Chapter 385: Chapter 382: Relocation, then Settling Down
After the new orders came down, refugees from the surrounding areas were gradually herded and gathered toward Bart. He now had to manage over a thousand people, a dense, dark crowd milling about the camp.
’You can do this...’ Bart took a deep breath and began preparing to reassure the refugees and organize their migration.
First was organization. After having everyone gather their personal belongings, he had them assemble according to their place of origin. Guards raised flags of different colors, and Bart shouted through a megaphone, "Those from the Kongdi Region, to the white flag! From Galle, the blue flag! If your hometown doesn’t have a flag, go to whichever group has the fewest people!"
Forcing the refugees to migrate again would cause panic and desertion, so grouping them by their place of origin would make them feel like they’d found their "organization," giving them a sense of belonging. This served to calm them down somewhat.
However, he couldn’t let people from the same region band together and cause trouble or make demands. So, the next step was to form them into small groups of about twenty. Families and people from the same hometown were allowed to group together, but once a group was formed, its members were forbidden from freely interacting with other groups. The finished groups were immediately moved to the edge of the camp, separated from one another by soldiers.
Finally, there was the communication problem. Even with the groups, there were still a thousand people scattered about. If everyone with an issue came directly to Bart or the commander, shouting "Sir" one after another, it would be utter chaos. His next step was to have each group choose a leader. He gave each leader a wooden plaque to hang around their neck. Only those with a plaque could leave their group to report issues to the Guards or to Bart himself.
Although it was a simple, two-step process, organizing them dragged on until almost noon. When it was time to eat, food was brought out to further calm the refugees. "Settle down, settle down! Only those who have been grouped can eat! Group leaders will collect the food for their teams. We have bread and milk porridge today, and no one gets food without an Identity Card!"
Bread was a long-unseen solid food. For the past few days, the Kingdom had only given them watery gruel, just enough to keep them breathing. But now that they needed to regain their strength for the journey, they were finally getting black bread. Even the thin porridge had milk in it.
It was simple, ordinary food, yet it was enough to bring tears to their eyes as they ate.
As part of his plan, Bart also used resources from his own merchant guild to requisition several large carts. The injured and those who had trouble walking were allowed to ride. This gesture earned him immense goodwill from the refugees. The things Bart had worried about, like people faking injuries or fighting over spots on the carts, never happened. The carts were filled with the few remaining elderly and infirm.
With preparations complete, the entire group was finally able to set out, heading for Kempson, farther to the north.
Along the way, he received some unexpected support.
An armed squad descended from the sky. Not only were there women among them, but their leader was a short, young girl. Her salute to Bart, however, was crisp and flawless—even more precise than his own. "Sir! Captain Tanya, Third Squad of the Sky Knight Squadron, reporting! We are under orders to coordinate with you and escort the targets!"
"Hmm..." Bart was fascinated by this new military unit, secretly trained by the Kingdom. None of them possessed any Casting Ability; instead, they flew using the large packs on their backs, which were actually Alchemy Devices. The gauges strapped to their wrists gave Bart a familiar feeling.
Judging by her shoulder insignia, this Tanya was a warrant officer. She carried a new-model rifle that was nearly as tall as she was.
Bart was intrigued by the new equipment. He figured Amelia, with her love of horse riding, would be thrilled by the idea of flying. Right now, however, he felt an even stronger urge to ask the young captain her actual age.
’Some kind of flying child soldiers,’ he thought.
Still, Bart resisted the urge to ask such an insulting question and got down to business. "Alright. I need your unit to coordinate with us. Patrol the areas surrounding the column, watch for any refugees who stray, and report back to my commanders promptly."
"Yes, sir! Our squad has one supply vehicle and one personnel transport. Please allow them to join your column. The supply vehicle carries spare equipment and fuel and will need protection from ground troops."
The Sky Knights had now worked out a complete organizational structure. Each squad was equipped with two to three horse-drawn logistics wagons: one loaded with repair parts, maneuvering gear, and Transmuting Dust, and another to transport resting members who were off-duty. If operating without ground support, they would add a third wagon for standard supplies and ammunition.
In other words, they were a highly mobile armed force that was getting infinitely close to being "motorized."
"Understood."
The refugees from Valois had their eyes opened. First, Bart used Magic to clear the road of earth, stones, and branches. Then there were the figures darting through the trees at their flank. When traveling through a forest, flying above the canopy would block a Sky Knight’s line of sight, making it impossible to monitor the refugees. It also consumed Transmuting Dust at a high rate, making it an inefficient tactic.
So, with the exception of the scouts moving up and down through the canopy, the other Sky Knights escorting the column used their maneuvering gear for short bursts into the air, leaping swiftly from one thick branch to another in the space between the trunks and the lower canopy.
Faced with the Magic of the Bayern Kingdom’s Military Mages and these... these ’Demon Army Species,’ the refugees from Valois went from shocked to numb. Only a few of the devout Order Cultists felt they had truly stumbled into a Demon Cave.
Of course, once they saw the cramped, narrow prefabs—each equipped with bizarre pipes where turning one valve produced clean water, another provided gas for cooking, and a third supplied heat to keep the rooms toasty warm—all arranged in neat rows in a newly cleared district, they would surely exclaim what a true "Demon Cave" really was.
The arrival of the first wave of refugees delivered the first major shock to Kempson, and the one who bore the brunt of it was Andre, stationed at the Steel Factory to "steer the ship" for Rorschach. The list of things he had to manage had just grown longer. And longer. And longer.
In Lansite, Rorschach received a letter from his prized student. On the surface, it was a status report, but reading between the lines, it was a desperate plea for help: If you don’t come back soon, your student is going to become an exhausted corporate drone with a hairline that’s receded five centimeters.
To prevent his dedicated student Andre from actually working himself to death, Rorschach quickly dispatched an avatar to the scene.
Andre was as pale as a sheet of paper. "Teacher, the intern training is complete. They’re starting their posts now.
"The calibration phase for all the blast furnaces is complete. Here is the production curve for the last twenty days, please review it.
"Phase one of the ’Secure Housing Project’ is complete, with 237 households moved in. An additional three hundred or so migrant workers have been housed in the collective dormitories.
"Some of the refugees have requested to build a chapel to the Lord of Order. Their application has been submitted to the Autonomous Committee, and we are now awaiting your decision.
"Since the factory workers all perform heavy labor, they require more meat in their diet. As a result, our food stores are being depleted faster than projected. We need to decide whether to revise the ration standards for the new arrivals. The Steel Factory would also like to raise more livestock for meat.
"Hanna and William—he’s the younger son of that minor noble who was also discovered to have Magic Talent—wish to see you. They’ve finished the basic instructional texts and want to know when you’ll begin teaching them Magic. Also, Hanna’s... that... her classmate is looking for you as well. Something about an experiment..."
Frankly, some of these problems should have been handled by Hasse and his people. But those old dogs don’t like taking responsibility for anything uncertain, so they just dump it on Andre, which has completely worn the poor guy out.
Rorschach sighed. "I understand, Andre. What you need right now is sleep."
