Chapter 43: Solon
Later on, Theo and Solon could be seen walking through the village together. As usual, Theo spent the entire walk giving explanations and updates about practically everything that had happened so far.
The summoning, the world of Civara, Border Prison, the scavenger tribes, the Grassland Alliance, salt currency, and especially how dealing with people was somehow harder than dealing with monsters. Practically everything Theo knew, he dumped onto Solon.
"…And even after I introduced salt as currency to make these people a little more proper like modern people, they still complain instead,” Theo muttered with annoyance. “Can you believe that? Why can’t they see the obvious benefits?”
Meanwhile, Solon walked beside him with the same tired, uninterested face from earlier without even bothering to look toward Theo while listening.
However, despite the exhausted expression, his eyes were constantly moving around as he quietly observed everything they passed. The fantasy races, the villagers’ clothing and equipment, the tipi tents, the demon hounds dragging carts, the soldiers patrolling around the village, the workers carrying timber and stones for construction, everything.
And yet despite all that, he still showed no excitement or even curiosity. His face remained exactly the same.
“…You tell them to boil water first before drinking,” Theo continued irritatedly. “And somehow they act like you’re ruining their lives.”
Then Theo finally stopped talking as the two of them arrived in front of Tara’s tent.
Greta stood near the entrance waiting for them.
“Vice-chief,” Greta said. “Like you requested, I’ve gathered everyone.”
“Ah, thanks Greta,” Theo replied.
Theo then entered the tent together with Solon.
---
Inside, Tara, David, and Archie were already waiting around the table.
“Everyone, this is Solon,” Theo introduced him. “Sorry, I haven’t had the chance to explain about you guys to him yet.”
“Ah, welcome. Solon, was it?” Tara said with a visibly relieved smile. “I’m Tara, chief of Blackstone.”
And relieved she definitely was. Between the endless complaints from the other villages and the never-ending disaster called salary standardization, Tara had spent the past several days with a permanent headache from dealing with people screaming at her over everything.
“I’m David. Boss’s first summon. Pleasure meetin’ ya, friend.” David introduced himself casually.
“And I am Archimedes, second summon” Archie added flatly.
Solon didn’t reply immediately. Instead, he quietly observed the three of them one by one while examining them with the same uninterested expression. Even when his eyes stopped briefly on David, Solon showed no visible reaction toward David halfling body.
Solon then stepped closer toward David and Archie.
“Syracuse?” he asked Archimedes.
“Ja. You can tell, sage?” Archie replied.
“Your accent,” Solon answered flatly.
Theo couldn’t help finding the conversation strange considering all he heard from Archie was German.
“Why call me sage?” Solon asked.
“A few hundred years after your era, you are considered one of ze Seven Sages of Greece,” Archie explained.
“Oh, splendid,” Solon rubbed his forehead lightly. “Another unnecessary jobdesk.”
Then he looked at Archie again.
“And what exactly is your function here?”
“Engineering,” Archimedes answered immediately.
“Good. At least somebody here has a defined occupation,” Solon replied with a simple nod before shifting his eyes toward David.
“And you?”
“Military,” David replied with an easy smile.
Solon’s eyes briefly moved toward the sling and pouch of sling bullets hanging from David’s waist.
“…King David of Israel and Judah?” Solon asked.
“Oh? You know me?” David’s face immediately brightened.
“Yes. I learned about you during my travels to Egypt,” Solon said calmly. “You had an impressive track record, King David.”
“Ah, please. Just call me David,” David replied with a grin.
Solon gave a small nod before his attention shifted toward the leather map spread across Tara’s table.
“That is the Grassland Alliance map?” he asked while pointing toward it.
“Uh… yes,” Tara answered.
Without hesitation, Solon walked toward the table and sat directly on Tara’s chair before pulling the map closer to himself. The movement was so natural and casual that Tara could only lean her head back slightly in surprise as her own seat got stolen right in front of her.
“Can somebody get me a warm drink, a sand table, and something to write with,” Solon said while continuing to study the map without even looking away from it.
Theo and Tara exchanged a glance.
---
A few minutes later, Solon already had a mug of hot milk liquor beside him along with a sand table and writing tools. He casually sipped the drink with one hand while the other held the map open across.
Watching him sit there, Theo suddenly felt something disturbingly familiar about the entire scene.
The tired face, the complete lack of enthusiasm, the British accent, the way he immediately occupied the chair and started asking for a hot drink the moment he arrived. He looked like a… branch office manager.
After several more seconds of silently examining the map, Solon finally looked up toward everyone.
“Alright then. Everyone, please sit down,” Solon said calmly. “Let us begin the inquiries.”
Theo and Tara looked mildly confused by how formal the atmosphere suddenly became, but they still sat down anyway. Meanwhile, David and Archie simply took their seats without reacting at all, as if this kind of thing completely normal to them.
Now everyone was seated around Tara’s rectangular table, with Solon sitting at the far end in Tara’s stolen chair. Somehow, despite the tipi tent, the entire scene looked less like a tribal meeting and more like a corporate office board meeting.
Solon leaned back into the chair and released a long sigh like a man who had already been working for six straight hours.
“I will begin with an assessment of this alliance’s assets and resources,” Solon said calmly. “Let us start with demography. What is the alliance’s total population?”
Tara looked slightly caught off guard by the question.
“I… don’t know,” Tara admitted. “I only know Blackstone’s numbers. We never really counted the populations of the other villages.”
“…Right. And nobody thought to count them?” Solon slowly rubbed his forehead before giving Tara a disappointed look.
That one visibly hit Tara.
“W-wait, I think I can help,” Theo quickly muttered.
He immediately opened his status window for a few seconds.
“It’s… 1351,” Theo answered.
Solon immediately began writing the number down across a leather sheet using charcoal.
“Male-to-female ratio? Fighting-age population? Dependents?” Solon asked again without even pausing.
“I… don’t know.” Theo scratched his cheek awkwardly. “My system doesn’t tell me that.”
“Sigh…” This time Solon looked directly at Theo with the same exhausted disappointment he gave Tara earlier.
Then he shifted his attention back toward Tara again.
“Food resources?”
Tara straightened slightly, caught off guard again by how fast the questions kept coming.
“Uhh… mostly hunting,” Tara answered while thinking carefully. “We also have some cattle, forest foraging, fishing by the river, and we just recently started planting crops.”
“Right, semi-settled tribes…” Solon muttered while writing more notes down. “Military?”
“Still pretty fresh. Seventy-four soldiers total fer now.” David answered immediately without hesitation. “Sixty-two infantry, twelve hound cavalry. Rest are reserves.”
“Command structure?”
“Three captains.”
“Supply?”
“Centralized.”
“Training?”
“Daily.”
The answers came back and forth so quickly it almost sounded rehearsed.
“Material resources?” Solon continued.
“Timber, stone, leather, iron, salt, Ve are still surveying for additional material in ze region,” Archimedes answered firmly.
“Hmm…” Solon scribbled more notes before speaking again. “Cultural level so far?”
“Still barbaric,” David and Archimedes answered together without hesitation.
That one hit both founder, Theo and Tara, far harder than the previous one.
Especially because neither David nor Archie even try to insult anyone when they said it. To them, it was simply an objective assessment.
And so the inquiries continued for the next hour.
Solon kept asking questions about practically every single thing the alliance possessed. Available tools, construction progress, settlement distance, winter preparation, transportation speed, livestock numbers, outside threat, and even how long it took messengers to travel between villages.
After the inquiries finally ended, Solon immediately moved the discussion toward resource allocation and future planning.
“Corn, maize, and squash? I never heard of it,” Solon muttered while rubbing his chin. “And they require less manpower compared to grain farming.”
“That’s right,” David replied. “Druid lady says we can harvest ’em within a month.”
“Hm. Good for winter rations.” Solon scribbled another note down. “I will inspect the plantation personally later.”
Then Solon shifted his attention toward Archie.
“And you intend to spend manpower fortifying the stone ravine?”
“Ja,” Archie replied immediately. “David asked if I can construct one before spring.”
“Yep,” David said. “That ravine’s basically the only eastern way into the grassland. Might as well call it our front gate.”
Solon nodded slightly and continued writing.
For the next twenty minutes, the conversation was almost entirely dominated by Solon, David, and Archie.
The three of them exchanged information so naturally that Theo and Tara could barely even keep up anymore. Future planning kept flying across the table one after another.
Meanwhile, Theo and Tara mostly just sat there listening. And honestly, both of them were starting to feel a little useless. Still, neither of them could hide their amazement watching the dynamic between the three men.
Theo couldn’t help remembering the three branches inside his system. Military, technology, and governance.
David was absurdly capable when it came to military matters. Archie could turn half-broken scavenger villages into organized settlements within weeks through sheer engineering insanity.
But now that Solon had joined them, the entire thing suddenly felt… complete.
The military could finally coordinate properly, the technology finally had structure. The alliance finally had somebody asking the questions nobody else even thought about.
For the first time since arriving in Civara, Theo genuinely felt like they might actually be able to build something enormous here. Not just survive, but build.
A quiet smile slowly formed on Theo’s face as he watched the three historical figures continue their discussion around the table.
After nearly two hours of meeting and three entire leather sheets filled with Solon’s charcoal scribbles, Solon finally put the charcoal down onto the table.
“Very well,” Solon said while clasping his hands together. “This should do for a preliminary assessment.”
His tone sounded like a tired administrator concluding a work report.
“Next, I will need to inspect this new farmland and every mines personally and visit every village to conduct a proper census.”
Then he looked directly toward Tara.
“You will accompany me during every inspection,” Solon said calmly, though it sounded far more like an order than a request.
“Y-yes,” Tara replied instinctively before hesitating slightly. “But… why not just ask each chief to count their own people and report it to us?”
“Because numbers on their own are fairly useless.” Solon answered while casually sipping his already cold milk liquor. “I’d rather see how people actually live before deciding how this lot ought to be governed.”
Theo and Tara fell silent. Honestly, neither of them had even thought that far.
“Oh,” Solon suddenly remembering something important. “But before all that, we still need to resolve this alliance’s biggest immediate problem first.”
Theo immediately straightened up. Only two hours after being summoned, Solon already understood the alliance’s core issue and had a solution for it? Amazing.
“Sure,” Theo said eagerly. “What is it?”
“Hmm… Theo?” Solon called casually.
“Yes?” Theo answered.
Solon leaned back slightly while thinking for a moment. Then, with the same exhausted tone he had been using the entire meeting—
“I think you need to be executed.”