Banished Prince Charming

Chapter 99 - Get The Ball Rolling, Please.

"Good morrow, citizens of Gracehaven. First and foremost, we would like to welcome the nomads also known as the Irish Travellers that had come afar just to visit us. They were heard heading towards settlements and villages that dotted along the riverbanks and after some months, did they finally reach here in our humble village."

A round of applause erupted around the Irish Travellers and they were once more surprised by the warm welcome they had received.

"Let me tell you abit about ourselves, for we were nomads too. Searching for a good location to settle down and turn our lives for the better. We started off with just the 12 of us until a dog came and join us a day later. Its name is Sir Blackie."

The moment the dog heard its name being called, it barked and ran around chasing its own tail before prancing once again on its hind legs like a ballerina before sitting on its haunches and raised one of its paws at me, indicating it wanted to exchange a little handshake and a rub on its head.

The children from the Irish Travellers were looking at Sir Blackie and were laughing and giggling when it saw the antics it had shown earlier.

"I hope everyone could bear with me today since the morning conference might drag on a little longer than usual. I hope our dear guests are feeling comfortable as we speak. How about we allow the leader of the Irish Travellers to say a few words, Macintosh, if you please... " I motioned for the leader and he awkwardly stood up, glanced around and faced the crowd behind him and addressed himself.

"Good day, fellow citizens. My name is Macintosh and....." the leader of the Irish Travellers introduced himself and also the family members the had been with him for some time now ever they since congregate from one place to another, forming a larger group as they met with other families.

Surprising though, the families that made up of the Irish Travellers were made up by the letter 'M' as there was the Macintosh, Maguires, McEnroes, Macintyres, MacDonoughs, Mackenzie, Murphys Mahoneys, Murrays to name a few.

If a nomad group was based on the alphabets, then there must be 26 different groups roaming across England at that time...!

"Are those your parents, Sir Lord?" Macintosh inquired as he thumbed his direction to both Jack and Kayla. "Yes and No actually. My parents and sister are looking at us from a distance over yonder," I pointed out to the burial grounds, "and these are well... I regard them as my parents too, since they are the eldest in this village."

"Please forgive my insolence, but you seemed young and looked inexperienced but then, you are able to lead this village well. Everyone heeds your words and follow what was being instructed."

"Ah... Nothing to it though. Just look at your hands, are those fingers created equally in size? The palm represents the leader while the fingers represent its followers. If one loses its finger, can the hand perform its usual function?"

"It can't, am I right? Like my parents, the rest of them around me as well as before me, each and every one of them plays an important role in this village as well as its economy."

"Without them, this village would cease to exist, and without us, these villagers may lose their sense of direction and have little growth in economic and future development. A kingdom cannot be built in one day and our village even though it has a population of only 53 men, women and children, but its a very tight and close-knit little village that surpasses even the nearest town."

"Oh... My bad. I spoke too much once again. You may please continue, Macintosh." the moment I mentioned that the rest of the citizens laughed since they knew once I start to talk, there would be no end to it and every word I say would be full of meaning.

Macintosh was smiling and was feeling astounded because the citizens were allowed to express themselves openly without having to rebuke at all. He was also curious about why the young man before him said that his parents and sister were looking after them yonder... He tried to look beyond the sea of men, women and children but he saw that everyone was present in the courtyard.

Macintosh continued further, explaining their reasons as some of them would like to ply their trade and also to help to fix their everyday household items but when he found that we were using naturally-produced items, so both the intentions were cancelled.

"Alright, thank you for providing an in-depth introduction on the background of the Irish Travellers, right now, let me proceed with the rest of today's itinerary. Industry Minister and Public Works Minister, would you like to add anything?"

"I would express my heartiest gratitude to the engineers who worked last night at the sawmill..." Ben started to mention the completion of all works, including the sawing of all logs into planks and all the aides had been trimmed. He also commended on the tardiness of work done after the shift to make the place spick and span.

Frank added that the engineers had done a terrific job at feeling the trees around the domain area and had slowly to clear and expand the lands before the production areas, farmlands and enclosures. This enabled the future expansion of other buildings in the future.

Next would be Jack who reported that the clay bricks had now improved in its quality as sawdust is now being filled together with the clay. Besides, the Knoll that had been slowly 'shaved' off contains a lot of clay rather than earth and that would make terrific bricks and other materials in the future.

Kayla added to her report saying that the plantations for the future crops had been ready and could be harvested in summer or mid-fall. Furthermore, she discovered there were 8 sachets of rye, oats and barley that could be turned into grains for the livestock feed.

Kayla added that barley could be boiled and be made into a cooling beverage to bring the body temperature down and to aid digestion with a little bit of sweetener added to it.

These 3 grains not necessary be made into bread as wheat would be the most favoured one. The 4 livestock could depend on the above and the harvest would be 3 times per year.

I saw from the corner of my eye that Jennings had raised her hands at me to speak her mind. After Kayla had said her piece, I motioned towards Jennings and said, "Yes, Jennings, would you too, like to make an announcement?"

"Sir, I just wish to inform you that the sugary coated pretzels are ready. Is it alright if I get my assistants to serve everyone here? We ran all the 4 ovens and managed to bake close than 400 pieces of pretzels with a foot of a shadow's length."

"Splendid... Spread the goodness around then. I am sure kids and a.d.u.l.ts would find these treats as a good morning boost and too much during the morning conference. Please go right ahead."

Soon, Jennings, Hereford and 3 others helped to carry trays laden with heaps of rich sugary coated pretzels that is more than enough for 3 pieces per person. They helped themselves to the pretzels as we continued the conference.

Gwen simply nodded her head as she too two pretzels for herself and remarked that her team would work on producing the hunting bows and fishing poles and resume as usual. The meat was readily available and could last for another week or even more.

Heather also noted that the children's mandatory class would start by every morning right after the conference. It would be held 1 hour for each lesson on reading, writing and simple math.

Eagle also added that the security perimeter around would be patrolled instead during the day. The 5 engineers would be taking their rest and would resume after the nightly closing conference.

The engineers who head the project for chopping down the trees mentioned that they would be able to speed up their operations since the allocated area to clear up the domain has been completed. The would work on both sides till they reach the end of the barricaded perimeter.

"Sir, tentatively since we take alternative breaks during midday, which is a good idea, we would be able to clear 35 to 50 trees from today which is the third day right till the 5th. In this way, the lowest estimation would be 100 trees by the end of the fifth evening, equivalent to 100 base and medium logs which would produce between 2,400 to 3,000 planks."

Crystal raised her hand excitedly and was gesticulating to speak up and when it was her turn, she exclaimed the following, "Me... Me... I also have something to report. Babies. Nannies. One of them would give birth with a week or two and there two nannies which are heavy with pregnancy. There are two C.h.e.s.tershire that are also giving birth too. We would be needing expansion or addition of enclosures soon, Sir. Hehehe. "

After she had spoken her piece, everyone congratulated her on taking great care if that livestock that resulted in their addition of population. "Please give me a census on the livestock population based on their gender and estimated age. At least we would be able to know which one would be used as food for ourselves or food for others."

Crystal nodded and she came over to Heather and asked for her help by the end of her classroom later on. Heather nodded and gave her the thumbs up.

"That's very good ladies and gentlemen. Alright, I hereby announce the day operations to commence as there would be no other matters to discuss. Would the Domestic Affairs Minister and the Irish Travellers please remain seated for I have a proposal to make. The rest, good luck and God speed. Dismissed...!"

As usual, hearing the dismissed they cleared away and arrange the dining tables and benches in an orderly manner and proceeded to their individual positions.

"Please arrange yourselves together. The children would follow the rest to join in the morning class. It's a song and dance class where one can get to learn how to read and write and learn how to make simple calculations."

"This is ideal for them to be traders or merchants in the future." I simply explained as Heather got the children to get seated on the benches as she began to teach basic phonetics and recognise some words.

"Sir Lord, you have mandatory education imposed on the children here? How many learned citizens do you have in this village?" the leader asked me with a rather surprised but pleasant look and I counted with my fingers and told him that we have 18 people who are learned within the 53 citizens that we have at the moment.

"Woah... It is a surprise to see so many learned citizens alone in this village. It almost takes up half of the whole population here. And these learned people are...?"

"Engineers, who work round the clock operating the sawmill and helping to fell the trees and saw them before transporting to the mill from that area behind us. Even though they are learned, they are ready to roll their sleeves and help to build this village. It's a short 5 days project to clear the trees and then it would be the building if the village's domain."

"Oh...it has never occurred my mind that learned people would also serve as artisans or craftsmen in this village. Unlike other towns, I suppose they hold a certain reputable position within society."

"Ahem... Citizens here are treated equally. The one who governs here is our young Lord while there are 8 other Ministers who held a certain role and responsibility towards the growth of this village." Jack cleared his throat before he added to emphasis on the uniqueness of Gracehaven.

"That's right, hmm...why don't you leave the children here with Lady Heather and Jack here will give you a show around our village. Would it be best for them to stay here for some days to learn how we 'nomads' turned our lives around for others as well?"