Chapter 28.1 – Visiting the lands 1.1

James Macdonald asked while looking up at a gigantic moving belt near the ceiling that carried rye to be dropped inside a gigantic pot over a fire. “But with Magic, it’s also possible to take care of a field in a matter of hours.”

Olive slowly shook her head. “Not a field as big as we have. For one like ours, a Mage would need to rest for a day to gather enough Magic to continue. And we have several astonishingly big fields. Before Alex changed a few things, we didn’t have so many cropped fields or such big harvests because of a lack of people. With his creations, even a handful of workers can get the job done, and we now harbour many people because of the good life we provide for them. That created a lot of opportunities for Alex to shine with the creation of a few facilities and buildings to make some incredible products. Do you know we are the biggest provider of swords and farm equipment for the countries that belong to the alliance? Not to mention everything else that we make around here!”

James Macdonald swallowed."That means... how rich is Mister Alex, anyway?"

“Absurdly rich. Not even he realises how much. I know this because I and his keeper are the ones in charge of the sales and profits. We have a lot of work to hide Alex’s money underneath a few investments, buildings we bought, and land spread all over several countries. We also made the proper arrangements to have a few buildings make some parts in other countries so that we could assemble them in the facilities on Alex’s lands, just to keep the creation of our products as secretive as we can. There are a lot of Nobles with their eyes upon us, but since they don’t know where we make most of our parts, they never figured how we do things.”

Olive then pointed to a series of closed waggons that were being pulled by a moving belt. “For instance, the yeast inside of those is made in the ‘Kingdom of Bouria’, and it’s disguisedly transported here by several caravans that don’t even know what they are carrying. That yeast is made using a different process from the one used to make bread, and that’s a trade secret as well. I bet Alex already escorted a few caravans from Bouria without knowing they were transporting supplies to be used here.”

“But how do you make sure the earnings... I mean, you hide how much money Mister Alex gets every year? Because he has to present his taxes in the Chamber of Lords, right?”

Olive stared at James MacDonald for a few seconds, thinking about how much she could trust him. She then answered while walking to a different area of the brewery. “Alex only needs to pay the taxes in Beliersia for what he sells in this country. Other countries require other means, and I, with his keeper, also take care of that. Since the taxes paid in every country are not disclosed to another country, there is no way for the Chamber of Lords to know. That is also a safeguard because if the wrong group of Nobles knew how rich Alex truly is, they would probably be even more dangerous in their plans to find out our secrets.”

“That is even weirder. Why does he keep on working as an Adventurer, then? If he doesn’t need the money... He told me he wanted to learn more about the World and to help people, but if he has so much money, he could help many people without getting into so much danger as an Adventurer!”

Olive suddenly stopped walking and everyone stared at her as she spoke. “Why do you think he doesn’t help with his money? He is always creating new buildings for people to work in and improve their lives with a fair salary, donates a tonne of money to several Orphanages in every country in the alliance, but most of those donations are done anonymously to hide his identity. He gives money to the Church, and he even paid for the construction of many Schools in a lot of countries. Over these last few years, his influence is slowly spreading, and most people don’t even know who the benefactor of their life really is.”

She then looked at Ghar and nodded, before facing James Macdonald again. Don’t worry, Ghar, Alex is well protected from any greedy person. You didn’t see it, but we have a massive army of soldiers, Mages, and Mage Summoners constantly patrolling Alex’s lands, which would embarrass any country. Most of them are retired soldiers or older Mages, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous. Because of all their experience, they are some of the most dangerous people around. You know that a Mage with thirty years of experience can’t even fathom the amount of power a sixty-year-old Mage Summoner has, and we have dozens in our ranks. That Security Force you met on your way here are mere children that our army doesn’t even bother to fight with because of the tremendous difference in power and expertise. It would be like a wolf fighting a butterfly. Every time those useless bums approach our borders, they are gently driven away by a well-aimed Water Spear or a Fire Ball."

James Macdonald spoke, and he seemed confused. “I think... I understand the need for all the secrecy... I am not sure why we are being told about so many things or even allowed to visit everything...”

Olive Andrews made a slight smile. “I also thought it was weird when Alex told me this morning before leaving to give a complete tour and to show you and your group everything I could. You see, he never brought anyone to visit his lands, and he never asked me to work as a guide. That can only mean he trusts you guys. And girls. Probably a little too much for my taste, but he often proved to me that my suspicions had no reason to be. Perhaps he wants to offer you a job, or just needs a friend. I don’t know. I only do what he asks. I just hope none of you betray his trust because I would hate to have to kill any of you.”

They all stared at her and slowly nodded because the way she was looking at them so seriously was no joke.
Suijin signalled Okami, and they stopped behind a large container.

He whispered, after making sure no one was near them, “How in the world did Alex think about all of this? I never saw anything like that canal that delivered water to the fields, or this building! Did he... bring something from his other World?”

“Not exactly, except knowledge, maybe. He told me that some of these things used to exist in his World, but he had to figure out a few ways to make them work here because some of the knowledge was old and not very well documented, but he made everything able to use Magic, in case of a malfunction or an emergency. He brought a box of bugs once. A weird insect that eats leaves and makes a thread that is called silk. That insect didn’t exist in this World, but now there are hundreds of them in a greenhouse filled with trees that make the leaves those guys like to eat. Alex made a few changes to the equipment that normally makes fabrics from cotton, and now we make a new type of fabric that is sold for an exorbitant price. You heard Olive, right? Despite everything he does, he never gloats, and only a few people know what he does from the shadows.”

Suijin slowly nodded, and they rushed to join the others with him thinking that, surprisingly, Alex was less greedy and more honoured than older Humans he had ever met during his extremely long lifetime.
The rest of the morning was spent in the late Earl Kayden’s lands, with tours in the facilities that made champagne and whiskey, mixed with several visits to where the harvesting equipment could be seen up close while doing their job of helping the several farmers harvesting a huge field of wheat.
At around noontime, they went by carriage to the plateau to see the Windmills. Olive took care of warning the workers before arriving there, and after the visit to the Windmills, she guided the group to a big building that was used by the workers as a canteen.
After a huge lunch where they tried all sorts of foods that were made with several products that were produced in the farms around the plateau, they went all the way down along the paved road in their carriage to travel to Alex’s lands, almost a two-hour ride.
There, they were all overwhelmed by the sight of a tall mountain from where water was coming down, creating a huge waterfall. Along the immensely high drop, there were several big wooden wheels that, as Olive described previously, were each connected to a long shaft that went to the rocky margin on both sides, disappearing inside the wall of a nearby building, excavated in the rock and with walls and floors held in place by sturdy support beams of immensely large wooden boards and metal poles. The shaft exited on the other wall, entered another building, and ended up inside the fifth building.
James Macdonald counted fifteen buildings on each margin of the waterfall, with a line of five buildings separated by almost five metres from each other on top and at the bottom.

As he was wondering how they could go to such heights to visit those buildings, he looked to where Olive was pointing and saw a platform with a net all around tied to a couple of entranced ropes that went all the way up to the top of the mountain and connected to a pulley that went to an immense rock, and he opened wide his mouth to Olive’s explanation, “We are going to use that transport to go up. That one is for people, and there is another a few metres ahead, big enough to carry boxes upon boxes of supplies or finished products. We could also use Magic to make us jump to the first building, or we could use the excavated stairs on the rock, but those stairs are for emergencies only.”

Gabriel Dawson asked while following Olive to the smaller transport, “How does this work? I can only see a big rock up there, tied to ropes on top of this strange cage.”

“It works with weight and gravity, like Alex says. That rock up there is heavier than us, to work as a counterweight, and as I lose a bit of the two ropes underneath this cage by rotating this wheel in the middle of the platform, the rock falls slowly and pulls us up. When we reach the level where we want to exit, I block the wheel by using a lever that acts as a brake, to prevent the rock from falling and the cage from going up without us inside. There are also four small Magical Orbs at each corner of this cage, and in case something goes wrong, we can use the Magic on them to make a Wind Tornado under this platform to slow down our fall. Alex thought of many safety measures for all his creations. Don’t worry, I have been using this transport for some years now, and it has never failed, not even once.”

“That’s... reassuring, I suppose, although heights and I never had a good relationship. Are you sure this is safe?”

Olive explained while hiding a grin because she understood why Gabriel looked so worried. “Well, unless our combined weight is a lot less than the rock, our ride will be smooth. If we are lighter, we will go faster. If heavier, we either go slowly or never leave the floor. Shall we see what happens? Don’t look so scared; it doesn’t go well with all your muscles and scary look! Stand up straight! Ghar is looking! Don’t you dare to shame me, because I already told her that most men in this World could go head-on-head against any Orc in her World! She is still doubting me, so do you mind proving it to her? Here, you control the wheel on one side, and Mister James checks the other side. See if the wheel rotates slowly, and if it spins fast, slow it down a little, or we will go straight up at full speed.”

Gabriel Dawson gulped and glanced at Ghar, who was staring directly at him from the platform, waiting to see what he would do. Olive Andrews disguised a smile because she could hear Ghar’s thoughts, which were screaming for him to enter to see if he was indeed as brave as the Orcs of her clan. That Human male looked like an Orc with his immense body, but he lacked the tusks that she always liked to feel on her skin with a strong bite during a more intimate night, but that didn’t make him less interesting to her eyes. In fact, she was having a few strange thoughts about licking his entire body, and Olive was finding all that interest a little amusing.

Gabriel entered the platform and touched the wheel in the middle that was going to control the ascendance of the platform, and he made a slight smile at Ghar. “This is a little weird. Did you ever reach such heights in your World?”

Ghar vigorously nodded, and her eyes glowed in anticipation while looking up. Olive entered the platform and translated, “Ghar says she just loves heights, and she wants to go as fast as possible because the rush will be exhilarating.”

Gabriel Dawson gulped and forced a smile as soon as he saw Ghar looking at him. “R-really... I won’t mind if we go as slowly as possible, because... because we will have plenty of time to see the view around us!”

Ghar looked to her left side at the endless cornfield and nodded. That big Human male was right; the view was indeed beautiful, with all that green and spots of yellow that were reflecting the afternoon sunlight.
She pointed at the cornfield while making a big smile, and Gabriel gulped when the platform went up and the wind took the turban away from her face, and he noticed the way her eyes were glowing, together with the prettiest smile he had ever seen. He quickly averted his sight, forcing himself to remember that she was an Orc, a disgusting Monster that, like so many others, came from the Magical Voids to kill everyone they saw.
Gabriel glanced at Ghar again. She had her face against the net, happily making a low growl while looking back at him from time to time. He smiled at her, and Olive pretended not to notice that Ghar was slowly melting his heart. He was the only member of James Macdonald’s Party that, until then, was having a lot of trouble feeling comfortable near that surprisingly cute female Orc.