did have army medics and weaponsmith, so they were able to shift to helping the new Salsburg residents. In this way, these two groups began to intermingle.

As for the merchant trade, Septimus promised I would be in charge of all trade going into and outside Lakeburg. This meant I would wield great power over the economy in Lakeburg. Prior to this, Lakeburg residents didn't need trade. They focused all their time on military training.

For my sleeping arrangement, it was quite a headache. I couldn't get Raine to sleep on her own. Despite all my exhortations and logical reasons, she wouldn't sleep without me present. In her own words, she would rather lose her reputation as a noblewoman, than be without me. I think she secretly believed I would run off in the middle of the night without her. In the end, we compromised by sleeping on separate beds, laid out side-by-side, in the same room. In all honesty, I should have remained firm, but my tiredness took over, making me concede.