Chapter 353: Somewhere To Sit
Dominic thought about the needs of the construction teams for a few more seconds, then decided on his next course of action.
"I will go talk to the woodcutters. There is a basic steam-powered sawmill outside of town, but I know that they have been doing most of the work with magic instead.
If we can upgrade the sawmill a little more, we will have an easier time turning out all the wood that we will need, including specialty cuts for the carpenters."
Dominic made his way across town and out to the sawmill, which he could hear happily working away as someone cut material for a project.
"Morning gentlemen. What are we working on today?" He asked the group of Hunters that were working the sawmill with one lone woodcutter to guide them.
"John, the carpenter, wants us to cut a bunch of these larger trees for table tops. The new houses need them, and we’re short on mages at the moment with all the new buildings going up." The woodcutter explained.
"Ah, then I’m about to bring you bad news. We’re building a school house, and we will need desks and chairs or benches for the kids." Dominic explained.
The woodcutter shrugged. "I’m sure that we can find more men to work on the project, but we’ve only got the one saw."
Dominic nodded. "We’ve got some newly arrived mages from the Duskblade Sect who are going to build a tower here and run the school, so they’ll be doing the majority of the work. But we will need precut boards to save time, and someone will need to fell them as well.
So, here I am, checking what state we’re at."
"We’re good on small trees for building boards and firewood. But we don’t have a lot of larger trees downed. There wasn’t any good reason for it, and the smaller ones needed cleared anyhow.
Most of them come from the edge of fields or too close to houses. Trees that have grown in the last decade, you see.
But I can have the boys drop a couple and drag them here with an ox team." The woodcutter suggested.
"I will have to talk to John. I don’t know how many trees it will take to make a school house full of desks." Dominic realized.
The woodcutter laughed. "One. The answer is one. Cut one knuckle thick and polished, you could make a new table top for every house and still have enough wood to do a school full of desks with one large tree.
In fact, this one might be enough, even though it’s short.
It was hit by lightning and broke off, so it’s only half height, but it’s still a lot of wood. There is a whole other log sitting outside from the same tree that we haven’t even started on."
"Alright, I will go talk to John, since he’s going likely to be the one making them, unless we have other carpenters available."
The men gave him a slight bow. "Good luck, My Lord. There are more carpenters in town, but he’s the most skilled. John will set you on the right path for sure."
Dominic left them to their work and went looking for the carpenter, who was usually working with architect Sunni and the men of the Purity Sect. Sunni was outside one of the houses under renovation, making him easy to find, so Dominic took a moment to check on the progress.
"Lord Dominic, we’ve nearly got this one finished. Did you come to check on our progress?"
Dominic nodded. "That too. I came to spread the news that we’re putting up a new school, and will need furniture. The Crown Prince of Cygnia will be here in two weeks, and we are hoping to have the kids in school by the time that he arrives."
The short man smirked and lit a cigarette. "Well, you can’t have him accusing you of slacking or raising an uneducated populace. The board cuts that they’re making for the tables will work well enough for school desks, I reckon.
How about starting them with folding chairs? We can get a whole trailer of them from the Merchants’ Guild easily enough. It would take time to make them, or tool the factory for them, but they’re easy to pack."
"That’s not a bad idea. Nothing says just getting started like a room full of folding chairs." Dominic laughed.
"Plus, they’re useful even if you replace them with better chairs in the classroom. You never know when you’ll need a lot of seats for an outdoor function, or a large meeting.
They might not be fancy enough for use in the Manor, but we’re going to need them for weddings in the park." Sunni suggested.
"That’s a mighty fine point. We’ll need a bunch for the convention centre as well. The upstairs has furniture in the rooms, I believe. But the main floor is just open right now. It would be a good spot for weddings on rainy days."
The Architect nodded. "See, good and useful things they are. We can slam out a load of wooden desks, no problem. So, if you can arrange chairs, we will have the school ready for sure. One or two fewer houses before the Crown Prince arrives won’t make a big difference.
Not when we’ve got an entire infrastructure team building a subdivision and a second factory at the edge of town.
They’ve grown properly fond of that road machine, too. There won’t be a dirt road anywhere in the Duchy if they stay for a year."
"No real downside to that. I will go talk to Castellan Julio and get him to add the chairs to the list. Hopefully, we can get them with the next shipment."
Sunni shook his head. "No, the next shipment is already on its way from Lympsbury if I’m not mistaken. It should be here tomorrow or the day after."
Dominic smiled. "In that case, we should be just fine. No matter which major city they head to next, we will have time for them to arrange the chairs to arrive here on time before the Crown Prince does."