Banished Prince Charming

Chapter 47 - Finally Found Hope.

It was a hearty lunch for everyone and this time we had more bowls than we could possibly possess since the new citizens had brought out theirs along and had pooled them onto our serving rack. The serving rack 3 layered where the bottom last two were to store and display all the bowls while the top rack was meant for the all the bamboo, clay and porcelain cups.

Lined around the serving rack were bamboo cups that were tied securely with twine and this serves as a cute little holder for all the spoons.

A baseboard that was made from thatched screw pines leaves from the bottom up was made to support where all the spatulas, ladles and an assortment of knives were being displayed. It was like a mobile kitchen cabinet and since it was of a design made from natural products such as bamboo, cane and reed, it accentuated well with our so-called outback atmosphere.

When the wild boar feast had ended for me and the citizens were busily chattering away till early hours of the morning, the originally 6 dining tables with long benches that could accommodate 8 people was being constructed and added, making it a total of 10.

With these adequate dining area, there was no need to actually wait for each other to consume their meals as a cauldron and a rocket stove were borrowed from one of the citizen houses to make up for the capacity that needed to feed the masses.

The atmosphere was pleasant to the eyes and the camaraderie among the whole residents soared and a more stinger bond was established. I looked at the scene and imagined the citizens that gathered to have their meals together actually belong to Jack and Kayla. There was simply a horde of sons and daughters, cousins and relatives and grandchildren too.

In other words, "A Family That Eats Together, Stays And Fights Together," and the scene right now depicts what it really feels like to eat together as one. They were complimenting in yesterday's feast and today's breakfast. Even today the gruel was only a bowl but with the addition of vegetables, tubers, as well as half a loaf of bread, completes everything.

"Sir, this is what I mentioned to you earlier as the bread that the nobles eat. And right now, we are consuming the very bread that the Lords were having each day for their meals." the Jennings highlighted to me while I nodded. "Lord's and nobles could never afford such a feast like us right now, they would turn into a pauper within a month. To have a feast like this would be like 10c per person per meal and there's 46 of us, and a dog, and 3 horses. Thus it would be like 460c per meal. And we get 4 meals a day...! Even those nobles would only have 3 at most. 1840c or 18s and 40c would be required daily."

"Big Brother, that means Ummm... That noble has to have hmm something like many many zeros behind a big number in front right? Wow... I haven't been able to count to that. I could only count to 20 right now. Hehehe." a child spoke up within the group.

Everyone suddenly went deathly silent as they cursed in their hearts on why should a child dares to speak up, especially during a meal.

"You must be one of the Burns right? Keep it up. No matter how you need to learn to count to 100 because 100 coppers are equal to 1 silver and 50 silvers would mean 1 gold and 100 gold... Do you know what equals to 100 gold?"

"I don't know, Big Brother... Tell me... Tell me...! " the girl was basically bounding up and down on the bench, making her neighbours left and right to be bounding along too. All eyes were on the girl and on me, thinking that I would penalise the girl's family soon due to her insolence.

"100 gold means... You would be a walking gold mine... Hahahahaha..." I laughed out loud after I cracked the joke and the girl laughed along with me too. "Citizens, please continue with your meals. You looked like there's a ghost behind me or something... Hmm? See... There's nothing behind...hahahaha."

The new citizens sighed with relief as they thought that something uneventful would happen thereafter. "Little girl, please do not make me crack a joke during meal times OK? If not one would choke on the food and the worse thing is that gruel would start blowing out of the noses... Hahahaha..."

I continued with the chidings and when they heard my last sentence a few a.d.u.l.ts choked and indeed some of the bread they were chewing spewed out of their mouth while some even had snorted their gruel and ended up in the wrong airway that resulted with gruel literally being blown off from the nose.

The situation turned hectic as they cleared their throats and noses, even though it may look uncouth at the moment for high classes but to me, it's all normal. I laughed at them while everyone roared with laughter except for the boy from the Herefords that clapped his hands and smiled when he lip read me.

In that era, children were considered only to be seen and not heard but of we don't listen to the children, how would we know if the child is happy, sad, angry or even terrified. How could the child speak her mind if he or she is feeling sick or hungry, right? Interaction between a child and parent is very important. They are not livestock where meals were given and then left to their survival. Haish...

Our meals then resumed without any hutch and after lunch, everyone understood that there was an urgent announcement to be made and then there would be a nightly conference to wrap the day's event.

"Please forgive me for cracking such joke during mealtime that makes some of you end up choking. I promise you all, from the bottom of my heart, that I would not continue to stop do so time and time again." I stood up, placed my right hand on my c.h.e.s.t and bowed.

"There is no problem and there is no need to ask for any forgiveness. It is just a choke after all... Wait a minute... Did you mention that you promise to do it from time to time?" Burns explained on behalf of the new residents because the pioneers were used to my antics.

Yes, I promise that the incident would not cease and be repeated from time to time. Hahahaha...." I laughed and it took a while before they realised the words that I mentioned and the way it was played back in their minds, peals of laughter roared among the a.d.u.l.ts once again.

"Alright, I need two volunteers to show you an improvised version of the stakes to slow down and definitely impale those who stubbornly wished to rampage into our village. Two volunteers, please come up."

As soon as they came up, I placed my hands on their shoulders and reassuringly said in the straightest face I could master, "If anything happens to you, don't worry... We have our Health Minister Kayla here and I am sure her medical bag is underneath the bench she is sitting on right now. Would there be any incidences towards your internal organs, we still have the heart, kidney and all those innards from the wild boar last night, is that right Justice Minister Gwen?"

At the mention when I spoke about something that could happen to the hapless volunteers, they shuddered and the blood drained from their faces and both broke into a cold sweat. After hearing the last sentence on the wild boar's innards that would be used to replace the hapless volunteers' internal organs during the demonstration, everyone laughed so hard that made some of them simply rolling on the floor, clutching their stomachs while some laughed with uncontrollable tears streaming down their cheeks their faces...

=*=

Within the crowd of more than 40 over people, a boy was gesturing wildly with his hands and pointed to the defensive structure, then made some gestures that the two were injured through their stomachs but were saved with the innards from the wild boar was replaced. That boy was laughing and with a snorting kind of sounds that also made the crowd roared more loudly.

It was a rare sight for the Chadwells to hear the joy from their son for he would only be doing nearly nothing as he looked outside most of the time, feeling alone, feeling dejected and he could not hear anything nor mutter any intelligence words. In the back of his mind, he was always thinking why was he born in this way and felt that it was utterly unfair to be alive in this harsh and cruel world.

That boy was thinking that he should be the one bitten and dragged by those ravaging wolves rather than his innocent father. After the move from their slanted cruck house that would give away anytime without warning into the most comfortable house with airy surroundings and friendly faces...

Hope began to creep, trickling onto his stone-hardened heart as miniscule cracks began to form on its surface as feelings of hope and in today's mealtime incident, that boy was intently looking at my face as he lip-read what I had conveyed to the masses.

It was like hope was there on my face. Hope to live for tomorrow and for days, week, months and years to come. He saw friendliness and a sense of calm when he stared my face and just now... A large crack was formed on his stone-hardened heart and it began to beat faster as debris from the surrounding heart that was refusing to yield to live for another tomorrow began to fall.

Yes, he saw hope from my face. And this hope is not for him alone but for everyone else in this village. He wanted to be useful to the village and community and turned to face his mother and wanted to form words to say what he had in his mind, as he mouthed, "M... Mm... Maaa... " and gestured with his two fists and pounded on top of one another, indicating that he was gesturing the word 'work' from the sign language that had been taught by the monastery that was not supposed to have verbal communications at all.

=*=

(Authors Note: I have placed myself into the character of the boy living in a silent world. Comments are very welcome, my dear bookworms.)

=*=

I raised my hands and waited for the whole situation to quieten down and I continued, "Jokes aside for now. Please keep your laughter somewhere you could use later during emergencies and times of need. I wanted to show you the concept of this new concept." a few soft touches of laughter broke out and quickly simmered down as I dragged the defensive structure with ease. I pulled it across here and there to show how a person of a small built like me would be able to perform such a task.

The ground was harsh and there's nothing for it to slide. Then I explained why these structures were made in such a way and everyone nodded since there's no point having a permanent structure and ended up just to dig them out and replace them again. Furthermore, the sharpened end of the bamboo of much sharper and deadlier than the ones made from wood.

"There's a future expansion of the farms on the left as well as livestock on the right. Plus also the expansion of farms in the sides of the residential plots. So these barricades would be shifted from time to time."

"How long did you finished these 2 defensive structures, Industry Minister Ben?"

"Just before lunch, young master. 2 people worked on it each and set it up. It's up and able to be deployed anytime."

"A very good job gentlemen. These defensive structures would be impossible to be made without these fine men and women who worked there in the bamboo production area. Bravo... Well done and keep it up."

The two volunteers then helped to push the two barricades away as I continued. "Instead of making sacks, we could use tethering stakes on all the 4 corners so that it would be more stable. We would be needing those sack materials and rocks for other purposes."

After explaining about force and gravity as well as the angle of attack and the damage that would be dealt, Frank raised his hand in the air as he wanted to point out something.

"Public Works Minister Frank, please stand and have your say..."